Over the years, I’ve always advised my clients that if you want to get in the news, you have to watch and read the news. I know it sounds a little like “bumper sticker” advice, but it’s really not meant as a sound bite. In fact, we use a practical application of that advice every single morning at our agency.

It’s actually a very simple list of easy steps that anyone can do, and it can get blockbuster results.

• Read the Feed (or watch the news) – A daily routine of following breaking news and popular stories is the first and most essential step in my formula for how you can get interviewed by the media. If you are Internet savvy and prefer to get your news digitally, tracking news trends will be a breeze. There are many online news outlets, such as Yahoo, MSN, CNN and AOL, that prominently feature on their sites the most searched and significant news events each day. There are also other online services, such as Google Alerts, Digg, and others, that allow users to stay on top of the hot topics. If your preference – like me – is to watch the news on TV and/or read daily newspapers, those are also effective methods for keeping up with the news cycles. Whether you prefer traditional or digital news, the key thing is to establish a news-tracking routine and stick to it. It will orient you as to which news topics are getting the most attention, and will be a strong predictor of which stories are most likely to have a longer cycle on TV news outlets.
• Identify a Hook – As you follow the news each day, think creatively about how your company or your expertise could be applied to comment on news events of the day. I’ll relate something that happened this past month, and how we applied it. We have a client who is a world-class financial advisor. He is a former Wall Street player who made himself very comfortable through that life, but felt another calling for himself. Now he works as a financial planner for families in trouble, and he’s extremely passionate about it. We were looking for news hooks other than the typical “Tips for the Rough Times” pitch that has been making the rounds since 2008. As we were doing that, it hit the wire that the IRS was going to be taxing the claims being collected from BP Oil by the workers displaced by the disaster. At the same time, we had just finished watching a clip of Anderson Cooper of CNN on the ground in Louisiana, covering the crisis. At that point, it rang like a bell – we’d send our client to the Gulf Coast to help those hardest hit by the disaster. So, in a matter of minutes, our team went from, “This is a great hook,” to implementation.
• Develop your Angle – Taking my client example from above, we developed an angle for him using the BP oil story as a launching pad. We emailed him to see if he had any specific tips for the Gulf Coasters, and he came through beautifully. We cobbled his tips into the pitch, and it flowed like this:
  
   

  A Guide for Gulf Coast Victims of the BP Oil Spill

  Financial Expert Offers Tips on Getting Through the Worst
  Gulf Coast workers displaced by the BP oil spill have had to deal with losing their jobs, losing their businesses and many are losing their homes. But there are ways that they can protect themselves right now from further damage. Money expert (name deleted, because we’re still pitching him and we don’t want to jinx anything!), has a slew of creative and practical tips for those affected by the disaster.

  He says that uncertainty on when the spill will be stopped leads to the uncertainty about long-term economic activity and its effects on employment, consumer spending and housing prices. So, he is advising people to do the following things:

  • Be Prepared. Prepare for the worst case scenario. Build up a cash position equal to 3-6 months living expenses. Keep a significant amount of cash in your house in case you may be forced to evacuate due to a storm or adverse environmental conditions. Keep enough gasoline on hand to be able to fill your vehicle.
  • Stock Up. Build up a supply of food and water in case a sudden evacuation is ordered or if city water sources are deemed undrinkable.
  • Get Trained. If your livelihood is based on fishing or tourism, consider getting training in industries not dependent on the fishing or hospitality industries. If worse case scenarios develop, jobs lost in these areas will not come back for many years.
  • Fill Out the Forms. Apply for all aid and compensation available from both BP and state and Federal government. If income has stopped or decreased significantly, apply for food stamps and other social assistance.
  • Watch the Real Estate Market. Be prepared for lower real estate values for some time to come. Even if the spill stopped tomorrow, the ecological effects will be felt for years. Gulf Coast real estate, both commercial and residential, is falling dramatically and will not rebound anytime soon.
  • Stay Well. Monitor your family’s health as there have been reports of mysterious sicknesses in Gulf residents and cleanup workers.
  • Read the News. Stay informed as best you can. In addition to traditional news sources, read blogs, where you may find reports that are not widely available to the public. BP and the federal government have not been fully forthcoming in informing the public of the extent of the disaster.

  Thanks for your consideration – let me know if you’re interested.

• Blast it Out – Once you’ve read the news, identified a hook and written up your angle, it is time to launch your effort. When you pitch something that is hot in the news, you also need to call producers individually to follow up, ensuring they received and read your email. Many national producers won’t take phone calls, so at the very least, send your emails with a return receipt so you can track that they opened it.

To follow through with the effort we began earlier this month, we have booked two national TV interviews and six local TV interviews across the Gulf Coast, with the campaign continuing all through the month. So the bottom line here is that by doing this daily exercise, you will enable yourself to take advantage of these kinds of headlines. And who knows? You might even be able to fold yourself into the national news cycle.

Do you know what the media would consider newsworthy about you or your company?

Many new clients come to us with a strong opinion about what their “pitch” should be, but often miss the mark, in terms of knowing what will get the media to sit up and pay attention to their message. But it’s very understandable that this could occur, if you’re not working with the media the way we do, day in and day out, developing story angles intended to grab their interest.

For those who are new to PR, my message is this – think outside of the box! As normal as it is to be focused on your own company and industry or field of interest, there is a lot going on in the world, and your expertise might be news in ways that you’ve not previously envisioned.

I always recommend to my clients that they try to view their companies from the outside looking in, particularly, from the perspective of the media. The best way for you to garner the media’s interest is to understand what it is about you and your company that might be interesting to them. The process is actually quite simple.

1. Read the News – If you want to be featured in the news, you should read the news. Be general in your approach. Read the top headlines in all the categories, even if your company is in a niche industry, because you never know what is going to happen. For instance, the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has focused a spotlight on oil rigs and the people who work on them. Journalists are looking at the companies who own oil rigs, drilling rights, and other oil company service firms. Analysts in that small business niche are being quoted in top tier media outlets, after existing for decades completely outside the reach of the media’s radar. So, go broad with the topics that you track, and don’t be afraid to become a little bit of a news geek. Being better informed about the world around you isn’t a bad thing, and the by-product is that you’ll be far more media savvy.
2. Track it Back – Now, as you absorb the headlines and the stories of the day, think about how one or more of them could track back to you, your company and your key messages. A good example comes from one of our clients, a maker of natural health supplements. Their primary product line uses a natural ingredient called Resveratrol. Clinical research has uncovered that Resveratrol can be helpful in reducing fatigue, restoring energy and safeguarding your immune system. Now, earlier this month, Reuters reported that doctors who performed an 11-year study of British civil servants discovered a direct link between heart disease and working 11 hours or more each day. Another story quoted U.S. Department of Labor statistics that more than 7 million Americans work at least two jobs. We combined those two pieces to demonstrate that millions of Americans are working way more than 11 hours, and are at risk for everything from chronic fatigue to heart disease. From there, it wasn’t too difficult to beat a path back to the client’s physician spokesperson who recommended a series of tips to prevent those outcomes, including a short tip about how some natural supplements can be helpful. At first blush, you wouldn’t imagine that labor stats and a medical study in Great Britain would have any relationship with a natural health supplement, but by thinking creatively, we were able to make the connection and develop a strong radio pitch for that client.
3. Be Opportunistic – The news happens fast, so be prepared to think just as fast. Recently we took on a client named Jane Heimlich, who has a dual claim to fame. She is the daughter of dance hall king Arthur Murray, who established the largest chain of dance instruction centers in the country. She is also the wife of chest surgeon Dr. Hank Heimlich, the creator of the life-saving, anti-choking first aid technique called the Heimlich Maneuver. She had just written her memoir, and was looking to promote it via media interviews. When we brought her on board, the new season for the network TV show Dancing with the Stars was about to begin. In reading her book, we discovered that her father’s TV show, The Arthur Murray Party, was the first network TV dance contest – and it involved the big stars of the day. So, we put together a radio pitch with the headline “Remembering the Original Dancing with the Stars.” We booked 15 radio interviews and a full print campaign with that angle, and we just refreshed the angle with the CBS announcement that they are giving Paula Abdul her own TV dance competition.

At the end of the day, recognize that your expertise can be stretched beyond what you have in your marketing plan, and you’ll be able to make you and your company more relevant to the press in a lot of creative ways.

Emmy-Winning Client Proves Passion and Drive Can Overcome ANY Obstacle

I spend much of my time doling out practical marketing and PR advice based on the harsh realities of today’s new economy. People ask me constantly for ways they can market themselves affordably and more reliably, so I try to make sure most of my tips are grounded and instantly useful.

But there is one particular element I discuss quite a bit in my book, Celebritize Yourself – I also refer to it so often when speaking to clients and potential clients that I sometimes feel I run the risk of it losing its meaning.  The element I talk about copiously is following your passion, and because I hate the thought of sounding like a broken record, it’s refreshing when something happens that re-emphasizes the meaning of my words.

One of my clients, who has turned into a dear friend, recently came full circle on a dream of hers, and it was a dream driven by her passion. At critical times in her journey she had turned to me, unsure of whether she should bother pursuing certain projects, because she was torn between the harsh realities of the day and the vision that was burning in her mind and her heart.

Aurea McGarry began her relationship with us as a client promoting her book Live Your Legacy, where she advises readers on how to follow their passions to success. After a successful campaign, she asked for my thoughts about starting her own TV interview and documentary show, titled from her book, in which she would feature people who were doing good works through not-for-profit organizations.

If you knew Aurea and her story of all that she overcame – things like her father being brutally murdered, spousal abuse, losing her mother to cancer and being diagnosed with cancer herself – you would know that there isn’t a mountain this woman couldn’t climb. 

But beyond that, Aurea had a burning passion to spread her message of not just surviving, but thriving and helping other people overcome obstacles in their life. 

Given her amazing story and her very strong passion, my advice to Aurea was to go for it.  With her own conviction in place and the wonderful support she had from family and friends, Aurea moved forward with her plans to have her own television show.  She called it Living Your Legacy and in the summer of 2008, the first episode appeared on her local Atlanta PBS station.  It has been on the air ever since, but that’s not why I’m talking about Aurea’s journey today.

In a grand gesture of life imitating art, Living Your Legacy was nominated for an Emmy Award in the Outstanding Interview/Discussion category in the Southeast Region. Her homegrown show was competing for the honor against programs from Fox, CBS, NBC and Turner Broadcasting. Over the past weekend, the awards ceremony was held in Atlanta, and her little engine beat the competition and took home the Emmy!

“I already felt like a winner, because this show – which was nothing more than a dream of mine a couple of years ago – has achieved recognition in the same breath as programs produced, financed and broadcast by the large networks,” McGarry said. “We’ve already made our point: You don’t have to be seen on network television to inspire people, to tell great stories and to produce a television show that has the power to change lives. But now that we’ve won the Emmy, it helps to validate that point.”

And it also serves to validate mine. There is no price tag you can place on passion, and its power can overcome any practical concerns, any business realities and any self-doubt you may have over the course you’ve chosen. Passion is the ball game. Always has been, and as Aurea has proven resoundingly, it always will be at the center of your success.

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.

In either case, one immensely valuable marketing strategy can be summed up in two words: get published!

Now, you may be tempted to dismiss this out of hand…after all, you have a profession, and very likely it isn’t “writer.” But there are many ways to be published and each, separately or in combination, can be incalculably valuable in terms of its contribution to your marketing efforts.

We’re talking about:

• Articles written about you, or by you, which are published in newspapers and/or magazines.  They provide great credibility to your position as an expert in your field.

• Op Ed (opinion-editorial) pieces you’ve written that get published.  It’s a great way to take a stance on an issue important to your business and get published, and it positions you as a thought leader.

• A book with you as the author—my favorite!

Getting published opens the door to the media and provides a powerful platform that is magnified a millionfold when you subsequently get invited to appear as a radio or TV guest, or are quoted in the press.

Furthermore, when the press publishes an article about you, it is really a public relations coup! A paid advertisement is always seen for what it is—an attempt to persuade more people to buy your product or service. Don’t get me wrong…there is definitely a place for advertising.  But the power of PR is that when the press writes about you, they are giving a tacit endorsement of you and your business. It lends credibility which is absolutely priceless!

And, let’s face it—being published sets you apart from other CEOs and distinguishes you as a leader in your industry. Not only does it boost your status above that of your peers in the eyes of the public, it also makes them aware of what your company is about, who its leader is and helps them to form a positive opinion about your company and its product.

If you decide to be the author of a book or article but don’t have the time or expertise to write, there are droves of professional writers who freelance as ghostwriters (and are easily found on the Internet).  For many a busy executive this is the best and only way to go. There is no shame in employing a ghostwriter—their job is to translate your own thoughts into an enjoyable and clearly-understood form.  It’s no different than hiring any other professional who helps you run your business more smoothly.

The bottom line is that getting yourself in print can have a very positive impact on the success of your business. You can invest as much or as little of your own personal time to bring it about—it’s entirely up to you. But you will reap great benefits whichever path you take.

Why Everyone Has a Little Celebrity in Them – And What to Do About It

Everyone is a celebrity at something, and by “celebrity” I’m not talking about movie stars, professional athletes or those overnight sensations that are here today, on the cover of People tomorrow and gone by Friday.

True celebrities are experts. In a lot of cases they’re experts at acting, putting a ball in a hoop or looking sexy in next to nothing. But believe it or not, most celebrities these days – the ones that keep auditoriums and hotel conference rooms and even bookstore shelves full – are folks like you and I; people who realized what they are very, very good at and put it to use by celebritizing themselves (or putting their expert status to use as a modern celebrity).

You, too, can become one of these nowadays celebrities, no matter what business you’re in, how big your company is (or isn’t) or even if you don’t think you bring the chops.

The best part is, it’s as simple as 3-F’s:

Find…Yourself

To be a modern day business celebrity you have to know 1) What you’re good at, 2) What are you passionate about and 3) What people need from you. Celebritizing yourself is about knowing all three of the above, not just one or two.

So, what are you a good at? It could be anything: gardening, management, economics, knitting, housecleaning, politics – the works. The experts we all know and recognize and who become celebrities, everyone from Tim Russert to Ty Pennington to Linda Cobb, the Queen of Clean, to George Stephanopoulos, may come from a wide array of backgrounds but all have one thing in common: they know what they’re good at and do it very, very well.

Next, what are you passionate about? Now, being good at something and being passionate about it are two very different things. You can be great at fixing cars but hate talking about it, sharing it with other people. If so, this topic just wouldn’t qualify for the expert celebrity game.  But, if you look a little harder to identify what it specifically about fixing cars that you truly love and you find it’s restoring classic automobiles, now that’s something you could celebritize!

Finally, what do other people need from you? So what if you’re good at fixing cars AND passionate about restoring classics? Is there a market for that? Do people really want to talk about that? And are you the right person for the job? Once upon a time I might have said, “No, there’s no market in celebritizing yourself around restoring classic automobiles.” But that was before Car Talk on NPR made its and co-hosts (and brothers) Tom and Ray Magliozzi famous. That was before Antiques Roadshow captivated the country’s attention and before both the History and Speed channels became cable staples.

Nowadays, truly, if you are an expert at something, passionate about that thing and can find a market for it, you too can become a celebrity!

Focus…On What Works

We all know what’s going to work for us and what doesn’t.

Blink and Tipping Point author Malcolm Gladwell is a celebrity x 10 but I don’t think you’ll ever hear him screaming into a microphone on some shock jock’s call-in show; it’s not him, it’s not his audience – it doesn’t work.

On the other hand, Guy Fieri, celebrity chef, cookbook author and winner of the Food Network’s first “The Next Food Network Star” contest, IS just the kind of passionate, verbal, excited and outgoing individual who has made a career out of what works for him: using his natural passion and enthusiasm for his expertise – cooking – to create a personal brand that is suddenly dominating the Food Network scene.

Of course, even a profound extrovert like Guy Fieri pales in comparison to pundit, expert, author and popular CNBC host Jim Cramer. Cramer, with his trademark rolled up sleeves and loosened tie, intense eyes and voluble vocabulary, spends every evening shouting his message of the latest stock tips to an adoring and exceedingly loyal fan base on his popular TV show, Mad Money.

With his expertise, proven credibility and solid background, Cramer could have easily been a popular and successful pundit. But by finding his niche on his very own show, Cramer has truly shone and become what most experts crave: a celebrity.

Malcolm Gladwell, Jim Cramer and Guy Fieri are all experts; all are also bona fide celebrities.

And all are doing what works… for them.

Finesse…the Message

Finally, you need finesse; specifically, you need to finesse your message. It needs to be clear, concise and focused. For instance, if you are an absolute miracle worker when it comes to organizing things, it only makes sense that your message is organized as well.

What is that message? Let’s say over time you’ve realize that most people aren’t organized and even fewer people recognize the value of organization. So to make it clear for them just how important it is to be organized, you’ve come up with a simple three-part message that you communicate everywhere you go: your message is that organization saves time, increases productivity and boosts profits.

That message is delivered every time you publish something, hand out a business card or invite someone to read your blog. That message isn’t just the words you use but the graphics you use in your brochures, on your Web site and on your business card.

Let’s say you start a blog to spread your message about how important it is to be organized. You wouldn’t write about sports scores or share holiday recipes or Hollywood gossip, would you?  Hardly.  Your message is that organization saves time, increases productivity and boosts profits.

So every blog post must reiterate that message in articles that have to do with your core expertise. You’ll want to write about how an organized office is a productive office, you’ll want to link to news stories or breaking research that reveals organization boosts effectiveness by 28%, etc. Otherwise you’re just wasting that message, if not ignoring it altogether.

Embrace Your Expertise

So much of expertise is confidence, but we’ve seen how confidence alone isn’t enough to become a celebrity. The bottom line with becoming a celebrity is that once you find… yourself, focus… on what works and finesse… your message, the foundation is already in place for what promises to be a bright and celebritized future.

Becoming a celebrity next becomes a matter of taking all three of these vital core skills and truly embracing your expertise so that you will have the confidence to truly shine in whatever it is you are good at, are passionate about and can find an audience for.

Once all these elements align, the sky truly IS the limit!