Media Begets Media

If you are like most small businesses today, you’re probably handling your own PR. Very few of small businesses have the budget to hire a publicist to do it for them. I share many tips on how to do this effectively. But what do you do when do get media exposure? It’s imperative that you be your own megaphone. The first two things you should do is share it on social media and e-mail it to your clients, customers, and prospects. If you stop there though, you’re missing the boat on an easy way to get even more publicity.

When you or your business is featured in the media, it is important to use that as a building block for additional publicity. Remember that media exposure is basically a third party endorsement. Someone else is telling the world how great you are and that gives you major credibility. You want to take that media exposure and use it to get more.

Below are some examples of ways to maximize a media appearance and get more media exposure from that one appearance:

1. Are you, your company, your product, or book going to be on national television? As soon as you know the airdate or the day you will be on live, contact your local affiliate of that station and tell them a local business will be featured on “XYZ” national program that airs on their network. The local station will most likely have you on to share your story and include the clip of the show you were on.

2. Have you already appeared on a television program but since you aired, something really exciting happened? Let them know. If a guest they featured has success, it makes them look good as well. A celebrity wore my product and was photographed in it, so I went back to a national daytime show on which I had appeared and shared my news. They ran an update on my company and me, which was basically a four-minute infomercial and product endorsement that aired on national television. That additional exposure was priceless.

3. Were you featured in a prominent magazine or newspaper? Use that publicity to go to a trade publication in your industry and share the story. People often forget how valuable coverage in a trade publication can be. This is usually your most targeted market in terms of new customers or clients. Publicity in a trade publication should get you quite a bit of bang for your buck because that is your target market.

4. Show a trend. Were you featured in a trade magazine, local or regional publication? Can you find other stories with similar companies or products? Put these articles together as back-up and submit the story idea to a national publication showing a trend in your industry and how you can speak to the trend.

5. Once you’ve gotten some coverage, create a media reel or “sizzle reel” that you can share with other media outlets. This will help establish you as an expert in your field.

Use these tips to increase your media exposure and don’t forget to add an “In the Press” section on your website for potential clients, customers, and any media who visit to see all of your exposure.

Christina Daves is the best selling author of PR for Anyone™ 100+ Affordable Ways to Easily Create Buzz for Your Business. She has appeared in over 250 media outlets including the Steve Harvey Show, Dr. Oz, local affiliates of NBC, ABC, CBS, FOX, The Washington Post, Yahoo News, Huffington Post, Entrepreneur, Forbes, Success, Inc., Bloomberg Radio, and more. Christina and her clients have generated over 7 figures in sales from free publicity. She is known as the "DIY-PR Maven" and advises and teaches business owners how to generate publicity for their business to attract new customers, gain credibility, and generate more revenue.

To learn more visit - www.PRforAnyone.com and join the community.