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7 Myths About Getting Free Publicity

June 8th, 2009 | Author: admin

7 Myths About Getting Free Publicity

There is a lot of misunderstanding about the nature of publicity and how to go about getting it. Here are 7 myths that may keep you from getting the free publicity you deserve.

Myth 1. Publicity and advertising are the same. Advertising is exposure that you pay for. You control the exact message and, if you’re willing to pay extra, the placement of the ad.

Publicity is free, unless you are working with a publicist. Even so, the cost of hiring one is much less than the cost of advertising, yet it has more value because it is treated as news.

It has much more credibility than advertising. The downside is, you don’t control the placement or size of a story.

Also, you don’t have control over the exact spin that a journalist will give the story. But if you initiated the process, by contacting the media with a news release, the story will usually be favorable.

Myth 2. You have to know someone. Like anything else in life, it helps if you have contacts on the inside. But they are not necessary. Every day thousands of people without contacts get free publicity in the media.

They are able to do it because they have a real story to tell, not a bunch of hype or disguised advertising, and they sent the media a well-crafted release.

Myth 3. You have to be one of the big guys to get any media attention. Wrong. See Myth 2 above.

Myth 4. You should send your release everywhere. Doing this is counterproductive. You should target your release to the right outlets and the right journalists.

For example, say your company has just released new customer relations software.

Don’t buy a giant media list and send it to everyone on it. Select the business publications and talk shows and the editors of the business sections of newspapers and magazines, as well as business websites, and send your release to them only.

If you have a list that is detailed enough to give you the contact info for individual business reporters, select those who write about software or high tech, not real estate.

Warning: only send the release to one person at a media outlet at a time. If that person turns you down, then it is okay to contact another one.

Myth 5. You should send out lots of press releases. Don’t pester journalists with releases about every little thing that happens at your business or organization.

They find it annoying and time consuming. It’s like the boy who cried wolf. Send them too many trivial releases and they will stop paying attention. Wait until you have something reasonably important to share with the public.

Myth 6. Bigger is better. Don’t write long press releases. Journalists have too many to read. The ideal length is 400 – 600 words.

If you have more to say, you can provide additional items such as a bio (biography), company history or fact sheet. If the release interests journalists, they will then read your supporting material for more information.

Myth 7. You can get publicity if you buy an ad. Except with smaller media outlets and some trade publications, buying an ad will not influence the decision to do a story on you.

With most journalists, telling them that you will buy an ad if they do a story is a turn off and it may make them decide not to do anything at all. Don’t drop your advertising if it is working, but don’t try to tie it to getting free publicity.

Want to know more? Read You Can Be Famous! Insider Secrets to Getting Free Publicity

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Posted in Press Release, Publicity Tip | Tags: advertising, marketing, press, public relations, publicity | 1 Comment »

How to Write a Tech Press Release

June 5th, 2009 | Author: admin

As a business reporter living in Silicon Valley, I use to get a lot of press releases from tech companies announcing their latest product.

All too often, the releases were written to appeal to other techies, using language that my editors and I sometimes didn’t understand. And if we didn’t understand it, how could we communicate the message to the businesses that the company hoped to reach as customers? How would they know if they wanted one?

These releases often focused on the processes and the technology involved, rather than what the product actually did, which is what mattered most to the potential end users.

Now, writing in geek is fine when you’re pitching a tech reporter or blogger, but you still want lead with what the benefit of the product is and who will benefit from it. Then follow up with all the tech speak.

When approaching a non-tech outlet, such as a business newspaper or the TV news, try to write your release in everyday language, using tech talk sparingly.

And if you feel compelled to focus on the technology involved, put it in the lower part of your release or write a supporting fact sheet as an addition to the release.

Your press release is not about showing off, it’s about communicating and meeting the needs of the journalists and their audience.

Always remember, people don’t buy technology, they buy what the technology can do for them.

Do this, and you’ll get much more free publicity and you’ll sell more of your latest widgets.

Posted in Press Release | Tags: advertising, marketing, press, public relations, publicity | 1 Comment »

The Care and Feeding of Journalists

June 2nd, 2009 | Author: admin

One of the keys to getting free publicity is to make the journalist’s job easier. Not because they are lazy, but because they are almost always overworked and on deadline.

This means streamlining the communication process as much as you can.

In my work as a journalist, I’ve had several people pitch me stories who then told me I could find out the background information I needed by reading several pages of their web site, they weren’t sure just where, but if I hunted around, I could find it.

More than one got testy when I told them I didn’t have time.

Think about this situation from the standpoint of human nature. Forget about journalism for a moment. Imagine that someone asks you to do them a favor. When you agree, they put all kinds of conditions on you as to how the favor must be performed and when, so that they are not inconvenienced.

How would you feel, especially if you had several things of your own that you had to accomplish before the end of the day?

Now, journalists are not doing you a favor. They are looking for good stories, but they have a lot to choose from. Who is more likely to get their story in the paper, the person who is helpful, or the person who puts up roadblocks?

One time I asked the spokesperson for a nonprofit a question and she told me to go read her 96 page white paper. There was no way I was going to do that, not to find one simple piece of information that she could have told me over the phone. Guess whose story didn’t appear in the paper.

So do whatever you can to make the journalist’s life easier and you’ll find yourself getting more and more free publicity.

Adapted from the book, You Can Be Famous! Insider Secrets to Getting Free Publicity

Posted in Journalists, Learning the Jargon, Publicity Tip | Tags: journalist, press | 1 Comment »

Can a Cow Make You Famous?

May 31st, 2009 | Author: admin

In these columns I’ve already written about tying your publicity campaigns into current events, movies and holidays.

Another type of event or occurrence you can tie into is the annual celebration or commemoration.

You’ve probably seen or heard the announcements about such things as National Dairy Month, which happens in June, or the Great American Smoke-out.

Such events or themes are often created by trade associations or non-profits to create awareness and to motivate people to certain actions, such as drinking more milk or stopping the cigarette habit.

There are literally hundreds of such awareness programs occurring each year. If you find a way to tie your product or service into one of them, as they occur, you greatly increase your chances of getting free publicity. One way is to create an event of your own that reflects the theme of the celebration.

But how do I find out what they are, you may ask.

Good question. One site is the ePromos Events Calendar
You can find others on the web.

Look at the listings and think about what events might be appropriate for you. Send your press release out at least a couple weeks before the event.

So next time you want a little fame, think milk. Or candy. National Candy Month occurs in June also.

Want to learn more publicity secrets? Read You Can Be Famous! Insider Secrets to Getting Free Publicity

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Posted in Publicity Tip | Tags: press, publicity | 3 Comments »

Get More Publicity with a Fact Sheet

May 28th, 2009 | Author: admin

A great way to make your pitch to the media stronger is to augment your press release with a seperate fact sheet.

It’s easy to create one, simply list a series of facts that relate to your story.

Let’s say you’re in real estate (perhaps a bad choice at this time), you might list such things as:

Median price of a home in your area

Median price a year ago, six months ago

Average length of time a house is on the market

Average lenghth of time a house on market last year this time, six months ago

And so on.

You might also list some pertinenet facts about your company, especially if you’re beating the competition. For example:

Number of homes you’ve sold this year or average per month

Average number of homes sold by all the realtors in the area.

Number of years in business

If you own the comapny, the number of agents

You get the idea.

Journalists love a well thought out fact sheet because it makes their job so much easier.

So consider adding a fact sheet to your press kit and watch your media exposure grow.

Or as they often said on the old policeTV show Dragnet (I’ve been wanting to write this since I started the article), “Just the facts, ma’am.”

Want more great publicity tips? Read You Can Be Famous! Insider Secrets to Getting Free Publicity.

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Posted in Press Release, Publicity Tip | Tags: press, publicity | No Comments »

10 Reasons To Be a Guest on Podcasts and Internet Radio Shows

May 12th, 2009 | Author: admin

I often help people become guests on radio talk shows. Radio is a great way to promote your business, cause or organization, without leaving home. Most talk radio shows will interview you on the phone. You can do it in your bunny slippers. Not that I wear bunny slippers. Honest.

Last year, several of the people I was working with, or considering working with, told me they did not want to appear on podcasts or radio shows broadcast on the Internet. Their perception was that these shows have small audiences and would therefore be a waste of time. At one time, this may have been true.

However, the Internet is rapidly changing and I believe the value of being a guest on these shows is greater than ever and can, in many ways, eclipse the value of appearing on traditional broadcast radio. Not that I want to demean the value of traditional radio talk shows. They can be an important part of any publicity campaign. It’s just that they have new competition, which offers you more opportunities to promote yourself.

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Here are 10 reasons why I think you should consider being interviewed on Internet radio shows:

1. Model successful people. One of the keys to success is to do what successful people do. It’s called modeling. Many celebrities, including best-selling authors, are guests on these shows. If they think it’s worth their time, maybe it’s worth yours, as well.

2. These shows have loyal listeners. They listen actively to the shows, which are promoted ahead of time. These listeners want to hear what the guest has to say. In traditional radio talk shows, people are often doing other things — driving somewhere, making dinner, etc. You may have only their partial attention, which means only a small part of your message is heard and even less is acted upon. Even worse, some in the audience may have no interest at all in your topic. They may be a fan of the host and are merely tolerating you.

3. It’s great practice. You can make your mistakes in front of a smaller audience while you build your interview skills.

4. It’s a great showcase. You have something to add to the media page on your website and promotional materials. Also, you have samples for bigger radio shows, and TV talk shows and news broadcasts. Before they will consider booking you, they want to hear what you can do.

5. They have longevity. Although many broadcast shows archive their episodes on the net, many don’t. And those that do usually keep them for a limited time. Podcasts are often archived for years.

6. Convenience — People can listen to the shows whenever they want, not just when the show is broadcast. This actually increases the size of the audience.

7. Searchable — These shows are searchable by key words, which again means you are being heard by people who want to listen to what you have to say.

8. Serendipity — You don’t know who might be a fan of the show. A book publisher may like your message and offer you a book deal. You might be offered a speaking gig by a listener. You might establish an ongoing relationship with the host that can be mutually beneficial.

9. Some have big audiences. — Yes, there are many Internet shows that have over 100,000 listeners all over the world. Wouldn’t it be nice to have an international reputation.

10. It can be fun. Promoting yourself doesn’t always have to be hard work. I’ve had a great time on many of the shows I’ve been on, promoting my book. And what’s wrong with a little fun, especially in these times?

Posted in Guest Appearances, Radio | Tags: press, publicity | No Comments »