Harness the Marketing Power of Publicity

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01) Write a Regular Column – Whether in a newspaper, magazine, ezine, or offline newsletter, a regular column is a great way to establish you as an expert in your field. You can also send reprints to your clients and prospects to add proof to your sales letters and promotional materials.

02) Write an Article – Articles can be anything from a short essay on a topic to a feature article in a magazine, newspaper, ezine, newsletter, you name it. Again, article reprints help the selling job in adding proof to your persuasion.

03) Celebrity Endorsements – They aren’t as expensive as you might think (unless you try to get Sean Connery or Tom Cruise). The key is that you need to use celebrities that your target market recognizes as such. So Tony Rice would make a great celebrity for bluegrass and acoustic guitar enthusiasts. Not so much for gardening fans.

04) Event Marketing – Ever see those plaza store events, like when a new Harry Potter book is released? All the stores get together and celebrate the launch of the book in different ways. Obviously there’s the bookstore release, but the local video and game rental store gets in the act. So does the family restaurant, ice-cream vendor, and arcade.

Even the dry cleaning store can get involved and pump up their business, if they stick to a common theme. And this is all announced ahead of time (with appropriate press releases, etc.) so people coming down know what to expect. “Oh, great, we can get the book for little Sally, I can drop off my suit at the cleaners, my wife can go to the apparel store. What a great time this will be for the whole family!”

05) Align With a Charity or Other Non-profit Organization – This is a great way to get free publicity. Let’s say you’ve created a course on starting a mail-order business on a shoestring budget. You can hold a free seminar with local low-income families and youths, give a presentation, and then give them all free copies of the course.

Be sure to issue press releases with your local newspaper, radio and television stations, and community publications. Stories like these make great humanitarian interest pieces for these media outlets. Who knows? You could be the next guest on Oprah or the Today Show!

06) Issue a Press Release – An oldie, but goodie. The trick is to make sure your press release is a newsworthy event. For example, starting a new newsletter is not necessarily a newsworthy event (but it might in certain niche markets for smaller publications).

Issuing a press release about a large donation you are giving, complete with relevant background story might be newsworthy. It all depends on your target audience and the publications. Editors pick up press releases if they think there is news for their readers. They do not care about you or your company. Your press release must be framed that way. “What’s in it for me” is very relevant here.

07) Create a Newsworthy Event – Here’s an idea that a local stereo and electronics store did that would qualify for a newsworthy press release:

• They arranged a “superstition obstacle course” on Friday the 13th in their parking lot, complete with ladders to walk under, a roaming black cat, mirrors to break, umbrellas to open indoors, etc.
• They called all the local radio stations and invited their morning personalities to come down and take the obstacle course challenge.
• One radio station took them up on their offer, and broadcast live from the event.
• The result was that tons of people came down to their store to watch and take part. And of course pick up some gear or supplies while they were there.
• And that, of course, not only provided a boost in sales for that day, it brought in new customers and generated lots of “word of mouth” advertising for them.

Any business can do something like this; even if you’re a conservative lawyer or accountant. The key is to find a theme and run with it. There’s no reason why a jeweler or restaurant couldn’t do something like that for Valentine’s Day. Or a local Irish pub could do for St. Patrick’s Day. Or any retail outlet for Christmas. The list goes on and on.

08) Take Time to Get to Know Your Local Editors and Publishers – It’s a lot easier to pitch a press release or idea if you already know someone on the inside. So take time to get to know local editors and reporters (or those in your niche) when you don’t have something to ‘sell’ them. Be ready to give them information or story ideas that don’t benefit you immediately – then they’ll be more responsive when you have something to offer.

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