Saturday, May 31, 2008

The Power of Editorials

Newspaper readers give the same amount of credibility to letters to the editor as they give to news articles and opinion pieces! That's the finding of Robert Smith, the most inventive PR guy I know. And he should know. He wrote a letter to the editor of USA TODAY, which was published, and read by a prospect who became a client with a $3,000 fee! And it took just 2-3 phone calls and letters to cement the deal! Why was it so easy?

Because Robert had incredible credibility from the letter printed in USA TODAY! "The prospect kept referring to my 'article' in USA TODAY," says Robert. I interviewed Robert recently on how to write letters to the editor to get free publicity in your local newspapers (no, you don't have to be a national celebrity to get quoted), as well as authors who have gotten letters published in national publications like Forbes! A few of his tips:

Be controversial. Feel free to disagree with trends.
Be fast. Nothing is more boring than old news.
Read everything so you know what is topical.

Reprinted from
Dan Janal Your Fearless PR Leader PR LEADS Expert Resource Network 952-380-1554 dan@prleads.com http://www.prleads.com