Publicity tips/Biggest TV pitching mistakes May 23, 2006

The Publicity Hound's
Tips of the Week
Issue #295 - May 23, 2006
Publisher: Joan Stewart
mailto:JStewart@PublicityHound.com
http://www.PublicityHound.com
http://www.PublicityHound.net (Blog)
The Publicity Hound®

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In This Issue
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1. Biggest TV Pitching Mistakes

2. The Overdone Press Conference

3. Your Boring Bio

4. Media & Marketing Leads

5. Promoting a Wildlife Sanctuary

6. Help This Hound

7. Hound Joke of the Week

8. And at My Blog...

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1. Biggest TV Pitching Mistakes
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Are you making these major mistakes when pitching TV talk shows?

--You're pitching a producer whose name you added to your Rolodex four years ago, but you haven't pitched her since then.

-- You're pitching the wrong producer at the show and don't know who's the correct one for your topic.

--You have no idea what kinds of segments a producer specializes in.

--You're pitching your book instead of your expertise.

--You're pitching only yourself. And you're reluctant to pitch other guests to appear on the same show because you don't want them to hog the spotlight.

--You're sending your entire media kit with all your marketing materials to the producer of a show like "Oprah" thinking that if she has a good selection of things to read, she’ll find what she needs and book you for a segment. (Fat chance she'll even open it.)

--You pitch shows you have never watched.

--You offer the same angle to everyone you're pitching.

--You include your resume with your pitch, which makes it look like you're job-hunting.

--You send blast-fax pitches to everyone because it's cheaper than snail-mail, and the pitches won't get caught in spam filters.

--When you make your follow-up calls, you ask, "Did you get my media kit?"
If you make any of those mistakes, no wonder you aren't getting interviews.
You must be thoroughly familiar with each show. You must know the names of the producers and which segments they specialize in. You must send succinct, compelling pitches and deliver them in the format in which the producers prefer, along with the correct marketing materials.

And you must make every single media outlet believe that your pitch was custom-made only for them.

I just got my hands on "Harrison's Guide to the Top National TV Talk and Interview Shows," and it's chock full of contact names and pitching tips for 259 of the top shows. The user-friendly guide lets you search for information by topic, or by program in alphabetical order. It also lets you know which producer is the best overall contact and includes lots of specific information on which kinds of guests these producers are looking for.

Steve Harrison is raising the price after 5 p.m. on Thursday, May 25. If you order your copy now at http://www.appearontoptvshows.com/special/?10011 you'll also gain admission to a special training teleconference called "Secrets for Getting Booked as a Guest on Top National TV Shows" and featuring a former NBC producer.

Also at that web page, you can get four f~ree complimentary listings from Steve's directory, including those for ABC's "20/20," CBS' "60 Minutes," "The 700 Club" and "CBS Weekend Evening News."

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2. The Overdone Press Conference
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The media hate press conferences.

That's because the person hosting the press conference treats them all like a herd of cattle--leading them into the same barn, feeding them from the same trough, and shooing them out of the barn at the same time, all with the identical story.

Even worse, the media often have to battle rush-hour traffic to attend your staged media event, then bolt back to the office to write the story on deadline.

You can host a press conference if you truly have major breaking news to report. But when I worked as a reporter, 99 percent of the press conferences I attended were a colossal waste of my precious time. So I made a mental note to never, ever attend a press conference called by those groups again.

I've attended press conferences where the person hosting it:

--Refused to tell the media beforehand what it was about.

--Stood at a podium and read a press release that they could have faxed to me.

--Refused to let the media ask questions.

--Treated the media like indentured servants by bossing them around.

--Announced complicated information but never bothered giving us support materials to help explain it.

--Leaked the story to a competing media outlet but made us drive to the news conference to get the same information.

The next time your boss tells you to call a press conference, tell the boss there's a much better way of letting the media know about your great story. Instead, host a media event--something that's fun and will really attract attention. And offer individual media outlets different angles, so they don't all leave with the same story.

PR pro Sandra Eggers has created compelling media events that have resulted in mountains of media coverage. She held a kids town hall meeting to announce what would have otherwise been a boring story the media would never have covered. She gave away 50,000 roses and carnations to announce a new trade association for florists. And she used hundreds of conch shells to publicize a lack of funding for special education in Michigan.

Hear how she did it by listening to the CD we recorded called "Creative Ideas for Boring Press Conferences." By the time you're finished listening to it, you'll be convinced that most press conferences are unnecessary and that properly staged media events are far more productive. Read more about what you'll learn at http://www.publicityhound.com/publicity-products/marketing-tapes/alternativestoconferences.htm


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3. Your Boring Bio
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While listening to a media panel last week at Publishers Marketing Association University in Washington, D.C., I cringed when I heard national correspondent Dan Raviv of CBS Radio News talk about the one thing he pays attention to when someone pitches him.

He doesn't care about their book. He sometimes doesn't even care about the pitch. The one thing that's likely to catch his attention is their bio.

Why did I cringe? Because most bios that I read are more potent than sleeping pills. They list the names of every school someone ever attended, all the degrees they earned, and all of their professional designations. Authors and speakers, it seems, write the worst bios.

Right now, I want you to pull out your own bio and read it. Then ask yourself. "If I were a journalist, would I interview me?"

Chances are, you wouldn't. I wouldn't either. And most other journalists wouldn't.

The best bio reflects the personality of the writer. Great bios include fun little tidbits about people's hobbies, or their pets, or the one thing they want to accomplish before they die, or the best piece of advice they got from mom.

One of my favorite bios is actually an introduction for a speaker who is a veterinarian, and it morphs into a funny poem that has the audience howling with laughter before the speaker takes the microphone. I included that bio and eight of my other favorite bios in "Special Report #46: Tips for Rewriting Your Boring Bio." It includes tips on how to find great material for your bio and incorporate events from your childhood into it so people keep reading, and so journalists like Dan Aviv call you for an interview.

You can order it at http://tinyurl.com/6uz9g


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4. Media & Marketing Leads
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--OverTime (OT) Magazine, the leading business and lifestyle guide for professional athletes, is looking for product pitches for its annual "Holiday Hot List," which reveals what athletes will be giving and receiving this holiday season. The gifts on the OT Holiday Hot List range from the affordable, to the elite and customizable, and include 10-12 gifts and stocking stuffers based on their uniqueness and specific appeal to athletes who might need a little help deciding what to buy their mom, dad, best buddies, or that special someone this year. Check it out at http://www.pbfn.org/pdfs/HolidayGiftGuide.pdf If you think you've got the right product for this elite demographic audience of more than 35,000 professional athletes and sports industry insiders, please send a brief introductory email outlining your product suggestion and its price to: Melissa Gillespie at mailto:mgillespie@ot-magazine.com No photos or image attachments, please. The magazine will ask for them if your product pitch passes the editorial screening. You can see an issue of OverTime at http://www.ot-online.com

--BlueStreak Publishing, which recently published the book, "Lifelong Looper--The Story of a Caddie Legend" by Cindy O’Krepki, is compiling short, heartwarming stories about golf, caddies, fathers or grandfathers for future books and is especially interested in ordinary people doing extraordinary things. Stories should be non-fiction, from 300-1,200 words. You may submit more than one story. Include an author's bio in 50 words or less. Send all submissions to mailto:bluestreakpublishing@comcast.net If your story is published, you'll be credited and your bio will be included. You will be paid upon publication, and payment will be determined at that time. If your story is chosen for a future book or any other projects, you will be notified and your permission to print it will be requested. However, if your story is not chosen, you will not receive a response due to the fact that there are future books for which it may be considered.

--The Byline Writers' Desk Calendar is looking for contributors for its 2008 calendar. If you're a writer who has been paid for your work, you're eligible to submit an entry. All genres and disciplines are welcome. See the submission guidelines at http://www.bylinescalendar.com/guidelines.php Thanks to Publicity Hound Roberta Beach Jacobson for this tip.

--You can win a year's subscription to The Gift List, the service that provides dozens of leads every year for media looking for products and service for its gift sections and features, if you come up with the winning tagline that The Gift List can use in its marketing. Owner Amy Bates-Stumpf says she's looking for a snappy, compelling tagline for her business at http://tinyurl.com/9es8y and she's short on ideas. I told her my Hounds can help. Keep it snappy and keep it short. My own tagline, for instance, is "Tips, tricks and tools for free publicity." Email your best idea to her at mailto:info@giftlistmedia.com?subject=Tagline


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5. Promoting a Wildlife Sanctuary
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This week, 13 Publicity Hounds have tips for Leanne Fielder of Melbourne, Australia. She needs ideas on how to promote the Melbourne Wildlife Sanctuary at La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia.


From Candy Tutt:

"Think big and contact 'Animal Planet' on the Discovery Network Channel. A feature on your webcams alone would be a winner for them!"


From Mary Kohnke:

"For donations, go to the groups that do the most to mess up the environment. Here in Florida, that includes the developers, their engineering firms, builders, etc. We pitch to them that helping us will make them seem at least a bit more like concerned citizens. This has been successful."


From Carol Ruddick:

"Partner with the local hotels, motels, lodges, campgrounds, etc. in the area. Offer them tickets for their guests at a discount. Let them market for you."


The Publicity Hound says:

The flora and the fauna are all affected by the weather, right? So contact the media whenever the weather--good or bad--affects the wildlife sanctuary. Piggybacking onto the weather is one of most frequently overlooked opportunities for publicity. See "Special Report #37: How to Tie Your Product, Service, Cause or Issue to the Weather" at http://tinyurl.com/6uz9g


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6. Help This Hound
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Jilleen Butler of Santa Ana, California writes:

"I am a Christian recording artist and speaker from Santa Ana, California. I recently released a new CD project called 'The Hymns Experience.' It's an interactive modern-day musical journey into the history of America's all-time favorite hymns. To listen to a few songs from the album, please visit http://www.jilleen.com/music.html What would you recommend that I do to help get publicity for the album in magazines, newspapers and on websites?" The Publicity Hound says: My Hounds have wonderful ideas on how to target niche markets and they can post them to my blog at http://publicityhound.net/?p=615


I suggest you start visiting blogs that deal with religious music and post comments to them. If those bloggers know you exist, they'll check you out and perhaps even blog about you. Or start your own blog. Read Don Crowther's excellent ebook called "Blogging for Business" and start creating a buzz online. The search engines love blogs. And if yours is done correctly, it will be like a giant magnet that pulls traffic to your website. Order Don's book at http://tinyurl.com/7fjrk


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7. Hound Joke of the Week
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Thanks to Publicity Hound Max Weiman of St. Louis, Missouri for this one:

A dog walks into a bar and orders a beer. The bartender figures dogs don’t know how much beer costs and charges him $20.

"We don’t have many dogs in here," the bartender says.

The dog answers, "At these prices, I’m not coming back either."

DOG JOKES & QUOTES EBOOK: 170+ G-rated dog jokes and quotes, perfect for a dog-lover, your favorite vet, or just for a few good laughs.

BONUS: Buy the ebook and you also get a compilation of the 50 best websites for dog humor.
http://www.publicityhound.com/dogjokebook/

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8. And at My Blog...
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Pre-nup agreements between PR people, clients
http://publicityhound.net/?p=604

Tips for pitching cosmetic surgery stories
http://publicityhound.net/?p=613

10 tips for pitching the trade press
http://publicityhound.net/?p=608

The kinds of authors 'Diane Rehm Show' wants
http://publicityhound.net/?p=612

POP STAR! wants items for teens, tweens
http://publicityhound.net/?p=614

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"How to Use the Media to Promote Your Expertise and Get Thousands of Dollars in Free Publicity," Network SOHO, Radisson Hotel, 2303 N. Mayfair Road. Registration at 7:15, breakfast at 7:30, program from 8 to 9. $20. To register, mailto:nicole@corebusinessstaffing.com

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Joan Stewart
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