The Publicity Hound’s Blog  

Virtual assistants can be one of the most valuable tools in your publicity campaign, freeing you from routine tasks that take time away from the really important duties like building strong relationships with the media.

You can hire a virtual assistant for as little as $30 an hour. And here’s the best part. Your VA doesn’t have to work near you. VAs, who are independent contractors, can live thousands of miles away from you, and still do a fabulous job.

I’m in the process of planning the content for a series of teleseminars that I’ll host during the next several weeks to train assistants, virtual assistants, executive assistants and summer interns on how to help their bosses manage a publicity campaign.

For example, they’ll learn how to do the all-important research that’s necessary before the boss starts pitching reporters. I’ll teach them how to write routine press releases and what to do after they’ve written them. They’ll learn how to use media kits.

I’ll even do a training session on user-generated video that explains how they can shoot their own video of special events, commentary, news stories or feature stories for use on your local evening news, or on national news channels like CNN.

They’ll learn about photos and graphics, and other topics such as how to get the boss in front of the best bloggers. I’m doing a segment on how to use social networking sites for publicity. But before I get too deep into the content, I want to know what you think I should be teaching them.

If you plan to hire a virtual assistant, a full-time assistant or an intern, or you already have one, or if you’re an assistant who wants to be trained so you can learn new skill sets that will let you raise your fees, I hope you’ll answer 5 questions that will help me plan this course around your needs. If you complete the survey, let me know which of my two special reports you’d like me to email to you—my way of saying thank-you.

If you want to get a jump on training your assistant, you can start right now. One of the first things your assistant should be doing is writing simple press releases. She can learn how by signing up for my free email tutorial “89 Ways to Write Powerful Press Releases.”

If you don’t want an assistant and would rather have someone like a publicist or a press release writer help you with your publicity campaign, check out The Publicity Hound’s Resources List where you’ll find many excellent vendors.

Want more info on my V.A. training? Sign up for my ezine, “The Publicity Hound’s Tips of the Week,” in the box on the right side of this page.

Posted In: Blogs, Social networking, Publicity Resources, PR Consultants/Publicists, Photos & Graphics, Media Kits, Business Promotion, Press Releases/News Releases
posted On: 4/27/2007: 9:55 am: By Joan
Comments: 6 Comments

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. 

Posted In: Public Service Announcements, Nonprofits, Press Releases/News Releases
posted On: : 7:50 am: By Joan
Comments: No Comments

Trying to get publicity for your travel-related destinattion? 

The Frommer’s travel website has an average of 1 million visitors a month who view some 18 million pages. About 250,000 subscribers receive a related newsletter three times a week. 

Here’s one way to get into Frommer’s. Robert Fisher contributes two articles a month after making worldwide trips. He welcomes individual or group invitations to regions, cities and other destinations, as well as resorts, hotels, cruises, tours, guest ranches and attractions. 

His articles appear about one to three months after his travel. Contact him during March, June, September and December. Write to him at 315 West 55th Street (5A), New York, NY 10019.  Call 212-246-3527. Or email him.  

This lead is courtesy of Travel Publicity Leads, a newsletter that provides contact information for reporters, editors, freelancers and other media outlets that want your travel-related news. Get 10 free issues here.

Posted In: Media Leads, Special Events, Publicity on the Internet
posted On: 4/26/2007: 5:15 am: By Joan
Comments: No Comments

One of the biggest errors Publicity Hounds make when launching a publicity campaign is not creating a system for capturing people’s email addresses at their websites.

How do I know? Because when somebody scores a big publicity hit, they often see a big spike in website traffic. Then the traffic starts to slow, and I receive an email that asks: “Can you suggest the best way for us to keep the momentum going?”

So I go to their website. Usually, I conclude that they’re asking the wrong question. Instead of asking about keeping the momentum going, they ought to be asking how to capture all that traffic at their website. Most of it is coming, then leaving. And the website owner has no clue who was there, why they left, or how to find them.  

The best way to take advantage of traffic is to offer visitors something for free in exchange for their email address: a list of tips on how to solve a particular problem. Or a small ebook or special report. Or a White Paper or case study. Those, and many other ideas, are in “Special Report #51: 55 Free Things You Can Offer to Generate Publicity or Capture People’s Email Addresses.” 

People who visit my website are greeted by a box that bounces down from the top of the screen. It asks them to sign up for my ezine, “The Publicity Hound’s Tips of the Week.” If they give me their email address, I send them a helpful cheat sheet called “89 reasons to send a press release.” 

That offer is largely responsible for my email database that now has more than 30,000 names.  It gives me the power, without spamming, of emailing to a targeted list of people week after week after week, and marketing to them—and often selling to them—until they tell me to stop.

If you’re a PR person who’s planning a publicity campaign for a client, or you’re planning one for yourself, don’t do anything until you first have a system in place on how to benefit from all that free publicity and ensuing website traffic.

I don’t care whether you’re a Fortune 100 company or a stay-at-home mom who sells Tupperware from a one-page website.  Traffic at your website is worthless if you can’t hang onto most of it, then dazzle those visitors with your knowledge and expertise so they eventually become customers.

Posted In: Blogs, Business Promotion, Publicity on the Internet
posted On: 4/25/2007: 10:20 am: By Joan
Comments: No Comments

Chris Knight of EzineArticles.com has a great strategy for shaving time off the task of writing an article and distributing it to an online article directory like his.

It’s called The Stopwatch Strategy. Chris explains:

“Get yourself an inexpensive stopwatch or desk clock. Become aware of your article writing baseline by simply timing how long it takes you to write, edit and then upload an article. Challenge yourself to shave 5-10 minutes off the process until you’re down into the 20-40 minutes per article range.”

 

Back in my newspaper days, it seems like we were always doing this—writing against the clock. So I like Chris’ idea.

But first, turn off your cell phone and remove your office telephone receiver from its cradle. Turn off the fax machine. Put the dog outside. And place a “do not disturb” sign on your door.    

If you want ideas on how save time trying to come up with a great headline for your article, check out my free article “Headlines for How-to Articles.”

And what if you just plain hate writing? Check out The Publicity Hound’s Resources List, which includes freelance writers, ghostwriters and others who would be more than happy to take this task off your hands.  

Posted In: Publicity Resources, Writing Articles
posted On: 4/24/2007: 11:20 pm: By Joan
Comments: No Comments