How I Got $1 Million Dollars In Unpaid Advertising Using My Disruptive Story

As a tidal wave washed homes from their foundations, cars through shop windows and motorists to their deaths, I frantically phoned for help.

But none was coming.

It was just after lunch on January 10, 2011. A state of emergency was called in Toowoomba, on Queensland’s Darling Downs, in Australia.

When the waters receded, and the living buried their loved ones, help still failed to arrive.

The Greatest Danger To Business

At breakfast that morning I had a high six-figure retail business. By nightfall, that business was gone. And there would be no bail out, financial or otherwise.

When defining their ideal ‘avatar’, business owners are often asked: “What’s the greatest danger you see that your customers don’t?”

For me, the answer is: invisibility. Invisibility is what happens when marketing fails and funds run dry, closing the door on one entrepreneur, opening for another.

As a small business owner for the past 10 years, I’ve seen many businesses come and ago–including my own.

Sometimes misfortune is at the hand of Mother Nature, sometimes Human Nature–a divorce, separation, death, illness or injury.

Either way, businesses struggle, leads are lost and authority dissipates while the profile, credibility and influence of competitors’ flourishes.

Obscurity and invisibility really are a hidden danger for many an entrepreneur.

But how to gain presence when paid traffic and advertising aren’t viable options or stop working thanks to ever-changing social media algorithms?

The Value of Unpaid Advertising

In the three years leading up to the tsunami my business appeared on prime time TV, in leading fashion magazines and in national newspapers to the value of $1 million in unpaid advertising.

By appearing as the quoted expert, I used free publicity to create massive profile.

So while the business was washed away in just a few hours, the skills to secure media anywhere and everywhere, the ability to “go again” remained.

And those skills were in high demand as fellow tsunami devastated business owners turned to me for help, desperate for new leads and customers.

They sought advice on free publicity even though many entrepreneurs view mainstream media as old hat. Despite the fact that 5 million Americans tune into the Today Show each morning.

And Australia is no different. Four million readers consume The Sydney Morning Herald each week.

In fact, just one full page, full-colour advertisement, in just one edition of the leading weekly magazine Women’s Day costs $300,790.

That’s $300,790 for seven days of advertising or $42,970 per day.

And those values for one full-page ad play out around the world.

But why pay for it when you can get it for free? Particularly when all you need to be a quoted, featured expert is you, your knowledge, talents, expertise and journey?

All you need is your story, packaged and presented so as to standout and ‘disrupt’ a reporter’s competitive inbox.

On average, editors receive one media release via email every minute of the day. That’s 480 stories from just one conservative eight-hour shift.

So how do you make your story stand out amongst the noise? How do you get your ‘pitch’ past the gatekeeper and to the reporter who needs it most?

The News Formula

Well, there is a tried, tested and proven strategy called the News Formula. That’s what I’m sharing in my free, three-part video series, complete with with actionable PDF downloads.

In this online workshop, you’ll learn how to get TV, magazines and newspaper coverage with zero experience, zero contacts and without paying a cent.

Plus, I’ll help you uncover the power of your personal story for multiple media appearances both locally and globally.