All you need to know about getting free publicity

October 5, 4:18 PMTravel Marketing ExaminerRochelle Paul

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(Photo provided by Danek S. Kaus)

No matter the economy, a practical business owner, and every marketer, is seeking ways to get the most bang for their marketing buck.  If you want to learn how to get free publicity for your business, you must get the book, You Can be Famous: Insider Secretes to Getting Free Publicity." (Danek S. Kaus) (Amazon)

Author, journalist, copywriter and business man, Danek Kaus, teaches you how to promote your business, organization or yourself, by creating name recognition, and get you free publicity.

It's that simple and it's free

Okay, the book isn't free, but Dan's inside information can help you, if you're willing to learn, to create a demand for your information.  Imagine journalists, TV reporters and Internet sites wanting to share your information.

For the cost of buying Dan's book (and maybe shipping & handling), you can learn from this seasoned pro how to craft a press release, do a smart interview, even get your business on the TV news.

Sounds too good to be true?

Well, Dan can't promise anything, in fact no one can.  As he writes on his website, "Anyone who guarantees that you will get Free Publicity is lying."  But if you were to hire a skilled publicist you can see dramatic increases in your chances.

Use the methods he shows in his book, on his website, and on his Twitter and Facebook pages, and you can dramatically increase those chances for free.

Danek "Dan" Kaus is not just someone writing a book.  He's a seasoned practitioner who's done the very things he's written about.  Dan has used these techniques and skills to help his clients, and shows you what it is you need to accomplish the same.

As a journalist, Dan knows what it is a reporter is looking for, and teaches you how to be prepared with everything reporters are looking for.  When you speak with one, and provide them with what they need to write about you, you'll greatly increase the chances they will write about you.

As a publicist, Dan has helped his clients get coverage in such media outlets as USA Today, The New York Times, and CNN, as well as hundreds of TV and radio shows, newspapers, magazines, and websites.

Think of it as hiring a publicist for the cost of a book.

So why this book?

"The book is basically a primer on how to get free publicity in the media and online outlets.  It's very hands on.  It's very reader friendly," explains Dan.

But why would you need to know this stuff?  Writing a press release is easy, and you'll just call up the guy over at the paper and tell him you want to do an interview.  And surely doing an interview is as easy as talking to your buddy, right?

"The reason I wrote it, as a business journalist in Silicon Valley, I've dealt with a lot of business owners as well as execs, and it's amazing how few of them knew how to go about doing publicity."

Being able to write a press release that is going to be read, get a journalist to cover your story, or get onto the TV news is possible, but only if you know the tricks of the trade.  And once you're on TV, how are you going to perform when it's time to deliver your part of the conversation?

Remember, you and your business are up against literally hundreds of others seeking the same reporters attention.  How will your press release stand out?  Those seeking to be on TV or the radio is equally large, so how will they choose you?  Then there's being asked back.  If you can't' give them the sound interview they need for a good story, chances are, this will be your first and last time with that outlet.

Dan shows you how to get noticed, then how to perform so as to be a sought after interview.

"There's no place to learn how to do this stuff, if you think about it , where would you learn it?  You're an executive, or a CPA, and you advertise in the Yellow Pages, but how do you get the newspaper to do anything about you?  Nobody tells you how to do this."

But I've got an ad, I don't need more

Understand, advertising and publicity are not the same.  In advertising, you as the business get to control the message, where it goes and who you are targeting.  It's also going to cost you.

Publicity is free, unless you hire a publicist.

Publicity also provides you more credibility than advertising - the message you created - but you don't control the story.

Publicity is word-of-mouth marketing, and will get you noticed quicker, and with likely higher return on investment.  People trust word-of-mouth, they trust publicity.

What am I going to learn?

"There's a section in the book where I interview the dialog coach from Seinfeld, the TV show, and she gives pointers on how to give a great interview."

You'll also learn how to prepare for the interview, and make sure you're ready before you're on.

Dan says that among the preparations you want to do, you'll want to know, "What is your message?  What is the main thing you want to communicate to people?  Even before that, have you decided what you want the media coverage to accomplish for you?  Are you trying to brand yourself?  Are you trying to bring in new clients?  Are you trying to gain status among your peers?  You have to first decide what's your purpose, and once you've established that, then you say, okay, what's the topic, what's the theme, what's the main point or points that I want to communicate to the journalist and ultimately the audience, to the readers?"

Among the tips Dan offered during our conversation:

* Have 3-5 points on index cards and try to weave them into the conversation

* You can suggest questions to hosts, many will appreciate that

* Have B-Roll available for TV media to make their jobs easier

Understanding that to get free publicity requires work on your part and is vital to the process, but it will also bring your business free publicity that can be priceless in return on investment.

Having a journalist cover you is not doing them a favor.  They have more than enough stories to cover, and are looking for ways to get their job done in the best possible way.  With deadlines, plenty of people contacting them to get their stories out, and too many business owners and marketing people who don't know what it is that will help them get their job done, the media is on the look out for people who know what they need, and are willing to do the work to get it to them.

A favorite story of mine that Dan writes about on his website (full of great tips and ideas), is this:

One time I asked the spokesperson for a nonprofit a question and she told me to go read her 96 page white paper.  There was no way I was going to do that, not to fine one simple piece of information that she could have told me over the phone.  Guess whose story didn't appear in the paper.

You Can Be Famous: Insider Secrets to Getting Free Publicity (Amazon) is full of information, ideas and tips on how to get your business, as well as yourself, on the map.  It will require work on your part, but by putting these exercises into practice, you increase your chance for getting free publicity, and the return in profits it can generate.