Now, you may be wondering, if hard-sell commercials work so well, why don’t all Coca Colas and McDonalds and Volkswagens use them? Because they are more concerned with selling an image. When companies try to sell an image instead of an identity, their marketing is not fact based. They often sell intangible benefits: you will be cool, you will be sophisticated, and your entire well-being will be improved by using our product. Creating an image can sometimes become a game of who looks better, instead of who is better.

We all like to dream, but most of us are grounded in reality. We may occasionally be taken in by model with flowing, auburn hair who only spent five dollars on a box of store dye to achieve it, or car full of partying teenagers who love their car so much they would rather remain in it than attend a party, but we will never believe it.

The reason hard-sell commercials work so well is that they promote tangible, rational benefits of a product. It is difficult to promote practical value of perfume or beer.

So when you decide to market using television commercials, remember who your audience is: people who have jobs and kids and responsibilities. In other words, real people who live in real world.

Once you've got your release written, submit it to as many media outlets as possible. You can find media databases and lists of editors all over web. One that I've had particularly great luck with is Gebbie.com., try them, and also do a search to see what you can come up with on your own. Submit to all of your local papers, radio stations and TV stations as well. Too often people doing business online forget about local media, and sometimes they can be your biggest champions.

Linking your release to a popular story in news can also get an editor's attention. If a specific topic is already on tips of people's tongues, a related release is much more likely to be picked up. Media people tend to think that a typical audience can only stay interested in a few topics at a time, so if you can tie your story in to something that's already getting buzz you'll have a much better chance. If you don't get picked up right away, keep trying. What an editor ignores today may sound like a great story next month. Don't give up.

The time at which you submit your release is crucial as well. You will always have a better chance of being noticed if editor receives your story before 3pm. Late afternoon is deadline "crunch" time for newspapers, past prime news times of radio, and getting into last minute preparation time for TV news. Keep that in mind and don't get lost in shuffle.

If you do it right, submitting a press release can be a great way of getting word out about your business. There's money to be made out there if you just know how to do it.