The Publicity Hound’s Blog  

If you haven’t subscribed to the free media leads courtesy of PitchRate.com, you could be missing the chance to score a big hit in a top-tier media outlet, or reach your target audience with your message in a niche media outlet. You can read more about this media leads service that matches sources with journalists. 

Of the many leads posted at the site this week, here are four I’ve plucked out for Publicity Hounds:

Life coaches:

Dr. Dan, who has an Internet TV show, is doing a segment called Living Life Like a Rock Star. He’s looking for experts in self development, life coaches, leaders and anyone who is passionate about living life like a rock star.  ”We want to hear how you’ve created the life you have, what principles you live your life by, and what it is that you want to contribute to the world.” The deadline for responding is June 8.

Faith-based franchises:

Reuters.com wants to talk to operators and others who have worked with faith-based franchise companies. “How does it affect the culture of the company? How do customer perceive the business?” Deadline for responding is June 10.

   
Virginia brides:

Virginia Bride magazine is doing an article on do-it-yourself weddings and wants to know about trends. ”How popular are DIY weddings? What should a bride know before planning one? How can they save money without looking like they skimped on things? What shouldn’t ever be DIY when it comes to weddings?” Deadline for responding is June 11.

Business owners:

Blog Talk Radio is looking for successful business owners for a series its featuring during the entire month of June on Empowering You Radio. ”We are running a series during the month of June to discuss today’s business challenges and needs. I am looking for successful business owners who would like to chat about their needs, challenges and struggles. Focusing on finding solutions for the listener base and encouraging them to step out. No experts needed, I am looking for real people with real experiences to share.” Deadline for responding is June 8.

If any of these media leads are perfect for you or someone you know, you can get contact information, more details, and more leads at PitchRate.com.

Posted In: Business Promotion, Magazine Publicity, Media Leads, Pitching the Media, Publicity for Niche Markets
posted On: 5/31/2009: 12:58 pm: By Joan
Comments: 1 Comment

Street Report Magazine is looking for women DJs to feature in its ”DJs With Clout” section in the April issue.

The magazine is a Southern-based hip hop publication that gives exposure to independent artists. Send a press kit to Kim Ellis. She urges you to spread the word about this media lead.

Posted In: Magazine Publicity, Media Leads
posted On: 3/26/2009: 11:00 am: By Joan
Comments: No Comments

If you live in South Florida and you’d be willing to be a source for Mildred L. Culp, who writes the syndicated column called Workwise,  please email her. 

She’s looking for sources for upcoming columns, which are featured in The Miami Herald and elsewhere. Sources must represent the diverse ethnic community.

Posted In: Media Leads, Newspaper Publicity, Pitching the Media
posted On: 2/7/2009: 2:06 am: By Joan
Comments: 1 Comment

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

If you’re a member of your local chamber of commerce and the only thing you have to show for it is the receipt for your annual dues, don’t even think about dropping out.

Because you’re a smart Publicity Hound, you have an opportunity right at your fingertips to be a star in the organization and generate so much publicity for yourself that all the other members will be scratching their heads, wondering how in the world you’ve done it. Nonprofits, this applies to you, too.

Here’s what to do.

The next time the chamber has an event that the local media won’t cover, act like a reporter and cover it yourself. Buy an inexpensive Flip video camera and interview people at the event. (The camera shown in the photo above isn’t a Flip.)

If it’s a routine chamber breakfast meeting with a speaker, interview the speaker after the presentation for a segment of two to three minutes. At the same breakfast, create another short video. Ask the chamber president to provide a brief infomercial of upcoming chamber events like the annual golf outing or street festival.

At bigger events, like the annual awards banquet, interview the Business Person of the Year. If you really want to create a stir, choose a controversial topic that chamber members are buzzing about, like a proposed sales tax increase in your state. Interview one person on each side of the issue. You’ve just created two more videos.

Import the videos into your computer, which takes a minute or two, edit them, upload them to your website, give the chamber the links to the videos, and then watch what happens.

The chamber will probably email all its members and tell them to go to your website. Many of those members will share the links with their friends. The links will end up in the next chamber newsletter. And who knows where else.

Here’s the best part. You can offer that same videos to the local newspaper, magazine and TV and radio stations for use at their websites. Print media, in particular, are hungry for user-generated video, even if it’s of events that they’ve decided not to cover.

That’s what videographer John Easton does in Charlotte, North Carolina. He covers local business events and uploads them to his blog, or to his own streaming video channel, sort of like his own TV station, and then he offers the video to local media.

Too busy to fuss with all these details?

John says every community is teaming with people who you can hire for next to nothing to shoot and edit the video for you. He explained how to find them when he was a guest on a teleseminar I conducted recently on “9 Clever Ways to Use Video to Become a Publicity Darling in Your Industry or Community.”

If you’re not a member of a chamber of commerce, you can still cover events in your community and submit the video to local media that are hungry for user-generated content.

Posted In: Blogs, Business Promotion, Citizen journalism, How to Interview, Magazine Publicity, Media Leads, Publicity on the Internet, Radio Publicity, Special Events, Video
posted On: 6/3/2008: 6:35 pm: By Joan
Comments: 1 Comment