All business owners, both online and offline, could benefit from more publicity. As many business owners know, getting publicity through advertising can be expensive. Not only can advertising and marketing be costly, businesses have to be better than their competitors. After all, everyone knows the best marketer always wins! So, how can this be done without blowing a budget? The secret is free publicity through the mass media of radio, TV, Internet, and newsprint. Using mass media can enable a business to reach a huge number of people at one shot. Imagine what would happen if a business were the topic of a popular radio talk show, had a spot on the Today show, Oprah, or Larry King! What would be the result if a business was on the front page of the business section in USA today? Are you beginning to get the picture? One appearance and you could be set for life! Here are four tips on how to get free mass media publicity for your business. 1. Use the News Search Engines. The news search engines are Yahoo, Google, and Topics.net. Everything that happens in our world, in case you haven't noticed, ends up on the Internet. Information about any topic can be easily obtained by typing in a keyword. For example, if you wanted to search on a news topic related to your business on Google, you would go to news.google.com. Next, you would type in your keyword and then click on the links that show up about various stories. What is nice about this is that you will find reporters who have written stories in your area of interest in newspapers, TV, press releases, etc. With just one click, many times you will find information to contact them. One excellent method to use when contacting a journalist is offering a tip list. Journalists love tip lists since they are easy to plug in for stories they are working on. Plus, any free information is always appreciated! You will also find that some journalists have a comments box. This is a huge gift to the business owner who wants to get free publicity. In that comment box you can talk about how you read their story, what you thought about it, and then offer the reporter additional tips. This also is a way to get to know them and if you continue to do this, be viewed as an expert resource. Another great thing you can do is to sign up for News Alerts with Google and Yahoo. From the homepages of these search engines, all you need to do is to click on the link, give your email address, and then type in the keywords you are targeting. Google and Yahoo will then send you daily, weekly, or monthly (based on your preferences), all the stories that come across the Internet related to your business interest. This will give you a huge edge in finding reporters to contact. 2. Go to the home websites for publications such as USA Today, The Washington Times, Boston Globe, New York Times, and other major newsprint publications. Next, type in your keyword of interest. You will find a wealth of information and reporters who you can start building a relationship with. 3. Write a press release. For many people, just the thought of a press release can be intimidating. The truth is, they are not that difficult if you know what you are doing. All you would need to do is to study some that are well written, and then use the same elements and same order in the right format. When done right, a press release can result in a huge amount of traffic to an online business site or even more phone calls to an offline business. To study two well-crafted press releases, go to http://www.publicitygoldmine.com/stinkyfeet, and http://www.publicitygold.com/snakeoil/ One excellent online press release resource to use is Prweb.com. This company is one of many online press release distribution services. They have access to all the major search engines such as Google and Yahoo Keep in mind that PR web won't let just any junk go through (poor English, sentences don't make sense, etc.) after all they do have editors who will view press releases before distribution, but they are very open to press releases of "how to topics", tip lists, and the like. In other words, your press release doesn't have to be hard news. What is great about PR web is that they will distribute your release for free. If you want to track statistics, receive extra support and help from an editor, and get even more exposure, all you would need to do is to make a contribution. Press releases are a great way to get publicity for little to no cost! For more information about press releases, visit http://www.publicitygoldmine.com/internet-publicity/ 4. Start Blogging. If you can market your business through a blog, it would be a very valuable tool for your business. Google's Blogger.com enable you to set up a blog for free. Blogs are a great way to attract attention and to get your business out in front of lots of people. The key to a blog is not being bland and boring. People love it when blogs are controversial. When I say controversial, I do not mean raising issues about race and religion. Being controversial is just being yourself, showing your personality, and not being afraid to state your opinions about issues. Use a blog to get a good discussion going and as a tool to stay connected with your readers. Telling stories, talking about newsworthy subjects, and then linking the blog to your business is a great way to drive traffic to your site or to increase phone calls to your offline store. The message here is to start blogging right away! Getting free publicity is within every business online and offline business owner's reach. Use these four tips and watch your business grow like it has never before. Copyright 2006 Monique Hawkins |
