In a previous post, I pointed out that publicity isn’t a lottery. I
explained that when you know how to use publicity, you can get
your business in the media just about any time you want.

I can’t promise that every press release you issue will result in a
story. But the more press releases you write, the more successes
you’ll have and the more you’ll understand what the reporters
want to see.

And the more you understand what the reporters want to see the
more publicity you’ll pick up.

But even if publicity were a lottery, it would still be worth buying
a ticket.

Generating publicity costs your business in two ways. First, it
costs time. It takes about fifteen minutes to write a press release.
The interview is another ten to 60 minutes. Toss in another five
minutes to read the story when it comes out and you’re talking
about half an hour to an hour and a half every couple of weeks.

Publicity also costs cash. Every fax you send outside your local
area will cost you the grand total of about fifteen cents. (The local
papers and radio stations are free). If you fax a hundred press
releases and half of them are local, then you’ll end up paying $7.50.

That means that running a publicity campaign is likely to cost your
business a few minutes and $3.25 each week.

That’s the cost. What about the rewards?

A full page ad in your local paper probably costs several thousand
dollars. (If you want to know the exact amount, you can just call
them up and ask.) Heck, even a tiny little classified that no one
sees can cost more than a hundred.

So a story in your local newspaper can be worth at least five
thousand bucks in advertising money.

That means that if you sent out press releases every two weeks for
six months and picked up just one story in your local newspaper
(don’t worry, just follow the instructions in my Master Manual
and you can expect a lot more than that!), you would have spent a
grand total of $90 – and received $5,000 in return.

Now if that doesn’t look like a great business investment to you,
your business is in trouble!

The fact is, publicity pays – in spades. And it pays even if you get
just one simple little story.

The really good news though is that you often get more than one
story. I’ll explain why in my next post.

Best,

Charles