In The News? Use It For Leverage

If you 'manage' to get a mention or an article about you in the media ... certainly celebrate and enjoy it but treat that as the start of a campaign and not the end!

Getting Media space (newspapers, local radio, consumer magazines, business journals, specialist publications, eZines, Blogs, national media) isn't SO difficult but does mean you have to must a clear strategy to greatly increase your 'prospects' rather than leave it to chance. I have a course on Self Promotion which covers this in detail, as well as other strategies fro getting a full date book with little or no budget! The ideas below are just a few of the strategies I deal with there.

Someone wrote and said that she had and "I hope it helps drag in new business"!

Don't "hope" but take action so that it does!!!!!!

There are dozens of ways to capitalise on this. That's how PR and Promotion companies do it for their clients and services and products. Some people will have seen it, most will not have. Even those who saw it will forget about it.

So what can you do?
If the article is available online, putting the link on your website would be great. It's a valuable part of 'outgoing link' strategy (but don't show the wording of the link ie http://www.xyznews.com/townsville/living/15032305.htm as it sounds really dull but have 'anchor text' keyword that is beneficial (and the link itself in the code).

Be Proactive
Getting Press and Publicity attention does mean being proactive. It can take a while so building a 'relationship' with your local editors and reporters is key. You have to find out who they are and nurture them over time. There are many do's and don'ts here ... so be careful. Perhaps more on that another time. Use what you have to give the Media what they want
Look at their 'readership' and their goals and offer something worth the time and space. One great strategy is to relate it to other stuff in the news. Keep your eyes open fro any way at all to link your products and services to a news item. Once you start this you'll find it gets easier and easier.

Don't expect immediate results
Don't expect too much but take what you can get and leverage it massively to leap to the next step. If you got NO enquiries as a direct result, it would still be worth it! At the very least awareness of you has risen. Many, if not most, advertisments you see are not about selling a specific product. It's part of an ongoing campaign to inform, reinforce their brand and their position. When you later market to them, they will better recall your existence from the publicity.

It also greatly adds to your credibility. One barrier that must be overcome when yopu trade online, (getting booked from a website), is trust. And right here is one of they key ways to build trust and credibility. The words and time and space of others devoted to you is priceless. People know you can say whatever you like about yourself but that the opinions of others are 'real. (See my articles on Testimonials). Use it to do that and your 'conversion rate' will multiply.

I was told " ... I’ve discovered that people have actually cut the article out and kept it for future reference"

Of course! And that's exactly why you should be sending the article (in one of many ways) to everybody on your 'list'. Presumably most won't have seen the article and could not clip it out. So ... deliver it to them!

People don't 'need' you now
Remember, they may not (almost certainly not) have a party, celebration, event straight away. And we have to assume that's true of the majority who see us, read about us, discover us. Why should they have a hurt, a pain, a need that needs fixing immediately? And that's precisely why we must have a 'marketing plan' to 'drip feed' these prospects. It's a proven fact that most people don't respond on an initial exposure, first contact. It is thought that about 5 times is the average minimum. So we cannot leave that to chance.

That's why, if you get some media exposure, don't sit on it. It's an event well worth announcing to your list. Show them that you are good and important enough, build their trust further, grow your credibility, nudge their memory so you are 'top of mind' when they need what you solve for them.

Some things to do with your article

• Put hard copies in your 'pack' if you still send out printed material
• Update the info in your CV or Sales Letter to include extracts etc
• Put a copy on your website in the appropriate area
• Put a copy in the Media section so other media can pick it up
• Put a downloadable pdf on the site so people can save it
• Put a link to it on your Blog
• Put links to it on your other websites
• Put links to it in an email and send to specific niche prospects in your lists
• Establish incoming links from others featured in the article
• Establish outgoing links too using keywords as 'anchor words'.
  

Just some of the things that can be done so that, even with something as simple as a mention in an article, you can get full leverage from the possibilities and increase the chances of more enquiries that can be converted to bookings.

John
The Infotainer
FACE MAGIC