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Moving from local to national recognition

Guest post by: Bonnie Harris

Article Overview: You're well recognized locally, but you now you want national attention. Here are some tactics that may help you grab big media consideration.

Moving from local to national recognition

Here are some ideas on reaching the next level, which for most of us means national media. It doesn’t matter if you live in San Diego or Dayton, Ohio. You can do it, it just takes time and patience.

You’ll see these items are a mixture of promoting yourself, and trying to help media find you. It works both ways for big media, and often at the same time. Here are some of the tactics I usually start with:

1. First thing to remember is that the media is always looking for new faces and new ideas. And the first place they look is online. Find some big online sites with high traffic numbers and don’t stop until they let you write something for them. What site does everyone go to in your niche? Where do the the big names have blogs or write. Small business might be American Express’ OPEN Forum, financial could be Jim Cramer’s TheStreet.com, for women’s interests it’s iVillage.com. You can also try for something on Salon.com or another opinion site. (Personally, I think HuffPo is overrated, but that’s probably because they’ve never asked me.) Make sure you write with your search terms in mind and tag your piece if you can. You may have a great website that comes up, but raise your credibility by writing for one of these. Psychology Today is often looking for bloggers, another great place for media to find you.

2. Send your press releases via PR Newswire or BusinessWire. Forget about PRWeb and the other cheapo ones. These two wire services really deliver the placements and if written using your best keywords, will help you come up much higher in the search rankings. One of my clients was called by two cable shows looking for expert resources off of a release like this. Another got in the Wall Street Journal when a reporter was researching similar events. It’s going to cost you a few hundred dollars, but have a dynamite release with real news and send it out.

3. Think regional. I like to pitch clients to markets like Atlanta, Houston, San Diego, the Bay Area and places where I know the reach is good but it’s still not too tough to get a placement. The best way to get your butt out to those markets is to offer to speak at a local association. Forget about getting paid, or possibly even getting expenses. Just go, and try to book media around that visit. If you need TV footage, this will really help. A producer looking at a reel will be more interested in someone who has a hit from Atlanta, another from San Diego, etc, than just from their home town.

4. Have a good reel but don’t make it pretty. You should have a version that has music and all the bells and whistles for your customers. But you should have another version that has multiple clips of almost raw footage, that shows you responding to interviewers in an impactful, articulate way. They want to see what you’re like in real life, not in a well lit studio talking directly to the camera about how great you are. I got a client a spot on a big cable show off one not so great clip because the producer said she was “darling”.

5. If you’re pitching national on your own, make sure your pitches and letters follow the necessary format. I really think Steve Harrison does a great job of showing people how to put together a really good TV pitch. You can find examples of print and broadcast pitches on this blog by just looking at the “how to pitch” category as well. Pay careful attention to these and don’t bug the producers. Better to contact them four times in a year with really good stuff, then to send one and bug them forever “Did you read it? Did you read it?” They keep the good stuff. I’ve been called a year after sending something for really big stories sometimes.

6. Keep a very detailed press list and add to it often. This means all the producers, writers, editors and other media you meet on your way. Put notes down on where and when you’ve pitched them and try to get a formal methodology to it, so that you’re building a network of media.

Last but not least: Be gracious, kind and courteous to everyone you meet. This may sound like common sense, but I can’t tell you how snotty some people are to interns or assistants..who almost always will be producers or writers one day. Be generous with your knowledge as you gain it too. I often think of the Blue Zones’ Dan Buettner or Yale’s Kelly Brownell as great examples. These two accomplished guys make you feel like you’ve been their best friend for 20 years, the first time you meet them. Be like that. That’s the very best advice I can give you.

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Article Tags: getting national attention, national media placements, national publicity



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