Do You Care About Al and Tipper?

I tweeted yesterday about how the news of the Gore break-up presents authors who are relationship or divorce experts with an opportunity to pitch themselves to the media as talk show guests or article resources. It also provides local therapists and counselors with an opportunity to provide local commentary on a national story with their local media outlets. Publicity is -- like it or not -- all about being opportunistic. Why let your competitor do that noon TV talk show interview about why marriages end after 40 years when you could be doing it? It's a sad situation, but it's a business opportunity for some.

I was surprised, then, when a usually savvy author of books on other topics commented on my Facebook page, "Like who cares? . . . There are a lot more important things to worry about." Well, yeah, of course there are. What to have for lunch today is one of them. But his question made me realize that I care. While other recent high-profile breakups haven't moved me much, this one has left me sad.

Here's why this one bothers me. If those lip-locking love birds can't stay married, who can? I haven't been able to pull it off, but people like the Gores made me feel that is is possible. When I saw all that they've endured and accomplished as a couple, I was reassured that living happily ever after with a spouse is possible.

Oops -- maybe not.

And while some are wondering if Tipper gets half of the Internet, I'm thinking about couples and happiness. Sure, they've grown apart blah blah blah and maybe splitting gives them the opportunity to find happiness with a new soulmate yada yada yada. I get it. But still, I feel like somebody has popped a balloon in front of me. I want to believe that when you stay married that long, you will pick out a long-term care facility together, too. You'll always have somebody watching your back . . . or wiping the drool off your chin.

Where are you on this? Do you care, or, like my author friend, are you completely unmoved by the end of this marriage?

Don't Let Everyone Else Hog the Swine Flu Spotlight

The only good news coming out of the H1N1/swine flu situation is that some small businesses and nonprofit groups have been able to use the ongoing news story to bring attention to their organizations.

Take churches, for example. The Wall Street Journal ran a story on how those offering communion have to approach that ritual differently now that so many in congregations worry about being exposed to the disease through practices that were considered safe and acceptable before. Small businesses are gaining exposure in their local media by talking about how fear of spreading the disease is changing everything from the trinkets they hand out at trade shows to the number of in-person meetings they require, as this article, "Companies limit personal contact," illustrates.

What is your organization doing because of concerns about the spread of the swine flu? Have you made internal changes, conducted educational seminars, provided shots to employees, or do you provide support services to those giving or receiving the shots? The hospital lobby I visited recently replaced its usual wrapped hard candy with complimentary bottles of hand disinfectant at the registration desk, for example.

If you've made changes or provide support to those working to keep the public healthy, contact your local media and let them know what you're going. Better yet, find out what a few other organizations in your area are doing, too, and present the story to reporters with a full package of interview sources. Here's who to contact locally:

• Daily newspapers: Small business reporter, health reporter
• Weekly newspaper: The reporter covering your community
• TV stations: Assignment editor or health reporter

Do it, and do it now. Perhaps your example will encourage others in your community to make the same changes to help prevent the spread of the disease among employees, customers, and others.

What have you seen about how companies are coping in your local media?

One of the keys to ongoing publicity success is your ability to be opportunistic. There are two great local media exposure opportunities jumping off the front page of most daily newspapers today.

The first is the arrest of Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich on corruption charges -- clearly, another case of a powerful person who believes the rules don't apply to him.

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Rod Blagojevich Is a Jagoff

Barack Obama Interview
John McCain Interview

Sarah Palin Video
Funny Election Video

Local media outlets will be looking for the local angle to this story and will need both local and national expert sources for their coverage. Contact your local media now if you're an ethicist, politician, futurist, a "watchdog," or just plain paranoid about politicians.

The other opportunity comes from news that cancer is expected to overtake heart disease as the world's top killer by 2010. Are you an oncologist, cardiologist, affiliated with the local office of the American Cancer Society, health care provider, hospice worker, author of a book on a related topic, or have some other type of connection to this news? Make something happen with your local media outlets today before this disappears from the front page.

How One Business Got Opportunistic

Whether I'm speaking to a group about how to generate publicity or teaching my book promotion e-course, I always nudge people to capitalize on the day's headlines to create buzz for their charity, business or book.

One of my "Book Publicity 101: How to Build Book Buzz" students did this recently, placing an essay about her book's topic in today's Christian Science Monitor. Meagan Francis, author of Table for Eight: Raising a Large Family in a Small Family World, leveraged the buzz around Sarah Palin's five children and Angelina Jolie's ongoing comments about adding to her family to place Thanks to Angelina Jolie, having lots of kids is hip. It's a well-written piece that tells us more about why Meagan has four children and another on the way -- and one that I shared with my mother, who had seven children in 10 years back when that was more the norm than the exception.

Meagan's high-profile success is just one example of the kind of exposure your company, organization, product or service can enjoy by reacting quickly and effectively to the day's news. Most of us will have the most success by adding a local angle to a national story (a TV station in my area interviewed "local Joe the Plumbers" last week), but we can also score a big one -- as Meagan did today. Great job, Meagan!

What Does Sarah Palin's Nomination Mean to Your Publicity Plan?

Who can leverage Sarah Palin's nomination -- and the weekend announcement about her daughter's pregnancy -- to bring attention to their business, book or cause? There are exciting possibilities here for a wide range of nonprofits, authors and business owners who are willing to be opportunistic and act quickly with their local, specialized or national media.

I'd love to see my "Book Publicity 101: How to Build Book Buzz" student Meagan Francis, who wrote Table for Eight: Raising a Large Family in a Small Family World, run with this.

For starters, Meagan can send Palin an autographed copy of her book and her cell phone number so Palin can call her at any time for help or advice. Meagan should, of course, then send out a press release to her local media announcing that she has pushed aside her own political beliefs and stepped up to help a high-profile mom in need. It's a great local angle on a national news story.

Then I'd like to see Meagan send out a tip sheet (a type of news release that offers advice or tips in a numbered or bulleted format) that gives Palin advice for traveling with that large family on the campaign trail. Meagan can provide solid, helpful bits of advice while having a little fun with it. Using an online media release service such as PRWeb will let Meagan send her advice to daily newspapers and parenting pubs coast-to-coast quickly while also getting it into the inbox of parenting and family bloggers.

Meagan needs to be sharing advice with Palin on her blog, too -- and offering it on the blogs of others, as well. She can become the rallying point for mothers of large families nationwide.

Meagan's not the only one who can capitalize on the buzz created by Palin's candidacy or the latest expanding family revelation, either. If you're finding yourself spouting off about something related to his development, think about how you can get a microphone in front of your mouth when you're doing it -- and watch the impact the media exposure has on your business goals.

Pool Safety Publicity Opportunity

A scarey segment on The Today Show this morning highlighted the danger of faulty swimming pool drains. (To see the segment, go to http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/3041445/ and select "Keeping pool safety in mind" from the list of videos on the right.) When there's a problem, the suction can trap children on the drain so they drown. (There are other problems, too.)

Who knew? Not me. And probably many more. Are you in a position to talk about this threat in a credible way? Then do so. Talk to your local media outlets so they can protect local families. This is a great opportunity to do good while getting some exposure if you're:

• A pool and spa retailer
• Consumer safety advocate
• Nonprofit advocating for child safety
• Pool and spa manufacturer/dealer association
• Lifeguard
• Public pool manager
• Country club manager
• Pool drain manufacturer

Take action; save lives.

Is Silda to Blame?

I choked on my gluten-free granola this morning when I heard Laura Schlessinger announce on The Today Show that Eliot Spitzer enjoyed the company of a prostitute because his wife didn't take good enough care of him. Yes, that's right. If Silda had been more attentive to her husband's needs -- if she had done a better job of making him feel loved and appreciated -- we wouldn't be waiting right now for Spitzer to announce his resignation.

Eeewww.

If Dr. Laura can be making news around this brouhaha, so can many of you. The TV stations in my Western NY city are positively gleeful about this big news development. They dispatched reporters to Albany, the state capital, yesterday for the political perspective but are also bringing in many hometown "experts" for commentary. This is happening across the state, and on a lesser level, in other parts of the country, as well. If you're an:

• ethicist
• therapist
• politician
• accountant
• philanderer
• spouse of a philanderer
• hooker
• recovering hooker
• private eye
• tax lawyer
• child psychologist
• author of a book on ethics, relationships, marriage, politics, government, parenting, law, prostitution

you have an opportunity for some media exposure. Figure out what you can say on this topic that is worth hearing and get on the phone with the media to make yourself available for an interview today.

And when you do, please don't blame it on Silda. Eliot is a big boy. He makes his own choices. He created this mess on his own, without any help from his wife.

Memoirists Can Leverage the Consequences of Lying

The publisher of Love and Consequences, the South Central L.A. gangland memoir that turned out to be a novel, said in a New York Times report today that "there was nothing else that he or Sarah McGrath, the book’s editor, could have done to prevent the author from lying."

Of course you can't stop somebody from lying, but to find out if they are lying, you do some basic factchecking. The Times reports, "Ms. McGrath said she did not independently check parts of Ms. Seltzer’s story or perform any kind of background check. She said she relied on Ms. Seltzer to tell the truth."

It appears the publishing industry learned little from James Frey, a founder of the novel-as-memoir genre. Of course you can't -- and shouldn't -- factcheck every detail in a memoir. But when the story seems a little out there, as this one does, you can pick off a few easy specifics to verify. Even Oregon's Register-Guard did this, postponing a story about the book's author after some basic fact checking revealed she didn't graduate from the University of Oregon as the book jacket claims.

It's a pathetic situation, but one that presents opportunities for memoirists whose books are, truly, their life stories. Make yourself available to the journalists covering this story. Talk about the editing process on your book -- was there any factchecking? Did an editor challenge any of the text in your manuscript? Did any relatives? Is it hard to write something accurately 10, 20 or 30 years later? Could that contribute to this rash of fake memoirs? Start by reaching out to your local media, giving them the local angle on this national story, but get the PR department at your publisher on board too. Let them know you're willing to talk about your experiences.

4 Ways Local Ad Agencies Can Generate Buzz with Another Firm's Super Bowl Ads

Here's a message for ad agencies lacking commercials airing during the Super Bowl: Plan to take advantage of the hype next year. Here are just a few things you can do in your local market around Super Bowl XLIII to position your firm's leaders as the community's creative gurus:

• Blog about the commercials as they're airing; make sure you alert the media that you'll be doing this. Invite reporters to interview you while you're blogging.
• Assemble a panel of average people -- not ad agency types -- to rate and comment on the commercials as they air. Invite TV stations to interview panelists, etc.
• Send a press release with your predictions of the "winners" just days before the big event. Make yourself available for media interviews the morning after the game to comment on your predictions and the actual outcome.
• Write a Super Bowl Sunday op-ed about what the commercials reveal about our society.

Make a note in your calendar to take advantage of this next year. And tell us what you did with the 2008 Super Bowl ads to position your business as the local advertising thought leader.

Holiday Shopping Problems Online

How many of you are having problems shopping online for holiday gifts? I've purchased more online this year than in years past and have encountered hassle after hassle after hassle. I've had orders cancelled with no e-mail notification, promotion codes that were ignored, customer service recordings that say "We'd love to help you with your problem but we're too busy so call back after 6 p.m. Mountain time." (Seriously.)

What does this have to do with generating publicity? It presents opportunities for media exposure for some of you. Please -- PLEASE -- capitalize on my frustration by assuming that I'm not the only one having problems and get yourself interviewed on the subject now, before it's too late for all of us.

Here are a few ideas to get you thinking about how you might use this to your advantage:

• Retail consultants and technology gurus: What are the online buying trends this season -- what's the volume, what's driving traffic, who's offering irresistible deals, are these glitches predictable or universal? Tell us what's happening and why.
• Nonprofit organizations counseling those in debt: Warn us that we're probably spending too much anyway and tell us how to rein it in.
• Personal shoppers: If I had let you shop for me, you would have protected me from all these annoying problems, right?
• Authors of books on cost-cutting, bargain-hunting, gift-giving, retail topics, stress reduction: Why is this happening? How can I relieve the stress this is causing? Is there any good here or should I have done all my shopping in bricks & mortar stores? And what will the exchange process be like -- even worse?

Turn my misery into your media opportunity. I will sleep better knowing some good has come of my "two steps forward, three steps back" online shopping experiences.