or Ten Ways to Effortlessly Become More Media Aware.
1. Let's start by making a list of all that you usually read (and you can do this as a team if there are more than one of you). Include things that you read for fun as well as business, things that you regularly read whilst sitting outside your client's/MD's office, and websites that you usually visit.
2. Now go through that list and cross out anything that you wouldn't want your business to be seen in, wouldn't do your business any good to be seen in anyway (but do include places where you already have a media presence as this needs to be maintained).
3. Now, looking at your remaining titles and suss out any gaps. If you've only covered one trade magazine, what about the other five that barrage you with requests for subscriptions? If you religiously read the Guardian can you accept that you really should start to become more aware of the opposition? So, here's list two – make a note of all the publications you need to get to know.
4. Now comes the difficult part, fitting them into your daily routine. Understand that you are going to have to move away from your comfort zone. I love to curl up with the Sunday magazines and wallow in materialist lusts (Gotta have those shoes/Nigella's new book/a kitchen like Jamie Oliver (yeah, as if!) but I make myself read the newspaper first, even if the thought makes me yawn. One way that you can do this might be reading through a publication each week on the train before you allow yourself to relax and settle into your novel.
5. If you work in a team you can assign particular publications to particular people and each of you are responsible for reading your own publication and the giving a brief run down of what you think is important along with possible press opportunities in a weekly press meeting.
6. Does your trade magazine have a website? If time is really strained then this is a fall back. Send yourself regular reminders via Outlook or whatever to go and take a look and catch up on the latest news.
7. Make catching up on your reading a little bit of me time - disappear for fifteen minutes with a publication and a cappuccino and make it into a daily ritual that gives you a bit of time to breathe. If anyone queries it, you are working after all!
8. Once you really get into it, you'd be surprised at what possibilities are out there. You'll spot your major competitor being interviewed in a golfing magazine and sneakily dropping his business name in there. You'll see interview on mothers who run businesses in a women's magazine and notice someone from your local networking group on the page. Think outside the box. I was once interviewed for a mobile phone magazine (years ago, when they were pretty clunky!) about how vital it was to carry my mobile with me in case a journalist wanted to contact me urgently. And it was a double page spread with a picture of me and my (clunky) mobile phone and Tower Bridge in the background. Did my business wonders (even though I had changed phone companies by the time it came out!)
9. You can't afford to be smug once you feel everything is under control. New titles open all the time. Make regular trips to the newsagents (big station branches are great for this) and check for new titles. Read what's sitting around in the waiting room of your dentist or your clients and don't be afraid to ask if you can photocopy something if it looks vitally important!
10. Finally, and this is something I urge you to continue doing, always ask your clients what they read - for pleasure as well as work. And, if Dog Lovers International keeps cropping up, you know what you've got to do!!
Paula Gardner is a PR and marketing coach. To learn more please visit http://www.doyourownpr.com/prcoaching.asp, or sign up for the Do Your Own PR newsletter at: http://www.doyourownpr.com/subscribe.asp
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