Fame and Fortune A campaign starring a celebrity spokesperson could be the ticket to off-the-chart marketing success.

You wouldn't guess by looking at me that I have somethingmajor in common with Sammy Sosa and Pete Sampras-but we've allbeen endorsers or celebrity spokespeople for Nortel Networks. WhileI've never been able to hit a baseball or serve an ace, as asmall-business expert and author, I can drive home key messagesthat resonate with business owners, a skill Nortel Networks has putto good use.

Typically, star athletes command endorsement fees in themillions, but other spokespeople, such as authors and industryexperts, have considerably less stratospheric rates. So while yourbudget probably doesn't include a national ad campaignfeaturing a superstar, there are excellent, lower-cost ways yourgrowing business can increase its visibility using a celebrity orexpert spokesperson.

Creating a marketing program using an outside endorser drawsattention to your message and confers credibility. It's what Icall the "made you look" factor. Your choice of aspokesperson should be based on your message and target audience.And there's a wide range of academics, authors, athletes,actors, association leaders and experts available for your events,retail promotions and public relations tours.

Draw a Crowd
To really stand out at your next trade or consumer show, use acelebrity or expert to draw traffic to your booth. For about $2,000to $5,000, you can bring in a retired athlete, a local celebrity ora popular author. Say your company decides to exhibit at a tradeshow. You could invite an author to hand out free copies of his orher latest book to the first 100 people who visit the booth. Inreturn, you'd get the opportunity to meet hundreds of potentialnew customers.

If you're a retailer, you can follow the same principle tobring traffic to your store. Just promote the event using space inyour regular advertising, then send releases to the press andspecial invitations to your customers.

Make News
Public relations media tours are an affordable way to reachmillions of customers in a highly credible news format. A radiomedia tour consists of a series of five- to eight-minute telephoneinterviews with your spokesperson. Qualified booking companies,such as North AmericanNetwork Inc. in Bethesda, Maryland, offer all-inclusive ratesbased on the number of interviews scheduled. They book thestations, write the press release, send media kits, moderate andtape the interviews, and provide a comprehensive report. Athree-hour satellite radio tour with approximately 15 interviewswould cost just under $5,000, plus your celebrityrepresentative's fees, which can range from $8,000 to $10,000for the interview time and endorsement.

There will also be fees for message development and anyconsulting or writing work your spokesperson may do. But the costsare reasonable in relation to the audiences reached-as spokespersonfor Sprint, I did a major radio tour that yielded 18 millionimpressions. I also did a tour for eBay's Business andIndustrial Products that reached more than 6 million listeners.

DWJTelevision in Ridgewood, New Jersey, specializes in satelliteTV media tours and offers similar services. For tours shot in astudio, the two-hour cost for a dozen interviews is $15,000, plusyour spokesperson's fees.

Your broadcast spokesperson should work with you to develop a"news hook" so you'll gain the most interviewspossible. You should expect your company to receive at least one ortwo mentions per interview, and the spokesperson must be adept atbringing interviewers back to the key messaging points no matterwhat questions are asked. He or she should have excellent on-airskills, be unflappable, and be able to deliver the same message indifferent ways, once every 10 minutes for several hours.

To find a celebrity spokesperson, visit hollywood-madison.com. For a technical expert, authoror academic, visit a site designed for journalists, www.profnet.com.