Get Slightly Famous

Anatomy of a Major Media Placement

I've been working with a BizExchange, a local barter exchange that I've belonged to for 3 years. As a Client, I advised BizX to make their member recruitment efforts easier and more effective by generating targeted media coverage that, aside from attracting reader/prospects, could be used to as reprints to aid in their sales efforts.

Because business bartering is a relatively new concept for many businesses, barter education is the cornerstone of our efforts. Media placements serve as an educational, credibility-boosting tool. To this end, I am helping BizX target strategic industries where they'd like to generate more members. By targeting trade magazines in the restaurant, printing and contracting industries, we are already lining up contributed articles about business bartering that we will write and submit for publication.

Here's our most recent success story: a major story in the Oakland Tribune that ran this weekend. This placement has already resulted in several inquiries that are likely to become new members.

Ask yourself: what value would it have for your business -- in leads and sales credibility -- to appear in major media that reach your prospective clients and customers?

Bartering gives businesses alternate way to pay By David Morrill, BUSINESS WRITER

WHEN Henry Vortriede opened Montclair Bistro about 20 months ago, he was confident it would succeed.

But to truly compete with the best culinary establishments in the East Bay, he also knew that his restaurant was missing one central ingredient: a state-of-the-art banquet room for corporate events and wedding receptions.

Vortriede had to have one, but because so many restaurants fail within the first few years he also knew that he couldn't risk burning through the Oakland establishment's cash. Especially when it would cost about $60,000 to build.

But Vortriede found another way to get his banquet room built. He turned to bartering — the practice of trading one business' service for another's in lieu of cash.

"Without having to use up our cash, we now have something that looks like a room you'd find at The Ritz-Carlton for the price of throwing a few parties," he said.

Almost everybody has heard of bartering, but not everyone fully understands it. Bartering is often misconstrued as another term for an "under-the-table" type of deal. But the kind Vortriede is involved with is 100 percent legal, and experts call it a legitimate tool to help a business grow. There are even exchange services that help streamline the barter process.

"Getting into barter is like a mini-economythat you join," said Steven Van Yoder, who barters his marketing and public relations services through his San Francisco-based Get the Word Out Communications. "When businesses find out there's a way to trade services, there's this suspicion that this is too good to be true, but really it is common sense."

To read the rest of the story, click here:
http://www.insidebayarea.com/business/ci_3925336

The "Slightly Famous” Media Plan

To get the media interested in your business, you have to see the value of your expertise, or tell a story that makes readers interested. Stand back from your business and determine what makes you unique. It’s a matter of determining what’s distinctive about what you do or what you know, and approaching the media with a carefully crafted pitch or introduction.

There are numerous ways for your small business to get coverage. You can, for instance:

• Alert the media to story ideas within your industry
• Position yourself as an industry expert or commentator
• Organize and promote a public event
• Tie your business to current issues
• Write articles for trade publications
• Showcase an unusual aspect of your business.

When handwriting expert Bart Baggett decided to make handwriting analysis his career, he embraced the media, studying newspapers, magazines, and radio and television programs to find out what types of guests were in demand. Then he looked for ways to tie his professional abilities to specific media. His strategy paid off. At the height of the O.J. Simpson trial, he sent out a news release about Simpson's handwriting that resulted in several timely media interviews. He later appeared on Court TV to discuss Timothy McVey's handwriting, and was recommended by the director of that program to CNN. A feature in Biography Magazine led to stories in the London Times, the Dallas Morning News, and others.

Resource: Get Slightly Famous--In Print "Starter Pack"

The Media Needs You

When the bulls-eye issue for most small businesses is attracting more of the right kind of business, I'm always surprised that more business people do not include media strategies in their marketing mix.

By ignoring the media, or dismissing media strategies altogether, you fail to develop an aura of visibility, credibility and expertise attainable by those who embrace this simple truth: the media need you -- the industry expert -- to give substance and credibility to their stories.

Read any newspaper or magazine article and you will undoubtably find a handful of experts quoted within stories ranging from international business, stock market forecasts to the latest fashion trends.

Reporters are not experts. So, they look for experts who can help them create their stories. Experts include authors, speakers, consultants, business owners, managers and professionals. If you have in-depth knowledge about a specific subject-and that subject can be your business-you qualify too.

The test is how much you know, and if you know a lot about something, you can leverage your knowledge into a halo of authority, providing quotes and inside information on stories related to your industry.

Getting Quoted

The media rely on you, the industry expert, to give substance and credibility to their stories. Experts include authors, speakers, consultants, managers and professionals. If you have knowledge about a specific subject—and that subject can be your business—you qualify too.

Read any newspaper or magazine article. You will see a handful of experts quoted within stories as diverse as international business, stock market forecasts or the latest fashion trends. Reporters are not experts. That's why they need experts from the business world to create their stories. The secret is to position yourself as a media resource.

People who get quoted in the media pursue a strategy to be on journalists' radar screens when journalists write stories about their industries. They make themselves available as expert interview sources when journalists were writing their stories.

When you learn how the media works, and mold your expertise into a carefully-crafted media attracting strategy, you can help the media do its job in exchange for valuable exposure for your company.

With a little effort, you can become the first person on a reporter’s list when a story about your business area comes up. But it won't happen if you don't let the media know you exist!