Monday, February 2, 2009

Sell More Fitness Articles/Get More Publicity

Simple Ideas for Building on the Media Promotion You're Already Getting


Suggest Another Story: When a journalist interviews you for a story, you have his or her full attention. Take advantage of this golden opportunity to receive more media exposure.


After you’ve addressed all the journalist’s questions, pitch an idea for another article that you could contribute to as an expert source. This works whether you’re doing a phone or email interview. Just be sure to make your pitch short and to the point.

Sell Your Articles More Than Once: Make your health and fitness articles work for you many times over. Sell them as reprints for extra revenue (often with a time investment of 10 minutes or less).

Use your previously published articles as lead-generating content for your client newsletters or website. Tweak the wording for new audiences. For example, an article on the benefits of boot camps can be easily adjusted for a skiing magazine, running magazine, parenting magazine, business magazine and more.

Keep the Love Alive: Stay in touch with the media people who contact you. This sounds so simple, but the vast majority of fitness pros don’t do it. The hardest part of scoring the kind of media exposure that brings you the recognition and credibility you want is breaking in.

This applies to both writing articles and getting publicity. Once you’ve made contact with members of the media, you’re on the “inside,” so to speak. This is your chance to turn one valuable media hit into ongoing exposure and marketing power for your fitness business.

I’m not suggesting that you add journalists to your newsletter list without their permission (this is a good way to get your email blocked from reaching them). I’m talking about pitching ideas, sending informative press releases, occasionally asking if they need help with a story, and so on.

More simple ways to recycle your media promotion.