Often when mom entrepreneur clients contact me for a publicity campaign, they express the luck they’ve had getting placements online, on radio and in print (newspapers, magazines) and their disappointment at lack of television placements.
Television spots are not impossible to land. In fact, if you take the time to learn how to pitch producers properly and have a story that’s relevant to the show you’re pitching, you’ll see your TV coverage results increase exponentially.
So where to start? Simple – watch the show you want to be on and check their website.
Oprah, Rachael Ray, Ellen, Bonnie Hunt, Dr. Phil and Tyra all have a ‘Be on the Show’ section of their website that shows the topics they are covering. It can’t get any easier! Oprah and Rachael Ray also have Facebook fan pages with even more insider information. Oprah’s producers also blog on the Facebook fan page (great way to learn how things work behind the scenes).
If you’re a mom entrepreneur trying to land Good Morning America, The Early Show or Today Show, tape a week’s worth of shows to really see what they cover and how they cover it. Your pitches should be tailored to the shows’ format.
If you’re approaching your local news station, think about where you would best fit in. Lighter segments often end up on morning shows and hard hitting news is reserved for the evening spots. Always pitch a local angle – the segment must tie in to a local event or story or have a local angle on a national story.
Stay tuned. My next post will be devoted to identifying the right kind of segment to pitch!
Melissa is the founder of Cassera Communications an entrepreneur, national public speaker, and professional story spinner. She uses her storytelling mastery to help people craft compelling stories for use in work and in life. Melissa gained experience in various industries including entertainment, healthcare, and publishing before starting her own company at the age of 26. Her ambition gained her recognition as one of the Southern New Jersey’s Top 35 under 35 business professionals. Melissa was also named the 2007 ‘Woman of the Year’ for the Southern New Jersey Chapter of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and is dedicated to serving the community through various philanthropic efforts.
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{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
What fabulous advice! Thanks. I never even thought of just contacting the shows through their websites. Duh. Oftentimes as an entrepreneur who does her own PR, I feel like without a publicist I won’t be able to get past the gatekeepers. But that’s not true at all!
Twitter: heathall
July 29, 2009 at 1:03 am
Hi Kristen,
You’ll totally get past the gatekeepers–you just have to know how & now Melissa is sharing that with us! Yay!
Thanks for your comment!!
Heather
Kristen – Thanks! Many entrepreneurs practice DIY publicity and have great results – it has less to do about the actual contacts as it does to have an amazing angle that a producer can’t say no to! The best thing you can do is watch the shows you want to be on- nothing aggravates a producer more than clearly not understanding the format of their show. This means knowing how long the segments are, are they in-studio or in the field, do they have visuals (most do). In most TV pitches I examine, they are missing all of the details of what it actually takes to make a segment – if yours includes these, you have a MUCH better chance of capturing the producer’s attention.
Woo-Hoo! More great stuff on PR. Thanks Heather for always educating and enlightening us DIYers.
Awesome information. I shared this on facebook!
Randi
Heather,
you’ve done it once again! Thank you so much. Since TMM is all abuzz right now with PR related topic info, I thought I’d share with the rest of the TMM group some info that I just discovered last night that lends itself to our current discussion board.
I am an AVID FAN OF Inc. Magazine. For those who don’t know about it, Inc. is a magazine totally devoted to all things entrepreneur. I recently received my July/August issue, but hadn’t (until yesterday) had time to read it. The cover story “How to build your Dream Company” profiles 8 entrepreneurs and what they did to not only get their business off the ground but get it NOTICED with free or inexpensive PR.
One entrepreneur, Maureen Kelly caught my attention in particular. As a part of trying to market her cosmetics line Tarte, she went to the website http://www.whorepresents.com — I had no idea this site existed but its basically a legitimate web based directory of contact info for the agents,managers, etc. of celebrities and how to contact the celebrity through “their people” to mail them product samples. So for anyone who’s ever thought “so and so would love my product but I don’t know how to reach them” now’s your chance. The website offers a monthly subscription for $12.99 and you can cancel anytime — just thought I’d share.
And, like I said the cover story of this month’s Inc. makes for great reading and offers some great tips on things you can do as you continue to build your business, read it here: http://www.inc.com/magazine/20090701/index.html
Enjoy and best of luck to everyone!
Twitter: heathall
July 29, 2009 at 5:57 pm
Charleta,
I love Inc. too. I haven’t seen that issue yet. I have heard of Who Represents and chuckle every time I see it because I read an article about funny .com addresses and in it, the author said he does a double take every time he sees it, thinking it says “Whore Presents”. That made me laugh so hard.
Thanks for the tip…knowledge is power and we’re all getting *very* powerful by helping each other.
Heather
Thank you so much for the information! I always thought getting in touch with shows was “top secret”. It gives me hope that these shows are accessible and want to help entrepreneurs. Also, having a pitch that follows the format and vibe of the show is so true…the producers will have less work to do when you provide them with everything they need which could just be what gives your company a leg up to be featured.
Fantastic post!!! I think this has great tips and I am so going to consider the tips to see if I can’t get on television .. I am not sure I am ready at this point in time but when I feel ready I will at least have some tips to go by!
What wonderful information! It’s so often the obvious things that we miss, but I’m so glad that we have a community that reminds us of those “little things” that bring big impacts. Thanks for sharing this info.