Looking for media exposure? Like investing, there are low-risk and high-risk ways you can go about generating media coverage for your firm and your investment philosophies. Below, we've outlined a few directions you might consider to increase the visibility and credibility of your advisory firm. But, before you set out to aggressively court media exposure, take a moment to download a copy of our media training guide (see link to the right). You can never afford to forget that the media love to tear down those they build up.

Low-Risk, Basic News Coverage
Many local publications use brief, one to two sentence notices on new office openings, relocations, personnel additions, new accreditations, and industry recognitions. There are often opportunities in trade publications for similar notices. These are a natural to generate low-level visibility for your firm.

Upping the Ante

What if you would like to also be known for your investing abilities? Where you go next depends a great deal on your personality. A basic approach is to begin to put out regular quarterly releases on the performance of your investment programs. The catch is that the media really doesn't care how your investors did. Their job is to provide their readers with value, which is why your release on performance actually needs to be a release on investing how-to's with performance thrown in as the credentials to support your comments.

Will these releases be used as submitted? It's very unlikely. What you want to happen is that the reporter finds in your release something that sparks an idea for a longer story and calls you for more information. The best media coverage is that written and bylined by the reporter. Your goal is to be a trusted source quoted in that article and in subsequent pieces written by the reporter.

If you are comfortable with and enjoy taking time to visit with reporters -
1. read your favorite publications,
2. target a reporter whose work you like,
3. put together a story idea you think goes well with the types of articles the reporter writes, then
4. call and pitch your idea.

If there seems to be interest, ask if the reporter is available to meet with you and discuss it further.

Submitting Authored Articles
Interested in having articles appear under your byline? The easiest targets for an authored article are industry publications that commonly use articles by non-staff members, such as Technical Analysis of Stocks and Commodities.

Local newspapers tend to rely on an established cadre of local and syndicated writers for bylined columns. While it never hurts to ask about submitting an article for the editor's consideration, you are probably better off targeting special editions or supplements. Most publications have an editorial calendar of special topics planned for the upcoming months.

Would you like to generate media coverage of your firm but you're not quite sure where to start? Give Linda Ferentchak a call today and let's discuss how you can position yourself and your firm as an authority on active investment management.