The Publicity Hound’s Blog  

Hewlett-Packard is expanding into the social media sphere and targeting college-age consumers, who offer advice to their parents and grandparents on which notebooks, desktops, work stations and other entertainment equipment to buy.

That’s part of a new PR campaign it’s launching, with help from Edelman. An article in this week’s issue of PR Week says HP is targeting social media because:

• College-age kids are influential among their peers. They also advise their parents and grandparents on buying things like computers and related equipment.

• Bloggers write product reviews, and the conversation can continue and evolve, unlike traditional media where a story in today’s newspaper has a shelf life of about 24 hours.  (See my article “Let bloggers create publicity for you.”)

• The news hole in newspapers and magazines is shrinking. (HP is still targeting traditional media but will rely more on stand-alone photos and captions, seen frequently by scanners.  See my article “13 tips for using photos & graphics in your publicity campaign.”)

• Social media allows HP to target video game fans who frequently communicate through blogs and social networking sites.  

Makes sense. Besides, kids aren’t the only ones using social media sites.

A Sept. 12 article in the New York Times explains that a new wave of capital is pouring into social media sites that target Boomers and offer news, commentary, photo-sharing and discussion forums on subjects like dating, fitness and health care.

Most of the 78 million Baby Boomers (roughly three times the number of teen- agers), are Internet users with computer skills.

Sites like Eons, Rezoom, Multiply, Boomj and Boomertown are attracting a graying audience that has lots of disposable income. I’ll bet many of these people have stopped subscribing to newspapers and even some magazines—the same publications you’re targeting in your publicity campaign.

Unlike younger people who jump from one trendy site to the next, graying Internet users might be more likely to linger in one spot online—a potentially profitable characteristic that’s catching the attention of investors.

Posted In: Social networking, Photos & Graphics, Publicity for Niche Markets, Publicity on the Internet
posted On: 1/31/2008: 2:46 pm: By Joan
Comments: 1 Comment

PR Week editor Julia Hood, who gave birth to a boy about three months ago, asks that question in her column in the Jan. 28 issue.

“The truth is that much of the marketing world, whether targeting the hip moms or ‘Moms like me,’ do not effectively answer the basic question of what the hell to do with a baby anyway” when it isn’t eating or sleeping. 

Marketers, she suggests, have the opportunity to transcend their product and deal with the world of new parents by answering questions like that one and what to buy, how to use it, and how it affects the health and well-being of the baby.

I recommend six ways to do that:

• Blog, one of the best ways to pull in traffic from the search engines.

• Let bloggers create publicity for you by posting comments at blogs read by new moms.

• Write how-to articles on niche topics and post to high page rank directories like EzineArticles.com, Squidoo and HubPages.com. Here are examples of great headlines for how-to articles.

• Join the conversation about babies at the many social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook. I’ll bet there are lots of “new mom” forums out there.

• Create an interactive section at your website where new moms can ask questions, and you and other readers can provide the answers.

• Write press releases about your area of expertise and distribute through services like PRWeb and Expertclick.  See my free tutorial “89 Ways to Write Powerful Press Releases.” 

Those six tips are powerful for companies in any industry, and they’ll propel you miles ahead of most of your competitors.

Posted In: Blogs, Social networking, Writing Articles, Business Promotion, Publicity on the Internet, Publicity for Niche Markets, Press Releases/News Releases
posted On: : 10:31 am: By Joan
Comments: No Comments

People searching for solutions to their problems type phrases like these into the search engines:

• “Relationship commitment issues”
• “Non-engagement letter”
• “Disgruntled employees”

When you write press releases or articles that addresses your customers’ problems, and then post them online, you can generate lots of attention, new business and even journalist interviews.

Management consultant Alan Weiss, for example, wrote a press release with the phrase “creating loyal employees,” and distributed it through Expertclick: The Online Yearbook of Experts. So far, more than 1,400 people have opened it.

When psychologist Debra Burrell wanted attention for her services, Expertclick devised the phrase “relationship commitment issues” for her, which showed up again and again in her online release. That phrase has a high Keyword Effectiveness Index, which means that there are many searches but few web pages using that exact phrase.

Expertclick found the phrase “non-engagement letter” for Ed Poll, who has a legal marketing firm. Law firms search on that phrase when they’re firing clients who don’t pay and they need Ed’s help to get new business.

If you don’t know the phrases that your ideal clients type into the search engines, let Expertclick help you with one of their fee-based services. Or write your own releases—up to 52 a year—and let Exertclick distribute them online. Dozens of Publicity Hounds have raved about this service.

When you register for an ExpertClick.com page, you get a search-engine optimized Press Room page, and you can add content instantly to the Web.

Lock in a $100 Publicity Hound discount on top of its double early-order discount to drop the cost from $895 to $695. Save $200 on all sizes when you order from the link below by Thursday, January 31. Prices go up $100 in February.

Call the office in Washington, D.C., at 202-333-5000202-333-5000, and ask for the “Publicity Hound Discount” or order online.

See all the benefits at http://www.ExpertClick.com/Brochure.

You can use the $200 savings on any level of membership in the Yearbook of Experts, too.

Posted In: , General
posted On: 1/30/2008: 6:30 pm: By Joan
Comments: 2 Comments

Thanks to Publicity Hound Roberta Beach Jacobson for this tip on how to grab a page of free publicity in the Bylines 2009 Writers’ Desk Calendar.

“This marks my third year in a row appearing in this calendar,” Roberta says.

The deadline to submit a short piece, maximum 300 words, to editor is Sylvia Forbes is Friday, Feb. 1. Be sure to read the submission guidelines.  Here’s what they say about your bio:

“You’re not dry and boring, so your bio shouldn’t be either. Give us your accomplishments but round out your profile so our readers feel like they’d like to meet you for coffee. Or a beer.”

Most bios I read, especially author bios, are real yawners. See
“Special Report #46: Tips for Rewriting Your Boring Bio.”

Posted In: Writing Articles, Authors & Publishers
posted On: : 11:11 am: By Joan
Comments: 1 Comment

Thanks to Publicity Hound Bryan Todd of Lincoln, Nebraska for tipping me off to this fun story.

Buying newspaper classified ads is an expensive way to spread the word about whatever you’re promoting. But guess who reads the classifieds?

Reporters—lots of them. That’s where they find the low-hanging fruit in the form of clever, funny or unusual ads. With one or two phone calls, they can turn that ad into a free article.

That’s what happened to Jane Hambleton, a disc jockey in Fort Dodge, Iowa. Last month, she found a booze bottle under the front seat of her 19-year-old son’s OLDS 1999 Intrigue.

She and her husband set two rules when they bought the car at Thanksgiving: No booze, and always keep the car locked.

And what good are rules if you don’t enforce them? She called The Des Moines Register’s classified advertising department and bought this ad:

“Totally uncool parents who obviously don’t love teenage son, selling his car. Only driven for 3 weeks before snoopy mom who needs to get a life found booze under front seat. $3,700/offer. Call meanest mom on the planet.”

After the ad appeared, two things happened:

• More than 70 people called her, including emergency room technicians, nurses, school counselors and a Georgia man, who wanted to congratulate her.

• A reporter from the Des Moines Register saw the ad and called her for an interview for this article.

“The ad cost a fortune, but you know what?” She told the newspaper. “I’m telling people what happened here. I’m not just going to put the car for resale when there’s nothing wrong with it, except the driver made a dumb decision. It’s overwhelming, the number of calls I’ve gotten from people saying, ‘Thank you, it’s nice to see a responsible parent.’ So far, there are no calls from anyone saying, ‘You’re really strict. You’re real overboard, lady.’ “

The lesson for Publicity Hounds?

Don’t rule out the classifieds as a place to spread the word about what you’re promoting. But take the time to write the ad so it catches attention.

If you don’t want to spend a fortune on an ad, hop on over to Craigslist  and find the list for the city closest to where you live. Post a free ad, and then see what happens. Reporters, by the way, LOVE to lurk at Craigslist where they find story ideas galore.

See my article “Craigslist: A Powerful Publicity Tool.”

Posted In: Newspaper Publicity
posted On: 1/29/2008: 3:00 pm: By Joan
Comments: 1 Comment