Self-promotion can be expensive. Yet for most companies, the question isn't whether or not to promote your business, but how to do it cost-effectively.

Well, I've mentioned here on the Insider several times that free publicity is one of your best marketing tools. And DOTmed Business News magazine -- our hard-copy magazine that's mailed to 32,000 hospital executives and department heads every month -- is a great place to get free exposure for your business.

Each month we publish several Industry Sector Reports -- in-depth analyses of certain medical equipment market segments. To write these stories, we send out a questionnaire to our registered users who deal in the specific market sector we're covering. Chances are, one of these months soon we'll cover a market segment that you specialize in -- if we haven't done so already.

Being included in one of our Industry Sector Reports translates into free publicity, so be sure to answer these questionnaires when they arrive. If you provide us with quality answers, your company will be included in the special Services Directory we print at the end of each story. We may quote you in the story, and identify your company by name. If you can email us hi-resolution pictures of "work in action" and we use them, you'll get a photo caption credit too. And believe me, everybody looks at the pictures and reads the photocaptions.

DOTmed Business News is read by hospital executives and decision-makers, including purchasing/materials managers, imaging directors, and chief biomedical engineers. They use our Industry Sector Reports to make their purchasing decisions, and will keep them on file for future reference. Being included in the report gets them to notice you. And if you also have a space ad in the issue, you're increasing the effectiveness of your marketing strategy -- exponentially.

So if you get an invitation from DOTmed to answer an Industry Sector Report questionnaire, do it! You'll be doing yourself a big favor.