Take a few minutes to read these two threads in Contractortalk.com
The first, “The Best Advertising is Free” describes how a contractor manages media relationships and has won a reputation as an expert in his field — and his phone rings enough from the publicity that he has escaped the “free estimates” trap.
The second, “YELLOWPAGES.COM, FRAUD!!! Seriously” reports on contractors’ complaints about problems with the old printed media and its newer online counterparts.
Do you notice the paradox in the good news/bad news represented in these threads?
In the first, the contractor has achieved results few manage to obtain because most contractors simply don’t “get” the art (and science) of media relations and perhaps aren’t willing to invest the time and energy in figuring out how to achieve success here. You can read my free booklet on this topic by emailing publicity@cnrgp.com or visiting this site’s Publicity Resources page.
In the second, contractors perhaps looking for an “easy” answer face the frustrating gauntlet of dealing with media sales reps and organizations pushing products and services which really don’t work well — and worse, pushing contracts without reasonable and practical escape clauses.
Of course, in some conditions, especially when you’ve achieved success in the past, The Yellow Pages can be effective and truly one of your easiest-to-manage advertising options. You plan your ad carefully (perhaps working with a consultant like Adams Hudson), place it, and have no further worries other than (a) tracking results — often through a special phone line — and (b) enjoying the fact you “own” the space for a year and your competitors have no easy way to enter the picture. However, when I read threads like this one in Contractortalk.com I probably would not make the YP either in print or online formats my first choice in planning a new advertising and marketing budget.
Media relations is another space altogether and requires a certain level of finesse and skill (and willingness to keep working at it, even if initial results aren’t encouraging.) The irony is that when we produce special advertising features (advertorials) for our clients, we encourage them to think beyond their features and how they can use it in their general media relations to obtain free publicity elsewhere. As well, I make myself available to consult and suggest options. (I cannot promise to directly connect you to your local media and guarantee your publicity for you.) The potential results seem vague, other pressing issues get in the way and the media initiatives dissipate into the ether.
There is a simple explanation for this paradox. In the former, you are the passive recipient of sales pitches from people out to make money for themselves. In the latter, you need to effectively “sell” yourself as an expert to busy journalists with a critical and justifiable lack of interest in supporting anyone seeking “free advertising.”
