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By Henry DeVries

Another publicity secret is that the media loves numbers. An easy way to generate news that will get your name out there is to analyze and report statistics. Give the media provocative numbers, and they will give you coverage. This is what we term publicity-generating research.

This is how it works. Find a topic that relates to your organization. Commission an opinion survey. Then release the results to the media in a news release that offers your analysis.

Here are some other examples of publicity-generating research in action, all taken from USA Today.

  • If you like steamy sex conversations over dinner, you’re probably single, according to a survey of 300 men and women conducted by Sfuzzi, a trattoria with locations in New York; Washington, D.C.; Dallas; and Houston.
  • One in three people suffer pangs of guilt along with pangs of hunger for a snack. The survey was conducted for Continental Baking Co., the maker of Twinkies, Hostess Cupcakes, and Ho Hos.
  • The lowly penny has a big following with the public, says a Gallup poll. Of 750 adults asked if the penny should be discontinued, the con-cents-us was clear: 62 percent want to save the single-cent coin. The poll was commissioned by Americans of Common Cents, a group organized by the zinc industry. Pennies are made mostly of zinc and use less than 3 percent copper.
  • A friendly, helpful staff is what 76 percent of patrons want at a fast-food restaurant, according to a Wendy’s/Gallup survey of 1,029 fast-food consumers.
  • People would rather pay $50 a month for insurance that includes a nursing home benefit than have free coverage without the benefit, says an American Association of Retired Persons study of 1,490 adults.
  • Cleveland and Nashville are among the ten cities that will be hot for hotel development in the near future, say hotel real estate consultants Laventhal & Horwath.

Here is another idea on how to distribute this information nationally. News USA at (202) 393-2200 and the North American Precis Syndicate at (818) 761-4012 are two of the nation’s premier newspaper feature placement services. These firms send monthly packages of features to more that 10,000 daily and weekly newspapers in the United States. You can expect 100 to 400 newspaper appearances per feature. For a fixed full-service fee, News USA researches, writes, edits, typesets, prints, and disseminates the material. Both provide physical clippings and detailed usage reports.

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