Publicity tips/Get Your Product into Target Oct 30, 2007
The Publicity Hound's
Tips of the Week
Issue #370 Oct. 30, 2007
Publisher: Joan Stewart
mailto:JStewart@PublicityHound.com
http://www.publicityhound.com/
http://www.publicityhound.net/ (Blog)
The Publicity Hound®
Circulation: 37,734
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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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2 Deadlines on Wednesday, October 31:
--Wednesday, Oct. 31, is the deadline for the double-dip discount offered by Expertclick, the Online Yearbook of Experts that not only gets you into their experts database, but lets you post up to 52 press releases a year with no per-release charges. You get both their $100 Early Discount and a $100 Publicity Hound Discount when you join at http://tinyurl.com/253za3. Unlike most of the freebie press release distribution services, they have a customer service support line at 202-333-5000. You can call that number from 9 to 5 Eastern if you have questions about what your membership includes. I've been a member for several years. You can see my pressroom page and news releases at http://www.expertclick.com/19-2429
--Steve Harrison is accepting applications until 6 p.m. Eastern Time Wednesday, Oct. 31, for his Quantum Leap Marketing Coaching Program for authors, speakers and experts. Apply at http://www.YourQuantumLeap.com/apply/?10011 See Item #4 below.
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In This Issue
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1. Get Your Product into Target
2. Tweak Your Pitch
3. Confusing Social Networking
4. When Writing a Book is a Bad Idea
5. Promoting a Dental Drill
6. Help This Hound
7. Hound Joke of the Week
8. And at My Blog...
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1. Get Your Product into Target
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If you sell a book or other product that's a good fit with customers who shop at Target, you have a lot of work to do.
For starters, you should be pitching a story to the Minneapolis Star Tribune that ties into what you're selling. That's because most buyers for Target live in Minneapolis, where the chain is headquartered, and most of them read the local daily newspaper.
Let's say the Star Tribune prints a story. The long, arduous job of winning coveted shelf space in Target is just beginning and could take a year or more.
It will require a formal presentation to a buyer. At that meeting, you must provide details for your advertising and publicity campaigns, as well as your plans for marketing, merchandising, in-store demos, point-of-sale displays, giveaways, promotion with credit cards, special events and more.
Unless you're a huge household name, Target is unlikely to include you in their circulars or advertising, so you will have to help sell your products at Target through your own efforts and use every trick up your Publicity Hound sleeve.
Margie Zable Fisher, president of Zable Fisher Public Relations in Boca Raton, Florida, may well be one of the foremost experts on getting your books and other products into Target stores.
When a potential client asked Margie for help getting her products into Target, Margie could barely find any information. She spent hours researching the topic and talked to current and former Target buyers, manufacturers and distributors, licensing companies, sales rep companies and more. Most of them asked her to use the information anonymously.
The result of her research is the special report "Skyrocket Your Sales by Getting Your Product in Target." It shows you, step-by-step, how to do it, even if you're a small business.
I love Target, and I found the report fascinating. The next time I shop there, I'll be looking at the merchandise a whole new way. She even teaches you how to search the shelves for valuable clues about the kinds of products Target loves.
Even Guy Kawasaki, Entrepreneur magazine's "Wise Guy" columnist, endorses the report.
It's only $49, a real deal considering that the initial order for Target stores is often 9,000 products or more. Click here to continue reading more about what you'll learn: http://www.profcs.com/app/?Clk=2137388
What? You say you'd rather sell to Wal-Mart? Click anyway and you'll get 7 tips on how to do just that.
By the way, if Target, Wal-Mart or any of the other big box stores accepts your product, that's a terrific story for your trade journals and business publications.
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2. Tweak Your Pitch
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When you pitch a story to a magazine editor and the editor declines, sometimes all it takes is a little tweaking to change the editor's mind.
That's what happened when Tina Lancy emailed the editor of Go, Airtran's inflight magazine, last November. She pitched a story about College Assistance Plus, the Rochester, New York-based consulting firm she works for that helps high school students find the right college at the right price.
He liked the story idea but said it wasn't a good fit with his audience because Rochester isn't on Airtran's route.
"I told him this isn't a Rochester story," she said. "This is a story that affects business travelers who have college-age kids and families everywhere because high school students everywhere are looking for colleges. I also told him we are selling franchises in many cities the airline serves."
The franchise angle caught his attention. In March this year, Go featured a story and photos about College Assistance Plus that took up three and a half pages. The feature generated a whopping 40 applications for franchises.
"Not everyone who applied bought," Tina said. "But our company is still working off those leads."
Tina didn't stop there. When she pitched the editor of Entrepreneur magazine, she included in her pitch information about the story in Go, a non-competing magazine. Mentioning other major hits in non-competing media often works in your favor and lets journalists know you're already media-savvy.
Entrepreneur wrote a short story about Tina's company in the November issue, which has been on newsstands for about a week. That story already has generated nine more applications for franchises.
Tina, by the way, considers herself a publicity puppy. She has no formal training in PR and is self-taught. If she can do it, so can you.
If you're targeting inflight magazines like she did, but you're working off an old media list, you might be pitching editors who are long gone. "Special Report #29: Fly High with Publicity in the Inflight Magazines" offers updated contact information and lots of pitching tips for 42 inflight magazines. Only $37. Order at http://tinyurl.com/6uz9g
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3. Confusing Social Networking
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I don't know about you. But when I read about all the opportunities to do social networking, I feel like a rat in a maze.
It's all I can do to keep up with the emails and invitations from my MySpace and LinkedIn friends.
Then there's Twitter. Gather. SmugMug. Wetpaint. StyleHive. ShoutWire. Furl. MeetUp. Frappr. Flickr. 43 Things. Ma.gnolia. WikiHow. Del.icio.us. Reddit. And Ning.
Some of them look like typos. Others I don't know how to pronounce. My eyes glaze over just reading the list.
Do yours?
If so, don't miss my teleseminar series on "How to Create a Media Plan for 2008" which starts today. It includes a presentation on Wednesday by Internet marketer Don Crowther, who will name the top 8 social networking sites or tools that we should work into next year's media plan.
Convinced social networking isn't for you? Don will change your mind by the end of the hour.
If you can't participate in all eight teleseminars, that's OK. I'm recording them all, and you'll get the audio downloads, including 30 days of free email support.
Click here to continue reading more about what you'll learn: http://www.PublicityHound.com/MediaPlan.htm
I'll be offering the entire series as a product afterward, and I'll let you know as soon as it's available.
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4. When Writing a Book is a Bad Idea
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Heather Gallegos says it's a shame that so many women won't visit day spas because they're intimidated by the way they look sans clothes.
So she decided to write a book to bust day spa myths and explain that nobody cares what you look like at a spa. Besides, lots of other women are relaxing with cucumber slices over their eyes and can't look anyway.
Heather, a marketing business consultant to the day spa and medical spa industry, attended Steve Harrison's Quantum Leap program last November for authors, speakers and experts because she wanted the book to be a success.
She learned rather quickly, however, that the book must upsell readers to other products and services that she didn't have. That convinced her to put the book on hold and start creating products.
"The Quantum Leap coaching program was one of the best investments I ever made because it saved me a lot of time and alot of money publishing a book I wasn't ready to publish," she said.
Fast-forward to last week, when Heather approached me to help her create a training program that teaches day spa and medical spa owners about publicity. I said yes immediately because we're a perfect fit. We'll decide next week exactly what it will entail.
In the meantime, other authors, speakers and experts who don't want to make the mistake Heather almost made, or who want to take a quantum leap in their careers, have until 6 p.m. Eastern Time tomorrow, October 31, to apply for this year's program. Only 65 people will be accepted. Click here to read more about what the program can do for you: http://www.yourquantumleap.com/apply/?10011
If all you care about is selling books, consider attending Steve's "Sell Books by the Truckload" event in Philadelphia Nov 8-10. Southwest Airlines serves Philly, so you can save on travel. Click here to read more about what you'll learn: http://www.sellbooksbythetruckload.com/?10011
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5. Promoting a Dental Drill
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This week, eight Publicity Hounds have tips for Elbert Mackey of Austin, Texas. He wants ideas on how to promote a new FDA-approved disposable dental drill.
From Jessica Satterfield:
"Your customers probably don't know they need this product. So maybe your first step would be to pitch some trend stories to women's and men's health magazines (Self, Men's Health, Fitness, etc.) to shed some light on the issue. The story can be an exposé on the disturbing trend of disease being spread at the dentist’s office, and what readers can do to protect themselves. Then, your product can be part of the solution."
From Dory Willer:
"Affiliate with those that can endorse your product and sell it for you via an affiliation code, providing an incentive of passive income, such as 1-800-DENTIST at http://1800dentist.com/ Have their marketing team create the pitch to their customers. Or go the brokerage route where you add your product to a list of products that brokers present to dentists."
From Leo Willcocks:
"Robert Kiyosaki, author of Rich Dad Poor Dad, in a radio interview, said his book was available at all bookstores. At the time, only one was stocking it! But it got people asking, and pretty soon all the bookstores were calling him to place orders. You could say that your product is available at all good dentists, and make sure you have the systems ready for when the orders pour in."
The Publicity Hound says:
Elbert, pitch this to the new product section of parents magazines. See "Secrets of Perfect Pitching to Reporters" at http://tinyurl.com/s3tyx and make sure you have a good-quality photo available.
Read all the responses to this week's Help This Hound question at http://tinyurl.com/223o3f
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6. Help This Hound
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Tamra Engle of Oakland, California writes:
"I've worked for over 25 years as a musician. But the 'rock star' in the mirror is now in her late 40s, but still able to crank out tunes that TV, films and new media are willing to pay me for. I write songs to pitch to the few TV/film folks I am establishing relationships with.
"So my publicity focus is to that very small behind-the-scenes group of music supervisors and film producers who can give me the work, as well as any other company that needs music for their corporate presentation, video game, or whatever. What, pray tell, are the best publicity tactics I can use to convince those people I'm their gal? I have gotten on to blogs like The Muse's Muse and ProBlogger, I have a monthly newsletter that I send out to my fan base and have generated a few press releases to industry trades.
"Your Hounds can read about me and hear samples of some of my personal as well as TV music at http://www.tamraengle.com/ if that helps them formulate some suggestions."
The Publicity Hound says:
Lots of musicians and music publicists read this newsletter. They and other Hounds will hit the right notes when it comes to giving you lots of ideas. Hounds with suggestions for Tamra can post them to my blog at http://tinyurl.com/36zm3l
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7. Hound Quote of the Week
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I'm taking Bogie to her last dog-training class at the vet's office tomorrow night, where she will learn to "stay." So this one is appropriate:
Sign at a veterinarian's office:
"We will be back in five minutes. Sit! Stay!"
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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How to pitch bloggers: 21 tips
http://tinyurl.com/ytwkad
Entrepreneur's almanac features press release tips
http://tinyurl.com/yq7k2h
FEMA's phony press conference a PR disaster
http://tinyurl.com/youhan
CVBs, chambers: Bring 'Ellen' to your town
http://tinyurl.com/yqxwug
Learn 5 legal issues for online businesses
http://tinyurl.com/26rtub
Radio-TV Interview Report gets good reviews
http://tinyurl.com/2y386l
Holiday gift guide tips featured weekly in free ezine
http://tinyurl.com/yqhdhv
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Where to Meet or Hear The Publicity Hound®
Oct. 30-Nov. 2: "How to Create a Media Plan for 2008"
This teleseminar series features eight sessions that will show you how to create a media plan, research targeted traditional and social media and milk every opportunity to promote your product, service, cause or issue. Two one-hour teleseminars each day for four days. See the stellar line-up of guest experts at http://www.PublicityHound.com/mediaplan.htm
Nov. 8: Gurnee, Illinois
"Savvy Media Relations: How to Generate Thousands of Dollars in Free Print, Broadcast and Online Publicity," 9 a.m. to noon. "The New Rules of Press Releases: How to Write Them for Consumers, Not Only for Journalists" from 1 to 3:30 p.m. Central Time. At the Rink Side Sports & Family Entertainment Center meeting room in the Gurnee Mills Mall. Register at http://www.PublicityHound.com/gurnee.htm
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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: book promotion, Facebook, media plan, MySpace, networking, press release distribution services, ProBlogger
posted by Publicity-Hound @ 5:38 AM
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