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Author Archive

Get Tons of Free Publicity With This Crazy Idea

By Joan Stewart   |   November 5, 2010

Sometimes a crazy idea isn’t so crazy after all. Here’s how some members of the National Speakers Association have generated ongoing publicity for their businesses — and in one case, started a whole new career.  Read More »


7 Reasons to Say No to New Business

By Joan Stewart   |   October 14, 2010

When PR people complain to me about the Customers from Hell, I always try to help.

At some point in the conversation, I’m not surprised to hear them say, “I should have trusted my gut.”

Indeed.

Debbie Bermont, president of Source Communications, a marketing consulting firm, says trusting your gut is one of seven reasons to say no to new business. Read More »


Google Alerts’ Big Payoff

By Joan Stewart   |   September 28, 2010

Google Alerts might well be the most valuable online tool you can use in your publicity campaign.

Just ask publicist Renee Young, whose client, Dr. Amiya Prasad, a New York City plastic surgeon, appeared on a two-minute segment on “Good Morning America” as a result.

Google Alerts is a nifty service that notifies you as soon as something appears online about your area of expertise. Read More »


Why You Should Join Your Local Press Club

By Joan Stewart   |   September 14, 2010

Here’s an easy way to meet lots of journalists face-to-face in a relaxed social setting.

Join your local press club. Press clubs promote journalism excellence through a variety of programs, activities and monthly meetings. Most members are from the working press, but plenty of PR people also belong.

David Niles, former editor of the Small Business Times in Milwaukee and a former president of the Milwaukee Press Club, says Read More »


Don’t Drink From Hotel Glasses

By Joan Stewart   |   August 28, 2010

The next time you stay in a hotel, you’ll think twice about drinking out of the glasses and coffee cups if you watch the 4½-minute video at http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=a7f_1194813218

It’s an I-team investigation from a TV station, presumably in Atlanta, Georgia. The team took hidden cameras into guest rooms at three major hotels–Embassy Suites, Holiday Inn and Sheraton Suites. In all three instances, housekeepers never used soap and water to clean dirty drinking glasses and coffee cups. Read More »


The College Exam Nightmare

By Joan Stewart   |   August 14, 2010

Did you ever have the nightmare in which you’re taking a final exam for a college course, and it suddenly dawns on you that you’ve never attended one class?

Or how about the bad dream in which all your teeth fall out?

Or the one in which you’re going about your business, usually at work or in a public place, and realized you aren’t wearing any clothes? Read More »


Why I’m Crying Elephant Tears

By Joan Stewart   |   July 28, 2010

I love getting success stories from readers like you.

But sometimes I cry big, fat elephant tears when I learn about missed opportunities, or how people who generated fabulous publicity didn’t follow up.

Sue Lowery of Chattanooga, Tennessee saw a short news item on one of her local TV stations about how the Bliss spa in Dallas, Texas pampered an elephant the day before it was making its Dallas debut at the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey circus. Read More »


Freelancers & In Flight Magazines

By Joan Stewart   |   July 14, 2010

One of the big advantages to forming relationships with freelancers is that most of them write for multiple publications. So if they sell a story that includes you as a source, there’s a good chance they’ll interview you again for another story for a different publication.

Stacy DeBroff, also known as The Mommy Expert, got a nice spike in book sales at Amazon, and traffic to her website,  when her book “The Mom Book” appeared in a May issue of Go, the inflight magazine for Airtran. Read More »


Don’t Ask the Wrong Question

By Joan Stewart   |   June 28, 2010

Here’s what usually happens when somebody scores a big publicity hit, either in their local newspaper, or on a major TV show.

They see a big spike in traffic to their website. Then, within a week or two, the traffic slows to a crawl.

That’s when they email me and ask, “How can we keep the buzz going? How can we turn this publicity into even more publicity?” Read More »


Pumpkin Soup & Sea Moss Punch

By Joan Stewart   |   June 14, 2010

Having problems conceiving?

Go on vacation to a resort where you can dine on pumpkin soup and drink a sea moss punch three times a day. Relax, enjoy a romantic dinner for two, get a massage and then let nature do its thing.

That was the key message in a wildly successful PR campaign for Starwood Hotels and its resorts worldwide.

Quinn & Co., its PR firm, discovered that the locals in the Bahamas had been using pumpkin soup and sea moss for generations to help make babies. Certain spa treatments and lots of relaxation also helped. So the PR firm came up with the idea of “The Procreation Vacation.” Read More »