Publicity tips/A Publicity Miracle Dec 9, 2008
The Publicity Hound's
Tips of the Week
Issue #428 Dec. 9, 2008
Publisher: Joan Stewart
mailto:JStewart@PublicityHound.com
http://www.PublicityHound.com
http://www.publicityhound.net/ (Blog)
Circulation: 50,513
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"Tips, Tricks and Tools for Free Publicity"
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Announcements:
--Publicity Hounds have chosen Patricia Reszetylo the winner of
the $50 Amazon.com gift certificate for her idea of promoting an
ebook by hosting teleseminars that tie into the topic of the
book. You can see all the ideas at http://tinyurl.com/64jkzq
Thanks to everyone who voted.
--If you're new to the publicity game, here's a must-attend
teleseminar, join Steve Harrison for a free teleseminar on
Thursday, December 11, on "Practical Ways To Get More F~ree
Publicity In Top Magazines, Newspapers And On Radio/TV Shows," at
2 or 7 p.m. Eastern. He isn't recording it so if you can't
attend, recruit someone to listen and take notes for you. The
teleseminar includes a handout that will be available on
Thursday. Sign up at http://tinyurl.com/6cfrsn
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In This Issue
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1. A Publicity Miracle
2. Be the Expert in a Niche
3. Oprah Does it Again
4. PR Tips for Nonprofits
5. How to Promote Medical Guides
6. Help This Hound
7. Hound Joke of the Week
8. And at My Blog...
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1. A Publicity Miracle
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One of the best ways to generate publicity is to be willing to
discuss your business problems and ways you are trying to solve
them, even if the solutions are so bizarre that people think
you're nuts.
For years, the real estate industry has known about the practice
of burying a St. Joseph statue upside down in your yard if
you want to sell your house.
In the mid-90s, my husband and I were so desperate to sell our
four-bedroom Colonial in Pennsylvania that had been on the market
for 14 months that we, too, buried a statue. Several weeks later,
we received three offers in one day and sold the house. I wrote
about it this week in my blog at http://tinyurl.com/6rkm75
I'm not alone.
The St. Joseph practice is so widespread that an entire industry
has been built around this superstition. Do a search for "St.
Joseph statue" and you'll find Phil Cates' website at
http://tinyurl.com/5lhyrg at the top of the list.
Phil, who has been in the real estate industry for 22 years, now
works full time selling a "St. Joseph Statue Home Sale Kit" that
includes a complementary online listing of the house you're
trying to sell. His website includes more than $2.7 billion in
real estate listings--all from people who have bought his home
sale kits.
"We've polled people who have bought our statues and 50 percent
of the real estate agents don't even tell their sellers that
they're burying it," Phil says. "And 50 percent of the sellers
don't tell their real estate agents they're burying the statues."
That means two St. Joseph statues, not one, are buried in
thousands of yards throughout the world.
This year alone, Phil has racked up publicity for his company in
more than 44 media outlets, blogs and social networking sites,
including the Wall Street Journal, National Public Radio, the
Dallas Morning News and Consumer Reports.
If you're a real estate agent or a home-seller willing to discuss
your experiences with the St. Joseph statue, publicity is almost
yours for the asking, particularly since the housing market is so
dismal. If you're pitching this fun story to TV stations, be sure
to have your own St. Joseph statue as a prop. You can get just
the statue or the entire kit at http://tinyurl.com/5lhyrg
Real estate agents, I know dozens of other ways to generate
publicity, and I shared them all during the interview I did with
real estate coach Jim Gillespie, available as a CD.
Read more about how to stop relying exclusively on expensive
newspaper classified ads at http://tinyurl.com/56waoa
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2. Be the Expert in a Niche
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A super way to promote your expertise within a niche and generate
publicity is to write a content-rich report that walks people
through the steps of how to solve a problem.
You can give it away if you wish and offer it to journalists who
write about topics within that niche.
Or sell the report for a low price. I sell 52 special reports on
all aspects of free publicity for only $10 each at
http://tinyurl.com/6uz9g
But what if you don't have a website, a shopping cart, or email
addresses from people who have given you permission to market to
them? What if you don't want the hassle of creating a website,
processing the payments or delivering the product?
Problem solved.
Lynn Terry, who I met in Stompernet, the membership site for
Internet marketers, has figured out a way for anyone to sell
practically any product without email subscribers, without a
website and without a shopping cart--even in super-competitive
niches.
You only need two things: an email address and a PayPal account.
It's an easy seven-step process that she explains thoroughly in
her 13-page report called "Easy 7-Step Fast C*ash Strategy."
You'll also learn how to sell the product quietly before you
launch it, so you can get feedback and testimonials from happy
customers in time for the official launch.
It's perfect for:
--Consultants who want to promote their expertise within a niche.
--Authors who want to create a quick product that upsells people
to their printed book or ebook. Or create it as a spin-off
product for people who buy the book.
--Speakers who want speaking engagements in a particular
industry.
--Small-business owners who can explain a problem, and the
solution, that relates to a product or service they sell. The
report can generate leads that turn into paying customers.
--Publicists and PR agency owners who want more clients. Show how
much you know by concentrating on one aspect of PR. You can sell
the report from your blog and on the social networking sites, or
simply use Lynn's seven-step formula.
In some cases, you can create the report and start selling it in
well under a week. And if you have questions, go over to Lynne's
discussion forum where she'll be happy to help you.
The report is a steal at only $10, and she's offering it
exclusively to Publicity Hounds. Read more about it at
http://www.fastcashstrategy.com/PHprivateoffer.htm
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3. Oprah Does it Again
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If your Christmas list includes a Kindle, that nifty hand-held,
wireless portable reading device that has access to more than
200,000 books, sorry.
You'll have to wait until February to get one because they've
sold out. Blame Oprah Winfrey for the delay.
Amazon was confident that it had enough Kindles in stock for the
2009 holidays, but then along comes Oprah in late October,
christening the Kindle as her "favorite new gadget" on her TV
show, and then gushing about it at her blog at
http://tinyurl.com/5p9hlx
Now, the shelves are bare.
That's what happens when the most powerful woman celebrity
endorses your product. Just ask the numerous authors whose books
have catapulted to the top of the New York Times Best Seller list
after Oprah chose them for her book club.
And that's why authors, speakers, experts, nonprofits and
millions of others are hankering to get onto her show.
Did you know, however, that one of the best ways to get the
attention of Oprah's producers is to first get mentioned in O,
the Oprah Magazine? If you can get into the magazine, it's almost
as though you've already passed inspection, and her TV producers
will be more inclined to take a second look when they get your
pitch.
Or they might hand-pick you for the show, based on the story they
read in the magazine.
That's what happened to Genevieve Piturro. She's the founder of
The Pajama Program, a charity that gives new pajamas to needy
children.
Genevieve first appeared in O Magazine, and then on the TV show
two years ago. That one segment resulted in more than 32,000
pairs of pajamas being raised for charity. Producers at Oprah &
Friends XM radio booked Piturro for an interview on the radio
show--so it was a triple whammy in Oprah Land.
Sometimes it works the other way around. You can get onto the TV
show first, and then appear in the magazine. But because
competition for the TV show is so intense, it's often better to
try to get into the magazine first.
Read about the 12 topics the editors love at
http://tinyurl.com/6c6nsc
Then grab Susan Harrow's ebook "Get into O Magazine" at $100 off
the regular price, now through Dec. 18. But you must use this
coupon code: oprah
Susan explains how at http://tinyurl.com/fuxmn
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4. PR Tips for Nonprofits
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Publicity Hound Bob Crawshaw from Australia has come up with a
creative way to market his business, help his community and give
a special holiday gift to the nonprofit world:
"We deal a lot with community groups and to help them out, we're
compiling a list of practical PR tips for challenging times. We
intend to circulate this f~ree to community groups in the next
couple of weeks.
"We've started out with some ideas in our latest post. You're
invited to add to this list. And in return, we'll share the
gathered ideas with you (or groups you nominate) before
Christmas."
Publicity Hounds can contribute ideas for low-cost PR tools and
tactics at http://tinyurl.com/6y56jz
If you don't want to wait to see what will be added to his list,
Paul Hartunian has dozens of tips on how nonprofits can generate
publicity, even on a shoestring budget. He shared them during the
teleseminar on "Failproof Publicity Tips for Your Nonprofit."
It's available as a CD or an electronic transcript that you can
download and be reading as soon as your order has been approved.
Read more about what you'll learn at http://tinyurl.com/29dba
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5. How to Promote Medical Guides
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This week, four Publicity Hounds have tips for Winthrop Morgan of
Bethesda, Maryland, on how to raise awareness of a government
agency's comparative effectiveness summary guides for clinicians.
From Karen Cook:
"I have been creating a ton of podcasts and downloadable books
and seminars, even yoga classes for this generation of web-savvy
clients. We have found that it creates a buzz passed on by email
and Twitter/Facebook type applications. After the initial cost of
digitizing it, it's free advertising. You can attach these links
to every piece of correspondence."
From Bruce Jones:
"I would say produce some quick video guides and place them on
the popular web video hosting sites with links back to the
government sites. Promote that people can download them as PDF
files. You don't even have to use a camera. You can create four
or five slide presentations in PowerPoint and save them as a
movie, add a little music or see if you can read the copy into
your computer. Make sure you use keywords in the description and
title and add a link back to your website."
"Do an email blast to as many health sites as you can, offering
free publications that they can place on their site. Everyone is
looking for content.
"Set up a website with the copy of each book on a page, plus the
PDF download. Google loves good relevant copy."
From Paulette Ensign:
"Start by giving those PDFs and MP3s to every relevant
professional association for the association to provide to its
members. This is viral marketing at its finest, and costs zip!
The associations will be delighted, too, since they are always
looking for more member benefits to provide, as inexpensively as
possible. It doesn't get more inexpensive than free.
"The same is true for every relevant publication and website, for
each of them to use as bonuses to bring more traffic. "Visit our
site and get a free..."
The Publicity Hound says:
Winthrop, you should be reaching out to bloggers who write about
medical issues. They would love to know about your resources. See
"How to Pitch the Best Bloggers & Create a Publicity Explosion"
at http://tinyurl.com/m7ymr
Read all the responses to this week’s “Help This Hound question
http://tinyurl.com/65dltt
Send your own Help this Hound question to:
mailto:JStewart@PublicityHound.com?subject=HelpThisHound
and include your city and state.
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6. Help This Hound
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Publicity Hound Erin Portman of Austin, Texas writes:
"I am a freelancer and have a ton of media contacts. My New
Year's resolution this year was to find a better way to track and
capture information about the media I work with. Excel
spreadsheets are getting old. Also, I should note that I use a
Mac, which may be limiting in some instances.
"I’d be interested to hear about how other Publicity Hounds keep
track of their media contacts."
The Publicity Hound says:
This is a great question because a media contact list is an
important part of any media plan. Hounds with tips for Erin can
post them to my blog at http://tinyurl.com/5vf9pq
Time's a wastin' if you haven't created your media plan for 2009.
Wait until next year and you might miss opportunities to get into
the spring issues of national magazines. My training program "How
to Create a Media Plan" comes with a half-hour of telephone
consulting. Let me critique your media kit, your online press
room or your press releases, or give you creative ideas to work
into the plan. Read more about how to create a plan that keeps
you on track, month by month:
http://www.publicityhound.com/mediaplan.htm
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7. Hound Joke of the Week
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"If I have any beliefs about immortality, it is that certain dogs
I have known will go to heaven, and very, very few persons."
--James Thurber
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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Can't sell your house? Bury St. Joseph for an offer & publicity
http://tinyurl.com/6rkm75
How to persuade newspaper editorial boards
http://tinyurl.com/5keakz
How to get Google juice from your LinkedIn profile
http://tinyurl.com/5wxnz9
When radio/TV talk show guests cancel, hosts need fill-ins
http://tinyurl.com/6cfpch
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WHERE TO SEE AND HEAR THE PUBLICITY HOUND:
Wednesday, Jan. 21--Teleseminar
Join me for the third annual smARTist telesummit where
photographers, jewelers, potters, painters, metalworkers,
woodworkers and other artists will learn all the secrets for
growing their art business. I'm presenting a session on how to
use social networking, from 2 to 2:45 Eastern Time on Wednesday,
Jan. 21. Register for the Virtual Opening Day Reception from 7
to 8 p.m. Eastern Time on Thursday, Dec. 4. It's a free
teleseminar leading up to the telesummit, in which all the
speakers offer a few of their best tips. Register for Thursday's
free call at http://tinyurl.com/5haqs5 or for the telesummit at
http://tinyurl.com/5axy3x
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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
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=======================================================
Joan Stewart
a.k.a. The Publicity Hound®
3434 County KK
Port Washington, WI 53074
USA
Phone: 262-284-7451 (Central) Fax: 262-284-1737
Labels: media plan, media relations, Non-Profits, O Magazine, Oprah, Oprah magazine, pitch blogggers, publicity for niche markets
posted by Publicity-Hound @ 3:18 PM
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