HOW TO MAKE MORE SALES WITH FREE PUBLICITY
by Simone Sauter
One question that clients often ask me is, “How can I make more sales with free publicity?“
After all, this is what we all want. We all want to get new clients and make more sales. That’s why we market our businesses. So, today I want to answer that question.
Can free publicity really generate new sales? If media publicity is free, surely it’s too good to be true? Won’t social media do the exact same thing? These are the kinds of questions that might send you searching for answers online.
How exactly do you make more sales with free publicity?
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REASON #1 – FREE PUBLICITY BUILDS YOUR EXPERT STATUS SUPER-FAST!
Firstly, publicity helps you to build your expert status very quickly, which helps you to make more sales.
If you wanted to, you could also build your expert status in other ways – i.e. through growing a huge following, whether through blogs, podcasts or a YouTube channel, etc.
But the fastest way to become the go-to expert of your niche is media coverage. It’s as simple as that.
So, what does that mean for your business?
Well, for one thing, as soon as you’re perceived as the expert, you can ask for premium prices. Now, in theory, you could do that right from the start – but it will be much easier for you to sell those premium services when you have the power of publicity behind you.
Think about it. If you were looking for a coach, you’d do your research. Say you find three coaches with similar experience, similar offers, similar amazing testimonials, but only one of them has media coverage, and they offer their services at a higher price. Which one would you choose?
You might initially guess that consumers would go with the cheapest option, but the truth is, regardless of price, you’re most likely to go for the coach with media coverage.
Why?
Because audiences know that guest spots in the media are very rare, and not everyone’s going to be featured. So, if you get that rare feature, the audience will recognise you as an expert. Then you can go on to raise those prices!
It might initially sound like jargon, but touchpoints’ are a really important concept in business. They refer to the small interactions between a consumer and a business that impact the consumer’s overall perception of the company. A first touchpoint might involve the customer seeing a coach featured on a popular TV show, and a final touchpoint might be a purchase. The success of touchpoints ultimately determines whether people decide to become clients!
You’ll find there are a series of touchpoints that people go through from becoming aware of your coaching business to becoming a fully-fledged client.
This can be 10, 15, even 20 steps from initially seeing you to actually becoming a client. In order for them to want to hire you, each of these touchpoints need to be a big success, so you can build trust.
The beauty of PR is that it can cut out many of these steps, speeding up the process considerably. This is because you don’t have to wait for people to sign up for your mailing list, watch through a webinar, or read another blog post. With media publicity, people are instantly aware of you, and already perceive you as an expert they can trust.
This has happened to me many times. People have seen me in the media, as a relationship coach especially, and they reach out to me, knowing already that they want to work with me. They’ve listened to me talking in interviews, sharing my stories, my struggles, and my solutions, too.
Why waste so much time on lengthy social media posts or articles? PR makes you instantly visible and creates ready-made clients who want to work with you.
REASON #2 – FREE PUBLICITY BUILDS AWARENESS WITHIN THE RIGHT AUDIENCE
The second way you make more sales with free publicity is that you create awareness with the right audience.
What do I mean by that?
When you write a blog article or a social media post, you’re making audiences aware of your business. But are they the right audiences? Your visibility might be raised – but are the people seeing you interested in your coaching business? Are they the right type of client for you? Can they afford to pay your rates?
With PR, you can tailor your publicity to focus on audiences who are more likely to be your ideal clients. If you’re a good fit with the magazine, blog or podcast that features you, chances are you’ll also be a good fit with their audience. A magazine aimed at professional women might be perfect for your career coaching business. Or a keep-fit podcast would work well with a fitness coach.
By choosing the right media outlet, you have already prequalified the audience that you’re talking to. You’re not throwing spaghetti to the wall. You’re targeting the exact people who have a need for what your coaching business offers, and that will increase your chances of making sales.
And with media publicity, millions of people are becoming instantly aware of your business, so you will have people reaching out to you. With free publicity, you create the right kind of awareness and the right kind of reputation.
As a PR and Publicity Strategist, and Coach, I have vast experience in coaching the coaches to build rockstar PR campaigns. I’ve also been featured in many leading magazines myself, from Cosmopolitan to InStyle to Closer. If you’re interested in developing your own PR campaign, how about scheduling a discovery call with me?
REASON #3 – FREE PUBLICITY LEADS TO AMAZING, UNEXPECTED OPPORTUNITIES!
Reason #3 is where things start to get really interesting. Free publicity leads to bigger and more unexpected opportunities for your coaching business.
As a relationship coach, I have been offered so many amazing speaking gigs and partnerships. But one thing I never expected was that a publishing house would approach me!
They’d been following me for some time, and had read an interview I’d done with a magazine. They wanted to know if I was open to writing a book with them.
I was amazed. I wanted to write a book anyway, so it was ideal for me. So, this was how my journey started. I negotiated with the publisher, signed a contract, and wrote my book – as easy as that!
What was even more amazing was that the book became a bestseller. Not only was I a published writer, but a bestselling author – an important criteria for becoming a go-to expert.
When people know you’re a bestselling, published author that says something about your capabilities within your niche – it makes you credible and trustworthy.
So, this is essentially how you make more sales with free publicity. PR creates a ripple effect. You get your media publicity, you build your expert status, then you get more clients through the awareness you’ve created. Thanks to the media outlet, you’ve targeted the right people, and so, you can raise your prices.
The best thing of all is that in many cases, your ideal clients will be the ones to reach out to you! And from all of that, you will get more opportunities.
In my experience, after the first three to five media pieces, people will start to reach out to you. Bloggers will want guest posts, podcasters and journalists will want interviews.
They need your expertise for their content. Not only for speaking gigs and book deals, but also other opportunities.
Opportunities create awareness, and awareness creates opportunities. And all this helps you build your expert status.
So, this is basically how it works. Obviously, I’m biased, but I love the chain reactions that PR can create for a coaching business.
If you found this article helpful, and you’re interested in becoming your own publicist and getting featured in the media – why not book a discovery call with the coach to the coaches?
Interested in other PR tips? Download my free “3 Million Euro Case Study”, where I share with you my Publicity Rockstar method!
