Are You Getting Free Publicity? Do You Know How?

by Tom Falco

On line marketers and business people are always
looking for free publicity and advertising.

One excellent way to get tons of free advertising is
by sending out press releases to various newspapers
and magazines. Many times, if the press release is
interesting enough, they will run it as filler.
Publications are always interested in filler material.
Usually smaller publications like community newspapers
and smaller magazines are in need of interesting copy
and since it is free, they jump at it.

Even better, many publications will follow-up on press
releases and interview you as a subject for a more
lengthy story with photos, etc. This is if they find
you and/or your story interesting enough.

We are talking about printed publications here, not
on-line newsletters or ezines.

The press release needs to be a "news story." It needs
to be of interest to the readers of any given publication
and it needs to have information that people would find
interesting.

You can't just send out a press release saying "Click
here for free stuff," or "We have the best web site
in town."

You have to promote it as news. Is your business or
website sponsoring a local event? Are you going to show
your products at a local trade show? Are you promoting
something brand new that will be of interest to a
certain readership?

A press release about your new pet sitting service really
wouldn't fit in with a magazine or newspaper geared toward
model trains and hobbies. Although many people who are into
model trains may also need pet sitters, this isn't targeting
the market, and your release would be ignored by the editors
of that publication.

The press release must be written as a news story. It can
be a feature or news, but it must fit in with the rest of
the copy in the publication.

If you have the right press release, you can have the
same one run over and over again all over the country,
even all over the world! One press release can get you
worldwide business.

We have sent out the same press releases to newspapers
all over the country and just changed the name of the
city in each release to be geared to that specific location.
A good release will be run over and over again and there
is no need to rewrite it once it is fine tuned and ready.

It's great to be at the top of the search engines and on
links pages, etc. But why not reach the truly larger market
that isn't looking for you on search engines or surfing the
web for your product or service?

Why not let them read it in the news pages of their local
newspaper or favorite magazine? They are more apt to check
out your business if it is written as a news story. It will
open doors to new customers and clients. People that wouldn't
have known about you otherwise will have a chance to read
about you and what you have to offer.

About the Author

Tom Falco is editor of XpectMore.com Marketing eZine
you can subscribe by visiting: http://www.XpectMore.com
or mailto:ezine@xpectmore.com?subject=subscribe
Tom also is Quiz Master of "American Pop Culture Trivia"
Visit: http://www.xpectmore.com/pop.htm