Radio and TV Advertising

Radio and TV advertising might also be effective in some circumstances. Many entrepreneurs believe that radio and TV advertising are beyond their means. While this may be true for national TV slots and national advertising is usually out of the entrepreneur's price range, appearing on local stations or on smaller cable television stations can sometimes be free.

For example, if a local station does a technology show once a week you might be able to get on it to demo or discuss your application. There are also a number of local (city owned) stations that may want to do a story on iPhone/iPad apps targeting a broad base of users or more specifically focusing on a smaller market for the busy sales rep, the stressed commuter, or perhaps a health segment. Again you can reach out to your local station and pitch them on the idea that they do a story around a topic that just happens to match the very application you've written.

The best way to reach a reporter is to go to the station's local website. On most sites you will find a link to the reporters and they are usually listed by categories such as News, Weather, Sports, Entertainment, and so on. When you click on their biographies there is usually an email address where you can contact them. Use the same email approach discussed previously in the newspaper description to reach out to these reporters.

Radio is the last area that you may want to explore. Radio is more difficult because you have to explain your application rather than show your application. Radio is also very broad in its reach, and so part of your listening audience may not own an iPhone or an iPad. Some radio shows have technology segments once a week usually on slower days/times like Saturday mornings. You can do a little digging on a radio station's website to look at their programming schedule to see if there might be an opportunity for you.

Note

The ease with which you're able to get a story written about your application often depends on your application and current events. Don't give up easily. It takes persistence. It's free advertising and it can mean the difference between your application selling okay and selling extremely well.