Reprinted from "The Publicity Hound's Tips of the Week"
Copyright © 2003 The Publicity Hound

This article was originally printed in The Publicity Hound's free ezine. I thought it was a great idea for all of you to keep in mind to get exposure on your local TV stations. This tip can be used not only for your local weatherperson, but also local TV anchors and reporters too. Free publicity is a good thing!

Marketing pro Stephen Brockelman of Las Vegas, Nevada writes with a new twist on food bribes for TV people. He noticed that many Publicity Hounds send cookies to local weather forecasters on TV Weatherperson's Day on February 5 and then get a short mention during the weather segment. Stephen found a better way to get even more publicity.

"I did a quick Google search for each TV weatherperson in my market. As you mentioned, they are media stars and their bios abound on the Internet. From that I was able to find their favorite charities and what boards-of-directors they were on. Then the next year I made a donation in their name to their favorite charity or a non-profit where they were advisors or on the board. I sent them an email letting them know that was how I was honoring them on their special day.

"That year, the people who sent cookies got a couple of seconds of mention at the end of the 5 a.m. broadcasts. I and my company got a minimum of one minute of exposure in the first 15 minutes of the 5 a.m., 6 a.m. and noon newscasts. I was also mentioned on the afternoon and evening newscasts. And that coverage was just for the CBS, NBC, and ABC TV affiliates. On Fox and the other minor stations, the coverage went up to two minutes. Not bad for television where time is much more tightly controlled than radio. The NBC and Fox affiliates even went to my website and pulled a graphic and showed it on the air.

"Not bad for what I figure was a better and perhaps less expensive investment than a cake or some other food item.

"Result: I began getting calls from many of the stations when they had marketing questions on a news story or other business questions regarding small business. Then I started getting calls from the newspapers. And I felt much better about giving money to organizations like the Susan G. Komen Foundation, the ASPCA, and others than I would have by sending a bucket of food!"