Publicity Tips/Like Rats on a Sinking Ship Apr 7, 2009

The Publicity Hound's
Tips of the Week
Issue #445 April 7, 2009
Publisher: Joan Stewart
mailto:JStewart@PublicityHound.com
http://www.PublicityHound.com
http://www.publicityhound.net/ (Blog)

Circulation: 41,324

==========================================

"Tips, Tricks and Tools for Free Publicity"

Receive this seine direct to your desktop
http://www.publicityhound.com/tipsoftheweek/

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You are receiving this because you signed up for it at The
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told me that you want to subscribe. If you didn't subscribe, you
can unsubscribe by clicking the link at the bottom of the
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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.


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

Social Media Teleseminar Tomorrow, April 8:


Puzzled about the return on investment you'll get by
participating in social media?

David Mathison, once an unknown author, has one success story
after another to share about what has happened to him as a result
of joining the conversation at sites like Twitter, Facebook and
LinkedIn.

While writing his book "Be the Media: How to Create and
Accelerate Your Message...Your Way," he spent time on those sites
and others and has one success story after another to share with
you.

David will join me for a complimentary teleseminar from 3 to 4
p.m. Eastern Time tomorrow and explain how to use social media to
create a huge following and sell more books, products or
services. Only 200 people will be able to participate. Register
at http://www.Publicityhound.com/teleseminardavemathison.htm

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

1. Like Rats on a Sinking Ship

2. Google Measures Your Influence

3. Let 'em Know You Twitter

4. Before You Write a Nonfiction Book...

5. Advice for Twitter 'Unfollowers'

6. Help This Hound

7. Hound Joke of the Week

8. And at My Blog...


=================================
1. Like Rats on a Sinking Ship
=================================

Those newspaper and magazine journalists you're pitching are
grumpier than ever.

You'd be grumpy, too, if you had an ax hanging over your head.

The 2009 PRWeek/PR Newswire Media Survey shows that half of the
2,174 journalists surveyed this year are considering careers
outside of journalism.

Doug Elfman, entertainment columnist at the Las Vegas Review-
Journal describes the situation like this:

"I know several people who have changed careers or have
considered changing their careers because they don't want to feel
like rats on a sinking ship anymore."

That confirms what I'm hearing from my friends in the newspaper
business.

PRWeek's survey results also show:

--70 percent of journalists are working harder this year than
last.

--They're taking on more work on the Web, where publishers
feel they have the best chance of recouping lost revenues.

--At magazines like Teen Vogue, journalists produce numerous
daily online-only items and blog posts to tide over readers
between issues.

--The number of journalists who have a social networking profile
has increased from 54 percent last year to 77 percent this year.
Many of them say they look for story ideas, sources and other
information on sites like Facebook and Twitter.


What this means to you:

--Pay attention to a newspaper's or magazine's website, not only
the printed edition. You might find many more opportunities for
publicity online than offline.

--The emphasis on the Web means journalists are no longer "print
journalists" or "broadcast journalists." They are all "multi-
media journalists." So think "multi-media" when you pitch by
offering a video clip for a newspaper's or TV station's website.

--If you're obsessed with generating publicity in traditional
media, you need to have a presence on the social networking
sites, where many journalists hunt for stories.

--Position yourself as a helpful source who's willing to go the
extra distance. Many journalists are still confused about how to
use sites like Facebook and Twitter. If you can help them by
showing them, in step-by-step detail, how to do something like
search Twitter by topic, you could score points.


If you're creating video for, let's say, your local newspaper,
you can recycle it in other ways for additional publicity.
Videographer John Easton does it all the time in Charlotte, North
Carolina, and the local chamber of commerce and TV stations love
him. During a teleseminar I hosted, he explained how you can do
what he does without fancy equipment or much techie know-how. "9
Clever Ways to Use Video to Become a Publicity Darling in Your
Industry or Community" is available as a CD, MP3 or electronic
transcript that you can download as soon as your order has been
approved.

Read more about how to use the power of video for publicity at
http://tinyurl.com/5pbgzn


=================================
2. Google Measures Your Influence
=================================

If you're one of the many people who thinks Twitter is a waste of
time and you refuse to participate, please reconsider.

Rumors have been circulating that Google is interested in buying
Twitter, the micro-blogging site that lets users send messages of
no more than 140 characters to everyone who follows them.

For now, it's nothing more than gossip. But if there's a nugget
of truth to the rumor, here's how it could affect you.

Google, the granddaddy of search engines, already measures your
influence.

Let's say you sell dog toys and somebody types "dog toys" into
the Google search box. Google will rank your site on the left
side of the screen according to several factors. One of the
biggest is whether your site includes those keywords in the title
bar, description, meta tags and copy on your website.

Another factor is how many other influential websites link to
yours.

It gives high ranking to videos, too. When Google bought YouTube
for $1.65 billion in October 2006, that was the company's way of
screaming "We think videos are important."

Same with Twitter.

If Google buys Twitter, chances are good that one of the factors
it will use to measure your influence is your Twitter presence,
how often you tweet and how often you join the conversation.

If your competitors are on Twitter but you're not, what kind of
message do you think that will send to Google?

At Stompernet's Internet marketing seminar in Atlanta last month,
several speakers predicted that the search engines will place a
greater emphasis on your influence in the social networking
world.

Already, you can measure your influence on Twitter with a variety
of tools and applications. One of them is Twitalyzer at
http://twitalyzer.com/twitalyzer/index.asp

Type in your Twitter name, and it will grade your impact and
success in social media according to several factors: relative
influence, signal-to-noise ratio, generosity, velocity and clout.

Compare your score to the scores of your competitors.

If you ranked really low, you can boost your score by
understanding all the ways you can join in the conversation and
be helpful to the people who follow you. Warren Whitlock
explained how to do this, and he gave dozens of tips when he was
my guest during a teleseminar on "How to Use Twitter to Amass an
Army of Followers, Customers & Valuable Contacts--and Promote."

We recorded it and it's available as a package of electronic
transcripts and your choice of CDs or MP3s that you can download
immediately. Read more about what you'll learn at
http://tinyurl.com/3lbcaw


=========================================
3. Let 'em Know You Twitter
=========================================

Hardly a day goes by when the mainstream media isn't reporting on
Twitter. It's obvious many journalists and broadcasters are still
confused about the value of this site.

If you Twitter, particularly for business, and you're seeing a
return on your investment, offer yourself as a source for this
story. Explain what has happened to you since you started
Twittering, how many followers you have, how much time you spend,
how many valuable contacts you've made, and how many clients or
customers you've generated.

Consider pitching this story to your local business journal,
daily and weekly newspapers, TV stations and even your trade
journals.

How about offering a short list of three or four Twitter tools or
apps you use that save you time and help keep you organized? I
blogged about a cool directory that separates all these tools by
category. You can find it at http://tinyurl.com/cwcnwq


===========================================
4. Before You Write a Nonfiction Book...
===========================================

Don't write one word until you've made a long list of all the
ways you can use that book as a springboard to other products and
services.

Too many authors view the book as the end product. Then, if the
book doesn't sell, they're stuck.

Smart authors use their books as calling cards. The book
"upsells" readers to a variety of other products and services.

After working with more than 9,000 authors over the last 20
years, Steve Harrison has learned that the most successful
authors simply do seven key things differently than poor authors.

Some of them are very famous bestsellers, like the creators of
the Chicken Soup for the Soul series and Rich Dad Poor Dad.

Others are happily not-so-famous but quietly raking in high six-
figure and even seven-figure annual incomes without ever being on
Oprah or hitting any bestseller list.

To learn what wildly successful authors know that poor authors
don't, join him for a free 75-minute telephone seminar at 7 p.m.
Eastern Time tonight, April 7. There's no cost to participate in
the call (except for your normal long distance charges) so go
here now and sign up:

http://www.freepublicity.com/RichAuthorSecrets/?10011


========================================
5. Advice for Twitter 'Unfollowers'
========================================

This week, eight Publicity Hounds have tips for Dan Janal of
Shorewood, Minn., owner of PRLeads.com. He subscribes to
Qwitter.com at http://UseQwitter.com and wants advice on what to
do when the service notifies him that one of his Twitter
followers has "unfollowed" him.


From David Kadavy:

"For me, it's not about reciprocity, it's about genuine
relationships and useful information. Follow that principle and
you'll know when it's right to unfollow someone."


From Gail Sideman:

"I have a small follower base compared to many of those with whom
I have Twitter relationships, but can say that all I choose to
follow are valuable minds in their industries or are lots of fun.
If they unfollow me, I'm not going to analyze why. You can't
please everybody, especially in a base as broad as social media."


From Meryl Evans:

"I signed up for Qwitter a long time ago and forgot about it.
Suddenly, it hit me with a bunch of unfollowers. Obviously, the
service was flaky. Nonetheless, I unsubscribed to the service
after that. It's just not worth getting hurt or emotional about
those who stop following you."


Read all the responses to this week's Help This Hound question
http://tinyurl.com/cnb3b2

I'm running low on HTH questions. Send your own Help this Hound
question to:
mailto:JStewart@PublicityHound.com?subject=HelpThisHound and include your city and state.


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

Karen Nardella of Conway, N.H. writes:

"I am a sole proprietor who owns the Emporium Consignment Outlet
and Home Staging Center, a consignment shop for high-end
furniture in Conway, N.H.

"I sell gently-used, high-quality, brand-name furniture such as
Ethan Allan, and I pay the owner 55 percent of the sale. All the
furniture is no more than 10 years old.

"With the sagging economy, what's the best way on a very tight
budget to spread the word about what I'm doing? I need to attract
the attention of people who have furniture to sell as well as
people who can't afford new furniture. What tips can your Hounds
share with me, either through traditional marketing channels or
by generating publicity?"


The Publicity Hound says:

The bad economy presents all kinds of great tie-ins to your
pitches. Let's see how many ideas my Hounds can suggest. If you
have a great idea for Karen, post it to my blog at
http://tinyurl.com/dyscmt


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

Dogs have owners. Cats have staff.


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...
================================

Massive Twitter directory lists tools, apps galore
http://tinyurl.com/cnnz6n


-------------------------------------

Where to See & Hear The Publicity Hound:


April 8, 2009

Teleseminar with David Mathison on how to use social media to
sell books and other products. 3 to 4 p.m. Eastern.
http://www.Publicityhound.com/teleseminardavemathison.htm


Follow me on Twitter:
http://www.twitter.com/PublicityHound


Friend me on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/people/Joan_Stewart/541605146


Connect with me on LinkedIn:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/publicityhound


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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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If you like these tips please pass them on to your friends,
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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

Publicity Tips/Newspaper Closings? Ho-Hum Mar 17, 2009

The Publicity Hound's
Tips of the Week
Issue #442 March 17, 2009
Publisher: Joan Stewart
mailto:JStewart@PublicityHound.com
http://www.PublicityHound.com
http://www.publicityhound.net/ (Blog)

Circulation: 41,750

==========================================

"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 The
Publicity Hound website at http://www.publicityhound.com/ or you
told me that 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.

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

Speakers: Hit the Continuing Education Market

Many of my friends who are professional speakers says it's harder
than ever to get paying gigs because companies are trimming their
training budgets, and meeting planners are bringing in industry
experts who are often willing to waive their fees.

It's time to tap into the lucrative market of continuing
education. Tom Antion is hosting a paid teleseminar called "CEU
Secrets Revealed: How to Sell Your Knowledge for Big Bucks in the
Continuing Education Market" at 9 p.m. Eastern on Thursday, March
19. His guest is Doug Bench, a former judge who retired from law
and started teaching continuing education classes for Florida
homebuilders. He's bringing in over 7 figures in revenue each
year, and he'll share all the ins and outs of selling your
knowledge as CEU credits both online and off.

If the time is inconvenient, sign up anyway because the first 200
registrants will get a copy of the CD.

Learn more at http://tinyurl.com/ako5x7

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

1. Newspaper Closings? Ho-Hum

2. Thanks for Taking My Survey

3. A Handy Twitter Formula

4. Backgrounders Educate Reporters

5. 'Window Shopping' for a Retirement Home

6. Help This Hound

7. Hound Joke of the Week

8. And at My Blog...


========================================
1. Newspaper Closings? Ho-Hum
========================================

Fewer than half of Americans surveyed by the Pew Research Center
say that losing their local newspaper would hurt civic life in
their community "a lot."

Even fewer, one in three people, say they would personally miss
reading the local newspaper a lot if it were no longer available.

Those are among findings of the latest weekly News Interest
Index, conducted March 6-9 by the Pew Research Center for the
People & the Press.

The survey also shows that more people say they get local news
from local television stations than any other source. About two-
thirds (68 percent) say they regularly get local news from
television reports or television station websites, 48 percent say
they regularly get news from local newspapers in print or online,
34 percent say they get local news regularly from radio, and 31
percent say they get their local news, more generally, from the
Internet.

You can read more about the survey and see all the results at
http://tinyurl.com/agy3h3

Close on the heels of the survey results was yesterday's
announcement by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer that it's stopping
the presses and experimenting with a web-only edition of the
paper. The 118,000-circulation daily is keeping only 20 of its
journalists to work on the online edition, and laying off 145
others.

An article in the Wall Street Journal says the smaller digital
edition will no longer be a catch-all of local and national news
and features. Instead, it will cover local events and publish
blogs and columns from staff, readers and prominent local
citizens. It also plans to link liberally to other news sources
in the Seattle area.

What does this mean for Publicity Hounds in Seattle? (If you live
elsewhere, pay attention. The same thing might happen to your
local daily newspaper.)

--Newspapers like the Post-Intelligence will be hungry for
content, including letters, opinion columns and even video.

--They might even start calling on "citizen journalists,"
including local bloggers, to report on news and events. No longer
will you have to genuflect before the media gatekeepers. Anyone
with a computer or a camera can report the news.

--Hounds no longer will be able to rely on their local
metropolitan paper for major publicity. Consider pitching your
local business journal, which is probably on more solid footing
than your local daily. And, of course, continue to pitch local TV
stations.

--If you're not on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or other social
networking sites where your target audience is gathering for much
of their news, start right now.


BL Ochman, a prolific blogger who creates social networking
campaigns for her corporate clients, says "the social media train
has left the station." She was my guest during a recent
teleseminar on "How to do Social Networking, Run a Business &
Still Have a Life."

It's available as a CD, MP3 or an electronic transcript that you
can download and be reading as soon as your order has been
approved. Read more about how to chase after the train and hop
aboard at http://tinyurl.com/6kswbc


======================================
2. Thanks for Taking My Survey
======================================

If you want to know what your customers think of your products or
services, don't sit around and guess. Ask them.

That's what I did when I emailed the link to my Customer Profile
Survey to more than 50,000 Hounds this month.

The response was fabulous, and I learned that many of you who
took the survey are more patient that I'll ever be.

We chose the vendor for this survey after a lot of research. But
the company dropped the ball and threw so many technology
roadblocks in your way that many of you bailed out before
completing it. Some of you were "frozen" on a particular page and
couldn't move. Others couldn't make it onto the thank-you page to
get the code for $40 off their choice of products.

Scott Buffaloe, one of my customer service managers from Serenity
VA Services, and Jeanne Hurlbert, my wonderful consultant who
helped me write the survey, personally contacted dozens of Hounds
who emailed and called for help. We think we've resolved all the
problems but we want to be 100 percent sure. Please email Scott
at mailto:scott@serenityva.com if you had trouble using the
coupon, or Jeanne at mailto:hurlbert@optinetresources.com if you
have questions about the survey.

Just when we thought all the glitches were solved, the vendor's
entire system crashed one day last week. Miraculously, we have
retrieved all the survey results, and we're in the process of
analyzing them.

Why am I telling you this? Because 94 percent of the people who
took the survey ranked my customer service 8, 9 or 10 on a scale
of 1 to 10.

Part of good customer service, I believe, is to explain problems
that occurred, why they occurred, and what I'll do to make sure
they never happen again.

From time to time, I'll be asking you to take much shorter
surveys but I promise you I will not use the same vendor. Survey
Monkey, another popular survey service, doesn't quite fit our
needs. I'm curious about companies you recommend. If you survey
your customers regularly and you've found a great vendor, drop me
a line at mailto:jstewart@PublicityHound.com and let me know.


I'll be sharing some of the survey results through press
releases. If you take surveys, or you're thinking of taking them,
recycle the publicity over and over again. My ebook "How to be a
Kick-butt Publicity Hound" gives you hundreds of ideas on how to
generate buzz for whatever you're promoting and gives you an
excellent bird's-eye view of all your opportunities. The 2009
update includes seven new chapters on how to use social
media to promote.

Learn more about the book at
http://www.publicityhound.com/publicity/publicityhound.htm


===========================================
3. A Handy Twitter Formula
===========================================

Confused about what to tweet about on Twitter?

Do you hate those "what I ate for lunch" tweets and vow you'll
never write them, but you can't think of much else to say that
your followers would find interesting?

Here's a helpful tip from Perry Belcher, who accumulated more
than 52,000 Twitter followers in only 128 days. At the Live7
event hosted by Stompernet, the Internet marketing membership
group earlier this month, Perry shared his formula for the
content of his tweets:

--30 percent: Tips that help make people's lives better

--10 percent: Information that keeps them informed

--30 percent: Anything that makes people laugh (He says
http://www.Fark.com is a great site for humorous content)

--25 percent: Compliments and praise

--5 percent: What you're doing

Have you been writing most of your tweets about what you're
doing? If so, try this formula and see how much more quickly
people start following you.

Granted, this takes a little more time and discipline. But I'm
sure it's the reason Perry has been able to attract such a huge
following so quickly. You can follow him on Twitter at
http://Twitter.com/perrybelcher and you can follow me at
http://twitter.com/PublicityHound


Yes, you can use Twitter to promote. But you have to do it much
more subtly than the way you promote in other venues. Twitter
expert Warren Whitlock gives you the step-by-step process on "How
to Use Twitter to Amass an Army of Followers, Customers &
Valuable Contacts--and Promote." It's available as an electronic
transcript and your choice of CDs or MP3s. Publicity Hounds raved
about the two teleseminars I hosted with him several months ago
because his advice helped shorten their Twitter learning curve.

Read more about how to use Twitter to promote at
http://tinyurl.com/3lbcaw


=======================================
4. Backgrounders Educate Reporters
=======================================

If a complicated story is about to break within your industry,
consider hosting a backgrounder, a one-on-one meeting with a
journalist and others who might cover it.

The March 16 issue of PRWeek magazine says backgrounders are
particularly helpful in the health industry, where stories about
new drugs, diseases and devices can be difficult for journalists
to understand. Backgrounders help educate reporters who aren't
under the pressure of deadlines.

Radi Medical Systems, for example, invited a reporter from the
Wall Street Journal who wanted information about cardiology
procedures, to a hospital to watch a procedure and speak with
cardiologists.

AstraZeneca has been hosting media briefings on various cancer
topics the last few years.

Briefings also let companies control which reporters they speak
with and which spokespeople they provide.


You can also use briefings to educate the editorial boards of
newspapers because they're the ones who decide the positions that
the newspaper will take on certain issues. Sometimes an hour-long
briefing with a group of editors can help you gain their support
for a cause or issue you're promoting.

Afraid of meeting with a group of journalists? Don't be.

During a teleseminar I hosted, I explained exactly how to contact
them, ask for a meeting of the editorial board, what to take with
you and what to say. "How to Use Newspaper & Magazine Editorial
Boards" is 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 editorial boards and backgrounders at
http://tinyurl.com/5wh45


========================================
5. Window Shopping for a Retirement Home
========================================

This week, 10 Publicity Hounds have tips for Keri Gerlach, the
marketing director of Clement Manor, a retirement community in
Greenfield, WI. She's looking for ways to encourage families to
"window shop" now for long-term care for their aging parents.


From Barry Lebow:

"Look up http://www.seniorsrealestate.com which is the Senior
Real Estate Specialist website. It identifies Realtors who are
dedicated to working with Baby Boomers and their parents. Get a
list of members within, say, 50 miles of your location and invite
them for a special tour of your facilities. Work with the
Realtors who are in the field, create a program for them and
welcome their referrals. Make it easy for them to recommend you
by sponsoring a lunch, have a speaker on a subject relating to
seniors and real estate (will and trusts?). Keep them in the loop
and on your mailing list."


From Patricia C. Vener:

"Keri, have you heard of Eons? It?s an online social media group
for people over, I think, 50 or so. You'd be surprised at how
many early Baby Boomers are pretty computer-savvy.

"You might also look into those health fairs that are often
sponsored by newspapers, Chambers of Commerce, and other health-
oriented businesses.

Finally, offer an open house affair with a dinner (or coffee and
dessert) and a presentation, kind of like what the vacation
share companies do."


From Alan McBride:

"I worked for a radio station with a 55+ audience and we put on a
Seniors Expo. This involved all the retirement villages but it
would be just as easy to hold the event at yours. Invite funeral
parlous, local tour operators--in fact, anyone who provides a
service. Each person buys time on the radio over eight weeks and
gets a stall. Radio stations love you, providers love you. Even
invite Scouts and guides to generate goodwill to the elderly."


The Publicity Hound says:

Keri, how about using the Milwaukee Craigslist regularly to
attract the attention of Baby Boomers and others? You can share
tips on how to choose a retirement community, create short videos
and offer the links on Craigslist, and even do video interviews
with some of your residents. Nancy Mills, an expert on how to use
Craigslist, was my guest during a teleseminar and she shared all
of her time-saving tips on how to take advantage of the world's
giant classified ad bulletin board.

"How to Use Craigslist as a Global Publicity Tool" is 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
how to get started on Craigslist at http://tinyurl.com/geog2


The Publicity Hound says:

Read all the responses to this week's "Help This Hound" question
http://tinyurl.com/bgep5b


Send your own Help this Hound question to:
mailto:JStewart@PublicityHound.com and include your city and
state.


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

Mitchell Teplitsky of New York, NY writes:

"I am self-distributing a documentary to the home video and
institutional markets.

"I do my own PR, but as one-man band, it's too much. I'm thinking
of trying to find an intern or PR firm pro bono. The benefit:
They'll get to work with and learn how to independently market a
film (few can do it well).

"The movie tells the story of two women raised in different
worlds--an immigrant folk dancer from the Andes, and a modern
dancer from Queens, NY--who return to Peru to reconnect with
roots and an astonishing world of traditional dance and
celebration. You can learn more about it at
http://www.soyandina.com/

"Do your Hounds have any suggestions on where I might look? Are
there any sources you can recommend to find people?"


The Publicity Hound says:

Many companies and nonprofits are looking for PR interns this
time of year, so you'll be up against some stiff competition to
lure the right person.

My Hounds who have used interns will be able to offer some great
shortcuts. Hounds with tips for Mitchell can post them to my blog
at http://tinyurl.com/cecogs


But don't just hire an intern then send them off on their own.
They need guidance, training and mentoring. I can help. My
teleseminar series on "How to Help Your Boss or Client with a
Publicity Campaign" is an in-depth course on how to do
publicity--perfect for summer interns, virtual assistants, or
anybody who works in a PR capacity and needs help understanding
fairly quickly the best ways to promote any product, service,
cause or issue.

It's available as CDs, MP3s or electronic transcripts--all with
handouts. Read more about how to train your assistant at
http://www.Publicityhound.com/PHU_AssistantsCourse.htm


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

Dear God:

Why are there cars named after the jaguar, the cougar, the
mustang, the colt, the stingray, and the rabbit, but not ONE
named for a dog? How often do you see a cougar riding around?

We do love a nice ride! Would it be so hard to rename the
"Chrysler Eagle" the "Chrysler Beagle"?


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...
==================================

Gardeners, USA Weekend wants photos of giant fruits, veggies
http://tinyurl.com/crkgkb


---------------------------------------


Permission to Reprint:

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

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 cheat sheet "89 Reasons to Send a News Release."

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 The
Publicity Hound? website at http://www.publicityhound.com/ or you
told me you want to subscribe.


Privacy Statement:

The Publicity Hound? respects your privacy and has a strict anti-
spam policy. Read my privacy policy at
http://www.publicityhound.com/privacypolicy.htm

=======================================================
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

Publicity Tips/How About a Little Good News? Mar 3, 2009

The Publicity Hound's
Tips of the Week
Issue #440
March 3, 2009
Publisher: Joan Stewart
mailto:JStewart@PublicityHound.com
http://www.PublicityHound.com
http://www.publicityhound.net/ (Blog)

Circulation: 42,341

==========================================

"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 The
Publicity Hound website at http://www.publicityhound.com/ or you
told me that 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.

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

My Survey is Being Emailed Now:

During the next several days, you'll receive my Customer Profile
Survey. Complete it, and you'll get $40 off of any products or
services I sell, by March 13. Your name will also be entered in a
drawing for a Kindle 2, the new wireless reading device that
Amazon sells for $359. If the winner doesn't want the Kindle,
I'll send an Amazon gift certificate for that amount.

We're already tabulating responses, and the results are
illuminating. I'll share them with you in a few weeks once all
the surveys are tabulated.

If you've already completed yours, thank you! Your honest
feedback will help me improve this newsletter and every other
aspect of doing business with me.

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

1. How About a Little Good News?

2. It's Square Root Day

3. 3 Teleseminars to Help You

4. The Advantage of Freelancers

5. Ugly Patio Furniture

6. Help This Hound

7. Hound Joke of the Week

8. And at My Blog...


====================================
1. How About a Little Good News?
====================================

You and I aren't the only ones sick of bad news.

TV news producers are sick of it too. That's what my friend, TV
producer Shawne Duperon, told me a few days ago. We were talking
about the demise of the Rocky Mountain News, one of Colorado's
two biggest daily newspapers.

"Are things as bad in the TV industry as they are at newspapers?
"I asked her.

"It's not even the same conversation," she said. "Everything is
fine. But TV people are sick of all the gloom and doom.

"What does that mean to Publicity Hounds?

Pitch good news stories:

--My local newspaper had a story on Page 1 yesterday about how a
little small-town bank, where the bosses commute to work on foot,
is doing just fine, thank you, while bigger financial
institutions are grabbing bail-outs right and left. That bank
might never have received front-page publicity in a boom economy.
But today, it's the exception to the rule.

--Has your family found creative ways to skirt high grocery
bills? Are you and the kids cooking more instead of eating out
and, in the process, learning more about each other? If so, pitch
lifestyle reporters, bloggers, and explain your own story at your
blog.

--My friend opened The Chocolate Chisel, a gourmet chocolate shop
in my town of Port Washington, Wisconsin a few weeks ago. When I
asked her if she had second thoughts about opening in this
economy, she said no. While creating her business plan with her
partner, they researched the history of chocolate and learned
that it's one product that does well during bad times. People
might not be able to afford a $300 day at the spa, but a $10
sample pack of gourmet chocolates makes the world right again. I
told her that's a terrific angle she ought to pitch.

--Moore Oil Company in Milwaukee has its own economic stimulus
plan. President Scott Haag is offering employees $2,000 if they
buy a new car, or $1,000 for a used car. "It's just a gift.
There's no there's no payback," he said. "It's tough out there,
and a little positive news today goes a long way.

"Indeed. That story made it onto the local ABC station's news last
night.What good news story can you pitch? If you're having trouble
identifying it, you can learn all their inside secrets about what
TV stations want. Shawne Duperon was my guest during a
teleseminar on "How to Get on the Local TV News Tomorrow." We
recorded it and 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 how to get your story onto TV at
http://tinyurl.com/4zpuz

Learn three more ideas on how to piggyback your story idea onto
the economy by joining my "Friends of The Publicity Hound"
Facebook group at http://tinyurl.com/bawp2z

In the next day or two, I'll email the group with more ideas on
how to piggyback your story ideas onto the economy.


====================================
2. It's Square Root Day
====================================

Today is Square Root Day, a holiday celebrated on dates where the
day and the month are both the square root of the last two digits
in the current year.

For example, the last square root day was March 3, 2009 (3-3-09),
and the next square root day will be April 4, 2016 (4-4-16). The
final square root day of the century will occur on September 9,
2081 (9-9-81). Square root days fall on the same nine dates each
century.

Ron Gordon, a Redwood City, California high school teacher, first
created the day for 9-9-81. He's the official PR person and sends
press releases to media outlets around the world.

There's even a Facebook group devoted to Square Root Day at
http://tinyurl.com/d7gz39 and it has more than 2,600 members.
Many of them have written wall posts that explain how they're
celebrating.

For all you foodies, one suggested way of celebrating the holiday
is by eating square radishes, or other root vegetables cut into
shapes with square cross sections.

If you think this is silly, check out the mountains of publicity
Square Root Day has received throughout the world:
http://tinyurl.com/ak4hjs

Now quite smirking. Go over to Chase's Calendar of Events at
http://www.Chases.com and create your own holiday, or your own
day, week or month of the year by clicking on "Submit an Entry"
on the left side of the screen. You have until April 15 to submit
an entry for the 2010 printed edition.

Once you've created your day, use it as a springboard to pitch to
the media. When Dan Janal interviewed me about how to pitch, I
explained all the ways sources caught my attention with their
pitches when I worked as a newspaper editor. I shared them all in
the recording "Secrets of Perfect Pitching."

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 how to pitch the right way at
http://tinyurl.com/s3tyx


===================================
3. 3 Teleseminars to Help You
===================================

--"Media Star Power: How To Become a Celebrity and a Media
Darling All at the Same Time," with Tom Antion and Judy Jernudd.
Judy is a former Los Angeles talk show host who has interviewed
presidents, Oprah Winfrey, Tom Selleck, Tom Cruise, Regis
Philbin, Larry King, Barbara Walters and hundreds of other
superstars. At 9 p.m. Eastern on Thursday, March 5. This is a
paid teleseminar. Register at http://tinyurl.com/ako5x7


--"Best-seller Blueprint--How To Make Your Book An Almost Instant
Best-seller and Sell Tons of Copies Even if You're A Marketing
Novice," with Steve Harrison, Randy Gilbert and Peggy McColl. At
2 or 7 Eastern on Thursday, March 5. Register for this
complimentary call at http://tinyurl.com/ccdbb7


--"How to Create Your own Strong Economy This Year with Online
Information Marketing," with Alexandria Brown, The Ezine Queen,
on Thursday, March 5. Learn 5 ways to recession-proof your
business. Register for this complimentary call at
http://tinyurl.com/bnh627


=====================================
4. The Advantage of Freelancers
=====================================

How many freelance writers have you built relationships with this
past year?

How many freelancers are you trying to court this year?

Publicity Hound Pam Lontos of PR/PR at http://www.prpr.net says
getting to know freelancers has paid off big.

Her company pitched one if its clients, Dr. Kenneth Christian, a
psychologist and author of "Your Own Worst Enemy," to a writer at
Self Magazine a few years ago.

The writer, a freelancer, was going to interview Dr. Christian,
but the magazine decided to kill the story. The writer also wrote
for Parade magazine and decided to write the whole story for
Parade around Dr. Christian's new book. In fact, she needed more
sources so she ended up using another one of PR/PR's clients, Dr.
Pamela Brill, author of "The Winner's Way." The story skyrocketed
the ranking for both authors' books on Amazon.

Dr. Christian's new book jumped from 35,000 to 35. Dr. Brill's
book, which was available pre-sale, jumped to 300 before it was
even released."

Be helpful and give the media more story ideas and resources
than they ask for," Pam says. "You never know which small town
newspaper writer also writes for a major media outlet."

"Special Report #40:42 Publicity Tips for Authors and Small
Publishers" shows you how to target niche markets, position
yourself as an expert and pull the media and others to your
website. Only $10, and you can download it as soon as your order
has been approved. Read more about it at http://tinyurl.com/6uz9g


====================================
5. Ugly Patio Furniture
====================================

This week, four Publicity Hounds have tips for Jill Cranford of
Livermore, Colo., on how to publicize her "Ugly Patio Furniture"competition at http://tinyurl.com/auhj8e


From Tonya:

"I am a huge fan of design, especially green design and I have a
Google reader full of design blogs. I would recommend that Jill
put together a little blurb about the competition along with some
photos of her products, and submit them to different design
blogs. I have a bunch of them in a list if she'd like to email
me, but she can go to Google and type in 'design blog' and she
will find a ton of them."


From Hendry Lee:

"These competitions are all over the place within Twitter. Zappos
has done it successfully, as well as solopreneurs.

"Nothing allows you to interact with your target market more
directly than Twitter. With the power of retweets, your info
can go viral. Not to mention that it makes a good case study for
many bloggers to write about, increasing your publicity even
more."


The Publicity Hound says:

I love those ideas. Twitter expert Warren Whitlock shows you "How
to Use Twitter to Amass an Army of Followers, Customers &
Valuable Contacts--and Promote." My teleseminar series with him
is 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 all the ways you can use Twitter at
http://tinyurl.com/3lbcaw


Read all the responses to this week's Help This Hound question
http://tinyurl.com/apbzws

Send your own Help this Hound question to:
mailto:JStewart@PublicityHound.com and include your city and
state.


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

Colleen Schmid of Heathrow, Fla. writes:

"I've recently started a new business teaching families how to
start going green in their homes. I go through their homes and,
room by room, show them what things they can be doing to save on
power and water bills as well as removing toxins. I will also
begin showing small businesses how to do the same.

"Earth Day is on April 22, and I'm trying to come up with a big
idea to get media attention for my business. It's so critical
that we all become aware of what we're are doing to harm our
environment, waste precious resources and pollute. It's also
important to show people how living green saves them money and
takes care of our Earth.

"Can your Hounds thing of some powerful ways for me to tie my
business into Earth Day for some publicity?" Her website is at
http://green-colleen.com


The Publicity Hound says:

Some media people say they're suspicious about green pitches
which seem to be everywhere. So my Hounds need to come up with
some really clever angles for you, Colleen. Hounds with tips for
Colleen can post them to my blog at http://tinyurl.com/besbzg


==================================
7. Hound Quote of the Week
==================================

The average dog is a nicer person than the average person.- Andy Rooney.


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...
===================================

Hiring a VA to book speaking gigs sends a bad message
http://tinyurl.com/akmxfv


---------------------------------------

WHERE TO SEE AND HEAR THE PUBLICITY HOUND:

March 6-8--Atlanta, Ga.
I'll be at the Stompernet Live 7 event. If you're going, let's
meet for coffee.


March 16--Teleseminar on Internet Marketing

I'll be Marilee Tolen's guest from 8 to 9 p.m. Eastern Time for
her teleseminar series "Introduction to Internet Marketing" for
nurses, healers, coaches and holistic professional solopreneurs.
If this is your niche, and you're tired of running after the next
client, this is the training session for you. It starts Feb. 23.
Learn more at http://tinyurl.com/dl3xhm


PERMISSION TO REPRINT:

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

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 cheat sheet "89 Reasons to Send a News Release."

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 The
Publicity Hound® website at http://www.publicityhound.com/ or you
told me you want to subscribe.

PRIVACY STATEMENT:

The Publicity Hound® respects your privacy and has a strict anti-
spam policy. Read my privacy policy at
http://www.publicityhound.com/privacypolicy.htm

=======================================================
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

Publicity tips/Don't Make Yourself Sound So Boring Feb 10, 2009

The Publicity Hound's
Tips of the Week
Issue #437 Feb. 10, 2009
Publisher: Joan Stewart
mailto:JStewart@PublicityHound.com
http://www.PublicityHound.com
http://www.publicityhound.net/ (Blog)

Circulation: 42,567

==========================================

"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 The
Publicity Hound website at http://www.publicityhound.com/ or you
told me that 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.

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

Last Call for the National Publicity Summit:

Thursday, Feb. 12, is the last day for the early-bird
registration for Steve Harrison's National Publicity Summit in
New York April 22-25. This is the event where you can meet
journalists from top-tier publications and TV and radio shows
face to face and pitch them. Steve will even provide coaching on
how to deliver your pitch so you make a great first impression.

You can learn more about the event here:
http://www.NationalPublicitySummit.com/?10011

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

1. Don't Make Yourself Sound So Boring

2. Cool Tool for Hounds & Journalists

3. 5 Tips for Hiring Interns

4. Bloggers Gush About Cleaning Products

5. How to Piggyback onto Book Publicity

6. Help This Hound

7. Hound Joke of the Week

8. And at My Blog...


========================================
1. Don't Make Yourself Sound So Boring
========================================

I'm not mentioning any names.

But when I read the social networking profiles of some of my
friends and business associates, I think to myself: "You're
really interesting. And you're lots of fun. You even have unusual
hobbies. So why are you making yourself sound so boring?"

Yes, that little snippet of information just below your photo on
your Twitter or Facebook profiles can determine whether a visitor
follows you, friends you, or decides that you have nothing to
offer and leaves in search of somebody else who does.

On LinkedIn, that much longer profile will determine whether
somebody wants to connect with you, or forget you.

I can't begin to count the number of Twitter replies and direct
messages from my followers who comment on my love for the Food
Network and motorcycles, which I've mentioned in my profile at
http://Twitter.com/PublicityHound

What does that have to do with publicity?

Absolutely nothing. But if a fellow Food Network junkie follows
me, and then one day hopes to generate publicity, she might look
to me for advice, my products, or my mentor program.

Consider adding these topics to your social networking profiles,
depending on the type of people you're hoping to attract:

--Your hobbies

--Your pets

--Your favorite TV shows

--Your favorite movies and music

--The most unusual thing you've ever done

--Your biggest business accomplishment

--Your most unusual personal accomplishment

--What makes you an expert

--Humor!


A word of caution: Don't treat all your profiles the same.

Social networking expert Nancy Marmolejo will be my guest during
a 70-minute teleseminar at 4 p.m. Eastern Time tomorrow. It's
called "Can Your Social Networking Profile Pass the 10-Second
Test?" In addition to tips galore on how to write your profiles,
you can listen as Nancy remakes the profile of one lucky
participant. If the time is inconvenient for you, sign up anyway
because I'll send you the link for the MP3 recording and the link
for a webinar Nancy hosted that goes into even greater detail.

Learn more about the topic at my blog and register at
http://tinyurl.com/blvdby


============================================
2. Cool Tool for Hounds & Journalists
============================================

I just discovered a new service that costs you nothing and helps
connect Publicity Hounds with journalists who are looking for
specific types of sources.

It's called PitchRate.com and here's how it works.

--Journalists write a query explaining the types of sources
they're seeking. If they're from a top-tier media outlet, they
have the option of cloaking their query and not revealing exactly
where they work. When you sign up for the service, you can see
all the journalist queries and decide which ones you want to
respond to.

--The technology behind the platform automatically rates your
pitch on a five-star scale. It then delivers all the pitches from
a particular query to that journalist, who can then sort them
according to how many stars each receives.

--Journalists will open the five- and four-star pitches first
and, most likely, disregard all the others. This saves them
valuable time.

--If they contact you for an interview, they can then rate your
interview on your PitchRate.com profile so other journalists can
tell instantly if you're helpful and worth contacting.

Is that cool or what?

I've already signed up as both an expert and a journalist.
Bloggers and newsletter editors, I suggest you sign up as a
journalist, too. This is a terrific place to find sources.

Drew Gerber, who owns the site, tells me it's in its infancy but
that response from journalists has been so overwhelming that the
site doesn't have enough experts to respond to all the queries.
So sign up NOW while there's less competition among experts.


Go to http://www.pitchrate.com/publicityhound


========================================
3. 5 Tips for Hiring Interns
========================================

If you're laying off employees at your PR agency or in your
corporate PR department, why not rely on a few interns to pick up
the slack?

The current issue of My Midwest inflight magazine offers several
suggestions for making the most of your interns:

--Determine beforehand exactly what you want them to do for you,
and then choose the best candidate according to their skills that
dovetail with your goals.

--Consider paying them. This widens your pool of applicants
simply because many young people can't afford to work for
nothing.

--Don't waste talent by using them to bring you coffee or pick up
your dry cleaning. They won't learn much and you won't benefit.
(The Publicity Hound's idea: How about using them to research
media outlets whose audiences are a perfect match with your
pitch? This one task will help you save time because you won't be
pitching media that have no interest in your topic. And that
means you'll have time to customize those pitches.)

--Help them make connections at your company and at other
companies, and introduce them to possible mentors. Long after
they're gone, they might return the favor and refer job
candidates who would be a perfect fit.


Once you've chosen an intern, let me provide a large part of the
training. My teleseminar series "How to Help Your Boss or Client
with a Publicity Campaign" is perfect for any company or
nonprofit that hires interns or assistants. It's also ideal
for virtual assistants who want to add PR skills to their
services.

It's available as CDs, MP3 recordings and electronic transcripts
that you can download as soon as your order has been approved.
Read more about how to shorten the learning curve of your
assistants or interns at
http://www.publicityhound.com/PHU_AssistantsCourse.htm


==========================================
4. Bloggers Gush About Cleaning Products
==========================================

Household cleaning products don't seem to be the kinds of things
that would get the blogging community all excited, especially
during the holidays, right?

But if bloggers happen to be stay-at-home moms who spend a good
part of the day cleaning up after their toddlers, or bloggers who
care about environmentally friendly products, offering a product
sample to them can bring hundreds more moms to your website.

That's what happened just before the Christmas holidays when
Sweeney public relations launched a publicity campaign for Weiman
Products, a cleaning products manufacturer.

Publicity Hound Jennifer Manocchio, a Sweeney VP, said the
campaign invited bloggers to review products that help keep the
home clean. Sweeney offered each participating blogger
samples of products such as stainless steel wipes that can be
used to make kitchen faucets shiny, and Weiman E-tronic Wipes
that can be used to remove fingerprints from computer screens.

The campaign resulted in a whopping 44 positive reviews from
bloggers, like this one from the My Trendy Tykes blog:

"Weiman Stainless Steel Wipes shine, polish and protect all
stainless steel surfaces. They leave NO streaks, and the strong
odor?? Well, it's not there. It's actually a pleasant smell for
my nose. Oh, and get this...It actually repels fingerprints,
water marks and dirt. Now that's what I'm talking about!"

Blogger Rockin' Mama gushed about how the floor polish made her
laminate floors super-shiny. And at the Chocolate Fingerprints
blog, Andrea McMann said she could tell the e-tronic wipes are "a
high-quality product" and my screens still aren't dusty or
smudgy."

The campaign also resulted in 172 clips, 196 direct links to the
Weiman website, and 772 website visitors who stayed an average of
two minutes and five seconds.

When you launch a publicity campaign, are you targeting bloggers
who reach your ideal customers? If not, you're leaving money on
the table. Denise Wakeman and Patsi Krakoff can show you in step-
by-step detail how to identify bloggers who reach your target
audience, pitch them, interest them, and encourage them to
review your product or service. They were my guests during a
teleseminar on "How to Pitch the Best Bloggers & Create a
Publicity Explosion."

It's available as a CD or an electronic transcript that you can
download as soon as your order has been approved. Read more about
how to entice bloggers at http://tinyurl.com/m7ymr


==========================================
5. How to Piggyback onto Book Publicity
==========================================

This week, three Publicity Hounds have tips for astrology blogger
Michele Lessirard of Vero Beach, Fla. who wants to know how to
ride on the coattails of author Stephanie Myers' popular series
of vampire novels and the upcoming movie.


From Dal Jeanis:

"Be very careful of attempting to ride the coattails of a popular
hit, especially without knowing what it's really about...Before
doing anything else, find out what it is that you are attempting
to leverage off of. See the first movie, at the very least.

"From understanding the phenomenon, you can then move to figuring
out what products or services you can provide to that
demographic. Next, you can research to create a list of the
keywords in the Meyers books, obviously including vampire,
sparkle, romance, and so on, and figure out to what degree you
can use those keywords in your own astrology posts to increase
accidental traffic to your site.

"You could do mock-horoscopes for the characters just for fun,
although that's a lot of work and might not get you anything in
return. The key to doing that well would be to get copies of the
books and read them, picking incidents to warn about."


From Christine Buffaloe:

"Create Google Alerts for keywords that relate to both Stephanie
Myers' topics and yours. You can do this at
http://www.Google.com/alerts

"Tell Google you want to receive the alerts once a day. Then
follow them and see what Google delivers to you in the way of
news stories, videos, blog posts, etc. In some cases, if a
blogger is discussing Myers’ books, you can post a comment and
you'll get a link back to your website or blog."


From The Publicity Hound:

Go over to Amazon.com and review Stephanie's books, which will
let you link back to your blogs. You can also create "best of"
lists dealing with your topic and all kinds of other content to
attract the attention of her readers.

Randy Gilbert and Don Mitchell are all over that website and pull
in tons of traffic to their own sites as a result. They were my
guests during a teleseminar on "How to Make Amazon a River of
Gold (for Authors, Speakers & Experts)."

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 how to piggyback off the popularity of other
best-selling authors or products at http://tinyurl.com/7u76e

And then read the complete responses to this week's Help This
Hound question, or add your own, at http://tinyurl.com/dmzml4


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

Rose Strong of Springtown, Pa. writes:

"I am a volunteer for the Springtown Farmers Market and I'm
looking for some marketing and publicity ideas.

"We started off with a bang last year but for some reason we lost
our shoppers, and our vendors sort of dwindled down a bit. One
week there'd be lots of customers, but not too many vendors, the
next week it was a good vendor attendance and a lack of shoppers.

"This year, we were fortunate to receive a $10,000 donation from
a local resident as well as applying for a Dept. of Agriculture
grant. So we are planning a website, major advertising in a
local weekly newspaper and rack cards for local businesses to
have on their counters and hand out.

"What other inexpensive, creative ideas can your Hounds suggest
to help us promote this year’s market from May 20 to Oct 28?"


The Publicity Hound says:

The bad economy should certainly be a springboard from which you
can pitch all kinds of interesting story ideas to your local
media. Let's see what other ideas my Hounds can suggest. Hounds
with suggestions for Rose can post them to my blog at
http://tinyurl.com/bayg2c


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

A client brought a litter of Golden Retriever puppies to the
local veterinary clinic for inoculations and worming. As the
look-alike pups squirmed over and under one another in their box,
the vet realized it would be difficult to tell the treated ones
from the rest. So he turned on the water faucet, wet his fingers,
and moistened each dog's head when he had finished treating them.

After the fourth puppy, the vet noticed the hitherto talkative
client had grown silent. As he sprinkled the last pup's head, the
woman leaned forward and whispered, "I didn't know they had to be
baptized."


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...
===================================

Workplace columnist needs sources in South Florida
http://tinyurl.com/cq8tct

Speakers, use local stories in towns where you speak
http://tinyurl.com/apmdgu

How a Dallas hardware store generated national publicity
http://tinyurl.com/am8bbm


--------------------------------------

WHERE TO SEE AND HEAR THE PUBLICITY HOUND:


"Boost Your Biz with a Blog Teleseminar Replay"

Listen to the replay of "Boost Your Biz with a Blog," the
teleseminar I hosted on Jan. 26 with Denise Wakeman and Patsi
Krakoff, aka The Blog Squad. They explained how to draw more
traffic and boost more sales from a blog. You can hear the replay
at http://blogsquad.audioacrobat.com/download/bizblog_012609.mp3
by cutting and pasting this link into your browser window.


Wednesday, Feb. 11--Teleseminar

"Can Your Social Networking Profile Pass the 10-Second Test?"
with Nancy Marmolejo. From 4 to 5:10 p.m. on the telephone. All
participants will receive the electronic transcript, the MP3
recording and a one-hour webinar on the same topic that goes into
even greater depth on how to write social networking bios.
Register at http://tinyurl.com/blvdby


March 6-8--Atlanta, Ga.

I'll be at the Stompernet's Live 7 event. If you're going, let's
meet for coffee.


PERMISSION TO REPRINT:

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

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 cheat sheet "89 Reasons to Send a News Release."

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 The
Publicity Hound® website at http://www.publicityhound.com/ or you
told me you want to subscribe.


PRIVACY STATEMENT:

The Publicity Hound® respects your privacy and has a strict anti-
spam policy. Read my privacy policy at
http://www.publicityhound.com/privacypolicy.htm

=======================================================
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

The Publicity Hound's
Tips of the Week
Issue #430 Dec. 23, 2008
Publisher: Joan Stewart
mailto:JStewart@PublicityHound.com
http://www.PublicityHound.com
http://www.publicityhound.net/ (Blog)


Circulation: 44,446


==========================================

"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 The Publicity
Hound website at http://www.publicityhound.com/ or you told me
that 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.

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

My Holiday Gift to You:

More than 2,000 Publicity Hounds have already download my "Best
of the Publicity Hound's tips of the Week of 2008," the free ebook
that's my holiday gift to you. Lots of Hounds are tweeting about it
on Twitter and offering the book to their followers, too. Yes, I am
encouraging you to regift it.

You can claim your copy here. Please use this link when sharing the
book with your own readers, followers and connections:

http://tinyurl.com/Bestof2008Tips


Thanks to all of my loyal Publicity Hounds for your continued
support. May you have a safe and happy Christmas, Hanukkah,
Kwanzaa and New Year's.

*****************************************
================================

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

1. Holiday Weather Stories

2. No More Cardboard Checks

3. The Secret to Corporate Sponsorships

4. 6 Critical Elements of Video

5. How to Promote a Fine Art Exhibit

6. Help This Hound

7. Hound Joke of the Week

8. And at My Blog...

===================================

1. Holiday Weather Stories

===================================

Here's an almost guaranteed way to make it onto TV, into your local
newspaper, or onto a drive-time radio show during the holidays.

Comment on how the weather is affecting you during Christmas and
New Year's.

Here in Wisconsin, we're being pounded with up to a foot more of
snow in the next 24 hours--on top of the foot of snow that's
already on the ground.

Up and down the middle of the U.S., watches and advisories for
snow and freezing rain are already in effect from the Upper Midwest
and Great Lakes southward to northern Texas.

O'Hare and Midway airports in Chicago are a mess. In Maine, ski
areas are kicking into overdrive following the state's first major
snow storm of the winter season.

Here are some ways to get publicity for your product, service,
cause or issue during the holidays, when news departments are on
the lookout for anybody who can tie into the weather.

--Home improvement and hardware stores that sell salt, snow rakes
and snow blowers should let news departments know if they still
have these products in stock. Any other time of year, you'd have to
buy expensive advertising. This time of year, it's called free
publicity because it's part of a major news story.

--How is the bad weather affecting nonprofits like the Salvation
Army's red kettle bell ringers? Or the local food pantry's ability to
get food to the needy?

--Hospitals and clinics, are you seeing more patients who have
fallen on the ice or suffered from frostbite?

--Veterinarians, how can we keep our four-legged hounds safe
while walking them in bitter-cold weather? Or should we keep them
indoors?

--Chiropractors, are more people throwing out their backs and
shoulders from shoveling snow?

--Garden centers and nurseries, can you offer tips on how to
provide seed and water for the birds?

--Therapists, how can people in cold-weather states like Wisconsin
where I live, keep their sanity during a treacherous winter?

--Companies, are you letting workers go home early? Or are you the
type of business that needs to schedule additional employees during
bad weather?

Even if the weather is great in your neck of the woods, your local
news departments will still be reporting on it.

The media HATE making cold calls to search for these kinds of
sources who can round out the obligatory weather stories. So start
pitching NOW, when everyone else is shopping, wrapping, cooking,
salting and shoveling.

"Special Report #37: How to Tie Your Product, Service, Cause or
Issue to the Weather" offers many more ideas on how to piggyback
onto weather stories 365 days a year. Only $10 Order at
http://www.publicityhound.com/publicity-products/reports.html


========================================

2. No More Cardboard Checks

========================================

If you're raising money this holiday season for a worthy cause,
promise me you'll also make this New Year's resolution.

You will NOT publicize the donation by asking the media to cover a
"check passing," in which two people pose, one on each side of an
oversized cardboard check.

You've seen a million of these obnoxious check-passing photos, and
they all look alike. Instead, think of creative ways to generate
publicity for your donation. Here are three ideas:

--If you're raising money for a food pantry, invite the TV cameras
and newspaper photographers to join you when you unload dozens
of boxes of food from a truck into the pantry or warehouse.

--Buying toys for needy kids? Invite the media to accompany your
volunteers on a shopping trip.

--If your company is foregoing the annual Christmas party and,
instead, donating money to a worthy cause like a local homeless
shelter, go one step further. Ask employees to donate small bottles
of shampoo and mouthwash, similar to the ones hotels provide, and
invite the media to shoot them packing the samples into gift bags.


The teleseminar "Fun Alternatives to Boring Ground-breakings,
Ribbon-cuttings and Check-passings" provides lots of great ideas
that will help you generate mountains of publicity instead of falling
back on the same old cliche photos. 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/7cl6z


==========================================

3. The Secret to Corporate Sponsorships

==========================================

One of the most frequent questions I receive from Publicity Hounds
is "How do I get a corporate sponsor to pay for my (fill in the
blank)?"

Too often, people go fishing for corporate sponsors by sending blast
emails and form letters to any old company they think might have
some extra money to throw around. Then they wonder why they
receive no replies.

That's the wrong approach.

You must find a company that's a perfect fit with the audiences
you already have in place. Even speakers, authors and experts who
have very niched topics are in a perfect position to find corporate
sponsors--if the people who are already in your target market want
or need the products or services that company provides.

Brendon Burchard, an author and speaker, has figured out some
really ingenious ways to land corporate and non-profit promotional
sponsorships and use them to fund his marketing efforts.

In less than 18 months, he has:

--Had a major PR firm representing him and getting him booked on
ABC World News, National Public Radio, Oprah & Friends, and 63
major radio stations.

--Had companies like Coca-Cola, Wachovia, Yahoo, Toyota, Sony
Pictures and other leading Fortune 500s and leading non-profits
offer to buy up to 50,000 copies of his self-published book every
year,

--Had those same companies make it possible for him to get
$500,000 in advances for his next book,

--Gotten fat speaking fees for 65 speaking engagements,

--Received testimonials from their CEOs.

--Had those same companies send emails to 100,000+ of their
customers or volunteers promoting his book, cause or business,

--Gotten at least 5 million impressions from visitors sent to his
website by those companies.

That's because his topic meshes PERFECTLY with what those
companies sell.

To discover how you can use his methods to promote your own
book, product or business, you're invited to a free telephone
seminar on Tuesday, December 30, hosted by Steve Harrison. It's a
repeat of a teleseminar he had several weeks ago that sold out,
and Publicity Hounds have begged him to repeat it. You can sign up
at http://www.SponsorshipTrainingTeleseminar.com/?10011

Here's just some of what you'll learn on next Tuesday's call:

* What to do step-by-step to get a major company to sponsor your
national promotional tour and pay for everything!

* Why the current economic downturn means more big companies
and non-profits sponsoring authors, speakers and entrepreneurs--
even if they're not famous.

* A website you can use to find potential sponsors and promotional
partners.

* The "secret phrase" which gets big nonprofit organizations to
endorse your book and promote it to their members.

* The title of the BEST person to contact with your proposal and
why you should never send one done with Microsoft Word.

* The Number One fatal mistake to avoid making when trying to
land a deal a sponsorship deal with a Fortune 500 company.

* How to write a short proposal that gets huge companies to
sponsor you--even if you're an unknown, self-published author
(HINT: there are five elements and he'll reveal all five on the call.)

Again, to sign up for next Tuesday's call, go here now:

http://www.SponsorshipTrainingTeleseminar.com/?10011


===================================

4. 6 Critical Elements of a Video

===================================

When you're creating video for the video-sharing sites like YouTube,
be sure your video includes six critical elements:

--The title. This is normally located above the video and it's
searchable. The first words of your title should be the most
important keywords of your video. Instead of "6 Powerful Tips for
TV Publicity," my video would say "TV Publicity--6 Powerful Tips."

--The description. This tells viewers what the video is about and it
should include keywords. Write two descriptions--one of less than
200 characters and one of more than 200 characters because some
video sites take only short descriptions.

--Tags, or keywords. When you upload a video, they ask you for
the title, the description and the tags. Don't go overboard repeating
the same keywords you put in the title and description.

Think about other keywords that might apply. Also, you can put
common misspellings in these tags.

--When you shoot your video, refer to your keywords in the video
and make them part of your script. Also mention your website by
name. here's a website called EveryZing.com. It has the capability
of listening to your words in a video and turning them into text and
making the text searchable. It will probably be awhile before
everybody starts using EveryZing, but your videos will be ready if
you mention your keywords and website in them.

--An open and closing slide, both of which should include your
website URL to make it easy for viewers to find you.

--A watermark. This usually appears at the bottom of the video.

It can include your URL, or the name of your company or your brand.

Viewers can see it the entire time they are watching your video.

These tips are excerpted from the chapter "Tom's How-to Video
Guide," a new addition to the 2008-2009 version of my ebook "How
to be a Kick-butt Publicity Hound," which I co-wrote with Tom
Antion. He gives you step-by-step instructions on how to shoot and
produce video that pulls a ton of traffic to your website.

The updated version of the ebook also includes chapters on
MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and social bookmarking.

The ebook is one of my most popular products, sort of a one-stop-
shop on how to generate thousands of dollars in online and offline
publicity. Read more about what it includes at
http://www.publicityhound.com/publicity/publicityhound.htm


==========================================

5. How to Promote a Fine Art Exhibit

==========================================

This week, three Publicity Hounds have tips for Kendra Hinzmann of
Oshkosh, Wisconsin, the director for a fine art exhibit space within
an upscale retirement community. Kendra is looking for ideas on how
to do a second round of promotion for the show because it didn't
pull the crowds she had hoped for during its first showing.


From Sarah Adams:

"I, too, own an upscale gallery, and unfortunately, I think your
show may have become a two-fold victim of a poor economy and a
tough time of year, depending upon what day in November you
scheduled.

"I suggest trying after the New Year. I tend to promote a "Last
Chance" private invitation to everyone, including those that did
show up. Be sure to include a link to your press release and
newspaper/magazine review of the show, quotes from the artist on
the opening. They will feel like they really missed a great event, and
are more likely to show up for the last week of the show!"


From Robyn Davis Sekula:

"The last week of December, your community is likely to be filled
with a lot of visitors who are sick of being locked inside with their
relatives and want something to do that can include the whole
family. I'd try to find a way to market to that audience-- 'here's
something great to do that's inexpensive and fun (especially if it is
free).' The first two weeks of January are also dead times in the
media world. That's another good time to try to drive in some
business.

"Ask the TV folks if you can come on and talk about the show and
bring a piece of art with you that last week of December or first
week of January. Or, if they'll do a live shot from the gallery, tie it
to the economy. We're all looking for inexpensive things to do with
our families, etc."


From Shel Horowitz:



Develop local contacts on Twitter and Facebook and send a string
of interest-building notices there.


The Publicity Hound says:

Since we're getting another foot of snow, call the local newspaper
and TV stations and suggest a story about fun things happening in
the community for winter-weary Cheeseheads. Mention your own
art show and a few more events you know about. If you pitch this
as a "series" of fun things to do instead of a story only about your
art show, they might be more inclined to cover it.


Read all the responses to this week’s Help This Hound question
http://tinyurl.com/6eafms


Send your own Help this Hound question to:

mailto:JStewart@PublicityHound.com?subject=HelpThisHound
and include your city and state.


==================================

6. Help This Hound

==================================

Nancy Wurtzel of Thousand Oaks, California writes:

"I have a client who is interested in writing a book on brain health,
targeted to Baby Boomers. My idea is to take the book in an
entirely different direction so it will stand out from the dozens of
other books that have already been published on this subject.

"We need a ghost writer to help us refine the book concept, write a
great outline and a dynamite pitch letter to publishers.

"I can provide direction, and the physician I work with is bright,
funny and reasonable. He can supply all medical information and
research that will be needed--he simply does not have the time to
pen the book word-for-word.

"Can your Hounds explain the best way for us to find a ghost-
writer who's a good fit for this topic? Any tips and resources they
could provide would be greatly appreciated."


The Publicity Hound says:

Many writers, authors and publishers read this newsletter, and I
know they'll be able to help you. Hounds with suggestions for Nancy
on how to find a ghostwriter can post them to my blog at
http://tinyurl.com/994lwl


==================================

7. Hound Joke of the Week

==================================

Cats are smarter than dogs. You can't get eight cats to pull a sled
through snow.


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...

===================================

How to sell how-to reports without a website, shopping cart, or
hassles
http://tinyurl.com/9dbv7p


EzineArticles.com adds 17 new niche-market categories
http://tinyurl.com/5c44gm


--------------------------------------


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 telesummit at http://tinyurl.com/5axy3x


PERMISSION TO REPRINT:

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

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 cheat sheet "89 Reasons to Send a News Release."

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 The Publicity
Hound® website at http://www.publicityhound.com/ or you told me
you want to subscribe.

PRIVACY STATEMENT:

The Publicity Hound® respects your privacy and has a strict anti-
spam policy. Read my privacy policy at
http://www.publicityhound.com/privacypolicy.htm

=======================================================
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

Publicity tips/LinkedIn: Your Trump Card Dec 2, 2008

The Publicity Hound's
Tips of the Week
Issue #427 Dec. 2, 2008
Publisher: Joan Stewart
mailto:JStewart@PublicityHound.com
http://www.PublicityHound.com
http://www.publicityhound.net/ (Blog)

Circulation: 50,513

==========================================

"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 The
Publicity Hound website at http://www.publicityhound.com/ or you
told me that 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.

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

Cast a Vote, Choose a Free Special Report

Lots of Publicity Hounds submitted ideas on how to promote an
ebook, and I want you to help me decide which of the 10 people
who commented at my blog wins a $50 Amazon gift certificate.

Read the responses in the comments section at
http://tinyurl.com/64jkzq

Then email me at JStewart@PublicityHound.com and put "Amazon" in
the subject line, and tell me which idea you like the best. Also
give me the number of the free special report you've chosen from
the list at http://tinyurl.com/6uz9g and I'll email it to you.
Thanks to everyone who responded and is helping choose the
winner.

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

1. LinkedIn: Your Trump Card

2. Best Time to Pitch is Now

3. ...And Build the Relationship

4. A Gift for Your Artist

5. How to Promote a Jewelry Trunk Show

6. Help This Hound

7. Hound Joke of the Week

8. And at My Blog...


========================================
1. LinkedIn: Your Trump Card
========================================

If you work for someone else, you're probably more vulnerable
than ever to losing your job.

If you work for yourself, simply treading water during this
recession isn't good enough. You need every tactic possible to
outsmart your competitors.

In both cases, a long list of glowing recommendations on your
LinkedIn profile can be a valuable trump card--the difference
between landing another position in a glutted job market, or
not. Or getting a big client whose project will carry you through
the next six months, or not.

LinkedIn recommendations carry a LOT of weight. Hiring managers
are reading them closely to make absolutely sure they hire the
best candidates. So are decision-makers who are in a position to
give you business.

Don't sit around waiting to accumulate recommendations. Here
are eight circumstances when it's entirely appropriate for you to
ask for one on LinkedIn:

--Someone calls or emails you to compliment you on your blog,
newsletter, an article you've written, a story about you that
they read in the newspaper, or any other facet of your work. (If
you love this newsletter, I'd welcome a recommendation at
http://www.linkedin.com/in/publicityhound )

--A past or current client or customer comments about how much
they enjoy working with you.

--You make contact with a former co-worker who you haven't seen
in awhile. If you like and trust each other, ask!

--You offer free professional advice for someone who comes to you
with a problem and they reply, "How can I return the favor?"

--A meeting planner who has hired you to speak is delighted with
your presentation.

--You offer professional advice via email to someone you don't
know, and you notice the same person has come to you several
times.

--You refer a friend or business associate to someone else who
can help solve a problem, or they end up working together.
(Ask both to recommend you.)

--You write a LinkedIn recommendation for someone who you know
and who knows you, and you're confident the person will
reciprocate.


Don't wait until you're unemployed, or you have no clients in the
funnel. Start using LinkedIn right now as your safety net.

And while you're there, don't forget to promote, too. Social
networking expert Scott Allen, who has an impressive 63
recommendations at his profile at
http://www.linkedin.com/in/scottallen, explains how he got them
and how he uses the site to promote his consulting practice, his
book, joint ventures with other entrepreneurs, and his speaking
engagements.

He was my guest during two teleseminars on "How to Use LinkedIn
to Promote Anything--Ethically & Powerfully." His advice includes
an entire timeline of exactly what to do on LinkedIn when you
want to promote something. It's available as electronic
transcripts and your choice of MP3s or CDs.

Read more about how to use LinkedIn to enhance your reputation at
http://tinyurl.com/5zvzyd


=========================================
2. Best Time to Pitch is Now
=========================================

When I host a private teleseminar on Dec. 15 for Publicity Hounds
in my mentor program, I'll spend almost an entire hour coaching
them on how to pitch the media, particularly during the holidays.

In my blog, in this newsletter and during my speaking
engagements, I stress that now through Jan. 4 is the very best
time of year to pitch ideas because good sources are in short
supply.

Some companies close for Christmas vacation. Schools and colleges
are on break. People are busying shopping, cooking and traveling.
The last thing most of them think about is pitching.

That means lots of opportunities for smart Hounds. Here are three
tips I'll share with people in my mentor program:

--When you pitch, let journalists and bloggers know you're
familiar with their work. Suggest your idea for a specific
section of the newspaper, or a pre- or post-holiday TV talk show
segment. I'll explain six ways to research journalists before
pitching.

--Suggest at least two other sources, with phone numbers and
email addresses, who can round out the story.

--If you're trying to get onto TV, mention enticing visuals. A
pet expert might suggest bringing to the studio six types of
holiday decorations that can be harmful to pets if swallowed. And
bring along a favorite cute four-legged hound or cat, too, as a
prop. The TV cameras LOVE cute pets.

If you're dying to hear the rest of my tips, you'll first have to
find out if you're a good candidate for the mentor program by
reading more about it at
http://www.publicityhound.com/mentorprogram/intro.html

If we're not a good match, or the time isn't right, and you're
still looking for holiday-related ideas to pitch, you're welcome
to steal the ideas I brainstormed with TV producer Shawne Duperon
when she was my guest during a teleseminar on "103 Sizzling Story
Ideas from July through December." It's available on CD and comes
with a seven-page handout listing all 103 ideas. You can download
it as soon as your order is approved.

Read more about the kinds of ideas that will get you onto TV or
into your local newspaper at http://tinyurl.com/54y6f

Or check out the follow-up teleseminar on "116 WOW Story Ideas
from January through June at http://tinyurl.com/6k7zk


========================================
3. ...And Build the Relationship
========================================

Whenever you pitch, your Number One goal should never be to
generate publicity.

Rather, your goal should be to help journalists as much as you
can. Help them do their jobs and you might not generate a
publicity hit immediately. But they'll view you as a golden
source, and they might return later asking you for an interview
for an even bigger story. Or a blogger might invite you to guest-
blog.

Here are three other tips for building relationships:

--Offer to fill in at the last minute if a TV or radio talk show
host needs someone to interview, or a guest cancels due to
illness. Extend this offer over the holidays, particularly during
the weeks before and after Christmas.

--Tip off your contacts to what the bloggers are writing about.
Help journalists be "in the know."

--If you're a blogger and you link to a particular news story
from within one of your postings, let the reporter know. You
might be a potential interview subject.


"Special Report #49: 17 Ways to Build Valuable Relationships with
Media People" offers many more suggestions on how to cut through
the noise, make your initial contact with journalists enticing,
and start a relationship that can pay huge dividends for years.
Only $10. Read more about it at http://tinyurl.com/6uz9g


=========================================
4. A Gift for Your Artist
=========================================

If you're looking for a special gift for the artist in your life,
I have the perfect suggestion.

Treat your favorite potter, photographer, sculpture, jeweler or
wood carver to the smARTist Tele-summit 2008, a series of
telephone conferences with a dozen art experts who will explain
how to turn an art hobby into an art business.

It's hosted by art marketing expert Ariane Goodwin, and I'm one
of the 11 experts or artists who will be sharing our best tips.
Last year, the telesummit included some super tips on how to sell
more artwork. Two of my favorites:

--Offer your artwork for sale on eBay, either as "Buy Now" or
auction items. That's what Susan Greaves, an oil painter in
Redding, California, does. She ropes in all sorts of buyers she
might never otherwise meet. A floral painting brought in a high
bid of $800 from Sen. John Edwards and his wife, Elizabeth.

--Create videos of your artwork in various stages of completion
and post them on YouTube and the other video sharing sites. Some
artists have done this so successfully that their buyers are
eager to see their next video and get a sneak peek at the
artwork-in-progress.

If you don't know your artist well enough to buy admission to the
smARTist telesummit, at least mention Thursday's complimentary
telephone call with Ariane. All the experts, including me, will
be on the call, enticing audience members with a few nuggets from
our longer presentations.

New this year are sessions on how to identify your most likely
art buyers, sell to corporations, use social networking sites to
promote artwork, and avoid the biggest blunders artists make when
building their portfolios.

Register for Thursday's free call at http://tinyurl.com/5haqs5 or
for the telesummit at http://tinyurl.com/5axy3x


==========================================
5. How to Promote a Jewelry Trunk Show
==========================================

This week, four Publicity Hounds have tips for Rachel Mielke of
New York, New York, who wants ideas on how to generate publicity
for a trunk show she is participating in at Bloomingdale's in New
York City this month.


From Joel Heffner:

"Since you have so little time to do something special, I
strongly suggest that you contact someone who has the right
connections and a proven track record of making a big splash. My
suggestion is to contact Peter Shankman at
http://www.shankman.com

"He's a New York City-based PR guru. If anyone can put you on the
map fast, he can."


From Susan:

"How about approaching the morning news programs and offering to
outfit the female broadcasters for the week? Maybe you could also
offer each of them a pair of earrings to keep? Let them know that
this jewelry is brand new to the U.S. market and the trunk show
is a unique opportunity for shoppers."


From Margaret:

"As a former PR Director for Bloomingdale's/Short Hills,
Bloomie's PR department should be giving you plenty of publicity.
Since you are at the eleventh hour for huge self-promotion, go
through Bloomie's to see if they can schedule a personal
appearance for you on one of the major TV network morning shows."


The Publicity Hound says:

I love the idea of trying to get onto the big morning shows. If
Bloomingdale's can't help, Rachel, try to do it yourself. "How to
Get Booked on the Morning TV Talk Shows" is a how-to guide for
getting onto shows like the "Today" show, "Fox & Friends" and
"Good Morning, America." It's available as a CD or an electronic
transcript you can download as soon as your order has been
approved.

Read more about what else you'll learn at
http://tinyurl.com/ab86x


Read all the responses to this week's Help This Hound question
at http://tinyurl.com/6b5b5l


Send your own Help this Hound question to
mailto:JStewart@PublicityHound.com and include your city and state.


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

Winthrop Morgan of Bethesda, Maryland:

"A well-known and respected U.S. Government agency has a program
which distills the findings from high-quality research into
short, comprehensive Summary Guides for clinicians. The guides
provide reliable and practical data that can inform, but do not
attempt to influence, physician therapy decisions.

To date, nine guides have been produced, ranging in subject areas
from comparing oral medications for adults with type 2 diabetes
to off-label use of atypical anti-psychotic drugs. The guides
are available, without charge, in print, pdf, html, and .mp3.
Each is about four pages long.

"Recently, clinicians involved in family/general practice were
asked if they are aware of these resources. They are not. The
agency has a small marketing budget of less than $150,000 to
promote awareness of these materials. What ideas do your Hounds
have on how to best use this money to market the guides?"


The Publicity Hound says:

Their budget of "less than $150,000" is inconsequential because
of the many online opportunities to promote the guides. Let's see
how many ideas my Hounds can come up with. If you have a great
suggestion for Winthrop, post it to my blog at
http://tinyurl.com/65dltt


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

A little girl goes into the garage and asks her father, "Dad, can
I take the dog for a walk around the block? I asked Mom but she
said Susie was in heat and I should ask you."

"Bring Susie over here," her Dad says.

He took a rag, soaked it with gasoline and scrubbed the dog's
rear end with it and said, "OK, you can go now. But keep Susie
on the leash and only go one time around the block."

The little girl left, and then returned a few minutes later
without the dog.

Her dad asked, "Where's Susie?"

"Susie ran out of gas about halfway down the block and there's
another dog pushing her home!"


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...
===================================

Thank book, food, music reviewers who write about you
http://tinyurl.com/5fdf47


--------------------------------------

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


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

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 cheat sheet "89 Reasons to Send a News Release."

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 The
Publicity Hound® website at http://www.publicityhound.com/ or you
told me you want to subscribe.

PRIVACY STATEMENT: The Publicity Hound® respects your privacy and
has a strict anti-spam policy. Read my privacy policy at
http://www.publicityhound.com/privacypolicy.htm

=======================================================
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

Publicity tips/When the Boss Wants a Pile of Clips Nov 4, 2008

The Publicity Hound's
Tips of the Week
Issue #423 Nov. 4, 2008
Publisher: Joan Stewart
mailto:JStewart@PublicityHound.com
http://www.PublicityHound.com
http://www.publicityhound.net/ (Blog)

Circulation: 50,904

==========================================

"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 The
Publicity Hound website at http://www.publicityhound.com/ or you
told me that 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.

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

How to do Social Networking, Run a Business & Still Have a Life:

This is the teleseminar many of you have been begging me to
offer.

If you didn't know any better, you'd think that BL Ochman, one of
the most prolific and well-respected bloggers and social
networkers, does social networking 24/7, but she doesn't. Join
us on Thursday, Nov. 6, for a 70-minute teleseminar and hear her
explain how she rations her time, uses a variety of social
networking tools, and still manages to set aside a huge chunk of
her schedule each day for client projects. She'll also explain
how she'll use social networking to launch a new business--tips
many of you can use to promote your existing businesses.

Register at http://tinyurl.com/6kswbc

See Item #1 below.

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

1. When the Boss Wants a Pile of Clips

2. Election Follow-up Stories

3. Headline Lessons from Cosmo

4. Help for Writers

5. Promoting T-shirt Websites

6. Help This Hound

7. Hound Joke of the Week

8. And at My Blog...


========================================
1. When the Boss Wants a Pile of Clips
========================================

A new member of the Publicity Hound Mentor Program was lamenting
yesterday about what a difficult time she's going to have
convincing her bosses that she needs to spend her time on the
social networking sites.

She's in corporate PR, and the bosses feel more comfortable
measuring her success with a pile of clippings.

Sound familiar? If so, tell your boss about the Newspaper Death
Watch blog at http://www.NewspaperDeathWatch.com/

My friend, former business journal editor Paul Furiga of
Pittsburgh, told me about the blog last week. Newspaper junkie
and technical writer Paul Gillin created it and keeps track of
the layoffs, firings, downsizings, rightsizings and capsizings at
newspapers throughout the U.S.--in addition to the huge
circulation declines.

It isn't unusual to hear media watchers predict that newspapers,
as we know them, won't exist 10 years from now. Read Paul
Gillin's excellent summary at
http://www.newspaperdeathwatch.com/about/
why newspapers are in such big trouble.

Traditional journalism is being replaced by a whole new army of
people, he says, and "for the first time in history, ordinary
citizens have the means to publish to a global audience cheaply
and easily."

Part of that trend is called social networking, and smart
Publicity Hounds are already figuring out ways to incorporate it
into their publicity campaigns. The biggest impediment is time
and the utter confusion that results when you're trying to
determine which of the more than 200,000 social networking sites
are best for your business.

BL Ochman, one of my favorite bloggers and a social media expert,
will be my guest during a teleseminar at 4 p.m. Eastern Time on
Thursday, Nov. 6, called "How to do Social Networking, Run a
Business & Still Have a Life." Hear her explain how she rations
her time, uses a variety of social networking tools, and still
manages to set aside a huge chunk of her schedule each day for
client projects. She'll also explain how she'll use social
networking to launch her new business--a website that lets pet
owners upload photos of their pets, then customize them with
captions and doodles and have them printed on T-shirts.

If you have another commitment, that's OK. You'll receive the MP3
recording. This session is almost full and I'm expecting all 100
seats to be taken by Thursday afternoon. When they're gone,
they're gone.

Register at http://tinyurl.com/6kswbc

If you want in-depth coaching on how to use these sites, see if
you're a good candidate for The Publicity Hound Mentor Program at
http://www.publicityhound.com/mentorprogram/intro.html


========================================
2. Election Follow-up Stories
========================================

Here are ideas to consider using tomorrow, the day after an
historic election:

--People love "Top 5" and "Top 10" lists. If you blog, create a
list like "The Top 10 Things the New President Should do Before
Inauguration Day." Post a tweet leading people from Twitter to
the blog.

--People who support the losing candidate, particularly in an
election this close and contentious, often feel anger, depression
and a loss of control. Therapists and psychologists, offer your
best tips on how to deal with those feelings.

--In families that are split apart by politics, what's the best
way to deal with a gloating spouse, or kids who say "I told you
so"?

--A host of tax issues, from school levies to proposed sales tax
increases, are on ballots throughout the U.S. If the one you're
supporting doesn't pass, what happens next?

--Remember that newspaper websites are hungry for video. Shoot
video of election eve parties or interviews showing reactions to
the election outcome.

--Nonprofits everywhere are really feeling the pinch of a bad
economy. Comment on how the election outcome affects your ability
to recruit volunteers, raise money and stay afloat.


If you can't find your way into a regular news story, how about
writing a letter to the editor? "Special Report #4: How to Write
Crisp, Compelling Letters to the Editor that Promote Your
Product, Service or Favorite Cause" gives you step-by-step
instructions on how to craft the best letters. Only $10. Order
at http://publicityhound.com/publicity-products/reports.html


=========================================
3. Headline Lessons from Cosmo
=========================================

Writing a headline can be a real struggle, particularly after
you've spent more than three hours writing an article and you
don't have a creative cell left in your brain.

Cosmopolitan magazine to the rescue.

Its incredibly naughty headlines are among the best on the
planet. They're all formula headlines, and the same formulas
appear over and over again in that magazine and thousands of
others.

Check out this short video I created that shows you how to adapt
Cosmo headlines---or headlines from any consumer magazine---for
your own articles, blog posts and website copy:
http://tinyurl.com/68t77a


If you find that writing articles is as difficult as writing the
headlines, you might be interested in the teleseminar I conducted
on "How to Write How-to Articles." It comes with a handout that
includes a template for a how-to article. You can use the
template over and over again, regardless of your topic.

Read more about how to start writing articles more quickly at
http://tinyurl.com/dnxhb


=========================================
4. Help for Writers
=========================================

Writing can be a pretty lonely occupation. Just ask any
freelancer or author.

Freelance writers work in a highly competitive market that's
getting more crowded by the hour, as newspapers and magazines
continue to lay off thousands of reporters, editors and
columnists.

In addition to cranking out content for their own blogs,
articles, websites and social networking sites, writers usually
have to struggle to find the next paying gig.

As for authors, many of them devote entire years to writing a
book--in between consulting assignments and speaking engagements.
And that's AFTER they've spent months crafting the perfect book
proposal and even more months shopping it around to publishers.

Help is on the way.

The International Association of Writers offers information and
support in the areas of literary agents and publishing contracts,
self-publishing and print-on-demand, ebooks, article syndication,
speaking, media, book promotion, freelance writing, blogging and
business, as well as a myriad of special offers on everything
from books to press releases to writing conferences.

It was created by Fern Reiss, the "Expertizing" expert who's an
excellent writer, one of the smartest business people I know, and
a savvy Publicity Hound. I'm on her contributors' panel, and
you'll see a variety of articles and audio lessons from me on
everything from traditional publicity to growing your writing
business through social media marketing.

Her site formally launches in a few weeks and if you register
now, for only $149 a year, you'll get two of my special reports
of your choosing. Just use promo code "JS" when you sign up at
http://www.associationofwriters.com/Benefits.php

Even if you're not a writer, this is an inexpensive way to
publicize almost any business.


==========================================
5. Promoting T-shirt Websites
==========================================

This week, six Publicity Hounds have tips for Andrea Ayers
of Boulder, Colorado and Michelle Pratt-Lienhart of Webster, New
Hampshire on how to attract attention and generate publicity and
interest for their T-shirt companies.


From Meryl Evans:

"Contact bloggers who reach your audience and offer to send a
free T-shirt in exchange for a photo of them wearing it or
something creative (like a dog wearing it). Also, offer up the
shirts in online contests with the right sites."


From Sheridan Bushnell:

"I loved the simple but profound messages at the Tees for Change
site. How about adding a customized feature to expand your
consumer base i.e. 'Live Mindfully,' 'Laugh Often,' 'Choose
Happiness,' 'Play Golf' or 'Go Sailing.'

"You could then market to golf, sailing, skiing magazines and
resorts."


From Bruce Jones:

"My basic comment on the Just Be site is that it isn't clear that
the site is selling T-shirts. You have to get that info right on
the home page, real clear. Have some pictures of people wearing
the shirts there and also at the top of the blog."


The Publicity Hound says:

Read all the responses to this week's Help This Hound question
at http://tinyurl.com/6l4oy5

Send your own Help this Hound question to:
mailto:JStewart@PublicityHound.com?subject=HelpThisHound and include your city and state.


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

Judy Colbert of Crofton, Maryland writes:

"I'm launching my latest book, Temper Tantrum Common Sense
Handbook.

"It contains information gathered from experts and websites,
including suggestions on how to prevent tantrums, how to stop
them, and how to live with them.

"It will be great for parents, family members, baby sitters,
daycare operators, flight attendants, and others who love and
care for children in the tantrum age. It may surprise you to
learn that most daycare operators and workers receive maybe three
hours of instruction about tantrums. Teachers, flight attendants,
and others don't receive any!

"My first promotion will be distributing a release through
ExpertClick.com and a number of journalists and others who have
told me to let them know when the book is ready.

"I'd sure like suggestions from your Hounds on anything special I
should be doing after that. Is there a central operation for
providing instruction information for daycare center operators
and others who deal with children in this age range? Is there a
company (baby food, diapers) that might be interested in a gift-
with-purchase offer to parents who buy their products? Some
other mass market I'm missing?"


The Publicity Hound says:

You have a great topic and you can really target your requests
for joint ventures. Let's see what ideas my Hounds can suggest.
Hounds with ideas for promoting the temper tantrum handbook can
post them to my blog at http://tinyurl.com/5pstln


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

A minister called on a family that had just moved into a house in
his parish.

"Good afternoon and welcome to our parish," the minister said. "I
understand you are related to the Bradleys next door."

"Yes, that's right," the lady replied. "Our beagle is their
beagle's full brother."


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...
====================================

(Twitterers, can you tweet about this first one?)

Promote an ebook 26 ways--add to this list and you could win $50
http://tinyurl.com/64jkzq


Pitch an entire segment for the morning TV talk shows
http://tinyurl.com/62mgz3


Product publicity is easier if you can get into gift sections
http://tinyurl.com/64v9sl

==============================================================

WHERE TO SEE AND HEAR THE PUBLICITY HOUND:


Nov. 20--Teleseminar

"How to Use Publicity To Become an Expert and Grow Your
Business," part of the Business Owner Super Conference. It's
already started, but you can still get in on the action at
http://tinyurl.com/633m83 A terrific training session for
business owners everywhere, with a line-up of top speakers.



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

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."

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 The
Publicity Hound® website at http://www.publicityhound.com/ or you
told me you want to subscribe.

PRIVACY STATEMENT: The Publicity Hound® respects your privacy and
has a strict anti-spam policy. Read my privacy policy at
http://www.publicityhound.com/privacypolicy.htm

=======================================================
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

Publicity tips/Social Networking Can Consume You Oct 21, 2008

The Publicity Hound's
Tips of the Week
Issue #421 Oct. 21, 2008
Publisher: Joan Stewart
mailto:JStewart@PublicityHound.com
http://www.PublicityHound.com
http://www.publicityhound.net/ (Blog)

Circulation: 50,863

==========================================

"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 The
Publicity Hound website at http://www.publicityhound.com/ or you
told me that 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.

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

How to do Social Networking, Run a Business & Still Have a Life:

This is the teleseminar many of you have been begging me to
offer.

If you didn't know any better, you'd think that BL Ochman, one of
the most prolific and well-respected bloggers and social
networkers, does social networking 24/7, but she doesn't. Join us
on November 6 for a 70-minute teleseminar and hear her explain
how she rations her time, uses a variety of social networking
tools, and still manages to set aside a huge chunk of her
schedule each day for client projects. She'll also explain how
she'll use social networking to launch a new business---tips many
of you can use to promote your existing businesses.

Register at http://tinyurl.com/6kswbc

See Item #1 below.

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

1. Social Networking Can Consume You

2. Great Tip for Getting onto TV

3. The Voice of GOOG-411

4. The Big Lie About Self-publishing

5. Promoting a Photography Studio

6. Help This Hound

7. Hound Joke of the Week

8. And at My Blog...


=========================================
1. Social Networking Can Consume You
=========================================

I go over to Twitter, call up the profile of somebody I'm
following, and I see she's posted 6,698 tweets to my piddly 108.

So I call her on the phone and ask her how many hours a day she
spends on Twitter. I know it isn't 24 because she sometimes
tweets that she's headed off to bed. How many, then? Ten? Twelve?
Twenty?

When she tells me she spends about an hour and a half throughout
the entire day, I'm stunned.

We start talking about Facebook. She says she relies so heavily
on Twitter posts and Facebook email to communicate with her
friends and followers, that she seldom relies on traditional
email anymore. In fact, if you want to communicate with her, go
find her on Twitter or Facebook.

Her blog about online PR campaigns is one of my favorites. She
writes occasionally about her client projects, and I often sit
here and wonder, "When does she have time for clients, let alone
sleeping and eating?"

Meet BL Ochman, one of my heroes--a prolific writer and blogger
who calls 'em like she sees 'em. Many longtime Publicity Hounds
know her name because I've written about her here, and she's been
a guest on several of my teleseminars, including one of my most
popular on how to write a pitch letter that's more powerful than
a press release at http://tinyurl.com/6yd65

On Twitter, I've seen her beg for help when a plumbing problem
almost flooded her kitchen. She isn't above appealing to her
1,738 followers and asking for advice on whether to take on a
client project.

She gripes, rightly so, about press releases she hates. She tells
us when she picks apples and takes her dog, Benny Bix Ochman, a
Labradoodle, for walks in Central Park. She even tweets to tell
us about her acupuncture treatments. Even though we've met only
once, I know more about her life than I know about the lives of
many of my friends.

Oh yeah. She also does social bookmarking, another form of social
networking. And she says Benny "gets better Google juice than
most corporations" because she writes about him so frequently.

One of the most perplexing problems Publicity Hounds face is
learning how to budget our time in the world of social networking
and not let it swallow us whole. That's why I invited BL to
be my guest during a teleseminar Nov. 6 on "How to do Social
Networking, Run a Business & Still Have a Life."

Many of you have asked for this topic, and BL is the perfect
person to teach you. Read more about what you'll learn, and then
register for one of the 100 seats, at http://tinyurl.com/6kswbc


============================================
2. Great Tip for Getting onto TV
============================================

This idea won't work for run-of-the-mill businesses.

But if you have an unusual book title, company name, or product
or service, it can get you onto the TV news in your local
community. It's courtesy of John Kremer's excellent Book
Marketing newsletter at http://www.bookmarket.com/tips.htm

Bobbie Lee, author of Straight Man's Pocket Guide to Picking Up a
Hottie, wrote the following note to John:

"Your book recommends making contacts every day. So I never miss
a chance to put my card advertising my book somewhere when I can!

"I saw a Fox station reporter van one day in my neighborhood and
put one on their windshield. They gave it to an Executive
Producer who produces a segment called 'Pillow Talk' during the
news in the morning and they invited me on to talk about my book.
Thanks for your inspiration.

"You can check out my appearance on my local Fox station on
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7n9r4bgYMPw"


A business card tucked under the windshield. That's all it took.

If you're lucky enough to get on the air, the more difficult
challenge is persuading the TV station to mention your website.
One of the best ways is to offer viewers something for free at
your website--in exchange for a name and email address.

Can't think of anything? I have dozens of ideas and examples and
I list them all in "Special Report #51: 55 Free Things You Can
Offer to Generate Publicity or Capture People's Email Addresses."
Only $10. Order at http://tinyurl.com/6uz9g


=============================================
3. The Voice of GOOG-411
=============================================

You'll never pay for directory assistance again once you start
using GOOG-411, the free service from Google that gives you a
phone number, information about the business you want to call,
and even driving instructions.

As you watch the clever video that explains the service at
http://www.google.com/goog411/ note:

--How Google packed a lot of content and creativity into a 91-
second video.

--The fun challenge at the end to "find the voice of Google."
This is a reminder for Publicity Hounds to issue your own
challenge to your customers or followers to "find the voice"
associated with your company, from your radio ads to the recorded
greeting people hear when they call your company. How about
turning it into a contest?

--Google invited viewers to post their comments regarding the
"find the voice" challenge at YouTube at
http://www.google.com/goog411/ The video has had more than 3.4
million views and has amassed more than 700 comments.


Video ranks right up there as the Number One way to pull massive
amounts of traffic to your website quickly. It's also a powerful
way to generate attention from traditional media, which might not
be interested in covering your events. Publicity Hound John
Easton, a videographer, was my guest expert during a teleseminar
on "9 Clever Ways to Use Video to Become a Publicity Darling in
Your Industry or Community."

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/5pbgzn


=========================================
4. The Big Lie About Self-publishing
=========================================

One of the fiercest debates among authors and publishers centers
on whether your book is any good if you self-publish.

Purists keep perpetuating the big lie: That self-published books
lack credibility.

It's a ridiculous argument.

Just ask Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen. When they shopped
their first Chicken Soup book to publishing houses many years
ago, they received several dozen rejection letters. Refusing to
give up, they published the book themselves.

It was so successful that the two have since self-published an
entire series of more than 100 Chicken Soup titles that have sold
more than 100 million copies. Add to that a variety of licensed
products such as calendars, greeting cards, nutritional
supplements, and even dog food.

My friend, Steve Harrison, will interview Jack Canfield tonight
at 7 p.m. Eastern and ask him about the other strategies he's
used to become a super-successful best-selling author and
internationally renowned speaker. The call is 90 minutes, and
it's free. Your usual long-distance rates apply.

You will learn:

--How Jack went from an inner city public school teacher to a
best-selling author and speaker.

--Jack's advice if you need revenue within 30 to 60 days.

--How to systematically create word-of-mouth marketing for your
book.

--Jack's insider advice on how to get started as a professional
speaker.

--How the Law of Attraction can help you create a best-selling
book.

Sign up now at http://tinyurl.com/5n2pwm


==========================================
5. Promoting a Photography Studio
==========================================

This week, nine Publicity Hounds have tips for Lisa Hoang of
Honolulu, Hawaii, a professional child and family photographer
who caters to elite clientele. She would like some classy ideas
on how to become more established in this niche. Her websites are
Windward Skies at http://www.windwardskies.com and Tiny Moments
Photography at http://www.tinymomentsphotography.com


From Kelly Watson:

"Get testimonials from other high-end customers and display them
prominently on your website. If you have a blog or an email
newsletter, you can also subtly 'name-drop' important customers
by displaying the work you've done for them or describing a
problem that you've solved for them.

"Potential customers will see that you've got a roster of high-
end clientele, and soon they'll be clamoring to join the list."



From Lori Green LeRoy:

"Consider donating your services to a silent auction for a Junior
League or other social benefit. Often, you can submit marketing
materials and examples of photos. The promotion at the event
would be great, and you could get excellent word-of-mouth
exposure from the person that 'wins' your services."


From Fiona Ingram:

"I live in South Africa and a local photographer came up with a
great idea. Start an album that draws the client back constantly.
For example, do the wedding pics, and add on a good price for
their anniversaries, the pregnancy, right up until the first baby
(and beyond). The baby album idea was to actually give
the client a stunning baby album and bring them back each month
so they capture the year's progress in great pics. You can extend
this to school first days etc. The 'hook' to draw them back will
be a growing record of their family, beautifully photographed.
You can also offer to do separate copies for proud mums, dads and
grandparents."


The Publicity Hound says:

Lisa, how about trying to get onto the local TV talk shows? You
can offer tips for parents who want to get the most out of a
photo shoot if they're having photos taken for their holiday
greeting cards. Yes, you specialize in photographing babies, and
you can certainly mention that during the show. But the greeting
card angle is timely, and it just might get you on the air.

Producers are looking for six traits in the ideal talk show
guest. Connie Dieken, a TV talk show host in Cleveland, explains
what they are and "How to be a TV Talk Show Host's Dream Date." .

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 how to get onto talk shows and wow producers so
they invite you back: http://tinyurl.com/3z7ut


Read all the responses to this week's Help This Hound question
http://tinyurl.com/4a4yjv


Send your own Help this Hound question to:
mailto:JStewart@PublicityHound.com?subject=HelpThisHound and include your city and state.


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

Jeff Elliot of Cedar Rapids, Iowa writes:

"I am a manager at Planet X, a family entertainment center in
Cedar Rapids, Iowa featuring mini golf, bumper cars, space bikes,
space ball, rock climbing and arcade games. We serve food and
cater to many birthday parties and corporate events.

"Do your Hounds have any clever ideas on how we can celebrate our
10th year anniversary in January 2009? We're planning our
anniversary celebration all of next year. Our website is at
http://www.planetxfuncenter.com "


The Publicity Hound says:

Anniversaries lend themselves beautifully to publicity, as
long as you don't rely on the same old tired ideas. I can think
of several really fun publicity ideas for this one. Let's see how
sharp my Hounds are today. Hounds with great ideas can post them
at my blog at http://tinyurl.com/6okmne


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

Thanks to Dan Poynter, the self-publishing guru from Santa
Barbara, California, for sharing these great photos of "upside
down dogs." They made me laugh:

http://upsidedowndogs.com/


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

Life coaches: Offer tips on weathering the economy
http://tinyurl.com/6kcyas


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/



WHERE TO SEE AND HEAR THE PUBLICITY HOUND:

Nov. 6 -- Teleseminar

"How to Use Publicity To Become an Expert and Grow Your
Business," part of the Business Owner Super Conference. It's
already started, but you can still get in on the action at
http://tinyurl.com/633m83 A terrific training session for
business owners everywhere, with a line-up of top speakers.



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

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."

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 The
Publicity Hound® website at http://www.publicityhound.com/ or you
told me you want to subscribe.

PRIVACY STATEMENT: The Publicity Hound® respects your privacy and
has a strict anti-spam policy. Read my privacy policy at
http://www.publicityhound.com/privacypolicy.htm

=======================================================
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

Publicity tips/What Tim Russert Taught Us June 17, 2008

The Publicity Hound's
Tips of the Week Issue
#403 June 17, 2008
Publisher: Joan Stewart
mailto:JStewart@PublicityHound.com
http://www.PublicityHound.com
http://www.publicityhound.net/(Blog)
The Publicity Hound®

Circulation: 47,359


==========================================

"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 The
Publicity Hound® website at http://www.publicityhound.com/ or you told me that 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.

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

Save the Date:

June 18: Teleseminar

Business coach Leili McKinley shows you "Outsourcing Secrets: How
to Get the Best Quality, Price and Teamwork from Freelancers."
3-4:10 p.m. Eastern Time. Register at
http://www.publicityhound.com/teleseminar.htm See Item #4 below.


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

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

1. What Tim Russert Taught Us

2. Facebook and The Life Changing Box

3. Tie Story Ideas to the Weather

4. Get Rid of Work You Hate to Do

5. Promoting Nursing Homes

6. Help This Hound

7. Hound Quote of the Week

8. And at My Blog...


=====================================
1. What Tim Russert Taught Us
=====================================

After almost five days of non-stop tributes to Tim Russert, none
was as fascinating as the five-year-old article I found last
night titled "How to Beat Tim Russert" at
http://www.slate.com/id/2085153/

Jack Shafer, who writes the press column for the online magazine
Slate, dissected in step-by-step detail the strategy that any
guest can use to disarm Russert, the toughest interviewer in
broadcast journalism.

The article explains how David Duke, one-time grand wizard of the
Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, threw Russert off guard when he
appeared on the show in March 1999 during his Louisiana campaign
for a seat in the House of Representatives.

"Unable to stick it to Duke with his time-proven techniques,
Russert sputtered, steamed, and almost boiled over," Shafer
wrote.

But few other politicians have come even close to rattling him.
Here's what Tim Russert taught Publicity Hounds about
interviewing:

- -Know your interviewer inside and out. If you agree to an
interview and you have time, research clippings and past shows so
you know what to expect. I suggest you even call other people
who have been the subject of interviews by that reporter and ask
questions like "What was the worst thing about the interview?"
And "What was the biggest surprise?"

- -Anticipate all the tough questions. Shafer's suggestion to
have somebody on your staff prepare a mock interview and compose
answers for the most challenging questions you can imagine is the
same advice every good crisis counselor recommends.

- -Know what has been written about you and what hasn't,
particularly sensitive information in public records like nasty
divorce proceedings, lawsuits, or arrests for things like driving
while under the influence. Be ready to concede those issues if
you must, and then move on.

- -Put reporters on the defensive. Russert seldom fell for this
trick, but your run-of-the-mill beat reporter for your daily
newspaper certainly might. If reporters ask questions that
include inaccurate facts or unfair assertions, call them on it
and challenge them. Reporters aren't the only ones who are
allowed to ask questions. You can, too. But only if you
understand how the game is played.

- -If the interviewer asks you a question you don't understand,
feel free to interrupt. And don't answer until you understand it
completely. "Too many of Russert's guests allow him to fling
enormous, mattress-sized paragraphs at them that are far too
complicated to answer on television," Shafer writes. "Interrupt
him when a question needs clarification. Interrupt him when he's
startled you with something fresh. Interrupt him back when he
interrupts you. Interrupt him for the hell of it. It drives him
crazy, and when he's crazy, he loses his place in the script, his
face goes a tad red, and he loses his momentum."

I'm guessing that crisis counselor Jonathan Bernstein would
describe Tim Russert as a "media wolf." Jonathan knows media
wolves very well and makes a living helping his clients confront
them, or stay out of trouble so they don't see the wolves at
their doorsteps.

"How to Keep the Media Wolves at Bay," a recording of a one- hour
interview I did with Jonathan, explains the tricks of his trade
and what to do and say when you're confronted by a media wolf.
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.

Find out how to disarm the media wolves at
http://tinyurl.com/b8wcy


=====================================
2. Facebook and the Life Changing Box
=====================================

Here's an unusual promotion and an interesting way to use a
Facebook application to build the buzz about, presumably, a new
product.

The Life Changing Box is possibly the first big-ticket,
promotional Facebook app. You have a chance to win 20 prizes
with values ranging from $400 to $14,000, including a 52-inch
super- big flat screen TV, home theaters, tickets to exclusive
baseball games, domestic and international trips, and more.

The game resembles Hot Potato in reverse. But the potato is a
box, and inside each box is a prize. The goal is to be in
possession of the box when it opens, thus winning the prize.

There are 10 boxes total and the game lasts four weeks. To gain
possession of a box, participants use a currency called a
"Touch." All players get 24 touches per day. Each Touch enters
the player into a round.

Part of the fun of Facebook is the option to invite your friends
to install an application you enjoy. If someone you invited into
the game wins a prize, you win the exact same prize.

But you must be extremely patient to understand out how this
works. And you'll have to endure the headache-inducing white
print on a black background on the social media press release
that explains the game at http://lifechangingbox.smnr.us. (If you
can't figure it out, please don't ask me to explain it).

You can start playing the game by visiting my Facebook page at
http://tinyurl.com/4cwjbu. Then tell your friends about it. By
the way, the Facebook site has been down several hours today. If
you can't get to my page, try again later today.

Internet marketing expert Don Crowther says Facebook is one of
seven social media marketing sites where everyone should have a
presence. If you're pitching only traditional media, you're
missing a huge opportunity to use online tools like Facebook to
promote. Learn about the other six websites Don recommends. His
interview is included in the eight-part series "How to Create a
Media Plan," available as a series of Cds, MP3 audios on a CD, or
electronic transcripts. Each comes with handouts that include a
fill-in-the-blanks template for a media plan.

Read more about how you can take the pain out of creating a media
plan at http://www.publicityhound.com/mediaplan.htm


=====================================
3. Tie Story Ideas to the Weather
=====================================

Flooding in the Midwest. Wild fires in California. Snow in the
Northwest. Scorching heat on the East Coast.

And it’s still only spring.

This is the time to pitch weather stories. If you sell or give
away a product or service to help people cope with the weather,
let the media know. They’re hungry for any tie-in.

Several years ago, after terrible flooding in the Midwest, the
president of a Minnesota company that sells dehumidifiers called
a local drive-time radio show on a popular Milwaukee station. It
was during a week when homeowners had bought every small engine
and generator in the state, which they used to remove water from
basements. On that afternoon, there wasn’t a generator to be
found anywhere in Wisconsin.

For at least 10 minutes, the host interviewed the company
president who explained how his machine works. The host even
repeated the company’s toll-free phone number several times. I
remember thinking, "Now THAT’S smart!"

What story idea can you pitch to help people cope? My "Special
Report #37: How to Tie Your Product, Service, Cause or Issue to
the Weather" offers lots of ideas for piggybacking onto weather
news, explains how to pitch these story ideas to the media and
shares tips on the little "extras" you can offer the media to
convince them to cover you. Only $10.

Get started today pitching great weather stories by going to
http://tinyurl.com/yna28c


=====================================
4. Get Rid of Work You Hate to Do
=====================================

I hate balancing my checkbook every month, so I outsource it to a
small business consultant who also prepares quarterly reports for
my accountant.

I would never think of spending my precious time transcribing a
teleseminar so I can sell it as an electronic transcript. So I
hire a freelancer to do it for me, and another freelancer to edit
it.

Customer service can eat up hours of time, yet I'm fanatic about
customer service. So that's one of the tasks my virtual
assistant manages.

And when it's time to create a new product, I'll sometimes farm
out the work to a freelance writer. I've even outsourced press
releases and articles that carry my byline.

Identify successful businesses and chances are good the owners
outsource work they hate doing, don't have time to do, or lack
the talent and skills to do.

If you're not outsourcing, you're missing a powerful strategy
that's the next best thing to cloning yourself. But outsourcing
is filled with land mines.

How do you know a writer you've hired hasn't plagiarized somebody
else's work? How do you know whether freelancers are any good
before you hire them? How do you avoid a lawsuit from a
freelancer who claims that you owe him a percentage of all sales
from the ebook he wrote for you?

Leili McKinley, an expert at outsourcing, has made mistakes just
like I have. She'll be my guest on a teleseminar at 3 p.m.
Eastern Time tomorrow, June 18, called "Outsourcing Secrets: How
to Get the Best Quality, Price and Teamwork from Freelancers."
If you can't make the live call, sign up anyway because you'll
get a copy of the MP3 audio to listen to at your convenience.

Start benefiting from outsourcing right now by signing up for the
call and for Leili's five free outsourcing tips via email at
http://www.PublicityHound.com/teleseminar.htm


=====================================
5. Promoting Nursing Homes
=====================================

This week, three Publicity Hounds have story ideas for Lisa
Cupolo of Ballston Spa, New York. She wants to pitch her local
business journal but isn't sure what business-related ideas to
suggest.


From Scott Anthony:

"A story on how 'green' you are would be timely. Use angles like
ways you are energy-efficient while transporting patients, and
using more efficient light bulbs. Do you use biodegradable
plates and napkins and environmentally friendly detergents?"


From Kim Duke, The Sales Diva:

"What are the costs behind living wills and what are the steps
necessary to implement them?...Even hard core business reporters
will still spin other ideas. For example, are any of the doctors
or nurses involved in 'Doctors Without Borders' or other similar
non-profits?

"What are the upcoming trends in health? A great resource is
http://www.trendwatching.com"


The Publicity Hound says:

How do you find and keep good employees? Business journals
frequently write about recruitment and retention.

Attend events the newspaper is sponsoring. Get to know reporters
and editors and ask them "What do you see as the biggest issues
in health care this year?" If their answer fits in with a story
you can contribute to, let them know. Then share your thoughts
on emerging trends.

Paul Furiga, former editor of The Pittsburgh Business Times, says
attending business journal events is a powerful way to start
building relationships with reporters and editors. He was my
guest during a teleseminar on "How to Use Business Journals to
Tell Your Story."

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.
Learn the easiest ways to land a coveted spot in a business
journal at http://tinyurl.com/q4rf7.


Send your own Help this Hound question to:
mailto:JStewart@PublicityHound.com?subject=HelpThisHound and
include your city and state.


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

Tracy Arceo of Gretna, LA writes:

"I am a publicist for Pelican Publishing Company. The publicists
have been presented with a challenge and we're having trouble
coming up with ideas.

"Our company has two rather large series of books. One series is
based on the classic children’s poem "'Twas the Night Before
Christmas," each book with a spin specific to a genre, region or
occupation.

"The other series is based on the classic recipes and dishes of
some of the major cities in the South such as New Orleans,
Charleston and Savannah. We have been asked to come up with some
form of promotion for each of these series.

"Do your Publicity Hounds have any suggestions on what we can do
to generate interest in each of these groups of books?"


The Publicity Hound says:

OK, Hounds give this one your best shot. What would you do if
you were on Tracy's team? Remember that she needs to be pitching
Christmas ideas right now if she wants the Christmas books
mentioned in national magazines, which often have long lead
times.

As for the cookbook series, how about suggesting some really fun
ways to promote? How can she use videos to publicize these
books? How can she use social networking to build a buzz? How
about a contest? Post your best ideas to my blog at
http://tinyurl.com/4orekj

I think the cookbooks are ideal for the morning TV talk shows
like the "Today" show and "Good Morning, America." Can't you
just see the author teaching Diane Sawyer how to whip up a pan of
jambalaya?

Competition to get onto these shows is less intense if you know
what you're doing. I interviewed book publicist Lissa Warren,
who has placed dozens of her clients on these shows. "How to Get
Booked on the Morning TV Talk Shows" is available as a CD or an
electronic transcript that you can download and be reading as
soon as your order has been approved.

Learn how to get through to the producers whose audiences need
what you're offering at http://tinyurl.com/ab86x


================================
7. Hound Quote of the Week
================================

Thanks to Publicity Hound Sophie Wajsman for this one:

"The noblest dog is the hot dog because it feeds the hand that
bites it."


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. At My Blog...
================================

Unusual weather a chance to pitch weather stories
http://tinyurl.com/6avrs6


Dairy Queen joins Girl Scouts to create Thin Mint Blizzard
http://tinyurl.com/6hjmeu


------------------------------------------------------------

Where to See or Hear The Publicity Hound


June 18: Teleseminar on Outsourcing

Business coach Leili McKinley shows you "Outsourcing Secrets:
Your Guide to Getting the Best Quality, Price and Teamwork from
Freelancers." 3-4:10 p.m. Eastern Time. Register at
http://www.PublicityHound.com/teleseminar.htm


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

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."

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 The
Publicity Hound® website at http://www.publicityhound.com/ or you
told me you want to subscribe.

PRIVACY STATEMENT: The Publicity Hound® respects your privacy and
has a strict anti-spam policy. Read my privacy policy at
http://www.publicityhound.com/privacypolicy.htm

=======================================================
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

Publicity tips/When Journalists Snub You April 23, 2008

The Publicity Hound's
Tips of the Week
Issue #395 April 23, 2008
Publisher: Joan Stewart
mailto:JStewart@PublicityHound.com
http://www.PublicityHound.com
http://www.publicityhound.net/ (Blog)
The Publicity Hound®

Circulation: 44,978

=====================================

"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 The Publicity Hound® website at http://www.publicityhound.com/ or you told me that 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.

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

1. When Journalists Snub You

2. Profit from On-Air Interviews

3. 'Put Me on a Billboard' Contest

4. Story Ideas for Summer and Beyond

5. Promoting Lessons in How to Speak Chinese

6. Help This Hound

7. Hound Quote of the Week

8. At My Blog...

===================================
1. When Journalists Snub You
===================================

You pitch a story to a top-tier newspaper.

The reporter calls you. You bend over backwards to help with the story. And when it's finally printed, you're crestfallen to learn that the reporter never even mentioned your name.

The first time it happened to me, I wanted to call the reporter's boss and complain. And then I wanted to pound nails into the tires of the reporter's car. I would never do that, of course. But at the time, I was tempted.

A graduate of The Publicity Hound Mentor Program reminded me of this recently when she asked what to do about a similar problem. She pitched a real estate story to a reporter at The New York Times as well as to a section editor.

But she was left out of the story completely.

"Is there anything a PR person can do? I'm not looking to get even," she wrote. "I just want to be considered for another story."

Here's what I told her:

- -Never voice displeasure to the reporter, or go over his head and speak with an editor.

- -Rather, send the reporter a handwritten thank-you note explaining that you saw the story. Thank him for using you as a source. Remind him that you're an expert in the areas of A, B and C, and tell him he should call on you again for background, commentary and story ideas.

- -Call the reporter in a few months and pitch another story.

- -Whether or not he likes your idea, ask "How else can I help you?" (Even if this kills you, ask.)

Whining, tattling to his boss, and pounding nails into his tires gets you nowhere. Do that, and you've forever ruined your chances of establishing a relationship.

By the way, reporters don't view this as "snubbing." The way they see it, they're just doing their jobs.

If you want long-term access to me to help you with problems like this one, brainstorm story ideas, craft enticing pitches, serve as your personal writing coach, and show you how to navigate the world of social networking, The Publicity Hound Mentor Program could be the perfect place for you.

Read about what it offers at http://www.publicityhound.com/mentorprogram/intro.html and then let's talk to see if we're a good match.


====================================
2. Profit from On-air Interviews
====================================

If you're pursuing interviews on radio and TV, and you have a book or other product to sell, you'll drastically increase your chances of selling it if you encourage your audience to grab a pen and paper so they can write down a phone number where they can order it.

But how do you do that without making it sound like you're trying to sell them something?

Before the interview begins, arrange with the deejay or the interviewer to alert listeners just before a commercial break. For example, before the last commercial during your radio interview, the deejay would say: "Grab a pen and paper because when we come back, Dr. Griffith is going to give you five ways to help your child deal with playground bullies."

After the commercial, you share your five tips. Then the deejay immediately mentions your book and gives the toll-free number where people can order it. Because they already have their pens and paper, they can copy down the number and call.

Savvy Publicity Hounds use that trick all the time to sell more books. But if you're new to the publishing game, you haven't done many radio interviews, and you aren't aware of little strategies like that one, you could be leaving money on the table.

Authors and others who use the media to promote their products CANNOT afford to leave even a nickel on the table. That's why you need to listen to a free 75-minute teleseminar hosted by Steve Harrison on Thursday, April 24, where you'll learn practical strategies you can use to promote almost any book, product, business or service.

Choose from two times: 2 p.m. Eastern Time or 7 p.m. Eastern Time. Reserve your spot now at http://www.YourQuantumLeap.com/PreviewCallTwo/?10011

Here's some of what you'll learn:

- -Why conventional press releases aren't always the best way to contact journalists and what to send instead.

- -What a producer for "Good Morning America" says is the absolute best way to pitch his show--something very few publicity-seekers do.

- -The surprisingly simple strategy a former Oprah guest booker recommends everyone should use when pitching the show.

Steve will also discuss how to recruit an army of people to promote your books, products or services for you. Sign up now at http://www.YourQuantumLeap.com/PreviewCallTwo/?10011


=========================================
3. 'Put Me on a Billboard' Contest
=========================================

Here's a fabulous idea for companies or organizations celebrating an anniversary, or anyone who wants to call attention to a cause or issue.

To raise funds and awareness for a new opera house, The Nashville Opera is sponsoring a "Put Me on a Billboard Contest" this year. In the weeks leading up to the contest, the opera photographed local celebrities like media people and sports figures, opera glasses in hand, on local billboards throughout the city.

The opera then opened the contest to anyone and asked local opera-lovers to write about why they raise their glasses to opera. They even built a special website for the promotion at http://www.RaiseYourGlasses.org

Winners were photographed with their opera glasses, and the series of photos started appearing over the weekend on digital billboards throughout the city.

Publicity Hound Beverly Wichman was chosen as one of the winners. You might know her better as one-half of "The Saucy Sisters." She and her sister, Barbara Nowak, review wine, write books and entertain at corporate events.

Beverly's winning essay explains how her parents treated her to her first opera at age 10. She loved it so much that she calls opera her "soul music."

During her many travels throughout the U.S., she would faithfully listen to radio performances by The New York Metropolitan Opera on Saturday nights. So would her parents. After each program, they would call each other to discuss the shows.

"It was like attending the opera together," she said. "We would wait for the final applause and the curtain would come down. Then we'd call each other and say,'Bravo!'"

Bravo to this billboard idea, too, even though it may require a big budget. It involves your audience in your cause. It brings people to your website. It turns local people into celebrities. And it helps raise money.

Your next special event can include elaborate promotions like this one, or much simpler, less expensive ways to capture people's attention, draw crowds, and attract the media. Debra J. Schmidt and I give you 847 ideas for turning any special event into a huge success.

"How to Plan & Promote Sizzling Special Events" is available as a series of Cds or an electronic transcript that you can be reading as soon as your order is approved. It comes with 15 can't-do- without checklists for event planners and publicists. Read more about it at http://publicityhound.com/publicity/promote.html


========================================
4. Story Ideas for Summer and Beyond
========================================

One of the most difficult parts of a publicity campaign is coming up with a constant stream of story ideas about your product, service, cause or issue.

Some Publicity Hounds, I've found, are so close to their own businesses that it's difficult for them to identify the things that most people would find interesting.

The next several months provide lots of opportunities for piggybacking onto events like high school proms and graduations, Mother's Day and Father's Day, school vacation, summer vacation, travel, warm-weather entertainment, and health issues like sunburn, bug bites and dehydration.

TV producer Shawne Duperon and I thought it would be fun to brainstorm as many ideas as possible. She knows TV better than anybody, and I come from a newspaper background and know what kinds of story ideas editors love. Together, we came up with 219 story ideas.

We recorded two teleseminars that are available on CD, and each comes with a list of all the ideas that you can download for that six-month period as soon as your order has been approved. Steal our ideas and use them during months when you're coming up dry.

Read more about "116 WOW! Story Ideas from January through June" at http://publicityhound.net/116storyideas

Then check out "103 Sizzling Story Ideas from July through December" at http://publicityhound.net/103storyideas


============================================
5. Promoting Lessons in How to Speak Chinese ============================================

This week, four Publicity Hounds have tips on how Alex Foo of Christmas Island, Australia can promote his business which teaches people to speak simple Chinese.


From Jenni Hilton:

"There is a new show on Nick Jr.(Ni Hao, Kai-lan) that is similar to 'Dora the Explorer,' and the main character, Kai-lan, speaks Mandarin Chinese. You could reach parents and children who are interested in learning Chinese through Nick Jr.'s website and show. You could piggyback on the new show and write tips on teaching children Chinese and send them to news outlets."


From Gail Kay:

"My first thought is all the sportscasters and sport talk shows-- both radio and TV. A few might find this a fun adjunct to their news about the Olympics."


From Garth Gibson:

"Could you consider styling a contest in the mode of Big Brother where the prize could be a trip to the Beijing Olympics? Contestants are put in a house where they speak only Mandarin or only English."


From The Publicity Hound:

Alex, I didn't see a blog at your website. Writing about the Chinese language would pull in lots of traffic. "Blogging 101: How to Use Weblogs for Publicity," an interview I conducted with one my favorite bloggers, BL Ochman, is available as a CD, and you'll learn how to get a blog up and running in almost no time at all.

Read more about it at http://publicityhound.net/blogging101


Read all the responses to this "Help This Hound" Question at http://publicityhound.net/speakchinese


Send your own Help this Hound question to: mailto:JStewart@PublicityHound.com?subject=HelpThisHound and include your city and state.


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

Shirley James of Ormond Beach, Florida writes:

"A partner and I have developed an activity-based trading card for tween girls (ages 7-12) called, UgoGrl at http://www.ugogrl.com/. The cards encourage them to become physically active, mentally challenged, creatively inspired, and socially responsible. This is accomplished across six categories of real-life fun. Each card has a tip, suggestion or idea to try.

"Our target market loves them, but the problem is getting them into the marketplace. The major retailers purchase trading cards through a pay-on-scan contract--a situation that requires more capital than we have, and more risk than we are willing to take. We added a shopping cart to our website 18 months ago but the sales have been slow. We need help developing a strategy to educate parents and tween girls about our product.

"Our second product was developed as a means to earn enough capital to advance the UgoGrl Activity Cards. We developed a line of paper air fresheners with artwork from the cards. We have just fulfilled a chain-wide order for Wal-Mart. Our "Get Fresh" Mood Enhancing Air Fresheners are now on the shelves! It has been a huge success for us, but we're faced with the same problem--how to market them on a shoestring budget.

"Hounds, please help us out! We are two 40something stay-at-home moms, each with four kids. We need a home run."


The Publicity Hound says:

Hounds, I think Shirley's question has all kinds of interesting possibilities, particularly in the area of social media. How can the company use sites like MySpace, Facebook and other networking sites to interest tweens in these cards? Post your best ideas to my blog at http://publicityhound.net/cardgame


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

You'll howl when you check out the winners of the "I Look Like My Dog" Contest:

http://www.flyaboveall.com/dogs.htm


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. At My Blog...
=================================

Columnist seeks entrepreneurs who returned to traditional jobs http://publicityhound.net/entrepreneurs


Journalists search LinkedIn for ideas, topics, trends--and dirt http://publicityhound.net/journalistssearchlinkedin


------------------------------------------------------------

Where to See or Hear The Publicity Hound


April 30: Teleseminar

"How to Create a Media Plan," part of the teleseminar series "Intro to Internet Marketing" for health professionals. Perfect for doctors, nurses, spa owners, holistic health counselors, massage therapists, etc. Register at http://publicityhound.net/introinternetmarketing


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

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."

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 The Publicity Hound® website at http://www.publicityhound.com/ or you told me you want to subscribe.

PRIVACY STATEMENT: The Publicity Hound® respects your privacy and has a strict anti-spam policy. Read my privacy policy at http://www.publicityhound.com/privacypolicy.htm

=======================================================
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

Publicity tips/Be Like the Gabby Cabby Mar 18, 2008

The Publicity Hound's
Tips of the Week
Issue #391 March 18, 2008
Publisher: Joan Stewart
mailto:JStewart@PublicityHound.com
http://www.publicityhound.com/
http://www.publicityhound.net/ (Blog)
The Publicity Hound®

Circulation: 43,546

=====================================

"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 The Publicity Hound® website at http://www.publicityhound.com/ or you told me that 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.

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

I Lost My Dog:

I lost Bogie on Sunday night. And, of course, I figured out a way to tie it into a few publicity tips for you. The whole story about two horrible hours of my life is at my blog at http://tinyurl.com/2n5l9j

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

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

1. Be Like the Gabby Cabby

2. AngryJournalist.com

3. An Idea for Computer Geeks

4. For Health Professionals

5. Promoting a Book for Children

6. Help This Hound

7. Hound Quote of the Week

8. At My Blog...

=================================
1. Be Like the Gabby Cabby
=================================

Radio talk show host Wayne Kelly says that if you've been booked as a guest on talk radio, forget about being politically correct.

Wayne says far too many guests try way too hard to sanitize their interview responses so that they don't offend listeners.

"I hate these interviews," he says.

I do, too, and I change the channel when I hear somebody trying to be overly polite.

Wayne co-hosts a morning drive-time show on KBS Radio in British Columbia, Canada. He offers these three tips for being the kind of guest who gives a prickly interview and gets invited back:

- -Be the kind of personality listeners can get excited about.

- -Give more information than anyone who has ever talked about your topic.

- -Have an opinion and say it LOUD (yes, I'm shouting).

One of his favorite talk show guests is Peter Franklin, aka The Gabby Cabby, a street-smart, Bronx-born cab driver who broadcasts news about New York City to over 300 million listeners in 71 countries around the world.

Wayne has been interviewing the Gabby Cabby on his radio show for eight years and even conducted one interview from inside Gabby's cab. Wayne knows that those interviews will always make somebody mad--so mad that if they're driving in their car listening to the radio, they'll pull over and whip out their cell phone and call the station.

In the world of talk radio, that's the goal.

Listen to Wayne's four-and-a-half-minute interview with Gabby, who weighs in on the current crop of presidential candidates. If you've already chosen your favorite candidate, and you're from a red state or a blue state, I guarantee you won't like what you hear. Go to http://publicityhound.net/gabbycabby and click on the arrow under the photo.

You can sign up for Wayne's free publicity tips at http://www.onairpublicity.com/ezine.shtml

Once you know how to interview, it's time to start pitching. Radio talk show host George McKenzie was my guest on a telephone seminar called "How to Get onto Drive-time Radio Shows." He explained how to "play the game" when you pitch TV and radio talk show hosts, the one word to never use in your pitch, how producers create programs, whom to call when pitching a radio station, and an example of a great pitch.

We recorded it and 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://publicityhound.net/drive-timeradio


====================================
2. AngryJournalist.com
====================================

The next time a journalist hangs up on you, or yells "no thanks" into the telephone, or refuses to answer your emails, she might be more than just busy.

She might also be angry. Really angry.

At what?

Her lousy pay. Her horrible work schedule. Her editor who cow- tows to the advertising department. And bad PR people who make twice as much money as she does.

AngryJournalist.com is for "the underpaid, overworked, frustrated, (expletive deleted) off, and ignored media professionals to publicly and anonymously vent their anger."

It offers an inside look at the hundreds of things that journalists snipe about.

From Angry Journalist #2269:

"I'm a photographer or a photojournalist. Not a camera lady, photo lady or camera girl."

From Angry Journalist #2172:

"I contacted a pastor to do a story about his church’s expansion and he said the earliest he could meet with me was Tuesday. Please, give me a break, I'm sure you could find 20 minutes out of your day before then to talk to a journalist so I can do a puff piece on your stupid church."

From Angry Journalist #2185:

"I'm angry because my editor has a crush on a photographer I work with and he let’s (sic) this guy get away with all kinds of (expletive deleted)."

Warning for the easily offended: Many posts at this site include profanities and four-letter words.

Even though journalists are angry, they still need trustworthy sources and compelling stories. "Special Report #49: 17 Ways to Build Valuable Relationships with Media People" explains all the ways to bring a little joy into their lives and get a great print or broadcast story. Only $10. Order at http://publicityhound.net/SpecialReports


====================================
3. An Idea for Computer Geeks
====================================

Within the last few years, several school administrators or teachers in Wisconsin have been caught visiting adult websites while using school computers.

Dumb, dumb, dumb.

If you're a website developer, a computer geek or somebody who knows how computers work, and you see a story like this in your own community, it's a great chance to promote your expertise by offering your commentary to the local media and including advice in your blog and in online articles.

Most people know that if they simply clear the history of websites they've visited, it's usually difficult for a computer user in their household or company to follow the footprints. But computer experts will tell you that that isn't enough. An expert knows where to look to follow the trail.

Share your information by creating a quiz on how computer users can cover their tracks, or on how computers work. A quiz is one of nine types of briefs that can get you fabulous media publicity, particularly in national magazines, and pull traffic to your website.

A teleseminar I conducted explains all nine forms of briefs and how to use them to promote a product, service, cause or issue. It's called "Briefs, Fillers & Quizzes" and 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://publicityhound.net/briefs


====================================
4. For Health Professionals
====================================

Attention doctors, nurses, health educators, healers, spa owners, massage therapists, nutritionists, health care business owners, network marketers, and even stay-at-home moms.

Learn how to build a thriving Internet business and pull journalists and other customers to you, even if you already make significant revenue offline.

Marilee Tolen, a graduate of The Publicity Hound Mentor Program, is presenting a series of teleseminars called "Intro to Internet Marketing" for health professionals. You can take the course over the phone on five consecutive Wednesdays starting April 2.

She'll cover dozens of topics, including affiliate commission, and explain how health professionals can earn money selling other people's products and services. Marilee, by the way, created a two-minute video on how women can "wear" essential oils in a neat charm bracelet, as well as on how to make their business cards smell nice by using the oils in a fancy business card holder.

She earns commission selling essential oils for another company. So she sent the link to the video to about 3,000 people who have given her permission to email them. Within one hour, she earned commission on a $400 sale from somebody who saw her email, watched her video and bought essential oils. You can see the video at http://snipurl.com/viewaromathxjewelry or see the entire line of jewelry at http://www.kickstartcart.com/app/?Clk=2299239

I'm one of the guest experts who will be teaching during Marilee's course. At 7 p.m. Eastern Time on Wednesday, April 30, I'm presenting a one-hour session on "How to Create a Media Plan," with specific examples for health professionals and lots of story ideas they can steal from me.

Sign up for the entire course before it's sold out:
http://publicityhound.net/healthprofessionals


========================================
5. Promoting a Book for Children
========================================

This week, eight Publicity Hounds have tips on how Angie Dzalamanow of Mount Pleasant, South Carolina can promote picture books for children that include science, math and nature themed stories.

From Cheryl Stroup:

"I immediately thought of the home schooling community. Many, many resources for home schooling parents or sending a sample book or book list to the well-traveled home schooling resource sites could prove beneficial. Word of mouth is the best press you can get and from what I've seen, the home schooling community is a worthy ally.

From Yvette Stanton:

"I suspect that these sorts of books are likely to be purchased by grandparents for their grandchildren. As a grandparent, who could pass up something that will entertain AND educate the grand kiddies? I suggest you work on getting reviews into seniors media--newspapers, blogs, websites."

From Garth Gibson:

"Identify media/celebrity with children on the way and send them a book. I know, for example, that Penelope Cruz is very into having a family right now.

"I think TV’s Al Roker has a book review for kids that he does on air, so send him a book."

The Publicity Hound says:

If you're trying to contact celebrities or work them into your media plan, here are two great resources. ContactyAnyCelebrity at http://publicityhound.net/contactanycelebrity/ sells a database that will help you contact 54,565 celebrities worldwide. It includes contact information for more than 7,000 celebrity representatives and over 4,000 entertainment companies with phone, fax and email addresses--all cross-referenced and cross- linked so you can find who you need fast.

Also, my "Special Report #50: How to Piggyback onto Celebrity News to Promote Your Product, Service, Cause or Issue" gives you lots of ideas of how to tie celebrities to your publicity campaign and pull tons of traffic to your website from all the surfers who are Googling celebrities' names. Only $10. Order at http://publicityhound.net/SpecialReports

Read all the responses to this week's Help This Hound question at http://tinyurl.com/2lsp74

Send your own Help this Hound question to: mailto:JStewart@PublicityHound.com?subject=HelpThisHound and include your city and state.


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

Publicity Hound Sharon Dotson of Houston, Texas writes:

"I am working with two other publicists to promote identical twins Anabel Stenzel and Isabel Stenzel Byrnes, 35, of Redwood City, CA, who between them have survived three lung transplants.

"Half Japanese and half-German, the sisters were born with cystic fibrosis and were not expected to live to adulthood, yet they have defied the odds. Cystic fibrosis is rare in people of Asian descent, and as daughters of a Japanese mother, their risk was supposed to be minuscule.

"Their father, a German physicist who loved statistics, calculated the odds when the twins were diagnosed with CF as infants: he and his wife had a 1 in 200 chance having identical twins, and the odds of having half-Japanese twins with CF were roughly 1 in 1.8 billion.

"Their recently-published autobiography, 'The Power of Two: A Twin Triumph over Cystic Fibrosis,' has been well-received with small mentions in People, Publishers Weekly and USA Today. Last month, Reuters published a very nice feature on the Stenzels.

"Our job is to pitch national shows including Ellen, Rachael Ray, Montel, Oprah and the 700 Club. We also pitched half-Japanese Today show host Ann Curry. Other news hooks are Donate Life Month, Cystic Fibrosis Awareness Month and in July, the U.S. Transplant Games where the Stenzel twins will be among those competing.

"Thus far, we've scored zero on big-time TV shows. We're aiming high, but we're sure Anabel and Isabel have a message that could knock the socks off a broad segment of the media. Do you think your Publicity Hounds could throw in some new ideas?"

The Publicity Hound says:

What a great story, Sharon. I know my Hounds are already thinking of some super ideas on how to promote your clients. I noticed you never mentioned anything about online publicity. So I hope my Hounds include tips for scoring publicity online as well as offline when they post their best ideas to my blog at http://tinyurl.com/2dxlgr


=================================
7. Hound Quote of the Week
=================================

"My dog is worried about the economy because Alpo is up to 99 cents a can. That's almost $7 in dog money." -- Joe Weinstein

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. At My Blog...
=================================

How to find a lost dog or a lost (fill in the blank)
http://tinyurl.com/2n5l9j


Sploggers bring traffic, so why the complaining?
Http://tinyurl.com/2ajdbo


Health pros: Learn Internet marketing from the experts
http://tinyurl.com/yu3eeh


Media bias helped Spitzer's rise to power
http://tinyurl.com/2xw3y9


- -----------------------------------------------------------

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.

April 22: Shorewood, Wisconsin

"Savvy Media Relations: How to Get FREE Online & Offline Publicity," 8:30 to noon, and "The New Rules of Press Releases: How to Write Them for Consumers, Not Only for Journalists," 1 to 3:30 p.m.; North Star, 4515 W. Oakland Ave., sponsored by the Shorewood Business Improvement District. Tickets are $75 each or $65 for two or more persons. To register, contact Barb Caprile at barb@shorewood.com or 414-962-7008.

April 30: Teleseminar

"How to Create a Media Plan," part of the teleseminar series "Intro to Internet Marketing" for health professionals. Perfect for doctors, nurses, spa owners, holistic health counselors, massage therapists, etc. Register at http://publicityhound.net/introinternetmarketing

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

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."

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 The Publicity Hound® website at http://www.publicityhound.com/ or you told me you want to subscribe.

PRIVACY STATEMENT: The Publicity Hound® respects your privacy and has a strict anti-spam policy. Read my privacy policy at http://www.publicityhound.com/privacypolicy.htm

=======================================================
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

Publicity tips/The Power of Perfect Pitching Feb 5, 2008

The Publicity Hound's
Tips of the Week
Issue #384 Feb. 5, 2008
Publisher: Joan Stewart
mailto:JStewart@PublicityHound.com
http://www.publicityhound.com/
http://www.publicityhound.net/ (Blog)
The Publicity Hound®

Circulation: 40,398


=====================================

"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 The Publicity Hound® website at http://www.publicityhound.com/ or you told me that 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.


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

Spank the Hound on Super Tuesday:

While we're rooting for our favorite candidates to win tonight, I'll be blowing out 56 candles on the cake, then filling orders that will come pouring in from this year's birthday special.

Buy at least $100 worth of products, within the next 48 hours, and I'll knock off $56at the check-out counter. If you've been eyeing CDs, transcripts, special reports or my ebooks, take another look, and order before you forget.

This is a great time to buy the in-depth training programs "How to Create a Media Plan" and "How to Help Your Boss or Client with a Publicity Campaign" (for people new to PR and publicity). Both of these are on the CDs/Transcripts page, under the "In-depth training" category near the top.

You must first use this link which will take you to my website where you can order. The $56 coupon will be applied at the check-out counter: http://tinyurl.com/yoc9sy

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

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

1. The Power of Perfect Pitching

2. EzineArticles.com Rejects Articles

3. How Are You Dealing with the Economy?

4. A PR Crisis for PRWeek

5. Tips for Pre- and Post-natal Fitness Expert

6. Help This Hound

7. Hound Joke of the Week

8. And at My Blog...


======================================
1. The Power of Perfect Pitching
======================================

When Publicity Hound Julie Lanuille called last week to thank me for the huge publicity hit she scored on Page 1 of Thursday's Wall Street Journal, and then explained how she got it, I pumped my fist into the air and screamed "Way to go!" in her ear.

First, the background:

Julie's mother, Suzanne Davenport, suffers from Parkinson's disease. In 2004, she entered a clinical trial through the University of California. Doctors surgically implanted an experimental drug into her brain, with the intent of improving her motor skills.

After the trial, her health went from bad to worse. She could no longer walk or sit upright. She needed a diaper. Her mouth hung open. Within eight months, she required constant monitoring. Her family eventually put her into a nursing home.

At issue was the UCLA consent form she signed before the surgery. It states that if patients are injured as a direct result of research procedures, they will be treated at no cost, but that they cannot collect additional compensation.

Last year, Julie and other family members decided to sue Titan and Berlex, the two pharmaceutical companies involved in the trials, and the UCLA Board of Regents. The legal process hit a brick wall.

That's when Julie decided to go to the media and pitch the story to the Wall Street Journal. She bought "Special Report#7: How to Write the Perfect Pitch Letter that Convinces an Editor to Write About You," and followed the step-by-step directions. She did her homework, learned that reporter Sarah Rubenstein covered health issues, wrote a succinct pitch, and piggybacked onto the controversy surrounding drug trials.

The result? Thursday's front-page article which totaled 58 column inches. You can read it at http://tinyurl.com/2twzk6.

After the reporter contacted the university and the drug companies for comment, the legal process moved forward and both sides are on the brink of resolving it.

Julie's success story touched my heart because my own mom was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease at age 39 and died from it at age 74.

Her call was an early birthday gift of sorts--one of the best I've ever received.


Why not try to score a big media hit like Julie did to promote a cause or issue close to your own heart? Read more about how to do it in "Special Report #7: How to Write the Perfect Pitch Letter That Convinces an Editor to Write About You" at http://tinyurl.com/6uz9g


========================================
2. EzineArticles.com Rejects Articles
========================================

EzinerArticles.com, the granddaddy of the article directory sites, is cracking down on keyword abuse and rejecting thousands of articles by writers, many of whom are trying to beat the system.

Within the last month, the site rejected a whopping 2,416 articles.

Writers abuse keywords when they repeat them over and over again in the same article, hoping to trick the search engines and earn a high ranking.

Christopher Knight of EzineArticles.com gave this example of a paragraph that's stuffed with the keyword phrase "massage table."

"If you want to be a massage therapist, you'll have to buy a massage table. Massage tables come in many sizes, from big massage tables that are not portable to small massage tables that fold up for portability."

If keywords don't appear naturally in copy, they look, well, unnatural. And Google and the other search engines are smarter than we give them credit for. They spot that repetition within a split second and actually penalize the writer with a low ranking.

"I can't tell you specifically what our internal criteria is for when we'll reject an article for keyword and key phrase repetition vs. abuse because we need to be deliberately vague to prevent gaming of the system," he says.

Read his entire blog post, and the three tips he shares so you don't abuse keywords, at http://tinyurl.com/26jc5v

Then start writing articles and submitting them to his site.It's a fabulous way to flaunt your expertise and earn inbound links to your website or blog.

If you hate writing or you can't write, I've solved the problem for you. I've written a handy template for a how-to article.You can download it immediately when you buy the CD or electronic transcript called "How to Write How-to Articles."

Read more about what you'll learn at http://tinyurl.com/dnxhb


=========================================
3. How Are You Dealing with the Economy?
=========================================

Stories about how people are coping with the uncertain economy are starting to pop up everywhere. Within the last several weeks, I've seen stories on:

--What restaurants are doing to offset the higher cost of food (perfect for food pages).

--How companies are dealing with skyrocketing premiums for employee health insurance (great for business journals--See "How to Use Business Journals to Tell Your Story" at http://tinyurl.com/q4rf7).

--Tips on how nonprofits can launch fund-raising campaigns when the economy is bad and still reach their goal (great for bloggers who write for nonprofits).

--Advice from mental health experts on how to cope with depression brought on by economic problems like bankruptcy and foreclosures.


If you're an expert who can pass along tips on how to cope, or your company or nonprofit has adopted a strategy that you hope will pull you through bad economic times, pitch away!

Write about it on your blog. Submit articles to article directory sites. Post your tips in the comments section at blogs that your target audience reads. Share your tips on social media sites like Squidoo. (More about Squidoo next week.)

Another great media outlet is National Public Radio. To find out which NPR program might be eager to book you as a guest, use the search box at the NPR website at http://www.npr.org/.
Listen to the program in the archives, and then pitch your idea. Learn how to navigate the NPR labyrinth and use pitching tips galore on the CD or electronic transcript "How to Get Booked on National Public Radio" at http://tinyurl.com/ayms6


=============================================
4. A PR Crisis for PRWeek
=============================================

On Friday, I blogged about a fascinating crisis involving PRWeek, a newspaper for the PR industry, and its email company, Adicio.com.

Thousands of subscribers to PRWeek found themselves the victims of an accidental s*pam attack that, in some cases, rendered the software programs on their computers ineffective. Online marketing expert BL Ochman, one of the victims, chronicled the ugly mess at Twitter.com, and at her own blog, then commented later on my post.

I'm calling your attention to it here because I'm challenging Publicity Hounds to explain how they would have dealt with it.You can read more about it my blog at http://tinyurl.com/2pcf7e

Crisis counselor Jonathan Bernstein says companies need to know how to handle ugly crises like this one BEFORE they happen. He explains what to say and when to say it after a disaster like this one. The CD "How to Keep the Media Wolves at Bay" is also available as an electronic transcript that you can read as soon as your order has been approved.

Continue reading more about what you'll learn at http://tinyurl.com/b8wcy.


==================================================
5. Tips for a Pre- and Post-natal Fitness Expert ==================================================

This week, five Publicity Hounds have tips on how Sara Holliday of Poway, California, can capitalize on great media hits and turn them into paying customers at her website at http://www.fitbysara.com/.


From Heather Gallegos:

"A website redesign is needed to help focus the visitor on what you want them to do. You really want them to buy. But I had a hard time finding what you are selling. And I was looking for things to buy."


From Kim Bieler:

"I’ll be brutally honest about your store page: It doesn’t inspire confidence. Think about how you shop online--you want that feeling of trust that this is a legitimate business that sells things I want. Your store page starts with a bunch of scary-looking text. But what I want to see is gorgeous images of your products with persuasive marketing copy. What do you sell here? Why should I buy it?"


From Garth Gibson:

"Lots of celebs are getting pregnant these days, so you might want to put up a blog to design specific detailed programs for them.

"Word will get out that someone is designing a pre/post natal program for them and they might get curious to compare yours with what they are already doing. This also leads you into the possibility of tying your products to them like, 'Best Working Pre-Natal Health Program Female Stars Use To Look Good And Stay Healthy.'"


The Publicity Hound says:

Garth's idea of piggybacking onto celebrity pregnancies, if followed, should pull in lots of traffic from people who are searching online for info about a particular celebrity. See "Special Report #50: How to Piggyback onto Celebrity News to Promote Your Product, Service, Cause or Issue" at http://tinyurl.com/6uz9g

Read all the responses to this Help This Hound question at http://tinyurl.com/2ogcrq


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

Dave Kessler of Richmond, Indiana writes:

"For the last 50 years, I've sold everything from airplanes to caskets. But I've got a challenge now that is proving more difficult.

"One of my ebooks published by Amazon.com is The Crapper Digest #1. It's available for 49 cents, and readers can download it for their lifetime use. It's a collection of the humor, doggerel and vulgar verse that I've collected from restroom walls all over America for the last six decades.

"Astute wall readers have sent some of the best they've found, and examples are included that date from 1896 to current days. An old school teacher, undertaker, truck drivers and college students have joined the fun sending me their finds which are included.

"What can I do to let the world know about this soon-to-be-coveted treasure of multi-generational pop art?"


The Publicity Hound says:

Start by going to the "Authors & Publishers" section of my blog at http://tinyurl.com/2xelpd and spend some time looking through the many posts that have great suggestions on how to market books. This should keep you busy for days.

Here's another idea. Write reviews of similar books at Amazon.com--a great way to call attention to your own book because you are able to mention it and link to it. (See "How to Turn Amazon into a River of Gold" at http://tinyurl.com/7u76e).


Now let's see what my Hounds have to say. Hounds with suggestions for Dave can post them to my blog at http://tinyurl.com/2jn6g9.


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

"Cats are smarter than dogs. You can't get eight cats to pull a sled through snow."

--Jeff Valdez


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...
================================

Why I hate Amazon, B&N best-seller campaigns
http://tinyurl.com/yowdne


How should PRWeek, Adicio respond to this PR crisis?
http://tinyurl.com/2pcf7e


'Pink products' media event helps you meet journalists
http://tinyurl.com/2ho7j6


Why social media? Kids advise parents on purchases
http://tinyurl.com/28a9th


New mom asks: 'Where do we put the baby?'
http://tinyurl.com/34w4gg


---------------------------------------------------------------

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.


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

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."

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 The Publicity Hound® website at http://www.publicityhound.com/ or you told me you want to subscribe.

PRIVACY STATEMENT: The Publicity Hound® respects your privacy and has a strict anti-spam policy. Read my privacy policy at http://www.publicityhound.com/privacypolicy.htm

=======================================================
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

Publicity tips/How Not to Pitch a Reporter Dec. 25, 2007

The Publicity Hound's
Tips of the Week
Issue #378 Dec. 25, 2007
Publisher: Joan Stewart
mailto:JStewart@PublicityHound.com
http://www.PublicityHound.com
http://www.publicityhound.net/ (Blog)
The Publicity Hound®

Circulation: 37,327

=====================================

"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 The Publicity Hound® website at http://www.publicityhound.com/ or you told me that 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.

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

My Gift to You: The Annual "Best of" Ebook

I've compiled the best 28 tips from "The Publicity Hound's Tips of the Week" from this past year and created a handy ebook you can download at http://tinyurl.com/32avtz

Review the ebook when you need an idea to jump-start your publicity campaign.

Many thanks to all of you loyal Publicity Hounds who read this newsletter, contribute to it, and comment on it. Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and all my best for the coming year.

--Joan

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

1. How Not to Pitch a Reporter

2. Pay-per-placement Pros and Cons

3. More on Dirty Hotel Glasses

4. Media Leads

5. How to Become a Newspaper Columnist

6. Help This Hound

7. Hound Joke of the Week

8. And at My Blog...


======================================
1. How Not to Pitch a Reporter
======================================

The next time you send an email pitch to a reporter, take an extra minute or two to send the email to yourself first so you can see what it looks like on the screen.

Laura Lorber, the Wall Street Journal's assistant news editor for WSJ.com, blogged about an email she received from an unidentified PR person.

The email message, apparently the victim of Microsoft Word’s quirky email editing, shows that the pitch accidentally includes at least one paragraph of information on a separate topic that had been part of an earlier release. Rather than starting from scratch, the writer took the old release and edited it to conform to the new topic. Problem is, all the original copy that the writer edited out shows up on the screen.

Yikes.

The pitch is typical of many I see--and quickly delete. See if you don't agree. You can read the entire email at http://tinyurl.com/2kw72u

Laura, by the way, says she was inundated with pitches from Publicity Hounds who read here Dec. 5 that she was looking for story ideas on how small business use public relations. She's still sorting through all the emails.

Dan Janal of PRLeads.com asked me to share my best pitching tips during an interview we conducted call "Secrets of Perfect Pitching to Reporters." I discussed the one word you must never use in a pitch, things you can do to sweeten your pitch and encourage a reporter to write about you, and how to avoid major mistakes when pitching by phone.

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/s3tyx


========================================
2. Pay-per-placement Pros and Cons
========================================

It's called pay-per-placement and it works like this.

Rather than paying a publicist or PR firm a retainer, regardless of whether they generate publicity for you, you pay for every placement they help you get.

No publicity equals no fee.

But if they pitch you to a national TV show like "Good Morning, America" and you end up on the show, the fee can be upwards of $10,000.

Let's say several newspaper and magazine journalists see the show and ask you for interviews. Depending on how the pay-per-placement contract is written, you'll have to pay the publicist an additional fee for each of those articles.

Pay-per-placement, one of the most controversial forms of PR services, isn't for everybody, particularly those on a shoestring budget. Critics say there's no justification for the outrageous fees. But advocates argue that it makes publicists work that much harder.

I've heard journalists complain that overly-aggressive pay-per-placement publicists can make pests out of themselves. I've also heard editors say they love PPP publicists who have pitching down to a science and will never waste the journalist's time pitching lousy story ideas.

The article at http://tinyurl.com/2f7v24 is a good example of how pay-per-placement is getting good results for the CEO of a Colorado gift basket company.

If you're hiring a publicist, don't interview any candidates until you know the right questions to ask, and you understand how they charge for their services.

My ebook "How to Hire the Perfect Publicist" walks you step-by-step through the entire process. It includes a list of questions to ask all potential candidates, shows you how to rank them, how to choose the best one, and how to work with your publicist. The ebook also explains the four ways publicists charge for their services, and the pros and cons of each one.

Read more about what you'll learn at http://www.publicityhound.com/hireapublicist.html


=========================================
3. More on Dirty Hotel Glasses
=========================================

More Publicity Hounds have responded to the items you've read here the last few weeks on the Atlanta TV station's I-team report about dirty hotel glasses than any other item in recently memory.

An observation:

I half-expected the PR departments at Embassy Suites, Sheraton Suites and the Holiday Inn in Atlanta to email me and explain improvements they've made to their housekeeping as a result of the I-team video. (If you missed it, you can see it at http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=a7f_1194813218)

After all, don't savvy Publicity Hounds create Google Alerts at http://www.Google.com/alerts so they know what people like me are saying about them online, and then follow up with journalists and bloggers to tell their side of the story? Don't they try to do damage control? So far, I haven't heard from anybody representing those hotels. Amazing.

A warning:

All you hotel PR people, don't be surprised if your hotel is the target of an I-team investigation like the one in Atlanta. When a story like that one uncovers wrongdoing, you can bet that one or more other stations will do an identical I-team story.

Creating Google alerts, and responding to bad news stories, are integral to your 2008 media plan. I discussed both of those topics and hundreds of others during my teleseminar series "How to Create a Media Plan." It comes with detailed handouts, including a fill-in-the-blanks template for a 12-month plan. Start laying the groundwork right now for next year's publicity campaign.

Read more about what you'll learn at http://www.PublicityHound.com/mediaplan.htm


=========================================
4. Media Leads
=========================================

--Mildred Culp, who writes The WorkWise syndicated column, needs sources to comment about job hunting tactics. No newspaper columnists, please. mailto:workwise@comcast.net


--The Seattle Post-Intelligencer is looking for writers and photographers to participate as unpaid citizen journalists. It is looking especially for bloggers who can write about topics such as pets. "We want you to blog about anything you're passionate about: Hobbies, neighborhoods, sports, news, leisure activities...the list goes on. We can give your blog a home on one of the top-20 news sites in America and we'll give you the independence to say what you mean." Mailto:blog@seattlepi.com with your idea, your resume, a writing sample, and a link to your current blog (if you have one). We respond to every request, so contact us today." Thanks to book marketing guru John Kremer for this media lead.


============================================
5. How to Become a Newspaper Columnist
============================================

This week, six Publicity Hounds have tips on how Kelly Moore of Des Moines, Iowa can turn her job as an unpaid blogger for a local magazine into a paying job as a newspaper columnist.


From Sarah Adams:

"I think you could use the upcoming primary to your advantage! If your numbers are as good as they seem, you could offer interviews to the many candidates on the topics of parenthood (and talk about guilt over the constant travel of a campaign). What about Chris Dodd who, I believe, moved his children to Iowa public schools? Great move, and I’m sure he would love to talk about that commitment to Iowa!


From Lois:

"The largest publisher of home, garden and niche magazines has its corporate headquarters in Des Moines. Meredith Corporation (Better Homes & Gardens) publishes Parents magazine. You might as well start at the top.

"Get the name of the editor from the masthead and pitch your idea to her. She is probably already aware of the local magazine, so be sure to mention your experience there."


From Brannan Vines:

"I just looked at your blog and I love it!

"Since your readers are your strongest ally, why not involve them? Post a short message explaining that you’re passionate about what you’re doing, list the reasons why, and then tell them you need their help to go global (regional, national, etc). You could either (1) ask them to post their reasons for supporting you, loving your blog, etc, (2) ask them to send you an email to the same effect and just include a few of the best in your blog or (3) set up a survey form asking them to rate, on a scale of 1to 10, how likely they would be to read a daily column that you wrote. Then you could take that feedback to the editors of the daily paper (or, like Lois suggested, to the editor of parents)...I’m the publisher of a South Carolina local newspaper and that approach would be most convincing to me. It would make the decision almost a no-brainer."


Read all the responses at http://tinyurl.com/2vkjod


The Publicity Hound says:

Kelly, before you pitch the editor for your own column, boost traffic to your blog by posting comments at other popular blogs on parenting. I teamed up with Denise Wakeman and Patsi Krakoff and explained "How to Pitch the Best Bloggers & Create a Publicity Explosion." You can read more about the strategy of posting comments before directly pitching at http://tinyurl.com/m7ymr


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

Nicka Stewart of Middletown, New Jersey writes:

"I started an organization with a partner last May. The Decorators' Alliance of North America offers professional affiliation, certification and continuing education for interior decorators. DANA is dedicated to the personal and professional growth of its members. We offer resources, educational opportunities, industry discounts, and networking programs. Our website is at http://www.DecoratorsAlliance.com

"We have several hundred members, but there are many thousands of decorators who are still unaware of us. This is the first group devoted specifically to professional decorators (not licensed designers), and is open to all fields of home fashion (window treatment designers, home stagers, interior re-designers, organizers, etc.). We know that many other decorators will profit from DANA, as well. We just need to get the word out!

"Can your Hounds help?"


The Publicity Hound says:

Your group has lots to offer, Nicka, and the secret of promoting it is to direct your message to your niche audience. Hounds with ideas on how Nicka can do that can post them to my blog at http://tinyurl.com/38xorv


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

I pulled into a crowded parking lot and rolled down the car windows to make sure my Labrador Retriever had fresh air. She was stretched out on the back seat, and I wanted to impress upon her that she must remain there. I walked to the curb backward, pointing my finger at the car and saying emphatically, "Now you stay. Do you hear me? Stay!"

The driver of a nearby car gave me a startled look.

"I don't know about you, lady," he said incredulously. "But Iusually just put my car in park."


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...
================================

Chicago media expand opportunities for commentary
http://tinyurl.com/38fb9f


----------------------------------------------------------

Where to See or Hear The Publicity Hound:


January 21: 2008 smARTist Telesummit

I will teach artists "The New Rules of Press Releases: How to Write Them for Art Buyers and Collectors, Not Only for Journalists" from 1 to 1:45 p.m. Eastern Time. Register for the entire telesummit at http://tinyurl.com/3x35vr If you want a taste of what you'll be learning, you can register for a one-hour teleseminar at 7 p.m. Eastern Time on Tuesday, Jan. 8. Three experts will give away their best marketing advice on how to succeed without sacrificing your artistic voice or wasting tons of time on dry business stuff. To register for that call, click on the link above, then "Register" at the top of the page.


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

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."

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 The Publicity Hound® website at http://www.publicityhound.com/ or you told me you want to subscribe.

PRIVACY STATEMENT: The Publicity Hound® respects your privacy and has a strict anti-spam policy. Read my privacy policy at http://www.publicityhound.com/privacypolicy.htm

=======================================================
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