In the past 4 years I have been amazed at the amount of valuable free publicity I have been given. Analyzing this is complicated, I have never advertised. I refused to waste money with magazines and other ways of promoting.


The first boost was a full page article with photographs in a very well known woman’s magazine, although this was not actually targeted at the right band of clients it was a great way to get the name on people’s lips.


Once you get a good coverage in a national publication things tend to snowball. If you can incorporate some of that publicity onto your web page with a few of the headings or poignant text, other media people will spot it and contact you.


If you blog, especially about topical subjects and link that to your business web page you never know who may contact you. I have recently had two very good TV appearances shown Nationwide in UK and today had a quarter page picture and a nice write up in The Sunday Times Business section.
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/entrepreneur/article3422389.ece


Although I often write about my business and things solely to do with cooking, I am not afraid to make some controversial and robust comments about things that anger me or that I completely disagree with. Of course if you are writing in a medium where others can comment a full-blown argument can develop. If you have a genuine opinion on something never let anyone beat you down just because it seems you are the only one with that opinion.


Many programme editors and newspaper writers are looking for someone with a differing view…it makes for good content and often good entertainment. People will remember a good rant long after mediocre agreements. They especially remember humour and if you can laugh at yourself then you can bet others will laugh with you. I often use the wrong word for something, mainly because I lived in Paris for some time and mix words up. It does not fluster me…I just laugh it off.


Radio talk shows are great for publicity. Many people are listening whilst driving and they can concentrate well. It’s important to be clear and concise and to put over what you do in a very distinct manner, along with good humour and a few valuable tips. If you do it well you’ll find a number of other radio shows will contact you for the same. Again they often pick you up from the Internet via a topical blog and interesting views on a subject. It is important to keep it up but overkill is just boring and if people read the same thing over and over again you will find they lose interest very quickly…Surprise people with a view that they don’t expect you to have and stick by it. Learn to argue politely online but stand your ground. It can be very exciting and brings quite a few rewards


After publicity it is nice to check out the surges of visitors to your website. That will tell you how good the effort was.