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Free Publicity Tip — When you send out a press release, make sure someone is available to take calls from reporters.

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One great way to promote yourself is by giving free talks to local
organizations and businesses.

There are several benefits to giving speeches.

You get to meet people face-to-face, which can help you to
create new social and business relationships.

If you have dreams of becoming an author, it can help you to
build what is called a platform, a base of fans or people who know
your name, which can make you more attractive to publishers.

You can get additional exposure by letting the media know
where and when you are giving your talk. They might list the event
in their calendar of events or even send a reporter out to do a story.

It might lead to a lucrative career as a paid speaker.

And most important, you get free food, because most of the
groups you will talk to meet either for breakfast or lunch and they
pick up the tab for your meal.

SO WHO ARE THEY?

Business organizations and service clubs offer great opportunities
to speak. Among the better known are Rotary, Kiwanis, Knights of Columbus, Soroptimist, and Lions Club, though there
are many others.

These and similar organizations have memberships that can
range from a couple of dozen or so to over 100. They usually meet
once a week; and most of them have speakers at these meetings who will talk for a predetermined time, usually 15–30 minutes.

Generally, they do not pay, but if you’ve written a book, most
of them will let you sell it at the meeting.

NEXT: How to Find Them

Adapted from the book, You Can Be Famous! Insider Secrets to Getting Free Publicity. Read the 1st Chapter

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The headline is the most important part of your press release.  It’s purpose is to entice the journalist into wanting to read more.

A great headline can also be a guide to help you write the release.

Here are some templates you can use, there are many more, to help you craft eye-catching, publicity generating releases. Some of them use the number 10, but  you could also use 5,7 etc. Whatever works.

So here they are:

The Top 10 __________

The Best __________

The Worst __________

The 10 Best Ways to __________

The Easiest Ways to __________

Why You Should Always __________

Why You Should Never __________

Why You Should Always __________ When You __________

Why You Should Never __________ When You __________

10 Reasons to __________

10 Reasons Not to __________

10 Questions You Should Ask Before Choosing a __________ (doctor, lawyer, mechanic, school, charity, etc.)

You may notice that there are actually 12 headlines above. You may wonder why, when the title of this post says there are 10. I’m using one of the principles of business success: Always under promise and over deliver.

Thanks for reading.

Want to create the publicity and fame you deserve? Read You Can Be Famous! Insider Secrets to Getting Free Publicity.

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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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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.