4 More Tips for Successful Online and Offline Publicity: Part II

Everyone loves publicity tips. Especially me! Part I and publicity tips #1-3 can be found here. Now here are 4 more proven tips. And one quick tip about implementation…don’t add all these tips at once. Pick one to focus on first. Gain some experience and a decent comfort level with that particular tip. That will help anchor that technique with your ongoing marketing program. Once that approach is in place then move on to other tips on the list.

So here are tips #4-7…

Publicity Tip #4: Become sound bite worthy: speak in pictures

Every see a professional sports athlete or coach interviewed? Most of the time it’s cliché city. Reporters are helpless in those situations. It’s their jobs to cover those stories. Your story is another matter.

So the more memorable your sound bite, the more likely the media will go to you first. Here’s an example: when I had my ad agency, it was common to submit press releases that highlighted new accounts, employees and other company news.

In this particular case, we changed the name of the company. From Harty Communications to HartyCom. Again, by itself, not news. However, in the release, I had my own original sound bite. It was a clever twist on highly service-driven industry.

Here’s what I said: “All the time we save by saying the shorter name will be put towards client deadlines.” This gave the reporter an immediate image of our industry. It had a touch of humor and out of the thousands of company news items, this one stood out. It was published in the Dallas Business Journal. (With more expanded coverage than more typical news items.)

Publicity Tip #5: Going beyond text to images and video

When people think of powerful publicity tips, they often focus on words, not pictures. So look for photo or image opportunities locally, nationally and internationally. The web makes this much easier. You can find photo opportunities just about everywhere. Here’s just a sample: local newspapers, trade journals, TV stations, weekly shoppers, authority blogs, and other media are always on the lookout for photos that help to better communicate a story.

Call the media with ideas, or submit your own photos. And don’t forget online video as both a viral marketing and publicity tip. Your videos can be viral for marketing purposes or tutorial and more education-driven. Google ranks images and videos that are optimized correctly. And online software allows automation of uploading videos that saves time.

Publicity Tip #6: Use the calendar to your advantage

One of the most overlooked publicity tips is simply doing some research about how news organizations actually prepare the news. Most print publications have an editorial calendar they publish way in advance. For example, many magazines will start producing holiday issues in the summer.

Another calendar advantage is simply to know what days are slow news days. Typically, they’re around holidays and weekends. That may be a great time to pitch your story.

Planning ahead tip: every year, like clockwork, you’ll see the same stories. Why, because they work! Here are a few examples.

The “end of the year recap or best of” story. Example: “The 10 Best new technology products of 2010.”

The “beginning of the year, predictions/trends” story. Example: “5 Predictions for Real Estate in 2011.”

For a fast, proven method to leverage these stories and many more, check out the entire PR Traffic Templates System.

Publicity Tip #7: get started and ditch the “being perfect” syndrome

Flub an interview? No problem. It’s not the end of the world. No one becomes an expert first time out. Use it as a learning experience. You can even work into a funny story you share on stage if you do any professional speaking. The goal is to keep moving forward.

Please share your comments and feedback? Which tip do you like best and why?