Every organization needs to have a strategy in place to be able to achieve its goals. Our focus however, will be on how to generate publicity for your business through ‘Do-it-Yourself’ or ‘DIY’ processes.
Getting publicity can be difficult for small business owners, but nothing can be more instrumental for long-term recognition and success. In order to achieve effective publicity, you need to know the right tool to employ (press releases, articles, blogs, opinion piece, participating in events/sponsorships etc), the appropriate channel (print media, electronic media (radio/TV), social media (facebook, twitter, youtube) etc. In this series, we will focus on the print media and how to become a toast of the media guys.
How can you be a toast of the journalists?
Be a thought leader: A secret to attracting interest from journalists is to position yourself as an expert. Before you say, “But I’m not an expert at anything,” remember that everyone is an expert at something. If you’re a lawyer, you can give legal tips or interpretations. An accountant might offer tax tips. And almost anyone who provides services is an expert in something. Make yourself an expert in your field.
Target the right media person: It’s not enough to be a thought leader; you need to go the extra mile and ensure your information lands on the desk of decision makers. Ensure your opinion piece/article gets to the editor or a senior correspondent of the desk in that particular publication. If you write a masterpiece document relevant to the insurance industry but send it to the health desk due to ignorance, trust me, the document will land in the trashcan and not on the pages of your desired publication. Therefore, get the correct name and the designation of the reporter. Call him, introduce yourself and request his email address and deadline for his page.
Send the right content: The key to being successful with the journalist is to give them news that is better than anything else they have. It’s that simple. Everything else is content and style. Don’t try to sell your products and services through a press release. The media is averse to anything that looks like advertising. Journalists want to educate, entertain, stimulate or provoke their audience. So you need to put yourself in the position of the editor or producer and carefully scrutinize your own write-up. Send your write-up in good time and follow-up with a phone call.
With this piece of information, we hope you can get your write-ups through to the media successfully and get your coverage. Let’s know if you ever try it out.
