Company PR departments spend hours—entire days even—poring over a press release, picking apart every paragraph and sentence—and then waiting for multiple layers of approval before it goes live.

Everyone puts their stamp of approval on the document that includes words and phrases THEY like. If only the readers were that receptive.

The next time you write a press release, or copy for marketing materials, or your CEO’s next speech, don’t guess about whether the message will resonate. Know exactly which words and phrases drive persuasive communications.

Word wizard Dr. Frank Luntz will discuss “Words That Work in the Press, Politics & Public Relations” during an audio teleconference at 1 p.m. Eastern Time on Tuesday, May 4, hosted by Bulldog Reporter. Registration is $99 per person. You can lean more and register here.

If Luntz looks familiar, it’s probably because he’s been a guest on almost every talk show in America, including  Meet the Press, Nightline, The Today Show, Charlie Rose, The Jim Lehrer News Hour, The O’Reilly Factor, Tavis Smiley, Montel Williams, and Hardball.  He also served as a consultant to the award-winning NBC hit show “The West Wing.”

The “Instant Response” focus group technique Luntz pioneered, in which focus group respondents “dial” their approval  or disapproval on hand-held gadgets, has been profiled on 60 Minutes, Good Morning America (on Election Day 2008) and on the award-winning PBS show Frontline.

His focus groups have become so influential that presidential candidate Barack Obama had this to say following the PBS presidential debate, “When Frank Luntz invites you to talk to his focus group, you talk to his focus group.”

During next Tuesday’s call, you’ll learn how to grab your audiences’ attention and, ultimately, influence their behavior. You’ll also discover how to maximize what Luntz e calls “ROL” (return on language) in areas ranging from corporate reputation and employee satisfaction to product development and media relations.

Every month or so, it seems, we’re hearing one more story about how somebody committed a crime with help from Craigslist.

In March, a New York City prostitute was killed after meeting a client on the world’s largest classified ad bulletin board.  

Two weeks ago, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that a 15-year-old Wisconsin girl who ran away from home sold sex acts in Milwaukee to men who found her ad and photo on Craigslist. And on it goes.

Regardless of what you’re selling or promoting, don’t let the bad publicity sway you. Craigslist remains a popular home for the kind of news Publicity Hounds want to promote:  business services, events, classes and workshops, sewing circles, dog shows, arts and entertainment, public service announcements and more. Post regularly to the Craigslist nearest to your city.

If you live in the middle of nowhere and the nearest list is in a small city, that’s OK. A Q&A in The New York Times last year called “Here are the Answers to Your Craigslist Questions” featured Jim Buckmaster, the CEO of Craigslist, and Craig Newmark, the list’s founder. They said you don’t have to live in big cities to get lots of exposure on Craigslist.

“Surprisingly, postings to smaller markets like Des Moines often get more page views than ones in large cities where there are more postings competing for attention,” Buckmaster said.

If you are unfamiliar with Craigslist, or even if you’ve been posting for several years, it’s best to read the rules before you post again.  

Nancy Mills, a Craigslist expert who shared tips on how to use Craigslist for publicity during a teleseminar I hosted, said the rules often change without warning, and if you don’t know what you are allowed to post, and where, you can get kicked off the list.

As for critics who abandon Craigslist because of the bad publicity, that would be like me closing up my business, which is almost exclusivly Internet marketing-based, because the Internet has a dark and dangerous side. That won’t happen.

Wayne Loder of Milford, Michigan writes:

“I’m the Public Awareness Coordinator for The Compassionate Friends/USA, a national self-help bereavement organization with a mission to assist families toward the positive resolution of grief following the death of a child of any age and to provide information to help others be supportive.
 
“The second week in September of 2008 has been designated as the first Compassionate Friends Month. Week.  ” I want to give each of our 600 chapters in the United States a CD or packet of materials they can use for PR. I have promised that I would also arrange national publicity.

“I want to give them a press release template to send to their local newspapers; a template poster to place at libraries, churches, grocery stores, etc.; Public Service Announcements for local radio and newspapers; and a template proclamation for local governmental bodies.”
 
“On the national level, I plan to distribute a press release, and will also provide information to the major nursing magazines and funeral director publications, the two major bereavement magazines, and will contact state funeral director associations in all 50 states. I haven’t, as yet, checked out what national magazines might have some type of calendar or announcement area where a notice could be placed.
 
“Would your Hounds have additional suggestions on what other backup materials I could provide chapters, and where I could try for additional national coverage?”
 

PR people hate being called flacks. And they despise the word “spin.” 

But not the left-leaning PR pros hosting the True Spin Conference Jan. 31 and Feb. 1 in Denver,  Colorado. It’s a media relations training session with panels, workshops and networking.  

“This conference brings together flacks from progressive advocacy groups around the country to exchange ideas and learn new and creative PR tactics,” the press release says. “Officials from giant corporations meet all the time to share their latest and greatest media relations strategies. This is our turn. It’s the only national conference of its kind.”

Keynote Speakers are Dr. Lori Dorfman of the Berkeley Media Studies Group; Alan Jenkins of The Opportunity Agenda and David Sirota, syndicated columnist and author of Hostile Takeover.

Most PR training conferences I attend have workshop titles more potent than Ambien. Not these:

• Do Progressives Suck at PR?
• Journalists Turned Flacks
• Using Web Tools to Megaphone and Hone Your Message (See “Let Bloggers Create Publicity for You.“)
• Be like PETA!
• Pranks with a Purpose: A Report from the Front Lines of the New Creative Activism

With fun titles like that, it’s no wonder last year’s Spin Conference sold out. 

Wishing and hoping for your own show on national TV?

Stop waiting for an invitation to audition. Instead, create your own show on your cable TV company’s public access channel.

That’s what foodie Dave Lieberman did when he was a student at Yale University. On his show “Campus Cuisine,” he demonstrated how fellow students could cook like a gourmet on a shoestring budget. One segment, for example, showed how to whip up a smoothie using dining-hall fruit.

The show gained a cult following, with many students clamoring for recipes they could cook to impress a date. Students passed around tapes of his show, and his fame spread from the campus in New Haven, Connecticut to the studios of the Food Network, where 27-year-old Lieberman now stars in his own popular cooking show “Good Deal with Dave Lieberman.”

Taking advantage of the public access channel, where you don’t pay for air time, gives you invaluable experience in front of a camera. You can make your mistakes before a relatively small audience, and learn as you go. When you’re ready for the next step, you can take your show nationwide by buying leased access time in TV markets large or small.

PR guy Robert Smith of Rockfor, Ill. has been using this strategy for himself and his PR clients for the last few years. During a teleseminar I conducted with him called “How to Get Your Own National TV Show for Less Than $400 a Month,” he explained that using leased access lets you target specific cities during specific times of the day or night. Buying air time in 20 small, inexpensive markets throughout the U.S. can generate as many viewers as buying air time in one large expensive market like New York City.

And who knows? Somebody from one of the networks might be watching.

Have you ever found yourself writing a great article, or website copy or even a press release, and suddenly you’re hopelessly stuck because you can’t think of a better way to say a word like “authentic” or “beautiful” or “free”?

I’ve been known to sit there for 20 minutes staring at the screen.

My friend Denise Wakeman, half of The Blog Squad, told me about the book “Words That Sell” by Richard Bayan.

She says she keeps it right next to her keyboard at all times, and I can see why. You use it like a thesaurus.

The book is divided into separate “chapters” devoted to a specific word of phrase. Each chapter usually offers several dozen suggestions for words that are similar to the one you’re stuck on.

I particularly love the chapters devoted to transitional phrases, the P.S., justifying a high price, and flattering the reader. I can think of dozens of uses for this book: press releases, media kits, blogging, article writing, website copy, sales copy, public service announcements, information products, White Papers, office memos, marketing copy, columns, pitches to the media, and letters to the editor. Even those obnoxious annual Christmas letters.  

I was so impressed with this book that I did an entire lecture on it for members of The Publicity Hound Mentor Program recently. They loved it.

Denise and her partner, Patsi Krakoff, by the way, will be my guests tomorrow as part of Publicity Hound University. They’ll talk about the power of blogging and podcasting.

If your company is switching from paper to ceramic coffee cups, from paper to cloth napkins in the cafeteria, recycling almost everything, or doing anything else in the category of “going green,” be sure to spread the word.

Journalists, in particular, love to jump on almost any story about saving the environment. You can pitch to business journals, your local daily and weekly newspapers, and local TV stations. Alternative weeklies also love stories like these.

Don’t foget the bloggers and podcasters.

Nonprofits and charities, start pitching your “going green” stories too. Consider submitting green-related public service announcements.

Schools, what unusual projects are kids doing this summer to save the environment?

Refer to your editorial calendars to see which special sections might be the best fit for your story idea.

If you’re a nonprofit or charity operating on a shoestring budget, take advantage of an Internet radio show that wants your public service announcements.  

“That Marketing Show,” hosted by Rodger Roeser, needs 30-second and 60-second audio public service announcements to air during the show. Your organization can get in front of lots of marketing industry executives who decide which organizations their companies and clients should align with.

No PSA to give them? That’s OK. Rodger can record one for you for a small fee. Learn more here.

Paul Hartunian, who recorded a teleseminar with me called “Failproof Publicity Tips for Your Nonprofit,” says PSAs are just one of many ways that budget-strapped organizations can build the buzz.

He also mentioned creating a free hotline devoted to a specific topic, then recording a different message daily. You don’t even have to man the hotline with a human being. Just tell people to call the hotline for that day’s message. Write a press release about the hotline, and chances are good the media will mention it. 

Sponsor a contest on whatever it is you’re promoting, and let the amateur videographers over at YouTube participate.

That’s what the nonprofit SmartPower has done. Its national non-profit marketing campaign, which promotes the use of clean renewable energy from sources such as wind, solar and water, is sponsoring a contest at YouTube.com for the most creative 30- second public service announcement.

It has contacted film students, environmentalists and others committed to a cleaner future. So far, it has collected 11 videos on its YouTube page.

A panel of judges will review the ads, and the winning entry will receive $10,000 and be included in SmartPower’s national TV campaign.

Deadline is April 22, Earth Day. Learn more about the contest.

If you’ve found a way to get YouTubers involved in your publicity, advertising or marketing campaign, let the media know.

Stories like this are perfect for top-tier media outlets as well as for smaller papers like business journals and daily newspapers and even TV stations, simply because YouTube is so hot.

But that doesn’t mean the media will jump on just anything related to YouTube. You must pitch quickly and convincingly. Raleigh Pinskey, who was my guest during a teleseminar called “How to Create the Perfect 30-Second Pitch,” says you have to attract the attention of busy media people, sometimes in as few as 5, by leading with your best material right at the front of the pitch.

That means asking a question, or offering an interesting statistic or stating something that sounds outlandish.

Carrollyn Cox of Virginia Beach writes:

“I need help with distribution of video/TV public service announcements I just produced for Optimist International (at very little cost, I might add).

“I know how to personally approach local media, the public access channels and the local cable company. But we need an inexpensive way to distribute continent-wide. Is there such an animal?  Do any of your Hounds know how to do this?”