Shrita Sterlin, chief executive and brand officer of Penn Strategies, led an in-depth, interactive session at The Power Conference, the largest conference of women, small business owners in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. Roughly 800 attendees and 170 exhibitors attended this year’s conference, which was held at the Bethesda Marriott Conference Center on August 30, 2012. Entitled “101 Ways to Generate Publicity,” Shrita Sterlin’s session included hard-hitting strategies that business owners and entrepreneurs can use to attract positive media attention and top-of-the-mind awareness with key markets.

1. THE POWER CONFERENCE
101 Ways to Generate Publicity
August 30, 2012
10:30 am
Presented by: Shrita D. Sterlin
www.pennstrategies.com
Copyright 2012. Penn Strategies. All Rights Reserved

2. Why Build Buzz & Publicity?
Build brand awareness
Generate sales leads
Differentiate your value from the
competition
Promote your service or product value

3. SM
Five Foundational Knows
Know your product or service Know your marketability
Know your audience Know the competition
Know the marketplace

4. Pitching Local Press
1 2 3
Get target Establish Use catchy
media list local angle headlines,
good timing & a
compelling story

5. Compelling Storytelling
Humanizes your message
Conveys your unique service,
product or business value
Includes a call to action

6. Identify Media Target List
Free trials from media
subscription services Google Alerts
HARO
Pitchrate.com

7. Finding the Reporters
• TwitterGrader: Find top
journalists by influence and
location
• MuckRack: search for reporters
by publication and beat
• JournalistTweets: filter daily
feed by industry
• LinkedIn: search by location

8. Inbound Marketing Release
Incorporate key words for SEO
Improves search engine results
Drives website traffic (anchor links
Tells your business story

9. Pitching Ideas
Use creative
pitching strategies to
drum up media
interest and build
buzz.

10. Pitching Ideas
Piggyback off celebrity
gossip.
Example: If you are a
divorce attorney, use a
recent celebrity divorce
scandal to pitch your
services, such as the
importance of a pre-nup.

11. Pitching Ideas
Pitch “other” side of
story. How can your
business bring
a new perspective to a
hot-button issue?

12. Pitching Ideas
Give away free products
or sample services.
Ask a reporter to try out a
product sample.
Example:
Pet product company Baxter &
Birdie

13. Pitching Ideas
Tie your story to the weather.
Whether it’s a heat
wave or a hurricane,
piggy-back off extreme
weather coverage.
Example: A local hardware store sends
alerts about hurricane preparedness.

14. Pitching Ideas
Use recent statistics to
sell your story.
Make old news
relevant, fresh, objective
and newsworthy by citing
recent statistics.

15. Pitching Ideas
Tie your story to seasons & popular
holidays.
Promote your product or
service during a holiday
(“Father’s Day”) or
create a holiday, such as
a “beat the summer
heat” holiday.

16. Pitching Ideas
Add your Educate Turn a Issue
angle to a online challenge advisory
controversial shoppers into positive about
story with free publicity guerilla
product marketing
research campaign

17. Social Media Marketing
Your company’s online brand is no
longer solely defined by a flashy
website.
What matters now is how your
business presents itself in public
forums online.

18. Social Media Marketing
Reward active fans;
organize online fan
appreciation events
Share industry
Start a photo- trends through
sharing contest white paper, video
of products in use or infographic
on Instagram,
Flickr or Facebook

19. Content Marketing Buzz
Point 1 Who is your target audience?
What are your audience pain points?
Point 2
Point 3 What type of content does your
audience wants?
Point 4 What motivates your audience to
share?

20. Content Marketing Buzz
Expertise Spotlight Images Solutions
Reports, eBooks Consistent Stand out with Solve a problem;
& Op-Eds to stream of great graphics don’t pitch a
boost credibility publicity sale
Use content marketing to cut through the noise, establish
your presence and define your expertise.

21. Events & Sponsorships
Raise Profile Stand Out Build Buzz
Participate in Sponsor Generate TOM
strategic events community to show awareness
to draw attention unique value through events

22. Events & Sponsorships
Participate
Promote
in popular
thought-
industry Organize
leading
events events to Host
events
share info regular Advance
& awards industry cause
Conferences Convene marketing
events
& local Open
tradeshows businesses houses & Webinars &
monthly promotions
CSR
Meetups

23. Group Activity
State your value
Choose buzz-building tactic
Draft a press release headline
Share with the group

24. Questions
PR & marketing resources:
www.prmarketingstrategist.com
@ShritaSterlin

25. Start Building Buzz!
CONTACT US PENN STRATEGIES
info@pennstrategies.com
www.pennstrategies.com
STAY CONNECTED
@PennStrategies
smallbusinessPRtips.com
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Copyright 2012. Penn Strategies. All Rights Reserved