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How to Turn Your Media Clips Into New Business
How to Turn Your Media Clips Into New Business
By Daryl Logullo
August 28, 2002 6:00 am ET
Landing an interview in the newspaper or on TV is an important accomplishment—but by itself, it's not going to boost your bottom line. Ensure that your 15 minutes of fame translate into a host of new clients by following these five steps.
Editor's note: This is the second in a two-part series on getting quoted in the media. Part one outlines strategies for catching the attention of the press.
It may come as a disappointment, but your phone isn't going to ring off the hook just because you were quoted in the paper today. The truth is, not many people are going to notice your name attached to those printed comments.
But attracting the attention of the press is the first step in a larger process that can heighten the impact of your presentation on potential clients—and ultimately increase your bottom line. Next, you need to capitalize on that notice, a strategy I call "merchandising publicity."
Exploring and taking advantage of opportunities for print or TV appearances, advisors should eventually create a portfolio of media "placements" or "clips." To get the most out of any media attention, your clips need to be displayed like trophies in seminars, mailers, banners, brochures, websites, and any other presentation tools.
Showcasing clips tastefully is akin to the "what others are saying about us" or reprints from magazines we're accustomed to seeing in sales promotion. Just remember that these clips must be presented professionally.
Try these ideas to put your own PR merchandising program into place:
Change your lobby reading material. Toss the Wall Street Journal, Businessweek, or any other financial publication you have sitting in your waiting room or lobby right now. Instead, put together a well-done professionally bound scrapbook of your media clips that you can showcase. If prospects are going to read anything while they're waiting for an appointment, make sure they're reading about you. One investment advisory firm I know was so successful at this they enlarged a WSJ article to poster size, highlighted the research director's name in yellow, dry-mounted the poster, and set it on top of a wooden easel in the lobby. Extreme? Nope. This makes a solidly positive impact to visitors.
Create a portable book. Ad agencies have long known the value of showing off their work in a hard binder called a "work portfolio." Do the same with your media clips. Create a portable book. Use it for other purposes like presentations to prospects. Loose-leaf is best, so it can be arranged to fit a particular prospect (e.g., by product, by date, etc.)
Avoid sending your clips to the media. The decision to send your clips to the media can be very dicey. Media outlets don't like to be perceived as covering a story done by someone else. But even so, you can selectively use the media to demonstrate your credibility and to show there is definitely something interesting about your story. Example: I had a client's TV series covered in Time a few years ago and parlayed that into a local interest story in the San Francisco market. Remember: Caution is really the key when using this tactic.
Use your clips in seminars. Always scan your clips and include them in your seminars. An article from Forbes in which you were quoted looks terrific as a slide in a PowerPoint presentation and builds credibility with skeptical prospects. We turned one advisor's media clips into 8-foot long vinyl banners, which he displayed at trade shows.
Send every clip to your target audiences immediately. The name of the game is building credibility. You must send your clips to these three audiences, in the following order:
Prospects
Referral sources (e.g.; CPAs, attorneys, etc.)
Clients
Do this no less than monthly. If you have clips and placements every week, then send them out weekly, or as you get them. You're never overcommunicating with your prospects so long as you are giving them something of value.
Conclusion
Endorsement from the media topples three of the biggest silent obstacles to winning new business: gaining trust, proving expertise, and establishing credibility. Other creative tactics for merchandising your press clippings include press releases, e-mail reminders, telephone conference calls, display ads, and website interview streaming—just to name a few.
Use these marketing methods after the interview concludes. As soon as you're done on camera or talking to a reporter, kick the after-action items into high gear. They'll give you a platform to elaborate points touched on in the media coverage. Remember: Never let your media appearances die.
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