6 replies to this topic

[idrive]

Has anyone ever been profiled in their local city paper or higher? I have a colleague who "majors" in ecommerce and suggested that I approach a journalist/reporter from a National Paper, commend them on some articles they have written previously (she suggests following this persons articles for a while) and give them a pitch about profiling my company.

Yikes!

I was thinking that I could handle doing this at the level of a city newspaper as on Saturdays they have interesting articles about businesses. This past Sat in the homes section was an article about a company that will decorate the outside of your house for the holiday season, and then remove the decorations later on.

Whether it generates a whole lot of new business may not be as important as building my confidence to do this and the branding exposure/opportunity.

Any thoughts?

[Scottie]

It's definitely a good idea and all it costs is a few minutes of your time to put together a quick bio and send it to the appropriate person at the paper. Follow up with a phone call- even if they don't profile your company, they are likely to remember your name the next time they need a quote from an "expert".

[Jill]

You might want to check out my friend Bill Stoller's Publicity Insider site and newsletter (paid) for ideas on how to do that sort of thing (and more).

Jill

[Debra]

Whether it generates a whole lot of new business may not be as important as building my confidence to do this and the branding exposure/opportunity.

Ugh, I feel your pain with this comment!

To add to what Scottie said above, I have a suggestion for you to consider: Offer to do a free seminar on your speciality at the local Library, send out a press release announcing the event, invite your current/potential clients and a local media specialist to cover the story.

Send a press release a week or two in advance of the event and if no one shows from the local paper, send a follow-up release with photos detailing the success of your presentation. Reporter or not, you should get double exposure!

Keep in mind that weekends are notoriously slow news days and duty reporters often jump at the chance to go somewhere/cover something! Think about doing your spiel on a Saturday morning so it makes the Sunday paper. (Which is the most heavily read paper of the week!)

Good luck!

[Jill]

Great ideas, Debra!

[t49]

Impressive references!
Show those to an editor,staff writer ... freelancer ,if you have to.

and/or
write an article or 3 about doing business on the net.

don't forget to contact local trade papers ... Chamber of Commerce,Board of Trade ...
local TV 'morning show',cable TV,radio talk show ...

Tom

[idrive]

Well I have bit the bullet and am getting my feet wet ;-)

I still have not contacted a reporter, but I have spoken at two out of three of our English post secondary institutions (including an Internet Marketing Course), and am presenting to DigitalEve Ottawa next month. They are a small organization of people who support women in technology, but several of them work for the federal government (a desired market of mine) and several others are web designers who might want to offer my services to their clients.

I am going to have my email newsletter sign up ready for my next presentation so that I might continue the momentum :-)

And my biggest step yet...I have been selected as a panelist at IMC in April! Eventually I hope to speak at some of the other conferences ;-) I put alot of effort into my angle - what do I have to offer people in my own industry? First hand knowledge of PPC for Canadian audiences ;-)

Thanks for some of the resources! I look forward to checking them out!