The Publicity Hound’s
Tips of the Week
Issue #483 Dec. 22, 2009
Publisher: Joan Stewart
mailto:JStewart@PublicityHound.com
http://www.PublicityHound.com
http://www.publicityHound.net/ (Blog)
http://www.PublicityArticles.net (Ezine Archives)

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“Tips, Tricks and Tools for Free Publicity”

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        In This Issue
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1. My Gift to You

2. Quick, What’s Your Brand?

3. Another Media Leads Service

4. Promoting The Screaming Pillow

5. Help This Hound

6. Hound Video of the Week

 
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1. My Gift to You
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It’s time for my annual Christmas, Hanukkah and New Year’s gift
to you.

“The Best of The Publicity Hound’s Tips of the Week of 2009″
includes the best 26 tips from this year’s newsletters, or tips
that generated the most response from readers.

Feel free to re-gift it to your own blog readers, newsletter
subscribers, clients, customers, Twitter followers, and Facebook
friends.
They don’t even need to opt-in. You can download the ebook at
http://tinyurl.com/bestof2009tips and pass along that link.

If you work at a company, share it with your PR department. If
you work for a nonprofit, show it to your staff and even your
board members.

More than half of the tips in this year’s book are about social
media. What does that tell you about how much self-promotion has
changed?

Tips include:

–How to create your own holiday, or your own day, week or month
of the year.

–10 dead or dying PR tactics.  (Which ones are you still using?)

–How to find out if a journalist blogs and how to navigate the
blog to find all the juicy tidbits you need to customize your
pitch.

–What to do if you’re a blogger and you’re sued tomorrow.

–The lazy way to create fun video–even if you don’t have a
technical bone in your body.

–25 reasons to hate Facebook (but how to suck it up, jump in and
actually have fun).

–A big, bright flashy–and free–publicity tool, right in your
own community.

–9 attention-grabbing phrases to use at your blog and at Twitter
to generate comments and retweets.

–How to share your best foodie tips on Twitter without boring
your readers with “what I had for lunch” drivel.

–How to boost the Google page rank of your blog or website with
an investment of only 15 minutes a week.

–Where to find more than 30 sample social media policies, for
free.

–How to promote your local events on Twitter and draw crowds.

–5 great social media marketing ideas when the idea well is dry.

–The Number 1 press release writing mistake that will doom you
every time.

–9 ways to get retweeted on Twitter.
You can get the ebook here, save it to your hard drive and then,
share it on the social networking sites:
http://tinyurl.com/bestof2009tips

If you’d like to excerpt content from the ebook and then link to
it from your own blog or Facebook Fan page, let me know and I’ll
send you the ebook as a Word document so you can easily cut and
paste.

Thanks to all of you for being loyal readers and to many of you
for being active participants in this newsletter. Each week, I
receive dozens of emails from Hounds who share publicity success
stories, contrary viewpoints, helpful publicity tips, time-saving
tools and shortcuts and, of course, Hound jokes, quotes and
hysterical videos.

Thanks, too, for correcting me when I goof. I’m grateful that
you’re part of my community, and it’s because of you that I have
the best job in the world. Next week, I’ll introduce you to my
new business partner and tell you what we have cooking for 2010.

P.S. Re-gifting this ebook is entirely appropriate. Share this:
http://tinyurl.com/bestof2009tips

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2. Quick, What’s Your Brand?
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You’re interviewing for a job, and the hiring manager asks,
“What’s your brand?”

Quick, how would you answer that question?

Personal branding consultant William Arruda says you’d better
know because “What’s your brand?” will become as standard an
interview question as “Tell me about yourself.” If he’s right,
you can probably expect the question during media interviews and
even business networking events.

That’s one of 10 branding trends that Arruda predicts in the
Marketing Profs article “Personal Branding Predictions: Top 10
for 2010″ at http://budurl.com/2010predictions He says hiring
managers and executive recruiters expect serious professionals to
have a powerful online identity through Google searches and at
social media sites.

“In 2010, if you don’t show up in Google, you don’t exist,” says
Arruda.

That’s already true, to some extent, when journalists and
bloggers are searching for experts to interview. If they’re
looking for someone with your expertise and your name isn’t on
the first or second page of Google, you’ve missed an opportunity
for a media interview–and maybe even a new job.

Once you’ve decided on your brand, be sure to carry it throughout
your entire media plan for 2010. If you’re busy closing out the
year and you haven’t even started thinking about how to generate
publicity for next year, it isn’t too late. I can walk you step-
by-step through the entire process. See “How to Create a Media
Plan,” and take advantage of the one hour of telephone consulting
that comes with this package. Read more about it at
http://www.publicityhound.com/mediaplan.htm

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3. Another Media Leads Service
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Take advantage of every opportunity to subscribe to the media
leads services that pass along leads from real, live journalists
who are looking for specific types of sources for stories they’re
covering.

The newest service is Bill and Steve Harrison’s “Reporter
Connection” which will tell you about topics for which
journalists and producers are actively seeking experts to
interview. Subscribe and you’ll receive their email newsletter
containing listings of sources needed by top reporters,
producers, writers, editors, bloggers and other media, every
business day. Journalists can also submit queries.

They say their service is unlike other media leads services in
two important ways:

–First, all replies go through their system which means
journalists don’t need to publish their email addresses to would-
be sources.

–Their unique Media Reply Forms practically force experts to
answer up to six specific questions for the media. This is good
for both sides because it cuts way down on off-target replies and
means you won’t end up pestering media people. It also means
journalists will only hear from on-target experts.
You can subscribe at
http://www.ReporterConnection.com/JoinNow/?10011 Even though you
don’t pay for this service, the Harrisons pay me a commission if
you turn into a customer.

The easiest time to get publicity is when journalists have
already decided to cover a particular subject and they’re hungry
for sources.

If you’re a journalist, blogger or ezine editor and you need
sources, you can submit a query at
http://www.ReporterConnection.com/press

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4. Promoting The Screaming Pillow
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This week, six Publicity Hounds have tips for Gabrielle Yetter of
Marblehead, MA, on how to market The Screaming Pillow, a
decorative pillow that people can scream into when they’re
stressed and want to let off steam.

From Rekaya Gibson:

“Have a ‘Scream in Your Pillow Contest’ similar to the ‘Stella
Shouting Contest’ that’s held during the Tennessee Williams/New
Orleans Literary Festival in recognition of ‘Streetcar Named
Desire.’ There’s a great video on YouTube–-another great way to
promote your pillows after the contest.”

From Nancy Binzel Pierce:

“Your target market is anyone who has ever felt like screaming
into a pillow, or roughly 100 percent of the population. Pitch
this to Ellen, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert.”

From Linda S. Williams:

“How about writing an ebook that would include a Screaming Pillow
for anyone who buys the book. The book could tell your story and
the therapeutic information behind the pillow. It might also
include other stories. Since you already have a website and use
Facebook, you’re ready to go.”

The Publicity Hound says:

Read all the responses to this week’s “Help This Hound” question
http://budurl.com/screamingpillow

Send your own Help this Hound question to:
mailto:JStewart@PublicityHound.com?subject=HelpThisHound
and include your city and state or province.

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5. Help This Hound
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Alissa Rothstein of Alissa Rothstein Design Studio in Woodbridge,
NJ, writes:

“I am a graphic/web designer, and I’m stuck when it comes to
marketing.

“I’ve tried email blasts to different industries, postcard
mailings, and am a member of the Chamber of Commerce which,
incidentally, had promised but never provided any leads.

“I am not really targeting small businesses because I find that
they can’t or don’t want to pay for designer services and I have
to fight the ‘I can do it myself’ mentality.  Or, they think that
they can save money by hiring  a cheap intern or a kid out of
college.  While they can do graphics, web and e-marketing
activities themselves, they just can’t do it very well and it’s a
poor reflection on their company.

“Help! I need marketing and publicity ideas from your Hounds. I
have Facebook, MySpace and Twitter pages, although I’m not very
active.”

The Publicity Hound says:

You must position yourself as one of the foremost experts in your
field and hammer home that point again and again by sharing
useful, helpful advice for anyone who needs a website. Let’s see
if my Hounds can suggest other ideas. Hounds? Post your
suggestions to my blog at http://budurl.com/webdesignmarketing

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6. Hound Video of the Week
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Thanks to Publicity Hound Christine Buffaloe of San Diego, CA, my
virtual assistant, for this heart-warming video of what dogs do
on Christmas Eve.

http://budurl.com/doggieChristmaseve

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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You may reprint any items from “The Publicity Hound’s Tips of the
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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 Press Release.”

If you like these tips, please pass them on to your friends,
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Joan Stewart
a.k.a. The Publicity Hound