Good media publicity valuable, but you have to work to get it

The most successful businesses in any community often have near-celebrity status achieved through free media visibility known as publicity. This prominence in the local or national press generates greater awareness for a company’s services and products — and that exposure leads to business success.

Interestingly, the people quoted in the news over and over might not be the best at what they do. But being the best isn’t necessary — instead, you have to be the most aggressive. Local “experts” get their name in the news by working at it. They learn who covers the types of stories or articles they can contribute to, and they develop relationships with these reporters, editors or producers.

Perhaps they call or write to suggest article ideas. Or maybe they just return calls from reporters promptly. They do what it takes — and you can too, because it’s not hard to do. You just need to understand the following four simple concepts.

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1. The press won’t know how great you are unless you tell them. Stop being modest. Share your news. Did your business win an award? Are you pioneering a new product category in your industry? Can you comment on a national story? Let the appropriate editor or reporter at local or trade media outlets know. If you don’t tell them, who will?

2. You must do something newsworthy, or offer information that is useful. It’s not enough to be good at what you do. You have to do something of interest to others in the community to get free media attention.

What are you doing that’s unique, the first-ever, significant, unusual, or reflects a trend?

Another way to stay in the limelight is to offer the media useful information in the form of “how-to” tips or advice. What “tricks of the trade” do you know that others would like to learn? Share them.

3. You must package your news in the proper format. That’s often a press release, a tip sheet or a pitch letter. Press releases and tip sheets are announcements offering information; a pitch letter is a sales letter designed to interest an editor, reporter or producer in a story idea.

When writing these materials, don’t worry about your writing skills — if you’ve got a good story and you’ve presented the key facts in the order of most to least important, your story will be used even if you don’t know whether to use “that” or “which.”

Work hard on the headline — many editors and reporters won’t read beyond a headline that doesn’t grab them. (For example, “New product from Acme Manufacturing will revolutionize kanooter valve industry” is more compelling than “Acme Manufacturing introduces new product.”)

Work to get the five Ws and one H — who, what, when, where, why and how — into the first two paragraphs. Concentrate on writing simply, as if you’re talking to a friend or relative. If it’s a “tip sheet” — a release offering advice or tips — number the tips or use bullets to identify them.

With all press materials, include a contact name and telephone number so a reporter or producer knows who to call for more information.

Use a pitch letter to sell a reporter or editor on your feature article idea or to convince a TV assignment editor or radio talk show producer to interview you on a particular topic.

A pitch letter should be no longer than one page and should state your idea in an interesting way in the first paragraph. Support that idea with facts or statistics, suggestions for other interview sources familiar with your topic, and a summary of your credentials.

4. Your information has to reach the right editors, reporters and producers. That might be the reporter at The Business Report or the daily newspaper who writes about your industry or topic, the reporter at the weekly newspaper assigned to your community, assignment editors at the television stations, news directors at radio stations for news or producers for talk shows, or the editor of a trade magazine. Assemble your media contact list by monitoring media outlets and their Web sites or by calling them for appropriate contact names.

It takes only a small effort to get publicity that generates new customers, credibility for your business or status in your community as an expert. Remember, the media won’t know about your business unless you tell them so get the word out. You’ll be glad you did.

Sandra Beckwith is the author of “Streetwise Complete Publicity Plans,” a how-to guide for small businesses. Contact her at sb@sandrabeckwith.com or visit her Web site, www.sandrabeckwith.com.>/i>