Try These Tips for Tweaking Your Delivery

Article at a glance:

• Don’t use ‘Please read’ as your email subject line.
• Do your homework before calling or emailing.
• Respect the journalist’s time. 

It’s beyond frustrating to discover that one of the first steps in your media campaign is a doozy.

Connecting with the print, radio or TV person who can get you in the paper or on the air can be like hitting the target at a carnival shooting gallery. You miss so many times, eventually you figure the game’s rigged.

Really, you just need to know how to play.

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Tips for Taking on the Tough Questions

Article at a glance:

• A lively debate makes for a memorable interview.
• Prepare yourself by writing down bullet points.
• Invest in media coaching.

What makes good talk radio? Often, it’s a good argument – just the thing a lot of first-time guests hope to avoid.

They hear shock jocks like Howard Stern or commentator Bill O’Reilly try to skewer interviewees with pointed questions and they want no part of it.

“Please find me talk show hosts who agree with my point of view,” clients will ask us here at EMSI.

The trouble with that is, preaching to the choir doesn’t make for memorable entertainment in most show formats. And if the audience doesn’t remember you, what have you accomplished?

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Article at a glance:

• Local media can position you as a celebrity and expert.
• A hometown fan base can help you grow.
• Look for shows, publications that are a good fit.

I admit, I’d be on the first red-eye to New York City if I thought I’d land in the chair next to Matt Lauer on the Today show. Imagine! An audience of millions and Matt Lauer’s hand on my arm!

But while national TV exposure is great, you won’t hear me sobbing if he never invites me to his set. (Well, maybe a sniffle or two – hey, he is Matt Lauer.)  I know that local TV and radio shows, newspapers and magazines can also position me as an expert and a celebrity. They can help me build a solid fan base that will help carry me to national prominence, if that’s what I want. And they’ll give me a chance to polish my message, so when the big time’s ready for me, I’ll be ready for it.

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Article at a glance:

• For maximum exposure, establish yourself as an expert.
• Look to your research, experience, book themes for ideas.
• Follow the news so you can craft timely pitches.

I hear from so many fiction writers who believe their only shot at publicity is through the journalists and talk show hosts who focus on books: reviewers, book-related shows, book sections in newspapers and magazines. Sure, they’re worth pitching to, but book critics are a shrinking specialty in traditional media and you’re making a mistake if you limit yourself to that target audience.

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Three Ways Social Media Affects What You See, Hear and Read in the Media

You don’t have to do a lot of research to see that the mainstream media uses social media every day. Every major news anchor has a Twitter account and many of them have Facebook fan pages with thousands of followers who receive regular updates on that anchor’s activities and interests.

CNN’s Anderson Cooper spends several minutes every night asking viewers to connect with him on Twitter and Facebook. Ed Schulz of MSNBC’s The Ed Show runs interactive polls on a nightly basis connecting those using social media back to his evening show. Every major host or anchor has a social media presence in which they not only promote their appearances, but also seek feedback from their audiences.

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While Your Competitors Guzzle the Eggnog, You Can Be Getting the Media

And now, the season begins.

In the office, everyone is hanging around the coffee machine longer and enjoying holiday deserts.  Outside the office, people are caught up in the holiday parties, shopping, food, family gatherings, and enough reruns of holiday programs that they are replaying the Grinch song in their head. They spend a little more time online surfing eBay for gifts and writing emails to associates hoping to put any real work off until January 2.

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In the mid 1970s, Michael Uslan bought the film rights to a comic book character no movie studio cared about – Batman. For more than a decade he labored with writers and producers, pitching his darkly elegant vision of this movie. Finally, in the late 1980s, Michael was able to assemble a team that included director Tim Burton and stars Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson to create the landmark movie Batman. After its premiere in 1989, it became the highest grossing movie of all time at that point in movie history.

Since then, Michael has been the co-executive producer (along with partner Benjamin Melnicker) of the Batman franchise of films, including the recent blockbusters Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. He has also been involved in other films, such as Constantine, National Treasure and upcoming film versions of The Shadow and Shazam. Read more →

You know what hard work is. You’ve put in the long hours, worked late into the night, done more working than eating during the lunch hour—all to ensure the success of your business.

You may be thinking about what else you can do to get the news of your products or services more broadly known within your target market. Or, you might be brainstorming future steps to expand your business and make it even more successful. Read more →

Here’s the situation. You have a great product or service and YOU know it. But just like the “better mousetrap,” it doesn’t mean a thing unless your market knows it too. TV and radio are great avenues for promoting to the masses. They are dynamic media allowing consumers to visualize and hear you enlighten them (the way only you can) to the great value of your offering. Read more →

Golf Digest interviews Marsha Friedman regarding the Tiger Woods PR disaster.

Click here to read online.