Score Positive Publicity

It's pretty easy to spiral into depression when you watch the news--at least it is for me. I want to keep up on my world but it takes some effort to watch what is happening out there.

You can be a difference maker if you take the right approach to the media. Over the last few entries, I've been telling you about I See Your Name Everywhere by Pam Lontos & Andrea Brunais. They have a chapter in their book titled, "Scoring Positive Publicity--Part 1: 7 ways to prepare, 7 tactics to try."

Why seven? They say, "People need to see things at least seven times to even remember it. When someone reads about you in an article, they may not have a need for your services or products at that particular moment. But by continually having your name out there, they will begin to recognize it, and when the time comes they will remember seeing your name." (page 76).

The advice about repeatedly telling people about you and your book make total sense to me. It's one of the reasons I regularly slip in a reference to my Book Proposals That Sell or my teleseminar called Secrets About Proposals. You may not have an immediate need for it but later on when you do need it, I hope you will remember that it's out there and can help you.

I am not going to giveaway their seven points but I'm going to give you three of them in hopes it will show you the excellent content in this book and encourage you to study it:

1. Teach yourself to recognize a good-news story.

2. Realistically assess the news value of the story.

3. Be Persistent.

The book includes examples and explains each point. For some of you who haven't thought about your product or your work in this fashion, it will take some adjustment in your thinking to come up with these ideas--but I'm confident you can do it--and it will help your own impact on the marketplace.

Leverage the Power of the Media

As a writer or publishing professional, you probably follow the national and local news scene. Can you leverage that experience for your own writing and publishing goals? I believe you can--provided you understand what the media needs and how to deliver it to them.

One of the tools to grow this understanding is a new book from Pam Lontos and Andrea Brunais: I See Your Name Everywhere, Leverage The Power Of The Media To Grow Your Fame, Wealth and Success. (Here's the permanent link to my Amazon review).

In the opening pages, they write, "Anyone can have his or her 15 minutes of fame, as Andy Warhol famously predicted. But it takes knowledge and persistence to leverage that 15 minutes into long-term media exposure. You want to become a trusted source journalists turn to time after time."

Later in the book, they ask the question, "Why should you care what motivates reporters?" Then they answer, "They will tell your story to the public. The public is more likely to believe them than to believe information from other sources, including information coming directly from you or your organization." (page 19)

This book helps you understand how to shape your message in a way and deliver it so the media will use it to help promote your own work. It's a developed skill that anyone can learn. There is a great deal of terrific information inside I See Your Name Everywhere so I recommend you get the book, study the material and apply it to your own writing life.

While there is only a surface bit of information in I See Your Name Everywhere about the Internet, you can learn these aspects from David Meerman Scott.

Recently I was on a teleseminar with David Meerman Scott and I recommend you go to his Ebook site and download these various Ebooks then study The New Rules of Viral Marketing. These resources may set your writing on a whole new path for exposure to the media and new readers.

In my view, it isn't just one method but it will involve many different methods to leverage the power of the media. It takes consistency and persistence--yet thoughtful persistence where you pitch your materials in the right and expected fashion. I hope these resources will help you position your message in a different way to the market.