Want to promote your business in the press
but not sure how to get started?
Christina Neal is the Editor of Women's Fitness and the former
Editor of Personal Trainer and Good Health magazines.
As an experienced journalist, she has
commissioned hundreds of health and fitness writers, many of them
personal trainers. Here, she explains how to develop your profile in the
media and what type of articles and ideas Editors want and need
Setting yourself high professional standards
and being skilled at what you do are both admirable traits, but if the
general public is not fully aware of the expertise you to have to offer then
your business will always struggle.
Having the ability to promote your services
as a CHEK Practitioner is a necessary skill if your business is to survive
and thrive, especially if you want to work smarter, rather than harder.
An effective and inexpensive method of
promoting your business is to develop your own profile in the media. Unlike
taking out expensive advertisements, this type of coverage is totally free
and can enable you to promote your business and services creatively, giving
the reader a clear understanding of what it is you do.
Quite simply, having a media profile means
harnessing the power of the press as a promotional tool for your business.
There's various ways of developing your profile. You can offer your
knowledge as an expert to journalists looking for quotes on a given subject.
The journalist will call you and explain what topic they are covering, how
they are approaching it and then they will ask you questions about the
subject to support their story. When this happens, they will include your
name, job title and website address in the article, so that readers can
visit your website.
Expertise required!
Journalists need expertise from skilled
health professionals, so you could provide quotes on healthy nutrition,
exercise, rehabilitation, anti-ageing and prevention of injuries, to name
just a few.
If you're a physiotherapist or osteopath, you
could offer your expertise on prevention of a wide range of ailments, such
as low back pain, sciatica and common sports injuries.
The other alternative is to put your skills
forward to editors to write articles on a range of health topics. Not only
will you get your name in print, but you'll also get paid for anything you
write – leading to a potentially lucrative second income!
If writing long articles sounds a bit
daunting, remember that magazines often have many different types of
articles. Question and answer pages on injuries or ailments are common in
health magazines, there are also workout pages in fitness titles and
readers' problems in most magazines. Nutritional articles are always in
demand and as a CHEK practitioner, your knowledge of nutrition will give you
a fresh perspective.
Local newspapers can give you a platform to
write about many health topics and you can offer readers a discount on their
first consultation with you.
So what makes a good article?
1. Fresh information - new research is always
welcome.
2. A strong angle - rather than suggesting an
article on osteoporosis, make it specific, such as 'beat osteoporosis with
resistance exercise'.
3. Beneficial advice for the reader - such as
'get a flat stomach in 30 days' or 'firm your chest with 6 easy moves' –
these will appeal to the editor as they can be used as headlines on the
front cover to attract new readers.
4. Controversial statements - controversy
attracts attention. So 'low-fat diets are bad for you' would be a great
cover headline!
To cultivate a relationship with journalists
and editors, follow these top tips:
1. Find a publication you respect and read it
first to see what sort of topics they write about so that you're not
suggesting topics recently covered.
2. Check the panel of staff for the
magazine's contact information – this is usually found in the front of the
magazine or sometimes at the back.
3. Email the editor with a brief outline of
your skills.
4. Never try to pitch your article ideas over
the phone. Editors prefer an introductory email to cold calling.
5. Send the editor a brief email outlining
your article ideas in just a paragraph or two. Don't send the completed
article.
6. Give the editor a week to read and digest
it. Follow it up with an email if you haven't heard anything, but don't
badger them by phone.
Want to know more?
Christina has developed a one-day workshop called Grow Your Profits With
A Media Profile for Chek UK that takes place at London's King's
College on Saturday 24th November 2007. This workshop covers the following:
• Finding your own
niche – Learn how to stand out from the endless sea of fitness experts and
personal trainers.
• Finding and approaching
journalists – Learn how to find those who will want to use your expertise to
help them research articles
• Developing your own
ideas for articles – What makes an article suitable for publication?
• Finding suitable Editors
– How to find editors who will want to listen to your ideas.
• Approaching Editors
– The 3 golden rules to making the right impression
• Necessary skills for becoming a good writer
– it’s not as difficult as you think! The 7 top qualities you’ll need for
success.
Investment
and details
June 6th
2008. Cost £120.
Venue.
The Grand Hotel, Eastbourne,
East Sussex
'I thought Christina was an excellent presenter in that she had formulated
the information in an easy to follow format that gave me confidence to
approach editors and journalists, and she obviously has a good knowledge of
how CHEK Practitioners work and what we do. She was also skilled at keeping
the group on track, but balanced the session by answering all the questions
that were raised.'
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