Sports fans might look at it this way: reporters and on-air personalities are like play-by-play announcers. But experts are color commentators who fill in meaning.

Try this: I defy you to watch any news program or channel for more than 10 minutes, without seeing an expert quoted. Won’t happen. Just like you’ll never see Monday Night Football without a gaggle of commentators.

But, unless you’re ready to cough up big bucks to buy mailing lists, it limits you. You can only reach people you already know – ones in your database. All those people will get to know you better, and that’s good – but you won’t be meeting any new prospects. To do that, it’s either spend on lists or advertising, or learn how to get yourself some free publicity.

Think of every PR success as seed for 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 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.