Media Strategies For Savvy Marketers, Professionals and Business Owners

Why marketers, business owners and professionals have to be
media savvy and use free publicity as well as great marketing to
build profits, wealth and a better calmer life

This is the first in a series of articles about how lawyers, doctors,
and business owners use media strategies and tactics to get
attention, and results to compliment, supplement,
and improve the effectiveness of your traditional marketing
efforts.

Topics cover here or in future installments include:

* Why You Must Use On Line and Off Line Publicity as
Well as Your Marketing and Advertising

* How Publicity Helps Your Business or Professional Practice

* Publicity To Increase Attraction, Conversion & Retention of
the Best Clients

* How Publicity Helps You To Reduce The Stress, Increase
Profits, and Build a More Valuable Business of Practice

* How Specifically To Make It Happen

So let’s start with a definition and the reasons for getting more
publicity.

According to my buddy Perry Marshall, the real opportunity for
wealth building in business, greater profits, and a business
more like the one you always envisioned, happens when the
demand for your, your product or service, is greater than your
supply or ability to deliver it.

When that occurs, you can be more selective about clients and
customers (ie get rid of the painful time consuming ones), charge
more, spend more on marketing and begin to dominate your
niche for the very long term.

This in turn makes your business or practice more attractive
to the buyer of the practice or business and creates wealth
from thin air. Magic! Alchemy! Lead to gold.

And, very few things can make this all happen better than
that crucial combination of a valuable product or service,
well executed marketing AND….. publicity which multiples
the effects of everything else that you do,

So what do I mean by PR or publicity and then how do we
get it, and how do we make it work?

Publicity is media attention. It includes interviews (of you) or
you interviewing someone else and publishing or getting that
published.

It also includes articles, radio, television, book signings,
media events, appearances, videos, and more.

And this media doesn’t have to be regional or national.
In fact, if you have a business or practice that serves a local
market, local media and PR are better.

Now everyone tells you that PR and media exposure are free.
But I’m here to say that they’re NOT. They can be very expensive
so you have to make sure that when you spend your time
money, or energy on creating media exposure, that it gives
you a return on investment.

That’s right, whenever you mail out press releases, release them
through the internet, reproduce an interview, have it transcribed and
reproduced, post radio or tv (with the right permission or by
using a link) to your site, or blog, it all takes time and often costs
you money and/or lost opportunity to do something else.

So just like advertising, make PR work for you and keep track of
what works and what doesn’t to attract, convert, retain and for getting
your best clients or customers to refer.

So before you begin, take some time to determine who you want to
attract with the PR.

Who is your best client? What does he or she look like?
How old? Where do they live? What are their interests? How
much would they spend with you? How many people do they refer?

Only when you’ve figured this out will you know the media
that they like and respect and that is where you’ll put your PR efforts.

After all, why attract difficult or inferior clients when you can
appeal to and convert the best?

Why use PR to recruit mediocre or difficult clients or customers when
you can find the folks that are most profitable and with whom
you enjoy working.

Now that you know who they are take a moment to think
about what they read, watch, and listen to.

You might also consider asking those questions to some of your
best customers.

Do they read USA Today or DWELL magazine? Do they travel?
Where do they get their work and personal information
and entertainment?

Those are the media outlets where you’ll begin to cultivate
relationships, provide ideas, and become helpful to
the publishers, writers, and editors/producers so that they begin
to look to you for stories relevant to you AND your best customers.

OK so up until now this has been general and strategic.
Up next? Specific ideas for getting media attention that works
and on how to leverage it for your market.

David Frees is a lawyer, direct marketing expert and an acting CMO
for a number of vital marketing companies as well as adviser to
numerous corporations, professionals and businesses.

He presents mastermind and marketing events throughout the US
and in the UK, Australia and New Zealand.

He can be reached at 610-933-8069. Ask for his assistant.