You know you need the media, especially if you run an online business. If you, or what you offer, is a news story, you'll be perceived as an expert and gain credibility and drive potential customers to your website.

Before getting into public relations and marketing, I was a television reporter. People would call me all the time, trying to pitch a story for me to cover. So how did I choose? Unless the news was a hot story, I went with the people I relied upon as a resource. And it turns out, I went back to them again and again, because I could trust them.

The key is to know how to play the game: you need to be in a position to help the media do their jobs - providing news. Here are some tips for you to do it:

1) The bottom line is this: YOU - and your product or service - don't deserve anything from the media. Being deserving isn't news. You've got to give news in order to get it.

2) Make sure you're targeting the right journalist at the right station or publication. You need to analyze your target media and write your release just the way they write the news.

3) Reporters are always working on some sort of deadline. That means they usually need information immediately.You need to be accessible.

4) Reporters have a keen BS detector. So stop insulting them with how great something is when it isn't. Always be honest - most reporters value this above all else.

5) Provide the information a reporter needs to do a good job. Find additional sources (people to be interviewed) and resources (books, articles, etc.) to help them get the complete picture of a story. Be helpful by providing useful information to help make a journalist's job easier.

Copyright 2005 Cherry Communications/Be Heard Solutions

Shannon Cherry

As a woman entrepreneur myself with many successful years in the business of marketing and public relations, I know how hard it is to find cost-effective, results-oriented communications that work. After a career as a newspaper and television reporter, I used my skills to become a high-demand marketer and publicist for more than 15 years.

Today, I use my talent and knowledge to turn people?s ideas into clear, concise, compelling stories ? the kind that stands above the rest and gets noticed.

I?ve worked with big clients, including Minolta Corporation, Alaska Airlines and the US Department of Justice, who have spent millions of dollars to get an expert?s ideas for their marketing and publicity.

But you and I know entrepreneurs & small businesses just don't have that kind of money.

So let me share a little secret with you: You don?t have to spend millions to develop effective marketing that works ? and it doesn?t need to be complex.

I created Be Heard Solutions & Cherry Communications to help business owners and entrepreneurs like you to find your voice, tell your story and be heard ? and without a million dollar price tag!

When you work with me, I?ll share easy strategies that will get you heard in the news and by potential clients and customers. Tactics that will help you generate free advertising, promotion and publicity for any product, service, website, book ? or even yourself! And I don't just teach these techniques, I use them all the time for my clients (including other professional marketing gurus!) and for myself ? so I know they?re the most effective strategies available.

You can join so many other business owners who are building successful companies by harnessing the same marketing techniques as the major corporations ? without the same price tag ? by tapping into Be Heard Solutions.

So are you ready to rise above the marketing din and be heard? No matter what your size, I know you will find a solution that?s best suited to your unique situation ? one that will help you have the successful business you?re dreaming about.