04.04.01
Hello Promote Readers:
In "Smart PR For Your Small Business", Kevin Nunley presents
a few of the best ways to promote your small business for free.
Free advertising isn't limited to Internet affiliate programs and
reciprocal links. You can get noticed for free in the real world
too!
The PromoteNewz Team
Paul opens his favorite business magazine to find a fawning
interview with Amazon's Jeff Bezos. Then he picks up the morning
paper and reads a long story on a new donut chain being built in his
town. Later he catches a feature piece on CNN about a guy who sells
funny handmade shoes and learns accounting secrets from a CPA in
Ohio.
Media hands out millions of dollars in free publicity every day. As
well as advertising works, a media story about you almost always
pulls better. The familiar and respected voice of a newspaper
editor, magazine writer, TV reporter, or radio personality talking
about you holds lots of weight with the audience.
How do all these businesses get media coverage? The secret varies
depending on what your business does and HOW BIG it is.
Large, in-the-news businesses like Amazon.com get coverage for
practically any development. Political figures find their words in
the media for almost any pronouncement. The local college football
team gets press even if there is nothing much to cover.
Your small business can have a much tougher time if you try to
approach media the same way big organizations do. Media is almost
entirely owned by large conglomerates and staffed by media pros who
have never worked in a small business. The overall industry mindset
is that big business is news and small business is--well--rarely
news.
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This all changes, though, if you offer good information or advice
that will be helpful to the media outlet's audience. Newspapers love
it when a tax expert offers tips around tax return time. Radio
stations get a big kick out of anyone who can keep their audience
laughing. TV likes anything that is visual and brings out emotion
(hide the keys to a new car in a pool of jello, ask contestants to
swim to win, and watch every TV station in town turn out).
Let's focus on you as the media savvy expert. This is without
question the best strategy for consistently getting your small
business in the media.
Start by taking inventory of the areas you are, or could become,
an expert in. Think in terms of the kinds of information a general
audience would find interesting, helpful, or moving (these days
many in the media try less to explain and more to create emotion).
If you have a day care center, make a list of ten ways tired parents
can keep an energetic youngster entertained and learning. Run an auto
body shop? How about ways to avoid getting taken by mechanics and
insurance companies after an accident.
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If your area of expertise can relate to a hot topic in the news--all
the better! Historians, lawyers, detectives, and political scientists
get in the media several times each year by giving informed tips
relating to an event or scandal in the news. You may even be able to
provide a local angle for a national story.
I have found the best way to get covered by newspapers is to first
find the reporter who handles stories like yours. Most papers give
reporters wide leeway in what stories they cover. Call the reporter
and deliver a short, too-the-point message on why you have a story
THEIR AUDIENCE would find interesting. Get to the juicy, memorable
part first.
Follow up quickly with a press release, question and answer page, and
a bio about your business history (sometimes called a backgrounder).
While you have these materials in hand, call local talk and news
radio shows. Speak with the host or producer. Explain what is
interesting about your information and, again, follow up with your
release, Q&A, and bio.
The same strategy can work for getting you on top radio morning
shows. Radio comprises well over half of all the media outlets in the
US and many other countries. Don't over look it.
As you get media coverage, collect quotes from the media folks who
have worked with you.
"Jean kept the phones lit up for an hour"
KXXX San Diego, CA
"Interesting information every home owner should know."
The Daily News Canton, OH
Build your list of stations and publications your business has been
featured in. Include reprints when possible. Media folks love to
cover stories and feature experts who have already been successful
elsewhere.
Stay in touch with media who cover you. Send a handwritten thank you
note to editors, reporters, and on-air personalities. Make sure YOU
are the expert they think of when your topic comes up in the news
throughout the year.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kevin Nunley provides marketing advice and copy writing for
businesses and organizations. Read all his money-saving marketing
tips at DrNunley.com. Reach him at kevin@drnunley.com or
(801)253-4536.
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