| |
| |
|
PR Information |
|
|
|
Publicity: The Best Things In Life Are... FREEE!
One portion of your marketing plan that you probably don't think about enough is "free publicity". Publicity is an extremely important tool and should be given prominence in any marketing plan. What is publicity? It's getting anyone else besides yourself to talk about you (preferably in a good way) and tell about the things you do. If you can get any of the media in your area to give you publicity it will have a tremendous effect in boosting your business. You see, publicity is far more valuable than paid advertising in the same media. Why is publicity or public relations better than advertising? 2 Reasons: 1. Credibility - If you say that your products or services are the best in a paid newspaper advertisement, readers (who know you are advertising to sell your products) will automatically discount what you say. If, however, a reporter wrote an article about you, the story has built-in credibility because it is seen as the "media" making the statement and is perceived as unbiased. (This is one of the most powerful benefits of publicity) 2. It doesn't cost anything - One of the biggest expenses for almost any business is advertising. Advertising can eat up much and sometimes all of your hard earned money if your not careful. Why would any publication want to give you publicity? They will give you publicity only when they feel it is in their own best interest. To keep their readers and viewers, publications and broadcasters must give them hot information that they want. This helps them build and keep their audience - which, helps them create higher profit-margins by selling advertising. If you give the media something interesting that their audience wants to know about, you're helping them keep their audience and sell more advertising. Of course, not every editor will see the value of your information but that's ok because you don't have to get all the publicity you go after to create a large increase in your business. You only need a few free articles or stories to generate a substantial increase in your business. Shawn Meldrum has spent the last two decades marketing everything from almonds to landscape lighting. He currently specializes in marketing for mortgage brokers, loan officers and
real estate agents. For free mortgage marketing articles and more information about getting free publicity visit:
Publicity Resources
MORE RESOURCES:
PR - Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Right PR Empowers a Manager Business, non-profit and association managers are in a stronger position to succeed when they use their public relations resources in a way that alters individual perception leading to changed external stakeholder behavior.A mouthful, but true. Starting A Publicity Program Successful buisnesses know that media attention reaches consumers better than advertising can. A feature story on a start-up's new product or service, for example, can send the business into a new stage of growth. Can Newbies Avoid The Pitfalls? Yes indeed! If you are a young person who has decided that a career in public relations will be your Caviar and Champagne in life, here are four situations in which you do not want to find yourself:1. You confuse the basic function of public relations with sub-parts that make up the whole like publicity, crisis management or employee communications. I Cant Afford A PR/Publicity Campaign -- Can I? It's a phrase I hear over and over again from many entrepreneurs, small businesses owners and inventors: "I'd love to hire someone to launch our publicity campaign professionally, but we can't afford it, so I'm just going to have to do it on my own."Over the past several months, I have been conducting an informal survey among entrepreneurs and business owners who have contacted me about my services. Competition in the News Creates Spin In larger cities with many outlets they are competing for more news that other outlets cannot get as fast. "THE SCOOP" and also the spin, this spin thing is so that articles can cater to the readership or so they say. Financial Planners Get Free Publicity With Email In previous articles for marketing-minded financial planners, I've discussed what to say to a reporter over the telephone.However, if you are phone-shy or time-challenged, it's better to send an email than to do nothing. Press Releases: Not Dead, Just Evolved Mark Twain once said the rumors of his death had been greatly exaggerated. The same may be said for the press release. Be Patient? Nah, Lets Kill Something There's the old joke about the two buzzards sitting in a tree overlooking a highway. One responds to the other, "Be patient? I'm hungry. How to Stay Composed During Contentious TV Interviews NOTE: Brad Phillips was a Producer for CNN's The Capital Gang from 2000-2001.Robert Novak's meltdown on CNN's Inside Politics was predictable, perhaps. What Does Your Telephone Say About You When You Are Away? Business to Business relationships come to expect a certain level of professionalism, from the first telephone call to the final delivery.Your business can be on the Really Big 500 list, employ only a handful of people, or be a business of one but what is said by that business to other business customers will reflect the personality of that business. R.O.I. -- O.K., Heres The Deal! You can SO measure return-on-investment for a public relations program!Try this.Accept the fact that people act on their own perceptions of the facts, and that this leads to predictable behaviors about which something can be done. Driving Near School Buses in Company Vehicles School BusesWhen approaching a school bus: Slow down; If the amber lights are flashing, the bus is about to stop; If the red lights are flashing, the bus is stopped; In many states it is against the law to pass a school bus with flashing red lights and/or an extended stop arm.Do not upset school bus drivers. The 7 Deadly Sins of Press Releases A press release is often your only chance to make a great first impression.Newspapers, magazines and trade publications receive them by the truckload. Is There a Plumber in the House? I don't know about you but I get really frustrated when I have to deal with anyone in the plumbing, heating, or electrical field. For the most part, the service is horrible, the contractors are unreliable, and the lack of professionalism is rampant. Marketing-Minded Financial Planners, Create Your Very Own Story to Get Free Publicity One big mistake that many marketing-minded financial planners make when contacting the media is to drop what's called an "information dump."Sending a reporter statistics on the growth of your business (no matter how impressive) or on the success rate of your stock picks (no matter how propitious) will simply overwhelm them and will not garner publicity. Why Not PR That Gets Real Results? And not results you can measure only in terms of magazine circulation, TV audience numbers, or news release pickups.But rather, results that come from a public relations effort that creates the kind of key stakeholder behavior change that leads directly to achieving your managerial objectives. Writing a Press Release: How to Write Quotes Ideally, you will have two types of quotes in your press release. A quote from yourself is mandatory. What Kind of PR Makes Sense? For business, non-profit and association managers, is it publicity that delivers newspaper and talk show mentions backed up by colorful brochures and videos, combined with special events that attract a lot of people?Or could your business, non-profit or association PR dollar be better spent on public relations activity that creates behavior change among your key outside audiences that leads directly to achieving your managerial objectives? And does so by persuading your most important outside audiences to your way of thinking, then moves them to take actions that help your department, division or subsidiary succeed?What we're talking about is the kind of PR that lets you do something positive about the behaviors of those external stakeholders of yours that MOST affect your organization. Which means the right PR really CAN alter individual perception and lead to changed behaviors that help you win. Time Your News Release For Maximum Publicity "Cindy, where's that story? I need it yesterday!""Coming right up, boss. I'll have it to you soon," Cindy shouted back. Forget the Press Release - Heres How to Pitch Like Roger Clemens Stripped down to its core, publicity is little more than oneperson persuading another. You, the publicity seeker, mustpersuade a journalist that your story is worthy of receivingprint space or air time.
|
| home | site map |
| © 2006 |
