| While most small business marketers think press | | | | form, bundling multiple features together by snail mail, |
| releases are the best way to pass along information | | | | hence the name mat features. Further, the older |
| to the media, they are unaware of more sophisticated | | | | services mostly handled corporate clients who already |
| ways to make their information more usable. Did you | | | | had brand recognition and could afford to pay for this |
| know that a newspaper feature could lead to a | | | | type of service. Now there is a firm that caters to the |
| placement on "Oprah" or "Rachel Ray," the syndicated | | | | small business company, using faster, less costly |
| TV shows that all marketers covet; or that the | | | | means of distribution to make this service accessible |
| producer looking for show ideas scans her local | | | | to those on limited budgets who want to place |
| newspaper as well as the big guns like The New York | | | | themselves on the map. By incorporating mentions of |
| Times or Wall Street Journal? | | | | a product or service into a captioned graphic and a |
| One idea that small businesses can afford is to hire a | | | | brief feature that newspapers find more informational |
| mat feature service to convert information into a | | | | than promotional, this firm gives clients two |
| newsworthy brief feature on a topic that the public is | | | | opportunities to put their product or service center |
| interested in reading about. Large corporations have | | | | stage -- and the features are preformatted so clients |
| been using this type of service for years and pay PR | | | | approve what they say. |
| firms big bucks to include these columns in their | | | | Newspaper features can be linked to your own web |
| corporate PR programs. Intended to reach consumers | | | | site, can be included in brochures, are picked up by |
| in the wealthy suburbs, these features are distributed | | | | web site article directories and can achieve endless |
| to the thousands of newspapers nationwide including | | | | publicity mileage when used correctly. For a small |
| smaller publications, and receive regular pickup. Best of | | | | investment, you get large public relations exposure...and |
| all, these columns are often printed exactly as written. | | | | potential TV placement. |
| These newspaper features used to go out in mat | | | | |