Publicity tips/Google Alerts' Big Payoff Nov 13, 2007

The Publicity Hound's
Tips of the Week
Issue #372 Nov. 13, 2007
Publisher: Joan Stewart
mailto:JStewart@PublicityHound.com
http://www.publicityhound.com/
http://www.publicityhound.net/ (Blog)
The Publicity Hound®

Circulation: 35,957

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"Tips, Tricks and Tools for Free Publicity"

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In This Issue
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1. Google Alerts' Big Payoff

2. Pizza Hut's Job Offer

3. Ferret Poop to the Rescue

4. Promote Interesting Places

5. Ideas for a Dryer Vent Company

6. Help This Hound

7. Hound Joke of the Week

8. And at My Blog...


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1. Google Alerts' Big Payoff
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Google Alerts might well be the most valuable online tool you can use in your publicity campaign.

Just ask publicist Renee Young, whose client, Dr. Amiya Prasad, a New York City plastic surgeon, appeared on a two-minute segment on this morning's "Good Morning America" as a result.

Google Alerts is a nifty service that notifies you as soon as something appears online about your area of expertise.

Renee went to http://www.google.com/alerts and created a Google Alert for "plastic surgery" so she could pitch her client and piggyback off related breaking news events. Google scans news stories, blogs, websites, videos and even user groups to find information related to "plastic surgery" and emails her whenever it finds something.

Yesterday, Google alerted her that Donda West, mother and manager of hip-hop star Kanye West, had died, possibly of complications from cosmetic surgery.

"I dropped what I was doing and got on the phone to pitch my doctor as an expert to the national morning shows and local television news," said Renee, of Renee Young & Associates in Scarsdale, New York. "Three hours later, I was in my client's office with a crew from Good Morning America."

Here are other ways to use Google Alerts:

--To find bloggers who are writing about your topic, so you can post comments at their blogs, or pitch them.

--To find journalists who cover your area of expertise. Once you know the name of the journalist who wrote a particular story, you can do even more research on them before pitching. How? By creating a Google Alert for their name.

--To get up to speed quickly on hot topics.

If you haven't created Google Alerts yet, get going. Then, while you're waiting for your information, learn more about how to get yourself or your PR client onto shows like "Good Morning, America," the "Today" show and "Fox & Friends." My CD and electronic transcript on "How to Get Booked on the Morning TV Talk Shows" explains how to pitch each show, what they're looking for, and how to make your pitch stand out from the thousands of other people who are pitching.

Click here to continue reading more about how to score a publicity coup on these shows: http://tinyurl.com/ab86x


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2. Pizza Hut's Job Offer
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Kudos to Pizza Hut for jumping on celebrity Reece Witherspoon's innocent, but not-so-nice, comment about pizza delivery drivers and turning it into some fun publicity.

The actress told a journalist that her 4-year-old son, Deacon Phillippe, wants to be a pizza delivery driver when he grows up.

"Not that there is anything wrong with that, but it's hard to see how it could be a career as such," she said.

Pizza Hut responded immediately. Sandi Karrmann, identified as the "Chief People Officer" for the pizza chain, wrote a letter to the boy, offered him a job when he's older, and even sent him a package of gifts. It included a Pizza Hut uniform "that's just your size," writes Karrmann, and a mini-delivery car "for you to polish your driving skills." She also sent gift cards for Pizza Hut pizzas.

"We have delivery drivers who have worked for us for 10, 15, even 20 years!" says the letter. "And the same Pizza Hut drivers who deliver hot, fresh pizzas right to your door have gone on to become successful business people, doctors, lawyers and, yes, actors."

That, my fellow Hounds, is brilliant. And thanks to Publicity Hound Andrea Swinton of Toronto for pointing it out and sending the link to the article at http://tinyurl.com/2ejzoc

Want more ideas on how to do what Pizza Hut did? "Special Report#50: How to Piggyback onto Celebrity News to Promote Your Product, Service, Cause or Issue," gives you lots of ideas. Only $10. Order at http://tinyurl.com/6uz9g


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3. Ferret Poop to the Rescue
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Here's another example of how a trade association jumped on a news story for publicity.

Last week, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration announced an experiment in which people can dispose of harmful prescription drugs safely without flushing them down the toilet, which can harm the environment.

More than 6,300 pharmacies throughout the U.S. have signed up for the pilot project. When patients fill prescriptions for a list of abuse-prone medicines, the pharmacist also will hand over a flyer urging them to hide whatever pills are left over in cat litter, then wrap it up and throw it in the garbage.

Another way to disguise leftover pills is to mix them with used coffee grounds.

What if you don't drink coffee or own a cat, but you have a ferret?

"Ferret waste, like nearly any other form of pet waste, can be effectively used to help prevent the abuse of unused prescription drugs," said a spokesman for Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

Enter the American Ferret Association, which responded by saying, "The U.S. government declares ferret poop to be an effective weapon against drug abuse."

Hmmm. Do you think the association learned about this through a Google Alert? Thanks to Publicity Hound Traci Browne of Cheltenham, Pennsylvania for tipping us off to this one.

Opportunities like this are perfect for writing press releases and posting them online. If you struggle with releases, I have good news. Gone are the days when we had to write them only when we had "legitimate" news. Today's smart Publicity Hounds are writing press releases and posting them online not only for journalists, but for consumers.

My free tutorial "89 Ways to Write Powerful Press Releases" is a graduate-level course on how to write and distribute them. Sign up at http://www.PublicityHound.com/pressreleasetips/list.htm


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4. Promote Interesting Places
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If you're promoting a tourist attraction, an event, a neighborhood, or even something as mundane as your local firehouse, here's a cool social media tool to use in your publicity campaign.

It's called waymarking, and you can do it at http://www.waymarking.com/. Publicity Hound Rebecca Davey of Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio emailed me last week to tell me about it.

"The website is dedicated to marking interesting places from abstract public sculptures to firehouses to Minor League baseball stadiums to even Starbucks stores plus many, many more," Rebecca says.

She does publicity for the Irish community in the Akron area and waymarked the newest Irish-American Historical marker in Ohio.You can see her entry at http://tinyurl.com/yt84fx

Post photos, link back to your website, search for locations similar to yours, and have fun with this site. You don't need a GPS unit but you must know the longitude and latitude of what you're promoting.

You can post for free, but a premium membership for $3 a month or $30 a year gives you full use of the site.

This is a great way to promote special events. Debra J. Schmidt and I came up with 847 more ways when we created "How to Plan & Promote Sizzling Special Events." It's available as a package of 6 audio CDs or electronic transcripts that you can download as soon as your order has been approved. Both formats come with 15 "can't do without" checklists for event planners and publicists.

Click here to continue reading more about what you'll learn:http://tinyurl.com/46jzg


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5. Ideas for a Dryer Vent Company
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This week, seven Publicity Hounds have tips on how Janice Bittner of northern Virginia can promote her company, Dryer Vent Wizard, which cleans, fixes and installs dryer vents in an effort to help prevent dryer fires.


From Tom Reitz:

"Most fire departments have public education officers who do lots of fire prevention education in schools, shopping malls, etc. In our region, the fire departments hold a Fire Prevention Day where people can learn about fire safety, get free batteries for smoke detectors, sit in a fire truck, etc., and often the fire department will distribute loot bags of information and products to local citizens. If they say 'no' because you’re a commercial company, offer a coupon for your services to be used as a give- away at their next public event."


From Cheryl Pickett:

"There are a ton of Mom/Family-type websites and magazines that I’m sure would welcome a tips list, article or even review the product for their readers."


From Linda Swisher:

"Janice should visit Chase's Calendar of Events at http://www.chases.com/ to create her own commemorative holiday like "Dryer Vent Safety Day. Once her holiday is created, write White Papers, fact sheets and create publicity around the event she created."


The Publicity Hound says:

Janice, start pitching the bloggers and offer lists of tips on how to prevent vent fires. Use the Technorati search engine at http://www.technorati.com/ to search for bloggers by topic.


"How to Pitch the Best Bloggers & Create a Publicity Explosion"shows you how to find influential bloggers, start building a relationship, then pitch them with information that will help their readers. Patsi Krafoff, Denise Wakeman and I shared our best tips on this audio or electronic transcript that you can read as soon as your order has been approved. We even tell you which major mistakes to avoid when pitching bloggers.

Continue reading more about what you'll learn at http://tinyurl.com/m7ymr

Read all the responses to this Help This Hound comment at http://tinyurl.com/37t4jb


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6. Help This Hound
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Rebecca Witek of Buffalo Grove, Illinois writes:

"I started a website for young designers at http://www.youngdesignersguide.com/ that focuses on the soon-to-be or newly graduated. I was in their shoes not too long ago, and I've realized as a graphic designer that it's important to understand and learn skills that compliment their creative talents such as marketing, networking, public relations and business.

"I post articles monthly, but I need to build up awareness and hopefully get input from other experts. I would really like to see it grow. Any ideas?"


The Publicity Hound says:

I'll bet many experts who read this newsletter would love to get in front of your audience with their articles and other information. OK, Hounds. What does Rebecca need to do to find more content for her website and attract more young designers? I see one thing on the homepage that might be discouraging visitors, and at least one thing that might be creating problems for the search engines. Let's see if other Hounds can find them. Post your best ideas to my blog at http://tinyurl.com/353xdy


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7. Hound Joke of the Week
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I went to a movie theater the other day and saw an old man and his dog in the front row.

It was a sad/funny kind of film. During the sad parts, the dog cried his eyes out, and during the funny parts, the dog laughed his head off. This happened all the way through the movie.

When it ended, I walked up to the man and said, "That's the most amazing thing I've ever seen. Your dog really seemed to enjoy the film."

The man turned to me and said, "Yeah, it is. He hated the book."


P.S. Bogie received her diploma last week at our final puppy training class. We both got straight As when asked to demonstrate "sit," "stay," "come" and "down." She "stayed" longer than Emma, Kokomo and Rebel, the other hounds, even when I turned and walked away from her. And we got bonus points when I issued the command "Shake!" and she lifted her paw to shake, something they didn't teach in class. Now it's onto Big Dog School.


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8. And at My Blog...
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Authors lose during writers strike
http://tinyurl.com/3dgqxv


Nonprofit bios: Keep 'em short and credible
http://tinyurl.com/2q2cno


DOG JOKES & QUOTES EBOOK: 170+ G-rated dog jokes and quotes, perfect for a dog-lover, your favorite vet, or just for a few good laughs.

BONUS: Buy the ebook and you also get a compilation of the 50 best websites for dog humor.

http://www.publicityhound.com/dogjokebook/


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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."

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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