9 of 10 pet owners say ‘I love you’ to their dogs & cats

muscular man kissing his dogIf you have a dog or cat, I’m betting that, at least once, you’ve looked it in the eyes and said “I love you.”

That’s because a clever survey by Iams, the pet food company, showed that 91 percent of customers it contacted several years ago admitted whispering those three little words to their furry friends.

The company wisely publicized the survey results to coincide with Valentine’s Day.  Hundreds of newspapers, magazines and TV and radio stations picked up the story.

Surveys on topics that are fun, edgy, heart-warming, controversial, timely or compelling can generate mountains of publicity.  They can also do something else.

They can tell you EXACTLY what products and services your customers want and EXACTLY how much they’d be willing to pay for them.

Surveys have been the best-kept secret among Publicity Hounds and successful entrepreneurs–the cute little trick that has boosted PR campaigns and let top marketers create products to order, get proof to convert prospects and keep customers buying, and find the ticking time bombs in our businesses before they explode.

Let the Survey Expert Help You

Jeanne Hurlbert, survey expertMy business partner, Jeanne Hurlbert, PhD, is one of the world’s foremost survey experts.  She’s so good at surveys that she’s helped people like The Tony Robbins Companies, Ali Brown, and Joe Polish.  She also created my own customer profile survey last spring, and I’m using the results as a roadmap to guide my business.

She and Mike Koenigs are hosting a webinar called “Your Cash-Generating Crystal Ball: How to Use Simple Surveys to Read Your Prospects’ and Customers’ Minds, Build Lists, Create Products, and Make Money.”  It will be at 2 p.m. Eastern Time on Tuesday, May 4.

They’ll show you how to jumpstart your business by putting your publicity, and your profits, on steroids.

And if you don’t HAVE a business yet, the news is just as good: They’ll help you start one, create products that generate revenue, and build your email list, in as little as 2 weeks.

You will learn:

  • How you can use your own surveys and other people’s surveys to generate buzz in traditional media and social media.
  • How you can create and use good data that will capture the media’s attention and tie into your expertise.
  • The 3 key questions that can build a bond and trust with your customers, and spell the difference between falling victim to this economy or making a fortune from it.
  • How the first question can increase your click-through and conversion rates by as much as 45%–and how the next big wave in social media can let you increase those conversions even more.
  • How the second question will let you create products to order and how you can make your customers feel so invested in those products they’ll beg to buy them.
  • How the third question can generate 3 forms of “social proof” that convert prospects and keep customers buying, over and over.
  • Why thousands of online marketers are leaving money on the table and risking trouble with the FTC by relying on testimonials for social proof.
  • How you can use 3 simple skills to ramp up your profits through social networking, social media, and surveys.

And then, she and Mike will explain the secret weapon that lets you know who your prospects are, what they want and how they think.

Sign up here now.

P. S. When you sign up, you get 2 special reports—and one is about how a survey transformed my business.  On the call, Jeanne and Mike are giving away two things to five lucky winners: a cool new product that will be sold for at least $97 and another helpful special report.

(Shutterstock photo)

How to generate publicity from Pi Day

Pi symbol on a blue circle

Piggybacking publicity onto popular or obscure days, weeks and months of the year is one of the easiest ways to find your way into the media, and I give lots of examples in my ebook, How to be a Kick-butt Publicity Hound.
  
Here’s one of the more obscure days of the year.  It’s Pi Day, and it’s today, 3/14.  It celebrates pi, which is 3.141592653589793, the mathematical constant that goes on without any repeating patterns, right into infinity.
    
Columnist Jim Stingl of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel wrote a column in today’s paper about two local businesses that are celebrating:
  • Discovery World Museum is giving prizes to math wizards and Einsteins who can recite from memory the most digits of pi.  
        
  • Each year, Whole Foods Market in Milwaukee gives away free slices of apple, cherry or blueberry pie, starting at 3:14 p.m. It also sells pies for $3.14.

Your business doesn’t have to be tied to food, or math, in order for you to generate a little publicity from Pi Day.  What can you sell for $3.14?  Or what challenge can you issue to your customers that ties into the numbers 3, 1 and 4?

Update:
    
Someone who commented on Stingl’s column another great publicity idea:
    
“When I used to work as a medical researcher, our department celebrated Pi Day every year by bringing pies into work on that day.  A lot of people would bring in pies and we’d set up the pies on a credenza in the hall outside of the labs along with plates and forks, whipped cream, etc. On the wall above the pies there were fun facts about pie.”
    
This is something ANY business or nonprofit can do.  Try it, and invite the local TV stations and newspapers.
    
For more ideas, see Special Report #45: How to Generate National Publicity from Your Own Holiday (or Day, Week or Month of the Year). Or if you don’t want to create your own day, you can always piggyback onto someone else’s.

‘Refired Not Retired Day’ needs promotion ideas

refired, not retired book coverPhyllis May of Key West, FL, writes:

“March 1 is my day in Chase’s Calendar of Events.  It’s ‘Refired not Retired Day’ and it’s also the title of my book. It’s a humoprous book that shows people how to make the most of life after retirement.  

“Might your Publicity Hounds have suggestions for things I can suggest for people to do on March 1? Amazingly, because I have a Google Alert, there is a restaurant in Australia that has it on their calendar. I wrote and told them I thought I should be there but they didn’t respond. Darn.

“One time I saw an assisted living facility promoting it but I truly don’t know any BIG ideas. Can your creative readers help?”


19+ story ideas to generate publicity, PR for your business

sign agaisnt a blue sky that says "news"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.


12 ways to use my free ebook of publicity tips

Ebook cover: The Best of The Publicity Hound's Tips of the Week 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.