7 Tips to Get More Mileage Out of Your Online or Offline Publicity

You worked hard to get a story on your business in a popular website or your local paper. Don't let your efforts ends there -- here are seven tips to help you maximize your online and offline publicity:

1) Reprint, Reprint, Reprint!

A favorable article on your company or products is marketing gold - it implies that the publication or website has given its endorsement. The best part is that you can enjoy the benefits of this "third party endorsement" long after the article has appeared.

If you want to re-print an article from an offline publication in its entirety, you must get permission from the publication. Most publications have special re-print departments to help you.

The same rules apply for stories appearing on websites. To re- print, take a screenshot - make sure to include the logo of the media outlet.

If there is a particularly juicy section of the article that you'd like to highlight, make sure to use a "blow-up" quote to enlarge and separate it from the rest of the article.

2) Add it to Your Website

What better place to drumbeat your newly acquired media placement than your website. If you get a lot of publicity, set up a special area (for example, "As Seen In") to display your placements. For a great story, highlight it on your homepage. Susan Blair does a nice job of displaying her publicity successes in her "Articles" section at http://www.blairenterprises.net

Note: if a publication displays your article on its website, make sure to link to it. Remember to check your link often - media websites constantly change. Better yet, take a screenshot of your article including the publication's logo, and place it permanently in your "As Seen In" area.

3) Stop the (Electronic) Presses - Mention Your Placement in Your Ezine

If your business has a regular ezine, by all means let your subscribers in on your publicity success. It's human nature to be attracted to a popular, successful business or a famous person. "Celebrity" status is very valuable in and of itself.

4) Email Existing or Potential Clients

Impress your existing or potential clients by tooting your own horn with an email alerting them that you've been published or seen on TV!

Use the power of PR to your advantage. Advertising is clearly understood as coming directly from the sponsoring business and, as a result, is usually taken with a grain of salt. An article initiated (or "placed") by publicity efforts is viewed as the product of the reporter who wrote it - an objective, third party observer whose positive comments about your business will carry great weight. For more information on PR versus advertising, go to http://www.publicityinsider.com/questions.asp

5) Pitch it Again, Sam!

Take your story angle to a different publication or website - make sure to bend the angle to match the publication's editorial slant or specific reporter's column. DO NOT mention that the story appeared in another publication. Why let a reporter know your angle has already been reported? If it's newsworthy, the story will stand on its own. To learn how to make a story newsworthy, go to: http://www.publicityinsider.com/freesecret.asp

6) "Internal" PR

Place your article in a handsome frame and hang it in a visible area of your office's waiting area. The story adds legitimacy to your business and provides entertainment for your waiting customers. If you don't have a waiting area, put the article behind your desk facing your visitors or in your meeting room.

Make sure to distribute the story to your employees and suppliers to build loyalty and company pride.

7) Other Suggestions

• Sales Brochures, Direct Marketing Materials & Trade Show Handouts - Like advertising, claims in self-produced brochures & mailings are taken with a grain of salt. But, if a credible publication makes those same claims on your behalf, make sure it gets "front page" placement in your sales materials.
   
• Speech handout: - One way to keep your speech working for you long after the chairs are folded up is to distribute your article with your business card and company information to all attendees.
   
• Business card: - Place an important quote from your article on your business card.

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