Five Key Steps To Gain Expert Status – Part Four

This is part four of a five part series on how you can gain expert status and be seen as the go-to person in your target market. To get the rest of the series, check out previous posts or subscribe to receive the next part in the series, subscribe in the box to your right.

Key Step #4: Get Publicity.

You can be the best therapist, healer, coach or other type of private practitioner but if no one knows about, it does no good.

You got into this business to help people. So let them know you are there. After all my definition of marketing is letting those in your community know you are here to help reduce certain types of pain. Then people with that type of pain can find you and get relief.

Okay, in this key step, we will focus on how to get publicity. This means letting the media know who you are and how you help people. Here are three tips to get you started.

1. Begin to build a relationship with your local media.
    Read the paper and find articles about which you have some expertise. Then call the reporter and/or editor and congratulate them on the article. Find the best things about what they wrote and share why you thought it was right on the mark. Share your credentials and offer your services if she or he ever needs background or a quote for a similar story. Now, this takes time. Remember, in all marketing, one date does not a relationship make. So, continue to build the relationships with reporters and editors over time. When you are ready to pitch an article where you’d like to either write it or be quoted – tie it to an issue and pitch the issue instead of your story. For example, teachers are being laid off in California as I write this. Maybe you have something to say about children’s’ grief. So pitch the issue about the impact of losing a teacher for a child. Again, this often works best after you have cultivated the relationship.
2. Submit articles to article directories. 
   Write short articles (300-700 words) that would be of interest to your niche market. Then upload them to online article directories. (For example:EzineArticles.com) Publishers of online newsletters and blogs seeking content will reprint your article with a link back to you and your site. This can lead traffic back to your website.Some article submission services charge a fee but www.EzineArticles.com has no fee. Another plus is that the article directories have great search engine rankings, your article may come up high depending on the search terms entered. Write and submit several articles and you might find you get some nice publicity.
3. The best for last. 
   www.PRLeads.com is by far one of the best ways to get your expert status. PRLeads is a subscription service where you pay a monthly fee (not inexpensive…it is about $99 a month) in exchange for PR Leads sending you requests from reporters for quotes from you on your chosen topic. I was interviewed by MSN last year when I responded to a lead from PRLeads. As a PRLeads subscriber you will get many leads a day from reporters. In fact so many that you have to choose which ones to answer. But follow the directions that PRLeads sends new subscribers, answer about 2-3 a day and soon you will be a recognized expert in your area of specialization!

Hope you enjoyed these ideas. Stay tuned next time for our last in this series: Key Step #5 in Five Key Steps To Gain Expert Status: Promotion.

Love and blessings,
Casey

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