What are the 5 best ways to gain new contacts?

There are many ways to use the media to promote your business. You must ultimately decide what is best for your business. It may be all the items you have read about, or it may be only a few, but whatever you choose, you must get a precise and clear message across to your potential buyers. You must also make sure you form an excellent business relationship with those companies before you do business. You want to create an atmosphere of a solid business relationship, so that you will be doing business for the long-term and not just a short-term project here and there. You must be committed to what you are doing and get that commitment message across to your clients and potential clients.

It is entirely up to you how much you want to spend on public relations and promotion. But once you decide how much to spend, you should then plan to spend it wisely and not to flush your hard earned dollars down the drain. I would advise to do all of the above but do it in stages, and sometimes things like sponsorships will only come into play when you can afford it. The key is to get involved and stay involved; this consistency alone will reap rewards in the local community. You will also be able to walk into local businesses and they will recognize you and be willing to talk. It is a give and take process that creates good solid business relationships, they just need to know that you are out there and can be depended on.

You should also take advantage of PR professionals that can take your business ideas and make them news. For a list of these professionals you can check with consulting groups, yellow page ads, and web listings. One thing you need to do before you commit to a PR specialist is to make sure you do your homework and find out what they have done for others in the past. This way you will not be disappointed with the results.

I decided that I wanted to be coached in PR. I wanted to know more about how to do it correctly while having a guiding hand. Many of you may know Jill Lublin (the writer of the Foreword and author of the best sellers Guerilla Publicity & Networking Magic) who has been speaking about PR for several years. It is Jill's coaching that has made me savvier and more PR aware. For more information on Jill Lublin and her coaching, visit her website http://www.promisingpromotion.com.

Bette Daoust, Ph.D. has been networking with others since leaving high school years ago. Realizing that no one really cared about what she did in life unless she had someone to tell and excite. She decided to find the best ways to get people's attention, be creative in how she presented herself and products, getting people to know who she was, and being visible all the time. Her friends and colleagues have often dubbed her the "Networking Queen". Blueprint for Networking Success: 150 ways to promote yourself is the first in this series. Blueprint for Branding Yourself: Another 150 ways to promote yourself is planned for release in 2005. For more information visit http://www.BlueprintBooks.com