Publicity tips/Back Door to The Wall Street Journal Oct 13, 2008
The Publicity Hound's
Tips of the Week
Issue #420 Oct. 14, 2008
Publisher: Joan Stewart
mailto:JStewart@PublicityHound.com
http://www.PublicityHound.com
http://www.publicityhound.net/ (Blog)
Circulation: 50,851
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"Tips, Tricks and Tools for Free Publicity"
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Not Too Late to Learn the Best Twitter Techniques
Yesterday's teleseminar on "How to Use Twitter to Amass an Army
of Followers, Customers & Valuable Contacts--and Promote" was so
packed with content that I emailed an 11-point summary of the
highlights to everyone who attended. There's still time to get in
on today's call at 3 p.m. Eastern Time, devoted to specific
strategies you can use to promote.
Register at http://tinyurl.com/3lbcaw and you'll get the MP3
downloads and electronic transcripts so you can listen to what
you've missed. You'll also receive the 11-point summary form
yesterday.
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In This Issue
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1. Back Door to The Wall Street Journal
2. Annoying Facebook Invitations
3. Pompous Press Release = Public Humiliation
4. Media Lead
5. Promoting Do-it-yourself Divorce
6. Help This Hound
7. Hound Joke of the Week
8. And at My Blog...
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1. Back Door to the Wall Street Journal
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If you want publicity about your business in the Wall Street
Journal, you don't necessarily have to pitch.
You don't even have to know anyone at the paper.
All it took for the Rev. Thomas Harrison to get a story about his
business in the Wall Street Journal last week was forming a
strong relationship with the religion editor at his local paper,
the Tulsa World, one of the largest dailies in Oklahoma.
Rev. Harrison, who does publicity for churches, also is a secret
church shopper.
In the retail industry, secret shoppers report on whether the
stores they visit are clean and the employees friendly.
Pastors hire Rev. Harrison to report on what he finds during his
undercover visits. Did someone greet him when he arrived? Were
the restrooms clean? Was parking adequate? And what about the
sermons?
Churches, competing for more members during a time when nearly
half of American adults switch religion affiliations, are turning
to corporate marketing strategies such as focus groups, customer-
satisfaction surveys and product giveaways.
The story was a natural for the Tulsa newspaper. A reporter
interviewed him last year, wrote a front-page story, then sent
that story to the Associated Press, the giant wire service. AP,
in turn, distributed the story to its member papers. It has been
appearing all over the Internet ever since.
A Wall Street Journal reporter saw it and called Rev. Harrison
for an interview. The story appeared in Friday's Life & Style
section and online at
http://www.wsj.com/article/SB122358815744820497.html
"I got it the old-fashioned way of building relationships and
letting the folks at the local paper know what I'm doing," he
said. "I knew the religion editor and had been working with him
on other stories for my clients. I told him about the secret
shopper business and one day he called and said, 'We'll be there
in an hour for an interview.'"
The Wall Street Journal story has led to two TV appearances, two
radio interviews, another interview by a daily newspaper in
Oklahoma, and an article in the online version of USA Today on
Friday.
Opportunities like this one for getting into the Journal are a
long shot. But the lesson can't be repeated often enough: form
strong relationships with journalists, the "new media" like
bloggers and ezine editors, and anyone else who publishes
content.
Rev. Harrison, by the way, found his way into this ezine thanks
to a simple email he sent me last week telling me about the Wall
Street Journal article. Now THAT'S a Publicity Hound.
You'll find more tips in "Special Report #49: 17 Ways to Build
Valuable Relationships with Media People." Only $10. Order at
http://tinyurl.com/6uz9g
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2. Annoying Facebook Invitations
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Are you sick of seeing all those invitations from your Facebook
friends who are promoting teleseminars, book-signings, Internet
radio programs and who knows what else?
I am.
Are you vowing to never pester your Facebook friends again with
those invitations? If so, big mistake.
Creating events on Facebook and letting your friends know about
them is one of the most powerful strategies you can use in your
publicity campaign, and it can make the cash register ring.
Last week, I created an event for the teleseminar series "How to
Use Twitter to Amass an Army of Followers, Customers & Valuable
Contacts--and Promote." My assistant spent more than an hour
emailing the invitation to my 1,500 Facebook friends.
As soon as she did, I got 12 registrations at $77 each, for a
cool $924 just from that one promotion technique.
Here's another powerful feature on Facebook. Thousands of people
who are not your friends can see the invitation on the walls of
your mutual friends.
And if your friend responds to the RSVP, even more people can see
it, click through to the page where you're promoting your event,
and sign up. That's what happened to me last week. I described it
in step-by-step detail, complete with screen shots, at my blog at
http://tinyurl.com/4reos4
If you aren't on Facebook yet, what are you waiting for? Jason
Alba explained dozens of tips on how to use this wildly popular
social networking site during two teleseminars earlier this
summer on "How to Use Facebook to Promote Your Business Or
Nonprofit."
The training is available as electronic transcripts and your
choice of CDs or MP3s. Get started on Facebook today at
http://tinyurl.com/3zfdum
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3. Pompous Press Release = Public Humiliation
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Thanks to Publicity Hound Kerry Nesbit of Winston-Salem, N.C. for
tipping us off to this column in the New York Times in which tech
columnist David Pogue publicly humiliated Gunnar Optiks, a
company that sent him a pompous press release touting its "high
performance eye wear."
You can read the column at http://tinyurl.com/4oqndr
The column, by the way, opens with the writer's comments about a
previous column he wrote on technology tips. I encourage
Publicity Hounds everywhere to read those tips. They will save
you hundreds of hours of time.
Then read about the pompous press release. Can you imagine being
castigated like that? The next time you send a press release,
will the same thing happen to you?
Make sure it doesn't. Take my free 12-week email tutorial on "89
Ways to Write Powerful Press Releases at
http://www.PublicityHound.com/pressreleasetips/art.htm
If you don't have 12 weeks to learn, you can get the entire
course in an ebook for only $27 at
http://www.publicityhound.com/pressreleasetips/ebook.htm
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4. Media Lead
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Money Magazine is looking for families willing to discuss the
dollars-and-cents expenses involved in practicing their faith--
the cost of everything from religious schools and dietary
restrictions to tithing and faith-based investment limitations.
If interested, please email your name, contact information and
family photo, along with a brief summary of your salary, savings
and religion-related expenses, to
mailto:gmannes@moneymail.com?subject=ExpensePracticingFaith
When you respond to queries like these, or you send a press
release or story pitch, do you follow up? Journalists tell you
they never want you follow up. Truth is, they never want you to
follow up if you don't know what you're doing, and most people
don't.
Publicity expert Jill Lublin has specific step-by-step
instructions that will put you in good graces with journalists.
Read more about the teleseminar she conducted with me on
"Failproof Ways to Follow Up," available as a CD or electronic
transcript you can be reading as soon as your order has been
approved. Start following up the right way at
http://tinyurl.com/bmyn7
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5. Promoting Do-it-yourself Divorces
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This week, four Publicity Hounds have tips for Jackie Stanley of
Greensboro, N.C., an attorney who needs help promoting a new
website at http://www.ncdivorceschool.com/ It offers training
for North Carolina residents who want to handle their own simple
divorces.
From Carol Stevens:
"I would promote Divorce in an Economic Downturn. Feeling like
you have to put everything off until the economy turns around? If
you were thinking of getting a divorce, save on attorney fees and
learn how to go about it yourself."
From Rekaya Gibson:
"Do research on cities that have the highest divorce rates.
Target your efforts there first. You may want to consider
marketing on sites that provide wedding information. make sure
you get a MySpace page."
From Jay Hamilton-Roth:
"When someone is considering a divorce, finances become a big
issue. Having accountants able to refer your website (further
saving them money) is a big benefit to their clients."
The Publicity Hound says:
How about creating your own TV show on do-it-yourself divorces
and have it broadcast only in North Carolina? PR pro Robert Smith
explained "How to Get Your Own National TV Show for Less Than
$400 a Month" during a Teleseminar I conducted with him. You can
probably get your own statewide show for far less than $400 a
month."
Read more about how to create your own show at
http://tinyurl.com/y4by43
Read all the responses to this week's Help This Hound question
http://tinyurl.com/4uqrs6
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
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Lisa Hoang of Honolulu, Hawaii writes:
"I am a professional child and family photographer. I own a
boutique, on location portrait studio that caters to high-end
clientele. I want my business to be talked about among the elite,
with my clients beginning a relationship with me from the time
their babies are born, or just before with maternity portraits.
"Being an ordinary Jane myself, what are some classy ways I can
become more established in this niche? My websites are Windward
Skies at http://www.windwardskies.com and Tiny Moments
Photography at http://www.tinymomentsphotography.com "
The Publicity Hound says:
Hounds, how about giving Lisa some terrific ideas for promoting
to an upscale clientele? Post your best ideas to my blog at
http://tinyurl.com/4a4yjv
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7. Hound Joke of the Week
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"[My dog] can bark like a congressman, fetch like an aide, beg
like a press secretary and play dead like a receptionist when the
phone rings."
--Former U.S. Congressman Gerald Solomon
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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Sending Facebook event invitations, RSVPs is time well spent
http://tinyurl.com/4reos4
Hypertarget your message with MyAds on MySpace
http://tinyurl.com/3ljozx
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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
USA
Phone: 262-284-7451 (Central) Fax: 262-284-1737
Labels: Facebook, small business publicity, teleseminars, Twitter, Wall Street Journal
posted by Publicity-Hound @ 3:59 PM
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