Publicity tips/Queen of the nursing home May 22, 2007
The Publicity Hound's
Tips of the Week
Issue #347 May 22, 2007
Publisher: Joan Stewart
mailto:JStewart@PublicityHound.com
http://www.PublicityHound.com
http://www.publicityhound.net/ (Blog)
The Publicity Hound®
Circulation: 30,838
=====================================
"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'tsubscribe, 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.
****************************************************
ANNOUNCING: PUBLICITY HOUND UNIVERSITY FOR ASSISTANTS
This is a graduate-level course for assistants, virtual assistants and interns. (I originally thought it would be basic Publicity 101 topics, but I've packed the course full of so much content-rich material, it's definitely for graduate students.)
If you already have an assistant who helps with your publicity campaign, but you know he or she can do be doing so much more, read on.
Many assistants are perfectly capable of assuming duties that are far above their current level of performance, but no one has time to show them how. The Publicity Hound to the rescue.
My week-long course, the first of its kind anywhere specifically for assistants, features 11 hours of live training by The Publicity Hound and my crew of guest experts. Students will also receive a variety of educational tools, and free email support for 30 days.
Learn more at http://snipurl.com/PHUniversity
Don't have an assistant yet? If you missed last week's teleseminar on how to hire a virtual assistant, you can order the CD or the electronic transcript here: http://publicityhound.com/teleseminar.htm
We expect to ship CDs on Friday and email transcripts early next week.
*****************************************************
================================
In This Issue
================================
1. Queen of the Nursing Home
2. Dovetail Your Blog & Ezine
3. Religion in the Workplace
4. Media Lead
5. How to Promote a Pet CD
6. Help This Hound
7. Hound Quote of the Week
8. And at My Blog...
======================================
1. Queen of the Nursing Home
======================================
After 10 years spent traipsing in and out of nursing homes visiting my sick mother, I can understand why the media don't like covering those places.
They're depressing. And, sorry, but every nursing home I've ever been in smelled bad. Even the super-expensive ones where my mom lived.
About the only time the media pay attention to them is when a resident wanders out the door, and police issue an all-points bulletin.
That's why my ears perked up last week when my local TV station aired a story about the Ms. Missouri Nursing Home Contest.
I smiled when I saw the video of one of the frail contestants, in great American Idol tradition, crooning "It Had to be You" into the microphone.
I'm foggy on the details, but I seem to remember the reporter saying that the woman who was crowned Ms. Missouri Nursing Home Queen admitted to being naughty many years ago when she snuck into a bar to get some gin.
Then I said to myself, "Now there's a fun publicity stunt."
OK all you nursing home Hounds. How about stealing this idea?
TV stations will love it. Tie it to the final episode of "American Idol," which will air tomorrow night on FOX.
Piggybacking onto hot TV shows, movies and celebrities has never been easier because celebrity news has never been hotter. So why do so few Publicity Hounds take advantage of this trick? "SpecialReport #50: How to Piggyback onto Celebrity News to Promote Your Product, Service, Cause or Issue" gives you lots of clever ideas on how to tie books, products and anything else to the stars, especially their missteps. Only $10. Order at http://tinyurl.com/6uz9g
========================================
2. Dovetail a Blog & Ezine
========================================
If you're blogging, good for you.
Hopefully, the search engines are pulling traffic, including journalists, into your blog and your website.
Are you also sending either an electronic newsletter like this one, or a simple email tip at least every other week? If so, you're taking advantage of two of the strongest marketing tools on the planet.
But here's the question that separates the wanna-bes from the true marketers at the higher level.
Are you consciously promoting the blog in your ezine, and the ezine in your blog? If not, you're letting a golden opportunity slip through your fingers. Here's why.
You need to tell all those visitors who arrive at your blog that you want their email address so you can send your ezine or tip of the week. At my blog at http://www.publicityhound.net/, that's what I do, in the upper right corner, under my photo.
You also need to tell all your ezine subscribers what you're doing over at your blog. Each week, in Number 8 below, I give you a list of headlines at my blog from the past week, with links.
Then, when you visit the blog, you might see the covers of my ebooks in the right margin. Or links to products that I promote with my individual posts.
Think of it like this. The blog pulls traffic in. The ezine then pushes out your marketing message. That "pull/push" cycle can really make things happen. Like sales. And a ringing telephone. People want to suddenly buy your consulting services or sign up for your next workshop.
Don Crowther taught me the "pull/push cycle." And today, we both use it successfully. I picked Don's brain for one hour on other ways he dovetails his blog with his ezine to boost the bottomline. We recorded the interview, and it's available as a CD or an electronic transcript that you can read as soon as your order is approved.
Read more about what you'll learn at http://tinyurl.com/3adrhs
=======================================
3. Religion in the Workplace
=======================================
--Lunchtime prayer meetings.
--Gospel choir rehearsals.
--On-site chaplains.
--Even "quiet rooms" for meditation and prayer.
Religion, once a taboo topic at work, has come out of the closet and into the office.
The Spring issue of The Public Relations Strategist, published by the Public Relations Society of America, has a fascinating cover story about the faith-at-work movement. Across America, it says, there's a growing trend to recognize and incorporate spirituality and religion in the workplace.
It quotes David Miller, executive director of the Yale Center for Faith and Culture and author of the book "God at Work: The History and Promise of the Faith at Work Movement":
"The soul train is going through town. If you haven't thought through a structured policy and appropriate training for your management, you're going to make a misstep and find yourself on the back end of a lawsuit."
In short, religion in the workplace is the next hot diversity issue.
This is such a great story, for so many reasons. It offers compelling visuals, like the photo that accompanies this article. It shows two Muslims, kneeling on the floor in their prayer room at work. They're praying during work time.
The topic is also controversial. And it's part of a trend.
If your company has religion-in-the-workplace policies in place, and has dealt with the issue successfully, let the local media, national media, trade journals and business journals know.
Can't think of stories to pitch about your business? In Chapter 5 of my ebook "How to be a Kick-butt Publicity Hound," I offer 22 ideas that will have you pitching in no time. You can read them all right now for free, my way of giving you a taste of the book. Go to http://www.publicityhound.com/publicity/publicityhoundTOC.htm
===================================
4. Media Lead
===================================
Suzanne Jalot of Wilmington, North Carolina, publisher of Dog Living Magazine, a regional magazine covering the southeastern section of the state, is looking for giveaways for events and reader contests.
"If there are any companies out there looking to promote dog-related products, we will give them free publicity via the magazine promotion in exchange for some products to give to readers. And of course we’re also always looking for unique story ideas relating to dogs." Mailto:editor@doglivingmagazine.com
The Publicity Hound says: Suzanne, check out the next item
===================================
5. How to Promote a Pet CD
====================================
This week, three Publicity Hounds have tips for Janice Roberts of Woodmere, New York. She wants ideas on how to promote a CD of songs for pet lovers. "It isn't selling well in stores, and she's trying to target the pet industry, pet parties and "yappy" hours (bars where people bring their pets and have a drink).
From Liz K.:
"Get yourself connected to any one of the service dog organizations. There are hundreds in the U.S. alone. Most of them are non-profits, but they have very large databases. Everyone involved with the organizations is an animal lover. I recently was able to donate some product samples for a sWAG Bag (get it?) provided to all attendees at a fund raising event called Woofstock for CCI (http://www.caninecompanions.org/). It cost me hardly any money, supported an organization that is near and dear to my heart, and I’m still pulling in business."
From Scott Anthony:
"Try to form alliances with specific retailers that have websites where you can get a sample listening like on your website. Your most cost-effective move would be to exchange links with these people and try to drive traffic to them. For example, send people to a pet store website for the dog and cat CDs."
From Dara Turransky:
"I would leverage the music as a gift product. And as such, the gift industry may be a better fit for you. I’ve met other business owners at pet trade shows who discovered that their lifestyle products have an easier time breaking into the market with the gift industry.
"Connecting yourself to any non-profit focused on animals is an excellent idea...My final suggestion would be to approach a company like Petlane, which uses individual consultants for 'Yappy Hour' parties. Entice them to include you in their catalog, and provide samples for the consultants to use at their parties."
The Publicity Hound says: Here's what I'd do. Start researching the most influential pet bloggers. Upload a portion of one of the songs to an audio program like Audio Acrobat because big clunky audio and video files reside on their server, not on mine.
Then send the bloggers the link and tell them about the CD. I mentioned Audio Acrobat last week. It's the program I use, and I love it. You can take a free 30-day test-drive at http://tinyurl.com/phau3
Then before you pitch bloggers, check out "How to Pitch the Best Bloggers & Create a Publicity Explosion." It's an interview I did with the Blog Squad, and it explains how to find influential bloggers, approach them, and pique their interest. The recording is available as a CD or transcript that you can be reading as soon as your order is approved.
Read more about what you'll learn at http://tinyurl.com/m7ymr
You can read the complete responses at http://tinyurl.com/39rpl7
================================
6. Help This Hound
================================
Yvonne Perry from Nashville, Tennessee writes:
"I am publishing my book 'Right to Recover: Winning the Political and Religious Wars over Stem Cell Research in America' through Nightingale Press. The publication date is October 2007.
"I need some help determining who my target market is and some tips on how I might best reach them. I have set up a blog and directed traffic there from http://www.right2recover.com/ to give people an idea of what the book is about. I would appreciate some creative ways to start the buzz now and get publicity as the publication date nears."
The Publicity Hound says:
Stem cell research is such a hot topic and always in the news. That means there are opportunities galore to create the buzz. Let's see how many of them my Hounds can think of.
Hounds with ideas for Yvonne can post them to my blog at http://tinyurl.com/2mnwtm
================================
7. Hound Quote of the Week
================================
Thanks to Publicity Hound Virginia Reeves of Shasta Lake, California for this one:
"If you are a dog and your owner suggests that you wear a sweater...suggest that he wear a tail."
--Fran Lebowitz
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...
=================================
'I Love My Library' Video Contest Offers $10,000 prize http://tinyurl.com/2vvjrk
Animal whisperer: Here's how to get onto radio http://tinyurl.com/2ee3kd
Copyrighting press releases on '10 Dumb Things' list http://tinyurl.com/ypoaw6
Pet experts, EzineArticles.com wants your articles http://tinyurl.com/2huuyz
---------------------------------------------------------------
Where to Meet or Hear The Publicity Hound®
June 6, 2007: Teleseminar for Attorneys
"How to Promote Your Law Practice and Generate Thousands of Dollars in Print, Broadcast and Online Publicity"
I'll be the guest expert on Steven Farley's one-hour teleseminar at 4 p.m. Eastern Time on how attorneys can generate free publicity. $49. Register at http://www.rainmakerretreat.com/teleseminar.htm
June 7, 2007: Teleseminar on Press Releases
I'll be the guest expert on Debra J. Schmidt teleseminar at noon Eastern Time on "The New Rules of Press Releases: How to Write Them for Consumers, not Only for Journalists." Noon Eastern Time. Register at http://loyaltyleader.com/live_teleseminar.iml?id=81
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
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home