The Publicity Hound’s Blog  

A common frustration with media interviews results when the reporter, for whatever reason, never mentions your website.

Here’s a way to solve that problem.  

The next time somebody interviews you, and the reporter asks for the name of your company, use your website URL, not the actual company name.

Instead of me being the owner of “The Publicity Hound,” my company is simply PublicityHound.com.

That little trick won’t work every time, but it should work with telephone interviews, and especially when the reporter is rushed.

OK, but what happens if you can’t even persuade reporters to call? You pitch a story and it goes nowhere. Then what?

Have you followed up your pitch at least seven times?

If you haven’t, no wonder they’re not calling you.  Jill Lublin, author of “Guerilla Publicity,” says you shouldn’t believe journalists who say they hate follow-ups. They hate lousy follow-ups. When I  interviewed her during a teleseminar on “Failproof Ways to Follow Up with Reporters,” Jill said reporters often appreciate it when sources call a few days after they’ve pitched a story idea to offer something special like a graphic, or a photo, or an interview with a somebody who lives in the newspaper’s circultion area. 

I agree. I worked in a newsroom for 22 years as a reporter and editor and was grateful for sources who saved my hide.

Posted In: Newspaper Publicity, Pitching the Media, The Local Angle
posted On: 6/24/2008: 1:24 pm: By Joan
Comments: 1 Comment

Flooding in the Midwest. Wild fires in California. Snow in the Northwest. Scorching heat on the East Coast.

And it’s still only spring.

This is the time to pitch weather stories. If you sell or give away a product or service to help people cope with the weather, let the media know. They’re hungry for any tie-in.

Several years ago, after terrible flooding in the Midwest, the president of a Minnesota company that sells dehumidifiers called a local drive-time radio show on a popular Milwaukee station. It was during a week when homeowners had bought every small engine and generator in the state, which they used to remove water from basements. On that afternoon, there wasn’t a generator to be found in a store anywhere in Wisconsin.

For at least 10 minutes, the host interviewed the company president who explained how his machine works. The host even repeated the company’s toll-free phone number several times. I remember thinking, “Now THAT’S smart!”   

What story idea can you pitch to help people cope? As I explained in my “Special Report #37: How to Tie Your Product, Service, Cause or Issue to the Weather,” piggybacking onto the weather is one of the easiest ways to get into the news, yet few Publicity Hounds take advantage of this opportunity.  

Start today adding weather stories to your 12-month publicity plan or media plan.

Posted In: Advertising, Business Promotion, Pitching the Media, Radio Publicity, The Local Angle
posted On: 6/17/2008: 12:01 pm: By Joan
Comments: No Comments

Milan Stevanovich of Detroit, Michigan writes: 

“Michigan just passed a 40 percent rebate to companies filming movies and TV programs in the state.  If you use Michigan companies and labor, you get a 40 percent instant rebate after production—big savings for number-crunching entertainment financiers.

“For the last three weeks, my associates and I have schmoozed a dozen Hollywood actors, producers, and those in charge of locating properties for shoots.

“My client owns 100 buildings in Detroit and eventually will have the lion’s share of any studios built on his properties. Recently, production companies have been coming to us looking for investors for productions. The laws here make it incredibly competitive because of the rebates.

“How do we take advantage of this window of opportunity to be the epicenter of everything Hollywood in Michigan?  How do we best get the word out that my associates are one degree of separation from the best locations, investors, suppliers and vendors at the epicenter of this new burgeoning industry in our great state?”

Posted In: Business Promotion, Magazine Publicity, Newspaper Publicity, The Local Angle
posted On: 5/6/2008: 1:50 pm: By Joan
Comments: 3 Comments

American Airlines’ more than 1,000 canceled flights this week offer a chance for business travelers and others to piggyback off this news story.

The airlines canceled more than 930 flights today, stranding tens of thousands of travelers in airports throughout the U.S. More than 570 flightsw are expected to be canceled on Friday, with the schedule back to normal later this weekend.

Here’s how Publicity Hounds can piggyback onto this news:

—If you’re speaker who couldn’t get to your speaking engagement, let your local media know. You’re the local angle to this national story.

—Meeting planners, what did you do when your keynote speaker never showed?

—Stress experts, what can stranded travelers do to ease the pain?

—Travel experts, what kinds of contingency plans should travelers make before leaving home so they aren’t at the mercy of the airline that cancels a flight?

Posted In: Pitching the Media, The Local Angle
posted On: 4/10/2008: 9:54 pm: By Joan
Comments: No Comments

Newspapers are headed for extinction, but celebrity news has never been more in demand.

The Associated Press wire service is hiring 21 writers this year, spread across Los Angeles, New York and London, says Nikki Finke’s Deadline Hollywood Daily blog.

It’s also cold comfort that AP insists its new separate entertainment vehicle is “not about gossip, unnamed sources and innuendo or about ‘peephole’ journalism with AP photographers becoming paparazzi.” Instead, the wire service claims it’s just giving its members what they want “in an area of growing interest” because it “makes good business sense.”

If the AP covers a story, it will send it to hundreds of its member papers. So there’s a big advantage to getting into an AP story. The push for more celebrity news is a great chance for experts to piggyback onto it. 

Debra Holtzman does just that. She’s an author and child safety expert and keeps a close eye on celebrity news. When she sees a celebrity putting a child at risk, or announcing a pregnancy or adoption, she responds by writing press releases.

For example, when Madonna and her husband, Guy Ritchie, decided to adopt a baby boy, Debra wrote a press release headlined Madonna and Guy’s Perfect Baby Room for David, with tips on how to create a safe nursery. She has received lots of coverage from top-tier publications as a result of her press releases.

What kind of celebrity news can you piggyback onto? (See “Special Report #50: How to Piggyback onto Celebrity News to Promote Your Product, Service, Cause or Issue.”)

Posted In: Celebrity tie-ins, Newspaper Publicity, Pitching the Media, Press Releases/News Releases, Publicity on the Internet, The Local Angle
posted On: 3/21/2008: 5:17 pm: By Joan
Comments: No Comments