
          COME UP WITH A NEWSWORTHY ANGLE

           Copyright 1994 Marcia Yudkin.  You may reproduce this
           entire electronic book and pass it on as shareware.  All
           other rights reserved.

               What's the easiest way, short of committing a major
           crime, to get yourself or your business featured in
           newspapers, in magazines or on the evening news?  Feed the
           press information that THEY regard as news, and they'll
           happily spread your message at no cost to you.  News is
           something that there's more reason to discuss today than last
           month or next week.  So the key is coming up with a timely
           angle for your message.

          FIVE WAYS TO BE TIMELY

          1.  What's new about your business?

              - Have you just opened?
              - Introduced a new product or new version of one?
              - Launched a new service?
              - Changed your hours?
              - Hired a new vice president?
              - Announced impressive sales figures for the quarter?

              Even if your answer to this question doesn't seem
           momentous, you can use it as a basis for a press release to
           local media or media that serve your profession.  But you'll
           really be cooking if you have something both new and
           distinctive -- #2.

          2.  What is different or distinctive about your business?

              Sometimes it takes imagination to articulate a mediaworthy
           answer to this question.  Writer Calvin Trillin dubbed
           himself "America's Highest Paid Poet," and the press ate it
           up.  He came up with that title after he discovered that
           poets often get paid per line.  At The Nation, however, he
           earns $100 per poem.  When he wrote a two-line poem, he
           figured he'd earned $50 per line, more than poets get from
           The New Yorker or anywhere else.  What can you say about your
           business that competitors can't?

              You may also want to create a sideline service or product
           that comes across as distinctive.  Then when the press
           publicizes that, your usual line of business gets a boost
           too.  In 1990 a friend and I started a writing seminar
           business and thought about how to get publicity.  We
           concocted a 900-number giving five-minute lessons on business
           writing and sent out a press release to announce it.  That
           got us onto page one of the Wall Street Journal -- above the
           fold.  Did that help us convince companies to hire us to
           present seminars?  It sure did.

          3.  Do you have an event you can create or publicize?

              Since an event happens at a specific time and place, it
           gives the media more reason to cover you than if you try to
           publicize an ongoing service or product.  A psychotherapist
           looking for clients arranged to give a free lecture at a
           nearby public library on eating disorders, her topic of
           specialization.  She sent a press release about the lecture
           to the papers for four neighboring towns, and two of the four
           printed photographs and long feature stories about her work. 
           If you own a computer store, you can offer computer classes
           for kids or a fix-your-own-computer clinic.

          4.  Can you piggyback on current news?

              When an earthquake rattles Columbus, Ohio, that's the
           perfect time if you sell insurance to release a set of tips
           on making sure you're covered for disasters.  If Congress is
           debating an international trade treaty, tell the press how
           the treaty would have impact on your export business.  News
           includes what's happening in the entertainment world.  The
           summer that "Jurassic Park" set box-office records, the media
           publicized any dinosaur-related business they could find.

          5.  Can you suggest a surprising twist on received opinion?

              Controversy gets you attention.  If most sales
           representatives would never visit a prospect without a
           briefcase bulging with brochures, claiming that that's
           precisely the wrong thing to do -- so long as you can argue
           for it effectively -- will pique the interest of the media.
           When 1993 turned into 1994, I got into the Boston Herald and
           onto Fox 25 News for putting out the word that many people
           would be better off NOT making New Year's Resolutions.

              For more strategies and examples, consult SIX STEPS TO
           FREE PUBLICITY by Marcia Yudkin (Plume Books), available at
           your local bookstore or from (617)266-1613.

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