“What may be done at any time will be done at no time.” — Scottish Proverb

Okay, don’t ask what the Jewish grandmother from New York is doing with a Scottish proverb. My chief strategist found it for me, and it fit the tone of my message today.

In my time counseling clients, I have found that the two biggest obstacles to a good PR campaign are the two Ps: Procrastination and Perfection. Too many times, companies will procrastinate in getting their campaign started, and tag their campaign launch to something artificial like a product launch (which isn’t news, unless it’s the iPhone 4) or a new initiative. By and large, the media could care less. Your message, combined with something that is hot in the news cycle, is your hook, and if you’re doing it right, waiting is not an option. The second element, perfection, is something that drives many companies to delay their campaign. Executives will debate messages and news angles to the point of diminished return, and wind up unnecessarily delaying their PR campaigns.

My point is simply this: you need to start now. Not next week, not next month. Now.

After all, isn’t that when you want your potential customers to act? Many consumer businesses have taken to using the “right now” message in their advertising. A leading brake service provider uses the “now” message in their radio ads, stressing that waiting to take care of a potential brake problem could cause more costly damage to your car’s brake system. Empire, a leading manufacturer and provider of flooring and carpet solutions for consumers, has even changed the name of its company to Empire Today. Their point is that waiting for the “bargain” will cost their customers more money in the long run.

So, if you want your potential customers to act today, that’s exactly when you need to start your PR campaign. Getting ready to get ready never got anyone any additional business. What’s more, the dog days of summer will soon give way to the busy days of Q4, and if you want to have a chance at making an impression during the busiest time of the year, you HAVE to start now.

Here’s why:

The Holidays — Yes, I know that when it’s 90 degrees outside, it seems like a weird time to be thinking of the holiday season, but the media doesn’t think in those terms. Media folks like to take time off for the holidays as well, which means they have to start working on their holiday coverage early. Long lead publications are already working on their October and November issues, and if you want to be included, you need to start communicating with them now. Moreover, short leads start working on their holiday gift guides and reviews in August and September. If you have a consumer product or service that is compatible with the holiday season, this is when you need to start communicating with the media to promote it.

Authors — If your book is a fall release, you’ll be competing with a hundred thousand other authors for the attention of book buyers. If you want your book to rise like cream to the top, you need to make sure that as soon as your book becomes available, you will be on the air and in the news to talk about it. Furthermore, the holiday market beckons for you, as well. The summer reading season is over, so you need to focus on your book as a holiday gift.

Revenue — If you’re like most businesses, the year is going by faster than you’d like, and you are behind on your revenues – either falling short of your projections for 2010, or compared to how you did last year. Either way, the only way to increase the inflow of business is to increase the outflow of marketing. There is no better value in marketing than PR, so why let your campaign languish as your revenues stagnate? If you’re going to have any hope of picking up the pace, PR is your best friend.

At the end of the day, the old Scottish proverb rings true. If you’re comfortable putting off your PR campaign until tomorrow or next week or the week after, what guarantee do you have that you’ll ever launch it? Start today, right now, and you’ll be surprised how fast your campaign can be up and running.

In the past few months, I’ve covered a lot of ground with regard to how to do your own public relations campaign. I’ve explained how to make yourself or your company appealing to the media, how to write pitches and why articles work better than press releases.

But I haven’t yet explained some crucial elements with regard to orchestrating a PR campaign and more specifically with regard to landing TV appearances. Radio and print publicity definitely require attention to details – but the number of logistical issues you have to deal with for TV exposure is far greater.

So let’s discuss some of the elements for putting together a really good TV pitch that can result in valuable media opportunities for you.

The Producer Wants to Shoot “on Location”

It’s not unusual for a producer to be interested in your pitch, but want the interview to be done at a location that illustrates what the story is about. TV, after all, is a visual medium.

A great example that comes to mind is a client who is an expert on how to deal with foreclosure – a timely topic, unfortunately. He was traveling around the country to cities experiencing high percentages of foreclosures and in each city we obtained media coverage for him. But in Phoenix, Arizona, the producer didn’t want just a “talking head” interview. She agreed to do the interview only if it could be at a foreclosure property. And of course it was up to us to locate a suitable site, get permission to shoot the interview there, and ensure the TV crew had access when they arrived. After many, many phone calls to pull all of this together, the location was finalized, permission was obtained and the client’s TV interview was confirmed. In fact, it turned out to be one of the client’s best interviews.

So when planning your pitch for TV it’s a good idea to give some thought about where your story would best be told. You would be smart to research all the details about the location and offer an on-site segment as part of your pitch. For instance, if you are an expert on bridge safety you would want to pitch shows in those cities with older or problematic bridges, and suggest a location on or near the bridge to illustrate your message.

Visuals are a Must

If the three most important words in real estate are “location, location, location,” in television they are “visuals, visuals, visuals.” Even if it’s an in-studio segment, the producer will be more inclined to book you as a guest if you can provide visuals as part of your interview. It can be props that are part of your message, or even graphs to illustrate your message. Two examples come to mind where we had to do a lot of extra work to close the deal with the producer.

One example had to do with a producer for a national TV show who was very interested in a segment we were pitching related to “Adopt-A-Shelter-Dog Month.” But the producer only wanted our client if she could bring 10 to 15 shelter dogs with her. Talk about logistics! My staff called animal shelters all around NYC, New Jersey and Long Island and finally found one who wanted to work with us. The shelter agreed to find 10 shelter dogs that they knew were compatible with each other and wouldn’t fight on the set, bring them to the studio at the scheduled time, and provide pens for them to be contained in for the time they were there. In the process of our calling around, we also found a second shelter that brought a “pet-mobile” to the studio and parked it outside for the day. It was a huge amount of work for my team, but really paid off for the client. At the end of the segment the host invited people to come down to the studio and adopt a cat or dog on the spot. Many showed up and so it was a huge success for everyone!

Another example has to do with the many cookbook authors we’ve represented over the years. If you’ve written a cookbook and want to promote it, you’d best be ready to do some cooking on-air, particularly if the station has an in-studio kitchen. Be ready to prepare your signature dish or at the very least, to show all the ingredients, measured out, sliced and diced and ready to use, followed by the triumphant presentation of the completed masterpiece. You may even have to arrange for (and pay) a food “stylist” to create the sumptuous spread that the show’s producer may demand, particularly when dealing with the national shows.

That’s a Wrap

What I recommend is that you get creative…watch TV shows for ideas. Before you write your TV pitch, see the segment in your mind – think of what locations, props and actions would be the most interesting for the show’s audience.

What I can promise you is if your story is entertaining and makes for an interesting and informative segment, with clearly planned out details, TV producers will be far more likely to invite you to be a guest. Producers appreciate segments that are fully planned out and if you can’t deliver the goods, they won’t waste a minute before moving onto the next candidate that has his segment “packaged” and camera-ready!

Good luck, and have fun!

I have always loved authors, which is why I’ve spent twenty years of my life devoted to helping them promote their books and ideas!

I admire authors for their passion, tenacity and, well…chutzpah. Writing a book – and getting it published – is truly for the spirited and dauntless.

Over the years I’ve helped countless numbers of authors to become known. I have even counseled hundreds through the process, starting with the decision to write a book and all the way to arranging for their publicity to promote it.

Unfortunately, few have any understanding of how a published book ends up in homes across America. I’m quite certain that most intend for others to read their book – not leave it for the grandkids to discover in the attic decades from now. Yet, too many have the idea that since any published author can list their book on Amazon.com, that’s all that’s needed for their marketing!

Six months and thousands of dollars later, they have an impressive stack of boxes in their garage, but have sold only a handful.

When I speak with an author who has this problem, I practice “tough love” and ask, “if you have no marketing plan or promotional budget in place why did you invest all that time and energy to even write your book?”

I’ve heard so many reasons why someone was inspired to write. Everything from the desire to share lessons learned from a major life experience, or the desire for financial rewards from dispensing professional expertise, to simply wanting to be a famous author. These are all totally valid reasons for wanting to write a book! (Actually, there are really no wrong reasons – unless your message is about hate or the suppression of others.)

If you’re experiencing a problem with the promotion and sales of your book – let me suggest two very basic ideas:

1. Try to recall the reason you wrote your book in the first place, as it can be very motivating, and
2. Decide and implement a plan that will let people know your book actually exists!

In addition to getting your book listed on the major online bookselling sites, like Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com, you should at the very least also have a website for your book, proudly displaying any favorable reviews you’ve received from noteworthy individuals.

Make sure you have a Media page where you can post media coverage you’ve obtained. I can promise you that if someone visits your site and sees a list of publications who have mentioned you and your book in their columns, or talk show hosts who have interviewed you on their shows – it speaks volumes about how important you are and the value of the message in your book! These are just a few book marketing basics.

Getting your book media coverage is where I can help you most. Nothing beats quality interviews on radio and TV, and positive ink in newspapers and magazines for having a direct communication with your target audience.

The implicit endorsement of show hosts and editors has incomparable value – their audiences trust them and are favorably influenced by them.

And when you get the media coverage, you absolutely have to back it up with some marketing efforts. The value of being on radio or TV, or being written about in newspapers and magazines, is really a one-two punch. First step is getting the media to interview you or write about you. That’s great if you are quoted in the New York Times, but it’s here today, gone tomorrow. So, YOU need to take the initiative, and unabashedly promote the heck out it through your own circles: social media marketing, friends, family, business associates, etc. It’s called “repurposing.” This is truly how to compound the value of the media coverage you’ve obtained.

And How to Make Sure They Invite You Back

Successful non-fiction authors know a secret.

They know that when it comes to achieving success with a book, it’s not just about literary talent, or even the cleverness of the topic or message. They know that – unlike the movie Field of Dreams, where all Kevin Costner had to do was build a baseball diamond and the fans magically would come – just getting a book published does not guarantee anyone will hear about it, let alone buy it.

What they know is that getting interviewed on talk radio shows is one of the best ways to become known and get their message heard by a wide audience. In fact, talk radio is more popular than ever, and with the increases in specialty programming that cover a wide gamut of topics, there is more opportunity than ever to become a talk show guest!

And let’s face it, what better way is there to:

• Kick off a coast-to-coast publicity campaign in less than three weeks
• Create promotional “buzz” for your book at the grassroots level
• Reach America’s greatest cities – Boston to LA – from the comfort and convenience of your own home
• Talk directly to your target markets

Sounds great, but how do you make this happen?  How do you get a talk show host to invite you to be a guest?  Having arranged talk show interviews for clients for twenty years, I know the precise formula for successfully hitting the talk radio circuit, so let me share some tips with you.

1.  Stay Current

First off, you need to follow the news. What are people talking about? What is the media saying? What’s the buzz? This is important because talk radio is all about current events. Current events in politics, business, the economy, sports, weather, health, culture. And when you know what’s current, you can package your message to fit the news, making you an attractive guest for a talk show. You need to scan the network and cable news channels, the newspapers, look at news Web sites, and, most importantly, monitor the talk radio landscape. Take time to listen to a few local and national talk shows, and get a feel for what the public is talking about.

2.  Tie-Ins to the News

A critical step is “packaging” your message. As you follow the hottest stories in the news, think of ways you can tie the message of your book into them.  Look for controversy or big names, big money, health, or even relationship issues.  These are always tantalizing topics for many talk show hosts and their listeners.  I’ll give you an example, because this step is a hard one for many people.  I had a client who’d written a book about the causes of bad breath. Yes, bad breath.  With a little help, that client became a popular guest on radio and TV talk shows about dating, first impressions (like job interviews), holiday menus and entertaining…you get the picture.

3.  Pitch Your Topic, Not Your Book

As you develop your message, keep in mind that radio hosts are interested in what you can do for their listeners, not what they can do for you.  They want an interview, not an infomercial for your book. So, when pitching to hosts and producers, put the emphasis on the issue you want to talk about on the air, rather than on your book. The fact that you’ve authored a book gives you credibility “currency,” so spend it wisely when pitching your cause. And when you’re on the air, there will be plenty of opportunity to plug your book during the interview.

4.  The Right Press Release Formula

Nothing is more important than the press release itself – it’s your key to the media’s door.  The quality of your press release has everything to do with getting booked as a talk show guest.  You want to make sure your headline is enticing – it’s got to grab the media’s attention. The text of your release should elaborate on the subject matter and what the “on-air” conversation will be about.  It’s always good to include a couple of juicy or provocative quotes.  Also include a short, but impressive bio, and 5 to 10 questions you’d like the host to ask you.

5.  Be Prepared For Your Interview

Before you go on the air, make a list of all the questions you think your host might ask.  Come up with the answers you want to give on the air and then…practice!  Enlist the aid of a friend to help you prepare, and ask that person to play the part of the host, while you answer the various questions.  The more time you spend doing this step, the more comfortable you will be during the actual interview.  And very important: don’t read your answers! Just talk to your “host” like you would talk during a meeting with a business associate.

6.  Be Relaxed, Friendly and Informative On the Air

Even if the host asks a tricky question – stay calm! Make sure your responses are thoughtful, insightful and entertaining. And above all, your comments should highlight your expertise on the show’s topic. You’re on the show because you have positioned yourself as the “go-to” person on the subject, so share your expertise with the host and his audience. Don’t answer each of your host’s questions with a plug for your book, but you do want to find (or create) a few openings where you can segue into the fact that “…your book addresses that very issue, etc.”

7.  Make the Host Look Good!

Make every effort to make your host look good, and thank him for having you on the show!  Don’t forget that it really is the host’s show…it’s his livelihood, his career, and will continue to be long after your 20 minutes are up. The interest and approval of the audience are very important to every talk show host – he’s there to inform and entertain.  So help him do well, and in most cases he will help you shine also…and be interested in having you back on the air.

I know I’ve given you a lot to chew on, but if you truly do each of these steps it can be a rocket ride to success.