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Boost your reputation and your profits from free advertising with press releases
Melbourne Yoga classes
I wanted to teach outdoor yoga classes at sunset in a luxurious location when I lived in Melbourne. After a bit of hunting around, I had a chat with Tim - the public relations manager for a historic, luxurious and massive mansion with lovely English style gardens called "Ripponlea National Trust". Tim, the public relations manager, was a slightly alternative hippy kind of guy, and we got on great. Our press release was something me and Tim knocked up on his computer in about 2 minutes. Then he opened a fax software program that was pre-loaded with the fax numbers of all the newspapers, radio stations and TV stations in Melbourne. Apparently, Tim had already sent out heaps of press releases for various events as part of his job. He clicked "send". The faxes started going out. He looked at me and smiled. That was it. Nothing else to do except wait.
Result:
I don't have a copy of the newspaper article anymore! It was in one of those free suburban newspapers that serviced the local area where I ran the yoga classes had a circulation of about 50,000. I was lucky to get it, because none of the newspaper called me about the press release we had sent out. I had to ring them to follow up on the press release because I hadn't heard from any of the newspapers yet. They asked if the classes were a charity, or for profit. I realised they would only print the story if I said the classes were a charity, but the reality was they were paid classes funding my lifestyle. So I said, "They do make a small bit of money, but it is something that has a lot of benefit for the community, plus we are adding a lot to the community place where we are hosting the classes." (I was teaching in the gardens of Ripponlea National Trust - a historic protected mansion from the turn of the century in Melbourne) The lady on the phone ummed and aahed, then said "ok", and sent over a photographer / reporter guy. He took some photos, asked some questions, jotted down some answers... Then he smiled and said, "That's it." It took all of 10 minutes. Anyway, next week, there was our glorious full-colour photo in the centre of the page of this newspaper, with a write up about the classes, with quotes from a student (who was also my girlfriend - and therefore no surprise that the quote was awesome), class times and location and my phone number if customers want to enquire. I cut out the article and used it in my advertising to show that the newspaper thought my classes were awesome.
The radio station that started broadcasting my class details, times and location didn't ring me or tell anyone that they were going to advertise my yoga classes. I don't listen to the radio, so I wouldn't have known anything about it. But one of my new students said they had heard about my classes on a radio station, so they had come along to try them out. Then someone else mentioned they had heard it as well. I still never found out exactly which station was broadcasting it - it was one of the major popular ones like Triple M or KissFM. But they were doing it about 3 times weekly, about an hour or two before the class start times. And they would say something like "If you want to try some yoga at sunset in the gardens, head on down to the Ripponlea National Trust in Ripponlea at about 5.30pm just after work today. First class is free so you can try it out." Circulation: anywhere from 30,000 to 300,000 depending on who was listening at the time. I got a few new students out of that. Plus I got to say in my future advertising that this major radio station recommended my classes as being awesome.
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