Articles

Have you ever heard someone say 'It must be true!I saw it in print!' In terms of PR, an article published in a national publication can push your exposure further than just advertisements within the same title.

Why? Because America loves magazines. This can be seen by simply looking at the facts. According to Oxford Communications, there were a whopping 22,106 magazines in some 308 categories in 2006. That means there were 308 specific topics of interest that Americansactually, people all over the worldloved to read about last year.

Are We Overdosing on Ads?

Marsha Friedman, Managing Director of Event Management Services Inc, a national PR firm says, "In almost all of the 22,106 magazines mentioned above, there are both advertising space and article space available." It's true, many readers do respond to these ads, mainly because they relate to the content of the magazine. Butand here's the big problem with advertisingsince we're absolutely bombarded with ads every single day, it's just hard to focus on them. Here's what Fordham University found:

Advertising is the most pervasive element of the public relations mix: the average family in America of four is exposed to 1,500 advertising messages every single day !'

Wow. Marsha Friedman adds, "Every day, each of us see anywhere from 300-400 ads a day, like it or not. And because, most of the time, we don't like it, our wonderful brains screen this promotional onslaught to, essentially, safeguard our sanity. As weird as it may sound, we are exposed to hundreds of ads every day that we don't even see!"

Now articles are another matter altogether.

Marsha Friedman says, "The people who actually regularly purchase those 22,106 publications want hot, informative content on their top topics. This is an example of when articles can really work and hit the market. And readers tend to accept the information presented in them without question!because it's as if the magazines are actually endorsing the articles' content."

"Let me give you a good example of their sheer profit power" , says Friedman. "In the very early days of my career, I worked as the director of sales and marketing for a money manager. My job was to generate leads and bring in new clients who had a minimum of $100K to invest."

"One day, a reporter from The Robb Report called to do a story on money managers. While talking with my boss, the reporter discovered that he lived in the 90210 Zip Code (this was during the height of that popular TV show) drove a brand new Mercedes and was married to a famous actress. The result was that there was a big old article in his magazine, with a picture of my boss featured on the cover!"

Friedman continues, "When the story ran, it was like a financial earthquake! I practically became an order takerthe phones literally rang off the hook with investors who wanted their money managed by the firm. The $20 million under management became $50 million in an incredibly short time!"

How many ads would it have taken to get him from $20 million to $50 million? Maybe the better question is, could ads have even done the job?If you would like to learn more about gaining national or local media attention for your company, product or service, without the financial burden of monthly retainers, Marsha Friedman is here to help . Feel free to contact her directly at mfriedman@emsincorporated.com or visit her firm online at http://www.emsincorporated.com. As a PR expert Marsha has the ability to get the media attention that you desire without budget busting monthly retainers.