Tips, Tricks & Tools for Free Publicity
by Joan Stewart
Reporters get blamed enough for inaccuracies in news stories--sometimes rightly so.
Most Publicity Hounds don't know, however, that mistakes in print and broadcast stories are often caused by other people in the newsroom. So if you don't like what you see, don't call the reporter and start screaming into the phone. Find out who committed … [Read more...]
by Joan Stewart
One of the most frequent complaints I hear from Publicity Hounds is the one about what went wrong when they hired a big PR firm, or a lousy publicist. The nightmares sound like this. Whopping monthly retainers but few media placements. Fresh-out-of-college graduates with little PR experience assigned to major accounts. Sweet-talking publicists who … [Read more...]
by Joan Stewart
Everyone loves free, helpful information. Your customers and clients are no different. So why not create a free hotline where they can call and ask a question about how to use your product or service? Or suggest a product or service they'd like to see you offer. Or get a helpful recorded tip of the day. Or ask you a question about a particular … [Read more...]
by Joan Stewart
One of the best ways to get free publicity for your company is winning a prestigious award. If you're a tech company, listen up. Nominations are now being accepted for Deloitte’s Technology Fast 500, which ranks the fastest-growing technology companies in North America, and the Fast 50, which ranks the fastest-growing technology companies in 17 … [Read more...]
by Joan Stewart
PR Week offers some great tips on how to prepare your CEO for TV interviews. Most of these items are useful for print and radio, too. They're courtesty of Jerry Doyle, EVP at CommCore Consulting Group. 1. How well does he know the subject matter for the interview? It is perfectly reasonable to expect that the CEO has only top-line knowledge of … [Read more...]
by Joan Stewart
Small-business marketing expert Lois Carter Fay, APR suggests these 5 ways to drive sales with online publicity: --Use others to promote you. Create something "viral"--something that people love to pass on to their associates--and you can really rake in the sales. When you think "viral," think fun, useful or something that everyone wants, like a … [Read more...]
by Joan Stewart
Jennifer Marko of Tampa, Florida wantes to know how to promote the "Buckle Up Florida" campaign designed to encourage people to use their seatbelts. Here are a few ideas. From Dan Limbach of Oak Park, Illinois: Give an unusual twist to the concept of the "cutest baby" photo contest. Ask people to submit the most unusual, cutest or most … [Read more...]
by Joan Stewart
Every so often, an excited Publicity Hound writes to tell me about a terrific idea for a column they want to write and sell to one of the big news syndicates so they can become rich and famous like Dear Abby, Ann Landers, Mike Royko and hundreds of others. Not so fast, I tell them. Selling your column to a syndicate is a long shot because … [Read more...]
by Joan Stewart
If you're submitting articles for online publications, don't make the mistake of thinking you should follow the same rules you follow for getting articles published offline. Or you'll blow your chances of ever getting them distributed on the Internet. Here are three major differences: --If you want something published in a print publication, you … [Read more...]
by Joan Stewart
Cute headlines on news releases. Cute lead paragraphs. Cute story
pitches.
It's enough to make a reporter gag. Unless, of course, they crave
cute. But how do you ever know?
When pitching a story or sending a news release, err on the side
of caution. Don't send anything that smacks of cute to reporters
who … [Read more...]
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