Did you know you can get free newspaper and television
advertising for your home business? How? Just pick up the
telephone and call your local media and tell them all about
your home business. If they think your home business is
interesting enough, they’ll come out and interview you, and
just like that–free publicity!
You might not know it, but this occurs much more often than
you realize. Why? Because the media loves doing those kinds
of community interest stories. It makes them appear more
sensitive and caring about what’s happening in their
community, which leads to more viewers and readers–and of
course more advertising revenue.
However, depending on how busy they are and what type of
other newsworthy events are going on in your community, they
might not immediately appear interested in your story.
In the event that happens, try calling them once a week
until you get your interview. Don’t be rude, but be
persistent. Reporters understand about persistence, because
that’s how they get many of their stories.
It also doesn’t hurt to be creative. I heard of a story
where a home based catering business catered a surprise free
lunch for a local television station. They literally walked
in the front door of the tv station, and started handing out
free lunches to all of the employees–starting with the
security guards.
The news staff was so impressed with the quality of the
food, they dispatched a news crew to interview the caterer
the very next day.
Apparently, someone in higher places saw the interview on
television, because two weeks later that catering company
was catering lunch at the governor’s mansion.
That catering job led to many more catering jobs, and other
than a small ad in the yellow pages, that catering company
is so busy, it doesn’t need to advertise at all.
I know of another story where someone who owned a home based
mobile oil change company volunteered to change the oil in
the cars of the employees of a local newspaper for free. In
the evening addition of that newspaper, the mobile oil
change company was featured on the front page.
The company received so many telephone calls from that one
newspaper article, they were booked up for months in advance.
Free publicity. You can’t buy it, you can’t beat it–go get
it!
About the author:
Dean Phillips is an Internet marketing expert, writer,
publisher and entrepreneur. Questions? Comments? Dean can be
reached at mailto: dean@lets-make-money.net
Visit his website at: http://www.lets-make-money.net