You have just written an article for a trade publication to established you as an expert and authority. You have placed the article in a magazine that is read exclusively by people who could become your clients or customers.

So how do you insure that readers of your article, who are ultimately prospects for future sales, will be inclined to contact you? Make them an offer they can't refuse.

By offering a free booklet, special report, or other related document with information related to your business, you can significantly increase the effectiveness of your PR efforts and provide you with tons of qualified leads.

Direct mail marketers know that including an offer as part of their package is necessary to get genuine prospects to take notice and persuade them to take action. To get maximum results from your PR efforts, consider your offer as perhaps the most important element.

What should you offer? Booklets, reports, tip sheets, or anything you can put together, related to your business, and with perceived value in your marketplace, that will likely motivate readers to take a step in your direction.

Free information differs from other marketing materials. Brochures, for example, are direct sales pieces and will always be viewed as such. Booklets and reports are "soft sell" pieces, providing information to prospects that is likely to be perceived as important, valuable, and highly specific to their needs.

Create an offer that enables prospects to request information by writing, email, or some manner that does not require personal contact between the requester and the seller. Make sure prospects feel that requesting your information will be painless, risk free, and unaccompanied by sales pressure of any kind.

Info-materials arm readers with enough information to help them become comfortable with your business and your firm. By providing free information in a non-selling manner you motivate prospects to contact you and begin to build a relationship.

Make your offer neutral, not promotional, by offering printed information, a free evaluation, a free product sample, or other items or services of value to readers. Be generous with your knowledge and expertise. It will lower prospects resistance and help to convert them into paying clients and customers.

Your prospects are busy and overloaded with reading material. Your free materials will be effective motivators if they offer quick, concise solutions to a business problem. Identify the solutions you provide for your clientele, then build info-related materials around them.

A person who buys office furniture would probably appreciate an informational booklet on ergonomics--and would be inclined to do business with the firm who offered it. A firm selling sales seminars would be inclined to hire a training firm who has helped him become a better training manager with a tips sheet.

Give your free materials a title that makes readers want to send for it: "17 Telemarketing Mistakes And How To Avoid Making Them," "Taking Your Company Public--Understanding The Process And Alternatives," or "A Glossary Of Office Automation Terms."

Some examples of effective info-documents include:

St. Supery Winery publishes a booklet entitled "Techniques for Living Well". Inside are low-fat cooking tips, techniques and recipes and sections on cooking and dining with wine. Toward the back is plenty of information on attaining St. Supery's wines as well as a detailed map on getting to the winery.

Men's Health Magazine sends a booklet upon subscription renewal entitled "Special Report: Sex Secrets Women Wish Men Knew. The booklet is offered free as encouragement to renew subscriptions. Content covers the entire range of erotic topics you might expect...and you can be sure that this booklet gets noticed, opened and read.

Galaxy Moving Services published a booklet "Useful Information For People Moving Household Goods In California". The booklet packaged information required to be given to customers by the state of California. The booklet also provided dozens of tips on packing and other moving-related information and the company offered it free in their Yellow Pages advertising.

Make your booklet, report, or tip sheet central to your marketing strategy. In addition to PR, send them to your existing mailing list. Stuff them along with proposals. Sit them on tables at trade shows. Mention them in your magazine articles. Unlike brochures, which often get tossed, your booklets have the potential to be in your prospects hands for a long time.