Free Internet Marketing Lessons

by George McKenzie

Remember the Barbra Streisand song from the 70's... Evergreen?

One of the lines from that song is...'Fresh as the morning air...'

Well, 'evergreen' means something completely different to news people.

Evergreen stories are NOT fresh. In fact, they're story ideas that sit in a file, sometimes for weeks or even months. They only get pulled out on slow news days when very little else is happening.

'Oh, my evergreen file,' says former TV assignment editor Frank Guerra. 'It was often my best friend.'

'Evergreen' stories are stand-alone stories that can run almost anytime. They generally don't have a news 'hook--'in other words, there's no natural or timely connection to something else that's going on. But on quiet days, reporters, producers, and editors reach for their evergreen files to help fill time and space with interesting-but-not-urgent material.

Evergreen stories offer tremendous potential for free publicity to anyone looking to promote themselves, their company, or their web site.

According to Guerra, founding partner at Guerra, DeBerry And Coody Advertising and Media Relations in San Antonio, here are some rules that will increase your chances of success with evergreens.

*They should be interesting to a large number of people. Usually medical, financial, or consumer-oriented items fall into this category. New technology rates high--anything that saves people time and aggravation, or describes a trend showing what the future will be like. Pure human interest stories also make good evergreens.

*Be prepared to offer someone who's a living example of whatever you're talking about. They don't have to give a glowing testimonial, but they should be prepared to tell how they've benefited from your product, service or web site.

*Make sure you can offer visuals, graphics, photo-ops, etc, depending on whether you're dealing with electronic or print media.

Frank also offers a few words of caution to anyone who wants to offer evergreens to the media.

*Make sure you (or someone familiar with your business) will be available when called upon. All it takes is one 'non-response' and you may have to work very hard to get a second chance.

*Make sure you or your representative knows what the particular medium needs. TV needs quick, punchy sound bites...radio needs someone good at language skills who can draw pictures in the listener's mind...newspapers need someone with a depth of knowledge that stretches well beyond the superficial.

TV stations are especially big on hype, pounding you with mantras like 'Live!!! Local!!! Late breaking!!!' But the truth is, there are plenty of days when their newscasts offer little or none of those things.

And that gives you great opportunity to get free publicity with a couple of helpful, well-conceived evergreen stories.

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George McKenzie has almost thirty years experience in radio and TV. His work has appeared on ABC, NBC, CBS, ESPN and CNN, and he currently hosts several radio talk shows in San Antonio, Texas.

George is the founder and CEO of The Academy Of Free Advertising, Marketing And Publicity, http://www.get-free-publicity.com. He invites you to subscribe to the Academy's free ezine, Get Free Publicity, at http://www.get-free-publicity.com/subscribe.htm.