Tracking your correspondence with reporters, via phone or email, is important for two reasons. First of all, promises to follow-up can slip between the cracks of daily business and cost you a change at free publicity. Second, you don’t ever want to contact a reporter twice about the same story. You will immediately destroy your credibility.

In my years as a public relations professional, I’ve developed a good system that financial planners can use to track contacts with the media.

It’s simple. Just two logs that you can keep in a paper notepad, or in a spreadsheet program on your computer.

Keep one log to track reporters that you have contacted. It should have these three columns: A column for the names of the reporters you’ve contacted, a column that lists what each reporter is interested in, and then a column describing when/why to follow up next.

Plug these reminders into your calendar – without this tool, you may make the critical mistake of forgetting to follow-up.

Keep a second log to track reporters you’re going to contact. It should have these three columns: A column for the reporters’ names, a column that lists their topic interests, and another column with a target date when you want to contact them.

Ned Steele works with people in professional services who want to build their practice and accelerate their growth. The president of Ned Steele’s MediaImpact, he is the author of 102 Publicity Tips To Grow a Business or Practice. To learn more visit http://www.MediaImpact.biz or call 212-243-8383.

One portion of your marketing plan that you probably don’t think about enough is "free publicity".

Publicity is an extremely important tool and should be given prominence in any marketing plan.

What is publicity?

It’s getting anyone else besides yourself to talk about you (preferably in a good way) and tell about the things you do.

If you can get any of the media in your area to give you publicity it will have a tremendous effect in boosting your business.

You see, publicity is far more valuable than paid advertising in the same media.

Why is publicity or public relations better than advertising?

2 Reasons:

1. Credibility – If you say that your products or services are the best in a paid newspaper advertisement, readers (who know you are advertising to sell your products) will automatically discount what you say.

If, however, a reporter wrote an article about you, the story has built-in credibility because it is seen as the “media” making the statement and is perceived as unbiased. (This is one of the most powerful benefits of publicity)

2. It doesn’t cost anything – One of the biggest expenses for almost any business is advertising. Advertising can eat up much and sometimes all of your hard earned money if your not careful.

Why would any publication want to give you publicity?

They will give you publicity only when they feel it is in their own best interest.

To keep their readers and viewers, publications and broadcasters must give them hot information that they want. This helps them build and keep their audience – which, helps them create higher profit-margins by selling advertising.

If you give the media something interesting that their audience wants to know about, you’re helping them keep their audience and sell more advertising.

Of course, not every editor will see the value of your information but that’s ok because you don’t have to get all the publicity you go after to create a large increase in your business.

You only need a few free articles or stories to generate a substantial increase in your business.

Shawn Meldrum has spent the last two decades marketing everything from almonds to landscape lighting. He currently specializes in marketing for mortgage brokers, loan officers and real estate agents. For free mortgage marketing articles and more information about getting free publicity visit: Publicity Resources

Most small businesses do little to no public relations (PR) to promote their businesses. The reasons are fairly common. No one within the small business knows the mechanics of writing a press release, and if they did, they don’t know what to say. Instead, small business owners wait for a local reporter to stop by or for a trade publication editor to notice them at a trade show. Most small businesses are still waiting, but a select few luck into their moment of fame; and when it comes, Wow! what an impact it can have.

Since most small businesses don’t do a lot of PR, the media is more responsive when they do. Media outlets typically get releases from big companies, so a release from a lesser known business will stand out. Here are a few secrets to getting your release picked up:

1. It can’t read like sales copy! Put yourself in the reporter’s shoes. Read your release and ask yourself “is this really news?” A press release that reads like a promotional flyer will never make it into print or prompt a reporter to call for an interview.

2. Create a good headline. This is your one chance to get a reporter’s attention. Keep it short and catchy. Again, it can’t read like a billboard advertisement or it will go in the trash.

3. Keep your release to one page typed at a 10 font double-spaced. Three to five paragraphs are enough. Don’t tell your whole story because the purpose of the release is to spark enough interest that someone will contact you to write a complete story or schedule an interview. Do tell enough of the story so that it stands alone without further explanation in case someone uses it “As-Is.”

4. Build a good distribution list. Identify the contacts of the media outlets for which you feel your story is best suited. Our firm distributes all PR directly to email contacts. If you can afford it, send a product sample or other physical information to specific media outlets.

5. Paste your release in your email message. Don’t send an attachment to a media outlet. Attachments such as Word documents may be picked up by virus protection software, and your release will never make it to the intended recipient. Always put your contact information at the top of the release with the release date.

6. Get help. Although you may not need a full-time PR firm for day to day business, it could be worth the investment during the launch of new products or services. A PR firm will get you better results and save you time since it is their business. There are also many good freelance writers who can help create press releases. A well-written release can get you a lot of mileage.

Long-term PR can really impact the bottom line. People read and listen to stories more than advertisements. If done properly, PR can put your company in a very high profile position. The recognition can impact existing customers and help bring in new ones. Often your partners and vendors feel a positive affect from your PR as well. By following these simple guidelines you should have a foundation to get PR started for your business.

Doug serves as the Ringmaster for Edge Marketing overseeing the business operations. His passion is for helping small businesses and start up companies achieve their revenue growth goals. Doug serves as Executive Director of Entrepreneurs Alliance of Indiana and sits on the board of the Business Marketing Association of Indianapolis, Rainmakers Marketing Group and Crossroads Communications (Radio Station Cluster).

More information about the author is available online at http://www.goedgemarketing.com

A reporter’s job is to get the most accurate and interesting story he or she can. Whether journalists make you look good or bad in the process is inconsequential to them – their loyalty is to their story, and their goal is to elicit the most dramatic quotes possible from you.

This is not to suggest that you should view every encounter with reporters as adversarial. In fact, most interviews are quite straightforward. But a good journalist will try to steer you “off message." He or she will use well-established tricks of the trade to get you to say things you didn’t intend to say, and some of those things might prove embarrassing when you see them in the newspaper the next day.

By knowing some of the tricks of the reporting trade, you can maintain control of the interview and get the quotes you want. Below are three ways to avoid falling into a reporter’s trap:

1) Never Repeat a Bad Question in Your Answer — It usually starts innocuously enough. A journalist will tell you that because his or her questions will not be included in the story, you should answer the questions in complete sentences.

For example, if a reporter asks, ‘Are you pleased with the number of donations your organization received this year?" he or she would ask you to answer by saying, "Our organization is pleased with the number of donations we’ve received this year." It makes perfect sense, and is a legitimate way of conducting an interview.

But occasionally, a reporter will ask a negative question without warning. You have to break the rules here, and answer the question as a positive.

For example, if a reporter asks you, “Is it true that your organization has committed fraud?" you probably don’t want your quote the next day to say, “It isn’t true that our organization committed fraud." Such a quote links your organization to the word “fraud," an association you’d probably rather not make.

Assuming, of course, that your business did not commit fraud, you should answer that question in a positive manner, such as, “In our 35 years of business, we have always taken great pains to ensure that our business operates within the word and spirit of the law. We have operated ethically in this case, as we strive to in all of our dealings."

2) Shhhhh! — During most interviews, reporters will ask a steady stream of questions and you will answer them. No surprises there. But remember the goal of the journalist – he or she wants to steer you off message in order to elicit a more interesting response.

Sometimes, after you finish answering the reporter’s question, the reporter will just sit there, as if he or she wants you to continue speaking. The silence usually flusters the interviewee, who tries to please his or her interviewer by speaking again – and usually strays far off message in the process. Don’t fall into this trap! If you find yourself in a “reportorial stare down," simply ask whether the reporter has another question and move on.

3) Don’t Assume the Reporter Knows What He Says He Knows — For this one, I’ll turn it over to Eric Nalder, an investigative reporter for the respected San Jose Mercury News. In his article, “The Art of the Interview," Nalder writes, “Play like you know. Ask the official why he fired the whistle-blower rather than asking whether he did the deed. The question presumes you already know even if you don’t have it confirmed. They’ll start explaining rather than denying."

In other words, by falling into this trap, you may be the person who confirms a negative story about your own organization. If the reporter has made a false assumption, speak up. If not, don’t help the journalist confirm it unless you’ve made a conscious choice to do so.

Brad Phillips is the founder and president of Phillips Media Relations (http://www.PhillipsMediaRelations.com). He was formerly a journalist for ABC News and CNN, and also headed the media relations department for the second largest environmental group in the world.

Think that you aren’t big enough for national media coverage? Says who? Certainly not the USA Today. In one recent two-week period, they quoted financial planners in Southfield (Michigan), Dublin (Ohio) and Clearwater (Florida). These are not exactly metropolitan hubs.

When your media confidence and experience grow, consider branching out to a larger audience than just your hometown or targeted industry.

To go national, you may want to consider using lists and directories where you can search for what media to go to, and learn the best way to reach them.

There are three kinds: free web-based links to hundreds of media, (like kidon.com or Newslink.org), published directories, CDs, and subscription web sites (like Bacon’s and Burrelle’s) and customized, low-cost lists from brokers or similar providers. Your local librarian will be able to help you, too.

Use lists and directories as a guide – a starting place.

If you’ve read the articles on my site, or read my book, you’ll have already figured out – smart you! – that mass-sending releases or articles without a follow-up, or an actual personal exchange via phone or e-mail, will not get you far. Even the most frequently updated lists can’t stay on top of the rapidly changing media world.

Ned Steele works with people in professional services who want to build their practice and accelerate their growth. The president of Ned Steele’s MediaImpact, he is the author of 102 Publicity Tips To Grow a Business or Practice. To learn more visit http://www.MediaImpact.biz or call 212-243-8383.

Media relations is a great profession.

On good days, I earn my living speaking to and learning from knowledgeable experts who ask for help in raising the profile of their cause through the media. In the past few years, I’ve worked with billionaire philanthropists, a Pulitzer Prize-winning scientist and a world famous actor. Mostly, though, I work with unknown but equally impressive professionals regarded as experts in their fields.

When I speak to them, I’m always listening for “the story.” Some of the time, the story is immediately apparent. But the most gratifying moments come when a story seemingly devoid of news value suddenly leaps out and surprises me.

Two years ago, for example, I was doing media work for a Washington DC-based environmental organization. Scientists from the group would regularly contact me regarding their latest field work, hoping I could convince a reporter to shine a spotlight on their project.

One day I met with a charismatic field biologist to discuss his project while sipping coffee in a depressing restaurant. As he told me about his project, I quietly became more convinced that he didn’t have much of a story. I felt bad, but suspected no reporter would bite.

The West African forest elephant, he told me, was in trouble. The problem was largely one of capacity – no West Africans had been formally trained in protecting the 7,700-pound mammals, which were being killed by the farmers who feared them.

To help correct the problem, he said, they had established a program three years earlier to train six West Africans to conserve the majestic beasts. In a month, they would end their training and begin working to protect the animals full-time.

That’s when the idea hit.

I asked the scientist if we could call the group the first-ever graduating class from "Elephant University." When he agreed, I knew we were in business.

I drafted an e-mail with a few highlights to a reporter I had recently met from The Wall Street Journal. The story pitch suggested that this story was the perfect fit for the quirky daily front-page “Column Four” feature. The reporter quickly wrote back. He agreed.

Two weeks later, the reporter was off to Accra, Ghana to report the story firsthand. When the story ran on November 27, 2002, the words “Elephant University” – the ones we had happily stumbled upon over coffee – were emblazoned on the front-page.

This story worked because we didn’t pitch it “head on.” Remember – the heart of this story was that West African scientists were receiving training – not exactly front-page material. But by giving the reporter an unusual hook, he was able to convince his editors that the story deserved to be told.

If you’re speaking to an expert to assess a story’s newsworthiness and it doesn’t seem immediately obvious to you, keep talking. If they say something interesting, stop them. Ask them to slow it down and provide more detail. Paraphrase their response into something resembling a headline by asking, “Would it be correct to say it this way?” Finally, look for the nuggets. Ancillary parts of the story often jump out and become your lead.

Brad Phillips is the founder and president of Phillips Media Relations (http://www.PhillipsMediaRelations.com). He was formerly a journalist for ABC News and CNN, and also headed the media relations department for the second largest environmental group in the world.

They’d hate to admit it, but the media is pretty predictable.

There are some stories that will run in newspapers until the saints go marching in. Some of the obvious ones: diet tips, anything having to do with kids or animals, political scandals, celebrity divorces…you could probably find a story about each one of these topics in every single edition of every daily newspaper in the country.

Long ago, newspaper editors realized that these topics attract readers. And, if you got your story published, the same determination was made about your topic. Once a topic is anointed as "news-worthy" by the media, you can keep coming back to it again and again, as long as you have a reasonably new angle.

Think of every PR success as the seed for the next placement. Re-read your article when it appears, and ask yourself, “What could I have elaborated on?” or “What’s going to be happening next in that field?”

For example, say your published story was about municipal bonds. Stay on the lookout for any municipal bond news that arises. Bond failures, new bond issues, appealing rates—all of these could be topics to bring back to a reporter. You may also consider a story about other tax-free return investment vehicles.

Ned Steele works with people in professional services who want to build their practice and accelerate their growth. The president of Ned Steele’s MediaImpact, he is the author of 102 Publicity Tips To Grow a Business or Practice. To learn more visit http://www.MediaImpact.biz or call 212-243-8383.

When most people think of media relations, they think of press releases. To be sure, writing and distributing them is one of the most important parts of the job. But press releases may be the most overused tool in the media professional’s arsenal to the detriment of other tools that might have greater results.

When I worked in broadcast news for ABC News and CNN, the fax machines virtually never stopped. We got press releases by the dozen, and by the end of each day, we had a ream of press releases. They each had something in common. They each went unread.

To break through the clutter, you’d be wise to occasionally skip the press release and send a personalized note to a reporter instead. This works particularly well when offering a reporter an “exclusive,” a story that you will only pitch to a single news organization.

Here are three tips to help make sure your letter gets read:

1) Offer an Exclusive — News is a competitive business. If a reporter likes your story – and is convinced that his or her cross-town rival won’t have it – they are much more likely to carry your news. The offer of an exclusive is an effective tool, but should be thought out carefully, since the news organization that doesn’t get the story may hold it against you.

2) Conduct Reporter Research — You may have a brilliant pitch – but if you send it to the wrong reporter, it’s useless. Make sure you properly identify the correct reporter for your type of story.

Once you’ve done that, indicate to the reporter that you’ve been following his or her work, and that your story is similar or related to another story he or she has recently written. Mention his or her previous articles by name. A shockingly small number of media relations professionals take the time to do this, so the reporter will instantly deem you more credible than the average “PR flack.”

3) Subject Line — Reporters from National Geographic Traveler and People magazines recently told me how critical they consider an e-mail’s subject line. A boring subject line means that the e-mail will probably never even get opened!

There are certain things you can do to break through the clutter. I’ve found it effective to write “Offer of Exclusive” in the subject line, or to include the reporter’s name in the subject line, as in “To David – New Research Shows Children Increasingly Illiterate.”

But virtually nothing beats a genuinely creative and attention-grabbing headline. I recently saw an e-mail sent by a company that uses clamshells to make jewelry. Their subject line? “Clams aren’t just for chowder anymore.” You better believe that most reporters were curious enough to open that e-mail!

Brad Phillips is the founder and president of Phillips Media Relations (http://www.PhillipsMediaRelations.com). He was formerly a journalist for ABC News and CNN, and also headed the media relations department for the second largest environmental group in the world.

As you start getting more media-savvy, you’ll find yourself coming up with more and more information and ideas to help the public. Not all of these ideas will strike the fancy of your media contacts, but don’t let them go to waste—become a media person yourself by publishing an e-zine.

Fill your e-zine with the same advice, information, and tips you use in your publicity articles. You’ll want to edit in for readability on the Web—that means short paragraphs. Studies have shown that people hate reading long blocks of text on a computer screen.

You are using the same content, but have more ways to get it in front of your sources of referrals, clients and potential clients. Better publicity, better marketing, more business.

You don’t have to be tech-savvy or even tech-competent to create an e-zine these days. Plenty of services now do all the tech stuff, design work, and bulk e-mail distribution for you…. for pennies. They are web-based, so you don’t even have to download a program, and you can write your e-zine from anywhere.

Once you spend an hour doing the basic set up work, all you do is write a few clever words, they automatically fall into an appealing-looking template, and are then sent to your list.

Ned Steele works with people in professional services who want to build their practice and accelerate their growth. The president of Ned Steele’s MediaImpact, he is the author of 102 Publicity Tips To Grow a Business or Practice. To learn more visit http://www.MediaImpact.biz or call 212-243-8383.

During my career as the head of media relations for the world’s second largest environmental group, I regularly heard a common refrain from the scientists who so desperately wanted press attention for their projects. “But my project is so important," they’d say, expecting that was enough to crack the evening news.

The truth is, there is often a big difference between what journalists consider “important" and what they consider “newsworthy." When pitching a story to reporters, make sure it has both elements. An “important" story without a timely “news peg" is unlikely to get much coverage.

For example, roughly 35 million people in sub-Saharan Africa are infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. The magnitude of the health crisis on that continent cannot be overstated, and no news editor would likely dub the story unimportant.

But why would that story be on the evening news today? The crisis is as bad today as it was yesterday, and it will likely be just as bad tomorrow as it is today. In order for it to make news again, something has to happen to advance the story.

For example, if the American president announced a new, $1.5 billion aid package designed to help African children orphaned by parents with AIDS, that is news. Suddenly, the magnitude of the crisis finds its way back onto the front pages and into the lead segments of news broadcasts.

How can you make a story more newsworthy? Here are three ideas you can use for your story – the more of these you can use, the more likely you’ll be to receive press coverage.

1) Announce Something New — Since the word “news" contains the word “new," it’s always a good idea to announce something that’s never been announced before. Perhaps it’s a new product, a new piece of research, a new piece of legislation, etc.

2) Contains an Extreme — Reporters love anything that represents the first, last, best, worst, biggest, smallest, greatest, etc. If you are releasing the first report of its kind, say so. If your new product is the smallest microwave oven ever produced, put it in the headline.

3) Counterintuitive is Good — Reporters love stories that make the reader do a double take and say, “What did that say?" If your story runs counter to everything we think we know, it’s going to get noticed. For example, if new research concludes that dumping toxic waste in a pond actually helps the fish population, the press will be on the phone with you almost instantly.

Brad Phillips is the founder and president of Phillips Media Relations (http://www.PhillipsMediaRelations.com). He was formerly a journalist for ABC News and CNN, and also headed the media relations department for the second largest environmental group in the world.