Use This Free Marketing Tool

[prescottlmt]

We've just experienced a boost in clients and web activity due to this free marketing tool that everyone has access to. To build up clients you should be using everything you can , right .... so here you go.

Every paper in every city and town has a business section. Newspapers are constantly looking for anything new and different they can print.

Do an online search so you can get a feel for what their looking for and to find out who you need to contact.

E-mail or call if you can to set up an interview and wham-o .... a free ad in your local paper.

Now, having said all that let me add that the most important thing for you to do is predetermine how YOU want the interview to go. Don't simply leave it to chance, make some notes in advance.

Cover your specialties, your location, any niche markets you cater to, everything that sets you apart.

If you can finish off the article by mentioning your really cool website and all the info they can find there then you've maximized the bang you'll get with this freebe.

[EgoMagickian]

I think that sounds like an awesome approach. Has anyone else done this?

[Eileen R]

Very good advice, Michael. Would you care to expound a bit (about 300-400 words) and write a guest blog article on this?

Do you write the text for the www.prescottlmt.com website? There are some good articles? descriptions? I can't think of the word just now.

Eileen

[Dragonflies]

I sent a press release to my local papers because doulas made the morning show in early December. I got an interview and made the first page of my small town paper. I've already had several phone calls.

[prescottlmt]

Thank you Eileen, write a guest blog article on this? sounds like fun.
and yes, I write all the text for prescottlmt. Thank you again for your lovely comments.

Eileen ... we seem to have a lot in common, I too have a love for marketing. I really dug your description of how you approach writing copy. Contact me about writing that article michael@prescottlmt.

Michael

P.S. Have you checked out using video and how powerful it is online ?

[JasonE]

We got some excellent feedback and some appointments out of a press release I sent out that was edited down for a newspaper article. The key is getting the piece published where your target market will see it.

[R_O]

A press release is always a good thing to be sending out, but don't stop there. Reporters are innundated with press releases, and the chances of yours crossing their desk at the exact moment they're writing an article on massage businesses in the area is slim.

If you can, find a way to interact with them directly, and ask them what they're writing on in the near future. Once you know what they're working on, see if you can suggest a way that your business fits with any articles in progress, or even send a different draft of your release tailored towards that article. The easier you make it for them to include you, the better your chances.

By that same token, create different versions of your release customized to the season, important local events, discussing treatments that feature local products or themes, etc etc. The key is to make your information useful to the reporter--they want to know how your information helps them, now how they can help you by using your information, if that makes sense.

EDIT: Something else that might help: don't limit yourself to front page or local news reporters; specialty sections can yield surprising opportunities. Give sports massage info to sports writers. Suggest a self-care regimen for gardeners with back trouble to a gardening section writer, bridal de-stress massages for the wedding/society section, how massage helps increase productivity and focus to give a workplace edge for the business section, etc. Everyone has stress, and massage's benefits can be applied to just about anyone with a bit of creativity. Specificity is key--if a reporter can lift a paragraph straight from your release and drop it in their article, you win.