GET FREE PUBLICITY NOW!

Archive for the ‘Publicity Tip’ Category

Subscribe in a reader

Be Interviewed on Radio Talk Shows

There is no limit to the types of stories you can pitch to the media to get free publicity, though some are easier to sell than others.

Below is a list of some of the types of stories journalists are likely to be open to. Some of these will apply to you, others won’t; but you can use them as a springboard for related public relations ideas.

Do well by doing good. Sponsor a charitable event or volunteer for a charity. If you’re a business owner or a manager, you might encourage your entire staff to participate. Doing good works offers two chances for publicity. You can send out a news release to announce the commitment you’ve made before the event and another one after the event detailing some of your accomplishments.

Celebrate a milestone or an anniversary. Just sold your 10,000th car? Reached a 10th, 25th or 50th anniversary? Let journalists know. It’s a great time to get free publicity.

Write a helpful how-to article. If you own an auto repair shop, offer tips on basic maintenance or trouble shooting. If you run a pastry shop, offer some tips on how to get a flakier pie crust.

Tie in to the news. There are many possibilities. Let’s say a celebrity couple announces that they’re getting a divorce. If you’re a psychologist or a marriage counselor, you could offer pointers on how to have a better marriage. If you’re a divorce attorney or a CPA, you might issue a press release on the financial consequences of divorce.

Create your own survey. If you sell computers, you can get some free publicity if you do a survey about the most common customer complaints and announce your findings to the press. If you operate a health spa, you could do a survey to determine whether jogging or walking is more popular. Fortune 500 Humor Consultant Malcolm Kushner is author of “Public Speaking for Dummies” and “Presentations for Dummies.” He has garnered national publicity for his annual “Cost of Humor Index.” Each year he assesses the cost of such humor-related items as rubber chickens and whoopee cushions, then he issues a press release to announce his findings. He’s been a guest on several top TV talk shows and other national venues.

Want more Free Publicity Tips? Read You Can Be Famous! Insider Secrets to Getting Free Publicity. See the 1st Chapter

Be interviewed on 150 Radio Talk Shows

Follow me on Twitter

Be Friends on Facebook

Learn about my Publicity and Writing Services

Join the Power Publicity group on Facebook

Email Me

 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. 

Follow me on Twitter

Be a friend on Facebook

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

Want more great tips? Read You Can Be Famous! Insider Secrets to Getting Free Publicity.

“Buy this one   NOW. ”  Marketing Guru Joe Vitale, star in The Secret.

Follow me on Twitter

Get a Free Consultation

7 Myths About Getting  Free Publicity

There is a lot of misunderstanding about the nature of publicity and how to go about getting it.  Here  are 7 myths that may keep you from getting the free publicity you deserve.

Myth 1.  Publicity and advertising are the same.  Advertising is exposure that you pay for.  You control the exact message and, if you’re willing to pay extra, the placement of the ad.

Publicity is free, unless you are working with a publicist.  Even so, the cost of hiring one is much less than the cost of advertising, yet it has more value because it is treated as news.

It has much more credibility than advertising.  The downside is, you don’t control the placement or size of a story.

Also, you don’t have control over the exact spin that a journalist will give the story.  But if you initiated the process, by contacting the media with a news release, the story will usually be favorable.

Myth 2.  You have to know someone.  Like anything else in life, it helps if you have contacts on the inside.  But they are not necessary.  Every day thousands of people without contacts get free publicity in the media.

They are able to do it because they have a real story to tell, not a bunch of  hype or disguised advertising, and they sent the media a well-crafted release.

Myth 3.  You have to be one of the big guys to get any media attention.  Wrong.  See Myth 2 above.

Myth 4.  You should send your release everywhere.  Doing this is counterproductive.  You should target your release to the right outlets and the right journalists.

For example, say your company has just released new customer relations software.

Don’t buy a giant media list and send it to everyone on it.  Select the business publications and talk shows and the editors of the business sections of newspapers and magazines, as well as business websites, and send your release to them only.

If you have a list that is detailed enough to give you the contact info for individual business reporters, select those who write about software or high tech, not real estate.

Warning:  only send the release to one person at a media outlet at a time.  If that person turns you down, then it is okay to contact another one.

Myth 5.  You should send out lots of press releases.  Don’t pester journalists with releases about every little thing that happens at  your business or organization.

They find it annoying and time consuming.  It’s like the boy who cried wolf.  Send them too many trivial releases and they will stop paying attention.  Wait until you have something reasonably important to share with the public.

Myth 6.  Bigger is better.  Don’t write long press releases.  Journalists  have too many to read.  The ideal length is 400 – 600 words.

If you have more to say, you can provide additional items such as a bio (biography), company history or fact sheet.  If the release interests journalists, they will then read your supporting material for more information.

Myth 7.  You can get publicity if you buy an ad.  Except with smaller media outlets and some trade publications, buying an ad will not influence the decision  to do a story on you.

With most journalists, telling them that you will buy an ad if they do a story is a turn off and it may make them decide not to do anything at all.  Don’t drop your advertising if it is working, but don’t try to tie it to getting free publicity.

Want to know more? Read  You Can Be Famous! Insider Secrets to Getting Free Publicity

Follow me on Twitter

Get a Free Publicity Consultation — for FREE.  Write dkaus@sbcglobal.net

One of the keys to getting free publicity is to make the journalist’s job easier. Not because they are lazy, but because they are almost always overworked and on deadline.

This means streamlining the communication process as much as you can.

In my work as a journalist, I’ve had several people pitch me stories who then told me I could find out the background information I needed by reading several pages of their web site, they weren’t sure just where, but if I hunted around, I could find it.

More than one got testy when I told them I didn’t have time.

Think about this situation from the standpoint of human nature. Forget about journalism for a moment. Imagine that someone asks you to do them a favor. When you agree, they put all kinds of conditions on you as to how the favor must be performed and when, so that they are not inconvenienced.

How would you feel, especially if you had several things of your own that you had to accomplish before the end of the day?

Now, journalists are not doing you a favor. They are looking for good stories, but they have a lot to choose from. Who is more likely to get their story in the paper, the person who is helpful, or the person who puts up roadblocks?

One time I asked the spokesperson for a nonprofit a question and she told me to go read her 96 page white paper. There was no way I was going to do that, not to find one simple piece of information that she could have told me over the phone. Guess whose story didn’t appear in the paper.

So do whatever you can to make the journalist’s life easier and you’ll find yourself getting more and more free publicity.

Adapted from the book, You Can Be Famous! Insider Secrets to Getting Free Publicity

Two of the best-known media directories are Gebbie Press and Bacon’s Publicity Directory, now known as Cision.

These directories list editors and beat reporters (a beat is a topic area), as well as their contact info.

You can buy media lists from these companies online or you can use the hard copy directories in the reference area of most libraries. One caution: many libraries have editions that are more than a year old.  Because journalists tend to be a nomadic lot, some of the info in the hard copy directories will be out of date, the older the edition, the more inaccurate. But at least these books will give you the basic info you need to start your search and build your media contacts lists.

Thanks for reading,

Danek

Follow me on Twitter

Read   You Can Be Famous! Insider Secrets to Getting Free Publicity

Careers from Kitchen Table radio show, which has about 400,000 listeners, interviewed me about how small business owners and others can get free publicity.

You can download the show here.

When you reach the download page, scroll down a little to show # 35.

I welcome your comments.

Thanks for listening and thanks for reading my blog.

Danek

Read: You Can Be Famous! Insider Secrets to Getting Free Publicity

Follow me on Twitter