Advertising in well known magazines has a lot of advantages. First, if people trust magazine, they will be more likely to trust businesses represented there. Time Magazine, for example, is highly respected publication; putting an advertisement into their pages is sure to grab some interest and give your company a good name.

It might seem a little frivolous to run an ad in a national magazine for a small company or one that can only do local business. But there is a little known secret-- most of those well known magazines run regional editions that are only distributed throughout certain areas.

Expensive media advertising is great if you can afford it, but you may not have to pay a cent to get covered big time by big time media. Each day thousands of media outlets give away millions in news coverage, promotional tie-ins, and adlibed plugs.

It doesn't matter if you are a small business that can't afford advertising or a larger firm who could use a boost to your existing marketing budget. Going after no-cost media coverage is an important effort that will pay huge dividends over time.

Here is how to get your share of free media bonanza:

1. Most media need a steady stream of prizes to give away. Radio stations offer free items to listeners. Newspapers give bonus prizes to their delivery people. Rather than buy prizes, most media like to get them from businesses in return for a free mention on air or in print.

Kevin Nunley of DrNunley.com tells story of a radio station that offered free ads for someone to remove snow from their parking lot. "A guy with a tractor showed up, removed snow,and we immediately started giving expensive commercial slots away to guy's little snow removal company."