Tweet

Mastering The Media: How to make the most of your publicity/media exposure opportunities?

Written by: Todd Brabender

Article Overview: Making the media's job as easy as possible is a way great way to get exposure and subsequent sales increases.

Mastering The Media: How to make the most of your publicity/media exposure opportunities?

As a former TV news reporter/producer and a current PR/publicity professional, I have been on both sides of the media interview game. I like to think I have a good eye for what makes a good interview source, how to conduct an interesting interview, and how to give a compelling interview. There are a few tricks of the trade that can make you come off like a pro -- which will make the reporter’s job easier and most likely translate into a better PR/publicity placement for you.

Here are a few basic tips to follow:

* When a publicity campaign generates a media response, try to respond as promptly as possible to that initial contact and subsequent requests. Reporters, editors and producers are on constant deadline. If they don’t get what they want from you quickly -- they WON’T wait -- they WILL move on to another source.

* State facts, not fireworks, keeping superlatives to a minimum. Proving your product is indeed the “BEST” is next to impossible. So don’t. Simply state the specific benefits of your product matter of factly. Let the consumer decide which product is best. As long as you have a quality product, something that should be evident by the time you implement a publicity campaign, your product won’t need “BEST EVER” or “NUMBER 1” claims to come out in a positive light.

* Speak in sentences, not phrases.
Articulate your answers in the following manner: Subject -- Verb -- Object -- Reason

Ex: “We (subject) are launching (verb) our new product (object)
to give consumers a healthy new option in beverages (reason).”

This will help you give answers that are straightforward and easily understood. Beginning sentences with phrases, tends to make your answers seem drawn out, disjointed and most times unresponsive. This is not to say you should never begin a sentence with a phrase. Granted, some media savvy interviewees can pull it off with articulation. But until you get to that level -- stick to the fundamentals.

* “Echo-answer” the main questions.
If a reporter asks: “What’s so great about your new product?” -- try to paraphrase and answer: “The great thing about our product is...” That quote/soundbite is much more likely to be used because that answer can stand on its own without needing a “set-up” sentence in the article/story. A reporter can throw that quote in anywhere and it is a logical, understandable statement about the product.

* Keep quotes and sound bites concise and articulate.
If you must have a “canned response” to a question speak conversationally, not like a robot. A good rule of thumb for answer lengths: Effective TV/radio news broadcast soundbites should be around 4-10 seconds -- something you can speak comfortably in about 3 or 4 normal breaths. Anything longer and it may seem to drone on. That’s why they are called sound bites. Regardless, stick to the S-V-O formula and there’s no real way you can get off track and therefore open you up to awkward follow-up questions.

* Be a well, not a fountain.
By that I mean allow the interviewer to dip in and draw out your responses instead of spewing forth a tirade of unsolicited information. (Don’t worry – most interviewers will “lead” you into discussing the most relevant aspects of your product) You will seem more genuine and less self-serving if you answer the interviewer’s questions succinctly and professionally. This is especially true in “firefighting” publicity -- when your
product/business/company is being interviewed in the wake of a problem.

* Speak to the interviewer, not the medium.
Don’t get blinded by the “stage lights”. Whether you are speaking to the editor of a small town weekly newspaper or Oprah, consider the reporter just a single person in your extensive targeted audience. Treat the interview as a one on one conversation with the reporter. That will make you more at ease, allow you to think more clearly and let you be more genuine in your responses.

--------

Todd Brabender is the President of Spread The News Public Relations, Inc.
His business specializes in generating publicity & media exposure for innovative
products/businesses/experts/websites.
(785) 842-8909
todd@spreadthenewspr.com
http://www.spreadthenewspr.com

Related Articles
  A Little Known Media Exposure Tip: 2nd Quarter = Prime Time PR
  Lag Time
  The dripping tap feed your stories gradually
  Mastering The Secret and Create Success!
  Develop Social Media Sites for Personal Branding

Article Tags: business, marketing, media exposure, pr public relations, press, publicity, release



Related Forum Posts
Re: I'm Published On Kindle! - That is awesome, David! Great job. This will surely get you a great deal of exposure. Kindle provides so many opportunities to publishers, and as you prove, anyone can become an author and publisher.
Re: Kevin needs "social glue" ideas - Hi, I like the idea of "10 items that could act as "social glue" because I am an internet marketer. But I agree with the rest that the 10 recent post is nice. Maybe we should open up a new section in the forums on Social Media...or Social Media Marketing. I will tell you that the world is about 1 1/2 behind when it comes to understanding social media. Building a section now will put EvanCarmichael.com is a great position a year down the road when people realize Social Media can produce more traffic than SEO. Jeff
Re: How do you maximize your time at business/networking events? - Hi Kevin, Personally I don't do any speaking, but I think this question can fit other niches too. I am easily distracted, especially if I am not in the mood for work, and working online makes it even harder. I set myself a list of monthly goals that i want to achieve and then every week I set the task for everyday. For most tasks I have a time limit, and I keep those with no time to the end and let myself go wild. I think that in any business it is important to meet new people. New people means, new ideas, new opportunities and of course new exposure.
Re: Tactics for Blog Traffic - If you want to look at driving blog traffic from social Media, then I would say Facebook over Twitter. You have a lot more versatility on FB, can more readily promote your presence (especially now with the new page features) and you can always get them to repost automatically on to Twitter. I personally am a great believer in blogs, online Content will always be king. If you do not want to have your own blog, because you know that you will not use it, then you should write a short article (300 words, anything less and Google may ignore) and ask bloggers out there if you can do a guest post on their blog. Each post should be unique, as Google do not post copied content. Just make sure that you have a backlink included in the content. This way you can piggyback on other peoples sites and get more traffic and brand exposure and get a valuable back link. If you want you can post a post to my blog, just leave it as a comment and I'll give you a live back link. Same applies to others (must be unique or Google will just ignore, so no one wins.)
Re: Branding Your Business On Facebook: Be Creative - Thanks for the tips, Evan. I just got on Facebook this past week, and am looking for ways to gain exposure to my business. I was already on Twitter and have found this to be a beneficial tool for global exposure. This works for me since my coaching is done over the phone. Great tips! Aneshia


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

••••••>SEO Tip Of The Day: HTML Validation

The Right Job - Part Five 'Compensation'

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.