Up to 90 per cent of stories in newspapers and on the TV news appear because someone sent out a press release. Can you imagine what that means?

What would happen to your business if you appeared on Oprah? Or if a major magazine did a feature story on you? Or a major newspaper? Your business would never be the same again. No amount of paid advertising can match free publicity.

And yet, very few small businesses ever bother sending out a press release. (The terms "press release" and "news release" are interchangeable, but I prefer "news release" because it reminds me that the release must contain news of some kind.)

=> Super Secret #1: Send out news releases regularly, to your local media, national media, and post them online too.

This means educating yourself as to what constitutes a news release. And that education is VITAL. Nothing ticks off a reporter more than receiving a blatant ad masquerading as a news release. I'm a computer journalist, and I receive news release every day that are nothing more than blatant advertising. My editors' attitude is: "If you want to advertise, buy an ad. If you want free publicity, give us a story in return."

Here's a brilliant resource which tells you everything need to know about crafting news releases that not only get read, but also get used:

http://sprite.netnation.com/~greenbri/ABCPublicityFAQ.html

=> Super Secret #2: A lack of response doesn't mean NO response

A point to keep in mind ---- most releases you send out seem to go nowhere. "Seem" is the operative word.

Let's say you've spend four hours sweating over a news release. You send it out. To coin a clich