Embrace Your Spotlight Inspiration Lounge : The Power of Influence, Credibility and Conversion

Insider tips to creating media coverage for your expertise

One of my clients recently asked me for tips on how to distribute a press release in the most effective way. She wanted a time saving, proactive solution given the multitude of options. She’s a smart, savvy, driven woman entrepreneur like many of you. Enjoy the advice I gave her…

One of the many powerful ways to build your credibility, influence and then conversion using your compelling personal brand is via 3^rd party validation or what is commonly known as media coverage and media relationships.

During my 22 years in entertainment PR, I used simple systems to tackle what seemed like an overwhelming project of securing media coverage for my celebrities, visual and performing artists and creative professionals. Traditional media coverage is TV, radio, newspapers, and magazines. Today we have the LUXURY of Social Media, blogs, websites and more online resources to add to the pot of media coverage.

Amazing opportunities, but overwhelming, right?

As a small business owner, you have dozens of online tools and sites to connect with media and the option to distribute hundreds of your press releases. There’s the popular http://www.helpareporter.com/ where journalists list their needs for stories and resources. There’s PRweb.com that will help you distribute your press release to very specific media, regions, and industries. Publicityinsider.com is a helpful resource for PR tips and tools. The list goes on. That’s the “broad stroking” way of reaching media and that’s all helpful.

However, what I found in my experience, the most effective strategy to catch the attention of a feature writer, TV or radio producer is to do your homework. Here are my helpful insider tips:

1. Pick the mediums your target market profile reads or listens to (newspapers, websites, magazines, radio shows, interview TV shows -- GMA, CNN, Today Show etc). Know where they go for their entertainment, news, resources and solutions to their problems.

HOT TIP: you can use keywordspy.com to search for your topic and measure the reach of that topic with this tool. It uses Google to aggregate content for the site.

2. Know what topics a particular Journalist or producer covers. Read their columns and articles or listen to the radio show host and watch the TV show that takes guests. Jot down the name of these journalists and begin to build a list of media for your own target market.

3. Then here’s the secret to making this media coverage task doable and more proactive: choose in batches of “Top 10” media contacts to approach via phone and email. Do a total of 30 contacts over a 3 month period where you approach them in batches of 10. Complete each follow up until you receive a yes or no. Give them news angle ideas that will be of interest to their audience. It’s not about your product or service or event. It’s about how your expertise will serve their audience. You are helping them with their job! Yes, if you want to use PRweb.com to distribute a general press release to a specific market and media - go ahead as a support to your campaign. But focus on going directly to the Journalist and “pitch” them your story/news idea.

Pitch them via phone and do it quickly! They have very little time. If you can’t get them on the phone - leave a quick to the point message and tell them you are emailing them your press release and story ideas. Tell them your email address so they can watch for it. Now, keep in mind, they are pitched all day long by hundreds of people, so FOLLOW UP is critical. Keep approaching each of the 10 till you have exhausted your 10 list and then move onto the next 10.

4. Be a resource for media in two ways. Build a collaborative relationship with media. Be known as a top expert with excellent, efficient, and factual content for them. Secondly, recommend experts in your circles of influence to your media contact and they will eventually come to you for other suggestions. They will be one of your BEST sources for building credibility, influence and conversion.

When I was doing PR for my clients, I was hired based on my creative news angle talents, knowing how to talk to the media and WHO was in my media rolodex. The relationships with media were crucial to my success as a publicist. You can build these too! Just be consistent with posting your expertise on your blog, Twitter and Facebook fan page.

HOT TIP: Journalists typically use Twitter and blogs to find resources for their stories. Show up consistently!

By the way…a professionally done journalistic ready press release acts like an intro for media to consider your topic or person for coverage. It’s like bait. It’s not the end all be all. It’s not an article. It’s factual, compelling, and of interest to the audience the Journalist serves (which is YOUR audience).

So, go out and be the brilliant personal brand you know you can be by serving your immediate audience with your expertise in the most authentic way and expand your credibility and influence by making media relationships for media coverage; then watch your conversion INCREASE!

Helpful article? Please post a comment here or go to my fan page and let me know how this helped you! I want to make this a two-way conversation - let’s connect!