4 Simple Ways To Gain Media Visibility
Posted on 17. Jan, 2009 by Christine OKelly in Publicity
Would gaining media visibility improve your sales? The answer is most likely a resounding yes! In this post I’ll show you 4 simple things that people I know are using to gain more media visibility. The best part is that each of these things could easily be tackled over the weekend, yet the results could bring you the exposure you need to grow your business for years to come.
Create a Video Reel
Television and radio media reps want to know that you’ll look and sound great on the air – and that you know your industry. To showcase these, online reputation management specialist Kent Campbell created a video reel and published it on YouTube. The guy is well spoken, funny, sharp and has a great voice. But who would know if they only “read” his content online? Kent set up an interview where he answered some of the most commonly asked questions about online reputation management. The result – an offer to appear on television from a major network.
If video is your bag, you’ll want to learn all you can about video marketing from Gary Vaynerchuk – this guy’s a rockstar!
Show (Not Just Tell) Your Expertise Online
Chris Hanisco, founder of The Dippy Chick, has been approached by several media networks. How did they find her? Through her active participation in the Start Up Nation online forum. Chris wasn’t trying to bait the media – she was just doing what she loves to do – helping other entrepreneurs solve their problems. However, when a major network browsed around Start Up Nation in searh of mom entrepreneurs, Chris’s name, face, and obvious level of experitise was prevalent throughout the community.
An About Page with a Human Interest Angle
Interviewers are always interested in tying in a personal interest story to their pieces – that’s what makes a story interesting! When the media scouts followed the links from Start Up Nation back to Chris’s ‘About’ page, they learned about the fascinating story behind her business. People want to interview people – not companies. Yet it’s amazing how many company’s ‘About’ pages don’t even include the names of the people behind the business, let alone photos or compelling stories. Your ‘About’ page isn’t just for the media – in my opinion, a compelling ‘About’ page can be one of your most persuasive sales pages.
Publish an Online Press Room
A journalist often knows what type of industry expert they need to interview to enhance a particular story. They will often search the ‘About’ pages of various websites in search of an expert to interivew. Why not take things a step further by creating an online press room with everything that a journalist would need? Your online newsroom might include things such as:
- Executive bios
- Headshots of key people
- A history of the company
- Quotes from the company founders
- News story angles
- Frequently asked questions (from the POV of the media)
- Your most recent press releases
For a daily dose of smart publicity ideas, check out Annie Jenkins. Her regular emails always get my brain turning with new publicity ideas.
14 Responses to “4 Simple Ways To Gain Media Visibility”
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Flo Schmo
10. Feb, 2009
You’ve got some good advice here. As someone who writes books in her spare time (all 5 minutes of it) I know that readers love to know about the person behind the writing and I imagine that is true in other industries as well. No one likes to deal with the Wizard of Oz – the nameless, faceless entity who engineers activities. Along with this, remember that SMO is always a good marketing device as is creating interactive media to induce visitors to return.
Kevin Sandridge
15. Apr, 2009
Video is an area where I know I need to do a bit more work. It’s so easy these days. Heck – there’s a camera built right into the top of my laptop screen! So, why don’t I do more with it?
Simple – Laziness. Yep. There’s really no other excuse. The viral power of video is undeniable, so I only have myself to blame. Enough… lights, camera.. ACTION!
Writing trainer
08. May, 2009
As a journalist and someone who teaches business people how to write effectively, I can confirm that your advice is spot on. Too many organizations try to depersonalize and dehumanize their About Us pages. To draw people to your website always look for ways of adding human interest and, where appropriate, a personal touch.
Internet Marketing Seminars
19. May, 2009
Great post. Good SEO copywriters are tough to find. I have hired people from India for really low prices but then find myself rewritting things and spending hours reworking the text. For anyone searching for high ranking, hiring a quality SEO copywriter is worth gold for your website, article submissions, Facebook, MySpace, etc… The old saying of “content is King” holds more tue now than ever with the onslaught of spam online. Dan
B. Feltz
08. Jun, 2009
I have done a little with using media to gain attention. I know I need to do more. It is a matter of not being very good at it.
Greg's Seo Copywriting Services
12. Aug, 2009
Making a video seems so easy. What are the best resources to use in order to make the best video possible?
dofollow high
02. Oct, 2009
Would a video of how to use a certain software be good enough ? like one created using adobe captivate ?
laskavy
23. Nov, 2009
I’m agree with You. More and more people prefer video and audio information resources to use.
Travis SEO In Connecticut
21. Apr, 2011
It’s been really awesome to watch the various technologies mature over the years and how content can now be delivered in so many formats to some many places. I can vividly remember the “old days” of garbage pages, endless redirects “markov generators” (i.e. gibberish generators), keyword stuffing, and so on. SEO was a battle back then. Now it’s a pretty pleasant journey.
Erie Small Business Lawyer
22. Apr, 2011
I am in the process of updaing my website and I find your post extremely helpful!
I see that you, along with many of the commenters, recommend videos on websites. How do videos help a website’s SEO? I know that with pictures alt tags can be used to enhance a website’s SEO, but I’m unaware of a similar procedure to videos. Does anyone have suggestions for that?
Travis SEO In Connecticut
25. Apr, 2011
Thanks for the “Show” vs. “Tell” reminder. This was drilled into my head early on in my sales career, but as I started doing fewer and fewer “in-person” presentations, I found myself slipping back into bad (or unproductive) habits. Always have to remember that the customer has ONE thing in mind – WIIFM (What’s In It For Me).
Christine
26. Apr, 2011
@Travis – so glad those tactics of the “old days” are behind us! Building quality content and links has always been the way to go — and the search engine algorithms are getting better at identifying the characteristics of quality all the time.
@Erie – I don’t consider myself a video marketing expert by any means, but I can offer some insight on your question that I hope will help a bit. The use of the power of video in this particular post is in gaining media visibility. If someone is considering interviewing you for a podcast, radio show, or television, it helps if they can “see” how well spoken you are. As far as video in general, it has been suggested that, since video can help keep people on a page longer, that this is good for SEO, since search engines can tell how long a visitor says engaged on your page. A video that generates a lot of interest can also be great for backlink building — which is great for SEO. However, that video would need to be hosted on YOUR site vs. somewhere like YouTube — otherwise, all of the links would go to YouTube. I’m currently reading “UnMarketing” by Scott Stratten who strongly suggests that you place the video on your own site and point people to it (vs. YouTube) when doing any type of video marketing campaign. Hope this helps!
prestashop templates
17. May, 2011
agree that video is very usefull,
these days people are bored to read texts
SEO Nottingham
02. Aug, 2011
Hey guys, great post as normal – I really like the video approach, this is becoming a imperative part of any online campaign from SEO to SERM. Also the about page mention is a great idea and adds an extra dimension which most web visitors wouldn’t expect – again great post!