Two SUPER STRATEGIES For
Getting FREE Publicity!
By Eric Ruth
Take a look in any bookstore and you’ll see that the shelves are stuffed with books on getting free publicity.
I’ve read quite a few of them, and I can tell you that most – to be blunt… suck!
There are most definitely “inside” secrets to obtaining free publicity. If you don’t have it yet, you should grab NPE Gold Plus Module #11 “How To Become A Local Fitness Celebrity” (it contains a fast-start dvd, hanouts, complete instructions and systems for generating MASSIVE amounts of free publicity) or you can befriend an editor at your local newspaper…
AND ASK HIM/HER!
Sounds simple, doesn’t it? Funny thing is that almost no one will do it.
You know what you need to do this successfully?
A telephone. That’s it. Make a phone call – initiate the relationship. If you’re serious and are willing to listen and then DO what the editor tells you to do, you can get lots and lots of publicity for your business.
Here’s a quick primer on two of the most powerful SUPER STRATEGIES for getting FREE publicity.
- The “HOW TO” or “TIPS” Guide
The secret to your success with this strategy is ultra-tight focus on a particular niche market. That’s what makes your news “newsworthy.”
Here are some examples:
11 Tips For Accelerating Fat Loss In Post-Menopausal Women
6 Proven Techniques For New Mothers To Regain Their Pre-Pregnancy Figures
Fitness Professional Reveals 13 Myths Sabotaging Seniors’ Fitness Goals
62 Year-Old Golfer Adds Distance And Accuracy With 5 Stretching And Strengthening Exercises
Grandmother Sets Personal Best Record In 10K Race By Following 12-Step Fitness Program
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NOTE:
I have a neighbor whose father is a long-haul trucker who owns his own rig (it cost over $200,000). I was talking with him recently and he told me that he works almost exclusively for Sunrise Retirement Homes – one of the leading retirement community developers in the U.S.
He explained that they are opening a new retirement community each month, and have been for the past two years. Services geared towards retirees are one of the fastest growing segments of the economy.
You’d be almost foolish not to find a way to capitalize on this rapidly growing market. I read in IDEA Fitness Professional that “each day for the next 20 years, 11,000 baby boomers will turn 50.” EACH DAY FOR THE NEXT 20 YEARS! That’s pretty compelling evidence that you cannot afford to miss out on this market.
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6-Step Corporate Fitness Program Increases Productivity 87% Among Top Executives
These are all headlines. Why? Because your headline is the most important element of any marketing piece, including a press release. If the headline fails to capture the attention of the editor, it will get trashed.
Now, the more “newsy” you can make your headline, the better. You’ll notice that the last three headlines are more “newsy”. Ideally, you want to incorporate some sort of local news in your headline, i.e. the grandmother sets personal best headline. Of course, you would need a client who has done something newsworthy that you can leverage off of.
With that said, you may be thinking that you don’t have any news worth telling about your clients.
You’re wrong.
There’s always news, you just haven’t dug deep enough to find it. You haven’t asked enough questions of your clients.
Interview your clients while you’re training them, keeping an ear open for a “hook” you can use. Then ask them if you can make them a local celebrity by using them in your press releases, advertisements, etc.
Build a “how to” or a “tips” guide around what they have done and offer it as a lead generating magnet in your press release. (You certainly DON’T have to build your tips guide story around a client. Your press release can just be about the guide itself. Be sure to explain why the guide was created – you can make a story out of that.)
This brings us to the second SUPER STRATEGY.
- Make Your Clients Celebrities
I know a chiropractor who finds ways to make his clients into celebrities, then uses their stories as the hook in all his marketing. It works incredibly well.
For instance, he built a story around a client who is a dance instructor. She was a top ballerina in her earlier years and has experienced chronic knee problems until she started seeing this chiropractor.
One of the really neat things he did with this story is to overcome the objection many people have about using a chiropractor (same with a fitness professional) that they think once you start getting chiropractic adjustments, you have to continue with the treatment indefinitely.
The chiro explained how his “secret” adjustment technique works in one application and lasts for months.
This is a big “perception” hurdle fitness professionals must overcome as well. That’s why you need to build in packages that are not open-ended in duration. There must be a finite time frame that is clearly understood by the prospect. I talk about this all the time, so I won’t go into detail here. Just keep this in mind.
Another client is an owner of an auto mechanic shop and races stock cars on the weekends. The chiropractor built a story around how this guy wins lots of local races and is a “celebrity” among the local stock car enthusiasts and he lives 40 miles away from the chiropractor, but drives into town once a week to get adjusted.
The point is that there are newsworthy stories everywhere, you just have to look for them.
Here’s the big secret to making this strategy work:
Your average John or Jane client might not want to be a local celebrity. They don’t want their name splashed across the local newspaper. But who does want this kind of publicity?
BUSINESS OWNERS!
Notice that the examples I used from the chiropractor were of “celebrities” who also own a business: dance studio and car mechanic. These people definitely WANT publicity for their businesses. So the first place you should look is among your clients who are business owners/managers. It’s win-win. You get publicity and so do they. In fact, you should look at ways that you can partner with your clients who are business owners/managers to CREATE news.
Plan an event or brainstorm an angle – a “hook” – you both can capitalize on to gain publicity.
Is there work involved? Yes! Is there ever NOT work involved in promoting your business? No!
But remember, one well-conceived news release incorporating a lead generating magnet can bring you a FLOOD of new business.
And… it’s FREE!
You must work this promotional strategy. It’s critically important. One great news release is worth ten or more paid advertisements.
What I'm about to tell you is SO important.
Every month there are events to which you can “tie” your news releases. For example, May is a HUGE month for national events. The 'savvy' PR guy or gal uses current events to perpetuate media exposure. The month of May is a veritable gold mine of events. So, I'm going to list a few of these events, and how you could use them to promote your business.
MAY EVENTS:
*Family Support Month*
Do you have a product or service that focuses on families? Have you written a book, manual, special report with a family fitness topic? Family health? Mother and child relationships? Can you discuss how children can get better grades in school and have higher self-esteem by losing weight? Come up with some way to tie-in family with your fitness services to create your PR 'hook'...so get those press releases out!
*FIBROMYALGIA EDUCATION and AWARENESS MONTH*
Are you an expert in relieving chronic muscle pain? Have You written materials that educate and make people aware of this painful disorder that affects over 10 MILLION American women? Are you a fitness nutritionist, or just someone who has relived the pain using your own training methods? Remember, associating you “news” with current events is possibly the single most effective way to get free publicity.
*NATIONAL RECOMMITMENT MONTH*
Okay, here’s a biggie. Have you written materials on how to keep commitments to fitness or weight loss goals? What about how to keep your commitments to your spirituality. Or, how to keep your commitments to your children? What about your commitments to work or family? All of these commitment issues can be tied to health and fitness in some way. Now is the time to push the “do you need to recommit to your new year’s resolutions?” buttons. Take advantage of these special events in May to promote the heck out of your business.
33 Six & Seven Figure Fitness Professionals, Who Started With Nothing but a Dream, Reveal the STEP-BY-STEP Secrets, Systems & Strategies that Turned their Fitness PASSION Into Fast Fitness PROFITS!
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