Publicity Tactics: Insights on Creating Lucrative Media Buzz

By Marcia Yudkin

Get Noticed, Grow Your Brand, Gain Market Share

It's hard to beat the impact of appearing on radio or TV, in newspapers and magazines-or on a popular podcast or blog. Discover how to skyrocket your credibility and visibility and boost your sales from publicity.

Having schemed up media appearances for herself and clients for nearly 30 years, Marcia Yudkin offers creative, low-budget tips for earning and capitalizing on public attention.

"I really liked two things about Marcia Yudkin's new book, Publicity Tactics: 1) Easy to consume nuggets that allow the reader to turn to a page, read a strategy and put it into immediate use and 2) Real life examples of someone who lives it rather than just reports on what some publicity tactics are. If you're hiring a new full or part time publicity person to your team, have them read Marcia's book in their first week as part of their training!" -Christopher Knight, CEO, EzineArticles.com

"Marcia Yudkin has succeeded at distilling absolutely everything we need to know to get media attention into a quick read offering indispensable tips, action steps, and anecdotes. It's an essential resource for every busy business owner who wants-and needs-to get priceless publicity." -Sandra Beckwith, author of Publicity for Nonprofits and Streetwise Complete Publicity Plans

"In a book that is as personable and straightforward as she is, Marcia Yudkin offers a complete guide to generating media attention while demystifying the world of publicity. Publicity Tactics is chock-full of insights, tips, tactics, and real-world examples that can put any practitioner on equal footing with a high-priced PR firm." -Mickie Kennedy, Founder and CEO, eReleases.com

• Language: English
• Publisher: Marcia Yudkin
• Release date: May 26, 2012
• ISBN: 9781476129228

Marcia Yudkin

Creative marketing expert Marcia Yudkin has an unparalleled ability to find the right words for a message, an unusual angle to get folks to pay attention, and the promotional strategy that pays off handsomely for her clients.Her 16 books include 6 Steps to Free Publicity, Persuading on Paper, Web Site Marketing Makeover, Meatier Marketing Copy and Freelance Writing for Magazines & Newspapers, a Book of the Month Club selection.Marcia’s articles have appeared in hundreds of magazines, including the New York Times Magazine, TWA Ambassador, USAir Magazine and Business 2.0. For eight years running, she served as an official site reviewer for the Webby Awards and has helped judge the Inc. Magazine Small Business Web Awards.She has been featured in Success Magazine, Entrepreneur, Home Office Computing, Working Woman, Women in Business, dozens of newspapers throughout the world and four times in the Sunday Boston Globe, as well as on National Public Radio.Her clients range from grizzled entrepreneurs to nervous newly self-employed professionals, from software publishers and ecommerce startups to media companies, associations and independent educational programs.Marcia Yudkin holds three Ivy League degrees, including a Ph.D. in the humanities.

Book preview

Introduction

Every time I find myself at a newsstand, I marvel at the number of magazines I’ve never seen before and the range of passions and preoccupations that have devoted audiences. According to MediaFinder.com, 176 new magazines launched in North America in the first nine months of 2010, including Food Network Magazine and 23 other magazines in the insatiable category of food.

Those magazines, along with newspapers, radio programs, TV talk shows and newscasts, blogs, podcasts and online publications, constantly need fresh stories, new products and insights from experts to feature. That’s where you come in. By understanding the ways to capture the interest of traditional reporters and producers and their online and homegrown counterparts, you have a limitless tool for attracting attention to your endeavors.

Use this book as an idea trigger for piggybacking on the powerful reach of the media and extending their impact with smart deployment of online techniques. My tips apply whether you’re promoting a major product launch, your long-established professional firm, a save-the-redwoods campaign, a church fundraiser or yourself as an authority.

If you’re new to the publicity arena, explore the suggested resources near the end of the book for sample materials to use as models, or get hold of my earlier book, 6 Steps to Free Publicity, for comprehensive publicity how-to’s and explanations.

The chapters in this book originate in a weekly column, The Marketing Minute, that I’ve published since 1998. You can sign up for a free email subscription at http://www.yudkin.com/markmin.htm. I’ve added action steps to many of the chapters to help you implement the principles involved.

Contents

Introduction

Part I: Why Pursue Publicity?

Publicity’s Return on Investment

Career-changing Media Coverage

Luring Investors Via Publicity

Part II: Your Attitude Counts

The Who, Me? Syndrome

Attitudes about Pursuing the Media

Caginess Kills Publicity

The Waiting Game for Publicity

Solving Publicity Procrastination

Be the One Who Takes Action

Part III: Stellar Publicity Successes

Publicity Gets Results

One Very Savvy Success

You Can Make Opportunity Knock

Getting Coverage from Getting Married

An Article That Did It Right

Publicity Bonanza

Cooperating for Visibility and Credibility

Animal Incidents: Perfect for Publicity

Taking the Stage at a Conference

A Typo Non-Disaster

Part IV: Understand Publicity Timing

Off-Season Publicity Has a Purpose

When Publicity is Easier Than Ever

Getting into Holiday Gift Lists

Pursue Holiday Publicity

Crystal Ball Time

Acquire Perfect Timing

Part V: Ways to Become Newsworthy

Everybody Uses It; So What?

News Tie-ins Get Attention

Tagging Onto Current Events

Make Hay When It Rains

Surveys Open Doors

Surveys Revisited

Piggyback on Surveys

Controversy Earns Coverage

Embrace Controversy

Compile Facts to Earn Publicity

Tie Into a Trend

Timely Tantalizers

Events With Oomph

Create Buzzworthy Products

Heads Up to Local Media

Become Relevant to Niches

The Bump from Secondary Publicity

Part VI: News Release Tips

Two Tests for Press Release Headlines

Get Your New Product into the News

Media Release Checklist

Publicity Hungry? The News Release Lives

Slice Ideas Small

Google News Visibility

Part VII: Frequently Overlooked Publicity Tools

Secrets of Letters to the Editor

Why Bother with Letters to the Editor

Google Ads as a Publicity Tool

A Publicity Blueprint

Write Articles to Grow Your Business

Magazine Articles Get You in the Door

Publicity Stunts are Double-Edged

Brainstorm Publicity Stunts

Publicity Clues from Competitors

Tips Show Off What You Know

The Well-Packaged Review Copy

The Lure of a Quiz

Quizzes are Fun and Fruitful

Make Your Clients Famous

How to Get Brilliant Blurbs

An Online Schmoozing Case Study

Creating Advance Demand

Three-Foot Promotions

Facebook Without Fear

Part VIII: Dealing With Reporters

How to Reply to a Reporter’s Query

Two Words to Avoid With Journalists

Do’s and Don’ts for Media Contacts

Publicity Seeker Don’ts

Preparing for Publicity

Be Quotable

Maximizing Media Hits

Publicity Resources

About the Author

Part I: Why Pursue Publicity?

Publicity’s Return on Investment

Are news releases worth the effort? Mary Lou Andre thinks so. President of Organization by Design in Needham, Massachusetts, Andre reports netting more than $5,000 in orders over the years from readers of Sew News magazine, which ran something about every new product released by Andre.

Let’s see: With postage for news releases and newsletters to this one media outlet totaling about $5.00, that makes a 100,000 percent return on investment! Today, with email universal and as good as free, the ROI would be slightly more astronomical.

I have forged similarly profitable bonds with magazines from sending out news releases. One business magazine recommended my books or me as a marketing consultant, complete with my telephone number, five times in article sidebars. Numerous readers who responded became long-term clients. At another magazine, the editor called to say she couldn’t use the material in my release, but did I write articles? Assignments from her added $4,700 to my income in the 1990s.

Why aren’t you using this phenomenal form of marketing?

Action Steps

* See which of your colleagues have gotten publicity in the last few weeks by going to Google News and typing in (for example) graphic designer.

* Begin a list of all the reasons why you have not pursued publicity up to now, or have not done so as often as you could have. As you continue to read this book, modify your list–adding reasons and crossing out those you’ve been motivated to do something about.

Career-changing Media Coverage

In June 2004, Inc. magazine described the boost 39-year-old Erica Feidner received from a 2001 profile in The New Yorker magazine. Feidner, who sells more than $3 million dollars of Steinway pianos a year, still got people seeking her out from that article and would send a copy of it to potential piano buyers. When a respected media outlet hails you as an expert, most believe it.

I’ve seen career-changing results people have received from front-page coverage in the Wall Street Journal, just about anywhere in The New York Times, a popular column in the Boston Globe or the Chicago Tribune and People magazine.

While