Have you ever been reading the newspaper and found a story about a topic you could have been interviewed on? Then lo and behold, there's your competitor being quoted as part of the piece.

Does your competitor have more knowledge about the topic than you do? Probably not. But what your competitor may know is the art of piggybacking.

Piggybacking is a term used to tie in your expertise, product or service into a current event.

When a current event happens, reporters need to cover it - and they are always looking for someone to interview about it. Here are just some of the current events that you can tie into:

Wild Women Entrepreneurs used the piggybacking tactic recently. Knowing that March is Women's History Month, we sent out a pitch letter to newspapers all over the country emphasizing how Wild Women Entrepreneurs are making history every day. The result: an interview in a statewide magazine, and a request from a Steven Covey publication for Wild WE founder and president Ja-Naé Duane to submit an article for publication.

And if you are a gold or platinum member, you also got a chance to piggyback on the Women's History Month theme. Those members received a fill-in-the-blank press release about making their own history to use to publicize themselves to the local media.

The key to piggybacking is to think on your feet. Current events are usually dead within a few days. So once you think of a tie-in, you need to pitch journalists right away. Your best bet when time is of the essence is to call each reporter and say, "I notice that XX is happening, I have some additional information on the topic of XX that may be of interest to your viewers/listeners/readers. And I am available for interview today."

Don't leave that last sentence off. It gives a state of urgency and gets journalists to schedule a time right away. So next time, it'll be your competitor reading about you in the newspaper.

Shannon Cherry, APR, MA helps women-owned businesses & entrepreneurs to be heard. She's a marketing communications and public relations expert with more than 15 years experience and the owner of Be Heard Solutions. She is also the publicist and board member of Wild Women Entrepreneurs. Subscribe today for Be Heard! a FREE biweekly ezine and get the FREE special report: Be the Big Fish: Three No-Cost Publicity Tactics to Help You Be Heard. Go to: http://www.beheardsolutions.com/freestuff_3.htm