How To Get Free Publicity For Your Business

NBC has gotten blasted in social media circles over the past couple of weeks because of their horrendous coverage of the 2012 London Olympics. And rightly so.

One commenter wrote: “Congratulations, NBC. You figured out a way to be more despised than Congress.”

It seems that people don’t appreciate manipulative, contrived, tape-delayed coverage of a major sporting event. Go figure.

If you believe the old saying that “There’s no such thing as negative publicity,” then I guess you think NBC is pleased with all the overwhelmingly negative feedback they keep (deservedly) getting for their insulting, inept coverage of the games (and overall quality of their network, in general).

But no matter what all of this means for NBC, one fact is crystal clear:

Free publicity can be a huge benefit to any small business – especially during this difficult economy, when every penny counts for so many small business owners.

There are three key areas of public relations you can use to boost your advertising results ten-fold over your paid advertising.

The key to public relations lie in…

• Public Relations or Publicity
• Merchandising
• Promotions

With a solid plan in place that encompasses all three of these areas, you’ll have a great approach in place so you can leverage public relations in the best way possible.

“Public Relations” (“PR”) includes all that is the media. Don’t limit yourself. The attention of newspapers, television, radio, magazines, bloggers, e-zines and more are all equally powerful. Online marketing is just as – if not more – important as conventional media in the modern world of PR.

Here are the four steps to get noticed by the media…

1. Create a press release for your company. The press release should be relevant to your target market and address consumer interest – not just blatantly announce or promote your business.
2. Include an engaging “hook” or “angle” in your press release. Use the most attention-getting language you can to make sure the media person you are sending it to is motivated to read it.
3. Put your press release into a professional format. Every press release must have a dateline, the most important information at the top, plus plenty of facts and figures. Make sure to include contact details to let the media know who to contact for more information, plus their phone number. For best results, print your press release on your letterhead.
4. Send your press release to all television and radio stations, local and metro newspapers, national newspapers, industry magazines, and any other form of media that reaches your target market. Don’t forget to include relevant blogs, e-zines, press release submission websites and key people in your industry.

Much more important than trying to make your press release “perfect” is to make sure you have clearly addressed the needs of your target market (and not just listed or described the products and services you offer). If you make it clear that you are providing either a solution to a problem or a way to avoid a problem that enhances people’s lives, the media (and the public) will be interested.

To sum it all up…

1. Make sure you offer newsworthy information;
2. Get your press release out to a multitude of online and offline media outlets; and then
3. Follow up with people to make sure they are publicizing your information.

*Bonus Tip: If you have a connection (or the ability to get a connection) with a celebrity, this can practically guarantee you’ll get the attention of the media.

Developing an effective system for press releases can be beneficial for all small business owners – especially those who are just starting out or those who have made some mistakes and now must depend on low-cost or free marketing in order to attract new customers, clients or patients.

As Jay Abraham says…

“One of the most powerful techniques every business should use is free publicity. As the name implies, there is no cost, just the time and effort required to attract attention to your business.”

And that’s a good thing – as long as you attract positive attention by providing excellent quality products and services, and not negative attention by botching a multi-billion dollar, multi-week international broadcast of a beloved major sporting event.

In our SSSMarketingUniversity.com FREE test drive, we show you how to put together press releases that work. Check out how the pros do it, and craft the perfect press releases for your business so you can take advantage of the power of free publicity and start benefiting immediately!