PR

Definitions of advertising, promotion, publicity and PR

6/16/2010 By Joan 2 Comments

If you work in PR, and you’re trying to explain to somebody what you do, and they look at you with a blank stare, explain it this way:

“If the circus is coming to town and you paint a sign saying ‘Circus Coming to the Fairground Saturday,’ that’s advertising. If you put the sign on the back of an elephant and walk it into town, that’s promotion. If the elephant walks through the mayor’s flower bed, that’s publicity. And if you get the mayor to laugh about it, that’s public relations.”

I can’t remember where that quote originated. But I used it once in my newsletter and receive requests every now and then from readers who remember the quote, but need the exact wording.

If you work in any of these industries, tuck away this saying in a safe place and use it the next time you need something fun for a speech, White Paper, or just to make a client smile.

Does anybody know who first said this? Was it P.T. Barnum?

Filed Under: , PR Consultants/Publicists Tagged With: bt barnum, definition of advertising, PR, promotion, publicity

Publicity dilemma? Let Publicity Hound readers help—for free

1/26/2010 By Joan 6 Comments

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!

Filed Under: Authors & Publishers, Business Promotion, Facebook, Nonprofits, Pitching the Media, PR Consultants/Publicists, Publicity Resources Tagged With: free publicity, PR, PR resources, public relations

19+ story ideas to generate publicity, PR for your business

1/14/2010 By Joan 4 Comments

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:

What’s new or unique about your business?
What do you offer that your competitors don’t?
How do you help people solve problems, save time or save money?
What business mistakes have you made that you learned from?
What new trends have you spotted in your industry?
Is there a social or political issue you feel strongly about? (Write an opinion column, letter to the editor or blog post.)
Are you sponsoring a contest or an award?
Can you piggyback your topic off a holiday or anniversary?
How are you using technology in your business?
Do you have any good visuals that tie into your story idea for television?
What about your personal life? (Hobbies, travels, food, clothing, etc.)
Have you formed an interesting partnership or alliance?
What how-to articles could you write?
What topics are good fodder for a tip sheet? (9 tips for….)
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?
Are you the local angle to a national or regional story?
How are you using social media in your business?
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.
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.

Filed Under: Blogs, Business Promotion, Contests, Holidays, Photos & Graphics, PR Consultants/Publicists, Press Releases/News Releases, Publicity Resources, Social media marketing, TV Publicity, Writing Articles Tagged With: connie dieken, free publicity, media relations, Norman Lieberman, pitching to the media, PR, public relations, story ideas, tiger woods

How can nonprofits get free PR help? Ideas?

9/22/2009 By Joan 8 Comments

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?”

Filed Under: Nonprofits, PR Consultants/Publicists, Press Releases/News Releases, Publicity Resources, Special Events Tagged With: PR, pro bono PR, public relations, publicizing events, Special Events, volunteer PR

Sept. 11 deadline looming for O Magazine pitches

9/1/2009 By Joan 2 Comments

omagazinecover2 Sept. 11 is the deadline for pitching your business woman’s success story, or your tips for women, for a special round-up of story ideas that will be presented to O Magazine editors and other top-tier media.

Publicists for PitchRate.com, which connects journalists with people seeking publicity, will take the best 10 to 20 pitches and present them to editors and guest bookers at Good Morning America, Women Entrepreneur magazine, and the Associated Press, among others.

Here’s how you can participate, for free:

1. First, subscribe to their media leads service at http://www.PitchRate.com/PublicityHound

2. After you subscribe, you’ll see a black bar at the top that says “Exclusive Requests.” Click on that and submit your pitch.

3. If the media like what they see, they’ll call you.

Publicists Michalle Tennant and Drew Gerber, graduates of The Publicity Hound Mentor Program who now manage PitchRate, are soliciting pitches only from Publicity Hounds who read this blog and my weekly ezine on publicity tips.

Having problems with your pitch? Email Shannon and he’ll help you.