Test of Timeliness

Recently the business college for which I do marketing communications presented its third women's leadership forum/luncheon, where more than 250 attendees gained from the wisdom of a female Navy helicopter commander.  I had the news release about the event ready for distribution about a week in advance of the event, and we already had a commitment for a story from the Toledo daily newspaper. In meeting with the university's director of media relations, he said he would alert the local television stations about the event about  9 a.m. the morning of the event, as they would not be deciding what they would cover until about 10 a.m. that morning.  (Keep in mind that the event started at 11:30 a.m.)
His wisdom paid off, as two of the three local TV stations came out to cover the event, each getting a few minutes of one-on-one time with the captain.

Whether or not the women's leadership forum would have attracted the TV cameras anyway is a moot point: the lesson here is that the news media, and television in particular, cares about timeliness.

(Be sure to read the next blog article, Patriot Pricing, for a very timely offer.)

I have often advocated that making yourself available to the local news media is an excellent  - - and cost free - -  way to promote your investigative business by enhancing your reputation as an expert. In light of breaking news about national scandals, terrorist activities, cases of high visibility fraud or marital infidelity, etc., the local media will initially focus on feeds from the national networks. But the time will soon come, and the opportunity instantly exists, to provide a local angle to a national story.  True, you may not have any particular knowledge about how a particular politician was caught with his hand in the cookie jar (or elsewhere),  or the exact location of a security cameras which had  footage of a terrorist bomber; but could you speak about what steps are typically taken in uncovering fraud, or how security cameras work and can provide such awesome clear images of a crime….even a crime that may occur in a local business' facility? 

Could you speak about such issues for three minutes with a local reporter?

Opportunities for media visibility can arise at any time.  You should be willing to take timely advantage of them by sharing some expertise you already  have.   

Do the time & tune your mind...at a conference

One great way to learn a lot of information and focus on specific issues affecting your investigative business is to attend a conference. Many state associations provide fantastic conferences for their members,  and over the years I've even been lucky enough to have been invited to speak about marketing at several PI conferences, from Florida to Alaska.

But I would suggest to you that if you really want to focus on ways to boost your business in today's high-tech marketing world, you should consider attending an Internet marketing conference.  Oh, there may not be a single other private investigator at such a conference ( a good thing for the PI who does attend), and it's possible that some presentations may be a bit heavy on the geek-speak and be over your head.

Yet, the benefits are many: it forces you to focus specifically on your marketing efforts for a half-day or a day or two; it can give you a chance to catch up to the racetrack that is the Internet; and there are tremendous networking opportunities, as a variety of businessowners can attend these things.

There are conferences all over the country this year.  Here's a couple I found interesting: 

MOZCON, in Seattle this July. Among the topics to be presented are search engine optimization, social media, marketing analytics, content strategy, and a data-driven approach to marketing your brand to your target audience.

The Content Marketing World 2013 conference in September.  The simple truth is that content is king in promoting your business online, and I've written about the Content Marketing Institute in this blog before.  I've heard the founder of this program speak last year, and it all makes a lot of sense.  More and more people are paying attention to what this organization is doing: does it say anything to you that the Platinum Marketing Sponsor for this conference is Linkedin?

One Internet Marketing conference that I have attended three of the last four years is the one presented by The University of Toledo College of Business and Innovation. Their fifth annual conference will be at the University on October 1. It's a half-day program and has always been a virtual sell-out.  Speakers are being finalized right now and the registration will open in about a month.

You can find other Internet marketing conferences listed at http://savvypanda.com/2013-Marketing-Conference-Guide..

The simple truth is that Internet marketing techniques are now a requirement for business success. Keep in mind that these conferences do attract attendees from major companies that have entire marketing departments, and also marketing agencies.  Don't be intimidated. Your business is counting on you.