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As we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same
 
Marianne Williamson
Institute of IT Trainers - Freelance Trainer of the Year 2006 & 2009
Liverpool Business Connect Member
  Maximum Impact Solutions Limited - Reporting Solutions, Creating Answers
Reporting Solutions - Creating Answers, Crystal Reports, Dashboarding (Xcelsius) & SQL Reporting Services

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19
April

A - Z of a Successful Freelance IT Trainer: P is for Public Relations (PR)

With so many freelance trainers out there one of things I get asked regularly, is "How do I stand out?"

The key thing here is to think strategically and think outside the box.

PR along with marketing and advertising is sometimes seen as a black art and hard to achieve, and it is easy to be bamboozled by the gobbledygook employed to separate one from ones hard earned daily rate.

There are businesses that specialise in these areas, and I remember years ago having a 2 hour meeting, discussing how to use PR to raise both mine and my company’s’ profile, with a PR company, who was going to charge me quite a handsome monthly retainer to get articles within the local media.

But two things struck me:
  1. To get in the local media I would have to do something interesting and/or news worthy
  2. You do not have to pay to get good PR.
So the inevitable question became, "Why would I pay a business for something I could do myself?"

To date I have found the quickest and easiest way to get some good free PR is to win an award.  The media loves winners, and it is easy to spin a good yarn to get some column inches.

If you are thinking of going for an IT training award, the most recognised is the Institute of IT Training – Freelance Trainer of the Year.

If you want to know more about the process, from a competitor point of view, click here.

The other thing I have found useful is to get to know your the local media, you will be amazed how much free PR you can get from inviting your local journalist to lunch, but also they sometimes need experts and sound bites for various articles so it handy for you if you are on their rolodex and/or speed-dial.



I would like to hear your comments, experience, opinions and thoughts about this subject, please drop me a line or two below:

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