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Airline Media Publicity: Don’t Get Scammed

Guest post by: Dan Janal

Article Overview: Getting publicity in the airlines magazines can be a great way to reach an affluent audience of business leaders, sales executives and professionals. Unfortunately, several companies prey on unsuspecting small businesses by offering them pie-in-the-sky offers for publicity that rarely yield tangible results. This article will show you how to separate the wheat from the chaff so you get the best publicity you can for your investment.

Airline Media Publicity: Don’t Get Scammed

Getting publicity in the airlines magazines can be a great way to reach an affluent audience of business leaders, sales executives and professionals. Unfortunately, several companies prey on unsuspecting small businesses by offering them pie-in-the-sky offers for publicity that rarely yield tangible results. This article will show you how to separate the wheat from the chaff so you get the best publicity you can for your investment.

First of all, you might wonder why you would want to be quoted in airline magazines. There are two very good answers.

1. You get to brag that you were quoted in a highly visible, highly credible publication. Airline magazines have a built-in glamour factor that is to be coveted. This branding can help build your credibility when you go on a sales call or when someone visits your website.

2. Your name will be seen by people who are affluent and are in leadership roles. If you want to reach corporate leaders, upscale managers, busy professionals and top-of-the-lines sales people, airline magazine can help you reach these audiences.

3. You could get legitimate inquiries from targeted prospects who read the article. It’s a lot easier to make a sale to someone who contacts you.

Publicity in these magazines is free. You need to convince reporters to write about you, a normal public relations task. This can take time and effort, but it is worth it if you need to reach these markets.

How to Avoid Getting Ripped Off

Now for the dicier part of this article.

There are companies that try to sell you an “interview” on the airline’s audio program. You might not have known that there are audio programs on airlines. If that’s the case, join the crowd.

These companies are banking on you to pay several thousand dollars to be interviewed on these audio programs. They do guarantee that the interview will be available for a certain period of time, perhaps a month.

What they don’t tell you is that many people don’t listen to these programs!

Have you?

Did you even know these audio programs existed?

And did you know that if you don’t buy the airline’s headset (an extra charge on many airlines) that you can’t even listen to the program!

I’d consider that three strikes! You’re out.

As a busy speaker, I’m a very frequent flier and I never listen to these programs because I have my own iPhone and my own music and my own seminars and educational programs that I listen to when I travel. Doesn’t everyone? Does anyone really listen to these programs that are offered on the airline channels?

I recently received an email touting this service and they caution me to act quickly to “reserve my space as spots are filling quickly.” Their spots cost nearly $2,000 and are marked down from $5,000. That should tell you something right away. Consider that a big warning sign!

Yes, and I have a bridge I’d like to sell you.

I can’t tell you how many people have called me to tell me they “invested” in this kind of program and got nothing in return!

I can’t help those people, but I can help you by realizing that paying for publicity on the airlines is a very low reward, very high fee activity that should be avoided.

If you want to get publicity in the airline magazines, then contact reporters and editors. Don’t contact the marketing department. And by all means, avoid any email messages that promise you the moon if you advertise on planes that go to the stars.

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Article Tags: affluent audience, business leaders, getting publicity, media publicity, PR, publicity



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