There are all kinds of smart moves professionals can make to raise their media visibility. Here are ten things not to do if youre aiming to heighten your public profile.

1. Dont make the story about you. The media care about, and want to use, your knowledge and expertise. Build your media pieces around the topics that the public, and the media, want to learn more about not around announcements about the latest award youve won.

2. Dont misunderstand the process. The media will quote and feature you if you can deliver information their audiences need. They have no obligation to use you because you took out an ad, or because you play golf with the publisher.

3. Dont bite off too much at once. Keep it simple, and focused. Every media piece you send out should be about just one topic. Dont try to impress them with everything you know, or every possible angle. They can only do one story at a time, and they are deadline-pressured. Subtlety and complexity are usually your enemies.

4. Dont wander, or help reporters wander. In every interview, walk in knowing by heart your main point or message, and two or three key facts that support it. Make sure you say them, repeat them, and be sure the reporter gets them. Dont drift all over the topics landscape.

5. Dont hold back. Dont withhold your best stuff for another day, or for paying clients. This is your spotlight, your moment use it! Share the best of your knowledge with the media theyll value you more.

6. Dont be leisurely. If a reporter calls, return the call promptly within an hour or two, at most. Theyll find someone else to use if you dont.

7. Dont overreach your knowledge. Talk to the media only about what you know best. If its outside your core expertise, give it a pass better yet, steer the reporter to a more appropriate resource. Youll score big points. Who wants to come across sounding ill-informed?

8. Dont send the reporter down an unproductive trail. Sure, you want to help a reporter do his or her job better. But that doesnt mean you have to coax them to interview a direct competitor, or someone else in the field who is likely to oppose or contradict you in print.

9. Dont try to fool a reporter or hide key facts. They usually find out anyway.

10. Finally, dont forget who gave you good coverage. Remember and reward reporters who feature you not with gifts or anything inappropriate, but with kind thank-yous, and frequent suggestions and information for future stories, even if they may not involve you directly. Reporters value information and ease of access to it deliver that, and youll be a media favorite.