Advertising Agency Blog - Inspired 2 Design, LLC

The press can work for you or against you - just depends on the media outlet, your position and your relationship to the press.  It’s our goal to help you position yourself, and your company, around media sources that will be of benefit to growing your business and getting the word out.

Currently, we are actively drafting press releases for a client on a monthly basis. It’s been six months or so since we began the program which includes a monthly newsworthy event, activity, or milestone, that’s written about in a press release and issued to the local media. Since inception, this program has helped the client get FREE, yes, that’s right, FREE exposure to the local market. This exposure has come via TV news magazine interviews, community news magazine feature articles, a Publix magazine story, and more.

What’s most important about all this is that while the FREE exposure is a great product of the strategy, the regularity of the campaigns creates a familiarity with the media (or should I say them with you). Once the movers & shakers in the press (both print and electronic), know your name, you become the local expert in your field. Why’s that important? Whenever the media is doing a story, say… about computer repair… they’ll know who to call for input and quotes to add to the story.

There’s nothing quite like news coverage to validate a business, and a business professional. Consumers believe what they read in the paper, or see on TV. Why shouldn’t your company be the one they see most often?

Interested in getting a campaign started? Contact Inspired 2 Design for more info on public relations as a means to promote your business - especially at a time when saving money is very politically correct.

Happy Fall!

Hype, Buzz, Press, Boost, Plug, Talk - all powerful words for advertisers. The old adage says that talk is cheap, and we concur. In fact, the best talk is free! Getting it, however, is another story.

Take the democrats. For the past few nights they’ve been buzzing away in Denver. They’re hyping themselves up and they hope to be hyping the rest of the country too, all for their candidate (who’s already the nominee for all intents and purposes). It’s really a formality, a tradition, that means nothing but free campaign advertising. With over 50,000 in attendance each night and millions of Americans watching on TV - all major networks mind you, they capitalize on the news coverage by touching over 21 million households. Even more (26 million) tuned in to see Hillary Clinton appear (and the democrats claim party unity, funny.)

No matter which side of the aisle you’re on, this type of press is something money cannot buy. There’s much to be learned by business owners if they closely watch politicians at work campaigning. Next time you see, hear or read a story covering a candidate running for office, zero-in and scrutinize what’s really at the root. If you’re keen, you’ll see how there’s room for everyone in-the-know to work the system, and create the much-desired buzz.

Today we heard from Family Dog Central that they’ve been contacted by the Publix Supermarket lifestyle magazine for an interview as an EXPERT in dog care. The article being written is about what to do if your dog ever gets lost. What GREAT publicity! What GREAT FREE publicity. This is just the type of thing we tell our clients to go after, and FDC has done it! Here’s how:
1. WRITE articles. Even if you HATE to write, you have to begin putting your knowledge down on paper and submit your articles to local papers, news and lifestyle magazines, local community advertising magazines and so forth.
2. POST articles on your website, and on article sites online. Find the most reputable and the most popular ones, and include links back to your site in your bio.
3. ISSUE Press Releases! You’d be surprised what is newsworthy about your business. Issue Press Releases every month or at the very least, once per quarter. Find out who to address you release to at the local papers, trade magazines, etc and personalize them.
4. POST your PR on your website, and make the info easy for the media to access and download.

Free publicity is the very best you can have, ESPECIALLY when you’re cited as an expert in your field. This opportunity is fantastic for Family Dog Central, as it adds a level of credibility that no advertising in the world can get, no matter how much you spend.

Become an expert and flaunt it! Make sure when you’re cited as a source in an article that you post that article on your site, and ask - always ask - for a link from electronic news articles back to your website.

Contact Inspired 2 Design for more info on Press Releases, or even article writing. We can help you with either or both!