How To Get Free Publicity For Your Business

You don’t have to spend thousands of dollars on advertising to
build an effective campaign. In fact, you can get great
publicity that will drive customers to do your door absolutely
free of charge!

One of the best ways to do this is to attract press coverage.
You don’t have to pay for advertising space to get written about
in a newspaper or magazine, or on a website. All you have to do
is interest the editor or webmaster in your story. Today’s media
is huge – and it’s hungry for news. If you present a publication
with a ready-made story that will interest their target audience
they will snap it up.

The way to do this is to write a press release, sometimes called
a “news release”. Release writing isn’t rocket science, but
there are a few important tips and tricks to remember:

·Make sure the release is dated, and has a contact name,
address, phone number and email address. The contact should be a
single, named individual. ·Start off with an attention-grabbing
headline that announces a piece of specific news. “Atlanta
Motorbike Store Launches New Line of Helmets” is a good
headline; “Atlanta Motorbike Store Has Another Good Year” is
not. Your release should announce something specific and out of
the ordinary. ·Always include a quote. Store owner Mike Smith,
44, says, “we’re really pleased to be stocking X-Brand
Helmets….” Quotes bring news stories to life and give them a
human touch – you’ll look a long time before you find a
professional media story without one. ·Make sure your spelling,
grammar and punctuation are one hundred percent accurate. If
they’re not, the professionals in your target media will lose
respect for you and trash your release. If you didn’t get top
grades in English, get a friend to check it over.

Once you’ve written your release you need to distribute it.
There are plenty of free newswires that will do this for you -
www.internetnewsbureau.com
is a good example. Remember that to be successful a press
release needs to be targeted at a precise market. If you’re
releasing on the topic of your new range of motorbike helmets in
Atlanta, you’d better make sure every bike magazine and local
newspaper in Georgia gets a copy.

It’s quite acceptable to email press releases. Just make sure
that the text is included in the body of the mail – most
sensible internet users are a little suspicious of mail
attachments received from strangers.

So your release is out, and it’s getting you some coverage. Why
other cost-free means can you use to build your business’s
profile? Well, the obvious place is the internet. Here are some
suggestions:

·Build web links. It’s a tactic as old as the internet and it
takes time – but it’s still worth it. Make sure your business’s
name is on every relevant free directory on the web. This can be
pretty backbreaking work, but it will pull in the customers.
Crucially, it will also improve your website’s rank on Google
and other search engines. ·Post to message boards. If you can
find a web discussion forum related to your business topic, join
in and post regularly. Don’t simply push your product – get
involved in the online community. This is a great way to
establish contacts. Make sure that your username is the same as
your business name and that your forum profile contains a link
to your site.

One rule of advertising hasn’t changed since prehistoric times:
nothing beats word-of-mouth. Ultimately the secret of getting
free publicity is having a great product that people will talk
about. If you can get folks talking about you and your business,
you’ve beaten every single Fortune 1000 company – they’ve spent
millions on advertising and branding campaigns. If you’re smart,
and if you’re persistent, you can achieve the same results
without spending a single cent!

Matt Bacak
http://www.articlesbase.com/advertising-articles/how-to-get-free-publicity-for-your-business-323.html

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