An effective content strategy does not depend only on one strategy. Utilising free and paid media strategies does not only give your business content, but also major credibility and visibility online. 

Why get free media? 

• Well, it’s free. Free media is really important. At the end of the day, it’s all about increasing traffic to your business.

• It’s about increasing your online visibility. 

• But it’s also about building credibility. 

Guidelines for free and paid media:

2. Are you prepared for this credibility? Whilst you may be talking to some people and not be the expert, you may talk to others and you are their expert.  This is a great opportunity to boost your confidence. You just need to know more than the person you’re speaking t

3. It is important for you to have a professional online presence. You need a credible profile, which is professional and  consistent across all the other platforms. It needs to clearly communicate who you are, who you help and how you can help them. This is really important. It does need to establish you as an expert in something if they are going to choose you over someone else in your industry. 

4. You have to be confident in effectively communicating who you work with and how you can help them and the value that it’s going to be to them as well. 

5. You have to know how to use your online platforms to create opportunities online.

Here are examples of free and paid media:

Recently I was offered online the opportunity to co-author an amazon book. With 150 words, you could be a co-author and on Amazon for free. There was also an opportunity where you could pay $77 US dollars. And you could contribute 1000 words and have a feature in the book. 

Paying for a table at an expo for small business is a paid opportunity. You may also get the opportunity to pay additional to speak at the event. It is important to weigh it up to see the expense vs the potential sales. In this example they would advertise you as a speaker for the event which would give you additional visibility, credibility and exposure online as an industry expert. That would be paid media.