Publicity tips/Heart-shaped Valentines February 6, 2007

The Publicity Hound's
Tips of the Week Issue
#332 - Feb. 6, 2007
Publisher: Joan Stewart
mailto:JStewart@PublicityHound.com
http://www.PublicityHound.com
http://www.PublicityHound.net
(Blog) The Publicity Hound®

Circulation: 28,665

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"Tips, Tricks and Tools for Free Publicity"
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Spank The Hound and Make Me Cry:

Yesterday was my birthday, and the smoke still hasn't cleared from the 55 candles I blew out. There's an old tradition that says the birthday person should get a birthday spanking--one light pat on the behind for every year. But at 55, I'll be doggone if I'll let that happen.

So here's another way to make me cry.

Clean out my inventory when I slash the price in half like I'm doing today. If you've been putting off buying CDs, transcripts, ebooks or special reports, now is the time. But you must use this link and you must order before 11:59 PM Wednesday, Feb. 7, tomorrow. This applies to products only, not the mentor program.

This 50 percent off special will be applied at the check-out counter.

http://tinyurl.com/ywue2p

I won't be making this offer again until next year. So fetch!
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In This Issue
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1. Heart-shaped Pizzas

2. Look for Local Legends

3. Give Your Story Legs

4. 'Best Bagger' Contest

5. Loose Lips Sink Ships

6. Media Leads

7. Hound Quote of the Week

8. And at My Blog...

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1. Heart-shaped Pizzas
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Leave it to my friend Shawne Duperon, a TV reporter in Michigan, to suggest some fabulous last-minute pitching tips for Valentine's Day:

--Heart-shaped anything is great, from soaps to pizzas. Or maybe your restaurant is creating heart-shaped omelets.

--If you're a relationship expert or therapist, offer advice on how to create romance, fight fair or negotiate.

--Jump on the celebrity bandwagon and offer advice to celebrities who are making headlines. What would you tell Angelina and Brad about dealing with stress in a relationship? What about Britney and Kevin? Why not offer advice on how to have a civilized relationship during divorce? What couples seem to be doing it right?

"Newsrooms will eat that up!" Shawne says.

A few of my own ideas:

--What about singles who don't have a sweetie? What are the advantages of being unattached?

--Massage therapists can pass along tips on how to give a relaxing massage.

--Pitch any story about unusual Valentines, or methods of delivering them.

--Are you creating a clever video related to Valentine's Day and posting it at YouTube?

--Kids still say the darnedest things. School teachers can ask the little ones to comment on Valentine's Day, then share comments with the media. Just be sure children are not identified unless you have the parents' permission.

Shawne teamed up with me to present a telephone seminar called "116 WOW Story Ideas from January through June," including other Valentine's Day angles I don't have room for here. The audio CD comes with a list of all 116 ideas. This is perfect if you're still trying to fill in gaps in your 2007 media plan. Read more about it at http://tinyurl.com/6k7zk

Sign up for Shawne's excellent ezine, "ShawneTV Guide," at http://www.shawnetv.com


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2. Look for Local Legends
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Here's an idea anyone can steal, regardless of where you live.

The Milwaukee Press Club generated fabulous publicity for its recent contest called "Legends of Milwaukee." It asked people to nominate anyone who made Milwaukee famous. More than 5,000 people responded.

The winners included:

--Father Jacques Marquette of Marquette University fame

--Comedian Chris Farley

--William Harley and Walter Davidson, co-founders of Harley- Davidson

--Reginald "The Crusher" Lisowski, a professional wrestler

--U.S. Supreme Court Justice William H. Rehnquist

--Golda Meier, founder of the State of Israel.

Samson, a gorilla at the Milwaukee Zoo, and Albert the Alley Cat, a puppet on one of the local TV weather programs, also made the list.

The Press Club announced the top two winners in each of eight categories at a gathering celebrating Milwaukee's 161st birthday.

And an article last week in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel even included photos of the winners.

This contest can be a fabulous promotion for convention and visitors bureaus, chambers of commerce, state departments of development, and any group that wants to attract attention to its city or state.

Smart Publicity Hounds can probably think of all kinds of ways to tie this contest to a special event. "How to Plan & Promote Sizzling Special Events" includes 847 tips on how to make your next special event one to remember. It's available as a set of 7 Cds or an electronic transcript that you can download and be reading in just a few minutes. The Cds and transcripts include 15 can't-do-without checklists for event planners. Regularly $247, you can pick it up for half-price during my birthday promotion that ends Wednesday night.

You can read more about it at http://tinyurl.com/46jzg but use this link if you want to slash the price in half: http://tinyurl.com/ywue2p

Then click on the "CDs/transcripts" button on the left, and look in the "Special Events" category.


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3. Give Your Story Legs
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Thanks to my friend Bill Geist, an expert in destination marketing, for sharing this terrific tip about how the Convention & Visitors Bureau in Fort Wayne, Indiana, jumped on a Super Bowl angle and gave the story legs.

Bill says the whole thing started after Indianapolis Head Coach Tony Dungy's nationally televised post-game interview after the Colts came out of nowhere to upend the Patriots. Tony said, "It's a shame we have to go to Miami (to play in SB XLI). We should just go to Fort Wayne and play this off."

Bill writes:

"It took Ft. Wayne CVB CEO Dan O'Connell about three seconds to begin plotting his next move. Over the course of the next few days, Dan and his staff developed a list of why playing the Super Bowl in Fort Wayne was a fabulous idea.

"The story picked up steam when the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette did a piece on Dan's ideas. Then came a light-hearted release from the Bureau entitled 'What if Fort Wayne did host the Super Bowl?' In which Dan and his crew suggested that fans would stay at residents' homes and eat their meals family-style. Colts fans would fly into the Fort Wayne International Airport. Bears fans would be directed to Smith Airfield."

Media all over the U.S. jumped on the story. You can read all about it at Bill's blog at http://tinyurl.com/yp3ckb

"Special Report #35: How to be the Local Angle to National Stories" shows you how to piggyback onto regional, national or international stories to make them your own. Don't forget to use this link, then click on the special reports button on the left side of my homepage:
http://tinyurl.com/ywue2p


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4. 'Best Bagger' Contest
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Here's another idea to get you thinking.

The National Grocery Association sponsors a "Best Bagger Contest," designed to find the bagger who can get the job done the fastest. The contest is in its 21st year. You can read about it at http://tinyurl.com/yvydvr

A hotel has a contest each year in which members of the housekeeping staff can compete to see who can make a bed the fastest. And various restaurant groups sponsor a "waiters contest" to see which waiter can carry a glass of wine on a tray, or an entire tray of dishes, from one end of a big room to the other without spilling anything.

What kind of fun "fastest" contest can your group sponsor? These contests are perfect for TV because they offer people, color and motion--the three elements of a story that TV news producers want. "How to Get on the Local TV News Tomorrow" explains how to pitch your story to the right person inside your local TV news station. Read more about it at http://tinyurl.com/yjrktx and use this link for my birthday special: http://tinyurl.com/ywue2p


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5. Loose Lips Sink Ships
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If you think you know how to conduct yourself during a media interview, don't get too cocky.

I just found a fabulous "how to" guide called "Loosening Lips: The Art of the Interview," written specifically for reporters, by Eric Nalder, an investigative report for The Seattle Times. He shows in step-by-step detail how reporters can subtly encourage their interview subjects to spill the beans.

It's must-reading for anyone who does media interviews, regardless of how savvy an interview subject you think you are.

Many of the tricks Eric suggests are the same ones I learned when I was a newspaper reporter. He suggests ways to pry information out of people, how to encourage them to go "on the record" with information they want "off the record," how to find all the skeletons like drunken driving convictions in somebody's closet, and how to observe little details in a person's office that offer valuable clues to their job and personal life.

Yesterday, I conducted a teleseminar with people in The Publicity Hound Mentor Program and explained to them how to respond to the kinds of tactics Eric is encouraging reporters to use. You can see his entire list at http://home.earthlink.net/~cassidyny/naldertip.htm

If you're not in my Mentor Program, you can read about what you're missing at http://www.publicityhound.com/mentorprogram/intro.html


Then check out "How to Keep the Media Wolves at Bay," an interview I did with Jonathan Bernstein, one of the best crisis counselors on the planet. He explains how to avoid the land mines of killer interviews and how to respond to reporters' tough questions--on your terms. Read more about what you'll learn at http://tinyurl.com/b8wcy

Note: Help This Hound will return next week.


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6. Media Leads
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--Emiliana Sandoval, a reporter for the Detroit Free Press, is looking for interesting topics to feature in her Page 2 column called "Five Things About (fill in the blank)." The "blank" can be any topic, from the zoo, to hockey to a concierge in the Detroit area. You can see a sample column at http://tinyurl.com/yqba3t In the last year and a half that she's been writing the column, fewer than a half dozen people have pitched her. Email your ideas to Emiliana at mailto:esandoval@freepress.com Thanks, Shawne Duperon, for tipping us off to this one.

--Interested in influencing some of New York's most knowledgeable readership in the advertising business? Packed with insider commentary, The MadAve Journal, read by 2,500 media buyers, account execs and creatives, is looking for contributors.
MarketingSherpa offers pitching tips and more info about this self-described "trade-sumer ezine" at http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article.php?ident=23853 You can read the article until Feb. 12, then you'll have to pay for it.

--The Publicity Hound wants to hear from anyone who has used MySpace or YouTube to generate publicity or sell their products and services. Your success story might be part of a special information product on this topic, as well as articles that will appear online and offline. Please include details on the specific media outlets that found you on MySpace or YouTube, or details on how you've used either website to generate more business for your company, nonprofit or government agency. I want to hear only from people who generated publicity or p~rofits from either website.

Please be specific and name the media outlets that covered you.

Email MySpace success stories to Mailto:JStewart@PublicityHound.com?subject=MySpaceSuccess

Email YouTube success stories to Mailto:JStewart@PublicityHound.com?subject=YouTubeSuccess

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7. Hound Quote of the Week
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Thanks to Dan Poynter of Santa Barbara, California for this one.


David Letterman's Top Ten Signs Your Dog Is Too Fat:

10. Instead of "Ruff," he barks "Ruffles"

9. Ticks that suck his blood die from high cholesterol

8. Strangers mistake him for a fat guy in a dog suit

7. Collar is a 48-inch belt from Today's Man

6. Answers to the name "Cheney"

5. His dish is filled with Kibbles, Bits and L~ipitor

4. Dog door is larger than your front door

3. Put his head out the window and the car tipped over

2. He's the only dog that knows how to work a deep fryer

1. Never have to say "Stay" since his fat butt never moves


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/

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8. And at My Blog...
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Video press releases alive and well
http://tinyurl.com/2kcgvn

Public speaking tips: 7 ways to get on a panel
http://tinyurl.com/2vlhmb

On my blog at http://www.publicityhound.net/, I've made it easy for you to find what you're looking for by dividing my posts into more than 20 categories. Look under the "Topics" arrow on the right side of the blog to find the category you need.

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Where to Meet or Hear The Publicity Hound®

March 8, 2007: PR University's Bulldog Reporter Teleconference

"PR Writing--Top PR Wordsmiths Analyze Proven Press Releases to Reveal Best Practices for Writing Compelling Copy That Reaches Millions," 1 p.m. Eastern. Want to improve your press releases and boost media pickup fast? I'm part of a panel of wordsmiths that will deconstruct some of the year’s best releases and personally hand you the keys to duplicating their successes.
Details pending.


March 17, 2007: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

"Savvy Media Relations: How to Get Free Print, Broadcast and Online Publicity." 8 a.m. to noon. Learn more at http://www.nsapittsburgh.com/calendar.htm


May 12, 2007: Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Florida Speakers Association: "Savvy Media Relations: How to Get Free Print, Broadcast & Online Publicity." 9 a.m. to noon. "Sleeping with the Competition: How to Collaborate with Other Speakers to Create Profitable Products and Programs." 2 to 4 p. m. For more information, call 561-630-7766 or visit http://www.florida-speakers.org


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

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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