The Publicity Hound’s Blog  

If you’re relatively certain you’ll get a good media placement because your story can stand on its own two feet, guess again. You might be elbowed out by somebody who had the big bucks to pay journalists to cover it.

Almost half of the 266 marketing executives polled by PR Week and Manning Selvage & Lee, a PR firm, say they have paid print or broadcast outlets to cover their stories. And nearly 46 percent of those who had not paid for placement replied that they would consider doing so in the future.

The most common pay-per-placement “opportunities” in TV are paying to be featured on a morning TV news show that’s disguised as a local version of “Good Morning, America.” Shows like Colorado & Company in Denver are springing up all over the U.S. I wrote an article about this for the June issue of PR Tactics, a newspaper printed by the Public Relations Society of America.

In the print world, newspapers and magazines sometimes create special advertising sections that feature stories only about businesses that buy ads in that section.

Expect more ”opportunities” like this in the future, as traditional media outlets face increasing competition from the Internet and continue to fight for ad dollars, viewers and subscribers.

Posted In: Publicity on the Internet, Business Promotion, Radio Publicity, TV Publicity, Magazine Publicity, Newspaper Publicity
posted On: 6/27/2006: 6:56 pm: By Joan
Comments: No Comments

I’ve never heard of the company Invent-Tech, but I’m betting it’s one of those companies that charges amateur inventors a gazillion dollars to help them license and market their inventions.

The company sent me a news release and cover letter last week about Freddy Mella from Union City, New Jersey, who invented a product that extinguishes fires. The release and letter violated at last a half-dozen rules of working with the media:

—First, the cover letter would have been unnecessary had they included all the details at the bottom of the release.

—The cover letter addressed me as “Dear Sir or Madam.” They might not have the time to learn who I am, but that’s OK. I have the time to expose them as lousy publicists.

—The lead sentence says, “Enclosed, please find a Press Release to announce the development of an exciting new invention by one of our clients.” Never, ever tell the media that what you’re selling is exciting. 

—The cover letter says “There will be no product photos, prototypes or graphic illustrations of the design made available to the media until a licensing agreement and/or Patent protection has been secured.” Then they have the gall to give a telephone number where the inventor can be interviewed. Most journalists I know would say “Buy an ad.”

—No one’s name was at the bottom of the letter. It simply said ”Publicity/Public Relations Dept. Ext. 2285.” 

—The bottom of the letter says: “We would respectfully request that we receive a tear sheet or reprint if you elect to publish this Press Release or any related stories.” Never, ever ask the media for reprints. Call the circulation department and order as many copies as you need.

In this case, I don’t think the company will have to worry about asking for reprints because I’m hard-pressed to think of a newspaper that would publish this.     

Posted In: PR Consultants/Publicists, Business Promotion, Pitching the Media
posted On: : 10:30 am: By Joan
Comments: 2 Comments

The headline at the top of the Gulfshore Life magazine caught my eye when I was in Naples, Fla. over the weekend: “Confessions of a Therapist for the Very Rich.”

In an article written by Tracy Jones, Naples psychiatrist Richard Capiola, went into great detail about the things that worry his very rich clients who live in southwest Florida:

• Many wives are shocked to learn how much of their husbands’ daily lives included drinking. Capiola treats clients who had no idea they were alcoholics until they were hospitalized for an unrelated health problem and they suddenly started having withdrawal symptoms.
• The rich are worried about how to divvy up their inheritance, particularly in situations in which the surviving spouse is not the first wife, and several children from the first marriage are in the picture.
• Not being able to apply solid business principles to their personal relationships.
• Their sense of identity after they retire. They used to hold power positions in their company. Now their life is getting a bagel in the morning and taking a nice walk on the beach.
• Others, who worked as former corporate bigwigs, suddenly revel in their “regular Joe” status. But their wives become depressed over the transition. “In Michigan and Ohio, she was married to an industrial titan; now she lives in Southwest Florida with some guy in Dockers who drives his golf cart around all day,” the article states.

And on and on. I was fascinated at the way Capiola was able to go into great detail about his clients, without identifying them.

The media Love—and I mean Love with a capital L—stories about the rich. So if you serve a rich clientele, and you feel comfortable doing it, pitch stories about how they use your products and services, without revealing their identities. Most of you will back away from this, and the bold Publicity Hounds will get the coverage.

A few years ago, the same magazine did a similar story just before Valentine’s Day in which two divorce attorneys who were married to each other talked about how the rich battle it out in divorce court.

As I stated in “Special Report #14: How to Piggyback Your Story Ideas onto Holidays and Anniversaries,” tying your story pitches to the holidays is always a terrific strategy for publicity. The media always cover the holidays. And if you happen to be there with a pitch, guess who gets covered?

Posted In: Business Promotion, Magazine Publicity, Pitching the Media
posted On: : 8:14 am: By Joan
Comments: No Comments

Rob Grede of Wauwatosa, Wisconsin writes:

The Second Edition of “Naked Marketing–The Bare Essentials” is hot off the presses.

Back in 1997, when Prentice Hall first published the book, it became a bestseller. It is still used by universities and advertising agencies as a basic primer on marketing and promotion. But Prentice Hall is out of business and the publisher of the second edition, Marquette University Press, has no budget for promotion.

The website at http://www.thegredecompany.com is also complete and allows browsers to order off the site with a link to 800 CEO READ.

“My question is: How does an author publicize a second edition of a successful book? Do we tap the same TV and radio stations as last time? Does anyone care about a second edition?”

Posted In: Business Promotion, Authors & Publishers
posted On: : 7:17 am: By Joan
Comments: 6 Comments

Publicist Kathi Petersen of Asheville North Carolina writes:

“I am wondering how other publicists archive their news clippings. I am surrounded by newspapers and magazines that I cannot bear to toss, though the professional organizer I hired questions the importance of keeping one’s news clips.

“I insisted to her that showing a prospective client an actual newspaper with the front page, top-of-fold story I achieved is far more impressive than telling them about the coverage, or showing them a reduced version that is either a copy or scanned, or telling them to visit the archives. Particularly because you can’t find this stuff by simply Googling. 

“I’m going crazy with all this stuff surrounding me. How do your Hounds keep track of coverage they’ve received? Obviously, archiving TV/radio is a little easier with CDs/DVDs. It’s the print stuff.”

Posted In: PR Consultants/Publicists, Photos & Graphics, Writing Articles, Magazine Publicity, Newspaper Publicity
posted On: 6/20/2006: 7:55 am: By Joan
Comments: 13 Comments