How to Get Free Publicity With Holiday Tie-Ins

 

There are lots of ways to get free publicity by doing holiday tie-ins. Try to think of a way to tie your publicity goals to one or more holidays. Exactly how do you create a tie-in? I'm glad you asked. Let's start with Halloween.

What does Halloween remind most people of? Witches and ghosts and scary things. So let's use scary as the theme.

Say you're a building contractor. You might create a press release titled, "The 10 Scariest Things About Hiring a Building Contractor."

You then list 10 ( or any number) of pitfalls to look out for when hiring a contractor. By writing this release, and getting it published in a local paper or having a reporter do a story on you, the implication is: you're the kind of contractor who helps people avoid problems, so you're the one people will want to hire.

Here's another example, based on owning a health spa or being a health practitioner of some kind. Almost everyone knows that being overweight is bad for your health. But exactly how is it bad for your health?

You might write a press release titled, "10 Really Scary Reasons to Lose Weight Now."

You could write an article or press release that lists them: high blood pressure, increased risk of stroke or heart attack, adult onset diabetes, and so on.

Let's try another holiday, such as Labor Day. If you're not in the U.S., Labor Day is part of a three-day weekend to celebrate workers. How can you tie-in to it? Perhaps you could use the word "labor" itself.

If you're an accountant, you might write a press release or an article for business publications titled "10 Labor-Saving ways to Make Your Record Keeping Easier."

If you own a cleaning service, you might write a press release titled "7 Labor-Saving Techniques to Keep Your House Cleaner."

Now you may wonder if revealing such secrets will reduce your business. Not likely. Let's use a cleaning services as an example.

Those people who can' afford a cleaning service will still do their own work anyway, and you've done them a kindness. If they know someone who can afford a cleaning service and wants one, they might recommend you. Plus, having positive media coverage is good business any way you look at it. It will introduce you to people who are looking for a cleaning service, and it builds credibility.

The same holds true for just about any type of business.

The reason is, people who have stories written about them or who are interviewed on TV and radio are perceived as being experts, and as being better than other experts - because they are in the media.

One thing to keep in mind is that most newspapers, TV shows and radio shows plan for holiday-related stories ahead of time. So get your press release to them at least two - four weeks before the holiday. Magazines have extremely long lead times, sometimes as long as a year, so plan accordingly.

There are many ways to get publicity during holiday periods. So think about ways to do holiday tie-ins, and celebrate. your ever-increasing publicity and fame.

 

By Danek S. Kaus

Image by Steven Bulhoes