One of the most powerful and dramatic techniques every business should employ is free publicity. As the name implies, there is no outward hard cost. The only cost to your business is the time and effort required to attract the attention you want for your business.
I think this question can best be answered by Ron Tepper, a Los Angeles publicity and public relations expert. He will teach you here how to publicize and advertise your company, product, book, or service — without spending any hard cash.
I’ve secured the rights to reprint a report of his, entitled An Insider’s Guide To Effective Publicity. Please turn the page, read, enjoy and profit...
An Insider’s Guide To Effective Publicity
by Ron Tepper
Introduction
Only a handful of companies are blessed with a multi-million-dollar advertising budget or a household name. Even those that have been blessed use some small part of the promotional method which I’m going to tell you about.
This method is not very new, but has been used so haphazardly, so ineffectively, and only by a very small segment of today’s corporations, that you can thank your lucky stars that you have this material in your hands.
At the very least, this course is worth thousands of dollars to you. Used properly, you will make tens of thousands of dollars. Following this advice exactly, having the right consumer product or service, and having an outstanding “sales-type” personality, you could make hundreds of thousands of dollars from this.
What is Publicity?
Celebrities must live on a steady diet of publicity. Politicians could never win an election without plenty of it (some quit their campaigns if they get the wrong kind of it). Authors could never get on the best-seller’s list unless they lived, ate, and breathed publicity. Companies with a household name use it at one time or another for recognition. Fortune 500 companies pay around $30,000 per month for less publicity than you’re going to get if you study this report.
The public loves reading, seeing and hearing publicity, whether they’ll admit it or not. Sports pages are nothing but publicity. Shows like “Entertainment Tonight” and “The Tonight Show” are nothing but publicity vehicles.
Whether we like it or not, the very fabric of this society is sewn together by publicity.
So what is publicity? Publicity, as defined by the American Heritage Dictionary (Second College Edition), is defined in three parts:
1. a. Information that concerns a person, group, event, or product and that is disseminated through various communications media to attract public notice.
b. Public interest, notice or notoriety achieved by the spreading of such information.
c. The act, process, or occupation of disseminating information to gain public interest.
Having been in the publicity business for most of my professional life, and having had my own successful firm for over a decade, I hope you’ll use this information. I’ve worked with celebrities, politicians, best-selling authors, Fortune 500 companies, and even a Nobel Prize winner. What you’re getting if you study it well, and depending on how aggressive you are, will save you between $10,000 and $30,000 in publicity costs. There are many books on the market which will give you an overview on the publicity business — what it is, how the media are structured, and how to type a press release. That is not what you’re going to read about here. What you’re going to get is practical information and a step-by-step guide to get your story presented properly, and to the right method for getting in front of the public’s eye.
The Advantages of Radio
The least-respected publicity tool is probably radio. Use it to your advantage. Most of my clients have gotten their first big break with it. First let me sell you on radio’s advantages. It has many distinct benefits that will help you get sales.
First benefit. Radio publicity, on many radio stations, can be done without any travel at all. When you realize that there are over 10,000 radio stations in the world, and that some will give you the opportunity to appear on their station without any travel at all, you will understand the clout I am talking about. You can simply pick up the telephone and be interviewed from hundreds or thousands of miles away. Nearly all publishing companies use this and run their authors through “the publicity circuit”— drastically increasing their audience reach and dramatically decreasing their costs. Having picked up dozens of authors who had gone through this “circuit” before getting to me, I can assure you that the contacts I’m giving you would do wonders for even many publishing firms.
Second benefit. My company has piloted (rather successfully) the use of publicity in much the same way as direct mail. You appear on the show as a guest. But, we also make sure you get a toll-free number mentioned, or a Post Office Box, or something where the audience can reach you and buy from you. As you’re getting your message across, you’re getting sales. (This is nearly impossible to do on television or in the newspapers unless you advertise.)
Third benefit. You get to target your audience. Radio offers so many different shows every day or week. For instance, you might get on a hard-news show in the morning if there is a way to fit you in. If you’re promoting a cookbook, you could appear on a food-related show on Saturday. Should you have a financial service or product, you might get onto a financial talk show in the afternoon. And if you have some sports-related product, you might get on during the weekend or at night. (The above times are hypothetical and just give you a range of what radio offers.) The only restrictions would be if you were selling something generally tasteless, such as pornography, drug paraphernalia or firearms — or if you were selling something to another business — then this is really the wrong medium for you.
Fourth benefit. You’ll get a lot more time on radio, on the average, as compared to television or print. True, there might be appearances where you’ll get a mere five minutes or less, but there are shows where you can also appear for one hour or longer. Average segments on radio tend to run about 20 minutes (including time for commercials) while segments on television will only last about five to eight minutes.
Fifth benefit. You’ll get a true opportunity to tell your story. In newspaper or magazine interviews there are far too many misquotes, words or phrases taken out of context, and so forth for most articles to do you any good or get your point across. And if that doesn’t ruin it for you, the editor will — he’s got his point of view, and yours is probably different. Similarly, television is so quick and the talk-show host’s personality is often so strong (and insecure) that you may never get your point across. You may get asked questions you can’t stand or questions which won’t help you, or you may just be getting it together when your segment is done. With radio, you’ll often get your side of the story on the air. The extra time really does help. Almost never will you be challenged without some chance to fully rebut with your story.
Sixth benefit. Audience participation. Radio is excellent because many stations have call-ins. Television rarely does this, and even more rarely does it well. That caller can actually help sell your product or ask the right question to get you going. With a live audience, you get listeners who are able to participate and who are participating. People who are participating in something are more likely to buy.
Seventh benefit. Repeat shows. If you do well on a show, the host or producer will want you back. It might be three to six months before you can get back on that show, but you have a good chance if you perform well to get a repeat show. One broker (a client) has been asked by several major shows to come back on a regular basis; just think, he’s on every two months — at the station’s request! Consider the possibility of doing a talk show every three months for five to 10 years. Consider having a dozen or more shows like that. There aren’t many television shows that give you that opportunity and even fewer newspapers or magazines.
Eighth benefit. Getting on the program at all. I know too many aspiring talk-show guests. Few will ever get the chance to appear on a decent television show in a large city at a good hour. Fewer yet will ever be interviewed by a large circulation newspaper or magazine. But with radio, there is an excellent opportunity for your views, product, book, or service. There are thousands of radio stations. There are dozens of different “classes” of stations based on performance. There are so many shows and the possibilities are incredible. I have known businessmen with hardly a following, even just “starter-uppers,” who get on wonderful radio talk shows. I have seen self-published authors, who didn’t have a leg to stand on, make a fortune using radio (I even have several clients like this making money hand over fist using this method). So, radio gives you opportunity (something you may just not get with the other media unless you spend advertising dollars).
Telling Your Story
In the past year I’ve known several publicity people who failed to meet my standards for speed and volume. Unfortunately, I had to dismiss them. My standard is this: If the client is worth promoting, he ought to be able to do no less than 10 shows per month. Each problem client or problem publicist had this at its foundation: The story wasn’t good enough!
I’ve lost track of how many clients have told me they want to tell their story. While their story might be great at a cocktail party, for impressing a business associate, or for romancing someone — to get on the air, with speed, on the very best shows, and on lots of shows, you must have the right story.
A business-to-business story will rarely work. I’ve tried a few and they generally backfire. That’s not what radio is for. Radio is for the consumer. Radio reaches consumers at home or at work or while driving around. Your story must reach those consumers. It must provide that consumer with timely information. Generally, that timely information must be there to better that consumer’s life. If you can offer the consumer a solution on how he can better his life, you’ll get sales.
Your story must fit the definition of what radio is all about: Timely information for the consumer.
Your Story
Unless you’re a nonfiction author, you’re going to have to study this section carefully. There’s an easy way to assemble your story...and a painful way. The painful way is to summarize or expand your advertising message and use that. Most producers will recommend you then contact their sales department to buy air time. That’s an insult and I hope that never happens to you. Far too many presentations to the media are like that. That’s what producers have told me. That’s why so many stories are thrown away.
The Producer
The producer is either your friend or foe at the radio station. He or she decides if your story is worth telling. Unless he or she knows you, the deciding factor is your story. At smaller stations or shows, the producer may sometimes be the talk-show host himself. In any event, don’t antagonize the producer. He or she may just be an assistant to the host, chief coffee maker, summer intern, or whatever, but that person decides if you will appear on that show or not.
Piggybacking
In schoolchildren’s games, when one child rides on another’s back, it is called a piggyback. The term is also slang for hopping onto something else. This is not networking, so don’t confuse the two terms. Networking is when you hop onto someone else’s contacts. Piggybacking is when you hop onto something that’s happening. You hop onto something or someone who is making news. If you are a celebrity, you are the person others want to be a part of. You are the news. How many times have you seen magazines, newspapers, or other media carrying stories like: “The 10 Best-Dressed Women,” “The 10 Most Decadent Women,” or “The Year’s Sexiest Men.” These celebrities may or may not be those things, but some media will cover you if you make up lists like that and include celebrities.
The cover of Business Week magazine last year stated that if you want to sell something, hire a sports figure! That’s piggybacking onto someone who is well-known and well-thought-of. Try having a grand opening of a restaurant without one or more celebrities. See how few media attend. Bring in a major television star, the governor, and so forth, and count on television crews and photographers. I’ve done both and I know the difference.
Your story must PIGGYBACK. I’ll say it again, your story MUST PIGGYBACK. One more time... YOUR