Claiming YOUR More than 15 Minutes of Fame!
Author: Sue Hecht

You are a small business owner, alternative health care professional/doctor, and/or selling health-care related products. GETTING AND KEEPING THE WORD OUT that you exist IS and should be your Number One Top Priority. As part of your total marketing plan, you probably advertise in various places, send out sales letters enticing new clients/customers with coupons or half off specials to come into your store or try your services and of course you attend business meetings, trade fairs and conferences in order to network, meet new potential clients as well as to receive and pass out business cards. What else can you do to be competitive and share your alternative to the mainstream message to capture new business?

You might write monthly or weekly press releases that will get you coverage in newspapers and other publications, interviews on radio and television and a raft of new name recognition that can literally bring customers to your door. The power and prestige of Being In Print and/or on TV/Radio cannot be underestimated.

Now you might say, I know this is a good idea but I'm not a very good writer and I don't have the resources to pay a public relations or advertising firm a monthly retainer of several thousands dollars to do the work for me. You might find someone like Publicity Plus who specializes in your area, knows how to get publicity for your specific needs and who will work with your budget individually. We recently got one doctor and a vitamin company hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of placements (if they would have paid for all the advertising).

Still, I am going to let you in on a few secrets on how to create sizzling press releases that will do the job for you. However, it will take some time to create. Time you may not have in your busy schedule. It is often difficult to juggle all of the hats you have to wear.

Many of you though have Not Yet Claimed YOUR 16 Minutes of Fame and the rights inherent to tell the American public what you know. Some people become understandably overcautious because of the obvious untenable situation they place themselves within by not conforming, and because you HEAL AND CURE people and have found solutions to what the medical establishment calls terminal illnesses. Or you try to hammer the information over people's heads. Neither shrinking in the shadows nor overcompensating works. This is the bad news.

But the good news is that YOU ARE NOT ALONE. Even JAMA (The Journal of American Medicine) had to admit that more than four out of ten Americans availed themselves of the services of alternative medical practitioners in 1997 and that there has been a 47% increase in usage since 1990. Visits to alternative medical practitioners went from 427 million in 1990 to 629 million in 1997, surpassing visits to primary care doctors. JAMA concluded that alternative medicine usage has increased substantially between 1990 and 1997.

First of all, what exactly is a press release? Newspapers and magazines are in the word business. A recent Wall Street Journal report noted that 90% of its coverage originates with companies making their own announcements.* Publications have an amount of space to fill every day, week or every month depending on their publishing schedule. You probably don't know this but editors are often desperate for news to fill their pages. Local news, news that would be of interest to their readers, holiday-oriented news, unique and interesting stories and news that puts a known and talked about topic in a new light. When you send them a press release and DO THE WORK FOR THEM, you are actually doing the busy editor a favor. Because you are doing their work for them, IF your press release is written correctly and is appropriate to their market of readers. Now the editor can usually just take your piece of paper and send it off to typesetting. Another page filled. On to the next.

What gets your press release to stand out from the rest of the junk mail an editor receives and get published? Professionalism, Panache, Persistence, and Polish.

Professionalism: Know the correct format for press releases. Use 8-1/2 x 11 inch paper, double spaced with 1 inch margins. For best results, keep the press release to one page, two if absolutely necessary. On the left hand side at the top, type FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (or if there's a date you want it printed, put this). On the same line, on the right, give a contact name and phone number. Always date the release. Give correct information (grammar, spelling and other errors need to be eliminated) in a simple yet punchy way. Create a powerful yet honest headline.

Then you must put your most critical information (Who, What, Where, When and How) into your first sentence or at least paragraph. Spice it up, use strong, powerful, action-oriented language. Not: On Thursday, February 25, 1997 at 7 pm, the retail store Glad Hands will hold their grand opening party and owner Frank Carson will be there. So what? What makes Glad Hands stand out from the competition?

Panache: What will Frank have to offer the first 50-100 customers? Entice, intrigue and enhance your assets so that people will not only want to read about your event but also will put it on their calendar to attend. If you are not announcing an event, you must either create an event or FOCUS your story on a unique idea or subject matter pertinent to your business that will interest readers. For example, Glad Hands Donates 500 Gloves to St. Mary's Homeless Shelter. Use statistics, polls, surveys, comments from experts, and examples to add credibility. Ask a question, then answer it.

At the end of your release, center ###, this indicates the end of the release.

Persistence: Who are you going to send your press release to? You must find out by calling the tv and radio station, newspaper, or magazine. Get their address, fax number or email address. Create a media list and revise it regularly as editors and producers change jobs often.

Polish: Be real, honest, reliable and trustworthy.... show up on time for the interview and give short succinct answers to questions with a little touch of humor. Tell stories or give examples of why and how your product/service works.

Creating press releases that get you published and free publicity are worth the time to do them right because of the name recogntion and credibility generated. Successful business people know that marketing is an ongoing activity and press releases are powerful tools to utilize. If you cannot take the time to do the job yourself, delegate it to someone else. Your bottom line will be glad you did.

Recommended Book to read: *Guerrilla PR by Michael Levine.

Some of the services Publicity Plus provides are coaching and counseling on How To Get Published, Receiving the Media Attention You Deserve, Presenting Your Alternative Message to the Media and related topics, writing articles and press releases, obtaining placements, writing and designing newsletters, brochures, websites, flyers and ads, support with the creation of video and audio tapes, ghostwriting books and writing book proposals, grantwriting, planning media events and designing seminars.

As John F. Kennedy once said, Ask Not What Your Country Can Do For You, Ask What YOU Can Do For Your Country -- CLAIM YOUR 16 Minutes of Fame! Make a commitment and do it for someone you love and care about, loved ones, family members, and/or the children who deserve a Healthy Future.








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Sue Hecht is a published professional writer/editor and PR Specialist who does public relations work, media and life coaching, designing, writing and leading seminars and classes, newsletters, articles and books. Her company, Publicity Plus, creates overall marketing campaigns for individuals and companies (partiicularly alternative health professionals). She has obtained publicity for her clients in major publications and television and radio shows locally, regionally and nationally. Originally from New York, she now resides in Carson City, Nevada. Contact suemagic5@yahoo.com for more info or call 775-881-2035.

Publicity Plus, specializes in working with authors, speakers, people working in metaphysics/spiritual ventures, alternative medicine, sustainable living and so on. Some of my clients are an architect, alternative medicine doctors, vitamin companies, nutritionists, A touch for health practitioners, chiropractors, a solar power company and so on.

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