The Publicity Hound’s Blog  

Now is the time to start pitching if you’re hoping to convince journalists to feature your consumer product or service in holiday gift coverage.

Gift guides appear in many forms:

—As special sections in newspapers, like holiday gift guides printed by USA Today and the Wall Street Journal.

—As special holiday features in magazines like Redbook, Allure, Wired, Stereophile, Fast Company, Organic Gardening, Cooking Light, Shape, Atlanta Magazine, Cottage Living and Elite Traveler. Because many of these magazines have early deadlines, you must start pitching now.

—As special segments on TV such as Oprah’s “Favorite Things” show each year in which she lists her favorite holiday gifts.

—As special radio promotions.

—As columns, reviews or special holiday features in online magazines.

—Even bloggers feature their favorite things to give as holiday gifts.

If your consumer product or service would make the perfect gift, getting a placement in some of these media is easy—but only if you know where to look, whom to pitch, when to contact them, and if they want photos.

The Gift List can make your job easy.  Its staff contacts the top 250 daily newspapers, all the major wire services, and television shows like “Filter,” “The Look for Less,” and, of course, MTV, “Ellen,” “The View,” and hundreds more.

It doesn’t bother with media outlets that won’t mention products by name or those with circulations under 25,000.  Broadcast outlets must reach a national or significant regional audience.

Already, The Gift List has compiled a whopping 400 leads for this year’s features.  You can buy a subscription to either the Gift List for Holiday 2008 Print & Broadcast, or The Gift List for Holiday 2008 Web & Blog, or both.

What if “Oprah” or USA Today changes its feature focus the week before a deadline?  Not to worry.  The Gift List will notify subscribers who sign up for their ezine and email alerts.  You won’t miss a beat.  And you’ll be miles ahead of the competition.

Take a free test drive.

Posted In: Advertising, Blogs, Business Promotion, Holidays, Magazine Publicity, Media Leads, Newspaper Publicity, Pitching the Media, Radio Publicity, TV Publicity
posted On: 6/24/2008: 10:00 am: By Joan
Comments: No Comments

Mitch Carnell of Charleston, South Carolina writes:

“Last year, we celebrated the first Say Something Nice Sunday on the first Sunday in June.  This is now an annual event.

“We want churches and denominations of all faiths to join in.  This is a Sunday when Christian will say nothing negative about any other Christian or Christian group or organization.  It originated from my little book, Say Something Nice; Be a Lifter.

“We have put together an ecumenical group to promote this.  It started at First Baptist Church of Charleston, the Charleston Baptist Association, the South Carolina Baptist Convention, the Charleston Atlantic Presbytery and CBF of South Carolina.  Next year, we will sponsor a poster contest with middle and high school students.

“We are looking for ideas to get individuals and churches involved.  We’ve provided some promotional ideas for them.  Can your Hounds help with other suggestions?”

Posted In: Holidays, Newspaper Publicity, Publicity for Niche Markets
posted On: 5/13/2008: 1:47 pm: By Joan
Comments: 5 Comments

Do you have a great mom?

Tell the world how much you love her by nominating her as “America’s Favorite Mom.”

The top 25 moms will be featured on NBC’s “Today” show the week leading up to Mother’s Day. The audiences will vote, and the top five winners will be the focus of a prime time special airing the evening of Mother’s Day, May 11.

You can even upload photos and a video to help her win!

Posted In: Contests, Holidays, TV Publicity
posted On: 2/26/2008: 1:34 am: By Joan
Comments: No Comments

Several years ago, I saw the same psychiatrist interviewed for a story about New Year’s resolutions almost everywhere I looked.

He was quoted as saying that Jan. 1 is the worst day of the year to  make them. That’s because most of us are stressed out from the holidays. We’ve overspent and overeaten. We’re tired. We’re cranky. And we’re definitely not in the mood to lose weight, stop smoking, or do good deeds for others.

I can remember thinking about how that contrarian viewpoint pulled the media like a magnet. While all the other psychiatrists were zigging, this guy was zagging.

As I explained in my ebook How to be a Kick-butt Publicity Hound, the next time you’re tempted to  jump onboard with all the other experts from your industry and start doling out advice, ask yourself if offering the contrarian view either via a press release or a pitch would be a lot smarter. Quite often, it is.    

Posted In: Business Promotion, Holidays, Pitching the Media, Press Releases/News Releases
posted On: 12/31/2007: 7:36 am: By Joan
Comments: 1 Comment

Harry Hoover of Charlotte, North Carolina writes:

“I’d like to tap into the collective brains of Publicity Hounds. Since 2002, I have promoted a project each holiday season called Holiday For Charity. It encourages people to ask for charitable donations in their name in lieu of gifts. I’ve gotten solid local coverage of this program, but I’d like to take it up a notch. I’m hoping your readers can provide ideas to augment my plan. Here are my ideas:
 
–Local media relations with key media like Charlotte Observer, Business Journal, etc.
–PRWeb news release
–Story in my ezine
–Continuing coverage on my blog
–Post an article on social media sites
 
Thanks in advance for any assistance.

Posted In: Holidays, Nonprofits, Pitching the Media, Press Releases/News Releases, Publicity on the Internet, Social networking
posted On: 11/20/2007: 11:01 am: By Joan
Comments: 5 Comments