If you’re a guest expert, or a PR person who represents an expert, and you’re looking for radio talk shows and podcasts that need guests, don’t pitch only the big shows.

Many of them are difficult to book, and you might be far better off trying to get onto shows that reach niched audiences.

Check out RadioGuestList.com.  You can use this site several ways.
       
      

How to be on a show

Experts, authors and PR firms searching for the right shows can sign up here. Whenever a talk show is looking for guests, RadioGuestList will notify you.
  
     
How to find guests for your show

If you’re a radio show booker, podcaster, talk radio host or TV producer who needs guests, submit your talk show booking opportunities here. RadioGuesetList will email its list of guest experts, authors and PR firms so that experts who are a good fit for your show can email you directly.
     
    
How to see which shows are available 

On the homepage, you can see a list of categories on the right side. I clicked on a few of them and saw lots of opportunities for authors, musicians, small business people and Internet marketers to appear as guests. If you have an area of expertise, you’ll find something here that’s a good fit.

The site is maintained by Scott Fox, an author and Internet marketer. Check out his 10 tips on how to use social networking to market your product or service. You can also follow RadioGuestList on Twitter.

Never done a radio interview before? George McKenzie, a former radio talk show host, offered tips galore when I interviewed him about how to get onto drive-time radio shows and ace the interview so that the host invites you back.

Have you used RadioGuestList.com? Share your success stories here.

Struggling to find a good story idea to pitch to the business reporter at your daily newspaper?

Wondering how to use your Facebook Fan page to promote your product or service?

Trying to catch the attention of the editors at Oprah’s magazine?

Help is on the way. Actually, it’s called “Help This Hound,” and it’s one of the most popular features in my weekly ezine, The Publicity Hound’s Tips of the Week, delivered every Tuesday.

      
Here’s how it works

Anyone who needs help with publicity or marketing can email a question to me, along with their name and town. If I use your question, I’ll post it here at my blog, and then print the question in my ezine.

Readers who are willing to help can offer their best ideas as blog comments.  I choose the best ideas and print them in the following week’s newsletter. Authors, small business owners, PR people, publicists and nonprofits submit the most questions.

  
Here’s why “Help This Hound” is so popular

• Most of us are too close to our own businesses to be able to see clever angles or unusual hooks that can catch a journalist’s attention.
    
• Many Publicity Hounds are on razor-thin or non-existent publicity and marketing budgets. They appreciate the free ideas.
     
• The blog posts live forever. That means that as the search engines pull in traffic, ideas will be accumulating here over several months or years. If I use your question, check back every few weeks to see who else has commented.
     
• Even though I created this service to help you solve a problem, your question exposes you to my audience. Several people who have submitted questions over the years have gotten calls from journalists and bloggers who read about them in my newsletter. Others have even received additional business.

No anonymous questions, please. Be sure to offer enough information in your question so that my readers fully understand the problem. Explain what you’ve done that has or hasn’t worked. And include a link to your website. If appropriate, attach a photo of your product.

Right now, I’m short on questions, and I could really use yours. But don’t just email it to me. Help other Hounds by contibuting your best ideas when you see a question in my newsletter that you can answer.

  
How to subscribe

If you don’t subscribe to my newsletter, you can do so by typing your name and email address into the box on the right side of this screen, under my photo. Then check your email box (or spam folder) and click on the confirmation link.  

By the way, have you downloaded the five free publicity ebooks that include the best publicity tips from my ezine in 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009? They’re chock full of ideas, and there’s something there for everyone. 

As you’ll notice in the ebooks, many of the best publicity tips, success stories, and dog jokes and videos come directly from my readers, with attribution. 

I’d love to see yours.  Bring ‘em on!

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.

If you’re trying to get onto radio talk shows to promote your book, product, service, cause or issue—and you’re on a tight budget—a series of inexpensive ebooks will help you locate the contact information for shows in specific niches. 

Talk radio advocate Francine Silverman has based the ebooks on her book, Talk Radio Wants You: An Intimate Guide to 700 Shows and How to Get Invited (McFarland & Co.  2009).

The ebooks include the show theme and guest criteria, which is usually missing from radio websites, in addition to title of show, name of host, email, phone (optional), website, best method of contact, and where the show is aired. You’ll also find information on Internet radio shows.

“Naturally, there are more shows in the book in every category, but as more questionnaires are returned, the number of shows in the ebooks are likely to surpass the book’s,” Silverman says.  “The business ebook, for example, has 53 shows, compared to the book’s 49.”

Even though some of these shows are small, Publicity Hounds can use these gigs as practice sessions. Appearing on TV and radio talk shows in smaller markets lets you make your mistakes, and learn from them, in front of much smaller audiences. Then, and only then, will you be ready to hit the big-time talk shows in the top markets. 

The ebooks include information for these niches:

Business
53 shows, ($20). Covers workplace issues, innovation, entrepreneurship, business strategies, careers, finance, small business, sales, home-based businesses, investments, insurance, money management and real estate. 

Entertainment
30 shows ($12). Covers art, fashion, movies, music and comedy.

Politics
25 shows ($12). Covers conservative, liberal and Libertarian politics; current events; the Constitution; and pop culture.

Self-Help
27 shows ($12). Covers overs personal and professional goals, growth and empowerment, emotional freedom techniques, motivation, creativity, living one’s calling, making for a better world, transforming your life, and self-realization.

Health
20 shows ($12). Covers healthy living and lifestyles, fitness, health as a business advantage, natural healing, alternative medicine, medical travel, issues, education and treatment, and overcoming adversities.

New Age
35 shows ($15). Covers astrology, metaphysics, Tarot, Angels, psychic development, paranormal, parapsychology, holistic health, healing, mysticism, occult, mediums and more.

Customers will receive five free updates when Silverman gets information on five new shows in that niche.

To buy the book, pay by PayPal to franalive@optonline.net. Or send a check payable to Francine Silverman to P.O. Box 1333, Riverdale, New York, NY 10471.  She’ll email you your book when she receives your check.
  
I asked Francine for three sample listings, and here’s what she gave me.

Bob Hardcastle’s Money Talk

Name of Host: Bob Hardcastle

Theme: Financial

Where Aired: KFNS 590, St. Louis, Missouri

Guest Profile: Banking & Finance, Investment, Real estate, Commodities professionals

Email: delta@moneytalk.org

Website: http://www.moneytalk.org

Phone: 636-532-0484

Best Method of Contact: Phone
        
       
The Art Rocks! 

Talk Show Name of Host: Philly Joe Swendoza & Co-Host Alexandra Rosa (Executive Producer)

Where Aired: WS Radio

Theme: “Where art, fashion and Lifestyles collide”

Guest Profile: Someone in our related genre, rock stars, celebrities, people who want to showcase their product or service on our show as it takes the form of an Infomercial. 

Email: alexandra@artrocks247.com

Website: http://www.artrocks247.com and http://www.wsradio.com/artrocks

Phone: 619-890-254

Best Method of Contact: Email
   
   
Mission Unstoppable Radio

Name of Host: Unstoppable Frankie Picasso

Theme: Inspiring stories to help folks be Unstoppable

Where Aired: Blog Talk Radio

Guest Profile: Authors (preferred) who have been unstopppable in their lives, attaining their goals, overcoming tragedy or who help others, i.e., business, crime, music, religion, spouse abuse; all categories are open.

Email: coachpicasso@rogers.com

Website: http://www.instituteforquantumliving.com and http://www.unstoppableplanet.com

Phone: 519-267-2493

Best Method of Contact: Send books to 839 Avenue Rd, Cambridge, Ontario, N1R 5S4 Intiial contact. Email is best.

If you can’t afford your own photographer, or you take lousy photos, or you hate creating graphics, use a stock photo service to enhance everything from press releases to media kits in a PR campaign.

Royalty-free stock images can save you a lot of time and money trying to generate graphics on your own. Royalty-free means you can use the downloaded images forever and not have to worry about infringement issues.

Shutterstock has given me a complimentary subscription so I can try their service, and their photos come in handy at this blog. They’ve helped me compile this list of 13 ways you can use stock image photos in a PR campaign.

1. Blogs. Many bloggers are missing the opportunity to dress up their posts and make their blogs more attractive. Regardless of what topic I write about, I can usually find a stock image to accompany it.  
       
2. Ezines and print newsletters. Stock photos and illustrations can enhance articles in company newsletters and ezines. Now that so many ezine publishers produce HTML newsletters, stock images come in handy.
         
3. Press releases. Most press release distribution services allow customers to upload several images at no extra charge. If the headline doesn’t call attention to your release, the stock photo just might. Adding editorial stock images of premier events such as concerts or sports competitions can add weight and influence to a related press release, blog post or ezine article.
       
4. Presentations. Whether you’re submitting a proposal for a client, or you’re a speaker who’s presenting to an audience, compelling stock images used to illustrate business presentations can help capture the attention of your audience. Highlight key points with photos and illustrations in PowerPoint. 
       
5. Reports. Stock photos are a great way to add excitement to client reports and reinforce your accomplishments.
       
6. White Papers. White Papers often cry out for colorful stock imagery to break up text and hold readers’ attention. 
        
7. Media kits. Including stock photos and illustrations when designing a media kit or media kit inserts to add extra visual appeal. 
       
8. Event invitations and posters. Stock photos and illustrations allow PR professionals to create attractive event invitations. Stock images can also help create just the right mood for the event itself. Simply enlarge them to poster size and place them throughout the event location.  
       
9. Social media. Use them to enliven your your social media presence on sites such as Facebook, Twitter (Twitpic), Wikipedia, and more.  
       
10. Search engine optimization. By properly tagging a stock image within a release, blog or website, you can raise your site’s rankings. PR clients will appreciate the added value as well as your SEO savvy.
        
11. Your own website. Stock photos and illustrations are a great way to demonstrate creative flair and generate interest in your website, or your PR client’s.
        
12. Advertising.  If you’re buying an ad, a good stock photo can come in handy.
        
13. For the media. Offer stock photos to journalists if they’re coving a story about you, and the photos are a good tie-in. Sure,  the media have access to their own stock photos, but Rule #1 when working with the media is “Be helpful.” 

My ebook How to Use Photos & Graphics in Your Publicity Campaign offers thousands of helpful tips on how to  incorporate images into your publicity efforts.  

With so many international reporters and editors, TV producers and radio show hosts, it’s more important than ever that you pronounce their names correctly, particularly if you are appearing on their shows or pitching them by phone.

Ditto for potential clients and bosses, or for audience members who you call on from the platform if you’re a speaker or trainer.

HowtoSayThatName.com is the perfect place to learn. First, choose the correct language or nationality from the left side of the screen. Then type in the name you don’t know how to pronounce and click on the audio button. You’ll hear a native speaker pronouncing the name.  

Aside from the more common languages like French, Italian and Chinese, you’ll find more obscure languages, too, like Xhosa, Kikuya, Mandinka, Maasai and Wolof. Want to learn the correct pronunciation but not sure of the language you should choose? Type in the name anyway.  

A hat tip to business networking expert Lynne Waymon who submitted this to the SpeakerNetNews ezine, a terrific ezine for anyone who speaks for free or for a fee.

If you REALLY want to impress somebody and let them know you know the meaning behind their name, check out  20000Names.com, which features 20,000 names categorized by  country, language and meaning. 

Vicki Young of Dallas, Texas writes:

“What’s the best way for a very worthy nonprofit agency to get free help with their PR campaign?

“I’ve been doing PR work for Captain Hope’s Kids as a nonprofit client for years, but I have to step down. It’s a great organization in Dallas, Texas, that’s dedicated to meeting the critical needs of homeless children in North Texas.

“They need an annual marketing and public relations plan developed, and help publicizing their annual special events. 

“I know this agency isn’t the only one that needs volunteer PR help, so I’m hoping your Publicity Hounds can recommend ideas that will help many other groups, too. Where should we be looking for volunteer PR people who can write press releases, or at least advise nonprofits on how to create a good marketing plan?”

If you sell a consumer product or service that would make a great gift for the holidays, this is the perfect time to take advantage of a 25 percent discount to The Gift List, a subscription service that provides pitching tips and contact information for hundreds of media outlets that are planning special gift coverage.  

“This year more than ever, we’ve seen later deadlines at some very large national outlets,” says Amy Bates Stumpf. “And if you haven’t already noticed, the short leads for print outlets, including weekly national publications like People and US Weekly, regional publications, weekly and daily newspapers, are starting to show up online as we talk to editors about their upcoming plans for the holidays.”

Her media lists deliver contacts for national and regional magazines, the top 250 daily newspapers, news wires and syndicates, national television, and national radio, as well as a list for websites and blogs.

Amy says it’s still early for some newspapers and regional publications, which is why you’ll see additions to the list throughout the end of October.  “We’ve also started hearing from our broadcast outlets and will continue to load these as they make the decisions for holiday content.”

She’s offering the discouint for either the Print & Broadcast list or the Web & Blog list because Publicity Hounds might feel like they’ve missed out on the call for early pitches.

If you’re promoting a Tweetup, an event where people who Twitter come together to meet in person, or an event that’s open to anyone regardless of whether they tweet—like a class, a book-signing, a fund-raiser, or a fashion show at a department store—check out Twtvite.

Just fill in the blanks on the screen (event name, where, when, time) and describe your event in 140 or fewer characters.

Here’s an example of an event on Friday, May 1, hosted by Hanes, where people can meet their Hanes Comfort Crew bloggers and experience the Disney Design-a-Tee Store at Disney World in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.:

After creating your event, you can also:

• Designate whether the event is public or private, and limit the number of RSVPs.
      
• See pictures of attendees
       
• People following you on Twitter can leave comments and questions.
      
• You can display all tweets related to your Tweetup (and #hashtags).
        
• Make it searchable and available to travelers via TwtTRIP.
      
• Display the location on a Google map and add it to your calendar.
       
• Embed the invitation on your website.

Smart Publicity Hounds should be able to think of all kinds of uses for this.

Public speakers can promote public and private speaking engagements and training sessions. Musicians can promote concerts. Artists can advertise art shows and gallery openings. Tourist attractions can use it to promote upcoming events. Retailers can promote special sales and open houses. Anyone who hosts fund-raisers can reach many more attendees and donors than through traditional media—and for free!

A hat tip to PR pro Judy Lederman, who I love to follow on Twitter, for sharing this. She says she likes Twtvite for these reasons:

“It’s shotgun—an alternative to a more targeted evite (which would be hard to send to ALL your Twitter followers).

“It’s green—no paper needed.

“It’s a wonderful way to facilitate meetings with all the random people you’ve been blasting to on Twitter. It’s always fun to meet people you’ve interacted with online.

“And yes, the events are live—although it could work for virtual meetings I suppose. But the whole point is to invite tweeps to brick and mortar events.  This is the element that is currently a bit weak in Twitter—creating the “bridge”—but apps like this will help facilitate it and hopefully assist retailers in building business.”

How will you be using Twtvite to promote your events? 

If you’re planning a special event like an industry convention or a speaking engagement, even a teleseminar, invite the Twitter community to buzz about it.

At the opening session, announce from the stage or your teleseminar call  that participants who tweet about the event should use a hashtag, and then tell them what tag you want them to use.

A hash tag is the character # followed by a short word that describes the event, or a particular topic, on Twitter. 

For example, at the Stompernet Internet marketing event I attended over the weekend, audience members were asked to mark their tweets by typing “#Stompernet” within each one.

That makes it easy for other attendees, and even people who didn’t attend the event, to go to Twitter’s search box at  and type in “#Stompernet” and find all the tweets about the event, like this:

You might be wondering: Why would Stompernet want the rest of the world to take advantage of information at an event that only members and their guests can attend?

Here’s why:

—It creates interest in their membership site. I guarantee that if you search for all the “#Stompernet” tweets and read them, you will find at least three tips you can start using today to increse your bottom line. (Membership in Stompernet is closed but will reopen later this year. If you’re interested in joining, please email me and I’ll make sure I notify you when membership opens.) 

—Many of the thousands and possibly millions of people on Twitter who are following all the Stompernet members who are tweeting about the great speakers and tips are “retweeting” the tips to THEIR followers, and so on, thereby exposing potentially millions more people to Stompernet.

—No more whining that “The Daily Tattler didn’t cover our event, boo-hoo.” By using hashtags, you turn your entire audience into journalists and let THEM report on the event for you. Often, their reach on Twitter will be far greater than the reach of many top-tier media outlets like CNN and the New York Times. Plus, those tweets are online forever, just waiting for the search engines to find them.  

How do you use hashtags for publicity and promotion? Share your best tips.