Table of Contents
Foreword ix
Introduction xi
1 Who and/or What Is a Media Whore? xii
1 Why Don't I Just Hire a Damn Publicist? (or, Why Do It Myself?) 1
1 Why Trust Us to Teach You How to Be a Media Whore? 6
2 What's in It for Me If I Do It Myself? 7
3 Engaging the Media for the First Time 15
1 Who Am I Asking? 18
2 How Do I Seek out People to Ask? 18
3 How Do I Ask? 21
3.1 How busy are these people and why are you telling me this? 22
4 What Exactly Am I Asking For? 23
4.1 Can you put this all together in a practical and applicable way? 24
4 Writing Your Brilliant Press Release 27
5 The Big Send-off 37
1 Step One: The Sending Part 39
2 Step Two: The Email Subject Heading 40
6 When Is the Right Time to Send the Press Release? 43
1 Follow-ups 47
2 What If I Still Don't Hear Back? How Many Follow-ups Is Too Many? 48
3 Note about Pitching Cover Stories 48
4 Thank You 52
7 What's a Press Kit? 55
1 So Why Is a Press Kit Not Necessary? 59
8 Social Media Whore: Steve's Guide to Social Media 61
9 Simple Marketing Tips for Promoting Your Thing Locally 67
1 Promotional Material (Posters, Flyers, Programs) 70
1.1 Beware of the Poster Mafia 71
2 Sponsorship 72
2.1 Media sponsors 73
2.2 Business Improvement Areas (BIAs) and local government sponsorship 74
10 Friends with Benefits: Doing Media for Others Benefits You 77
1 Assisting with Local Charities 80
2 Philanthropic Marketing 80
11 Reviews: How to Welcome Solicited Judgment into Your Life 83
1 So I'm Just Going to Ask for People in the Media to Come Review My Thing, Right? 87
1.1 Negative reviews 87
1.2 The positive from all this negative 88
12 More on Why It Never Hurts to Ask (Or: Careful What You Ask for, or You Might Just Get the Front Page of the Toronto Sun. Twice.) 91
1 Careful What You Wish For 93
2 GASH - North America's Only Band 96
13 The End and the Beginning 101
1 The Monetary Value of Your Results 104
2 Check Your Local Listings 105
3 And in Conclusion 107
Appendix 1 But Wait! There's More! Interview Tips from a Real Publicist 111
Appendix 2 Additional Press Release Samples 117
Appendix 3 Sponsorship Letter Template 127
Samples
1 Introductory Email 25
2 Press Release 30