Pitching the Media

Doing business locally? Share your blog at Patch.com

1/31/2012 By Joan Leave a Comment

At the winter farmer’s market in my town, I ran into my local editor for Patch.com, the uber-local website that’s giving Publicity Hounds yet another outlet for their press releases, photos and local news.

Lyssa Beyer and Matt Schroeder, her associate regional editor, were stopping shoppers and asking if they knew about Patch, which operrates in 22 states in the U.S. and the District of Columbia. Two weeks earlier, I had pitched a story about my local garden club to Beyer, and she said yes. They’re interviewing one of our members this week. So this was a good chance to meet her in person.

Here are her tips on how to use Patch:

1. Share your blog posts.

If you have your own blog, or even if you don’t, you can register to be a blogger at your local Patch site. Go to Patch.com, click on the state where live, and then the Patch community where you want your blog to appear. Scroll down and look for the “Want to Blog on Patch?” button in the middle column. Introduce yourself, tell the editor a little about your blog, and wait for instructions.

You can share all your posts, or some of them. I recommend you tweak your posts to give them a local angle.

Your post won’t appear until the local editor approves it. Patch welcomes moderated comments at all blogs. So check back periodically to continue the conversation if people comment on your posts.

Local nonprofits, this is a great opportunity for you, too!

2. Pitch news and feature stories to your local editor.

Beyer responded to my pitch within 48 hours. Remember, local news is their bread and butter, so don’t be shy.

When you pitch, let the editor know if you can offer contact information for other sources, or photos and graphics.

3. Invite your local editor for coffee.

Beyer says she meets regularly with people in the community, usually at local coffee shops. This is a great chance to start building the relatonship. Invite your local editor for coffee even if you don’t have a story to pitch. See 18 ways to schmooze with reporters and Magic phrases to use with the media.

4. Claim your free listing for businesses and organizations.

Patch includes a free directory of local businesses and organizations. Listings include details such as hours, payments and more, tools for owners, original photos, a description, and customer feedback. If you’re squeamish about people reviewing your business, get over it. They’re probably already talking about you somewhere online. Read about 11 ways to use Yelp to respond to bad reviews. Much of that applies to Patch, too.

chocolate chisel listing on Port Washington Patch

5. Post your event on the calendar.

One of the reasons I love Patch is because readers can sign up for daily email alerts. When I get mine, I usually drop what I’m doing and head on over to Patch to see what’s happening in my community.

6. Share your photos and videos.

The Gallery section is a great place to upload photos or videos that promote an upcoming event, or photos or videos you took at an event.  Remember, stand-alone photos and videos are welcome. You don’t necessarily have to have a big news story.


7. Write an announcement.

Just married? New baby? Make the honor roll? Spread the word in an announcement. This is for personal news only, not promoting your business.

Those are my tips for using Patch. What are yours? If you’re using Patch, what kinds of results have you seen? More people attending your events? More people saying, “I saw you on Patch”?

Filed Under: Photos & Graphics, Pitching the Media Tagged With: business news, business promotion, event publlicity, local newssite, lyssa beyer, matt schroeder, nonprofit PR, patch.com, publcity

Dog Tweets: 10 content marketing tips for 2012

1/13/2012 By Joan Leave a Comment

Here are my Top 10 tweets from this past week, great for retweeting! If you missed these, follow me on Twitter.

10 content marketing tips for 2012. http://ow.ly/8mLqd

Top 3 Video Marketing Lessons from Nielsen. http://ow.ly/8mLRO

Bloggers: Want (recurring) donations from your readers? Just ask! http://ow.ly/8ohOz

Daily newspapers going the way of the milkman. http://ow.ly/8ox57

Authors: 10 Cool & Creative Ideas for Bookmarks. http://ow.ly/8pyWH

Blogggers & Columnists: Submit your best stuff for the 2012 Column Contest. http://ow.ly/8oy5O

How to Destroy Your Online Reputation in 3 Days or Less http://ow.ly/8obvQ

How to learn which content you’re sharing on Facebook is hitting your fans’ hot buttons. http://ow.ly/8ohbA

5 incredibly fun ideas to build your fan base & engage them on Facebook & Twitter. http://ow.ly/8mNYQ

16 things to check when you edit. http://ow.ly/8mNBH

Filed Under: Authors & Publishers, Pitching the Media, Publicity on the Internet, Twitter Tagged With: best tweets, dog tweets, publicity hound tweets

15 magnets to help you capture & convert leads at your website and more tweets

12/23/2011 By Joan Leave a Comment

Here are my Top 10 tweets from this past week, great for retweeting! If you missed these, follow me on Twitter.

PR Pros: When you write a press release, do you share it on social media sites? Experts disagree. http://ow.ly/8486v

15 magnets to help you capture & convert leads at your website. http://ow.ly/83XYg

Heading To a Trade Show in 2012? 5 Tips for Getting the Most ROI Out Of Your Event: http://ow.ly/859iM

Retailers: 17 ways to use Twitter to engage your audience. [No excuse not to tweet!] http://ow.ly/83UdR

Publicity Tip: Readers LOVE year-end lists, like this one, The 50 Best Workout Songs of the Year. http://ow.ly/83RUZ

The Essential word List for Lazy PR Writers.http://ow.ly/859s3

5 ways to master the new Facebook timeline. http://ow.ly/86rsi

When Business Blogging Works Too Well… | Writing On The Web by Patsi Krakoff, The Blog Squad http://bit.ly/ukgnlr

Do you have a form at your website? Add this clever tool to encourage people to promote you: http://ow.ly/85fX7

Local news outlets among Google’s most-searched terms: http://ow.ly/85ath

Filed Under: Media Leads, Pitching the Media, Social media marketing, Special Events, Twitter Tagged With: Facebook, public relations, publicity, SEO, social media, Special Events, Twitter

Piggyback PR onto Baldwin & celebrities behaving badly

12/8/2011 By Joan 2 Comments

Another case of a celebrity behaving badly, and another opportunity for Publicity Hounds in a variety occupations to generate some PR by tying into this story.

This time, it’s Alec Baldwin who was kicked off an American Airlines plane on Tuesday for refusing to stop playing Zynga’s Words With Friends on his phone. The plane was parked at the gate and the seat belt light was still on.

When Baldwin was asked to turn off his phone, things got ugly. He stood up, took his phone into the plane’s lavatory, slammed the door and started yelling at the crew.

Here are 7 ways you could piggyback onto that story:

Why are airline regulations so strict? This is a perfect time for flight instructors, pilots, and owners of aviation schools to explain why you can’t use a Kindle, cell phones, laptops or other electronic devices at certain times either in the air or on the ground.
What makes this game so addictive? “Words With Friends” has 12.6 million active monthly users, according to tracking service AppData. If you’re an addict, let the media know. Where do you play it? When do you play it? How good are you? And what’s the big attraction?
Is this game a teaching tool for kids? The game is intended for children 9 and older. Teachers, librarians, tutors and others who teach kids: Explain the benefits of this game for teaching children how to spell and read.
What are the best ways to control your temper when you’re ready to explode? And if you do lose control, what’s the best way to apologize? Anger management experts, what a great opportunity for offering tips on how to behave nicely with others on a cramped airplane, and then say you’re sorry. Baldwin apologized to fellow passengers, but not to the airline.
What are the worst behaviors exhibited by airline passengers? Baldwin is just one of hundreds of boors who make life difficult for airline crews and passengers. What are the Top 10 worst behaviors on airplanes? Frequent fliers, start making a list. And then explain how—or if—you get involved. Offer it as a guest blog post to bloggers who write about etiquette, electronics, human behavior or the airlines industry. Or pitch it to your local newspaper.
How did American Airlines handle this from a PR standpoint? The airlines wrote about it on its Facebook page, but didin’t mention Baldwin by name.
What does this kind of publicity mean for a product like Words With Friends? Bloggers have already written about the perfect timing because Zynga is about to go public. Experts in marketing, branding, investmentsw and the stock market should weigh in.

What other ways can you think of to piggyback PR onto this story? Have you ever generated great publicity for yourself or your PR client because you tied your story to Janet Jackson’s “wardrobe malfunction,” a celebrity’s drug or alcohol rehab, or any other less-than-flattering celebrity story? Tell us what you did, and the results. And then share this post on the social media sites.

I write more tips like this one in my free weekly ezine, “The Publicity Hound’s Tips of the Week.” You can join the fun and learn new publicity techniques every week by typing your name and email address into the box to the right, beneath my photo.

Filed Under: Blogs, Facebook, Pitching the Media Tagged With: airline regulations, airline rules, alec baldwin, american airlines, anger management, appdata, electronic devices, faa regulations, faa rules, how to apologize, kindle, words with friends, zynga

How to piggyback PR onto top consumer trends for 2012

12/6/2011 By Joan 4 Comments

Every December, Trendwatching.com publishes an annual list of a dozen crucial trends for the following year.

If you’re looking for a hook to hang a story onto, so you can pitch it to the media and bloggers, there are lots of opportunities.

Here’s the list of 12 Crucial Trends for 2012 (there are actually 13):

You won’t be able to determine instantly what each one means, so go to the website and read more. Trendwatching also has provided a helpful list of four tips you should read that helps you understand how you can use this list and actually make money from it:

Influence or shape your company’s vision.
Come up with a new business concept, an entirely new venture, a new brand.
Add a new product, service or experience for a certain customer segment.
Speak the language of those consumers already “living” a trend.

How about a fifth? Tie a story idea from your company or nonprofit into one of the trends.

Here are some some examples I thought of that tie into items on the list above:

1. Red Carpet. Are you one of the department stores, airlines, hotels, theme parks, museums or cities that plan to roll out the red carpet for Chinese visitors and customers with tailored services and perks? If so, when? And how does this tie in with your overall marketing plan? A great story for local business journals.
3. Dealer-Chic. What are you doing to reward thrifty consumers who love the thrill of chasing down bargains and deals? Have you started a Deal of the Day or a Deal of the Weak? What about membership clubs or rewards programs?
4. Eco-cycology. The media particularly love stories about making the environment cleaner. Pitch anything dealing with innovative ways you’re recycling, how you’re encouraging employees to offer their best ideas and even products you’re making, or packaging you’re using, from recycled materials. How does this affect the bottom line? Any time you can point to a dollars-and-cents savings, you’ve got a great tidbit to include in your pitch.
8. Flawsome. What are you doing to be honest about your company’s flaws? How are you showing empathy, generosity, humility, flexibility, maturity, humor and character? Are you blogging and adopting a blog policy to address nasty comments head on? How are you showing your flaws on the social media sites? If you don’t have a social media policy yet, here are more than 80 free sample social media policies you can review.
9. Screen Culture. What are you doing with your website or sales process to make it easier for consumers to connect with you by simply touching the screens on their tablet or smart phone or at the kiosk at the local malls? Nonprofits, are you making it easier for people to donate?