Publicity tips/Twitter Leads to TV Publicity Dec 30, 2008
The Publicity Hound's
Tips of the Week
Issue #431 Dec. 30, 2008
Publisher: Joan Stewart
mailto:JStewart@PublicityHound.com
http://www.PublicityHound.com
http://www.publicityhound.net/ (Blog)
Circulation: 44,446
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"Tips, Tricks and Tools for Free Publicity"
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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.
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Did You Download My Holiday Gift to You?
More than 2,500 Publicity Hounds have already downloaded my "Best of the Publicity Hound's Tips of the Week of 2008," the free ebook that's my holiday gift to you. Lots of Hounds are tweeting about it on Twitter and offering the book to their followers, too. Yes, I am encouraging you to regift it.
You can claim your copy here. Please use this link when sharing the book with your own readers, followers and connections: http://tinyurl.com/Bestof2008Tips And if you'd like to download the "Best of" books from previous years, you can do so at http://tinyurl.com/bestofebooks
Thanks to all of my loyal Publicity Hounds for your continued support. May you have a safe and happy New Year.
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In This Issue
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1. Twitter Leads to TV Publicity
2. 5 Formulas for Doubling Your Business
3. Wanted: Your Opinions & Ideas
4. How to Get Corporate Sponsors
5. How to Find a Ghostwriter
6. Help This Hound
7. Hound Joke of the Week
8. And at My Blog...
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1. Twitter Leads to TV Publicity
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This is for all you Twitter naysayers who think you're far too busy, or too important, or too disinterested to participate on Twitter, the red-hot social networking site.
Twitter, it turns out, is attracting the attention of many journalists and broadcasters who are actually using it to look for sources for their stories and guests for their shows. For patient Publicity Hounds on Twitter, that means big-time media hits in traditional media outlets if you're following these journalists and you can provide what they need. You can find a list of journalists who Twitter at http://tinyurl.com/a8xsqo
Rebecca Shapiro, an artist in Portland, Oregon, landed her own spot on a popular TV show in Portland as a result of Twitter.
It all started several weeks ago when one of Rebecca's Twitter buddies told her that "AM Northwest," the most widely watched morning TV show in Oregon, was looking for somebody to come to the studio and tape a segment demonstrating how children can make inexpensive holiday gifts. Rebecca, who teaches crafts in addition to working as an artist, responded immediately, and the producers said yes.
During the segment, she demonstrated how kids can make votive candle holders, gift tags, and a pinch pot made with Sharpie markers. The producers loved it.
"Now, they want me to submit ideas for a series of segments for 2009," Rebecca said.
Her second media hit as a result of Twitter occurred about six weeks ago when her 5-year-old daughter bundled up in a snowsuit to go out to play and got stuck crawling through the cat door. Rebecca tweeted about it. One of her followers is Stephanie Stricklen, a producer for "Live at 7," a TV show on Channel 8 in Portland. When Stephanie saw Rebecca's tweet, she replied and asked her to submit a photo of her daughter in the snowsuit so Stephanie could put it on "Live at 7."
But that's not all. Rebecca's biggest Twitter success has been building relationships with art galleries and submitting her artwork to the well-respected Tinku Gallery in Toronto, which has a huge presence on Twitter and elsewhere online.
"The gallery owner sent out a call for artists, and I never would have known about it had it not been for Twitter," Rebecca said.
If you've been reluctant to Twitter, it's finally time to join the millions of Twitterers who are making valuable connections, friends and joint venture partners on this site.
Warren Whitlock, one of the most well-respected Twitterers, was my guest during a series of teleseminars on "How to Use Twitter to Amass an Army of Followers, Customers & Valuable Contacts--and Promote."
The recording is available as electronic transcripts and your choice of Cds or MP3s. Learn more about how to start building a huge following on Twitter at http://tinyurl.com/3lbcaw
If you're an artist, you can hear my presentation on social networking, part of the 2009 smARTist teleseummit. Register at http://tinyurl.com/5axy3x and learn how to grow your art business.
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2. 5 Formulas to Double Your Business
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Have you noticed the gazillion emails from authors, Internet marketers, coaches, consultants, publicists and others who are lowering their prices so drastically that they're practically giving away the store?
Business coach Paul Lemberg says that if you're selling refrigerators, or other consumer durables, dropping your prices might make sense during tough economic times.
But if you're selling books, information products, consulting services or coaching programs--even publicity services like writing press releases or pitching the media on a client's behalf--lowering your prices is the quickest way to see your revenues plummet.
That's because a higher profit margin is critical to becoming more profitable. And you can increase profit margin only two ways. You can cut expenses. Or, you can take the counter- intuitive step of raising your prices, even in competitive markets and even in a bad economy.
Increasing profit margin is one of five formulas that Paul says are critical to growing your business during 2009.
In fact, by increasing business just 15 percent in each of the five areas, the "compounding effect" will double the size of your business in a short time. Formula Five, a 15-week coaching and study program with five distinct modules, will be released Jan. 15 through Stompernet, the membership site for Internet marketers.
Stompernet asked me to review the product, and even though I haven't completed all five modules, I've already started following a series of action steps to grow my own business. I'll explain some of what I'm doing during a free teleseminar from 3 to 4 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 8. But you'll mostly hear from Paul, who will explain all five formulas and how to integrate them into your business. You can sign up for the teleseminar at http://www.Publicityhound.com/teleseminar/formulafive.htm
In the meantime, you can see testimonials from a beta test group, and sign up for a series of three free Stompernet videos that explain more about how to use Formula Five to grow your business. The first video will arrive via email on Monday, Jan. 5. Go to http://tinyurl.com/PaulLembergFormula5 to sign up for the videos.
Formula Five is brilliant--so you and I don't have to be. Hope to see you on the call Jan. 8.
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3. Wanted: Your Opinions & Ideas
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One of my New Year's Resolutions is to keep in closer touch with all of you and regularly ask for your opinions and ideas (this is one action step recommended in the Formula Five strategy mentioned above).
I want to know about how satisfied you are with my products and services, improvements you'd like to see in this newsletter, what you need that I'm not providing, and other issues that will help me help you.
I'm putting a system in place to survey you regularly, and you'll even be rewarded for completing each survey. The first survey should be ready in a few weeks.
In the meantime, jot a few notes to yourself and be ready to share them with me when the first survey arrives.
Let's make 2009 our best year ever, and let's help each other to make it happen.
Surveys--not the customer surveys I'm referring to above, but surveys on fun, controversial or compelling topics--are a powerful publicity tool. One of my favorites was the survey the Iams pet food company took about eight years ago in which it asked its customers about their relationship with their pets. The survey showed that more than 93 percent of those surveyed admitted saying "I love you" to their pets. Results were publicized several weeks before Valentine's Day, a brilliant PR move.
The updated edition of my ebook "How to be a Kick-butt Publicity Hound," gives you lots of ideas on how to use surveys and other tools such as quizzes, briefs and contests to generate publicity for just about any product, service, cause or issue.
The 2008-2009 edition includes seven new chapters on social networking and social media marketing. Read all about the book at http://www.publicityhound.com/publicity/publicityhound.htm
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4. How to Get Corporate Sponsors
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This is a quick reminder that Steve Harrison is hosting today's teleseminar on "How to Get Major Companies And Nonprofits To Sponsor The Promotion of Your Book, Product or Service" at 7 p.m. Eastern Time.
If this time is inconvenient for you, ask someone to listen and take notes for you.
Even speakers, authors and experts who have very niched topics are in a perfect position to find corporate sponsors--if the people who are already in your target market want or need the products or services that company provides.
Brendon Burchard, an author and speaker, has figured out some really ingenious ways to land corporate and non-profit promotional sponsorships and use them to fund his marketing efforts, and he'll explain them on today's call.
To discover how you can use his methods to promote your own book, product or business, you can sign up for today's call at http://www.SponsorshipTrainingTeleseminar.com/?10011
Here's just some of what you'll learn:
* What to do step-by-step to get a major company to sponsor your national promotional tour and pay for everything!
* Why the current economic downturn means more big companies and non-profits sponsoring authors, speakers and entrepreneurs--even if they're not famous.
* A website you can use to find potential sponsors and promotional partners.
* The "secret phrase" which gets big nonprofit organizations to endorse your book and promote it to their members.
* The title of the BEST person to contact with your proposal and why you should never send one written in Microsoft Word.
* The Number One fatal mistake to avoid when trying to land a sponsorship deal with a Fortune 500 company.
* How to write a short proposal that gets huge companies to sponsor you--even if you're an unknown, self-published author (HINT: there are five elements and he'll reveal all five on the call.)
Again, to sign up for the call, go here now: http://www.SponsorshipTrainingTeleseminar.com/?10011
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5. How to Find a Ghostwriter
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This week, six Publicity Hounds have tips for Nancy Wurtzel of Thousand Oaks, California, whose client, a physician, needs a ghostwriter for a book on brain health for Baby Boomers.
From Dorothy Pedersen:
"Look for a writer who has (a) a successful track record with published books, (b) a good track record of meeting, or beating, deadlines, and (c) who has a personality that's a good match with yours, your client, and the physician."
From Linda Adams:
"Try contacting the American Independent Writers (formerly Washington Independent Writers). It's the largest regional writing organization in the United States and is primarily made up of freelancers. They have a job bank for writers at http://washwriter.org/ It's a little hard to find. Look in the right column."
From Madisen Harper:
"I know a number of people, including myself, who have had great success finding ghost writers on http://www.Elance.com.
"You can post a job, get writing examples and receive competitive quotes. I've been impressed at the quality of writing and range of expertise."
The Publicity Hound says:
Elance.com and some of the other freelance sites like it are great for outsourcing projects like ghostwriting. But make sure you understand how these sites work, and what to do to ensure you're getting the best freelancers available. A low bid often means you're getting what you pay for. Trust me. I've made this mistake.
Leili McKinley, one of my business coaches, is an expert at outsourcing work. She was my guest during a teleseminar on "Outsourcing Secrets: How to get the Best Quality, Price & Teamwork from Freelancers." It's available as a CD, or as an MP3 or electronic transcript that you can download as soon as your order has been approved.
Read more about how to hire freelancers at http://tinyurl.com/7r793b
Read all the responses to this week's Help This Hound question at http://tinyurl.com/994lwl
Send your own Help this Hound question to: mailto:JStewart@PublicityHound.com and include your city and state.
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6. Help This Hound
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Shannon Hein of Fort Collins, Colorado writes:
"I am helping a friend promote Branchies, a product she invented that lets people hang heavy objects on their Christmas trees. It's at http://www.Branchies.com
"They attach easily to the trunk of your Christmas tree and support very heavy and bulky ornaments. They are a great way to transform your tree using themes you've never been able to create before. For example, you can decorate your tree with your favorite football helmets if you want!
"Of course, Christmas is over, but we want to get a jump on promoting this next year. What ideas do your Hounds have for promoting Branchies?"
The Publicity Hound says:
I'm using this question this week because many Christmas trees are still up, and they might help spark some great ideas from my Hounds. If you have a suggestion for Shannon, you can post it to my blog at http://tinyurl.com/8k25hc
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7. Hound Joke of the Week
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A New York City yupette was shopping in an upscale pet center.
"I want a dog of which I can be proud," she told the salesman. "Does that one have a good pedigree?"
"Miss," declared the clerk, "if she could speak, she wouldn't talk to either one of us."
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. And at My Blog...
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Obama inauguration donors: Pitch to your local media
http://tinyurl.com/6wnkd2
Artists, learn the 10 qualities of a marketing plan
http://tinyurl.com/6w3t2o
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WHERE TO SEE AND HEAR THE PUBLICITY HOUND:
Thursday, Jan. 8--Teleseminar
"Formula Five: 5 Ways to Double Your Business in 2009" with my guest expert Paul Lemberg. From 3 to 4 p.m. Eastern Time, he will explain five ways every business person can double their business. This is perfect for anyone who is frightened by all the gloom-and-doom talk about the bad economy. This is a free teleseminar. Register at http://www.Publicityhound.com/teleseminar/formulafive.htm
Wednesday, Jan. 21--Teleseminar
Join me for the third annual smARTist telesummit where photographers, jewelers, potters, painters, metalworkers, woodworkers and other artists will learn all the secrets for growing their art business. I'm presenting a session on how to use social networking, from 2 to 2:45 Eastern Time on Wednesday, Jan. 21. Register for the telesummit at http://tinyurl.com/5axy3x
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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 cheat sheet "89 Reasons to Send a News Release."
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Joan Stewart
a. k.a. The Publicity Hound®
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Phone: 262-284-7451 (Central) Fax: 262-284-1737
Labels: publicity, publicity for niche markets, publicity tips for authors, Steve Harrison, Stomper.net, Twitter
posted by Publicity-Hound @ 6:24 PM
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