Publicity tips/The Beauty of Inflight Publicity Oct 28, 2008

The Publicity Hound's
Tips of the Week
Issue #422 Oct. 28, 2008
Publisher: Joan Stewart
mailto:JStewart@PublicityHound.com
http://www.PublicityHound.com
http://www.publicityhound.net/ (Blog)

Circulation: 50,888

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"Tips, Tricks and Tools for Free Publicity"

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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 #2 below.

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In This Issue
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1. The Beauty of Inflight Publicity

2. Two More Social Networking Tasks

3. Newspaper Circulation Plummeting

4. For Authors Only & a Correction

5. Promoting a 10th Anniversary

6. Help This Hound

7. Hound Joke of the Week

8. And at My Blog...


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1. The Beauty of Inflight Publicity
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Fasten your seat belts and make sure your tray tables are in
their full, upright and locked positions. It's time to fly into
the hemisphere of inflight publicity.

"I never really considered in-flight magazines until your
suggestion prompted me to contact one of the major airlines and
pitch our product, a pair of compact binoculars," says Jason
Claybrook, a public relations specialist with Carl Zeiss Sports
Optics. "It was very well-received by the editors and we ended up
in Delta Sky's 'Splurge of the Month' section."

Jason's company received such tremendous feedback from travelers
throughout the world that it allowed them to tap into a market
where they needed more exposure. His success story is one of
dozens I hear each year from happy Hounds who find their way into
the inflight magazines.

The most recent is from Publicity Hound Nancy Juetten, a
publicist who scored a major hit for her client, Zook Hooks, a
company that makes inexpensive but fashionable hooks you can hang
on the end of a table and use to keep your purse or bag off germ-
laden floors.

Zook Hooks are featured in the holiday gift section inside the
November issue of Alaska Airlines magazine. You can read the
entire story of how Nancy pitched the editors--and spiced up the
pitch with great photos and persistent follow-up that closed the
deal--at my blog at http://tinyurl.com/3l8k7q

When we updated our database this year, we found major changes
such as new publishing companies, contact information, websites,
and new locations for online media kits for 22 magazines. Three
magazines have ceased publication, one changed its name, and we
found eight additional inflight magazines we didn't know existed.
Last year's report featured 43 magazines. This year, you'll find
50.

And this time around, we added 10 more examples of how Publicity
Hounds found their way into these magazines, or new pitches you
can consider using.

Why has so much information changed in 12 months? Mostly because
the magazine and airline industries are in a huge state of flux.
Don't work off an old report and send your information to the
wrong editor. Get our updated report for only $47.

Order at http://tinyurl.com/n3pk4


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2. Two More Social Networking Tasks
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If your head is about to explode with all the information I'm
feeding you on social networking, try to cram two more nuggets of
information into your brain.

The first is about social bookmarking sites. The second is about
photo-sharing sites. Smart Publicity Hounds use both.

Bookmarking sites like http://digg.com/ let you record, or vote
for, your favorite websites, blogs and articles. The more votes a
particular article receives, the higher it rises to the top of
the list at those websites. You can see other people's
favorites, and they can see yours.

Social bookmarking has several advantages:

--It helps promote your expertise because when people see your
recommendation, they will be curious about what other sites
you've recommended.

--It gives you a link back to your own site. If they're
impressed with the content, they might visit your website to see
what other information you have there.

--Social bookmarking sites pull huge amounts of traffic so you
have the potential to get in front of a lot of people.

--It lets you join the conversation online.

--It's great in Google's eyes. If Google recognizes a large
number of incoming links to a particular article or blog post,
Google thinks that if a lot of people are voting for it, it must
be good. Backlinks, or sites that link to your site, are
important. Through bookmarking, you could prompt a large number
of bloggers to link to your content if the headline and content
are intriguing, controversial or funny enough.

Photo-sharing sites like Flickr at http://www.Flickr.com have
numerous advantages:

--They let you publish a collection of digital photos online.

--You can also organize and share photos, tag them with relevant
keywords, and use them to attract the attention of people who are
going to these sites and searching for specific types of photos.
If someone is searching for photos of walking shoes, for
instance, and you sell walking shoes, they'll find your photos
and maybe even click through to your website and buy a pair.

--Even though photos at these sites generally don't rank very
high in the search engines, they get huge amounts of traffic.
You never know who is going to be looking for photos associated
with your company.

--Bummed because the local newspaper won't print photos from your
event? Post the photos at these sites, where there may be far
more people looking for photos than there are reading your local
paper.


BL Ochman, one of my favorite bloggers and social media experts,
will explain how to add these two tasks to your work week without
driving yourself crazy. She'll be my guest during a teleseminar
Nov. 6 on "How to do Social Networking, Run a Business & Still
Have a Life." Only 100 seats are available, and I'm anticipating
another sell-out.

If you have another commitment, that's OK. You'll receive the MP3
recording. Register at http://tinyurl.com/6kswbc


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3. Newspaper Circulation Plummeting
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Newspapers' paid circulation continues to plummet.

Statistics released this week by the Audit Bureau of Circulations
shows that the largest newspapers in the industry continued to
lose readers. Only USA Today, the biggest weekday paper in the
U.S., and The Wall Street Journal, holding the No. 2 slot,
reported increases--and each grew only 0.01 percent.

The New York Times and the remainder of the top 25 weekday papers
all sank. Paid weekday circulation fell 3.6 percent at The Times,
5.2 percent at the Los Angeles Times, 7.2 percent at the Daily
News in New York, 6.3 percent at the New York Post, 1.9 percent
at the Washington Post, 7.8 percent at the Chicago Tribune and
11.7 percent at the Houston Chronicle.

Readers aren't the only ones leaving newspapers in droves.
Advertisers are too, taking their ad dollars online, or turning
to Craigslist.

How much time are you spending trying to chase down newspaper
reporters and editors at big papers like these, versus focusing
your efforts in the social networking communities like LinkedIn,
Facebook and Twitter where many former newspaper readers can be
found? Reporters and editors at those big papers, by the way,
often search for expert sources at these three sites. If you
aren't there, you lose.

Three teleseminars I conducted the past few months provide
everything you need to get started right now learning the ins and
outs of these sites--and knowing how to promote the right way.

Most of you are already on LinkedIn, but how many of you know how
to use it to promote? Let Scott Allen show you how. He was my
guest expert during a teleseminar series on "How to Use LinkedIn
to Promote Anything--Ethically & Powerfully." It's available as
electronic transcripts and your choice of CDs or MP3s. Read more
about how to persuade your LinkedIn connections to help you
promote whatever you're selling at http://tinyurl.com/5zvzyd


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4. For Authors Only & a Correction
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If you're writing a book, far better to know BEFORE you start
writing all the ways you can promote your book. Knowing that
beforehand will help you write the type of book that's easier to
promote.

But most authors have it backwards. They write the book first,
and then learn later that few media outlets or readers care about
what they've written because the content doesn't lend itself
to a good hook or angle.

Steve Harrison wants to give you several tips on how to do it
right. He's offering a free telephone seminar at 7 p.m. Eastern
Time tonight, that includes other strategies you can use to
promote almost any book, product or service.

To reserve your spot on this free 75-minute teleseminar, register
at http://tinyurl.com/6m93g5

You'll also learn:

--Why conventional press releases are usually not the best way to
contact journalists and what to send instead.

--What a "Good Morning America" producer told Steve is the
absolute best way to pitch his show--something very few
publicity-seekers do but dramatically increases your chances of
getting booked.

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

--Five proven ways to create a compelling publicity "hook" or
angle.

You'll even learn what to never wear on TV. Sign up at
http://tinyurl.com/6m93g5


Several sharp Publicity Hounds caught my big mistake last week
when I said Mark Victor Hansen & Jack Canfield self-published
their popular "Chicken Soup" series. Shelley Lieber points outs
out: "Their publisher from the beginning to until very recently
was Health Communications, Inc. (HCI), a small publisher in
Deerfield Beach, FL. This is not the first reference I've seen to
them being self-published, so it may be that you received
inaccurate information."

No, I just didn't double-check and I should have. Thanks for the
heads-up, Hounds.


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5. Promoting a 10th Anniversary
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This week, four Publicity Hounds have tips for Jeff Elliot of
Cedar Rapids, Iowa, manager at PlanetX, a family entertainment
center. He is looking for ideas on how they can celebrate their
10th anniversary. The website is http://www.planetxfuncenter.com


From Maria Marsala, Chief Business Collaborator:

"How about rolling back the prices to what they were 10 years
ago?"


From Suzanne Sokolov:

"We have four components to suggest:

--A blowout party. One whole day, reserved for all 10 year olds.

--Public recognition. Apply for recognition from Cedar Rapids for
an official proclamation naming the day "Planet X Day"

--A fun educational element. Sponsor jugglers to go into the
schools to teach juggling--this elicits better hand-eye
coordination. Perhaps with give-away balls emblazoned with
the Planet X logo. Use the visit as a means of overlaying a
physics lesson of gravity and planetary motion.

--A charitable element. Free admission or such for adults who
sign up to be a Big Brother or Big Sister."


From Messianic Media:

"The fact that you will be offering 10th anniversary prices means
that price should be a large part of your marketing mix. Try
giving percentage off coupons for specific quarters of the year,
like 15 percent off for the first three months. And advertise
with all local stores."


The Publicity Hound says:

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

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


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

This week, I received two Help this Hound questions from the
owners of businesses that sell T-shirts--Andrea Ayers of Boulder,
Colorado and Michelle Pratt-Lienhart of Webster, New Hampshire.
I'm including both of them here because their problem is
similar--how to attract attention and generate publicity and
interest for their shirts.

One company, Tees For Change, sells a line of eco-friendly
apparel that inspires positive thinking. They're available at
their website and in about 200 yoga studios, boutiques and green
stores, including Whole Foods. The company plants a tree for each
tee it sells.

The other company, Just Be, is built around an online
community/blog for people to share how they can Just Be (just be
punk, just be green, just be a breast cancer survivor). It has a
presence on several social networking sites and targets teens,
tweens and twenty-somethings.

You can read both questions and offer your best ideas at my blog
at http://tinyurl.com/6l4oy5


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7. Hound Joke of the Week
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This isn't a joke, but it's a story with a happy ending--and
during fire safety month, too. Read about Leo, a terrier cross in
Australia, that was hailed as a hero on Sunday after it risked
its life to save a litter of newborn kittens from a house fire.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27381659/?GT1=43001


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

Top 75 PR blogs: Is Your Favorite on This List?
http://tinyurl.com/6f38ch

Artists, Don't Let the Bad Economy Paralyze You
http://tinyurl.com/5oqe3l



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:


Oct. 30--Teleseminar


"Using Online PR to Grow Your New Business." Join me and Brian
Soltis, creator of the social media press release, as we share
lots of tips with business owners on how to generate massive
publicity. We'll be taking your questions for a half hour, too.
Register for free at http://tinyurl.com/57smp6


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.



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Subscribe at http://www.publicityhound.com/ and receive by email
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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