Publicity tips/Offer stats as sidebars June 20, 2006
The Publicity Hound's
Tips of the Week
Issue #299 - June 20, 2006
Publisher: Joan Stewart
mailto:JStewart@PublicityHound.com
http://www.PublicityHound.com
http://www.PublicityHound.net (Blog)
The Publicity Hound®
Circulation: 18,892
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"Tips, Tricks and Tools for Free Publicity"
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MY "BEST OF 2005" EBOOK
Many of you are asking about to download my f~ree ebook filled with my 24 best tips from last year. You can download it http://tinyurl.com/lpran and you can even pass the link along to your own clients and customers or put it in your own ezine or blog. Your customers will love you for it.
To find back issues of this newsletter from 2006, visit the archives at http://www.PublicityHound.com/tipsoftheweek
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In This Issue
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1. Offer Stats as Sidebars
2. Online Media Kits
3. Be Generous with Reprints
4. Summer Story Ideas
5. Promoting a New Zealand Adventure
6. Help This Hound
7. Hound Joke of the Week
8. And at My Blog...
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1. Offer Stats as Sidebars
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It's called "Breakfast on the Farm" and here in Wisconsin, it's as much of a rite of summer as beer and bratwurst at the Milwaukee Brewers games.
In many counties in the state, a local farm family hosts a giant breakfast for hundreds of guests on a Saturday morning. Tickets are $7 each, and all proceeds cover their expenses, with the remainder used to promote dairy products throughout Wisconsin. There's even a petting zoo for children, games and trivia contests.
Urban kids get a close-up view of farm life, parents can spend a wholesome day with their kids, and everybody leaves with their tummies stuffed with pancakes, eggs, sausages and, of course, cheese.
In my county, "Breakfast on the Farm" is this Saturday, and the local newspaper featured a big story along with a photo of the host farm family.
One thing was missing from this story that I expected to see--stats showing how many gallons of pancake batter and orange juice and how many pounds of bacon and sausages will be served.
For some reason, the media love this kind of trivia, particularly when it involves food. If you're sponsoring a summer festival, church bazaar, food fair or other event where food is served, estimate how much food it will take to feed the hungry crowds, then offer these stats as a sidebar. The bigger the crowd and the more food served, the better the stats.
A sidebar is a small information box or brief item that accompanies the main story. Newspaper and magazine editors use sidebars frequently in stories to catch the attention of people who scan their publications.
If you're planning an important special event, don't stay awake until 3 a.m. worrying about how you're going to attract crowds and the media. My friend Debra J. Schmidt, one of the best event planners I know, teamed up with me to produce 6 audio CDs on everything you need to know about planning any event and generating a ton of media coverage before, during and after it.
The package comes with a seventh CD that includes 15 important checklists such as what you need to know if you're serving alcohol. You can read more about it and download three sample checklists at http://publicityhound.com/publicity/promote.html The entire package is also available as a downloadable electronic transcript.
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2. Online Media Kits
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If all the information in your hard-copy media kit isn't in your online media room, you're shortchanging your chances for great publicity. That's because journalists don't want to have to wait for you to send them the photos they need--even by overnight courier.
They want instant access. They want your online media room to include the basic facts about your company or nonprofit, story ideas and more. And your media room must be updated continuously. In fact, a journalist will often nose around in your online media room to determine if it's worth their time to call you for an interview. If your media room doesn't pass muster, tough luck.
I tell everyone who asks me about this that the very best way to stay on top of it is to manage your own website like I do using a program like Microsoft FrontPage or Dreamweaver. You'll no longer have to wait a week and a half for your website person to change an embarrassing typo, and you'll save lots of money doing it yourself.
Still, a fair share of Publicity Hounds just won't take my advice. If you're one of them, you should know about a nifty online media room software program that lets you do it yourself almost effortlessly, even if you don't know complicated HTML coding. It's called PressKit24/7 and it allows you to upload and distribute your press kits online, making them accessible to the media 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
If you're a publicist, consider this service. For one monthly price, you can turn around and resell this service to each client and even do the work for them such as writing their bios, uploading their photos and including fact sheets and story ideas about their businesses, without having to work with their webmasters.
It features unlimited pages and very generous file sizes. I'm experimenting with it myself. You can see an excellent example of how Anna Ivey uses it at http://annaivey.presskit247.com/index.asp
Drew Gerber, a publicist whose company created PressKit24/7, will join me on a teleseminar at 4 PM Eastern Time on Wednesday, June 28, to explain the basics of online media rooms, the little extras that will delight journalists, and how to build an online media room to satisfy the media and not to massage your own ego. There's no charge for this teleseminar but only the first 100 people can listen.
I'll record it, and the MP3 file will be available for anybody who can't listen to next week's call. Call 218-486-1105. Conference ID number is 2-1-7-9-6-7#. That's 4 PM Eastern Time on Wednesday, June 28.
See you then. In the meantime, learn all about the intricacies of how to take your own photos, how to work with professional photographers, and how to create information graphics that you can include in your online media rooms, or customize for a particular media outlet. The tips are included in my ebook "How to Use Photos & Graphics in Your Publicity Campaign" at http://www.PublicityHound.com/publicityphotos.htm
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3. Be Generous with Reprints
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Within the last seven days, almost a dozen publishers, authors, ezine editors and bloggers have asked my permission to reprint tips from this newsletter or articles from my website.
I always answer with an enthusiastic "yes!" then move a mountain to make sure they have what they need. If I have time, I also offer my photo to accompany it. All I ask is that they include a short paragraph at the end that leads readers to my website.
More of you should do that. Don't make journalists go through the time-consuming hassle of filling out special forms, detailing exactly what they want to reprint, when they want to reprint it and exactly how they're going to use it. Most journalists won't have time for that kind of nonsense. Book publishers are the worst offenders. In fact, I blogged about it this week at http://tinyurl.com/lv8sp and mentioned that these kinds of policies hurt published authors.
If you're a publisher, please don't email me about all the reasons you do this. I'm not interested. I'm more concerned about how authors who have a publisher can get as much publicity as the self-published authors, and what you're going to do to make it as easy as possible for journalists to publicize your books.
If you write briefs, fillers and quizzes, don't be surprised if you get a lot of requests for reprints. Journalists love them because they're easy to edit and they fit odd-size holes on a page. I explain the nine different types of briefs on the CD called "Briefs, Fillers & Quizzes: How to Create Them and Why Editors Love Them." It's also available as an electronic transcript that you can download and be reading as soon as your order is approved. Read more about what you'll learn at http://tinyurl.com/3294r
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4. Summer Story Ideas
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--Now that kids have more time to spend online, more of them are creating pages for themselves at places like MySpace.com and sharing intimate details and sleazy photos that would give their parents a heart attack. Career counselors say many employers and even college admissions offices are doing online searches to see what they can find about a potential employee or student. Such revealing details have scuttled many a college career or opportunity for a better job. If your company checks out candidates online, and if you have horror stories to share about what you found, let the media know. Reporters--and readers--love this stuff.
--Are flip-flops, baseball caps, shorts, halter tops and other revealing clothing acceptable on casual Fridays? Are companies seeing more of this? What's OK and what isn't? Let business and fashion reporters know about your company's policies.
--Headlines about high gasoline prices are here to stay. So piggyback your story ideas off this topic. How do high prices affect what you're doing, where you're going on vacation, how you're dealing with vendors, and your prices? Journalists call this "the local angle" to the international story.
Need more story ideas that the media love? TV reporter Shawne Duperon joined me to record two teleseminars in which we offer a total of 219 story ideas--the kinds of stories that the media cover year after year. Go ahead. Steal as many as you like and use them as your own. Read more about what you'll learn on these two CDs. Each is accompanied by a downloadable list of all the story ideas we mentioned during the teleseminars.
116 "WOW!" Story Ideas from January through June
http://tinyurl.com/6k7zk
103 Sizzling Story Ideas from July through December
http://tinyurl.com/54y6f
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5. Promoting a New Zealand Adventure
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This week, nine Publicity Hounds have ideas for Jenn Wright of New Zealand who wants to know how to promote Adventure in New Zealand for mid-life women. It combines life coaching and moderate adventure such as hiking.
From Sadie Peterson:
"In Southern California, lifestyle or social clubs are very popular. Get in with these groups--a great example would be Athletic Singles Association--and you’re golden. Most of these groups do the same trips repeatedly each year, and have a reach of hundreds of women in your target market. Better still, they’re likely to fill up your trips themselves, making marketing a snap."
From Melanie Camp: "Check out the list of yoga studios and teachers in the U.S. sponsored by Yoga Journal. These are the type of retreats that yogis love!"
From Bonnie White:
"Target some of the new age spas that work with the inner side of people.A GREAT place to advertise would be in the community of Sedona, Arizona. The people who live in, and many who visit, Sedona are very much either in-tune or looking to become more in-tune with their inner-self. Holistic, herbal and spiritual growth are big business there.
The Publicity Hound says:
Offer a familiarization tour for working journalists. Lots of other tourist destinations do, and it results in some fabulous press. A woman journalist who is climbing those cliffs, eating lunch on a mountaintop and watching the flora and fauna will write a much better story than somebody who is sitting behind a computer in the office. Learn how to involve reporters in your story with "Special Report #42: Tips for Letting Reporters Experience Your Story, Not Just Write About It." You'll learn how to create memorable experiences for the media and how to involve reporters in special events right in your own community.
Order it at http://tinyurl.com/6uz9g
Read all the responses at
http://publicityhound.net/index.php/new-zealand-travel-adventure-needs-pr-ideas/
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6. Help This Hound
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Publicist Kathi Peterson of Asheville, North Carolina writes:
"I am wondering how other publicists archive their news clippings. I am surrounded by newspapers and magazines that I cannot bear to toss, though the professional organizer I hired questions the importance of keeping one’s news clips.
"I insisted to her that showing a prospective client an actual newspaper with the front page, top-of-fold story I achieved is far more impressive than telling them about the coverage, or showing them a reduced version that is either a copy or scanned, or telling them to visit the archives. Particularly because you can’t find this stuff by simply Googling.
"I'm going crazy with all this stuff surrounding me. How do your Hounds keep track of coverage they're received? Obviously, archiving TV/radio is a little easier with CDs/DVDs. It’s the print stuff."
The Publicity Hound says: My Hounds get so much publicity that many of them are buried in clippings. OK, Hounds. Dig out from all those stacks of newspapers and magazines and let Kathi know if you've found any way whatsoever to organize the paper jungle. You can post your ideas to my website at http://publicityhound.net/index.php/archiving-news-clips-how-do-you-manage-this/
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7. Hound Joke of the Week
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"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 adog-lover, your favorite vet, or just for a few good laughs.
BONUS: Buy the ebook and you also get a compilation of the 50 bestwebsites for dog humor.
http://www.publicityhound.com/dogjokebook/
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8. And at My Blog...
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Mr. Shell Oil, wipe that smile off your face
http://publicityhound.net/index.php/mr-shell-oil-wipe-that-smile-off-your-face/
Spokane Spokesman-Review broadcasts editors’ meetings twice a day
http://publicityhound.net/index.php/spokane-spokesman-review-broadcasts-editors-meetings-twice-a-day/
Self-publishing makes it easier for journalists to cover you
http://publicityhound.net/index.php/self-publishing-makes-it-easier-for-journalists-to-cover-you/
Pay-for-placement fees: Make sure you know what they include
http://publicityhound.net/index.php/pay-for-placement-fees-make-sure-you-know-what-they-include/
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Where to Meet or Hear The Publicity Hound®
June 24: Naples, Florida
Public Relations Society of America, Sunshine Chapter District Conference,"Savvy Media Relations: How to Get FREE Print, Broadcast and OnlinePublicity," from 9-11:30 a.m., Ritz-Carlton. Register athttp://www.prsagulfcoast.org
July 7: Milwaukee, Wisconsin
"How to Use the Media to Promote Your Expertise and Get Thousands ofDollars in Free Publicity," Network SOHO, Radisson Hotel, 2303 N. MayfairRoad. Registration at 7:15, breakfast at 7:30, program from 8 to 9. $20.To register, mailto:nicole@corebusinessstaffing.com
***If you're in the National Speakers Association or the Public Relations Society of America--or another business, marketing or PR group--and you want details on how to bring in The Publicity Hound to do a fund-raiser for your chapter, or you want me to host a teleseminar customized just for your group, contact me at mailto:JStewart@PublicityHound.com?subject=speaker_inquiry or call262-284-7451.
***Attention Meeting Planners: If you're booking speakers for winter, spring or summer conferences or events, keep me in mind--even if you have a last-minute cancellation. I deliver high-content, interactive programs that are lots of fun. Call 262-284-7451 or
mailto:JStewart@PublicityHound.com?subject=speaker_inquiry for details.
PERMISSION TO REPRINT: You may reprint any items from "The Publicity Hound's Tips of the Week" in your own print or electronic newsletter. But please include the following paragraph:
Reprinted from "The Publicity Hound's Tips of the Week," a free ezine featuring tips, tricks and tools for generating free publicity. Subscribe at http://www.publicityhound.com/ and receive free by email the handy list"89 Reasons to Send a News Release."
If you like these tips, please pass them on to your friends, clients and colleagues.
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Joan Stewart
a.k.a. The Publicity Hound®
3434 County KK
Port Washington, WI 53074
U.S.A.
Phone: 262-284-7451 (Central) Fax: 262-284-1737
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