The Increasing Power of Publicity… and how it can benefit your business.
Our next guest post is from Todd Brabender, President of Spread The News Public Relations, Inc and a long time friend of Palo Alto Software. You can read more of Todd’s articles by going to bplans.com articles. His business specializes in generating media exposure and publicity for innovative products, businesses, experts and inventions.
The call came into my office and the voice on the other end was very energetic, almost giddy: “I have finalized my marketing budget and need your help launching an advertising campaign for my new product,” he breathed. “Congratulations,” I replied, “but before you implement an ad campaign, I want to make sure you have explored potential publicity & PR opportunities that could generate some cost-efficient media exposure first.” Then, silence. “I never thought about that,” he sighed. “Frankly, I don’t know much about it.”
It’s a common conversation. Although many entrepreneurs or business people know a bit about publicity or media exposure, the majority simply don’t understand the full benefits of media exposure or how to go about generating features successfully. Media exposure has always been a cost-efficient way to market a product or business and generate clients or customers, but because of lack of knowledge or a misunderstanding of what media exposure is and does, many entrepreneurs don’t take full advantage of these publicity opportunities — and that can lead to missed marketing chances.
I recently surveyed a few dozen business owners and entrepreneurs in some newsgroups and business chat rooms about their knowledge of media exposure and publicity. I found out that only 37% knew that a simple “product profile” in a magazine was generated as a result of publicity or public relations efforts. Most thought the company had paid the media outlet to run the feature, much like an ad. And of that 37%, less than half of them knew HOW to generate a similar placement.
Another interesting fact, because of the recent slowdown in the economy, expensive advertising budgets have been slashed. As a result, many businesses are turning to media exposure/PR campaigns as a more affordable means of marketing to compete with other companies. Here are some ways to use media exposure and publicity placements to help your business:
