If you’re looking for publicity from bloggers or traditional media but can’t think of an idea to pitch to them, here’s a quick way to find several. 

Longtime Publicity Hound Norman Lieberman reminded me about this yesterday when he emailed me to see if I had a list of questions that Publicity Hounds can ask themselves, designed to uncover nuggets of information that are possible story ideas.

I gave Norm two resources. The first is my “Story Idea Tickler List,” part of the handouts for my “Savvy Media Relations” workshop: 

1. What’s new or unique about your business?
      
2. What do you offer that your competitors don’t?                                                   
         
3. How do you help people solve problems, save time or save money?
       
4. What business mistakes have you made that you learned from?
      
5. What new trends have you spotted in your industry?
      
6. Is there a social or political issue you feel strongly about? (Write an opinion column, letter to the editor or blog post.) 
       
7. Are you sponsoring a contest or an award?
       
8. Can you piggyback your topic off a holiday or anniversary?
       
9. How are you using technology in your business?
       
10. Do you have any good visuals that tie into your story idea for television?
        
11. What about your personal life? (Hobbies, travels, food, clothing, etc.)
        
12. Have you formed an interesting partnership or alliance?
        
13. What how-to articles could you write?
             
14. What topics are good fodder for a tip sheet? (9 tips for….)
        
15. On what radio talk shows would you be a good fit and what’s the hot story of the day that ties into your expertise?
        
16. Are you the local angle to a national or regional story?
           
17. How are you using social media in your business? 
       
18. How can you piggyback onto celebrity news? For example, here are 10 ways to generate publicity from the Tiger Woods mess and here’s how Connie Dieken, a Cleveland TV personality and media trainer, got publicity by piggybacking onto celebrity outbursts.
       
19. Do you have an interesting  stand-alone photo you can offer the media? Newspapers and magazines often use these photos as fillers.

If those aren’t enough, you can check out the free sample chapter of my ebook, “How to be a Kick-butt Publicity Hound” where you’ll find more ideas, and a fuller explanation of some of the ideas listed above. 

What ideas have you pitched recently that other Publicity Hounds could also use? Share them here.

Have you claimed your copy of “The Best of The Publicity Hound’s Tips of the Week of 2009″ yet?

It not, grab it here. You’ll find the 26 tips that generated the most response from readers of my ezine last year. 

I give away this ebook each year, and my readers eagerly look forward to it. Many of them regift the book to their own friends and followers. And the big attaction is that anyone can access the ebook. You don’t have to opt in with your name and email address. 

What will you learn in this book? Plenty.

For example, I explain how to create your own day, week or month of the year. You’ll learn about lots of tricks and tools for participating at the social media sites. Read about 10 dead or dying PR tactics. 

And for Publicity Hounds who are looking to connect with journalists, I’ve given you several resources.  The book will help you, regardless of what business or nonprofit you’re in. 

Use the ebook one of these 12 ways:

1. Create a Facebook note, and excerpt the entire tip. Use the photo along with the text, and you’ve got a nice little item that your followers and fans will love. Christine Buffaloe discussed Facebook notes when she was my guest during a teleseminar on “11 Ways to Avoid Missed Opportunities on Facebook.” 
        
2. No time for a Note? Write about it and share the link (http://tinyurl.com/bestof2009tips) in a Facebook status update.
       
3. Write about it in a LinkedIn status update.
        
4. Blog about the book, and include your own success story that ties into one of the tips. 
        
5. Offer the ebook as a bonus along with other products and services you’re selling.
       
6. Give it to your clients and customers.
       
7. Mention it at your weekly staff meetings.
       
8. Add it to the Free Articles page at your website.
       
9. Give it away to the winner of a contest you’re sponsoring.  
         
10. Offer the ebook as a freebie to help you capture names and email addresses at your website. 
       
11. Create a video that discusses the ebook and upload it to your website or to YouTube, then share that with your social media friends and followers.
       
12. Include the link  (http://tinyurl.com/bestof2009tips) in a book you’re writing, or in handouts you’re using for a speaking engagement.

What about you? Have you thought of any other clever ways to use the ebook? If so, share them here. I’d love to hear them.

If you’re a PR firm or practitioner hoping to win a coveted Bulldog Award, you’ll have the chance to hear directly from three veteran judges on exactly what they’re looking for in a winning entry.

Bulldog Reporter is hosting a free 60-minute teleconference at 1 p.m. Eastern on Tuesday, Nov. 3. It’s limited to the first 200 attendees. 

The judges are Tom Hallman, a reporter and Pulitze Prize-winner for The Oregonian; Frank Zeccola, Bulldog Reporter senior editor; and Brian Pittman, Bulldog Reporter’s director of conent. They will be joined by David Norman, managing director of Kitchen Public Relations and a 16-time Bulldog Award winner.

Bulldog will grant 140 awards in three categories: media relations campaigns, PR agency management and individual PR professional accomplishment.

Register for the teleconference here or download the contest brochure. Deadline for entries is Friday, Dec. 18.

Jill Cranford, co-owner of Stone2Furniture in Livewrmore, Colo., a company that makes indoor and outdoor furniture from stone, is the winner of the Kindle2, Amazon’s wireless reading device.

Jill’s name was chosen from all respondents who answered my Customer Profile Survey earlier this month.

If her name sounds familiar, it might be because she submitted a Help This Hound question in February via my ezine, The Publicity Hound’s Tips of the Week.  Her company is sponsoring an “Ugly Patio Furniture Contest,” and she needed ideas on how to promote it. She’s giving away $4,100 in stone furniture to the lucky winner. The contest runs through Aug. 31.

Jill, shown here with her family, says she isn’t sure if she wants the Kindle, so I’ve sent her a gift certificate to Amazon.com for $359, the same value.

Congratulations, Jill, and thanks to all Publicity Hounds who completed the survey. I’m still sorting through the thousands of comments and putting a plan into place to help serve you better.

Jill Cranford of Livermore, Colo. writes:
“My company, Stone2Furniture, which makes indoor and outdoor furniture from stone, is having an Ugly Patio Furniture Contest and we’ll be giving away a set of our stone furniture valued at $4,100. The contest runs through August. “So here I am with the rules drawn up, and it’s live on our website and in the Media Room. I sent out 130 snail-mail flyers and emails to editors. “My next step is getting it to the local news channels. But I am wondering if I am missing a step? I haven’t heard from any editors. I know this will be fun but I’m just not sure how to launch it.”

Tying celebrities to your news story can generate publicity you never dreamed of. But if the celebrity responds, the publicity can multiply.

That’s what happened to Elliott’s Hardware in Dallas, Texas yesterday when former President George W. Bush stopped in for a one-hour visit, bought a few items and joked that he was looking for a job. The Associated Press, which distributed the original story to its member media outlets when the hardware store offered Bush a job, distributed yesterday’s story after the visit, and it appeared, once again, in many newspapers and at news sites.

Here are three tips about piggybacking onto celebrity news, taken from my “Special Report #50: How to Pibbyback onto Celebrity News to Promote Your Product, Service, Cause or Issue”:

1. Sponsor a contest that piggybacks off celebrity news.

For as long as I can remember, the tabloids have been reporting on Oprah’s roller-coaster weight. First it’s up, then it’s down, then it’s up, then it’s down. If you’re a weight loss expert, you can sponsor a contest called “How Oprah Can Take off Those Last 20 Pounds—Forever.” Then write a press release and post it online. Or if you don’t want to go to the trouble of sponsoring a contest, and you can still find a tie-in, go with it.

That’s what Author Laura K. Bryant did. She wrote a press release about her book, “Trust Yourself to Transform Your Body: A Woman’s Guide to Health and Weight Loss Without Diets” and used a clever tie-in to Oprah. (You can read the release which is part of Lesson 50 in my free tutorial “89 Ways to Write Powerful Press Releases.”)

“I sent the press release to all the local news stations in Chicago,” she said. “This particular release got an immediate (within 2 minutes of it being sent) call from a WGN News producer, who requested my media kit. Once the kit was received, my book was highlighted on WGN News, as a ‘Hot Summer Read.’”

2. Piggyback your stories onto hot movie titles.

When the movie “Anger Management” was in theaters, I saw all sorts of stories that tied into that title. Ditto with the “Mission: Impossible” movies. Sometimes all you have to do is incorporate a hot movie title into your pitch and you’ll catch the media’s attention. Example: Trying to lose weight to fit into that new bikini? It isn’t Mission: Impossible.

3. Piggyback onto a network Movie of the Week.

Keep your eyes on the big network movies during sweeps months in May, November and February. Pitch story ideas that piggyback off movies. For example, when “The Burning Bed” with Farrah Fawcett was a major TV movie in 1984, I remember the local women’s abuse shelter in my community was the lead story on the local news that night, right after the movie ended, because it tied into the movie. If your company or nonprofit is “the local angle” to a big TV movie, contact the TV station that’s airing the movie. You could be the lead story on the 10 or 11 o’clock news that night. Also contact the TV stations if you want to weigh in with an opinion about a controversial movie.

Matthew Watson, who blogs about technology PR, has compiled a list of the Top 75 PR blogs.

Check the list and see if he included all your favorites. (This blog is Number 30, thank you.) He produced the list by plucking out blogs with the words publicity, PR and public relations from those on the AdAge Power 150. 

That means that one of my favorites, like BL Ochman’s What’s Next Blog, which ranked Number 39 on Ad Age’s list, didn’t even make The Top 75 list. BL, by the way, is my guest expert during the Nov. 6 teleseminar on “How to do Social Networking, Run a Business & Still Have a Life.”

If your PR blog is missing from Matthew’s list, post a comment and let him know. If it’s missing from the Ad Age list, let them know here. The blog must be operating for the past six months and have at least 50 posts.  At least half of the blog’s content must pertain directly to marketing. Both lists, by the way, generate great publicity for the creators. 

OK Hounds, read the Top 75 list and then weigh in. Which is your favorite PR blog, on or off the list, and why?

Jeff Elliot of Cedar Rapids, Iowa writes:

“I am a manager at Planet X, a family entertainment center  in Cedar Rapids, Iowa featuring mini golf, bumper cars, space bikes, space ball, rock climbing and arcade games.  We serve food and cater to many birthday parties and corporate events.

“Do your Hounds have any clever ideas on how we can celebrate our 10th year anniversary in January 2009?  We’re planning our anniversary celebration all of next year. Our website is at http://www.planetxfuncenter.com.”

Most of us may forget the “lipstick on a pig” controversy by next week.

But I’m betting the word lipstick will be front and center on the stump, straight through to the election and possibly beyond. As soon as the news about Barack Obama’s lipstick comment broke yesterday, the media went nuts.

Race Taylor, a deejay for WPLJ-FM 95.5 in New York City during afternoon drive time, turned it into a contest. He challenged listeners with three words and asked them to guess what he was referring to—words like raisin, petal and wine.  

They’re lipstick colors, of course, and Taylor gave credit to Revlon ColorStay. I suspect Revlon called the station and suggested the contest. That’s a great example of piggybacking onto a sizzling hot topic. Morning and afternoon drive-time shows LOVE fun stuff like this. (See “How to Get Onto Drive-time Radio Shows.”)

Thanks to Pamela J. Principe-Golgolab of PNA Associates Inc.,  a PR and marketing firm in Chester, N.J. for tipping us off to this one.

Are you a business or organization celebrating a big anniversary soon?

Or how about just a Publicity Hound who wouldn’t mind being a celebrity in your own town? This idea is great for both.

This year, the Nashville Opera is sponsoring a “Put Me on a Billboard Contest” to raise funds and awareness for a new opera house. Earlier this year, it launched a promotional campaign in which it photographed local celebrities holding their fancy opera glasses, and put the photos on billboards throughout Nashville.

The opera then opened the contest to anyone and asked local opera-lovers to write about why they raise their glasses to opera. They even built a special website for the promotion.

Winners, including Publicity Hound Beverly Wichman, shown here on the right, were photographed with their opera glasses, and the series of photos started appearing over the weekend on digital billboards throughout the city.

If Beverly’s name sounds familiar, you might know her better as one-half of “The Saucy Sisters.” She and her sister, Barbara Nowak, review wine, write books and entertain at corporate events.

Beverly’s winning essay explains how her parents treated her to her first opera at age 10. She loved it so much that she calls opera her “soul music.”

During her many travels throughout the U.S., she would faithfully listen to radio performances by The New York Metropolitan Opera on Saturday nights. So would her parents. After each program, they would call each other to discuss the shows.

“It was like attending the opera together,” she said. “We would wait for the final applause and the curtain would come down. Then we’d call each other and say,’Bravo!’ ”

I love this billboard idea, too, to promote fund-raisers and special events even though you might have to have a big budget to pull it off.  Here’s why it’s so effective:

—It encourages people to become involved in your cause.

—It brings them to your website.

—It does a great job of turning local people into celebrities.

—It helps raise money for a worthwhile cause or issue.

Your next special event can include elaborate promotions like this one, or much simpler, less expensive ways to capture people’s attention, draw crowds, and attract the media.

“How to Plan & Promote Sizzling Special Events,” a series of six interviews I conducted with Debra J. Schmidt, explains how to inject fun and profit into even routine events like the standard business golf outing. For example, Deb tells the story of a Wisconsin group that hosted a women’s golf tournament and created a huge buzz for the event by featuring something as simple a port-a-potties with candles, scented soaps and pretty hand towels.

At the golf banquet that night, the port-a-potties were the topic of conversation, and the participants raved about that that nice, unexpected touch really made the event special.