Publicity tips/TV Talk Show Stunts Feb 26, 2008
The Publicity Hound's
Tips of the Week
Issue #387 Feb. 26, 2008
Publisher: Joan Stewart
mailto:JStewart@PublicityHound.com
http://www.publicityhound.com/
http://www.publicityhound.net/ (Blog)
The Publicity Hound®
Circulation: 42,789
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"Tips, Tricks and Tools for Free Publicity"
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Last Call for National Publicity Summit:
Steve Harrison's National Publicity Summit still has a few openings for Publicity Hounds who want to pitch top-tier journalists face-to-face. It's March 26-29 in New York City.
You'll meet with journalists and producers from top national TV shows like ABC's The View, CBS' 48 Hours, MSNBC, CNN, Fox News Channel, Montel, Fox & Friends and Live with Regis & Kelly.
You'll also personally meet writers who do stories for big-time print media like People magazine, Woman's Day, Alternative Medicine, Good Housekeeping, New York Times, Parents, Family Circle, INC., Time magazine and many other top publications.
In this newsletter, I've written many success stories about Publicity Hounds who have attended the summit, gotten huge media hits, sold tons of books as a result, and have raved about the event. If you're on the fence, at least read about what you'll learn at http://www.nationalpublicitysummit.com/?10011
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In This Issue
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1. TV Talk Show Stunts
2. The Mayo Clinic & Facebook
3. Create a Hall of Fame
4. Google Will Reward You for Video
5. How to Promote a College 'Care Package'
6. Help This Hound
7. Hound Joke of the Week
8. At My Blog...
9. At My Squidoo Lens...
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1. TV Talk Show Stunts
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In the old days, if you wanted to get onto one of the morning TV talk shows, you had to pitch a compelling idea that had the three magic elements that TV loves: people, color and motion.
These days, however, your chances improve drastically if your pitch includes a publicity stunt. Don't worry. You don't have to round up a stunt man. Instead, suggest the stunt be performed by one of the talk show hosts, anchors or reporters.
Like "Today" show news anchor Ann Curry bungee-jumping off a bridge in England.
Or her cohort, Meredith Vieira, jumping into frigid Lake Champlain in Vermont in February to promote the annual Penguin Plunge to benefit the Special Olympics.
Or Chris Cuomo, ABC's "Good Morning America" newsman, sky-diving off the roof of the Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City last week.
Why the stunts?
Simple. It helps the audience to connect to the personalities they see every day, said Jim Murphy, "Good Morning America" executive producer who was quoted in an Associated Press story.
Cancer patient Robin Roberts, co-host of "Good Morning America," even doffed her wig in public. Viewers flooded her and other personalities with email, saying they loved the stunts.
The next time you're looking for TV coverage, think of ways TV personalities can become directly involved in your story. See "Special Report #42: Tips for Letting Reporters Experience Your Story, Not Just Write About It" at http://www.publicityhound.com/publicity-products/reports.html
Can't think of a stunt? That's OK. There are many more ways to get onto the "Today" show, "Good Morning America" and "Fox & Friends." Lissa Warren explains them all on "How to Get Booked on the Morning TV Talk Shows." It's available 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://publicityhound.net/cdmorningtvtalkshows
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2. The Mayo Clinic & Facebook
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Thanks to Publicity Hound Tom Ribar of Grafton, Wisconsin for alerting us to this article that explains why even the world- renowned Mayo Clinic has its own Facebook page: http://www.1to1media.com/Xfactor.aspx?DocID=30670&m=n
The clinic uses Facebook to post information about itself and link to its three websites for patients, consumers, and research and education. It also displays "wall post" messages and photos, offers video and audio podcasts, provides updates on news and events, and connects with its Facebook friends.
The clinic encourages patients to tell their own stories and describe what their experience was like at the clinic.
Tom Ribar and I are learning more about Facebook because we're among the hundreds of students in the SMARTS social media coaching program. If you missed signing up for the program, you can still get a taste of what we're learning by watching the 50- minute video and downloading the special report. Dozens of Publicity Hounds have thanked me for alerting them to these content-rich resources.
Watch the video and sign up for the free report at http://www.stompernet.net/jvp/aw.aspx?B=25&A=332
Then create your own Facebook page and ask me to be your friend. But please let me know that you subscribe to this newsletter. You can find my page at http://www.PublicityHound.net/facebookprofile
Facebook is one of seven sites where social media expert Don Crowther, our SMARTS coach, says you must have a presence. He explained more about Facebook and the other six sites during a one-hour teleseminar earlier this year as part of my training series "How to Create a Media Plan."
If you need help building a 12-month plan that will really reach your target audience, pull traffic to your website, and have journalists calling for interviews, take a look at what you'll learn: http://www.PublicityHound.com/mediaplan.htm
The training program includes a list of more than 200 story ideas, several for every month of the year. You can incorporate them into your own plan.
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3. Create a Hall of Fame
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When Publicity Hound Karla Kinstler of the Houston Nature Center in Houston, Minnesota read one of my tips about creating a Hall of Fame, she knew the idea was a perfect fit with the annual "Festival of Owls."
"We now recognize one owl and one human each year who have done extraordinary things to make the world a better place for owls," says Karla, who submitted a Help This Hound question several months ago.
The first year, the Oregon Associated Press picked up the story when Fat Broad, an owl in Oregon, was inducted into the hall of fame.
Last year, the nature center widened its search and made it the "World Owl Hall of Fame."
"Coverage of our hall of fame wound up in the Canberra Times in Australia, and was linked to from the New Zealand Journal of Birds website," she adds.
This year, the nature center has nominations from seven countries on four continents. It has added a "Special Achievement" award category since there were so many nominations.
"Now we call our festival the International Festival of Owls and have folks attending from the U.S., Canada, Jamaica and The Netherlands this year. I just wanted to let you know that starting a Hall of Fame is, in itself, an award-winning idea."
You can read more about the contest at http://www.festivalofowls.com/World%20Owl%20Hall%20of%20Fame.htm
The next step, Karla says, is to grow the Houston Nature Center into a North American Owl Center with its own room for the World Owl Hall of Fame.
Why not follow Karla's lead and create your own hall of fame that ties into your own product, service, cause or issue? Promote it by writing and posting online press releases, pitching bloggers who write about your topic, pitching journalists on your media hit list, using social media sites, and creating videos about inductees.
See "The New Rules of Press Releases" at http://publicityhound.net/cdnewrules
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4. Google Will Reward You for Video
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Are you tired of lousy Google rankings for your website or blog?
Are you wasting hundreds of dollars on Google pay-per-click advertising that isn't making anybody except the Google advertising people happy?
I hear from dozens of Publicity Hounds each week who are doing just that. That's why I tell them to start cranking out short videos as fast as they can. Google and the other search engines place a high premium on video, even low-cost videos made by amateurs.
Why? Because web surfers love watching video. Take a look at the statistics:
- -More than 141 million Americans viewed online video in December of last year alone.
- -YouTube is almost double the size of Google, the granddaddy of search engines, in the number of page views.
- -More than half of all videos online are being watched on other websites, not just on YouTube. That means that if you upload your video to YouTube, bloggers, website owners and anyone else can embed your video link at their blog or website, thus giving your video even more exposure and your website more traffic. And you don't pay them a cent for doing it.
- -Video can reward you with more traffic, a higher conversion rate on your sales pages and maybe even a call from a journalist who watches one of your videos and wants to interview you.
On Thursday night, I'll be on the phone taking notes furiously on Tom Antion's teleseminar on "How to Get Instant High Rankings on Google Using Short Videos." Then I'll be converting some of the videos I use in my live workshops for the web.
Don't miss this call, and his special bonus to the first 200 people who sign up. Read more about what you'll learn at http://www.PublicityHound.net/antionvideo
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5. How to Promote a College 'Care Package'
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This week, 13 Publicity Hounds have tips for Patricia Hudak of Jersey City, New Jersey. She's creating an informational care package for college seniors and is looking for corporate sponsors who want to reach this niche audience.
From Paulette Ensign:
"Look at who else is already marketing to that population, such as big financial planning companies, gasoline companies, recruiting firms, and cruise lines. Contact their marketing departments with your proposal. Be prepared to modify your package if they are interested in parts of it. In fact, it may serve the sponsors better to pull apart your package and provide pieces of it spread out over time to keep them in front of that audience longer."
From Ann Wondra:
"While new college grads are often very savvy in technology and more globally aware, employers are dismayed at their lack of work ethic, top salary expectations with little or no experience to back it, attitudes of 'entitlement,' and weak written and verbal professional communication skills (text messaging doesn't fly well in most corporate business settings). If those kinds of skills are included in your Career module, those would be attractive selling points to businesses that are recruiting from the college of students you are targeting."
From A. Moore:
"Create a place online where you can interact with and share your ideas with college grads and young career enthusiasts. Offer portions of your programs as downloads. Spend the time to build a following for yourself and you'll be better positioned to engage sponsors. You'll probably even attract media and become a valuable resource, or you may get a book deal out of it or a radio show."
The Publicity Hound says:
Contact bloggers who write about corporate marketing and let them know what you're doing. They have a ready-made audience that would be perfect for you. See "How to Pitch the Best Bloggers & Create a Publicity Explosion" at http://www.PublicityHound.net/cdpitchbestbloggers
Read all the great responses to this Help This Hound question at http://tinyurl.com/yumrqh
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6. Help This Hound
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Lori Feldman of St. Louis, Missouri writes:
"I am an ACT! Software consultant and I belong to The CRM (Customer Relationship Management) Alliance, a consortium of the top ACT! Consultants across the U.S.
"We have pooled resources to offer a $6,500 grand prize for a complete CRM/Email Marketing/Internet Marketing package for one winner, with other winners getting second- and third-place prizes. Your Hounds can read more about it at http://www.actsoftwarepromotion.com/
"Were launching the promotion next week and it will run through April 30. We're promoting it through our alliance members' lists, our vendor partners' lists and through two lists we just purchased. We're also using press releases before and after the event.
"Total value of the prizes is $17,000. That's pretty hefty for our little group, and I'd love to do as much as I can to get the word out. Help from you and your Hounds would be greatly appreciated."
The Publicity Hound says:
Maybe it's just because I've immersed myself in the SMARTS social media marketing program the last five weeks. But I can think of all kinds of great ways to use the social media sites to drum up interest in this. Let's see if my Hounds are thinking along the same lines. Hounds with ideas for online and offline promotion can post them to my blog at http://tinyurl.com/2wcw9g
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7. Hound Joke of the Week
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My dog chewed the tongue on one of my new, very expensive running shoes. I hoped to save my investment, so I took the shoes to a shoe repair shop.
I placed them on the counter and told the man, "My dog got hold of this."
The repairman picked up the shoe, looked it over, and placed it back down on the counter.
"Well, what do you recommend?" I asked.
He looked at me and replied, "Give your dog the other shoe."
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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8. At My Blog...
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Best blogs for writers
http://publicityhound.net/index.php/best-blogs-for-writers/
LinkedIn can provide comments from experts
http://tinyurl.com/3c4aph
Top 10 tips for free publicity--in Italian
http://tinyurl.com/34zg3r
Hannah Montana--buckle your seatbelt!
Http://tinyurl.com/2j3dx2
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9. At at My Squidoo Lens...
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- -March and April Story Ideas
- -How Reporters Loosen Your Lips
http://www.squidoo.com/howtogetfree_publicity
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Where to See or Hear The Publicity Hound
March 5: Teleseminar on "How to Turn Your Content into Cash"
Join me for a free teleseminar at 3 p.m. Eastern Time with Cathy Stucker. This one-hour call is perfect for authors, speakers and experts who have handouts in their file cabinets and on their bookshelves and hard drives. Cathy will show you how to take your content and spin, retool or tweak it to create information products and lots more. She promises a teleseminar packed with content, and she'll take your questions, too. This call is limited to the first 250 people. You don't have to sign up. Simply call 1-218-486-1300. The access code is 1-8-2-2-2-2#.
March 27: Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin
"Red Hot Tips to Set Your Publicity Campaign on Fire," Menomonee Falls, Sussex and Germantown Business to Business Networking Breakfast; networking and breakfast from 7:30 to 8, presentation from 8 to 8:45 a.m. Tickets are $15. Guests welcome. For reservations, call Diane Henning at the Menomonee Falls Chamber at 262-251-2430.
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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
Labels: awards, Blogging, Facebook, media plan, pitch blogggers, social networking, Squidoo, YouTube
posted by Publicity-Hound @ 5:18 PM
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