By Sue DiFranco
Copyright © 2002 Sue DiFranco/Fun Facts Publishing  

Media publicity can occur with one simple phone call, and that publicity can land more and more publicity. Simply Southern Scrapbook Convention co-owner Debra Beagle knows this firsthand: she called her local paper, The Daily News Journal, on a Monday, and was visited by a reporter on that Thursday.

"The writer spent two hours interviewing us and taking pictures," Debra recalls. "She even bought stuff before she left!"

The article, which was published on the front page of the paper's living section on the following Sunday, can be read here: http://www.simplysouthernscrapbook.com/sss/dnj.asp 

But that's not all! Some consultants with a direct sales company were a bit put out because their company wasn't mentioned in the article, so a number of them contacted the paper. What happened? The very next week, a letter from them on the Letters To The Editor page helped give all companies, and scrapbooking in general, another huge boost of publicity.

Following that, another local newspaper featured an article on scrapbooking, the direct sales company, and another local store. Another surge of publicity!

"We really enjoyed all the publicity [the direct sales consultants] sent our way and they gained a great deal of exposure too," Debra notes. "We were never in any way upset that they complained about being left out of our article. We were actually very happy because it all provided a blast of huge free advertising about scrapbooking, which can only help us all. And as you have always said, any publicity is good publicity.

"When it comes to preserving our memories," she continues, "we have found that the media is very interested and willing to help us."

One simple phone call - that's all it takes! Whether you are a storeowner, event organizer, scrapper-for-hire, direct sales consultant, or anything in between, make a goal right now to give your local paper a call. Just one call! Then, let us know how it turned out so we can share it with the group. Good luck!