Here are some great PR opportunities for the week of Feb. 6-11. The following tips are part of the UnderstandingMarketing.com small business PR PITCH series helping entrepreneurs develop “Publicity Ideas That Create Headlines.”

1: Best And Worst Super Bowl Ads - The day after the Super Bowl is always filled with talk about what happened on the football field as well as off the field. Which companies produced your favorite spots? Which companies fell short? Which companies offended people? Everyone from marketing and advertising experts to psychologists and even family counselors have a great chance at offering up their perspective of the outcome of the Super Bowl ads with small business PR angles. Family counselors can offer up their opinions of how parents can talk to their kids if they saw an advertisement that deeply offended or pushed the envelope too far (looking at you, GoDaddy).

2: Snow Storm Heads East - Snow removal equipment centers, backup generator resellers and retailers that offer activities for families indoors will all have a chance to get some small business PR coverage this week because of a massive snow storm moving across the country. Local retailers can offer up tips to remove snow properly and even team up with chiropractors who can talk about the dangers of hurting yourself if shoveling snow improperly.

3: More Bad News For Carnival Cruise Lines - As if the Costa Concordia cruise ship disaster wasn’t bad enough for Carnival Cruise Lines, now comes word that two Princess cruise ships (also owned by Carnival) have been stricken with the fast-spreading on-board virus known as Norovirus. Health experts will have a chance to weigh in on the matter, as well as cruise industry officials, travel agents and any other companies or experts involved with the cruise industry.

4: Are Jobs Truly Coming Back - On Friday the government’s jobs report came out and the data said 243,000 jobs were added in January and the unemployment rate is down to 8.3 percent. Where is small business involved in this picture? Does this mean we’re truly headed in the right direction since the big question was the picture following the holiday hiring season? Are you adding jobs to your small business? If you are or aren’t, send an email to your local business reporter addressing why this is or isn’t helping you drive sales and offer up your small business PR insight.

5: Susan G. Komen And Planned Parenthood - Are you hoping this story will go away? Sorry, it will take a little while longer. However, now that Komen has reversed course and will again provide funding to Planned Parenthood, there are still tons of questions unanswered as to what happened and why the funding was pulled in the first place. The PR opportunity is with other non-profit organizations who want to take this opportunity to talk about the role politics plays in non-profit funding.

Leverage these angles to write a creative press release, PR story pitch or engage with a reporter on Twitter for some effective social media PR. Did we miss any that you are keeping a close eye on? Share your small business PR story ideas by leaving a comment below.

John Sternal is co-founder of Sternal Communications, a PR and marketing consultancy helping businesses get noticed through publicity in the media. He is the author of the PR Toolkit for Small Business and currently authoring a book about DIY public relations for small business owners. For questions email John Sternal or connect with him @SternalPR.

photo credit: Miami New Times

How To Get Food Truck PR

Over the last five years food trucks have been highly successful in just about every corner of the U.S. In every major city, you can find a food truck downtown at lunch on almost every day of the week, serving up delectable orders that span all kinds of tastes. From an operator’s standpoint, the million-dollar question is how to get food truck PR.

Below is a Q&A with Jim Heins of the popular food truck, @LatinBurger. Jim was recently featured on The Food Network and he talks about how he gets a lot of his food truck PR coverage. Following Jim’s Q&A are a few tips on how to get food truck PR.

How do you get your PR?

The Food Network contacted me largely because of our great food and the personality I’ve become known for through social media. I’m fortunate that I was in the right place at the right time. I started in the food truck industry and when something big happens I’m contacted by everyone in the media. We are relentless in the pursuit of perfection and that goes for food and our use of social media pr. They contact me because I’m one of the most recognized players in the food truck business. In fact, a lot of these production companies now contact me about doing other videos, too.

What was it like early on?

We kind of burst on to the scene. Urban Daddy and other bloggers picked us up and that was great help in putting us on the map. My situation is unique in that I’ve never had to make a phone call to get press. It’s hard to explain sometimes. I do all the press interviews myself and we’ve been able to survive without having to hire a really expensive food truck PR company. I would attribute all of our exposure to Twitter and social media. My entire being in this company is through social media.

How do you approach your social media strategy?

I’m really focusing more again on social media and different ways of freshening our approach. You can tell when it becomes a bit stagnant. I’ve been fortunate to kind of predict the industry and what’s happening around me. There’s just not enough people to support 30-40 food trucks at one time, but the big trucks that have made a serious effort to offer a great product and establish their brand will certainly survive. I work really hard to maintain my customer base.

Do you go to a lot of events?

When I first started it was a lot of the red velvet rope thing, ‘find @LatinBurger today.’ We would move around and be mysterious. But today I can’t be as mysterious and we have to be at more events and other public places. We’re even working with bigger events all the time and a lot of that is because they now contact me because they know I’ll bring in some traffic to the event. Businesses will also contact me because they see more value in having me out front than paying for a local radio station to have a van there. I promote their business through my social media and it gives people a reason to come by.

How do you differentiate yourself?

We’ve never gone down a different path with our food and we work diligently to make the best food we possibly can. I’m seeing some food trucks do things like fried Snickers and Oreos, as well other gimmicks. When we started the food truck we didn’t have that vision of being a gimmick because it’s not about frying a shoelace.

Was it always about having a food truck for you?

I always wanted to be in the restaurant industry, but the end goal of the @LatinBurger was to just see if it would work. We originally looked at a restaurant but it was such a capital expense. The food truck route was a better entry point for me and it has absolutely worked. Early on our brand was very strong. A lot of people were doing hamburgers and I saw a small window to take advantage of putting my own spin on it.

How has Twitter been for you?

I stay true to my followers when I’m speaking to them. I’m followed on Twitter in 50 different countries. At a certain point depending on how we grow, which may even include a restaurant location, we’ll have to be more conscientious about how we get more national exposure. USA Today, Boston Globe and many other newspapers have covered us primarily because this is just a good story right now.

What’s the business climate like today?

The business is definitely slowing down right now. In typical South Florida fashion they built eight million condos for four and a half million people. In our industry we had about 125 food trucks when we started, which was about 100 too many. What makes it tough is that a lot of the event promoters want to just cram every food truck they can because they get a cut of all sales.

What’s your key?

You have to let your personality come out. I do inspirational quotes for each day and that is all me. When I write a blog I believe in my product, I’m proud of it and I parlay that into the way I approach social media. A lot of people think we’re too big but we’re still mom and pop size. I’ve had to overcome this because people think we’re too big and unapproachable. We’re just Big Jim’s LatinBurger.

Great insight from Jim Heins of @LatinBurger. While LatinBurger’s PR success has come from a lot of social media, the industry could actually benefit from a lot of traditional tactics to get food truck PR. Here are four ways to get food truck PR through “old school” PR methods:

Write a press release. Yes, I said it. For an industry that prides itself on being social, food trucks might get even more food truck PR coverage if they actually write a press release or two. Like it or not, reporters still rely on the press release. It absolutely serves a purpose, even when all the cool kids are just blogging and tweeting. Use some creativity to come up with some new trends, do a survey and publicize the results or even make an announcement of something that’s changing within your food truck. Sending out a formal press release won’t eliminate the coolness factor of your food truck but it will make you look like an even more established business.

Pitch a story. LatinBurger found success because they were good, different, and early. The owner having a terrific personality doesn’t hurt, either. Many other food trucks don’t have one or more of these elements working in their favor. Try being proactive with the media to pitch a story and you might be surprised at the results and coverage. Download the PR Toolkit For Small Business to learn more about pitching a story to the media.

Do a publicity stunt. Don’t just show up and serve food. Be creative and even a little crazy (within the confines of the law, of course) in order to get attention. Organize a food truck PR parade; Make the world’s largest pancake; Break a Guiness World Record in any of the food categories. Think outside the box and let the word know about it (ahem, through a press release in addition to social media).

Find a community cause or issue, take a side and be vocal about it. Is there a piece of legislation that impacts your business? Hot Dog Mike (@hotdog_mike) had to deal with certain ordinances that prevented him from parking in certain locations within the city. Find something that impacts your business, get people behind you, develop some impactful talking points and approach the editorial board of your local daily newspaper. Getting an editorial in the newspaper can be great for your food truck PR. You’ll be seen as a local business person, not just a food truck operator.

John Sternal is co-founder of Sternal Communications, a PR and marketing consultancy helping businesses get noticed through publicity in the media. He is the author of the PR Toolkit for Small Business and currently authoring a book about DIY public relations for small business owners. For questions email John Sternal or connect with him @SternalPR.

Here are 27 ways entrepreneurs can seek out small business PR opportunities during the month of February. Download the PR Toolkit for Small Business to receive additional tips on how to write a press release, press release headline and how to build a relationship with a reporter.

Small Business PR Pitches This Week:

1: Florida GOP Primary: The Florida GOP Primary is held on Tuesday, Jan. 31. The candidates have been intensely campaigning across the state of Florida for almost ten days. Even after all the votes are in, small businesses impacted by issues of importance will still be able to pitch stories on everything from housing and foreclosure laws to job growth.

2: Facebook IPO: Arguably the most watched initial public offering in the tech world ever, Facebook is expected to announce plans for its IPO this week.

3: I-75 Traffic Accident: For the next few days one horrendous ongoing story will be about the deadly traffic accident that took place along I-75 near Gainesville, Fla. Car safety and traffic experts should weigh in on the subject, offering up insight into what happened and current legislation that impacts similar road incidents.

Small Business PR Pitches During February:

4: American Heart Month: Doctors and clinics that offer heart health can pitch stories addressing ways people can be more heart-healthy with their lifestyles.

5: Bake For Family Fun Month: Bakeries and home advocates looking for small business PR can pitch stories profiling families that take the time to bake with each other as a way to bond.

6: Dog Training Education Month: Dog trainers can pitch stories offering up the top-five ways you can train your dog in an effective manner.

7: National Pet Dental Health Month: Veterinarians can pitch a small business PR story that addresses the health risks of neglecting your dog’s dental health.

8: Exotic Vegetables And Star Fruit Month: Local farms can invite local television news crews to profile exotic vegetables, perfect for every local morning show.

9: Jobs In Golf Month: Golf courses and golf course communities can pitch small business PR stories on what it’s like to work at a golf course, or an employee with a truly inspiring story.

10: Library Lovers Month: As we discuss in the PR Toolkit for Small Business, creativity is key in generating small business PR, especially in press release subject lines. For librarians and libraries competing against technology changing the world of books and book reading, this could be a great month to pitch interesting stories on the importance of the local library.

11: National Black History Month: Local museums of black history, black history advocates and black history authors can all pitch wonderful stories that highlight the many names who’ve been a truly inspiring and important part of America and beyond.

12: National Care About Your Indoor Air Month: Services that focus on air quality can pursue small business PR opportunities by highlighting the dangers involved with unhealthy indoor air levels.

13: National Children’s Dental Health Month: Dentists and hygienists can pitch stories on children and taking care of their teeth and tips to get your child to brush their teeth.

14: National Parent Leadership Month: Local schools can work with parent advocacy groups and organizations to obtain local press coverage on stories that focus on the wonderful leadership qualities possessed by involved parents.

15: National Time Management Month: Management consultants can obtain small business PR stories by offering up tips to help entrepreneurs and all business people with their-time management skills.

16: Pull Your Sofa Off The Wall Month: Calling all Murphy bed stories and other furniture stores looking for small business PR pitches. February is filled with the chance to highlight the Murphy bed and any other space-saving furniture many people may not know about.

17: Relationship Wellness Month: Date and relationship coaches can pitch stories on ways couples can reconnect with one another for lasting relationships.

18: Women’s Heart Week (Feb. 1-7): Local women’s health clinics can pitch a story talking about the unique impact women have with their heart health compared to men, in addition to showcasing tips women can do to be more heart-healthy.

19: Children’s Authors And Illustrators Week (Feb. 5-11): Great for authors of children’s books and other literature, this week poses a great chance to get small business PR addressing today’s best titles and trends in children’s literature.

20: International Flirting Week (Feb. 13-19): Dating and relationship coaches can pitch stories that explain flirting from the humorous side to the more serious side of relationships.

21: Alzheimer’s And Dementia Staff Education Week (Feb. 14-21): Any clinics, experts or non-profit organizations, including the Alzheimer’s Association, should be pitching stories for this week for maximum exposure.

22: National Entrepreneurship Week (Feb. 18-25): Entrepreneurial resources and organizations seeking small business PR can leverage this week to showcase what it means to be an entrepreneur, the struggles they face, and the realities of launching a business in today’s economy.

23: Build A Better Trade Show Image Week (Feb. 19-25): Digital and trade show marketers can pitch a small business PR story offering up ways entrepreneurs can design an effective trade show booth, as well as marketing tips in general.

24: National Engineers Week (Feb. 19-25): Engineering firms, universities and subject experts can spotlight educational programs for engineers and new trends in the world of engineering.

25: National Pancake Week (Feb. 19-25): Local restaurants can secure small business PR by planning publicity stunts like pancake eating contests or delivering pancakes to morning television and radio shows.

26: National Secondhand Wardrobe Week (Feb. 26 – March 3): Donation centers and consignment shops can pitch stories that talk about the importance of donating and some of the more interesting articles of clothing people have donated.

27: Valentine’s Day: Everyone from retailers and restaurants to relationship experts can build significant small business PR campaigns around this annual holiday. Nearly every media outlet will provide some sort of coverage to Valentine’s Day, enabling entrepreneurs and businesses the chance to generate some great news coverage.

For any entrepreneurs pitching long-lead publications and magazines, your small business PR pitches should be focused on May stories. Memorial day, high school prom, weddings and graduation are all important story themes during May. Good luck with your pitches!

John Sternal is co-founder of Sternal Communications, a PR and marketing consultancy helping businesses get noticed through publicity in the media. He is the author of the PR Toolkit for Small Business and currently authoring a book about DIY public relations for small business owners. For questions email John Sternal or connect with him @SternalPR.

It’s easy to start going down the road of doing social media PR but then get off course. Here are 18 ways your social media PR is failing and some explanations of how to do a course correction:

1: Connect With Reporters - Social media PR is highly effective when the laws of social media are applied. This means you have to follow key reporters in order to build effective relationships with them. You can’t engage with people who aren’t in your network.

2: Openly Pitch Reporters - Once you’ve started following those reporters, it’s important to focus on building the relationship. This means chatting up interesting conversation and commenting on the things they are talking about. What you don’t want to do is pitch them a story idea because it’s very difficult to explain your full story in 140 characters and, more importantly, other competitors and reporters can see who you’re pitching.

3: All Business, No Personality - The last thing reporters want to see from you is ONLY business. If all your Facebook updates and Tweets are simply promotions about your company, they will tune you out. In fact, who can blame them, you’re showing them you’re a computer and not a human.

4: Not Integrating Other Social Platforms - Social media works the best when you connect all your platforms together. Let it be known that you’re on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube and Flickr. Reporters like to have access to background on you, whether it’s the social side, business side, video side or photo side.

5: Not Seeing Real-Time News - From the fall of Libya to the death of Michael Jackson, social media PR starts with breaking news. Whether the major networks like it or not, Twitter and Facebook are excellent sources of major breaking news. If you’re early in the know, you have the ability to fire off an email pitch to a newsroom offering you up as a subject-matter expert.

6: You Only Want Profile Stories - Don’t be like that. Don’t be the person who says it’s a waste of your time unless a reporter will do a cover story on your business. Stop it because those days, for the most part, are over. It’s still possible to land a profile story but for the most part reporters are shying away from them. Today’s news is all about the issue, not the company (unless you truly have a product that no one else has). Your goal with social media PR is to become a story source by using all of today’s social tools for pr.

7: Not A Product Resource - If you DO have a product that lots of people would like, be sure to offer up samples to key reporters you meet in social settings. This is a great way to build some excitement and rapport with them. Assuming they like your product they will also talk about it with their friends and go to you for questions - all in front of their network of fans, friends and followers.

8: Sharing Cool Stuff - This is where social media PR and viral marketing cross paths. If you are a part of a really cool video, be sure to share it with reporters who like to see that kind of stuff. You never know when Headline News will play your video simply because you tipped them off to it. Keep in mind this is different than #2 openly pitching reporters. You’re not pitching them a story here. You’re sharing cool content with them.

9: Looking For Influencers - The popular kids are all over social networks, and engaging with them can make for great social media PR. Find them. Get to know them. Make sure they know who you are.

10: Looking For Trending Topics - As a follow up to #9, all the cool topics can be found on social networks, too. Find out what’s hot and being talked about the most. Those are the popular conversations. How does your company and brand mesh with those topics? Join the conversation and formulate pitches that can be emailed to reporters.

11: Listening - Stop talking for a moment. Just listen to what people are telling you on Twitter and Facebook. If you’re doing it the right way, a lot of your customers are communicating to you. Good social media PR is not just about you getting your story out; it’s also about listening to what others have to say and making sure all’s right with your brand.

12: Collecting Customer Stories - Speaking of your customers, focus on them a lot. Most of the time customers will engage with you in social networks because they want to share some really cool way they used your product or service. Often times this can lead to a really cool social media PR story pitch. Reporters love it when you get a customer involved. We talk more about customer stories in the PR Toolkit for Small Business.

13: Harnessing Hashtags - Hashtags make it so that millions of people can be a part of a conversation. The social media PR opportunity here is infinite. If you’re a camping gear business and you create a video on the worst ways to camp (and make it a little humorous) and you tweet it using the hashtag everyone is using during the premier of “Survivor,” do you realize how many millions of people could potentially see your video?

14: Learning From Others - If you don’t really know what you’re doing in the areas of social media PR, there are lots of others that do and you can find them on social networking platforms. Get to know some popular PR people (I’m @sternalpr). We’re actually friendly people and will answer some questions here and there about how we do things. I may not give you every secret I’ve ever learned, but I’m a nice guy and will try to help out as much as possible.

15: Using Your Blog - Social media isn’t just Twitter and Facebook. Blogs are also part of the social media world. Your blog can be a valuable tool in getting your social media PR message out, either directly to customers or to reporters who follow you. Mom Bloggers have become legendary for this format.

16: Linking To Virtual Press Room - Use your social media networks to link over to your virtual press room so reporters can have access to a wealth of background articles, social media press releases, images and publicity videos of you, your company and products.

17: Branding Your Social Media Networks - I’m sure that new tattoo is really cool to a small circle of your friends, but don’t make it as your avatar on Twitter if you also use that space to talk about your business. Put up either a professional-looking photo of you or your company’s logo.

18: Relying Only On Social Media - Lastly, social media PR isn’t just about the social networks as a way to connect with reporters. The goal is a better relationship with reporters. It may start with a tweet but it may end with a phone call and in-person interview, two things that are considered “old-school” in the world of PR.

Have I missed anything? As always I’d love some feedback. It’s a great way for me to learn, as well as others in the UnderstandingMarkting.com community. Hopefully after reading this you won’t be suffering from one of the 18 ways why your social media PR is failing.

You may also want to read Why Your Small Business PR Isn’t Driving Sales.

John Sternal is co-founder of Sternal Communications, a PR and marketing consultancy helping businesses get noticed through publicity in the media. He is the author of the PR Toolkit for Small Business and currently authoring a book about DIY public relations for small business owners. For questions email John Sternal or connect with him @SternalPR.

Here are five small business PR pitch ideas entrepreneurs can use during the week of Jan. 23 to get media exposure for their companies. Each of the five small business PR pitch ideas explains the story background and offers some different ways entrepreneurs can build story pitches that will interest reporters. The following ideas are part of UnderstandingMarketing.com’s PITCH series helping small businesses build publicity ideas that create headlines.

1: Weather - One of the hottest stories of the week will be the weather patterns across much of the country. Okay perhaps “hottest” may not be the best way to characterize this story. The winter cold snap finally arrived across most of the Northern sections of the U.S., with many major cities freezing from all the snow fall. Last week Alaska and parts of the Pacific Northwest began feeling the impacts (our PITCH update was tipped off to this from one of our Alaska readers). Entrepreneurs digging out from the snow and looking for small business PR opportunities will have their chance. From retailers offering snow removal equipment and weather gauges to local chains selling backup power generators, plenty of small businesses will be able to build PR pitches around the cold weather. What are some unique and compelling customer stories? What new trends are you seeing this year in how people are coping with the cold weather? Build those pitches and send them off to your local reporters.

2: Super Bowl - The two teams for the big game have been decided and there’s just one game left to decide who’s the best. For the two cities with teams representing in the Super Bowl, Boston and New York, there will be plenty of media attention on the big game - on and off the field. The next two weeks will represent a great opportunity for entrepreneurs and small businesses to develop creative story pitches that attract the attention of general assignment reporters looking for fun stories away from the locker room.

3: Economic Indicators (jobless claims, GDP and Consumer Sentiment) - This week the government will announce critical monthly data that addresses jobless claims, gross domestic product (GDP) info for the fourth quarter of 2011, and consumer sentiment across a variety of industries. For entrepreneurs developing small business PR campaigns, the consumer sentiment data is especially worth watching. This data is often used to check the pulse of American consumers, and small businesses in every corner of the country provide a great looking-glass into how the average consumer is feeling. Have you ever tried taking your own consumer sentiment poll among your customers? Try it and release your own data on Thursday, the day before the national report comes out.

4: Health Care - President Obama’s health care mandate and law are back in the news for the small business community, with a new poll out from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce revealing that the small business community is increasingly concerned about the tax implications of the President’s law. The Chamber is quoted as saying many small businesses are worried the new law is really more of a tax bill packaged and masked to look like a health reform bill.

The new health care laws will have a profound impact on the small business community. Entrepreneurs seeking out small business publicity would be wise to build relationships with their local business media and communicate how the new laws affect them. Small businesses in the healthcare industry should also be opening up the dialogue with local and national media, offering a special glimpse into the realities of how the health care law changes will affect the business side of their clinics and practices. A small business press release or tip sheet may be especially helpful for local reporters.

5: Keystone XL Pipeline - Setting aside the environmental considerations of the project, the Keystone XL Pipeline project was going to create hundreds, if not thousands of jobs for all business entities - small business included. The Keystone XL Pipeline was a proposed transportation line of crude oil from Western Canada to several regions throughout the U.S. Entrepreneurs looking to generate small business PR coverage will have a great opportunity in the coming week to address President Obama’s decision to reject a permit for the project by communicating the impact felt through loss of jobs and revenue as a result of the pipeline. This issue isn’t just about big oil companies benefiting from the pipeline. Plenty of small businesses would have been given the chance to bid on special project work, boosting their companies’ bottom lines and providing for an atmosphere to add jobs.

For more small business PR ideas download the PR Toolkit for Small Business today.

John Sternal is co-founder of Sternal Communications, a PR and marketing consultancy helping businesses get noticed through publicity in the media. He is the author of the PR Toolkit for Small Business and currently authoring a book about DIY public relations for small business owners. For questions email John Sternal or connect with him @SternalPR.