Free Publicity : Better Than Free Advertising

Here is a question: Would you rather:
a. spend $200 on an ad that no one has any interest in reading OR
b. spend $0 on an ad that EVERYONE wants to read?

The answer is very obvious. But, believe it or not, many people still just cannot see the sense in using option B. I will explain. Everyone is selling something - might be a product, a service or perhaps just your knowledge or advice. Regardless of what you are selling you only have so many tools with which to work. I have said this before and I will say it again:

Free Publicity = Free Advertising

This is assuming of course that the publicity is positive. You can easily create any amount of publicity for no out of pocket cost. You must of course pay for advertising. This is why learning to think like a publicist, rather than trying to advertise your product or service, will pay off in ways and amounts you simply cannot perhaps imagine. You must understand something and understand it fully - People are TIRED of advertising messages. People, as a rule, find them intrusive. I read a study the other day that illustrated that more and more people spend time on the Internet now, rather than watching television, because they can get what they WANT, rather than what is being literally forced upon them.

People have begun to rebel against these messages. They skip over them or fast forward through them or hurl them in the trash or simply ignore them. The old days (and the old ways) simply do not work anymore. At the very least, they do not work as well as they once did. However, people still love a great story. They love to read about others. And they are heads over heels in love with free information. This is bad news for advertising professionals, but great news for publicists.

Free Publicity = Free Advertising

However, free publicity, COMBINED with creative advertising, will blast you, your company and your product into the stratosphere of marketing success. If you are advertising exclusively, you are concentrating only upon the smaller side of the equation. I am now going to say two words:

Britney Spears

You saw a picture in your head when I said those words, did you not?

Britney would have to pay 100 million dollars a DAY to buy the same publicity she gets every day for free. Granted it is negative publicity. But I would venture to say that 90% of people on the planet recognize her name. This is why famous people hire publicists. To get famous. (Of course I would not want to be Britney's publicist). Now I will say two more words:

Ella Stipowicz

See. No picture. You have no idea what Ella might look like. Or even if Ella really exists. Ella has no publicist.

Before becoming a publicity consultant, way back when I was very young and fresh out of high school, I joined a rock and roll band. We drew huge crowds, but were not really that good. We drew the crowds because of the band's name. When we played a gig, the club owner was forced to publicize our name on the sign outside the club. The sign looked like this

Saturday Night - Free Beer

This was a publicity stunt and this worked great until the club owners tired of explaining to their huge crowds of new customers that there was no free beer. Eventually we were literally forced to change the name of the band and so we did. Now the signs said:

Saturday Night - Naked Girls. Again, huge crowds. Still not very good musically. We finally did become a very popular band by advertising the name we at last settled upon. Now the signs read:

Saturday Night - Everybody's Favorite Band

Free Publicity = Free Advertising

I will go one better - Free publicity is often better than free advertising.

Anyone can buy an ad. People know this. However, very few people get publicity.

If a company or an individual gets some publicity, it is ASSUMED that they are WORTHY of that publicity. It is an indirect endorsement - an objective determination that, whatever this person is doing, it is worth some attention! The people at the newspaper think so. The people at the tv or radio station or magazine believe so. We do not find this to be INTRUSIVE, as it is being presented as NEWS.

As a group we seldom sit down to read a coupon magazine full of ads. But we will look forward to reading the newspaper or a magazine. For what is there is perceived to be interesting news. And such it is. It is possible for anyone, anywhere to create a marketing campaign that rivals any corporation in America for little or no money by learning how to create free publicity. Anyone can do this. You can do this. It is far easier than you might think. I teach these easy to learn concepts to 'newbie' business owners and those who have been in business for decades alike.

I have worked with some of the top corporations in America in their marketing divisions. I have worked with some of the highest level marketing consultants in the US. Without exception every single one of these experts had as their central focus the creation of positive publicity for their respective clients, COMBINED with a powerful advertising message.

I have spent decades picking the brains of these people. Not only do I listen to these ideas - I actually test them personally. If a technique works for me or for my clients, I incorporate it into my stable of strategies. If it does not work for me or my clients, it is simply tossed. This requires some careful study, some time invested and a good deal of creativity. However, the payoff in relation is immense.

That being said, here is Lesson One, from Book One, Chapter One, first line of the first paragraph in the book entitiled 'Publicity 101'. 'Advertising pulls money out of your wallet and does not work well anymore. Generating publicity simply pulls ideas out of your head and works extremely well'. Now - where do you think YOUR efforts should be concentrated?

Free Publicity Focus Group
Learn How To Create A Massive Publicity Campaign for Little Or No Money