I had a coffee with an Independent Financial Advisor (IFA) mate of mine yesterday and was chuffed to hear he had become a regular guest on his local BBC radio station.

Once a month Ed pops into the Breakfast show to take calls from listeners about all manner of issues relating to investments, savings and pensions. He’s been doing it for a couple of years now and is clearly a big hit.

But when I asked him how he uses this publicity to his advantage I got a blank look coming back at me.

He knew the value of being on the radio but simply hadn’t thought how to widen the awareness of what he does. So here’s a couple of quick and simple things I suggested he do.

Email footer
I suggested that he have a P.S. or piece of artwork on the bottom of his email which says something like ‘You can hear me every month on BBC Radio Shropshire’s Breakfast show’. This is a great way to raise awareness of his credentials and encourage more people to listen to him on air.

Website
I also recommended that the company he works for make a feature of him on the front page of its website with a picture of him and something like ‘Listen to Ed on BBC Radio Shropshire every month’. Again, this is a great way to establish the credentials of Ed and the company, as well as encourage more people to listen to him on air.

Blog it
In addition to the front page splash on the website, I thought Ed could easily blog about each appearance with pictures, sound clips and a summary of the issues he tackled. This would be a fascinating read in itself as well as improving the site’s SEO.

Tell customers
Without being cheesy, I also stressed the importance of making sure he drops his link with the radio into chit-chat with clients as it’s a fantastically powerful third party endorsement. It’s incredible how this sort of endorsement can give customers peace of mind that they are dealing with a reputable person.

Make a showreel
Finally, I begged Ed to start getting copies of his appearances on air. Over time he could easily build up a great showreel for further publicity purposes. It would also help him no end if he wanted to take his media work up a notch or two.

These were five simple ideas which came off the top of my head to help Ed make more stock of a PR gold mine he’s sitting on and didn’t fully appreciate it.

And before you ask, no he doesn’t use any social media yet. But after our conversation he’s seriously mulling it over.

These five pointers serve to highlight the tricks we all miss sometimes and how easy it can be to make the most of the gift horses we all have.