Work From Home - Become "The Expert"

If you work from home, one way to get a lot of free publicity from the same media outlet is to become an expert source. An expert source is the go-to person that journalists call when they are doing on a story related to a certain topic.

The first thing to do is establish a relationship with a local journalist who covers your area of expertise. If you're in the natural health field, for example, find out who covers health. Then think of some possible ideas that might make good stories for the health reporter.

The next step is to create a list of local experts who can speak about the topics. Contact them ahead of time to be sure they want the publicity. And be sure that you include your own name and contact info on the list.

The stories you pitch must have a news angle and are not a disguised promotional pitch for natural health. You can get ideas from trade publications, that is, magazines that are written for professionals in your field. Look for stories about trends, new products and such. Brainstorm ways in which they might have a local angle.

Then call or email the journalist who covers health. If you call, introduce yourself briefly. Journalists are usually on deadline. Tell him or her that you would like to send some story ideas from time to time on natural health, with a list of local experts who will speak to these issues.

Or, simply email your list of story ideas. Introduce yourself and mention your credentials in the beginning of the email. Indicate that you will send ideas from time to time. You can usually get the email address of a journalist by calling the main phone number of the media outlet.

If the journalist likes any of your ideas, you've helped them in two ways. You've given them a great idea. Second, you've saved them a lot of time doing research because you've provided a list of experts to contact.

When the reporter does the story, a couple of things could happen. You could be one of the experts who gets free publicity by being quoted or you might not. Either way, it's a publicity win for you.

In the first case, you get some free publicity.

In the second, you've at least established the beginning of what could be a long-term relationship. The journalist now knows who to call to find out who some of the experts are on certain topics. If you don't know who might be appropriate for a given topic, offer to find out. Your help will be remembered because journalists are always on deadline and are short on time.

If you continue to be helpful while you work from home, you will eventually be one of the experts who gets quoted in many of the stories. Furthermore, you have an open door to suggest story ideas that feature only you.

Zero Cost. Zero Obligation.

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