You have to first think of your brand as something more than your image, logo and company colors. It’s your reputation. It’s also what people can remember about you when you’re not around. Can they remember what your brand does? Your expertise? Your company’s services? A memorable, successful brand is basically your message remembered by [...]
Newspapers: For non-breaking news, such as an event you are publicizing, give reporters and assignment editors two to four weeks notice. Don’t expect to call up a newspaper the day of the event and get them to cover it unless you are Tiger Woods calling a press conference! Nothing is more irritating to hard-working journalists [...]
The key is to promote yourself without being overly promotional. Part of giving a great interview is being able to promote yourself, your expertise, book or product in a way that doesn’t appear to be self-promoting. This is all about giving the media what they want, answering their questions and avoiding blatant self-promotion. Avoid phrases [...]
Yes, you’ll need different bios for different media needs. These should include your byline bio, a broadcast bio and a full bio. The byline is the concise bio with the key information on you, your accomplishments, websites and contact info suitable for bylined articles you submit to media venues. The broadcast bio is written in [...]
To best serve the media and increase your chances of getting covered, think about the different needs of various media. For instance, TV is looking for good visuals and a story that can be told succinctly in sound bites. For radio, you will need to practice answering questions with short punchy answers and avoid long-winded, [...]
Do you recognize this river? It’s the same river you probably saw in the movie, “Deliverance.” Most of you know I’m a whitewater kayaker and in this shot I’m running a rapid called, “Sock ‘Em Dog” on the Chattooga (Section 4). Many consider this rapid dangerous – others consider it fun. Choose your own perspective. But [...]
The first piece is your subject header. You want to have a compelling subject header that teases, so it includes your beat, your tease, and so forth to increase the odds of it being opened. It’s always good to tie it to breaking news. The second piece is credibility. You want to get right to [...]
My advice is to first choose the bookstore — one of the prominent ones in your area — and then work with the manager. One of the things you should always ask the manager is, “Who’s your favorite media outlet to work with?” Because they know which ones provide a good turn out for their [...]
The biggest no-no is calling up a media contact and asking, “Did you get my pitch? Or, did you get my book?” Journalists are very busy. A better tactic is to follow up without following up. Gather some more information tied to breaking news or an event, like an article you found or a show [...]
Well, it’s really quite simple actually! One of the things that I think people should make a practice of — if you’re trying to really serve the media, get with the media, be covered by the media — is to do something very simple at breakfast: Just turn on the news. I can’t tell you [...]