I recently received a press release from someone who owns my publicity kit. He asked me to critique the release. The release was a disaster. It was a mess. It took me about 11 seconds to figure out the problem. In that one press release I saw the style of four different publicity “gurus” – people who are respected as experts at getting publicity (and you thought I was the only one! I’m the best, but not the only). This guy had taken a little bit of what each of us teaches and tried to put it all into one press release. It was a complete failure. Not only would he never get a call from reporters, he also would give the reporters a strong signal that he didn’t know how to play the publicity game.

I’ve told you many times in this blog that getting publicity isn’t as simple as sending out a press release. Your release gives the reporters lots of clues about you. Probably the most important clue is whether or not you know how to “play the game”. If you don’t know how to play the publicity game, reporters aren’t about to teach you. They’ll simply move on to the next person who does give the right clues that they know how to play the game. That way the reporter can be confident that he’ll get a good interview with no hassles. I called the guy who sent me the release to critique. I asked him where he learned to write a press release the way he did. It certainly was not from me. He told me he “took the best from each of the four publicity experts I follow and wrote a superstar release”. Superstar release? Hardly. It was worthless. I speak at many marketing seminars and bootcamps. From time to time I find people just like him. They jump from guru to guru. Grabbing a little here and a bit there, thinking they’re going to produce some spectacular marketing piece. The results are always miserable. That’s “guru wandering”. The same holds true with publicity. There are many different “systems” for getting publicity. Lots of different styles. Obviously, I feel mine is the best. I have the results to back that up, both mine and my members’s.

We get these great results because we focus on one system, one person’s advice. We follow the templates, the style, the techniques I’ve developed to the letter. Every rare once in a while someone will contact my office to tell us “Your system doesn’t work.” Not possibly true. The system has worked over and over again for decades. The truth is most probably that they decided to get creative and succeeded in screwing everything up.

When I look at the press release of the person claiming that my system doesn’t work, sure enough I see that they’ve strayed from my system. “Where did you learn to do this?” “Why did you include this?” “Who told you to do that?” are the typical questions I asked. The response is almost always the same – “I just wanted to add my own little touches to the release.”

Hopefully anyone who offers a publicity or marketing system – or a system to do anything for that matter – has tested the system and proven it works. You do an injustice to yourself and the creator of the system by “guru wandering”. I follow the systems of other people who know more than I do about their particular area. Dan Kennedy is a perfect example.

A long time ago I realized that Kennedy’s principles were consistently working for me. They made sense. I was able to put them into action with the least amount of fuss. They made money for me. Recently I took a further step in that direction. I sold off almost all of the marketing materials I owned from other “marketing gurus”.

Selling off the other marketing material benefited me in several ways. I donated all of the money from the sale to our non-profit dog rescue sanctuary AuntMarysDoghouse.com. I cleaned off a huge amount of room in my library. And I cleared out my brain, allowing me to focus on one path. Does that mean I completely ignore information from any other marketing expert.

No, I don’t. But I’m very cautious about what I include in my marketing tools. I’ve found someone who has information that I can easily and quickly turn into more business and more profits. I’d be doing an injustice to both myself and Dan by taking a little bit of Kennedy and a little bit of 5 other marketing people and trying to make a successful marketing piece.

Obviously, I hope you have decided to follow my system of getting publicity. It’s significantly different than any other system out there.

But if you haven’t – if you’re “guru wandering” – do yourself and me a favor. Settle in on one of us and focus on what we tell you. Your results will be far greater than that “guru stew” you’ve been brewing up.

If you decide to follow another publicity expert, put your total effort into what they recommend. Prove to yourself that what they’re telling you works. When it does, squeeze it for everything it’s worth. You’ve hit a goldmine. If you’ve decided to follow my publicity system, go to:http://www.MillionDollarPublicity.com get my kit and get up to speed quickly.

The opportunities for you to get publicity are all around you, every day of the year. But focus on one system for getting that publicity and use it to get the word out about you and your business – and to put profits in your bank account.

Paul Hartunian is respected around the world as a leading expert on how business owners can get publicity both online and offline. His website – http://www.hartunian.com – is a resource center for reliable publicity advice.

Paul Hartunian is respected around the world as a leading expert on how business owners can get publicity both online and offline. His website – http://www.hartunian.com – is a resource center for reliable publicity advice.

Author Bio: Paul Hartunian is respected around the world as a leading expert on how business owners can get publicity both online and offline. His website – http://www.hartunian.com – is a resource center for reliable publicity advice.

Category: Business
Keywords: press release distribution, how to get free publicity, paul hartunian, free publicity, free advertis