Publicity tips/The Backpack Index July 11, 2006

The Publicity Hound's
Tips of the Week
Issue #301 - July 11, 2006
Publisher: Joan Stewart
mailto:JStewart@PublicityHound.com
http://www.PublicityHound.com
http://www.PublicityHound.net (Blog)
The Publicity Hound®

Circulation: 19,220

=====================================
"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 PublicityHound® website at http://www.publicityhound.com/ or you told me you wantto 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.

*************************************************
WANTED: Press Releases That Generated Publicity

I'm creating a free 12-week online class on how to write press releases. It covers almost every aspect of writing and distributing releases and will be as helpful for veteran PR people as it will be for beginners. I want to include great press releases that got results. I am particularly interested in "before" and "after" versions so that people can see how to turn a blah press release into one that commands attention. Please send your best samples to me at mailto:JStewart@PublicityHound.com?subject=PressReleases and explain exactly what kind of publicity it generated. Be as specific as possible. If I use your press release in the course, I'll give you 5 of any of my 49 special reports (your choice) as my way of saying thanks. Stay tuned for details, possibly as early as next week, on how you can sign up for the course.
**************************************************

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

1. The Backpack Index

2. Media-train Your Staff

3. Still Time for Swimsuits

4. Media Leads

5. Promoting a Book on Leadership

6. Help This Hound

7. Hound Joke of the Week

8. And at My Blog...

==================================
1. The Backpack Index
==================================

If you have a child in elementary school, you can expect to pay $307 on back-to-school supplies and related items this year.

But if your kid is in high school, that amount jumps to a whopping $669 and accounts for things such a $228 activity fee, a $39.99 cell phone, and fees so your college-bound kid can take the SAT test.

Those statistics are part of The Backpack Index, a clever publicity tool created by Huntington Bank, based in Columbus, Ohio.

I learned about it yesterday when Bonnie McGeer of American Banker, a newspaper for the financial services industry, called to ask my expert opinion on what I thought about the idea of The Backpack Index to generate publicity. You can read more about it at http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/060705/clw012.html?.v=49

"It's very clever," I said. "I like the way they broke down all the costs for kids in elementary school, junior high and high school, and I especially like the way they included expenses parents might not think about, like the cell phone and the activity fees."

I even liked the five tips on how to save for your kids' school supplies.

But I told her I thought Huntington blew two opportunities to grab and hold onto potential customers who find The Backpack Index interesting:

--In the press release, their website URL is buried in a long gray paragraph of boilerplate text about the company. The bank doesn't give people any reason to go to the website other than to say "Huntington also offers retail and commercial financial services online at http://www.huntington.com/." Had I written that press release, I would have stated in it that parents could find 10 more tips at the website on how to save for their kids' school supplies. Or I would have paid a techie to create a clever interactive calculator that parents could use at the bank's website to determine the cost of something else related to going back to school, such as new clothes. Offer people something for free and give them a reason to visit your website.

--I clicked on the URL and it took me to the bank's home page. But once I arrived, they never once asked me for my email address so they could market to me later by sending, say, a financial tip of the week, or an ezine like the one you're reading right now. Had they done that, they would have been able to bring me into their circle and perhaps keep my attention for months, or for as long as I thought their tips were valuable. And who knows? If I need a mortgage someday, I might choose Huntington.

Want more proof on how valuable it is to capture people's email addresses? At the end of our conversation yesterday, I asked Bonnie the same question I ask all journalists who call me for interviews: "How did you hear about me?"

"I've been getting your newsletter for awhile, and knew you'd be perfect for this article," she said.

I rest my case.

If you aren't capturing people's email addresses at your website and sending them a free 7-day class, or a tip of the week, or an ezine at least once every other week, you don't belong in marketing's Major Leagues. More than 19,000 people read this newsletter--the engine that drives my entire business.

If you want to know how to write an electronic newsletter or even a short tip of the week that lures potential customers and gives them a chance to know, like and trust you--so that at some point they hand over their credit card number for one of your products or services--check out "How to Turn Your Ezine into a Cash Register." It's a one-hour interview in which my friend, Dan Janal, prods me to reveal all the secrets on how I generate more than $120,000 in revenue each year just from this ezine. The interview is available as a CD for only $39.95. Order at http://www.marketerschoice.com/app/javanof.asp?MerchantID=20214&ProductID=3098700

==================================
2. Media-train Your Staff
==================================

Do the key people in your organization know how to handle tough questions from the media, deflect them, then bridge to their key message--something they want the public to hear, even though the answer doesn't necessarily address the question the reporter asked?

When I do media training for companies and nonprofits, I take them through this little exercise. I divide them into small groups and ask each group to discuss the worst question they can imagine being asked by a journalist.

"Think of the one question that keeps you up at 3 a.m.--the question that, if asked, would embarrass, humiliate or frighten you. It would be so bad that you'd want to dig a hole right there in front of the reporter and jump in."

Once each group has come up with a question, I tell them to work together to craft a response. I give them about 15 minutes to work on the problem. Then I bring them all back together and ask each small group to share the question and the response they came up with.

Most of the time, participants think it was a difficult exercise. Even though they had no trouble coming up with difficult questions, they can't always create answers that would earn them a passing grade. That's because they don't understand the dynamics of an interview.

If you can't hire a professional media trainer, you can use an inexpensive training tool I found that helps you handle difficult questions, control your key message and breeze through the toughest interviews with confidence. It also cautions you against making one of the worst mistakes you can make during a media interview. Former President George H. Bush made the mistake not once, but three times, during his first Town Hall debate in October 1992 with Ross Perot and Bill Clinton. Political analysts say it marked the point of no return during the campaign. Bush never recovered, and he lost the election to Clinton.

Learn more about this training tool in the July/August issue of The Publicity Hound subscription newsletter. The issue also includes articles on how to appeal to the 5 types of journalists, how the U.S. Bowling Congress got more than $2.5 million in free publicity, 5 simple "rules of the road" for PR, how to get free tips on healthcare crisis communications, where to find new ethics guidelines for business writers, a Canadian decorating magazine that will debut later this year, what to do when Hispanic media call, how Florida nonprofits profit from PR interns, publicity stunts that P.T. Barnum would love, pitching tips on how to get into Consumer Reports, and July/August story ideas.

All for $10. Order at http://tinyurl.com/zampu

==================================
3. Still Time for Swimsuits
==================================

Remember my tip two weeks ago on how you should tie story ideas for TV into swimsuits because news producers know that viewers love seeing all that skin?

Publicity Hound Holly Russel of Pilot Publicity in New York City paid attention and used the idea to get fabulous publicity for her client, Freddy & Ma, a custom handbag company in the Big Apple.

"I thought they'd be the perfect people to talk about the best beach bag to flatter your bikini (and your body type) in a fashion segment for the local news," Holly writes. "I put together a pitch describing how four of the label's most popular shapes complemented different body types, and voila! My story got picked up by both the Village Voice and the WB11 Morning News, which will do a live 4-minute segment with my client Thursday morning. Thanks for sparking a great idea."

The Village Voice article includes language that some Hounds might find objectionable, but this Hound thought it was hysterical and I howled when I read it:
http://www.villagevoice.com/nyclife/0627,zappia,73771,15.html

When the local TV station responded to Holly's pitch and told her they'd cover it if she could provcide the models, she swung into action and used another publicity tool she read about here: Craigslist. She found four models, and they just completed the segment this morning.

If you're not posting your news and other information about your company to Craigslist, you're missing a terrific opportunity to spread your message worldwide or to target spcific cities and countries. You pay nothing to post, except for job postings in New York, Can Francisco and Los Angeles.

Nancy Mills, an expert at generating publicity from Craigslist, explains why your Craigslist posts need to sound different than your standard press releases. She explains all the inticacies of Craigslist and passes along helpful tips that will save you hours of time and hundreds of dollars buying expensive classified ads in your local newspapers. "How to Use Craigslist as a Global Publicity Tool" is availabe 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/geog2


===============================
4. Media Leads
===============================

--Thanks to Publicity Hound Thomas Harrison of Tulsa, Oklahoma for this one. Kelsey Martyn-Farewell is a reviewer for the Norman Transcript, a daily newspaper in central Oklahoma which serves a college community (University of Oklahoma) of more than 29,000 students, and population of 95,000 for the city of Norman itself. Kelsey reviews DVD and movie releases. If any Hounds would like to send her advance copies, she would consider them for reviews. She is interested in products other than traditional mainstream movies and wants independent films, business films and DVDs that most people don't know about. Her column runs each Friday. You can pitch her at Mailto:Kelsey@marshallandcompany.org?subject=TheHoundSentMe or at 405-329-1969.


--Lisa Whaley is looking for guests for her radio show "Choices: Get it Right with Work & Life." The one-hour program begins July 21 on the VoiceAmerica Business Channel. Lisa says: "Guests just need to be an expert in their field and I prefer guests who are published but they don’t have to be. They need to have a topic that would fit within the overall theme of my show that business professionals would find of value...almost anything can fit with the right slant! All I ask of my guests is that they help promote their appearance on the show by sending email blasts to their contacts or a blurb on their website." Learn more about the show at http://www.lifeworksynergy.com//docs/schedule.htm Contact Lisa at mailto:lwhaley@lifeworksynergy.com?subject=TheHoundSentMe


If you can get onto Lisa's show, that's great. But don't stop there! Try to get booked on AM and FM drive-time radio shows, which is a lot cheaper than buying an ad. George McKenzie, a former talk show host, explains the kinds of guests he loved having on his shows. He also shares clever pitches, give-aways and other enticing little extras that guests offered to catch his attention and earn a slot on his shows. "How to Get onto Drive-time Radio Shows" is available as a CD or an electronic transcript that you can be reading as soon as your order is approved. Read more about what you'll learn at http://tinyurl.com/663ow

==================================
5. Promoting a Book on Leadership
==================================

This week, five Publicity Hounds have tips for Tom Warneka of Cleveland, Ohio. He helped Hurricane Katrina victims as a mental health worker with the Red Cross last summer. And he wants to use the first anniversary of Katrina to help promote his book, "Leading People the Black Belt Way: Conquering the Five Core Problems Facing Leaders Today."


From Marcia Yudkin, author of "6 Steps to Free Publicity":

"If you make your book title prominent in your pitch, you’ll have a hard time getting the media to perceive you as someone appropriate to comment on the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Why? Because 'black-belt leadership' comes across as a totally pointless, even appalling way to approach helping people after a natural disaster...If you present yourself simply as a mental health worker who volunteered for two weeks after Katrina and are still involved somehow with helping, you’ll have a much better shot at getting coverage. And I’m sure you’ll have valuable insights that could help those directly affected and those who care but weren’t directly affected by the storm and flood."


From Garth Gibson:

"You can tie in black belt defenses against natural disasters. Perhaps while volunteering, you gave lessons to people who needed to rebuild their self-confidence and get out of depression and you used martial arts to help them do it. So how are they doing one year later?"


From Scot Hansen:

"While you might want to promote your book, if you can’t articulate how the principles in the book helped some of the victims, then the media isn’t going to see the tie-in. However, if you have contact with some of the people you helped, and they are willing to talk to the media about how your program really bounced them back from the tragedy, including the success they have achieved using your principles, there may be interest. Pitching something along the lines of 'how five people turned tragedy into success using Black Belt Leadership Techniques and where they are today' is better than something like 'my experiences helping Katrina victims and what I learned from it.'"

Read all the responses at http://publicityhound.net/index.php/katrina-first-anniversary-means-publicity-opportunity/


The Publicity Hound says: Authors, stop pitching your books. Most media people don't care about your books. Instead, find a compelling hook or an interesting angle. National Public Radio is often a gold mine of publicity opportunities for authors. The trick is finding the shows that are a perfect fit with your topic. Book publicist Lissa Warren has booked dozens of her author clients on NPR shows with fabulous results. She shares all her secrets, including the way to quickly find which NPR shows are the best fit for you, on the CD or electronic transcript called "How to Get Booked on National Public Radio." Read more about what you'll learn at http://tinyurl.com/ayms6


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

Debra Blackmon of Bakersfield, California writes:

"This morning, a popular local radio host blasted the inclusion of Feng Shui workshops scheduled at our local community center this summer.

"The reason? Feng Shui is a religion and non-Christian and shouldn't be taught at the community forum. I'm the instructor of the workshop (and a Christian). I want to be ready for any fall-out that may arise out of this 'opportunity' and spin it in a positive way. Do any of your Hounds have tips for me?"

The Publicity Hound says: They sure do. In fact, many members of the Feng Shui Institute International subscribe to this ezine, and I know many of them will help you. So will other Hounds who are experts in crisis communications. Even though Debra submitted this question several weeks ago, I think this is still a wonderful opportunity to use controversy in her publicity campaign. Hounds with great ideas can post them to my blog at http://publicityhound.net/index.php/feng-shui-instructor-needs-ideas-on-how-to-use-controversy-for-publicity/

Crisis counselor Jonathan Bernstein says many people make 5 critical mistakes when faced with a crisis that involves their organization. He describes them all and shows you how to avoid them in the one-hour interview he conducted with me called "How to Keep the Media Wolves at Bay." He even shows you 3 ways reporters try to loosen your lips. It's available as a CD or electronic transcript that you can download as soon as your order has been approved. Read more about what you'll learn at http://tinyurl.com/b8wcy

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

Thanks to Publicity Hound Dennis Tooley, publisher of the Funny Bone newsletter at http://www.bigfatbellylaugh.com/ for this one:

Behind every cat that crosses the street, there is a dog saying, "Go ahead, you can make 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. And at My Blog...
================================

Publicity photos will look better if you follow these tips
http://publicityhound.net/index.php/publicity-photos-will-look-better-if-you-follow-these-tips/

Book marketing tip: Hand people your book
http://publicityhound.net/index.php/book-marketing-tip-hand-people-your-book/

---------------------------------------------------------------
Where to Meet or Hear The Publicity Hound®

No public programs scheduled at this time.

***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 call 262-284-7451.

***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.
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® will never distribute your address to anyone.

Period.

Promise.

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