Of all marketing methods I employ to get word out about my speaking service and my information products method I enjoy most involves being interviewed on radio stations throughout North America. The reason they are so enjoyable? They can be done from home over phone while sitting having coffee in your pajamas. They also give you great exposure for no cost to you. To pay for a 15 minute interview would exhaust my publicity budget in no time flat.

When I have a new book coming out or I am going to be speaking in a specific city I immediately send out one page press releases to radio stations in specific city or surrounding area announcing fact and inviting them to call me for an informative and interesting interview. ( I tell how to write an effective one page press release and give samples in my manual " Public Speaking for Profit and Pleasure" I prefer to either fax or snail mail press release to media outlets. Emailing them isn't that effective. Many producers are inundated with emailed releases and usually delete them as soon as they come upon them.

I usually get a phone call from a producer or their assistant if they are interested and they uysually are if I have written press release in an enticing manner. In past 2 months I have had about 4 interviews ranging from 15 minutes in length to 35 minutes.

By Robert Thompson Posted 28 Feb 05

One of things that I like to do with my spare time is visit various business forums and chat rooms. It is interesting to see what others are thinking, and once in awhile, I run across a question or post that makes for a good article.

Here is a good example from SMC Members Forum. I have changed name to protect identity and privacy of user. This post represents a very common sentiment throughout stay at home job community.

From Jennifer

I just started SMC not to long ago and I have mostly heard negative things in this forum. When I say negative I mean people who have been in 3-4 months and have not had any luck. That is very discouraging. I also noticed their are a lot of SMC members competing for business. This is also discouraging. Is there no one else that has success from this business with any marketing method? I think I'm going to ask for a refund. People these days are cruel.

Hello Jennifer,

Hang in there. You are just getting started, and you still haven't even paid for a business education yet. Once you spend a few hundred bucks on a promotion that fails to bring in a sale, you will understand why I say this. I don't think of my screwups as failures. Instead, I think of money spent as tuition for a new business lesson. LOL

Here are a few things to think about:

1. You are right about level of competition amongst SMC members. With several members selling items on Ebay, for example. Your chances of earning a decent profit there is limited by your knowledge of little things (jacking up shipping costs to cover cost of item sold, or how to effectively follow up with another offer to customers who do buy).

Regardless of whether you are selling products from a large wholesaler, such as SMC, or promoting an affiliate program, such as SFI or Empowerment, you will find this to be true.

Since competition is so heavy in more traditional venues, it is best to avoid them until you have a better understanding of unwritten rules of game.