Wednesday 19 March 2014

PUBLIC RELATIONS TRADE SECRETS FROM TORONTO CANADA


THE ONGOING HISTORY OF IRREVERANT PUBLIC RELATIONS TIPS FOR FACEBOOK PRACTIONERS

PUBLIC RELATIONS PRESS RELEASE WRITING TIP #4: 

When in doubt use the word BACON.

Often times it is difficult to get people to read your press releases. I have found if you can use the word BACON somewhere in your release, you will get a lot more people opening your emails and reading your PR Bumpf! 
Doesn't matter what you are trying to promote, bacon works magic. Mutton. Head Cheese. Chicken's Feet and Roast Beef just don't seem to cut the mustard.
This is not a new PR tip,   just check out the picture above, it is from a 1926 press release campaign.
As a publicity stunt, a woman climbed into a giant hot frying pan with two slabs of bacon tied to her feet. She is holding an enormous wooden spatula and smiles at the crowd, even though it is really really hot. All part of promoting a Chehalis, Washington event.


PUBLIC RELATIONS TIP #3 HOW TO MAKE YOURSELF (OR CLIENTS) LOOK REALLY IMPORTANT ON FACEBOOK

A Facebook Self-Promotion lesson! 

Drive around the city until you find a company that has the same name as you do. Get your photographer (George Socka) to snap a picture that makes it look like you own the place (But do I really look like a guy that is all wrapped up in Minerals and Oil?)

PUBLIC RELATIONS TIP #2 GET YOUR CLIENT TO LOVE YOU!

Everything old is new again (except the dead fish in the picture)

Best way to win a client’s heart? Use your well honed PR skills. It is an old strategy but still true today -- give away swag. In the 1890s it was a freshly caught cod! Nowadays it is memory sticks, baseball hats, free lunches and hockey game tickets.

(I found this picture in the University of Miami Archives - it is part of a trading card programme, copies of paintings were given away  with each purchase of a bag of coffee. It was 1896, and the concept was developed by the Arbuckle Brothers coffee company in the US.)

MAKE YOURSELF LOOK THIN – EVERYONE WANTS A SVELTE N PUBLICIST


PUBLIC RELATIONS TIP #1 How to make yourself look thinner on Facebook

Get your son to take a picture of you standing beside a mural of Bibendum, (the Michelin Man). Doesn't hurt to be holding a can of Diet Coke either.
Andrew Weir took this picture of me on the streets of Windsor, Ontario (where a cartoon mural of Bibendum makes total sense!).