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Gaining exposure using public relations for your business is a fantastic idea in order to drive sales. Although advertising constantly may not be the most cost effective way to achieve your goals.

When it comes to publicity though, most people who are new at the game believe all you need to do is knock out a press release and wait for the requests to pour in. Then, when the phone doesn't ring, they might make a follow-up phone call or two to the newsroom!only to learn that no one's even glanced at their release!

Marsha Friedman, Managing Director of Event Management Services Inc, a full service national PR firm says, "Taking a passive approach with the media will not get you many positive results."

So what's your first 'media marketing' step? Simple. You need to find the media 'niche' that best suits your message.

You first need to look at your message and ask yourself a few questions. Is it newsworthy? Does it have a local twist? Is there a financial income I'm targeting? "These answers will point you to the correct medium", adds Friedman.

First Up? Television.

Whether a morning, noon or evening newscast, they communicate to their audience through pictures. It's all visual. A producer is looking for something 'camera-worthy' that's also newsworthy, entertaining, informative, or a 'how-to.' "So if your topic doesn't lend itself to visuals, then I would think again about using television to communicate your message", says Marsha Friedman.

"My firm had a life insurance agency as a client and they really wanted television exposure for their Chief Executive Officer. What we did was to create a pitch about a segment featuring how women can protect themselves from the pitfalls of not understanding how life insurance works."

Marsha Friedman continues, "Sounds boring right? Wrong! What we did to make the segment really terrific is that we told our client to create large, colorful graphs in order to really create a compelling and visual story. It wound up being a very successful interview for the media as well as our client."

Each newscast, believe it or not, is written specifically for a targeted audience that's based on age, profession, and income. To give you an idea, early morning news shows are usually watched by working adults and families getting ready for school. 12:00pm shows are aimed for stay at home moms and retired individuals. Late night news is usually targeted for younger business people.

Matching Up with the World of Talk Radio.

Radio talk shows, in contrast to TV, communicate through words rather than pictures. Marsha Friedman says, "It's conversational, so you need to have a message that lends itself to a conversation. This medium also loves hot, newsworthy angels. Can you tie your topic to a news story that is hot in your area?

Like TV, radio talk shows vary from morning to night. Morning shows, as you might suspect, generally have shorter interviews during 'drive time.' As you would expect with the news, weather and traffic segments, there is not really time for an interview. Midday shows, now run the gamut of topics since so many people listen to the radio at work. So now more then ever you can expect to catch a business program during the typical workday. After work is the second 'drive time' of the day. "You will find longer interviews here as the audience of listeners are more relaxed and susceptible to longer interviews", adds Friedman.

And don't discount those overnight shows. Don't think that no one is listening. You'd be mistaken. Evening and overnight interviews reach a broad audience of listeners, including 2nd and 3rd shift workers, public service employees, truckers and many people who work overnight.

Getting Yourself in Print.

Magazines and newspapers resemble radio and TV in that they're looking for the newsworthy, the entertaining, the informative as well. But certain segments of print also like visuals.

Marsha Friedman says, "If you have a story about a gourmet food product, make sure to include a delectable dish photo." If you believe your story can really be supported with a photograph, graph or other related visual, then have one at the ready when pitching your story to newspapers and magazines. If you would like to learn more about gaining national media exposure for your company, product or service, without the financial burden of monthly retainers, Marsha 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 public relations expert Friedman has the ability to get the media attention that you desire without breaking your budget with costly monthly retainers .