How To Get Slightly Famous in PrintWritten by Steven Van Yoder
Early in my career, I wrote an article for a small business magazine about self-publishing as a marketing tool for businesses. Because I specialize in helping businesses get into print, article only took a few hours to write. A few months later it was published. Almost immediately, my phone began to ring and my email box filled up with inquires. As a result of “Be An Expert, Get More Business” I landed two clients, submitted several proposals, and added dozens of names to my mailing list. Later I used article in my email newsletter, made glossy reprints for my marketing materials, and arranged to reprint article in other magazines targeted at potential clients. Years later, benefits continue to roll in as prospects read my article on Internet, recommend it to associates, and hire my firm because I'm an expert in Slightly Famous marketing strategies. In one instance, a reader became a client even though her company had almost finalized a decision to hire a competitor. "We came across your article, and it made all difference," she said. "We knew from your article that you could help us." You might be thinking that success came easily to me because I am a writer. But you don't have to be a professional writer or seasoned journalist to get your name in print. Whether you're a management consultant or a masseuse, you can learn how to pursue print media exposure and succeed. And with more than 10,000 publications in print today, opportunities are virtually unlimited. Visibility + Competence + Word of Mouth = REPUTATION Getting Slightly Famous in print media means reaching a larger audience, rather than relying entirely on human contact. After all, there is only one physical you. No matter how much you network, get around, or attend meetings, YOU can only go so far. Appearing in media is equivalent of expanded networking. You reach a targeted audience of people who might buy from you, and you build a relationship with your target market that can lead to sales. Even if you have a small local business, media exposure helps you establish a regional or national presence without leaving your desk. Media exposure works because it associates your name with authority of media. When you read about a business in newspaper or hear about it on radio, chances are you immediately elevate that business above its competitors. It has solidity and credibility. Appearing in media that reach your target market establishes a bond of trust upon which future sales are possible. Ultimately, your Slightly Famous media strategy will develop your reputation as a business of choice in your market niche. As more prospects run across your name in publications targeted at them, you will acquire an aura of expertise that will get you more business with less effort. Publishing Articles & Columns Bylined, contributed articles are a mainstay in many trade and special interest publications because most cannot afford full-time writers. From fillers to features, these magazines rely on freelance writers and contributors like you for at least some of their content. Often written for a small fee—or given freely in exchange for an author bio designed to elicit business—these articles show off expertise of businessperson or consultant who authored it.
| | Blogging For Business - Great reasons for every business to publish a blogWritten by John Jantsch
If Howard Dean’s failed political campaign accomplished anything, I would say that it brought to mainstream use of something called a weblog or “blog” as it known in cyberspace. A blog is really nothing more than a diary uploaded to Internet and until about last 12 months was realm of individual who saw it as a way to publish there random (and sometimes disturbed) thoughts. The great thing about weblogs, and growing set of software that is being created to publish them, is that they are a tremendous business tool. Weblogs allow you to create content and contact…and that is what your clients crave more than anything. I use a program (there is a free trial version) called PMachine to publish my weblog at DuctTapeMarketing.com/weblog.php. This program allows me to simply make many entries and updates and also allows readers to add comments. Better still, now seemingly random articles can be sorted and searched by content or subject. My weblog is more like a content management system and my readers seem to love it. Another great reason to explore use of weblogs is that search engines seem to love them. Within 30 days of launching my weblog it became most visited page on my fairly high traffic website. So what is it about blogs that those little spiders love so much? Here’s a little secret, search engines crave content. Okay so maybe that’s not such a secret but to look at many websites you would think it so. The fact is that too many websites just sit there doing nothing that search engines admire. Providing content, not to mention fresh content, is one of toughest chores of anyone who maintains a website. But when it comes to generating traffic it is most important job. Blogs, by their very nature, are all about content. In a commercial environment every blog entry is fresh content. Get in habit of making two, three, even four entries a week and you’ve got a content building bonanza on your hands. Everyone knows you need new content to give visitors a reason to come back; blogs just make task so much easier.
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