This is a truly challenging time to be in business, no doubts about that.  If you are in the business of helping people, whether its through coaching, alternative therapy, or some other holistic approach, the chances are that bookings are down and costs are up. 

But whenever things look bad, there’s always another way to look at your situation.

What if you could get free publicity and attract new clients even in the current climate?  Think outside the box and you can.  It’s called the media!  I’m not talking about adverts.  I’m talking editorial.  Get yourself into the media and you have a free promotion.  Sounds good, yes?

As a former broadcast journalist, I spend a lot of my time helping people get noticed.  If you want to attract the media you have to have a good story.  You can’t fob them off with a thinly disguised advert.  That won’t cut the mustard.  

You need to present them with something that looks and sounds like editorial.  So if you are having trouble getting publicity right now, here are the 5 keys to success:  T.R.U.T.H.

Let’s unpick the acronym and you’ll see what I mean:

TOPICAL       -  You need an element of topicality.  Try to piggy back on other current news themes.

RELEVANT    –  You need to offer information or advice that is relevant to the audience you’re trying to reach

UNUSUAL     –  It sure helps if you have something out of the ordinary; first, worst, biggest etc

TROUBLE      – We journalists will inject this into the story, if it isn’t there already.  We’ll question and probe your argument.  As you may have noticed, journalists love a crisis!

HUMAN INTEREST -  What makes people laugh, love, worry or lose sleep over.  Sex and health are always two biggies.  All stories come down to WIIFM: what’s in it for me.

If you want free publicity from the media give it a go.  It’s not rocket-science.  If you can get 2 or 3 of the qualities above in your story, it’ll be a piece of cake to get some coverage.  The old adage – practise makes perfect – really applies here.  If you don’t succeed straight away, try again.  And again.  You will strike gold eventually and that can have a large and beneficail affect on your practise, coaching or business.