The month of October provides opportunities galore for pitching. ---October is Consumer Information Month. Your company or nonprofit can offer tips and free advice on product safety, how to avoid rip-offs, and how not to abuse credit cards. ---Sponsor a pumpkin-carving contest among your employees or customers. Invite people to carve the logo of … [Read more...]
Carve a pumpkin for TV publicity
Here's an idea almost guaranteed to bring the TV cameras into your company in October. Sponsor a pumpkin-carving contest for employees. Invite an on-air personality at your local TV station to be the judge. The challenge? To carve the TV station's logo in the pumpkin, of course. TV reporter Shawne Duperson loves those kinds of stories and says … [Read more...]
Wall Street Journal section lists Boomer trends
If you market to Baby Boomers, get your hands on a copy of the Monday, September 26, issue of The Wall Street Journal. It included a special section called "Encore: a Guide to Retirement Planning and Living." It's packed with trends, statistics and other helpful facts that you can use when pitching … [Read more...]
Tips for pitching TV after a disaster
If you don't subscribe to Bulldog Reporter's excellent ezine "Journalists Speak Out," you're missing some terrific pitching tips. Brian Pittman passed along several tips last week after interviewing Penelope Dunham, producer for ABC-TV's Channel 7 in San Francisco, on how PR people can pitch in the wake of a disaster. He gave me … [Read more...]
Pitch “how to” segments for TV talk shows, news
This time of year is perfect for pitching a "how to" segment for a local or national TV talk show or a newscast. For example: ---Demonstrate how to carve a pumpkin. If you're pitching to a local talk show, carve the local TV station's call letters into the pumpkin. How in the world could a producer not want that segment? ---If you're a foodie, … [Read more...]
Lots of Hurricane Katrina pitches off base
Almost 20 Publicity Hounds took me up on last week's offer to critique their news releases and story pitches that piggyback onto Hurricane Katrina. In all but a few cases, I gave thumbs-down to what I saw. Several Hounds came up with "Buy from me and I'll donate a portion" offers which sounded tacky. Another Hound whose expertise is leadership … [Read more...]
Don’t make these mistakes with follow-up calls to the media
Big PR agencies seem to be the worst offenders when it comes to following up on news releases. They usually assign a woman who sounds like an 18-year-old twinkie to call reporters and editors after the agency has mailed a release. The twinkie, usually using an annoying sing-songy voice, says: "Hi. This is Brittany. I'm just calling to see if you … [Read more...]
Use history as a hook for publicity
The next time you're searching for an angle for your story pitch, consider using history. For example: ---If you're sponsoring an event that's been held for 50 years, offer the media a sidebar that highlights the most significant aspects of your event during the last five decades. ---Pitching a profile story of your new CEO? How about telling … [Read more...]
Hold off on non-hurricane news
If you're planning to pitch a news story like a new product announcement, or an upcoming event or whatever to the national media , hold off a week or two. Media everywhere are concentrating on the newest developments from Hurricane Katrina, from the horrible looting and shooting in New Orleans to the effects on local gasoline prices and what … [Read more...]
How to Publicize an Award
You should have seen me last Thursday, racing around the Expo building at the Wisconsin State Fair, darting from display case to display case, searching for the two pieces of needlepoint I entered.
I finally found them with -- ta da! -- a second-place ribbon on one and a third-place ribbon on the other. My heart started racing, and I … [Read more...]
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