The answer is a subtle reality that few business people recognize. The real truth is that contrary to the "public line," media people are human and are influenced by their opinions, prejudices and filters just like the rest of us.

It is a myth that journalists offer unquestioned, unbiased truth and give everyone equal attention. Although this is the image they try to portray and protect, their very humanity prevents it.

The sheer volume of available news requires members of the media to make split second decisions about what to investigate and what to toss out. So many people and businesses are clamoring for attention that the task is often overwhelming. It's not an easy job!

Although it is important to you, this means that your news is often nothing more than a commodity. When you are on the outside looking in, members of the media hardly have time to give you second thought. Business editors are literally bombarded with hundreds, if not thousands, of press releases each day.

But once you establish yourself as a resource the media know and trust, you'll be able to advance your purpose (and theirs) much more effectively. In fact, the media will often be willing to offer assistance and counsel. To utilize the power of the media, you need to come to grips with several important facts.

First, the media has the power to make or break reputations. Fortunes can be made or erased through the media. So proceed accordingly. Make sure that you can be a consistent and reliable resource before flirting with the media. Nothing can destroy your self-promotion efforts more than inconsistent or unreliable performance.

Second, the media see themselves as the providers of the truth. They are held to very exacting standards by the public and their peers. Nowadays, they are under more scrutiny than ever. By recognizing and even validating this reality, you can achieve significant self-promotion with the media's help and support. Empathize with their needs.

Third, by using the powers available to them, the members of the media are constantly advancing the interests and purposes of their friends and reprimanding their enemies. However, understand that most of them don't do it consciously or from mischief or malice. Rather, their very survival requires this approach.

You do the same thing in your business. You promote your friends, attack your enemies and remain ambivalent about those people you don't know or trust.

The key to successful self-promotion is cultivating the media as your friends. But before you can accomplish that, you must possess certain core skills, or build a relationship with a person who can help you acquire these skills.

Which skills?

First, you must be a proficient writer. Many people have poor writing skills, so if you need help, take some courses or hire a publicist or PR professional to "ghost write" for you. Perfect grammar is less vital today than the ability to put down your thoughts in a concise and coherent manner. The easiest way to get started is to keep a journal of thoughts and insights you have during the day. Then set aside some time on a regular basis to organize your key ideas and develop a short article to further the concept. Although this will take some discipline at first, with time you will find it becomes easier.

Second, you should become a solid presenter with good speaking skills. If you are to receive attention from radio and television professionals, you must become an effective communicator. Often, this means that you must have clearly conceived ideas which you can present in an interesting or entertaining way. Develop short "power statements" which you can practice and memorize. Then these statements will be available anytime you need them. And if you are uncomfortable with public presentations, get some help. Toastmaster groups provide excellent training and practice.

Once you develop these core skills, your next step is to get the media to "sit up and take notice." And to get noticed by the press, you must become someone of interest or value. Although we each like to think well of ourselves, few business people can articulate something about themselves that sets them out in a crowd. Therefore, discover what makes you unique and valuable to the community and media. Work on creating some substance.

You can do this by carefully crafting an appropriate image. There are many images successful people use. But most people do not realize that most celebrities and media darlings consciously set out, in advance, to create a very special image and style for the media. We acknowledge that most politicians and entertainers carefully manage their image, but it is not generally recognized that strong business leaders do the same. Some even have professional "handlers" just for that purpose. With a carefully designed image, your public will "understand" you.

Copyright 2001-2008 BizTrek International, Inc. and Gil Gerretsen
May be republished in full with proper credit to BizTrek and the author