Summer Doldrums? Time to Grow Through Media Exposure

Once you've landed that elusive interview on CNBC or another financial network, don't keep it a secret—let your clients know well in advance with an email announcing the details of time, day and channel of your appearance. This is a great way to show your knowledge to your clients, as well as demonstrating that a third party—the media—respects and values your opinions on financial topics and considers you an expert worthy of air time. Ask your clients to forward the announcement to friends and family.

Another great way to leverage a television appearance is to write a news release announcing your upcoming appearance with details and some topics you will be discussing. Email it, along with a high resolution photo, to your local newspapers and community weeklies. It becomes easier to approach local television stations once you've appeared on a national program, though I suggest getting some experience first to get comfortable before jumping into the national scene.

If you've already been quoted or have written a letter or column for a publication read by your target audience and you are wondering what to do with the articles now, merchandise them as much as possible. Get reprints to post to your website and send to your prospect list or to existing clients as referral tools that they can give to their friends, family or business associates. It's a great way to be in touch without directly asking for anything. Additionally, it becomes an educational tool that you can use and a reason to follow up with your prospect list.

Another great use for articles that include you is to get a foot in the door with television guest bookers and producers. Particularly if you have not been a guest on television shows, you'll need to be able to provide some press articles to demonstrate your expert status and show that you understand what the media wants.

Tips for working with media
The first rule is to read the publications you are interested in being covered by. It's important to know what stories they have covered and are not likely to revisit for a while. Also, getting to know a writer's likes and dislikes will give you a leg up. Perhaps a writer does not like gold as an investment; better to stay away from that topic. Typically, writers have a "beat" that they cover, which is a certain segment of the industry. You can often find the beats for writers on publication websites under the contact link, which may also have a "beat sheet." It's important to contact the right reporters when pitching a story and yourself as a source. If you are looking to talk about an investing story, you want to contact the reporter who covers investing, not someone who covers the industry at large, for example. Also, this beat sheet will break out the editors for sections. Usually, the managing editor is responsible for choosing articles that they accept from expert writers. The managing editor should be the person you contact about writing an article for the publication.

Try to form relationships with reporters. This is harder these days than it sounds. Many writers are stretched thin. Some may have to cover more topics and beats, and are also responsible for writing website and blog content in addition to stories for the hard copy of the publications. They have little down time compared to years ago, when they could afford to take a two-hour lunch and get to know you. It's worth trying to form a relationship, though, by just calling and saying you enjoyed their last piece and offering to stop by their office for 15 minutes to talk about a topic that is newsworthy. The most value you can offer reporters is to aid them in their work, whether it's by providing data or pointing them in the right direction.

Learn the deadlines for publication dates of magazines and newspapers. For example, most monthly magazines are trying to "close" the issue in the last two weeks of a month, so it's better to contact the editors in the first two weeks of the month. Keep in mind that they will be closing on an issue that is a couple of months out. For example, if it is the middle of July, they are closing on the August or September issues by then; they already have the content and are just wrapping up the magazine editorially.

While others in the financial industry are off on vacation, sunning themselves on the beach, take advantage of more media opportunities available to find the publications and television shows that reach your target clients. Use these public relations ideas to garner some media exposure for you and your business in order to attract assets to your firm.