The Publicity Hound's Blog

A large feature story and several photos of Jessie Gwidt, shown here demonstrating how to make garden art, helped boost registrations for The Port Washington Garden Club

The next time you publicize a local event, keep these 11 tips in mind.

I compiled them after doing publicity for my garden club’s annual Gardening Seminar, which we hosted on Saturday. 

We generated mountains of publicity, from the local weekly newspaper to a nice story at Patch.com.
   
   
1. Start early!

I missed a deadline for a gardening newsletter because they work three months ahead. I knew I had to submit the calendar event for our local city magazine early but mistakenly assumed that deadlines for all the newsletters I was targeting were much shorter.

2. Pitch Businesses with Scrolling Signs

Those scrolling signs you see outside banks, credit unions and even some retail stores are perfect for your message!

I contacted several basks in our area and all of them posted a blurb about the seminar. The Fireworks Popcorn Co. in my town also has a scrolling sign and thanked me for submitting my item because so few other people do.   

3. Don’t Forget the Meteorologists

Your event might be perfect for pitching to the weather guys and gals at your local TV station, particularly if it’s held outdoors and relies on good weather.

Visit the TV stations’ websites, look for the weather team, and you might be lucky enough to find their email addresses. That’s what I did. 
   

4. Pitch the Shoppers

Local newspapers and other publishing companies print “shoppers,” those weekly freebie newspapers that you pull out of your mailbox. 

They’re packed with advertising, but they often need photos and text to plug the holes. These local papers are PERFECT for Publicity Hounds publicizing local events.
   
   
5. Let Local Colleges Know

If your event is educatonal, students and instructors at your local colleges and technical schools might want to attend.

I contacted a horticulture instructor at the local tech college and asked her to distribute our fliers to her classes. She did. She attended and brought several students with her.
   
   
6. Compile a Master Media List

Our club didn’t have a master list of media contacts, which really slowed me down.

I’ve compiled a simple list on a Word document, with deadlines, and I can hand it off to whoever does publicity for the next event.  I used many of the same tips I shared from the webinar on ‘How to Create Your Own Database of Valuable Media Contacts” which I hosted last week.
   
   
7. Pitch Your Best Visual Story Ideas 

Jessie Gwidt, one of our members, creates  beautiful garden art from castoffs she finds around the house, in her garage, and at rummage sales, and taught others how to do it at our seminar.

I chose that story to pitch to The Ozaukee Press, our local weekly newspaper and our Number One media target. I hit a bases-loaded home run. They ran a large story with several photos of Jessie and her creations on the front page of the Lifestyle section and jumpd the story inside. The same issue of the newspaper included the press release that had all the details, almost word for word.

Before you pitch, create a plan so that you’re pitching logical but different story ideas about the same event to different media outlets. That way, they all aren’t getting the same story, and your audience will be exposed to a lot different things that will be featured at your event.
   
   
8. Use Patch.com  

If you live in one of the 22 states in the United States where Patch has a local site, you’re in luck.

I pitched a story about a husband-and-wife gardening team in our club because they were both teaching classes at our event. Lisa Beyer, the editor, said she’d rather do a more general feature story on our club and mention the gardening seminar.  Patch lets readers subscribe to daily email alerts so they don’t miss any local news.     
  

9. Assign Two Photographers, Not One

I was disappointed with the photos I shot on Saturday with my iPhone 4S because the lighting was so poor. I should have taken a camera with a flash.

Then I got to thinking, what if I had lost my phone, or if it had fallen into the toilet? All those photos, lost forever.

Next year, I’m suggesting we have two photographers and also assign someone the job of shooting video testimonials. Let’s get participants talking about us when they’re still pumped up.
   
   
10. Debrief

Our committee is meeting again on Saturday to debrief and review a list of all the things we want to do better next year. We were tickled at the large turnout, but we noted about a dozen things we need to discuss.

Before the event, ask members to email you with anything the see that needs to be added to the list.
   
   
11. Send Thank You Notes

I’m busy writing thank you notes to the tech school instructor, the popcorn shop, the banks, the newspapers and everyone else who helped us publicize our event.

Don’t send email thank yous! That’s the lazy way. Handwritten notes are so much more personal and sincere. 
   
   
That’s my list. Let’s see yours. What are your favorite tips for publicizing local events? 

Here are my Top 10 tweets from this past week, great for retweeting! If you missed these, follow me on Twitter.

Follow These PR Rules If You Want To Raise Some Real Capital. t.co/OFOfjLof

Submit series of articles to papers in rich suburbs via NAPS. Expensive, but might be worth it for you. ow.ly/93OKP

Don’t let companies talk you into buying expensive media directories. Read this first, then decide: ow.ly/93P9y

3 ways to reinvent yourself on LinkedIn. t.co/r68rqIB4

5 ways to increase your Facebook fan engagement. ow.ly/95lve

3 critical details to include in your database of reporters, editors, broadcasters. t.co/syldFCmW

13 ways to cross-promote on social media sites. ow.ly/96rkf

How NOT to do PR: An interview with Peter Shankman who started HARO. ow.ly/96uGI

10 common self-publishing scams that can drain your bank account. ow.ly/96t3D

5 ways to take back your reputation on the web. ow.ly/98eAO

You’ll seldom find these details in those big, expensive media directories:

1. The names of a reporter’s spouse and children.

2. An editor’s likes and dislikes. For example, the food editor of your local newspaper mentions in her column that she loves crispy, crunchy snacks in mid-afternoon but doesn’t touch the typical bagged snacks found in the supermarket because they have too much salt. 

3. Other publications where  a freelance writer sells his articles.
 

Why These Details Are Important 

If you can weave into your customized pitch the names of a reporter’s family members, including pets,  that will get attention like nothing else. Let’s say you know from reading the local business reporter’s blog that his wife, Sally, is training for a marathon. Your company sells insoles for walkers, runners or anyone who has foot problems. A smart Publicity Hound would weave Sally’s name into the pitch.   

If you’re pitching a story about your company’s low-salt rice cakes to the food editor, you’d mention her dislike for salty snacks.

As for the freelancer, if you know the names of other magazines he writes for, you can pitch story ideas that would be a perfect fit for those publications but only after researching the magazines.

It’s difficult to learn things like this about your media contacts, unless you know where to look. I’ll be explaining all my little tricks tomorrow—Thursday, Feb. 16—when I host the webinar “How to Create Your Own Database of Valuable Media Contacts” at 3 p.m. Eastern Time. 

Creating your own customized media database of far fewer contacts gives you flexibility to include valuable details that will help you build a relationships with your contacts and craft more powerful pitches. It will also save you thousands of dollars because you won’t have to buy the big, bulky databases that include a gazillion contacts you’ll never use, but are paying for. 
   
   
8 Fill-in-the-blank Templates for You 

So that you don’t have to start from scratch, I’m giving all registrants eight fill-in-the-blanks templates for newspapers, magazines, TV shows, radio shows, freelancers, newsletters, bloggers and websites.  

If the time is inconvenient for you, sign up anyway because, within 72 hours after the call, I’ll email you a link where you can download the video replay, the PowerPoint slides I used during the presentation, and other materials. Register here. 

This guest post is written by Lior Levin, a marketing consultant for a company that offers to-do list tool applications for individuals and businesses, and who also consults at a psd to html company.

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Whether you maintain a blog or develop user-friendly content for business websites, every writer fears getting stuck on a topic or a particular post. Fresh, relevant content is a critical component of any SEO strategy, and maintaining a steady and sustainable writing pace is essential.

Here are six strategies for overcoming writing setbacks you might encounter.
   
   
1. Learn How to Generate Content Writing Ideas

The best way to avoid a setback is to plan and brainstorm a wide variety of ideas. You should have a collection of writing topics handy so you only pick the ones that are most interesting and relevant for your website. Keeping a notebook or running list on your cell phone can help you accumulate writing ideas so that you can hit a blank page with a good deal of momentum.

Blogger and author Marelesa Fabrage shares some places where she finds ideas:

• A question a client asks you.
     
• A comment your 2-year-old makes as she is trying to avoid eating her vegetables.
     
• A slogan you read on a billboard.
     
• An article you read on another blog during a coffee break.

Inspiration can strike just about anywhere. Be ready for it!
   
   
2. Focus on the Goal for Content Writing

When writing content for a website, you can fill up your website with information and ideas. An idea doesn’t engage readers, deliver on any kind of promise, or provide a clear focus for your writing.

Brian Clark writes at Copyblogger:

“You have an idea, but what’s the goal? From a content marketing standpoint, you’re usually seeking to educate or persuade.” A clear goal will help you cut away the parts of your content that don’t belong.
   
   
3. Don’t Mistake Facts for Benefits

Before writing, you’ll need to clearly understand how your post will make a customer’s life better, translating your information into benefits. If your goal is to educate customers about your industry and to hopefully convert them into customers, make a list of benefits that directly meet the needs of readers. According the site Improve the Web,“The more benefits you describe, the more you connect your content to the needs, interests and reasons people buy from you, the more efficient your website content will be.”
   
   
4. Focus on Writing a Compelling Title

No matter how hard you focus on identifying a goal and the benefits your content offers, you still need to think of ways to draw the attention of your readers. A solid title that hooks readers may provide the path forward that you need.

Some benefits to crafting a solid title are explained at the Allison Jones blog: “Crafting the title allows me to refine my topic and figure out the structure of my post.”  Learn how to writen effective title at ProBlogger.

   
   
5. Write with an Outline and Bullet Points

If you’re having a hard time figuring out what to write about your chosen topic, experiment with either an outline of sub-headings or even a series of bullet points. Jim Estill writes at CopybBlogger, “Bullet points… can make writing an article a lot simpler in terms of organization because you no longer have to figure out transitions from one idea to the next.”

Work with the most basic parts of your post to create a skeleton before filling in the gaps. You also may find that a skeleton is exactly what you need for your website or blog content.
   
   
6. Focus on a Specific Topic You Understand

If your writing is stalled, the problem may be with your focus. Are you trying to address a topic that is too broad? A stalled writing project is typically a symptom of not understanding a topic well enough.

The solution is to conduct research in order to sharpen your knowledge and to improve the quality of your content. Christopher Auman shares at Blog Critics, “If you try to cover a large topic in a mediocre or unconvincing way, people will probably not bookmark and return or even worse they many not even finish reading and move on.

If you’re still stuck after trying out these tips, don’t worry. There are plenty of ideas for writing effective content. Check out this list of 37 things to keep in mind when writing content for starters. Writing is a craft that requires practice and patience. Give yourself a few months of practice and you’ll be amazed at the progress you can make with your website content writing!

A reporter at a national publication is examining what happens when a person who is emotionally available and expressive pairs up with someone who is not. She is looking for people to interview.

Are you an emotional “giver”—someone who is comfortable expressing your love, affection and feelings? Are you married to or dating someone who is more emotionally reserved? (Maybe he or she is comfortable with receiving affection but has a hard time expressing it.) How do you become comfortable with this dynamic and make the relationship work? Have you had to work through your differences? How?

If you have interesting stories to tell about this topic, please write as soon as possible to aceb5@aol.com and send details of your anecdote and contact information. Anyone quoted will need to be willing to use their name.

Deadline for contacting the reporter is noon Tuesday, Feb. 14.