November might seem a pretty strange time to be considering embarking on PR, but if you are operating in the health and wellbeing sector, then this is the PRIME time for you to be securing some publicity which could help kickstart your new year…

Whether you are an author, consultant or online business, there are plenty of opportunities to gain valuable publicity over the coming weeks if you know what to do and where to look!

Typically, the types of people who can benefit from the ‘New Year New You’ period are…

- Nutritionists
- Diet Programmes/Coaches
- Life Coaches
- Relationship coaches/therapists
- Solicitors (Divorce is HUGE in January!)
- Authors of books around personal motivation, self esteem, confidence, dieting and fitness
- Gyms and fitness coaches
- Health food supplements

So what can you do to raise your profile at this crucial time?

1. Keep your eye on the news and features
There will be tons of features and stories relating to health, wellbeing, relationships etc right over the Christmas period and well into January. Keep an eye out for topics which are relevant to you and comment on them in a way which is helpful, demonstrates your expertise and isn’t overly promotional.

2. Contact your local radio stations
Radio is a great resource at this time of year and I’ve had clients on radio shows during the Christmas/Jan period every year for the past 3 years. One was even interviewed live for a Breakfast TV show for a New Year, New You feature.

Contact your local radio stations letting them know what expertise you have, what kind of topics you can cover (make a few Christmas/New Year suggestions!) and let them know you’ll be available if they’d like you to come into the studio. You never know, you might earn yourself a regular slot in 2011!

3. Comment is free!
Make sure you increase your blogging and posting of articles around this time, particularly on sites that rank well (Ecademy including of course!).

Consider posting an article on a popular article sites such as Ezine Articles and have a search round for some good quality online magazines such as Real Women Today.

Also worth remembering options like The Guardian’s ‘Comment is Free’ website, where you can submit suggestions for articles and if they it, they ask you to write it.

4. Respond to journalist enquiries
By far one of the best ways to gain coverage for the new year is to respond to journalist enquiries. These are almost guaranteed to bring coverage if you are chosen by the journalist as they have already been commissioned to write the piece and are likely on deadline and looking for expert comment to help them complete and submit to the publication. I developed a unique subscription wire service for clients last December for this very reason and we have lots of people signed up to it this year ready to take advantage of opportunities to work directly with journalists on topical features. It’s not too late to sign up and you could be receiving enquiries from next Monday!

I hope this helps and if you have any questions about raising your profile over the Christmas and New Year please feel free to post them here and I’ll do my best to answer them.