Gaining exposure using public relations for your business is a fantastic idea in order to drive sales. In order to do this you have to be really smart when it comes to the advertising and public relations tactics that you employ.

When it comes to pr though, most people who are new at the game believe that you simply pen an effective release, send it out to the print media and wait for success. Then, when the phone doesn’t ring, they might make a follow-up phone call or two to the newsroom!only to learn that no one’s even glanced at their release!

Marsha Friedman, Founder of EMSI, a national public relations firm says, “Taking a passive approach with the media will not get you many positive results.”

So what’s your first ‘media marketing’ step? Simple. You need to find the media ‘niche’ that best suits your message.

You first need to look at your message and ask yourself a few questions. Is it newsworthy? Is it consumer related? Is there a financial income I’m targeting? “These answers will point you to the correct medium”, adds Friedman.

First Up? Television.

Whether a morning, noon or evening newscast, they communicate to their audience through pictures. It’s all visual. Producers are searching for topics that can be communicated to the audience in a visual and entertaining way, while being informative at the same time. “If you don’t think your message can be visual, think again”, says Marsha Friedman.

“My firm had a life insurance agency as a client and they really wanted television exposure for their Chief Executive Officer. What we did was to create a pitch about a segment featuring how women can protect themselves from the pitfalls of not understanding how life insurance works.”

Friedman continues, “That probably sounds to you like a visual sleeping pill, right? What we did to make the segment really terrific is that we told our client to create large, colorful graphs in order to really create a compelling and visual story. It wound up being a very successful interview for the media as well as our client.”

Every newscast is targeted to a precise market. For instance , early morning news shows are usually watched by working adults and families getting ready for school. Lunchtime shows are aimed for housewives and retirees. 11pm news shows are directed towards a young professional audience.

Now, how about talk radio.

Radio talk shows, in contrast to TV, communicate through words rather than pictures. Marsha Friedman says, “It’s conversational, so you need to have a message that lends itself to a conversation. This medium also loves hot, newsworthy angels. Is there a ‘community angle in your message?

Like TV, radio talk shows vary from morning to night. Morning shows, as you might suspect, generally have shorter interviews during ‘drive time.’ As you would expect with the news, weather and traffic segments, there is not really time for an interview. 12:00pm shows, now run the gamut of topics since so many people listen to the radio at work. So now more then ever you can expect to catch a business program during the typical workday. After work is the second ‘drive time’ of the day. “You will find longer interviews here as the audience of listeners are more relaxed and susceptible to longer interviews”, adds Friedman.

Let’s not forget about the overnight shows! Don’t think that no one is listening. Overnight shows are heard by a hoard of people that have a different schedule from the norm.

Getting Yourself in Print.

Magazines and newspapers resemble radio and TV in that they’re looking for the newsworthy, the entertaining, the informative as well. They are also similar to television at times as they like to have visuals every once in awhile.

Marsha Friedman says, “For example, if you’re pitching a story about a new clothing or jewelry line - send photo’s with your pitch.” If you believe your story can really be supported with a photograph, graph or other related visual, then have one at the ready when pitching your story to newspapers and magazines. If you would like to learn more about gaining national and local media exposure for your company, product or service, without the financial burden of monthly retainers, Marsha would love to help. Feel free to contact her directly at mfriedman@emsincorporated.com or visit her firm online at http://www.emsincorporated.com. As a PR expert Marsha Friedman has the ability to get the media attention that you desire without breaking your budget with costly monthly retainers .
Marsha Friedman has been a leading authority on public relations for nearly two decades as CEO of Event Management Services, Inc (EMSI). If you would like to receive her free Ebook “How to Be a Great Talk Radio Guest” visit http://www.emsincorporated.com.

- Marsha Friedman

Popularity: 13% [?]

Related Content

Subscribe to the post comments feeds or Leave a trackback