How To Get Thousands Of Dollars Worth Of FREE Publicity
The first step to getting loads of free publicity for your
business is to ask yourself - what's newsworthy?
What's newsworthy may depend on the particular media you are
targeting. Metropolitan daily newspapers and television networks
will be interested in a different type of news story to one that
might interest a local radio station or suburban newspaper.
Sometimes the same news story can be pitched differently to suit
the different news organizations.
Here are some opportunities to get media coverage:
Staff news If you employ an important new person, tell the
press. Have any employees being given awards? Have you had
record-breaking orders or have you promoted someone for
excellence?
Customer's news Have you had any celebrity customers? Have you
helped any customers out of a tricky situation? Business changes
Are you increasing (or decreasing) the size of your business?
Have you captured a big export order. Are you bringing in a new
product range, or providing new services? Location Is there
anything newsworthy about the building you occupy? What is its
history? Unusual services Do you have a strange occupation, or
have you been asked to do (or make something) that's unusual?
You What have you done that could be seen as newsworthy? Any
awards, sporting achievements, seminars, guest speaker roles
etc.?
Start making a list of how you could generate a newsworthy story
for your business.
If you are still stumped, then the following 7 questions may
give you some ideas to get some free publicity: 1. Do you offer
something that is not available anywhere else?
2. Are you a new business in the community or have you recently
renovated?
3. Are you celebrating an opening, an expansion or some
anniversary?
4. Are you the last or only type of your business in the area?
5. Have you or your staff recently completed any specialist
training?
6. Do you do charitable work or do you sponsor a club?
7. Could you host special events like free demonstrations, free
lessons, free seminars?
These are all media opportunities that have the potential to
make you and your business famous... well, for a short time
anyway.
I'll give you a couple of examples from my own experience.
When I first started in business I had a craft store and
regularly had various experts give demonstrations on glass
blowing, pottery making and china painting etc. I also held art
exhibitions for well-known artists. The amount of free publicity
my business got would have run into many tens of thousands of
dollars. The publicity cost me nothing, apart from a little time
and organization. It resulted in hundreds of new customers and
thousands of extra dollars in the cash register.
Also, back in my days in the toy trade, the media were always
interested in what children wanted for Christmas. They had a
fixation to know "what's hot and what's not!" So, every
Christmas I would tell the media what kids wanted Santa to give
them for Christmas. Or, to put it another way... "what parents
should buy their kids for Christmas." I knew, because demand was
driven by television advertising and by what I had on my
shelves. Every year without fail I got thousands of dollars
worth of free publicity. It was that easy.
The really good part of all this, is that a news story is worth
far more in terms of credibility than advertising. There are
opportunities for any and every business to get free media
coverage. You just have to hunt them out.