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http://jimsmarketingblog.com/2011/01/25/the-secret-to-attracting-great-free-media-publicity/
In yesterday’s post, I wrote about the importance of getting your stars out; a term I use to describe showcasing any references to you or your work in the media. One of the people who commented on that post, asked a good question. He wanted to know how to get that kind of media publicity, where you are referenced as an expert in your field.
That’s what today’s post is about!
The most typical route, is to hire a kick-ass PR agency and get them to use their skills and contacts each time you want to be mentioned. That’s not how I did it and it’s not what I am going to cover in this post. I would like to share an alternative approach, based around my concept of combining visibility with beingremarkable. As I have said here many times before, if you want to generate word of mouth publicity, you need to be remarkable in some way.
People remark on that which is remarkable. The media are no different.
Being remarkable
If you are a designer, coach, accountant, advisor, even a GREAT one, that’s probably not enough for The BBC or a national newspaper to call you. There needs to be something remarkable about you, before those guys remark on you. Before the media became interested in me, I had worked hard for years to get a lot of people talking about me. I had developed a newsletter, with thousands of readers, which contained marketing ideas and advice that was powerful and often very different from the conventional wisdom of that time. People started seeing amazing sales results from my work, so they spread the word.
I often found myself going against the flow, which was also a great way to capture people’s attention. For example,in the mid 1990′s, I was telling people to give away as much free advice as they could. My fellow marketing professionals said I was insane! Today, we call it content marketing or tutorial marketing and it’s commonplace; thanks to the advent some years later of business blogging. I got noticed, by doing what I believed was right and saying it with conviction, without seeking permission from anyone. A few years ago, when lots of marketing people switched to being “social media gurus” I decided to pass. Today, many of the top social media people are transitioning away from social media, into becoming personal development and self-help gurus.
Remarkable people
One of the people attracted to my different style of marketing, was my good friend, theGrammy Award winner, Bruce Elliott-Smith. When I saw Bruce picking up his award in Hollywood, it was hard to believe that when we first met in the 1990′s, he ran a great little insurance business. He was as hard working and dynamic in that business, as he is today. A great way to get people talking about you is to do remarkable things, with remarkable people. My long term association with Bruce and his reference to me as “a legend when it comes to results” was a door-opener, when it came to media exposure.
When I coached a BBC presenter live on air, during her first ever radio program, it generated a lot of interest in me. However, it was the legwork I did in the years before that day, which encouraged them to call me to be the guest on Lara King’s first solo show. The fact I am media trained and was already a regular BBC contributor, meant they knew who to call.
Showing how remarkable you truly are
In short, whilst there are many tricks you can employ to gain the attention of the media, the real secret is to be visible and remarkable. You don’t need to do anything earth shattering, I certainly haven’t (yet), but you do need to be prepared to stand up and stand out.
- It means taking the opposite approach, to what you see every day online, where grown adults follow and quote Internet gurus, like sheep.
- It means avoiding going with the flow, when you think the flow is flowing toward bullshit.
- It means developing your own ideas and having faith in them.
- It means having the courage to risk being wrong.
- It means being you. Being proud of who you are and confident in what you believe.
The more you try to blend in, rather than express your unique individuality, the less remarkable, (which in this sense reads newsworthy), you become.
Here are 2 quick tips you can get working on right now, to get the right people talking about, and to, you:
Your visibility - Get yourself a blog and use it as a super-effective platform for people to find you and discover your story. Pack it with YOUR thoughts. Update it regularly and watch what happens. If your message is compelling enough, people will share it across their social networks and they will link to it. When you get the links, you start getting search traffic. This makes you easier to find, when the next reporter or journalist is looking for an informed opinion in your field of business. I will be covering this in detail, on my new Internet marketing site!
Your remarkable self - When they discover you, make it very clear that they have just found someone with something new/fresh to say. The less your site reads just like all the others, the better. Why would a reporter or journalist quote me or my site, if I was just repeating what Jay Abraham or Seth Godin say? There would be no point. Similarly, if you emulate the style / opinions of those at the top of your industry or profession, you cease being remarkable. This is why it’s so important for you to be you. Be your own breaking news. Be your remarkable self.
Is it easy? Nope. That’s why most people don’t do it. It requires courage, hard work, study and confidence. That’s quite a challenge for any of us.
Is it possible? Yes. That’s why so many people DO do it.
In my experience, very few people know just how incredible they are. You are almost certainly at least as remarkable as those who are already capturing the attention of the media and the masses. Please don’t keep it a secret!
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