Publicity as you know comes in many communication forms, from traditional print, tv, and radio to the power of the internet. My outcome is to re-ignite your passion and purpose for creating FREE and low cost publicity to increase your market share!
Whiz-kid goes from Rags to Riches and Makes Millions with Bike Rack Idea!… was the headline in The Globe Magazine. That was just one of literally hundreds of articles and stories that were generated from my publicity efforts for my sporting goods company.
Now the GLOBE wasn’t my first choice for my entrepreneurial story when I was working to increase exposure and sales using press releases. It started with me sending press releases about my products to local papers, then trade publications, and went on to include national & international magazines, including USA Today, Entrepreneur, Success, Popular Science and many others.
When one of my clients says to me, “Ford… I’m not sure what to write about. Aren’t press releases just for big news?” I tell them that kind of assumption just isn’t true. You can create press releases for a wide variety of topics, as long as you keep a few key elements in mind.
One of the most important ones to always follow is to adapt your “story”(or theme) to a favorite media topic in the news. That will make it more interesting to your media contact, as well as to their readers. To help you get started, here are my TOP 5 topics that I use to increase the chances of getting publicity through traditional sources like newspapers, magazines, and newsletters.
HEALTH is one of the most popular topics covered in the media. Can you find a way to tie your product, service, or media promotion to a current, health-related topic? One of my clients runs a successful pilates studio and even though it’s a local studio, her press releases and articles have been published in several national publications and on tons of sites.
P.R. Quick & Dirty… 7 Reasons why you need free publicity:
1. Establishes credibility about you and your products or services.
2. Enhances customer retention.
3. Makes it easier to enter new markets.
4. Creates a competitive advantage.
5. Helps to position your products or services in your target markets.
6. Helps you sell more.
7. The price is right. It’s practically free!
TIP#1: When you prepare the release, use the term “MEDIA RELEASE” for television and radio and “PRESS RELEASE” for print media. Getting those terms mixed up sends a red flag to the editors and producers and your release may end up in the trash before they even look at it.
TIP#2: Many publications struggle each month to fill advertising space and welcome articles and product releases that add value to their audiences.
Basic anatomy of a media/press release:
It’s nothing more that a sales letter without a salutation or a signature.
1. Start with a unique benefit message in the form of a headline & subhead focused at the target market of their readers, listeners of viewers.
2. In a first paragraph mention your name and the compelling messages and benefits that you offer. Use might want to use highlighted bullets for easy reading. In most cases it’s critical to tie your benefits to hot or current topics.
3. The next couple of paragraphs should state why you or your company is unique and has credibility to offer such solutions.
4. The closing paragraph is the action step that you want your readers, listeners or viewers to do. For example, call for a free report, come to our event, etc.
Send out press releases each month to multiple mediums. Go to the library and check out the reference section for directories of publications. One great resource is the Standard Rate & Data Service (SRDS) directory and site. www.SRDS.com.
Call them and ask for their “media/advertising kits”. Then reveiw their publicaiton (or media source) and get familiar with the style and content to make sure that what you’re submiting has VALUE to their audience, readers, listeners, viewers, etc.
Then you can submit story angles that get attention and add valude… and more importantly, drive traffic to your site, build your prospect and customer lists and help you sell more product and services.
ACTION STEPS
What are my industry, profession, topic… print publications or media companies:
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YOUR NEW MOTO:
“I spend at least 2 hours a day on outbound marketing & promotion to bring business my way.”
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