Publicity What is it?

Publicity is where you get your ISP business mentioned or otherwise exposed to the public. Sometimes this may be associated with advertising but usually not. The best publicity is in the computer press where you are most likely to get the name of your ISP (or yourself) in front of likely customers. Of course the publicity has to be positive although some say that any type of publicity is good publicity.

Press Releases

Press releases are often a good and simple method of getting publicity. You will need to announcing a service or new feature of interest that the publication will think is worth publishing. If you think that press releases can simply be some sort of advertisement for your ISP service then most likely it will not be used. You may actually be contacted about purchasing ad space.
You should look at the various computer press and note the type of press releases they find of interest and therefore publish. Usually there will be a section titled News or New Releases or something similar. The introduction of new technology always seems to be newsworthy and if this is linked with an annoucement on new levels of customer support and/or a major upgrade in service capability then it may prove more appealing. Also being the first in a service area (geographic or market type) with such technology is always worth a press release.

Press Contacts

Get to know the various computing and internet publications, find out who a contact person is, who the reporter is that deals with internet issues and if they are interested in talking to you from time to time.
The internet always appears to be newsworthy, however be very careful in not geting your internet node associated with any of the negative stories that seem to make the rounds from time to time.
Although some people would say that any publicity is good publicity you definitely do not want your service associated in any way with an anti- internet story (see below). This will definitely cost you customers as there is always someone who will remember that negative story and they will tell others.

Press interviews

If you give an interview to a local reporter then it is always a good idea to make some notes on the issues you want to see reported and to emphasise the education and recreation aspects of the internet. If you are asked about children and pornography, pirated software, paedophiles etc then make sure you have a suitable response.
If you will be including so called 'adult' areas in your system or allowing newsgroups unsuitable for general access by everyone then you need to be real sure that you can explain and prove the safeguards you have in place to keep such areas restricted.
Sometimes you may be contacted by a reporter who is putting together a story and is asking your viewpoint and for some general background information. Be real careful and make sure that you are aware of what is on-the-record and the reporter can quote what you said in his/her story.
If you are contacted about a contentous issue that directly involves you ISP business or one or more of your suppliers or customers then your response may need some planning. If you are not already aware of the issue but it sounds pretty urgent then it will always be a good idea to tell the reporter you will have to get back to him/her so that you can get time to see what is invoved and how it will effect your business, or arrange for them to call back later.

Other Contacts

If you are the first ISP in an area then there could be some useful contacts in other clubs and societies in that area. Since the internet and usenet news will often have web sites and newsgroups of interest to such organisations it may be useful to contact the secretary or other people involved with with a club. It should not be too difficult to discover where they have their meetings and from there find out who to talk to. The local libraries and bulletin boards often found in post offices/shops can often provide this information and may also be of use because you can leave notices and handouts about your service.

Sponsorship

Sponsoring some activity in your area can get you a good return in publicity and in business for your ISP. Quite often such sponsorship involves providing a free or cost price internet service to some group or even providing the computer, modem and/or the telephone line/data circuit to them for free.
If it is a free account on your system then this is neither too much effort nor does it involve you in spending real money. Other options involving hardware or data circuits can be expensive either in one-off charges or the ongoing costs of providing the sponsored free data, data link, telephone etc.
What sort of things does an ISP sponsor?
The issue here from a pure business standpoint is to sponsor something that will get you the widest exposure for the least cost. There are many groups that would gladly take a free internet connection and deciding what to do and who to sponsor can be an exciting exercise.
Probably one of the best sponsorship areas is education. Nobody can complain as it is such a general and important community wide activity. Many primary and intermediate schools have difficulty finding the funds to provide computing equipment let alone pay for an internet connection. This is where you, as an ISP, could step in, the level of sponsorship could be from a free account up to providing a computer/modem and even paying for a connection (telephone, ISDN etc)
Such an activity is certainly newsworthy and will certainly be appreciated by the parents of children at the school and by the general community.

In general it is important NOT to make it publically known that you are interested in sponsoring some activity, group of people, club/society etc. If this information does get out it can have a negative effect on your business especially when a group requesting your sponsorship fail to secure it. Any of your customers in this group may consider moving elsewhere.