The Publicity Hound’s Blog  

Too many speakers go after the same markets when trying to book speaking engagements.

They chase after trade association meeting planners who typically receive calls and letters from several dozen speakers each day.

James Malinchak, a 33-year-old stock broker-turned-speaker, says that if you can spin your topic for a college audience, you can command attractive fees and keep busy speaking to college students year-round, or whenever it’s most convenient for you.

Colleges hire speakers, authors, trainers, coaches and consultants for orientation, welcome week and back-to-school programs. They need speakers for student leadership gatherings, student government events, and lectures sponsored by fraternities and sororities.

They need experts to address students at career and job fairs, commencements and graduations, student conferences and summer programs. Add to the list academic, athletic and club events, and other meetings where an “outside” expert is needed.

Best of all, colleges and universities have guaranteed budgets from sources like student activity fees. If you can book yourself at a college, a flurry of publicity can often precede and follow your speech. Your article and photo can show up not only in the college newspaper, but in the local and weekly newspapers in that town. You might even end up on local radio and TV stations and be seen by students and others who never even heard you speak at the event on campus. 

But the secret is knowing how to navigate the college speaking circuit, who to contact, how to follow up, and how to identify which topics are in demand.

Join James Malinchak and me for a complimentary telephone seminar at noon Eastern Time on Wednesday, April 26 (originally scheduled for April 19). Jim will spill the beans on how to find your way to the meeting and event planners who hire speakers at colleges and universities. Register for the teleseminar.

If you can’t make it, sign up anyway and you can listen to the recording afterward.

Posted In: Authors & Publishers, Newspaper Publicity, Publicity for Niche Markets, Special Events
posted On: 4/20/2006: 8:22 am: By Joan
Comments: No Comments

When I watch “The Sopranos,” my eyes are riveted on their refrigerator and kitchen cupboards, hoping to catch a peek at what America’s most dysfunctional mob family is eating these days.

Son AJ chows down on Kellogg’s Corn Pops, and papa bear Tony guzzles Tropicana orange juice right out of the carton. Those product manufacturers paid dearly for the product placements, no doubt.

Now, cash-strapped TV and radio stations and even newspapers are using the product placement idea that was once reserved only for TV shows and movies to lure advertisers into, hang onto your seat, the news. Yes, the news. As in, buy an ad, get a story.

KRON-TV Channel 4 in San Francisco, for example, once a well-respected news operation, now offers “product integration fees” to people who want to be included in news stories. In February, the station broadcast an 11-part “Spa Spectacular,” in which each featured spa paid a fee and bought advertising. Anchors offered viewers a chance to buy half-price spa certificates at the end of each segment.  

At Univision’s KMEX in Los Angeles, the station interviewed Kaiser Permanente doctors and patients for health stories. In return, they shot “new” footage at Kaiser facilities.

I’m writing an article for PR Tactics, the newspaper published by PRSA, and I’m looking for PR pros or anyone who has run up against this policy when pitching. Did your company agree to pay the fees to get a story in return? If so, was the result worth it?

Or does your company have a strict policy of not caving into these kinds of arrangements? I’m particularly interested in hearing about your experiences with TV and radio stations.

Email me at mailto:jstewart@PublicityHound.com?subject=PlacementFees and I might call you for an interview. Please respond by Friday, April 28. 

Alex Carroll, a veteran guest on more than 1,264 radio talk shows, says that you’ll never have to pay for placement if you’re an enticing guest who can really pull in listeners on a radio talk show. He was my guest during a teleseminar called  “How to Get Booked on Big Radio Shows in the Top 20 Markets.”

Posted In: Radio Publicity, TV Publicity
posted On: : 7:19 am: By Joan
Comments: No Comments

When I started my business, I hit the rubber-chicken circuit, speaking to every Rotary, Kiwanis and chamber of commerce group that would listen to me.

I’d drive 90 miles to Green Bay in a snowstorm to talk to six people, because those were six potential consulting clients.

The first five years of my business, I relied on speaking engagements, even those in which I didn’t receive a fee, to strut my stuff and impress my audiences. At the end of almost every presentation, somebody would walk up to me and ask, “Say, do you by any chance do consulting?”

These days, when people in my mentoring program complain that business is down and they need more clients, I tell them all the same thing: speak and write.

Speak before every audience that includes people who are in a position to hire you. Write articles for every article directory, website, ezine, print newsletter, newspaper and magazine read by people who need somebody to do their PR. It’s the best way to position yourself as an expert.

If you do only those two things, you’ll start picking up more clients than you can handle. And soon, you’ll be referring business, particularly the piddling little projects, to other colleagues who are scrounging for work.

Marcia Yudkin, who did a teleseminar with me a few years ago called “24 Ways to Attract Clients to Your PR Practice,” sends bright pink postcards to her mailing list occassionally. It’s sort of branded her as the “pink postcard person.” 

So the next time you’re withoug a PR client, stop grumbling and speak, write or send a postcard.

Posted In: PR Consultants/Publicists, Writing Articles
posted On: 4/19/2006: 9:11 am: By Joan
Comments: No Comments