If you’re looking to build traffic to your web site, there’s a great, free tool. It’s called a PR or publicity release.

PR or public relations can take many forms. But the easiest and most common kind of PR is called a publicity release or PR release. They’re easy to prepare and, if picked up, by other media, can increase traffic to your web site dramatically.

What is a PR release?

A PR release is basically a short article about your web site or some aspect of your site. For example, I wrote a release recently titled “New HD Radio-dedicated Web Site Debuts.” Its purpose was simply to announce my new web site. It totaled 400 words and was distributed by two different, free PR web sites.

How to get your release picked up by the media

If you want your release to be picked up by ezines and other web sites, it’s important that it be “newsy.” In other words, the release must contain real news about something that would be of interest to other people. For example, launching a new web site devoted to weight loss products would interest many people and would have a good chance of getting picked up. On the other hand, changing the look and feel of your web site might make you feel good but you have to ask yourself, “how many other people would care?”

What else might be newsworthy? You could do a release on the addition of new products or services to your web site. For example, if your web site is devoted to information about bed & breakfasts in your area and you add a section on resorts, this could make a good release. Other ideas for releases include the addition of a new line of products to your web site, a new, interactive database or a new idea - such as a new training regime for long-distance runners.

You’ve no doubt heard the KIS formula for success in many endeavers — or Keep It Simple. Well, in the world of publicity releases, the winning formula is just as simple — KINS or Keep It Newsy.

Here’s something else that’s free and great. It’s a new technology called HD Radio that enables AM and FM radio stations to broadcast their programs digitally. These digital broadcasts provide listeners with radically improved audio quality, more radio channels through multicasting, and new data services. To learn more about this amazing new technology, just go my Web site, http://www.hd-radio-home.com

Douglas Hanna is a retired marketing executive and the author of numerous articles on HD radio, internet marketing and family finances.

Tags: free publicity, marketing publicity, PR, publicityfree publicity, marketing publicity, PR, publicity

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As someone with expertise in media relations, I’ve been asked if media coverage and publicity can build an online business. The real question is whether what happens offline really matters online. And the answer is unquestionably, “Yes!”

Here are ten reasons why media coverage can help your online business grow:

1. Every one of us, even if we spend four to eight hours a day in front of a computer screen in our underwear, still lives in the real world. Our opinions, desires, priorities, and decisions are heavily influenced by television, radio, books, magazines, and newspapers. Every business, online or offline, can benefit from positive media exposure.

2. Almost no business can afford to be absent from the Internet these days; even a local real estate agent gains a competitive edge from having a web site. By the same token, an online business gains a strong advantage by having an offline presence. Online and offline marketing of all types support each other.

3. Search engines won’t bring most web site owners business. I just did a Google search for “books”, and found about 85.2 million entries. Ninety-five percent of searchers will likely click on the first two (Amazon.com and BarnesAndNoble.com), most of the others will never get to the second page of the searches. This means that 85,199,990 web site book sellers cannot rely on search engines. How about searching for the word bookstore? Still almost seven million entries, and guess who the top two are?

4. You can’t cheat the search engines. Try a search for books and carpentry. The odds are much better, with only 106,000 entries. That still means 105,990 web site book sellers will rarely be found. How about books and promotion? Almost two million entries. If a million carpentry book sellers are reading this article, five are smiling. The rest will only smile with an offline presence, such as a great article in their local newspaper or a call-in show on a radio station half way across the world.

5. The media can create interest in your product or service if they feature you as part of an interesting story. Online or offline, that’s what media coverage does. A good story is gold.

6. The media is just starting now to wake up to the exciting things happening online. Timing is everything and this is the time.

7. The media are now working increasingly online. The online and offline worlds are converging more than ever before. Articles that appear in local papers, industry magazines and even commentary on radio broadcasts find themselves on the Internet. That can often mean powerful links to your web site. Publicity offline means promotion online.

8. If you are running a contest, placing a new interactive program on your site, winning an award, taking donations for a charity or doing anything noteworthy online, it is of interest in the offline world. The media can act as a funnel for people who spend less time than you and I do in front of a computer screen.

9. In the mainstream media, you are trustworthy. If they see it on TV or in the newspaper, people believe it. (Funny, they SAY they don’t trust the media, but their actions speak louder.) Since web marketing is about relationships and trust (That is your strategy, right?), you can build that relationship with people who are only now getting online or who may not even be online for another couple years. By the time they are ready to buy from you, the relationship has already begun because they have carried your offline credibility (that’s the biggest value of media coverage) with them onto the Internet.

10. In the mainstream media, you are real. I know many people who still don’t buy anything online. They simply do not trust someone they cannot see. Sure, you might be honest, but how do they know? You could disappear into the ether tomorrow. While bricks-and-mortar stores can close just as fast, there is an impression that they are more real and more permanent. You can increase your realness and permanence through a media presence, and thereby increase your customer base.

Media relations is not always easy and not everyone can make it. You have to have something interesting to tell and have a creative way to make it newsworthy. But it is a low-cost way to drive traffic to your web site. And you may not need to get onto the front page of USA Today to succeed. You may simply want a mention in a few niche magazines where your targeted traffic can be found.

So if you don’t like the idea of being a million entries down on a web search, or even 60 entries down, consider a low-cost, effective alternative - the media. With the right angle, media relations and publicity can expand your engine faster than search engines.

About The Author

After a decade and a half as one of Canada’s top consumer advocates, often conducting over 600 media interviews each year, David Leonhardt is sharing his knowledge with others. Pick up a copy of his special report “Get In The News!” at http://www.TheHappyGuy.com/publicity-self-promotion-report.html

amabaie@phastnet.com

Tags: advertising, free publicity, marketing, media, publicityadvertising, free publicity, marketing, media, publicity

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Would you like to expand the volume of your business? You can let thousands know about your service, your store, or your new product without spending a penny. Whether you want to make more sales or get an offer on television, you can broaden the scope of your clients by free
publicity.

You don’t have to climb a flagpole or hire a dancing bear to get attention.
In fact, with just a telephone, flyers, and some follow up letters, you can be making much more money than you are now.

What product or what business are you involved with that needs more customers? You might have a neighborhood store or you may have
invented something that is difficult to market. Maybe you’ve launched a new web site.

How are you presently getting customers? Maybe you’re advertising in trade journals, magazines, or newspapers. Perhaps you’re doing banner swaps or participating in co-op programs with other ezine publishers.

Perhaps you’re an author, trying to market his or her new book. Or maybe you’re a young comic or an actor trying to establish his/her career.

Regardless of your business or enterprise, whether it is an online or an offline business, free publicity is available for you. Furthermore, you don’t need any special training to do it. Take a look at the variety of options available to you.

What is Publicity?

Before we get into the different types of publicity out there, it would help if we knew what we were talking about. Publicity is making something known to the public, spreading information to the general, local, or national market. It is information with a news value used to attract popular opinion or support. Everybody uses publicity. Politicians, manufacturers, celebrities all use publicity to gain attention and further their causes. Publicity isn’t limited to large organizations. Small committees and enterprises use the local newspapers to publicize events
and endeavors.

Publicity differs from advertising because it is free. Although some organizations trade tickets or services for mention in a particular publication, generally publicity is newsworthy information that a publication produces. Good publicity is one of the best ways of letting people know you have a worthwhile business.

Do your research. Before you begin a publicity campaign, you should know the answer to the following questions:

What is the product or service I am promoting?

What is the radius of the market (local, city, state, country, and world)?

What do the customers want?

Where do the customers go to buy my product?

Are my buyers mostly online or offline?

Where to publicize

Depending on your product or service, you have a full gamut of
possibilities for advertising without paying. Deciding on the type of media is as important as knowing about your product and your customers.

If you want to publicize directly to the general public national
publications, metropolitan newspapers and Sunday supplements are the way to tap into the market.

For a local enterprise - a profitable business, a charity, or community service- the local paper is the best source of free advertising. Don’t go for the big fish first. Start with the local press and then work your way up.

Make it newsworthy

In order to qualify for publication, your story must be newsworthy.

Anything published in the newspapers, magazines, and trade journals must be of importance to its readers.

You may have a new product or product line that can be featured in the magazines.

If not, you need to come up with a unique angle. For example, you may have to come up with fresh ideas for your service.

Or maybe an unusual piece of information in the inventor or business owner’s biography might make an interesting twist.

Formatting tips

Keep the press release to one page. It should be brief and informative.
Write the words For Release in full capital letters at the right. Make sure you include your daytime phone number, address, email address, and website address if you have one. Write a personal letter to the editor.
Be cordial, but keep it short. If you have a product that you can mail, send the editor a sample if he or she agrees to that. Watch the publication and clip the press release when it is published.

DeAnna Spencer is a virtual assistant that helps entrepreneurs run a successful business by providing affordable administrative help. She also publishes a blog for small business owners. Visit this small business resource today.

Tags: business, free publicity, publicity, Small Businessbusiness, free publicity, publicity, Small Business

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