Are you READY  to receive the exposure you are chasing?
Being ready to receive media exposure is the biggest part of the process.  Getting media attention and coverage is very exciting indeed! Receiving  3rd party endorsements via articles and editorial is one of the best ways to promote and give your business and profile some credibility.
Most people are too keen to tell the world about their business without making sure they are ready for what happens next. It's like standing up and blowing a dull out of tune trumpet. The message gets lost. Best to make sure it is super shiny & uber polished first!

Having a good product, service or announcement is not enough on its own. You need to PACKAGE it the right way and you need to COMMUNICATE your message though the RIGHT channels. Once you have got the attention of your targets/ audience you need to be able to follow though with what they need, to write & talk about you.
The best way to see if you are ready is to give yourself a Publicity Audit.

Ask yourself these questions:

• Do you have a bio? (Short summary of you, your background and the history of how you came to be in or involved with your business, list full name, accreditations and contact details)
• Do you have a Media Kit? (Company overview/brochure, Bio, High resolution images)
• Do you have a website with online Media Room? (Where current info/press releases can be found/linked to)
• Do you have a comprehensive list of Social Media Network Profiles suitable for public viewing – which reinforce who you are and what you are about? (DO NOT LIST personal profiles you do not wish to be associated with you BRAND) ie Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Flickr, MySpace, YouTube etc
• GOOGLE yourself, your brand, your product – do you like what is there – does it represent you? (This is important as most that come across you will Google you to get more info – make sure what you see there is what you want others to see about you!)
• Do you have any social Media Profiles? If not sign up to LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook – get the ball rolling!
• Do you have a professional high resolution image for yourself ready to send editors to accompany your material & suitable for printing? Invest in this. Self portraits headshots are not good enough. Think quality – how do you want to be perceived? If you want to look like you took it yourself in your home office/spare room/lounge with toys or messy bookshelves in the background– go for it.
• Do you have high resolution product image of your stock (items you sell, market, make or import)? Invest in this –and update them regularly.
• For service providers – do you have testimonials from happy clients? Share them, post them & make them visble Use the best ones. They must be genuine too. Made up testimonials are VERY obvious.
• Have you made yourself available to be contacted by the media (clearly listed your contact details on the HOMEPAGE of your website) so they don’t have to trawl though the pages to find you? Make it easy, quick and simple. Add all contact profiles you have – so they can use what suits them most and most importantly – list your location!

If you can manage most of this you will be a PRO! Coupled with a good News-Worthy angle, Press Release and  the right Media Contacts  you will be well on the way to getting some coverage.