Most small business owners want to score free press and promotion for their work. The goal is to have it lead to paying work opportunities and more sales. Over time, I’ve noticed many business owners score free PR. But, then they squander the opportunity by not capitalizing on it. If you’re looking to leverage PR to boost your business income, here are three ways to make money from free press.
Have Your Elevator Pitch Ready
Getting free press is a great way to share more about what you do in your business and how you help people. Don’t feel guilty about promoting your products or services. Simply share a 15-30 second pitch about yourself.
You’ll probably want to share the pitch toward the middle or end of your appearance. For example, if you’re on a podcast or television segment, don’t just come out the gate asking people to buy your products.
First, offer value upfront by sharing tips and advice that can help people. Then, invite people to check out your products or services. Also, share a few features that stand out. Even if this doesn’t result in instant purchases, you will still get some brand awareness. It’s the start of developing future customers or clients.
Promote a Book
The best way to make money from free press is to market a book. If you’re an entrepreneur with a personal or lifestyle brand, it would be wise to publish a book sooner or later. You don’t have start with a massive book deal. Just publish an ebook and promote it during free press opportunities.
Promoting your book will be easy with any type of press. Even if you’re featured in an article, you can ask that they attribute you as an author and include the title of your book and where to find it in the story.
If you don’t have a book, you can promote another sale or offer or even sign people up for a freebie that leads to information about a paid offer later on.
Invite People to Visit Your Website or Join Your Email List
Make sure your website is professional and updated at all times because you never know when a PR opportunity will pop up. After you get some exposure from free press, people who resonated with you will naturally want to check out your website to learn more.
Be ready for this interaction by having email forms set up to capture email addresses. We all know the importance of having a good email funnel that can help you sell products and services automatically. Once someone signs up for your list, they can be automatically placed in a funnel to receive a series of helpful marketing emails.
Even if you aren’t able to collect email addresses, don’t overlook the opportunity to get sales from people simply poke around your website. A few weeks ago, I was featured in a television segment and this got a lot of new people to visit my site. I wasn’t expecting it at all but someone ended up buying one of my courses. I didn’t promote my courses or any of my products during the segment, but, but I set my website up strategically so that if people want to buy something from me the opportunity is there.
Summary
Don’t miss out on your chance to make money from free press with these key strategies. Each PR opportunity is a chance to boost your business and become more profitable. If you’re still feeling skeptical about promoting yourself during these opportunities, be sure to ask in advance if it’s okay. People will likely say yes, especially if you’re not getting paid from the opportunity. They may even assist with the promotion.
