Publicity I didn’t Pay For, It Paid Me.

So everywhere there was a new sales pitch coming at me, pay for my expert advice and I will get you the press you so desperately desire. We all have heard these promises, heard the sales pitch, and have gasped at the five grand retainers. In fact, I even charge one to those who wish to pay it. Is there a better way to get the press to notice you?

Here is what I did that helped me earn money getting others on TV, Radio, and in the Press. Let me start by giving you my background on this subject. I have 5 clients I am now working with including directors and producers who are from varied walks of life. One is a Hollywood Producer who has films with actors like Jeremy London, Ryan Hurst, Heather McComb, Dan Grimaldi, Robert Picardo and William Devane. Another is a Christian Singe and Song writer with 4 Top 5 hits on the radio right now. I also have a comedian who does clean comedy, a rarity in today’s media and entertainment circus.

In the last 3 months my clients have been on world wide TV and Radio stations that have exposed them to over 1.5 billion people. There internet sites and subscriptions have gone from zero to over 250,000 RSS subscribers. My own radio show gained from this effort too and it propelled me into a web site creation designed as a PR social network.

You see, I sell ads on my radio show. So it is not always the best thing to show someone how to get free advertising for their project without asking them to support your cause too. SelfGrowth does this by providing a link exchange program that helps the web site get exposed while providing service to their enrolled experts. So tip one is exchange links. If you want free ads on the net then give them in return.

Next when looking for free places to shout to potential customers for your self help program do your home work. A good PR kit with a Electronic Media Kit online is good to have. A 5 x10 professional photo with a bio, ten talking points or subject pitches, and related information that makes you worth having on the show. If your package is not attractive, you won’t get the booking.

Where do you market yourself?

Besides press releases, you can resource many free and pay services that can help you gain great access to the press and media. Two which I use to book guests on my show are Help A Reporter Out and Reporter Connection. Experts contact me through those online services and I book them on my radio show. The links to these sites are on my PR social network site which is free to join. Sense I am not writing this to advertise free I will leave the links out. If you are a real go-getter you can find me and the sites and gain the resources I use free of charge.

Once you have used these tips to get your PR kit where it is working, you will need to establish a mailing list that you can use just for press and media person. The press get thousands of emails every day from authors and self published experts asking to be on TV and in the media outlets. So if you want to catch their eye you must have an idea that they want to know more about. Here is where you become the pitchman and sell the media rep or producer on you. If you get them in the first 5 seconds then you have a good chance of being booked on the TV or Radio Show.

When I try to book for my clients, I seek out what the target audience is looking for and tailor my pitch to fit that market. Make your idea like a song jingle, with a hook in it. “Why do fools fall in love” “Only The Lonely” “Jesus take the wheel” these are all famous song ‘Hooks’. You need to get a ‘Hook too and build it into your message so that people will know what you are about. You sell yourself and drive people to buy your product by making it something they remember.

Now make your idea believable, reasonable, and be reliable. When you present your claims back them up with valid facts and personal history. Then give reasonable efforts and actions people can take to change or be better along with your web site to get your book, or product, or service. Finally be reliable in that when you get the media to listen and have you on the show, be there on time, dressed for the show format, and ready to smile.

Once you have your act together and have been on a few shows, post the audio and video on your site. Host the video free at YouTube and plug it into multiple social networks like Twitter, MySpace, PRSpaceBook, SelfGrowth, and FaceBook. There are other sites out there too, live Hi5 and other social networks where media glean for stories. You should be everywhere you can and return query’s within a reasonable time.

Finally there are some paid services out there. I charge $150 a month for my basic contact service and that is real inexpensive for PR work. Most PR reps charge $5000 a month and it can go up from there. So shop around and if you are doing it yourself, you may want to still get some paid services to help you reach your goal. I always suggest the PR Summits with Bradley Communications and ads in the Radio TV Interview Report Magazine or RTIR. The prices are reasonable for RTIR ads and you can gain a lot of contacts in the press through that source. The Summits are a bit more expensive. They run two a year in New York City starting at about 5 grand and up. You get to meet press and media producers who can book you on shows that you would not be likely to get on unless you had attended the summit. Just tell Steve or the rep I sent you. I don’t get anything from this other than good networking points. In media that can mean a lot when you do several shows as I do.

You can also get a media contact guide from them for about $500 that has detailed information on media contacts and how to present your show ideas to them. For radio, you can also get a great guide from Alex Carroll who has put together a great program and his link is on my radio show web site where I do make a small amount of money from the course if you order from there.

Now that you have a little exposure to the media world you should be ready to take that acting class and show up at a casting call. Many advertisers and Madison Avenue firms are looking for folks just like you to stick in an ad on TV today. There are several casting call sites that have just what can get your face on TV free and that can lead to people looking for you. Every chance you get to go on TV or the Radio free and do an interview, DO IT! If you land that part in the local or national TV ad as a face on the screen do that too. There is no such thing as bad press when you are unknown unless it is news about you doing something wrong. So go to casting call sites and try out for parts that fit your body type and personality. You may just be the next big star that started in a TV commercial.

I have casting call links on my social network and if you write to me about this article and say you read it on SelfGrowth I will send you free links to the sites and give you a chance to be on my Radio show.

Being successful in getting free press is not just a dream for some, those who take action and make the contacts will gain good media outlets to be on and present their product or service web site in the course of the interview. Always put your expertise first in the presentation and your web site on the lips of the millions of viewers or listeners. Networking with the media is not just getting what you want, it is giving something as a resource in return for the interview and being grateful that the time you were on pitching yourself could have cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. When you get enough face time on the TV or in the press, you may want to count the cost you did not spend, and find as I have, millions of dollar in free ad time. So don’t forget to thank the host and producer for having you on the show.