YOU are the most successful ingredient in your marketing campaign. If you don't believe in your product or service, it will fail. No matter how small any event or accomplishment your school achieves, get the word out about it. Here’s how.
The 8 Rules For Getting Publicity That You Should Follow:
1 - Word of mouth is the best publicity.
2 - Reporters like stories that have a sense of immediacy.
3 - Toot your own horn.
4 - Timing is everything.
5 - Don't be old news.
6 - Be prepared for the impact of your promotional efforts.
7 - Don't stop just because they don’t use one of the releases you sent in!
8 - Be nice and say thank you.
21 Ideas To Help You Identify The Best Story Ideas Within Your Dance School:
· What's different?
· What’s your local angle?
· Piggyback on a news event.
· Piggyback on trends.
· Piggyback on a holiday.
· Tell the media about trends.
· Offer free advice.
· Write how-to articles.
· Take a stand on issues.
· Publicize an upcoming event.
· The labor shortage.
· Focus on your lifestyle.
· Plug alliances and partnerships.
· Talk about your problems.
· Talk about your mistakes.
· Polls and surveys.
· Clever contest.
· The four seasons.
· Celebrate an anniversary or other milestone
· Create tip sheets.
· Change your focus and make news
The Top 3 Ways To Hypnotize The Media:
· Children
· Pets
· Women
4 Proven Ways To Grab Attention:
· Make them laugh
· Make them cry
· Thrill them
· Talk of your passion to teach
6 Secrets of Writing News Releases:
· The headline can make or break your chance to get media attention.
· Think of teaser phrases that the news uses: "Give your child the tools to improved social skills!" or "Can this improve your child’s life?"
· When writing a news release, give your facts:
✔ who
✔ what
✔ when
✔ where
✔ how
✔ why
Present them in order of importance. The first line in your feature news release should be a grabber. If you don't hook the editors there, they probably won't read the rest. Focus on the story and plug the product within the story, rather than focusing on the product.
· Insight secret: Request that people send for free info within the news release. Focus on getting people to go to your website.
· "Give to get': The press loves it when you give useful information and tips, and don't mind telling people where to get more tips.
· Use E-DR Publicity (Electronic Direct Response Publicity): Offer something free within your news release, and do your best to mention that the free item is at your website.
How To Get 30 Times More Replies From The Media:
Instead of sending out a news release, send out the same message as a "pitch letter." Take the news release, knock off the contact information at the top, and instead begin it with "Dear Editor." If you want to get on a radio or television show or in the paper, call them. Tell them you have a story idea. They will give you about 30 seconds to pitch your news.
