The Benefits of Publicity

Andrea Dean: Aloha! I am Andrea Dean with another Fainting Couch Production and today on my Fainting Couch I have Mary Traynor, owner of Akamai promotions and Mary has been working with me to develop a publicity campaign for my business. So we are going to talk today about publicity, and let's start with the basic question. What is the publicity? Mary Traynor: Okay, in a nutshell, publicity is utilizing the free media exposure to generate interest for your business. It's getting your message out through the media. Andrea Dean: Okay, that sounds great. I am a small business. I am just getting started. I do not have a lot of money to spend on advertising and free media exposure is what it's all about for me right now. So let's talk a little bit about the advantages of publicity and also the purpose of publicity. So publicity versus advertising. Mary Traynor: Well, as we mentioned, publicity gives you the widest amount of exposure for the least amount of money which is really nice and it also enhances your credibility in a way that advertising doesn't, because advertising is paid promotion and publicity is when it's covered by the media, it's deemed newsworthy by the public and people tend to believe it more. Andrea Dean: Okay, so for example you issue a press release then media picks it up. They decide to do a story on it, because what you have to offer is interesting and newsworthy. Mary Traynor: Right, exactly. Andrea Dean: Then people feel attracted to that much more so then they see something they know you paid for in a magazine or newspaper. Mary Traynor: Exactly. Andrea Dean: Okay, great. So speaking of press releases -- so we have been working developing content. We have been developing a press release, blog content for example. So tell me why it's important to develop your own content and why that's an integral part of a publicity campaign. Mary Traynor: Well, one, it makes you more authentic to the public and it allows you to tell your story in greater depth. I think that's important and the Internet marketing techniques definitely thrive on fresh original content. So it's great for Internet publicity campaigns. Andrea Dean: Because the search engines pick up keywords in your content and the more you put out fresh content, the more you are driving traffic to your sites. Mary Traynor: Exactly. Andrea Dean: Okay, great. One of the things I am trying to do is establish my brand. So what does publicity do or how does that help me in establishing my brand? Mary Traynor: Well, it helps you create your identity to the public and it also gives you name recognition with the public. It increases your visibility and it compels people to do business with you. Andrea Dean: Okay, great. Well, it sounds great. We have already been working on this in some depth developing a publicity campaign for my business and if you think this could be something useful for your business, I encourage you to contact Mary. Mary Traynor can be reached through her website at akamaipromotions.net and that's it for this version of Fainting Couch Productions. I am Andrea Dean and this is Mary Traynor and aloha. Mary Traynor: Aloha.