Publicity tips/Oprah's Scandal Nov 6, 2007

The Publicity Hound's
Tips of the Week
Issue #371 Nov. 6, 2007
Publisher: Joan Stewart
mailto:JStewart@PublicityHound.com
http://www.PublicityHound.com
http://www.publicityhound.net/ (Blog)
The Publicity Hound®

Circulation: 35,452

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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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Spiders, Cheeseheads & Those Funny Plastic Thingamajigs:
Everybody receives a plastic spider ring. And a chance to win a big Wisconsin Cheesehead hat. And an odd-looking plastic thingamajig that got worldwide publicity on CNN. That's just the fun part.

Spend the day with me on Thursday in Gurnee, Illinois and you'll know how to create a blog in 10 minutes or less. My daylong workshops on publicity will also teach nonprofits how to use free publicity to pull in volunteers and donors. Businesses will learn how to use publicity to boost holiday sales this year. Everyone will learn how to build strong relationships with journalists and use social networking sites to call attention online to your product, service, cause or issue. Read more about what I'll be teaching and how you can join the fun at http://www.PublicityHound.com/gurnee.htm

See Item #3 below.

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In This Issue
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1. Oprah's Scandal

2. Rosie's Book Signing Hot Seat

3. Spider Rings & Press Releases

4. How Are You Using YouTube?

5. Promoting a Guitarist & Songwriter

6. Help This Hound

7. Hound Joke of the Week


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1. Oprah's Scandal
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Maybe Oprah had the best crisis counselors money can buy.

Or maybe she has already dealt with so many crises that she knew exactly how to handle the latest one: charges of s~exual allegations at the Oprah Winfrey Academy in South Africa.

CEOs and Publicity Hounds everywhere can learn several lessons from the way she responded when she learned of reports that girls had been abused at her school, which has been open less than a year.

--In October, when she first heard the news, she immediately hired her own independent investigative team, headed by a former detective and commander of the Child Exploitation Unit of the Cook County Sheriff's Office in Chicago, to investigate.

--Tempted to talk to the press, she kept quiet, on the advice of investigators who told her not to say anything until they made an arrest. You can read the transcript of yesterday's entire press conference and watch the video at http://tinyurl.com/ywyrue

--She traveled to the school to personally talk with students and their parents and to encourage the girls to come forward with whatever other details they could provide. Several did.

--Oprah "cleaned house from top to bottom." She fired the head mistress who was later charged, and she removed all the remaining dorm matrons and replaced them with faculty members. She also admitted that the process of background checks was inadequate.

--She accepted full responsibility, stressing "the buck stops with me."

--She spoke with heartfelt honesty about what happened, calling it "one of the most, if not THE most devastating experience of my life." She talked about how, when she first heard the news, she cried for a half hour while walking from room to room in her house, in shock.

--Oprah is in the process of buying cell phones for all the girls so they can contact her personally if other problems arise.

Many of the steps she took are those recommended by crisis counselor Jonathan Bernstein, who was my guest during a teleseminar on "How to Keep the Media Wolves at Bay." Jonathan discusses the most important things anyone can do when faced with bad news of any kind. He explained the top 5 mistakes people make when they find themselves knee-deep in a crisis.

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.
Click here to continue reading more about how to deal with the media wolves: http://tinyurl.com/b8wcy


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2. Rosie's Book Signing Hot Seat
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Attention, authors.

I doubt you'll be ambushed by a TV reporter at your next book signing, but it happened to Rosie O'Donnell over the weekend. If you or your topic are controversial--the stuff that radio and TV talk show hosts love--it can also happen to you.

A staff member from Bill O'Reilly's "No Spin Zone" on FOX approached Rosie with a camera crew on Saturday afternoon as she was signing copies of her book "Celebrity Detox" at a Long Island bookstore.

He invited her to appear on O'Reilly's show to discuss comments she has made about how 9-11 was an "inside job."

Rosie, who is bitter enemies with O'Reilly, kept calm and used one of the strategies that crisis counselor Jonathan Bernstein recommends (see Item #1 above). She asked the crew to turn off the camera.

They refused and were eventually escorted out of the bookstore. You can watch the video at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21535945/

Knowing the little tricks TV reporters use to encourage you to talk are very different than the tricks used by print reporters. Radio reporters have their own quirks, too. So do reporters for the wire services.

Former reporter Al Guyant explains them all on "The Dangerous Hidden Secrets of Print & Broadcast Reporters," a CD that comes with a chapter from his book in which he outlines the advantages and disadvantages of working with each type of reporter. You can download it as soon as your order has been approved.

Click here to read more about what you must know when dealing with each type of reporter: http://tinyurl.com/g54jk


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3. Spider Rings & Press Releases
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Everyone who attends one of my workshops on how to write press releases gets a black plastic spider ring to take home with them.

Wear it on your finger. Or hang it on a string so it dangles in front of you while you're at your computer writing press releases.

It's my way of reminding Publicity Hounds to write press releases for the spiders--the search engine spiders, that is.

After all, the key reason you write press releases isn't to get the great big stories we all love. (You get those by delivering a customized pitch.) Instead, we write them primarily to pull traffic to our websites.

Before you write, you must know the keywords or keyword phrases that people type into the search engines to find the kind of information that's in your release. Using those keywords in your release, over and over again, will flag the spiders and pull traffic to your site.

Writing and posting press releases online also means that even if the traditional media ignore our releases and our stories, we can still pull people into our sales funnel.

At Thursday afternoon's workshop in Gurnee, Illinois, I'll explain how to write press releases for the search engines. I'll also discuss the 6 key elements in every press release and emphasize the one element that most people overlook. Without it, it's impossible to measure the success of your press release or pull anyone to your website.

Everybody also gets a fun little tchotchke to take home with them. It's long, it's plastic, and it was the subject of a worldwide feature story on CNN. You'll also get $500 in coupons to be used at stores at Gurnee Mills Mall, where I'm speaking.

Read more about what you'll learn at Thursday's two workshops in Gurnee, Illinois at http://www.PublicityHound.com/gurnee.htm


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4. How are You Using YouTube?
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Smart Publicity Hounds are using YouTube in creative ways to self-promote, and I want to start featuring some of the more clever videos and strategies.

If yours is one of them, drop me a line at mailto:jstewart@PublicityHound.com?subject=YouTubeVideo and explain how you use it and, more importantly, what kind of feedback you've gotten. And please provide a link to the video.

If you feel like you're living in the Dark Ages because you aren't using video yet in your publicity campaign, don't despair. Tom Antion has been raking in the bucks using video for several years, and he shows you how to get very smart about video very quickly.

His two-CD set explains how to:

--Shoot simple video clips and get them up on your website all by yourself. This costs hundreds or even thousands of dollars to hire out.

--How to get broadcast quality productions on the tightest budget possible.

--How you can get someone to provide financing for the production.

--How you can get paid to air your promotional production on TV. You'll learn exactly how to do this to make yourself a celebrity.

Continue reading more about all the cool stuff you'll learn about video at http://tinyurl.com/y3b6wj


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5. Promoting a Guitarist & Songwriter
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This week, six Publicity Hounds have tips for Tamra Engle of Oakland, California. She's a guitarist and songwriter who needs ideas on how to market herself to music supervisors and film producers who can give her projects.


From Jennifer:

"Don’t forget to network through 'official' organizations like ASCAP, BMI and NARAS--they can all put you in touch with other people who can help."


From Jason Feinberg:

"I run a music industry online marketing company at http://www.otmg.net and the key is niches. Find the hundreds (or more) of websites that cater to niches you fit into. This includes music, lifestyle, social networks, and more. It isn’t always easy to make an enormous instant splash, but a lot of coverage across many niche sites can add up to something big."


From Bill Georgi:

"Work with a political campaign that will be producing its own TV commercials."


The Publicity Hound says:

Music publicity expert Bob Baker knows every trick in the book for promoting, whether you're a big band or a musician on your own. He explained them all, including some of the best websites for music publicity, on the CD or electronic transcript "Do-it-Yourself PR Tips for Songwriters, Musicians and Bands on a Budget."

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.

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


Read all the responses to last week's Help This Hound question at http://tinyurl.com/36zm3l


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6. Help This Hound
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Publicity Hound Janice Bittner of northern Virginia writes:

"Our company, Dryer Vent Wizard, cleans, fixes and installs dryer vents in an effort to help prevent dryer fires. I've sent at least three media kits to 10+ newspapers in our area over the last year that covered fire safety. I even gave out free dryer vent check kits to provide helpful tips and warning signs to readers.

"We live in a highly populated area with several weekly newspapers, all of which have extremely expensive advertising rates and not much editorial and news space. I haven't been able to get a story printed in any of them, even after speaking to a reporter whose paper covers the area where a family recently experienced a dryer fire due to a clogged dryer vent (I even secured permission from the family to be interviewed).

"Any help from your Hounds on how to get publicity in a news environment that doesn't have room for filler-type articles would be greatly appreciated!"


The Publicity Hound says:

That's an admirable goal, Janice. But why target only traditional media? I'll bet my Hounds will suggest lots of tips on how to break through that brick wall at your local newspapers AND use social networking sites and other online tools to generate publicity. Hounds, let's hear your best ideas. You can post them to my blog at http://tinyurl.com/37t4jb


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7. Hound Joke of the Week
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"Do you know the present value of your husband's policy?" the life insurance salesman asked his client.

"What do you mean?" countered the woman.

"If you should lose your husband, what would you get?" asked the salesman.

The woman thought a minute, then brightened up and said, "Probably a poodle."


P.S. Tomorrow night, Bogie and I stand before the entire class at puppy training school and the instructors will grade me (not Bogie) on how well I can get her to "sit," "stay," "come" and "down." Here's hoping for straight As. But don't count on it.


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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Where to Meet or Hear The Publicity Hound®


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 KKPort Washington, WI 53074
U.S.A.
Phone: 262-284-7451 (Central) Fax: 262-284-1737