Tips for Your Media Moment & Beyond  

Press releases and pitch letters come in all shapes and sizes. Books, websites and writing experts can show you how to format a press release and there are freelance writers and others who will even write them for you.

My feeling is if you have a good story and you tell it to the right reporter or producer, you won’t need a release to get airtime.  But press releases have many uses and if you want one, these suggestions come from reading a ton of them over the years.

The thing is TV/radio people don't generally READ press releases.  They scan them so here are a few basic points to consider:

Keep it short.  Write a one page release. Two pages at the most.   Give it a strong headline like you'd see in the newspaper or on a magazine cover.  Make them want to keep reading.

• Tell me a story -include a colorful quote and/or a couple sentences of a storyline. Reporters are storytellers.  Nothing attracts us more than hearing the beginnings of a good story.
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• Use a clean simple format with white space.  Bullet points, short sentences, lists and other visual devices help the eye move quickly across the page and land on the important information.
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• Make sure the facts are correct and use spell check.  Be sure you can back up what you say in the release.  Play it straight without a lot of  flowery adjectives or empty hype.  Don’t write a sales-y marketing message.  Double check names and numbers for accuracy.  If I don't know you, a release that makes questionable assertions, looks sloppy, is full of errors or feels like a sales pitch makes a bad first impression.
  
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• Avoid jargon and insider language. Show me you can communicate to MY audience clearly and directly, especially if it's a complex topic.
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• Provide complete and correct contact information.  It's hard to believe, but people actually do forget to include their contact info or make typos on phone numbers and other mistakes.  If I email you and it bounces back or I call you and it's the wrong number, you lose.  I'm dialing the next expert.   Don't make me hunt around for it either - include your contact information clearly and prominently on the release.
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Bottom line - keep your release tidy, tell a story and make it easy for the media to scan it quickly and make a decision.  With any luck, they'll want to hear more from you.

Fear can be an obstacle or a motivator. 

When you're looking for on-air publicity, you have to face the fear and reach out to the people who can make it happen for you.   Yes, chatting up strangers can be uncomfortable, but if you do your homework and develop relationships, it can actually become fun.   

Just realize that radio and television staffers get pitched all day every day and you're competing with pros - publicists and other PR professionals  - who make their living getting their clients booked.  You've got to have a game plan and be prepared.

Producers are extremely busy and one of their great frustrations is getting pitched stories that have no relevance to their audience.  So send targeted press releases and develop a tailored 30-second phone pitch that emphasizes the benefits your story or expertise can deliver to their specific audience.

How do you find out what producers want?   Watch and listen to their shows. It sounds simple but many people don't do it.  In the internet age and with the help of a DVR, you can research your target shows fairly easily.  Knowing what they go for will put you ahead of the pitching pack.

And don't be afraid. At the end of your pitch, all they can say is, "Yes," "Tell Me More" or "No."  If it's Yes or Tell me more, you're on your way.  If it's No, they won't always give you a reason why they passed on your pitch, but if they do, listen carefully.

Sometimes it's just bad timing, because they recently did a similar story. That means you can come back later with a fresh angle.  Sometimes the story is a bad fit for their audience, which, of course, goes back to point one - do your homework and know the topics their show covers.

If they just flat-out say no, move on.  Don't try to convince them.   Today's media landscape is full of opportunities.  If it's not on traditional TV/radio, you may find a home on the virtual airways.   Have confidence in your message and don't let fear stand in the way of pursuing publicity.

You've made a successful pitch and an on-air interview has been set up.   Now what?  People always want to know what will the questions be?  

Most journalists hate to answer that.  Some might be quite rude about it, but many will offer you general guidelines or a few basic questions.  Why are we reporters so reluctant to reveal our questions?  Heck, often we don't know exactly what we're going to ask you.  We're in "find an expert" mode.  We also don't want canned responses, or practiced robotic sound bites.  Plus we want to be free to "fish" a little if the interview goes down an unexpected road.  Sometimes the story we are after is not the story we get. From the reporter's perspective, it's best not to make any hard and fast rules or promises about how the interview will go.

Of course, you discussed the topic they were interested in before you agreed to the interview, right?  Don't be so anxious to get on-air that you don't take the time to get a few things straight. 

Find out:

• Who else they plan to interview
• Whether the interview will be live or taped (pre-recorded) and how long it will take.

This is also the time to ask how they will introduce you and suggest what you'd like said and to ask whether they'll mention or show your book, product, website, etc.