Publicity tips/The Press Release Police Feb 19, 2007

The Publicity Hound's
Tips of the Week
Issue #386 Feb. 19, 2008
Publisher: Joan Stewart
mailto:JStewart@PublicityHound.com
http://www.PublicityHound.com/
http://www.publicityhound.net/ (Blog)
The Publicity Hound®

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"Tips, Tricks and Tools for Free Publicity"

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SAVE THE DATE:

3 p.m. Eastern Time on Wednesday, March 5; free teleseminar with Cathy Stucker on "How to Turn Your Content into Cash While Promoting Your Expertise."

This teleseminar is perfect for authors, speakers and experts who have handouts in their file cabinets and on their bookshelves and hard drives. Cathy will show you how to take your content and spin, retool or tweak it to create information products and lots more.

She promises a teleseminar packed with content, and she'll take your questions, too. This call is limited to the first 250 people. You don't have to sign up. Simply call 1-218-486-1300.
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In This Issue
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1. The Press Release Police

2. Facebook's Sticky Problem

3. Don't Trade Links Haphazardly

4. The Pitch that Landed with a Thud

5. How to Promote a Book for Christians

6. Help This Hound

7. Hound Joke of the Week

8. At My Blog...


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1. The Press Release Police
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You write a brilliant press release that uses just the right touch of humor to grab the reader.

You call the folks at PRWeb, pay the 80 bucks to have your release distributed, and then email it to them.

What happens next is sort of like what happens when you're in your car, glance in your rear-view mirror, see red lights flashing and hear that obnoxious siren.

Don't be alarmed. It's only PRWeb's Press Release Police.

That's what I started calling them when I learned last week that PRWeb is "flagging" releases for objectionable content.

And what, exactly, does it consider objectionable? You won't believe this when I tell you.

BL Ochman, who wrote a very clever press release about where to buy last-minute Valentine's Day gifts so you don't get in trouble with your sweetie, was told she used "your" and "our" in her copy. In other words, it wasn't written entirely in the third person.

Sharon Dotson, an award-winning publicist, has had her releases flagged, too--for, imagine this, using humor! I've been offering Sharon's releases as great examples in my press release workshops and in my free email tutorial "89 Ways to Write Powerful Press Releases."

You can read about the ugly hole that PRWeb has dug itself into, including comments from other disgruntled customers, at BL's blog at http://tinyurl.com/37wkdg

I wrote about it too at http://tinyurl.com/2vfveu and I'm inviting Hounds to comment at the blog and share your experiences. Did you bow to PRWeb's demands? Or did you try to negotiate like BL did? Or did you take your business elsewhere?


More than 6,000 people have signed up for my free email tutorial
"89 Ways to Write Powerful Press Releases." You can, too, at http://www.PublicityHound.net/89Ways


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2. Facebook's Sticky Problem
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Every week, more than 1 million people join Facebook, the social networking site.

But last week, many of them were worried when they read the Feb.
11 New York Times article headlined "How sticky is Facebook? Just try breaking free." The article explained that it's nearly impossible for users to remove themselves entirely from Facebook.

The article ignited worries among Facebook users about how the popular site is using personal data.

Users have the option of deactivating their accounts, but its servers keep copies of the information in those accounts indefinitely. Many users who have contacted Facebook to request that their accounts be deleted, the article said, haven't been able to erase their records from the network.

Concerned users turned to unofficial guides like the Facebook users group "How to permanently delete your Facebook account."

When the Times article appeared, about 3,000 Facebook users already had joined that group. By Tuesday evening, Feb. 12, that number swelled to 7,000.

The next day, Facebook announced that it was working to solve the privacy problem and trying to make it easier for people to delete their accounts permanently.

What does all this mean for Publicity Hounds?

Have a presence on Facebook. But when writing your profile and pages, be cautious about including sensitive information that could embarrass you 10 or 20 years from now.


Facebook is one of seven sites where social media expert Don Crowther says you must have a presence. He explained more about Facebook and the other six sites during a one-hour teleseminar earlier this year as part of my training series "How to Create a Media Plan."

If you need help building a 12-month plan that will really reach your target audience and pull traffic to your website, take a look at what you'll learn:
http://www.PublicityHound.com/mediaplan.htm

The training program includes a list of more than 200 story ideas, several for every month of the year. You can incorporate them into your own plan.


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3. Don't Trade Links Haphazardly
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Do you receive those annoying emails from companies asking you to trade links?

I get about a dozen each week, and I ignore them.

That's because trading links with companies whose products and services are unrelated to your own is not only ineffective, but dangerous. The search engines will actually penalize you if your site includes lots of links to unrelated websites.

I'm mentioning this because many of you are using social media to promote your expertise. If you're on Facebook, for instance, you should certainly be asking other Facebook users to be your friend. But don't ask them to trade links with you unless your websites are compatible.

And for heaven's sake, don't spam by sending email requests to companies that haven't given you permission to do so.

There are so many more effective ways to please the search engines. I've added dozens of them to the 2008 update of "Special Report #17: Powerful Ways to Promote Your Website to Draw Traffic and Boost Sales." I included so much new information that the five-page report has swelled to 13 pages, but the price is still the same. Only $10.

The report includes a long list of social media and social bookmarking sites, as well as tools for researching your keywords.

You can order the report at
http://www.publicityhound.com/publicity-products/reports.html


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4. The Pitch That Landed with a Thud
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I've started conducting telephone training sessions for PR firms that want a refresher course on things like press releases and pitching, as well as a look at many of the opportunities in the world of social media.

They don't have to pay my regular speaker fee. I don't have to hassle with airports. And everybody's happy.

Last week, a PR firm asked me to critique several of its pitches, including one about a ground-breaking for a new upscale retirement community.

"To round out the ceremony, a mayoral proclamation will be read, honoring (name of retirement community)," the pitch read.

No wonder it landed with a thud.

The media despise staged media events like ground-breakings, ribbon-cuttings and check-passings.

And they're especially unimpressed with politicians who attend these events. Remember, reporters who cover city hall see politicians several times a week. The last thing they want to do is see them again--at a ground-breaking, no less.

I showed the PR firm how to rewrite the pitch by offering a tantalizing story idea that's a lot of fun and eliminates the need for a tired ground-breaking ceremony. When I worked as a reporter, I told them, I would have jumped on a story like this one.

PR pro Dan Collins is a master at coming up with great ideas, including publicity stunts. He explained them all during a teleseminar called "Fun Alternatives to Boring Ground-breakings, Check-passings and Ribbon-cuttings." We recorded it, and it's available as a CD or an electronic transcript that you can download as soon as you order has been approved.

Read more about what you'll learn at
http://publicityhound.net/cdgroundbreaking


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5. How to Promote a Book for Christians
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This week, Publicity Hounds offered a long list of cool ideas on how Catherine Painter of Raleigh, can promote her Bible study book "So, You're a Christian! Now What?"


From Karina Fabian:

"Even better than MySpace or Facebook for your target audience is Shoulife at http://shoulife.com/. It's like MySpace for Christians."


From Terry Whalin:

"Your book has been out since January 2006 and you have ONE reader comment on Amazon with a five-star review. You are not making use of the free tools on the largest online bookstore on the planet (Amazon.com). Learn about them in the 6th edition of John Kremer’s excellent book '1001 Ways to Market Your Book' where he has a full chapter on Amazon."


From Cheryl Pickett:

"Approach mission/outreach/evangelism groups of all kinds. They would be candidates for individual and bulk purchases too because they need resources to use while they’re in the field, and to leave behind with newly trained leaders."


The Publicity Hound says:

Catherine, your topic is a natural for National Public Radio. See "How to Get Booked on NPR" at http://publicityhound.net/cd_get_booked_on_national_public_radio


Read all the great responses to this Help This Hound question at http://tinyurl.com/35dmgw


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6. Help This Hound
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Patricia Hudak of Jersey City, New Jersey writes:

"I am a young entrepreneur and recent college graduate. I started my company, Real World 101, to help graduating college seniors transition from college to the real world.

"I've created an informational care package for college seniors that covers all of the topics they will face, such as personal finances, career, apartment living, social life, health & fitness, travel & entertainment, and success after college. The package contains seven booklets (one for each topic), a multi- media CD, and materials from colleges and corporate sponsors.

"My plan is to give the care package away for free to graduating college seniors and have it sponsored by companies that want to reach these students. However, that task is proving more difficult than I had anticipated. Do your Hounds have any suggestions on how I can gain corporate sponsorship for a new product that's targeted to an untapped market?"


The Publicity Hound says:

This is a tough one, Patricia. But my Hounds are up to the task.
Hounds with great ideas can post them to my blog at http://tinyurl.com/yumrqh


I need more Help this Hound questions. Email them to me at mailto:JStewart@publicityhound.com?subject=HelpThisHound and include your city and state.


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7. Hound Joke of the Week
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Thanks to Publicity Hound Don Miller of Mansfield, Ohio for more fun crossbreeds:


Newfoundland + Basset Hound = Asset Hound, a dog for financial advisors

Terrier + Bulldog = Terribull, a dog that makes awful mistakes

Bloodhound + Labrador = Blabador, a dog that barks incessantly

Malamute + Pointer = Moot Point, owned by...oh well, it doesn't matter anyway

Deerhound + Terrier = Derriere, a dog that's true to the end

Bull Terrier + ShihTzu = Oh, never mind....


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. At My Blog...
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Reality TV shows: How to sell your idea to Hollywood
http://tinyurl.com/yo6px3


PRWeb: Disband your press release police
http://tinyurl.com/2vfveu


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Where to See or Hear The Publicity Hound


March 27: Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin

"Red Hot Tips to Set Your Publicity Campaign on Fire,"
Menomonee Falls, Sussex and Germantown Business to Business Networking Breakfast; networking and breakfast from 7:30 to 8, presentation from 8 to 8:45 a.m. Tickets are $15. Guests welcome. For reservations, call Diane Henning at the Menomonee Falls Chamber at 262-251-2430.


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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