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One of the best ways to get repeated publicity from the same media outlet is to become an expert source. An expert source is the go-to person that a reporter calls whenever they are working on a story related to a certain topic

So how can you achieve this status?

The first thing to do is establish a relationship with a local journalist who covers your area of expertise. If you don’t know of one, read the local papers or watch the local news broadcasts to see who covers what.
If you’re in the natural health field, for example, find out who covers health. Then think of some possible ideas that might make good stories for the health reporter.

Next, create a list of local experts who can address the topics. You might want to contact these experts to be sure they want the publicity. Be sure to include your own name and contact info on the list if you are an expert on any of the topics.

The stories must have a news angle and are not simply a promotional pitch for natural health. Often, you can get ideas from trade publications, that is, magazines that are written for professionals in your field.

Look for stories about trends, new products and such. Brainstorm ways in which they might have a local angle.

One great way to get attention from the media is to generate controversy. Journalists love controversy. If you come across a controversial topic, consider adding that to your list of story ideas.

Next, call or email the journalist who covers health. If you call, introduce yourself briefly. Very briefly. Journalists are usually on deadline. Tell him or her that you would like to send some possible story ideas from time to time on natural health, with a list of local experts who will speak to these issues. Then get off the phone and send your story pitches.

Or, simply email your list of story ideas. Introduce yourself and mention your credentials in the beginning of the email. Indicate that you will send ideas from time to time. You can usually get the email address of a journalist by calling the main phone number of the media outlet.

If the journalist likes any of your ideas, you’ve helped her in two ways. First, you’ve given her a great idea. Second, you’ve saved her a lot of time doing research because you’ve provided a list of experts to interview.

When the reporter does the story, a couple of things might happen. You can be one of the experts who gets quoted. Or, you might not.

Either way, you win.

In the first case, you’ve gotten some publicity.

In the second, you’ve at least established the beginning of what could be a long-term relationship. The journalist now knows who to call to find out who some of the experts are on certain topics. If you don’t know who might be appropriate for a given topic, offer to find out. Your help will be remembered because journalists are always on deadline and are short on time.

If you are continually helpful, eventually, you will be one of the experts who gets quoted in some of the stories. Plus you have an open door to pitch stories that might feature only you.

Need help getting Free Publicity? Write me: dkaus@sbcglobal.net (copy & paste address)

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Let’s face it.

Few of us lead lives that would make a great movie. But that doesn’t mean that your press kit bio has to be a snooze. Most press kit bios are boring because they are essentially a rehash of someone’s’ resume or CV, with the possible addition of some awards they might have won.

The key to a good bio is to look for the story or stories within your life. What obstacles have you overcome? What revelations have come to you? How did your life change or how did you change somebody else’s life?

You have to tell your story within the context of the press release. That is, it should not be the story of your entire life. It should be  the part of  your life as it relates to the release. The good news is, you can have several bios. Just pick the one that fits with whatever news story you are pitching at the moment.

The bio should be short. One page long, two at the very most.

It should also be written in the 3rd person. If your name is John Smith, put that centered at the top with the word Bio centered and double-spaced below it.

The first time you mention your name in the body of the bio, use your full name. After that, it’s Smith only. Resist the urge to use your first name instead of your last name. It screams amateur to the journalists who read it.

If you want to include awards and  honors, try to weave them into the bio or list them at the end. If you have a lot of them, you may want to attach them on a separate page.

Do these things and you’ll lift up out of the dull, dark land of the boring and rise into the bright, colorful skies of the “Hey, here’s someone with an interesting story to tell. Let’s do an interview.”

Danek S. Kaus is the author of You Can Be Famous! Insider Secrets to Getting Free Publicity. Read the 1st Chapter on Amazon

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Thanks to the Internet, you can find out a lot of information about media outlets without leaving home. However, it can be a long, slow process.

Fortunately, there are several media directories available in book form and online. The problem is, they can be expensive.

Most public libraries will have one or more of these publications in their reference room and may subscribe to the online editions. However, because of the cost of the hard-copy directories, many libraries do not have the most recent edition. This can be somewhat problematic because journalists tend to be a nomadic lot, taking better jobs at different outlets when the opportunity arises.

Here are some of the better-known media directories:

Bacon’s Media Directories

Gebbie Press

Writer’s Market—Although intended for writers, this book has a great list of magazines, including trade publications.

Literary Market Place (LMP)—Also for writers, this publication has a great list of newspapers, magazines, and columnists.

I also offer custom media lists for  your target market. Contact me at dkaus@sbcglobal.net (copy & paste)

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Social media sites like Twitter,  Facebook and others offer the chance for you to promote yourself, your creative endeavor or your business for free.

Social media is all the rage, so much so that many people think that it is no longer valuable to seek publicity opportunities in the “old media.”

The owner of one business networking site wrote in an article to his members that getting media in his local daily newspaper was a complete waste of time because it was rapidly losing subscribers. Of course, he also bemoaned his own inability to get an article about his business in that same newspaper.

Now, I think that his article reflected two things. The first was his own inability to effectively promote himself to the paper.  Sour grapes. The other reason  was his own self-interest in positioning his business as the better publicity opportunity.

And yes, the old mainstream media is hemorrhaging audience at an alarming rate.  But they still have tremendous influence. Just look at the popularity of shows like American Idol. Winners and runners-up have launched  successful music careers because of the exposure they received on the show.

And your local newspaper, TV and radio stations can still help you to get free, positive exposure to tens, even hundreds of thousands of potential customers.

Don’t get me wrong, I use Twitter and Facebook to promote my books and PR business, even though I made my bones as a newspaper reporter. I also continue to promote myself through the traditional media.

I do this because we don’t live in an either/or world. You don’t have to choose one means of promotion over the other. You can use both.  Done right, each one is effective in its own way.

So I strongly suggest promoting yourself or your business using both traditional media and the new Web 2.0 world we live in. Don’t limit your opportunities. Expand upon them and watch your name recognition, credibility and bank account grow.

Thanks for reading,

Danek

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That’s a pretty nasty headline, isn’t it. You might even find it offensive. But I’ll bet it got you to read at least this far.

So why do I make this controversial and confrontational assumption?

The answer is simple. Before becoming a publicist, I worked as both an editor and a staff reporter. Part of my duties included wading through the countless press releases sludged out by people who didn’t know what they were doing.  Many of these writers were in-house publicists for one company or another.  Others were the owners of small businesses that knew they needed publicity, but didn’t know how to go about writing an effective release.  I’m not alone in this observation.

My fellow journalists also have this complaint.  It is the number one gripe I found when interviewing journalists for my book, You Can Be Famous! Insider Secrets to Getting Free Publicity.”

With journalist-aggrivation in mind,  I’d like to share a few tips that can help  you to write powerful, attention-grabbing releases that will get read and help you to get the publicity you deserve.

Let’s start with the headline.  It is the most important part of the release. It must get the attention of the editor or reporter who reads it.  If not, it will be thrown in the garbage without a second thought.

Think carefully before writing it. It must convey the essence of the idea, story, product or event that you are trying to promote.

Once you’ve decided on the main idea for your release, consider how to make the headline say, “Hey, look at me.  Read me.” There are several proven headline templates, many of which come from the world of advertising.

You can:

Make a controversial statement

Ask a question

Offer a benefit

Arouse curiosity

State a surprising fact

There are many more, but these samples will give you some idea of what I mean.

Compare the following headlines:

XYZ Company Announces New Tax Software

New Tax Software Helps Businesses Slash Tax Bill by 30%

Which headline would make you want to learn at least a little more?

Now, the headline has to be true, and you have to back it up in your release. Which leads me to the second most critical part of the release — the lead. The lead is the first one to three sentences of the body of the release.  It’s purpose is to convey in a little more detail, the essence of the story.  The lead should be short and punchy and get to the point immediately.

Don’t drown your lead, like way to many people do, in a swamp of company background as if its some kind of warm-up to the real deal.

For example, don’t write something like: XYZ, a leader in business software with a history of blah, blah blah, has announced the release of it’s new tax software that …

Instead, write something closer to: New tax software published by XYZ guarantees that business owners who use it will dramatically reduce their tax bill by as much as 30 percent.  Tax Monster, as it is called, searches the tax return and does a cross check of all recent legal deductions ….

See the difference?

You can also power up a press release by fueling it with a few relevant quotes from the company spokesperson.  If you’re a small business owner, that’s probably you.

And try to make those quotes distinctive and memorable. Use images and metaphors, if you can. Something like:

“Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for  your country.”

“Speak softly and carry a big stick.”

President John F. Kennedy uttered the first one about 50 years ago. President Theodore Roosevelt said the latter about a century ago. Both those phrases are still with us today.

So, there are a few ideas to keep your press release on the journalist’s good pile and out of the recycling bin, or the nether-world of deleted emails. Start using these principles and you’ll soon start getting the all-imortant media coverage that can propel your business to greater and greater success.

Thanks for reading.

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December is the  height of the holiday season, so a great way to get free publicity is to  send out a press release that has a holiday angle.

There are also many annual observances that you can tie in to. A few of them are:

National Made in America Month

Safe Toys and Gifts Month

AIDS Awareness Month

Learn a Foreign Language Month

Read a Book Month

Identity Theft Protection and Awareness Month

National Drunk and Drugged Driving Prevention Month

Read a New Book Month

Universal  Human Rights Month

National Write a Business Plan Month

Art and Architecture Month

Procrastination Awareness Month

This list should help get your creative juices flowing.

Have a wonderful holiday season and a  happy and prosperous 2010.

I’ve mentioned before how to get Free Publicity by doing a tie-in between holidays and events.  October offers a bounty of  themes you can use such as, the harvest, changing  of the seasons, autumn colors and of course, Halloween.

There are also a number of observances that you can tie in to. Depending on what your business or creative endeavor is about, some will be a natural fit. Other may take a little creativity.

For example, October is:

Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Clergy Appreciation Month, National Hispanic Heritage Awareness Month, AIDS Awareness Month, Dinosaur Month, Cookie Month, Vegetarian Awareness Month, Pregnancy & Infant Awareness Month, National Disability Employment Awareness Month and E-Card Month.

Now that you have a few ideas, start thinking about how to associate what you do with some of the topics above.  Do a little brain storming, send out a press release before the middle of the month and save me some Halloween candy.

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Judy Kerr is an author and an acting coach. She was the on-set

dialogue coach for the TV show, Seinfeld. Her book, Acting is Ev-

erything: An Actor’s Guidebook for a Successful Career in Los Angeles,

now it it’s 11th edition, is the most respected book on the business of

acting and getting a career.

In addition to her work with the Seinfeld cast, she has coached

numerous people to help them sell things on TV and to be more

entertaining while being interviewed on talk shows.

She offers some great advice for giving a sizzling performance

on TV talk shows:

1. The most important thing is to be able to tell a great

story. You can practice that and learn how to do it well,

Kerr says.

2. Be succinct with your message. “Get to the point quickly,”

Kerr advises. “Assume the listener knows a lot about the

subject, so you don’t have to give them every little detail,

unless you have a great joke to tell them that is entertain-

ing and part of the message.”

3. You must know the story or message you are going to tell

the audience ahead of time. On the bigger shows, the

talent coordinator will interview you to get to know what

you are going to discuss. On smaller shows, such as cable

access and other lower level shows, help them out by giv-

ing them a list of questions to ask you.

4. Kerr suggests writing out your stories and messages. “Try

to get them as short, to the point, and as entertaining as

possible. If it’s a new product, specify all the points about

what it can do,” Kerr says.

5.  If you become aware that the camera is doing a shot of

just you, and that the audience is watching, remember

that you are really talking to the host. You want to engage

that person as much as you can.

6. When you talk into the camera, look at it and feel as if

you are talking to one person in her living room. “Put a

face on that person—your mother, your dog or a support-

ive friend—someone who is not passing any judgment,”

Kerr says.

Read the rest of Kerr’s tips in You Can Be Famous! Insider Secrets to Getting Free Publicity.

Read Chapter 1 at Amazon.com for FREE

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 Media types are busy people. Don’t waste their time hemming 

and hawing and building up to what your pitch is about. 

 Your pitch must grab the journalist’s attention immediately and 

it must offer her something she wants—the chance for a good story. 

 Be sure to use the right terms.  Newspapers and magazines 

have readers. TV and radio outlets have viewers or listeners, also 

called an audience. 

 Let’s look at the right way and the wrong way to pitch. In this 

example, let’s pretend you’re a CPA who has a new book about taxes 

to promote. 

YOU: “Hello, my name is John Smith. I’ve been an accountant for 20 years, 

and I have a book to promote about taxes.” 

JOURNALIST: “Go away. I have a big dog.”

 Why is this wrong? First, unless you are already famous, I mean 

Angelina Jolie or Brad Pitt famous, the media person on the other 

end of the line doesn’t care what your name is. Don’t lead the con- 

versation with it. 

 Next, nobody cares what you do for a living, same as your name. 

 Third, nobody cares that you have something to promote. Ev- 

erybody who calls has something to promote. Media outlets are not 

in the business of promoting books or products, unless you want to 

buy advertising. They are in the business of informing and/or enter- 

taining their audience. And selling advertising. 

 Finally, the subject is boring. Who wants to talk about taxes 

unless they’re getting a refund? 

 Okay, so how do you pitch? Let’s try again. 

THe RIGHT WAY TO PITCH 

YOU: “Hello, I can tell your readers/audience how to slash their taxes by 

25% in 15 minutes.  The information is based on my new book, How to 

Legally Cut Your Taxes. 

JOURNALIST: “Will you be my new best friend? I want to make  

you famous.” 

 Why is this the right way? 

 First, you started with the hook. You got the journalist’s attention. 

 Who doesn’t want to reduce their taxes? 

 Then, you backed up your statement by indicating that you 

are an expert on the subject.  You wrote a book. If the journalist is 

interested, she will ask who you are, what makes you an expert, and 

if you have a press release or media kit.

 But what if you don’t have a book? You adapt your approach. 

YOU: “I’m calling to tell your readers/audience how they can cut their 

taxes by 25% in 15 minutes. I’m a CPA with 20 years experience. I have 

literally saved my clients tens of millions of dollars—legally and simply. 

JOURNALIST: “I want to have your children.” 

In this example, you still led with a great hook. And you in- 

dicated your expertise; you’re not some fruitcake with bizarre ideas 

about taxes. 

 Of course, journalists won’t really say the above words, though 

if you bore them, annoy them, or pester them, especially when they’re 

on deadline, they may get a restraining order against your phone. 

 That’s why it’s critical to catch their attention immediately 

and offer something of value to them. 

It’s a good idea to practice pitching with your friends before you pick 

up the phone. Remember the saying, “You only get one chance to 

make a good first impression.” With journalists, you get about half 

that much. 

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As I’ve mentioned before, appearing on radio talk shows is a great way to promote  yourself.

If you’ve never tried getting on these shows before, the process is fairly easy, but it does take some time, effort and persistence. Here’s how to do it:

Contact the show’s producer.  Once you have a particular show in mind, call the general business number for the station, not the line into the studio, and ask for the name of the producer, with proper spelling, and their email address.  If the person who answers the phone doesn’t know, which often happens at radio stations,  ask to speak to someone in the programming department.

People in that department either know who produces each show, or they know how to find out.  If they can’t help you, ask to speak to the programming director.  This person is often hard to reach, especially if he or she also doubles as on-air talent.  But keep trying, it’s well worth the effort.

You can then decide to either call the show’s producer or send an email.

When David Barron and I were pitching our book, Power Persuasion, we set up about 20 interviews for a six-week period for just a few hours effort each.

I made phone calls to some shows while David emailed others.  Both methods were effective, however, all of the show producers I talked to wanted a more complete pitch by email.  The phone calls broke the ice and I sent the producers the written pitch right after the call, while the conversation was still fresh in their minds.

If you contact the stations with a written pitch and you get call from a producer, be aware that she interested in the topic and that you are being auditioned, though she will probably never say that. 

So prepare yourself for the call.  Practice answering a few basic questions about yourself and your topic ahead of time on tape.  Think high energy.  Producers are looking for lively guests who are informative and entertaining.  If your topic is a serious one, let  your voice reflect it, without being too somber or stiff.  If you are passionate about a topic, such as a cause, let it show.  But don’t be obnoxious or overbearing, regardless of the subject.  The key is to strike a balance between being a hyper music DJ and an undertaker, while still being yourself.

Listen to a variety of radio talk shows, paying attention to how the guests perform.  Think about what you like and dislike about each of them, then compare it with a practice tape of  yourself.  Should you speak faster or slower?  Louder or softer?  Raise your voice tone or lower it?

Only pitch one show in each market.  If you get turned down, then contact the next person on your list in that market.  If you are approaching national shows, it’s okay to contact them all at the same time, but don’t mention it unless asked.            

It’s usually best to answer questions from the media honestly, but there is no rule that says you have to volunteer information.

So there you have it.  Follow the steps above, and if you have a good topic and can present yourself well, you too can be on the radio.

Thanks for reading,

Danek

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