Publicity tips/Publicize the harvest August 1, 2006

The Publicity Hound's
Tips of the Week
Issue #304 - August 1, 2006
Publisher: Joan Stewart
mailto:JStewart@PublicityHound.com
http://www.PublicityHound.com
http://www.PublicityHound.net (Blog)
The Publicity Hound®

Circulation: 20,091

=====================================
"Tips, Tricks and Tools for Free Publicity"
Receive this ezine
direct to your desktop
http://www.publicityhound.com/tipsoftheweek/
=====================================

You are receiving this because you signed up for it at ThePublicity Hound® website at http://www.publicityhound.com/ or you told me you want to subscribe. If you didn't subscribe, you can unsubscribe by clicking the link at the bottom of the newsletter.

Please forward this ezine to anyone you know who needs free publicity to establish their credibility, enhance their reputation, position themselves as employers of choice, sell more products and services, or promote a favorite cause or issue.

*************************************************
ARE YOU RECEIVING MY PRESS RELEASE TIPS?

So far, more than 1,400 Hounds have signed up for my complimentary email course called "89 Ways to Write Powerful Press Releases." If you're not one of them, do it now. I shatter many of the old myths about press releases and explain why you should start writing them not only for journalists, but for buyers. And not just when you have "legitimate" news, but whenever you feel like generating more business or drawing more traffic to your website.

Sign up here: http://www.publicityhound.com/pressreleasetips/list.htm

*************************************************

================================
In This Issue
================================

1. Publicize the Harvest

2. Minimum Wage Law

3. Pitch Consumer Reports

4. Piggyback onto a Holiday

5. Promoting "I Keep Safe" Coalition

6. Help This Hound

7. Hound Joke of the Week

8. And at My Blog...


==================================
1. Publicize the Harvest
==================================

It's harvest time in Wisconsin, and our huge garden is producing string beans faster than we can pick them.

I've already made 28 jars of cherry jam. Canning beets and dill pickles comes next.

Then I'll set aside a Saturday sometime next month for the annual pesto-making extravaganza with my friend Ann Dekorsi. I'll haul a huge garbage bag filled with bushes of fresh basil to her house. We'll hose them down, make a quick trip to Sam's Club for the ingredients, then head back to the kitchen where we'll put everything into a blender to create the most fabulous Italian sauce a foodie has ever tasted.

We eat it on pasta, crackers and as a substitute for tomato sauce on pizza.

In September, I'll head to Columbus, Ohio for the annual salsa-canning day with my two sisters. We typically can about 80 jars of salsa. By December, I'll have a pantry of homemade delicacies to give as Christmas gifts, complete with pretty tags, labels and other decorative touches.

That's how I celebrate the harvest. I'll bet many of you have your own rituals and traditions.

Newspaper and magazine food columnists are hot for these stories because they're so much fun. They provide three vital components necessary for TV: people, color and motion. And you can offer your favorite recipes as sidebars.

Here are tips on how you can publicize your harvest:

--Many gardeners donate the unused portion of their harvest to local food pantries. How about sponsoring a "share the harvest"day at your company? Ask employees to bring in their extra veggies. Stack them all on the conference table and call the local newspaper to take a photo.

--Sponsor a "Funniest Veggie" contest and award prizes to the person who submits the veggie that's the most deformed. (Call theTV stations.)

--Sponsor a cooking contest at your company. Ask employees to make their favorite dish using something from their harvest, and feature everybody's dishes during a special lunch. Let the media know. And be sure to invite your clients to the feast.

--If you're entering your veggies or canned goods in the county or state fair this year, contact the media. They often feature these stories right around fair time. (I'm not entering anything this year. With all that canning, who has time?)

--If your church, card club or social group socializes by canning or "putting up" the harvest, let the media know. My local newspaper did a story last week about a group of little old ladies who make cherry pickles every year, assembly-line style, for their annual autumn bazaar. You can read it here: http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=475999

I'm a foodie, as if you haven't guessed. And I offered my best "Publicity Tips for Restaurants, Chefs & Foodies" when Jaime Oikle of RestaurantReport.com interviewed me. We recorded it, and it's available as a CD. You can download the handout that explains all 51 tips as soon as your order has been approved. Read more about what you'll learn at http://tinyurl.com/clr26


==================================
2. Minimum Wage Law
==================================

Speaking of Sam's Club, pay attention to the new law in Chicago that imposes hyper-minimum wages on "big box" stores with more than $1 billion in sales like Wal-Mart, Target, Costco and HomeDepot--regardless of an employee's experience, education or skill.

Chicago aldermen say those stores must pay a minimum of $13 an hour ($10 in salary and $3 in health benefits) by 2010.

Local officials in other cities throughout the U.S. are already considering similar laws, and this topic has sparked heated controversy. Unions and others support it. But many consumers (like me) fear the big-box stores will leave communities, mostly in big cities where the jobs are needed most, and take not only jobs but sales tax revenues with them.

This is a prefect time to weigh in on this issue, either by calling reporters who are writing about "the local angle" in your community or by writing letters to the editor and opinion columns. This topic is also great fodder for those who write blogs and ezines.

"How to Use Newspaper & Magazine Editorial Pages" shows you all the ways you can try to persuade public opinion by submitting letters to the editor and opinion columns to your local newspapers. It comes with a template for a great letter to the editor, and tips on how to state your case before the newspaper's editorial board, in hopes they'll write an editorial that supports your position. Read more about what you'll learn at http://tinyurl.com/5wh45


==================================
3. Pitch Consumer Reports
==================================

If you just rolled out a new product and you want Consumer Reports to write about it, don't try to come up with a clever angle or additional sources for the article.

In other words, don't pitch Consumer Reports like you would other media.

Gordon Hard, senior editor of the magazine (4.5-million circulation), says the best thing a PR person can do is to step inside the shoes of the consumer and answer this question: How does your product solve a real problem?

"Try to find all the uses your product might have beyond the obvious ones," he says. "That helps you identify real problems that real people have. Don't just be a person who is promoting your product--be a user of the product."

His other pitching tips are in the July/August issue of The Publicity Hound subscription newsletter. The issue also includes articles on how to appeal to the 5 types of journalists, how the U.S. Bowling Congress got more than $2.5 million in free publicity, 5 simple "rules of the road" for PR, how to get free tips on health care crisis communications, where to find new ethics guidelines for business writers, a Canadian decorating magazine that will debut later this year, what to do when Hispanic media call, how Florida nonprofits profit from PR interns, a DVD you can buy if you're training your staff on how to interview with the media, clever publicity stunts P.T. Barnum would love, and July/August story ideas.

All for $10. Order at http://tinyurl.com/zampu


===============================
4. Piggyback onto a Holiday
===============================

Thanks to self-publishing guru Dan Poynter's excellent "YourPublishing Poynters" ezine for this tip.

Marika Flatt of PR by the Book says your pitch will always be more interesting to the media if it’s tied to a timely date, such as a health awareness month (October is Breast Cancer AwarenessMonth) or a holiday (Memorial Day, Thanksgiving, etc.).

The best resource for existing major and minor holidays is Chase's Calendar of Events at http://www.chases.com


Marika adds these:

---Try About.com's website at http://tinyurl.com/h8ddq

---Springboard Training lists all its own holidays at http://tinyurl.com/z87ln

---EducationWorld.com publishes a list at http://www.education-world.com/holidays/

---Find lots of school-related holidays at the Lynchburg City Schools site at http://tinyurl.com/zu3qw

---Here's one that's sarcastic but very helpful:
http://aware.easilyamused.org/

Thanks, Marika. OK, Hounds. Get going! Either create your own holiday, or piggyback your idea onto somebody else's (yes, it's OK to do that without asking the other person's permission).

For more tips on this topic, see "Special Report #45: How to Generate National Publicity from Your Own Holiday (or Day, Week or Month of the Year)" at http://tinyurl.com/6uz9g


==================================
5. Promoting "I Keep Safe Coalition"
==================================

This week, three Publicity Hounds have tips for Carolyn Cox of Virginia Beach, Virginia. She wants ideas on how to promote the "I Keep Safe Coalition." It helps children stay safe on the Internet.


From Kris Bordessa:

"You don’t say where you sent your press release, but you might have luck if you send it directly to the places that would be interested in hosting your presentation. The American Library Association at http://www.ala.org/, the American Association of School Librarians at http://www.ala.org/ala/aasl/aaslindex.htm or the National Parent Teacher Organization at http://www.nationalpto.com/ might be of help in spreading the word through their networks or newsletters."


From Katherine Doe:

"Call the editor of the local school’s teacher newsletter to explain that you have classroom speakers available and would like to spread the word. Teachers LOVE to have others pitch in for a morning or afternoon and would love to read that in their newsletter."


From The Publicity Hound:

"Website development companies are always looking for ways to promote themselves. Why not team up with several of them, or several dozen, and provide a list of 'How to Keep Kids Safe on the Internet.' They can pass the tips along to their own clients as a value-added service, or to the media."

Read all the responses at http://tinyurl.com/q8lp5


===================================
6. Help This Hound
===================================

Kit Behling of Milwaukee, Wisconsin writes:

"The writers of 'Single Married Widowed Divorced' need your help.

"We are group of technologically challenged, over-35 women who have jumped on the podcasting bandwagon--uh, make that bandwidth. We have a website at http://tinyurl.com/hl5mc and a play and a weekly podcast in which we examine real women’s relationship stories.

"Each week, we poke around some theme (examples: sleeping arrangements, kegeling, guilty pleasures, romance). Regular show features include:

--Table Talk: Listen in while the writers chat about the week’s theme.

--Working Mom in Her Car: Patched in from a vehicle somewhere in suburban Chicago, Working Mom is funny and on edge and always has a comment--if not for us, then for the person who just cut her off.

--The Retired Therapist: Puts everything in a well-reasoned physiological or psychological context. And reassures us that no, we’re not crazy.

--Story Time: One of the writers gives us her take on the week’s theme.

"Our challenge: How do we publicize this podcast to our target demographic, women over 35, who will probably laugh & cry & ah-ha right along with us but may be scared off by the podcasting technology? Are your Publicity Hounds up to this challenge?"


The Publicity Hound says: You bet they are! Many of my Hounds already podcast, and I'll bet most of the podcasters know how to promote podcasts, too. Hounds with great ideas for Kit can post their comments to my blog at http://tinyurl.com/j5cy8


================================
7. Hound Joke of the Week
================================

Thanks to Publicity Hound Les Boston for this one, which comes from "The Giant Book of Animal Jokes" by Richard Lederer and James Ertner. You can find it at http://stoneandscott.com/order.asp

What did the dog say to the policeman after being apprehended for giving birth to puppies along the roadside?

"But Officer, the sign reads Fine for Littering."


DOG JOKES & QUOTES EBOOK: 170+ G-rated dog jokes and quotes, perfect for a dog-lover, your favorite vet, or just for a few good laughs.

BONUS: Buy the ebook and you also get a compilation of the 50 best websites for dog humor.
http://www.publicityhound.com/dogjokebook/

================================
8. And at My Blog...
================================

Press releases or news releases? Which is it?
http://tinyurl.com/f2skc


Janet Jackson's CD cover design
contest a clever publicity stunt
http://tinyurl.com/fsd4h


Write articles in pairs
to attract more readers
http://tinyurl.com/zqvp9

---------------------------------------------------------------
Where to Meet or Hear The Publicity Hound®

No public programs scheduled at this time.

***If you're in the National Speakers Association or the Public Relations Society of America--or another business, marketing or PR group--and you want details on how to bring in The Publicity Hound to do a fund-raiser for your chapter, or you want me to host a teleseminar customized just for your group, contact me at mailto:JStewart@PublicityHound.com?subject=speaker_inquiry or call 262-284-7451.

***Attention Meeting Planners: If you're booking speakers for winter, spring or summer conferences or events, keep me in mind--even if you have a last-minute cancellation. I deliver high-content, interactive programs that are lots of fun. Call 262-284-7451 or mailto:JStewart@PublicityHound.com?subject=speaker_inquiry for details.

PERMISSION TO REPRINT: You may reprint any items from "The Publicity Hound's Tips of the Week" in your own print or electronic newsletter. But please include the following paragraph:

Reprinted from "The Publicity Hound's Tips of the Week," a free ezine featuring tips, tricks and tools for generating free publicity. Subscribe at http://www.publicityhound.com/ and receive free by email the handy list "89 Reasons to Send a NewsRelease."

If you like these tips, please pass them on to your friends, clients and colleagues.

You are receiving this because you signed up for it at ThePublicity Hound® website at http://www.publicityhound.com/ or you told me you want to subscribe.

PRIVACY STATEMENT: The Publicity Hound® will never distributeyour address to anyone.

Period.

Promise.

=======================================================
Joan Stewart
a.k.a. The Publicity Hound®
3434 County KK
Port Washington, WI 53074
U.S.A.

Phone: 262-284-7451 (Central) Fax: 262-284-1737