Getting free publicity to kick start HUGE sales
I could start and finish this article with two words. And in those two- (2) words you will more than likely recognise a billion dollar business that has been built on free publicity.
The two- (2) words are these:
- Richard
- Branson
I love seeing Richard Branson in action. He’s just another ruthless businessman with his eye on the bottom line every minute of every day.
But through a mixture of a very savvy PR brain and outrageous stunts he has built a fabulous fortune and positioned himself as Mr. Nice Guy, whilst methodically taking advantage of that image at every turn.
I saw Branson on a recent Australian TV show. It was a top rating football show. Branson knows absolutely nothing about Australian Rules Football. Not a thing.
He didn’t know a thing about football!
But he was invited on because of his persona as a high profile and hugely liked figure. This TV show is, by the way, one of Australia’s most watched shows.
And Branson is smart. He didn’t just go on and have a friendly chat about business and his keys to success.
Nope, not Branson!
About five- (5) minutes into the interview Branson called out and was quickly surrounded by six gorgeous bikini clad women… fully body painted.
The colours were the same as his newly launched credit cards
By an amazing (!!) coincidence, the colours that the women were painted were the exact same colours of the new credit card that Branson had just launched.
And he managed to get a good ten- (10) minutes of coverage on the girls and himself, all directly connected to the new credit card.
And the local newspaper covered it all again the next day. And the next. I can’t remember what the launch was, but I know I can guess: Branson, half naked women – all doing something outrageous.
The first rule of getting publicity is to do something newsworthy. Simple. More on that later.
Rule 2 is to avoid bad publicity. Don’t be offensive. Nothing will get you destructive, bad publicity quicker than being offensive. That sort of bad publicity is not what you want (some bad publicity can be okay, but good is better!).
Okay, pretty easy so far!
Be nice and be newsworthy
The best way to get favourable publicity is to do something that is nice and newsworthy. By “nice” I mean positive.
Let’s say you are a professional runner on the way up. What might work for you is to align yourself with a nice charity.
- You would generate lots of positive stories from that.
- And that would mean column inches.
- And a lift in your profile.
- And a distinct point of difference to every other athlete on the way up.
- And all that adds up to you being a more attractive proposition for sponsors.
- Which means more profit.
A quick hint here – choose your charity wisely. Like any business, there are well run charities and poorly run charities.
We do some work with RACQ CareFlight Queensland. This is a great charity in our experience. They do magnificent work and, in recognition of our little bit of support, bend over backwards to help us – from media releases, to providing testimonials, to giving us plaques for our ‘brag’ wall.
Grab hold of an organisation that is progressive, aggressive and not possessive (I had to get that last ‘sive’ word in there and that was the best I could come up with!).
Don’t back the wrong horse
It would be disappointing and ineffective to align yourself with a charity that is unable to harness the power of the media to best advantage.
You need to kick a goal with everything you put your efforts in. Make the right choices!
Another excellent way to get free publicity is to be an expert. I’ve found this to be a particularly effective method.
Run a survey and announce the results
Make an informed statement on a topical issue
Make a prediction
Both of those aspects, being nice and being an expert, would be decent newsworthy stories.
But even more newsworthy is:
BEING OUTRAGEOUS!!!!!!!!!!
Take Richard Branson as an example. Take the Wrestling characters! Take a well thought out promotion. Okay, okay……that last one is not quite as outrageous as the other two- (2), but could be just as effective!
How about this. Let’s say that you are about to open up your computer business in a small shopping centre.
Chances are you will:
- open the doors,
- take some ads in the local newspapers and
- put a sign up
Yawnnnnnnnnnnnnn. Boring. Dull. And not newsworthy.
Finding a good computer shop is as tricky as… finding a needle in a haystack.
Picture this…
It’s Saturday morning. The computer store is opening for business. Part of the shopping centre is cordoned off. Hundreds of people are lined up. As they get nearer to the end of line they have to walk up a ramp. And put on a cowboy hat. Then they take a step forward… and fall into a huge haystack.
Once in that haystack, the person flails around for exactly one- (1) minutes. They are ripping and tearing into that hay. Searching, searching for something… but what??
A needle of course!
And if that person finds that needle in a haystack, they win a top of the range home computer and a top of the range computer for the local school.
There would be pony rides, fairy floss, free balloons, a clown, ‘broom’ horse races…..a whole lot of fun!
(And the smart operator might even ask for a $1 donation for each needle search – all proceeds donated to a local charity. That nice sized (oversized) cheque would be presented by the business owner the next week to the RACQ CareFlight team, standing in front of the RACQ CareFlight helicopter!)
Free publicity isn’t difficult
Free publicity needn’t be difficult. I’ve been involved in some outstanding success on a national level, state and local level.
One of my favourites is some work we did for a local landscaper. He donated $300 worth of trees to a local primary school for National Tree Day. We invited the local media along to the handover, with the idea to hand the trees over to some cute kids and teach them how to plant and care for trees.
I expected the local newspaper reporter to front, with the result being a tiny mention on page 72.
We made the front page of the city’s largest newspaper, as well as page 3 on another. Both with big, colourful photographs and terrific mentions of my client.
The local TV news started and ended their bulletins with the story. And two- (2) radio stations mentioned the ‘event’ in their news bulletins for quite a few hours.
Great publicity can be the result of an incredible amount of hard work. Or just a simple release. The key is a newsworthy story – if you have that, you have a great chance for free publicity.
Cheers,
