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The Publicity Hound's
Tips of the Week
Issue #366 Oct. 2, 2007
Publisher: Joan Stewart
mailto:JStewart@PublicityHound.com
http://www.PublicityHound.com
http://www.publicityhound.net/ (Blog)
The Publicity Hound®
Circulation: 35,713
=====================================
"Tips, Tricks and Tools for Free Publicity"
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*******************************************************
Announcements:
--James Malinchak, an expert on how to get onto the college
speaking circuit and generate tons of publicity doing it, will be
my guest once again during a complimentary teleseminar at 4 PM
Eastern Time on Tuesday, Oct. 9. This is a high-content call
chock full of lists of tips that will whet your appetite for his
boot camp Nov. 29-Dec. 2 in Los Angeles. Warning: I got several
complaints last year that the boot camp sold out early because
James lets past attendees return as many times as they wish. So
if you're thinking of going, don't wait until the last minute.
Sign up for the teleseminar at http://tinyurl.com/fs56k
--Don't let the November 15 deadline for "Experclick: The Online
Yearbook of Experts," slip by you. If you want to be in the 2008
yearbook, that's the last day to reserve your space and take
advantage of $100 off only for Publicity Hounds. Call the office
in Washington, D.C., at 202-333-5000, and ask for the "Publicity
Hound Discount" or order on-line at
http://www.ExpertClick.com/Discount/The_Publicity_Hound
Click here to continue reading about all the benefits of a
membership: http://www.ExpertClick.com/Brochure
*******************************************************
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In This Issue
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1. When Newspapers Ignore You
2. Article Writers Don't Like My Advice
3. Tie into the New Fall TV Shows
4. A Big Mistake Non-fiction Authors Make
5. Promoting a Portable Water Collector
6. Help This Hound
7. Hound Joke of the Week
8. And at My Blog...
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1. When Newspapers Ignore You
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Have you ever picked up the local newspaper and read a glowing
story about one of your competitors? And told yourself that the
reporter could just as well have written the story about you?
Lots of Publicity Hounds have. They throw away their newspapers,
and then stomp off grumbling and groaning that their day has been
ruined.
Not so fast.
Do what the folks at The Edge Salon in Fish Creek, Wisconsin did
recently. When they read a story in the local Peninsula Pulse
newspaper about how Willard Zak was one of the last of the old-
time barbers in northern Door County, they wrote a letter to the
editor that, I swear, was far better exposure than any article a
staff reporter could have written.
The letter introduced Dawn Berna, a third-generation barber "who
learned her trade in one of the few men-only barbershops 20 some
years ago and can knock out an incredible haircut in 13 minutes
or less."
It also mentioned that Dawn's chair "is one of the large,
comfortable barber chairs, not the 'flimsy little chairs' that
Mr. Gallagher believes is standard in salons."
It even quoted a local restaurant owner who said his weekly
straight-edge shaves "are the highlight of my week."
And it issued a personal challenge to Willard Zak, who might be
retiring soon:
"The Staff at The Edge challenges you to have us cut your
hair....we will avoid the debate of who is the better barber."
The newspaper even included a photo of a customer having his hair
trimmed at The Edge Salon.
Would you have been this gutsy if the same thing had happened to
you?
If not, learn about all the ways to make the editorial pages of
newspapers and magazines, which Publicity Hounds frequently
ignore, really work for you. "How to Use Newspaper & Magazine
Editorial Pages" shows you all the ways to use letters to the
editor and opinion columns to promote a product, service, cause
or issue. It even explains how to meet with the influential
editorial board in hopes of swaying them over to your side.
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.
Read more about what you'll learn at http://tinyurl.com/5wh45
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2. Article Writers Don't Like My Advice
========================================
Several Publicity Hounds who post their articles to online
article directory sites wrote last week to chastise me for
telling you to ignore website owners who take your articles and
post them at their own por*n sites.
"There is indeed something you can do about it! And it is not a
full-time job," wrote Leslie McKerns of Royal Palm Beach,
Florida. "After a few sickening sleepless nights, I found out
EXACTLY what to do about it and have shut down each and every
link to inappropriate content."
She doesn't want her step-by-step directions posted here and risk
tipping off the spammers, but she's willing to explain them to
you if you email her.
Mailto:JStewart@PublicityHound.com?subject=LesliesEmail and I'll
send her email address.
Bette Dowdell of Glendale, Arizona has the same problem and
explained what she does:
"All the disgusting websites that misused my articles are on
BlogSpot, which is owned by Google. BlogSpot's terms of service
say no por*n is allowed, but they don't seem to do anything to
enforce their terms.
"I wrote a letter to Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google, expressing, in
legalese-lite, the Google liability in allowing others to steal
my intellectual property.
"I also started sending emails (support@blogger.com). Each day, I
add the day's offending hits (garnered from the Google Alert),
add a brief note about how they are aiding and abetting the
destruction of my reputation and my business. Notice I said
'add.' I always resend the same email, but with the current day's
offenses at the top. That way, they always have a complete record
of the fact that I intend to be a pest until they do the right
thing.
"This sounds onerous, but I get one Google Alert a day and send
one email a day to report the infractions. This is not
overwhelming. Results to date? Google TOOK DOWN the sites that I
complained about."
Thanks, Leslie and Betty.
Other Publicity Hounds who want to take the time to go after
these website owners can do so. But I'm sticking to my original
advice. Complaining eats up precious time. And once a site is
closed down, the perpetrators can have a new one up and running
the same day.
The source of this problem, by the way, is not online article
directory sites. My web developer told me yesterday that he
doesn't post to these directories, yet the p*orn industry has
stolen many of his articles posted at his own site and reprinted
them on their sites.
If you, too, are experiencing this problem and have found another
solution, let me know. And if you refuse to be deterred by these
scoundrels, and want to post your content to article directory
sites, learn how. Small business expert Sharron Senter explains
how posting articles generates from 30 to 100 sales leads a month
and how she follows up. She was my guest during a teleseminar
called "How to Post Online Articles That Pull Traffic to Your
Website."
We recorded it and 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/5zvga
=========================================
3. Tie into the New Fall TV Shows
=========================================
Thanks to Michael Smart, president of Michael Smart PR and
national news director for Brigham Young University for this tip
on how to tie your story ideas to the new fall line-up of TV
shows.
Michael generated fabulous publicity for the university several
years ago just as the show "Survivor" was debuting on CBS.
"We had an honors class at BYU on team-building that had been
taught for 13 years, and it wasn't new," he said. "The students
were told they were stranded on a desert island and had to figure
out ways to get off."
He pitched the story to local media, tied it to the "Survivor"
debut, and ended up with publicity in the local newspaper and on
the CBS affiliate station.
Then, two years ago, he did the same thing again when "Lost"
debuted on ABC.
"The same media outlets did the same story on the same class
simply because the pitch was tied to pop culture," he said.
He suggests businesses tie their pitches to "The Office," the
mega-hit that's in its fourth season on NBC.
TV producer and reporter Shawne Duperon says TV newsrooms love
stories like the ones Michael is suggesting. Shawne teamed up
with me to present a teleseminar called "103 Sizzling Story Ideas
from July through December." She pointed out the best ideas for
TV, and I flagged listeners to the best ideas for print.
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,
and each includes the handout listing all 103 ideas so you can
steal them and start pitching today.
Click here to continue reading more about what you'll learn:
http://tinyurl.com/54y6f
=========================================
4. A Big Mistake Non-fiction Authors Make
=========================================
It's one of the biggest boo-boos you can make if you're writing a
non-fiction book. Hundreds of authors make it daily, and then
suffer the consequences.
They write books without first creating spin-off products and
services to sell to people who buy the book and love it.
That might not sound like a big deal. But after working with more
than 9,300 authors over the last 19 years, Steve Harrison has
learned rich authors simply do seven key things differently than
poor authors.
One of them is that successful authors in the top echelon make
most of their money from things like board games, calendars, boot
camps, consulting, membership websites, mentor programs, coaching
clients, and anything else that can be tied into the topic of
their books.
He'll discuss that mistake and six others during a free 75-minute
teleseminar called "How to Achieve A Lot More Success As An
Author By Discovering The Seven Things Rich Authors Know That
Poor Authors Don't" on Thursday, Oct. 4. Choose from two times: 2
p.m. Eastern (11 a.m. Pacific) or 7 p.m. Eastern (4 p.m.
Pacific).
Like many free teleseminars, this call will whet your appetite
for a seminar he is hosting that walks authors step-by-step
through the entire process of spin-off products and services, and
other success strategies.
Sign up for the teleseminar at
http://tinyurl.com/2onv6b
==========================================
5. Promoting a Portable Water Collector
==========================================
This week, six Publicity Hounds have advice for Brian James of
Melbourne, Australia on how to promote The Water-Leech, a
portable water collector that sucks up water from showers, baths
and washing machines. The water can then be recycled to water
gardens and wash cars.
From Robert Schmidt:
"Piggyback onto bad-news stories about drought and watering
restrictions that are geographically based. Be ready to provide a
unit and a press release to any city that enforces a watering
ban. Look for endorsements from a 'green' celebrity like Governor
Schwarzenegger. Start by finding a few outspoken promoters and
get some units into their hands so they can become Water-Leech
evangelists."
From Marcia Clark:
"Contact the Green Building Council at http://www.usgbc.org/. The
organization is getting a tremendous amount of publicity as are
companies, builders and vendors who attain their special LEED
designation. This is a perfect time for him to promote his
device. If you create a Google Alert for 'Green Building,' your
email box will be full all day every day. (I have had great
success finding opportunities for several clients who are in some
way involved in green building.)"
From Jessica Satterfield:
"Check out the site http://www.livingwithed.net. This is the
official website for a popular reality TV show on the Home and
Garden network (HGTV). The show chronicles the life of Ed Begley,
Jr., who lives 'green,' but his wife says he goes overboard. You
can contact him via the site (the email address is
mailto:livingwithed@sbcglobal.net), and offer to send Ed one of
your products for free. With any luck, it will be included in one
of the shows or reviewed on his site."
Read all the responses to this Help This Hound question at
http://tinyurl.com/3884v8
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6. Help This Hound
================================
Nancy Hayssen of Sonoma County, California writes:
"I am a local private pilot and web entrepreneur who has launched
a website at http://www.sonomacountyairport.com/. It targets
Sonoma County residents and visitors who are traveling to the
area from L.A., Seattle and Portland to visit the Wine Country.
The site features things to see and do while here.
"The site recently has been taking off, and I'd love your Hounds'
help. I'm looking for ways to improve my site, increase traffic
as much as possible, unusual PR ideas, ways to build my email
subscriber list even more."
The Publicity Hound says:
One of the biggest problems I see will be differentiating your
website from the Sonoma County Airport's official website. Let's
see what my Hounds can offer. If you have a helpful idea for
Nancy, post it to my blog at http://tinyurl.com/2jqwf3
In the meantime, Nancy, you might want to know about a helpful
teleseminar that Bulldog Reporter is sponsoring called "Pitching
Travel & Tourism: How to Ride New Trends and Topics to Widespread
Coverage in Top Travel Media." It will be held at 1 p.m. Eastern
Time on Thursday, Oct. 4. You'll hear from journalists
representing the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, AAA Going
Places Magazine and Travel News Network. Continue reading more
about what you'll learn at http://tinyurl.com/3xmnkt
=================================
7. Hound Joke of the Week
=================================
A woman brought a litter of golden retriever puppies to the local
veterinary clinic for inoculations and worming.
As the look-alike pups squirmed over and under one another in
their box, the vet realized it would be difficult to tell the
treated ones from the rest. So he turned on the water faucet, wet
his fingers, and moistened each dog's head when he had finished
treating them.
After the fourth puppy, the vet noticed the hitherto talkative
client had grown silent. As he sprinkled the last pup's head, the
woman leaned forward and whispered, "I didn't know they had to be
baptized."
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/
=================================
8. And at My Blog...
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How to market a YouTube campaign
http://tinyurl.com/35etdy
Social media: How to measure your marketing efforts
http://tinyurl.com/2s2yze
Social media 'Unconference' off to a fast start
http://tinyurl.com/3ahlvf
Meet reporters at 'New York's Funniest Reporter' contest
http://tinyurl.com/2vssw8
---------------------------------------------------------------
Where to Meet or Hear The Publicity Hound®
Oct. 2: Teleseminar on Promoting Your Expertise Online
Marilee Tolen will present "Intro to Internet Marketing," a
series of telephone seminars for holistic health counselors,
nurses, doctors, therapists, educators, healers, massage
therapists, nutritionists, spa owners and health care business
owners how to create a huge presence for themselves online. I'm
her guest from 7 to 8:15 PM Eastern Time. And I'll teach you how
to become an expert in your field, and then promote your
expertise online to pull traffic, including journalists, to your
website. Click to continue reading about what else you'll learn:
http://tinyurl.com/3xmbfb
Oct. 9: Teleseminar on "How to Get onto the College Speaking
Circuit"
With James Malinchak, 4 to 5 p.m. Eastern Time. This
complimentary, high-content call will be chock full of lists of
tips on how to make a bundle speaking at colleges. It will whet
your appetite for his boot camp Nov. 29-Dec. 2 in Los Angeles.
Sign up for the teleseminar at http://tinyurl.com/fs56k
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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
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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®
3434 County KK
Port Washington, WI 53074
U.S.A.
Phone: 262-284-7451 (Central) Fax: 262-284-1737
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