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In This Issue:
1. Tips for Your 2012 Media Plan
2. Your Competitors' Press Releases
3. How to Find Influential People
4. Don't Use Facebook's Links Box
5. Artists Need International Publicity
6. Hound Video of the Week
7. And at My Blog & Mobile Site...
1. Tips for Your 2012 Media
Plan
This is the time to start collecting editorial calendars
so you can begin creating your media plan for next year.
Contact the advertising department at each newspaper and
magazine where you want publicity and ask a sales rep to
send you a calendar or lead you to it at their website.
Editorial calendars list special sections and other
topical features being planned for specific
publications. They tip you off to sections where your
story would be a good fit. Find out who edits the
section, write a pitch, and then deliver it. Using
editorial calendars will put you miles ahead of everyone
else who's pitching.
Here are three more tips for creating a media plan:
--Less is more. You're better off targeting fewer media
outlets and writing customized pitches for each, rather
than delivering the same one-size-fits-all pitch to
dozens of media outlets, many of which will have very
different audiences.
--Use the social media sites to find journalists who
cover your topic. If you find a beat reporter on, say,
Twitter, follow him. Pay attention to topics he's
writing about. Retweet his content. Start the
conversation. And then pitch.
--Think of ways to repurpose your publicity, using
multi-media. If a local newspaper prints a story about
your company's new product, don't stop there. Create a
video for YouTube. Post photos to Flickr. Feature the
product on Company Pages on LinkedIn. Consider hosting a
free webinar showing people how to use the product, and
offer replays of the video at your blog.
If you aren't creating a strategy right now to generate
publicity in the next 12 months, in another month or
two, it may be too late. Long lead times for some media
outlets, like national magazines for instance, mean you
need to be pitching stories six months before the
magazine goes to press.
But you don't have to start creating a plan from
scratch. Let me help.
"How to Create a Media Plan" is a graduate-level course
on how to get worldwide attention for your product,
service, cause or issue, by creating and following a
well-thought-out, month-by-month strategic plan that
also leaves room for publicity ideas when there's
breaking news.
It's available as electronic transcripts, CDs or MP3s. Read more about how it will shorten your learning curve.
2. Your Competitors' Press Releases
Your media plan, mentioned above, has an important
component: online press releases.
You will write them primarily to reach consumers
directly through the search engines. For journalists,
you'll deliver those customized pitches.
Just for the heck of it, go see what kinds of press
releases your competitors are writing. I'm a huge fan of
ExpertClick: The Online Yearbook of Experts, which lets
you post up to 52 press releases per year, with a
subscription.
Click here, and then click "Site Map" in the
menu bar. Now go to the "Experts" column and click on
"Find Experts."
Scroll down to the long list of hundreds of topics.
Click on your topic and you'll see a list of your
competitors. You can now call up their press releases
and see what they've written. If you don't see your
topic, use the search box.
One of the reasons I like ExpertClick, and am a
compensated affiliate, is because press releases rank
well in the search engines. You can also write them even
when there's no news. Create a tips list, take a stand
on a controversial topic, make a prediction, issue a
proclamation, or identify a trend you're seeing in your
industry and write about it, and include a call to
action.
If you use the link above, you can take advantage of the
$100 Publicity Hound discount.
3. How to Find Influential People
I recently discovered Appinions, a fascinating
company that shows you how to find and connect with
influencers like journalists and bloggers who are
discussing topics in your area of expertise right now.
Unlike sites, such as Klout, that measure only social
media influence, Appinions also tracks traditional media
to round out a true picture of influence.
Appinions claims to be the first service that matches
influencers to specific topics, based on opinions from
news, blogs, tweets, TV transcripts and social networks.
Publicity Hounds can then identify the most influential
people who can move the needles of influence, and pitch
them.
After speaking with CEO Larry Levy, and watching him
demonstrate how the service works, I was so impressed
that I asked him to host a free webinar for you.
The ideal client for this service is a PR or marketing
agency that has multiple clients and does at least $5
million a year in revenue.
If that's you, join us for a free one-hour webinar at 3
p.m. Eastern Time on Thursday, Oct. 13. After you sign
up, email me the topics where you need to find
influencers. Levy has promised to demonstrate his
service, using as many topics as possible from
participants.
We have room for only 50 Publicity Hounds on the call.
But if you can't attend live, you can watch the video
replay. Register for the webinar here.
Full disclosure: I will earn a commission from all
subscriptions sold.
4. Don't Use Facebook's Link Box
When you write a Facebook status update and want to
link to an article, Facebook gives you two options:
--Click on the "Link" box and type your link.
--Simply type the URL directly into your status update.
Lots of testers have done it both ways. They've found
that, in most cases, the second option encourages more
people to click on the link.
Mari Smith has lots more ideas on how to encourage
people to Like your page and click on your links. She
was my guest during the webinar on "33
Ways to Attract Facebook Fans, Provide Sterling Content
& Keep Them Coming Back for More."
No time to watch
the webinar replay? That's OK. Use the handy checklist I
compiled. It includes all 33 tips. Follow one tip each
day and watch the number of "Likes" on your page
skyrocket.
Read more about how to access the replay and the
checklist, part of the handouts.
5. Artists Need International
Publicity
Publicity Hound Kate Farrall of San Diego, CA, writes:
"I need to get national/international publicity for my
two muralist clients who are completing a five-story
public art installation this November for the City of
Davis, just outside of Sacramento. They have transformed
a water tank into a 360-degree kinetic art installation.
You can see a short video that explains the project.
"My pitches have done well, thanks to your great advice.
So far, I've gotten my clients a segment on our local
PBS channel that will run for a year and a half, along
with a few other news and print hits. The feedback on my
pitches has been really good and I've tailored each one.
"How do I create a hook for national publications,
especially art publications? Or even publications that
are not so big but located elsewhere? Local has been a
good hook for us so far, but that won't work in the
Midwest, New York or Europe. My clients want to be
recognized as professional artists and have a broader
name recognition so they can expand where they work and
the types of projects they do.
"You can read a press release about the project.
The Publicity Hound says:
My readers love questions like this because there are so
many publicity possibilities. One of the first things
I'd do is go to their Flickr account and write captions
and tags for each photo.
OK, Hounds, let's hear your ideas. Post them at my blog.
6. Hound Video of the Week
Thanks to Elaine Grassbaugh of Columbus, Ohio for
this hysterical oldie-but-goodie video of the "Jack
Russell Balloon Dog" on, I assume, a Stupid Pet Trick
segment on the "Tonight Show" with Jay Leno.
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.
7. And at My Blog & Mobile Site
Celebrity publicists: Interviewer will promote your
clients
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Tips of the Week" in your print or electronic
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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
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See you next week!
Joan Stewart
The Publicity Hound | |
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