How To Interview

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PitchRate matches sources, journalists and rates your pitch

pitchrate1 Publicity Hounds hoping to connect with journalists who need their expertise now have another free service to use.

PitchRate, created by Drew Gerber of Press Kit 24/7, connects sources with journalists, bloggers and anyone who provides content.

When you visit the Pitchrate website, you can log in as a journalist or as a source. I logged in as both and had to use two separate email addresses.

When journalists are looking for specific types of sources, they send their query to PitchRate. If they’re from major media outlets like USA Today or the New York Times and want to post anonymously, they have that option.

Sources who sign up for the service can see all the queries, and decide whether they’re a good match. If so, they contact the journalist on their own.

Here’s where this service differs from Help a Reporter Out (also free) and the two subscription services, PRLeads and ProfNet. PitchRate actually rates your pitch on a scale of from one to five stars. Ratings are determined on things such as keywords that sources use within their pitch. Because humans don’t actually do the rating, I don’t know whether it’s accurate. Journalists who receive many responses to their queries can sort them according to how they’re rated, thus saving themselves time.

If they contact you for an interview, they can rate your value as a source on your PitchRate profile so other journalists can see quickly whether you’re worth pursuing. This second rating should force sources to be extra careful when responding to queries.

During a teleseminar I conducted recently for Publicity Hounds in my mentor program, I offered tips on how to reply to queries from these services. My tips included:

—Answer only queries that are a perfect match with your expertise.

—If you’re answering by email, make sure your pitch takes up no more than one screen of type.

—Answer concisely. Don’t tell the journalist “the whole story.” Instead, provide just enough information to entice them to pick up the phone and call you for an interview.

—Always offer little extras like tip sheets, photos, graphics or additional sources to round out the story.

—If the journalist is a good fit with your area of expertise, add their name to your list of media contacts. You should then do your research and f id out if they have Facebook and Twitter pages, or blog.

The PitchRate site is still so new that this is a terrific time for Publicity Hounds to get in at the ground level while there’s still little competition among experts.

Posted In: How to Interview, Pitching the Media, Publicity Resources
posted On: 2/12/2009: 7:36 am: By Joan
Comments: 4 Comments

My #1 tip for getting onto ‘Oprah’ & other big TV shows

Oprah At least 7 out of 10 Publicity Hounds who beg me to help them get booked on “Oprah” or other big TV shows have no business being there.

Either their topic isn’t a good fit for the show, or they can’t articulate a convincing pitch in 15 seconds or less. Yet they continue to flood the producers with lousy pitches, thus labeling themselves as pests.

Here’s my #1 tip for getting onto “Oprah” and other big TV shows like the “Today” show and “Good Morning America.” Your topic MUST be a good fit with the audience of the show you’re pitching.

That means business topics that appeal only to managers in the executive suite are a long shot on “Oprah.” If you’re a stockbroker, forget about pitching a segment that recommends your top five stock picks in 2009. And if you’re an author, don’t even THINK about pitching your fiction book—or any other book for that matter to any of the big shows. That’s a big red flag that screams “PEST!”

Not sure about which shows want which topics? The best place to learn that information is at their websites. Sometimes, you can see clips of past shows. But you won’t always be able to find what you’e looking for quickly, or the information is incomplete.

michelle-anton1 On Thursday, Jan. 29., Michelle Anton, a former guest booker for “Oprah,” will share the three biggest tips you need to know to get onto major TV shows when she’s Steve Harrison’s guest during a complimentary 90-minute teleseminar. She’ll explain what NOT to send to producers, what NOT to pitch to guest bookers, and mistakes you should never make, or the decision-makers will blackball you forever.

Then, she’ll explain the three big secrets for doing it the right way. You’ll also hear from other veteran TV producers and surprise guests.

Note: If these times aren’t convenient for you, please recruit a friend or family member to listen and take notes. You won’t want to miss the strategy a husband-and-wife team used to land a seven-minute degment on the “Today” show, and case histories of four other authors and entrepreneurs and the strategies they used to get on big shows.

Posted In: Authors & Publishers, Business Promotion, How to Interview, Pitching the Media, TV Publicity
posted On: 1/24/2009: 12:49 pm: By Joan
Comments: 3 Comments

How to persuade newspaper editorial boards

Today’s Crossroads section in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has an excellent package of articles on how the newspaper’s editorial board works.

It includes an explanation of how it chooses letters to the editor, how it decides who will be the community and syndicated columnists, bios of the editorial board members, and how the board formulates the positions it takes in the daily editorials. It also includes a somewhat boring video of a typical editorial board meeting in which there’s little if any dissent, no arguing and none of the sparks that can really make those meetings fun.

The one article missing from the package was an explanation of how to work with the editorial board. It mentions that members of the public can schedule a meeting with the board, but it doesn’t explain the types of circumstances when someone might want to meet, or how to prepare for the meeting.

As a former member of four newspaper editorial boards during my 22 years in the business, I recommend you approach the editorial boards of your local newspapers, particularly when you need their support for a cause or issue. You can also ask for a meeting when:

—You are about to break a sensitive news story and you want to meet with the board before the story appears, to provide background and try to win them over to your side early. Some sources ask for “off the record” editorial board meetings, and sometimes editors agree because they want to be in the loop and have all the information they need when the story breaks.

—The newspaper has been printing unfavorable editorials about you and you want to present your side. But don’t expect to change their minds.

—You feel the newspaper has treated you unfairly or has demonstrated media bias.

—You feel that the reporter who has been assigned to your beat has a vendetta, an agenda, or is purposely out to get you. Meet with the board only after you have exhausted all other means. That includes contacting the reporter’s immediate supervisor.

—You have a new chief executive officer who you want to introduce to the board simply for a “getting to know you” session. Few organizations bother to do this. Yet the bigger and more newsworthy your organization, the better the chances they will want to meet with you.

In my “Special Report #33: How to Win the Support and Respect of Newspaper Editorial Boards,” I explain several important things you should do before meeting with an editorial board. Here are a few of them:

Do your homework

Decide beforehand the key points you want to get across and be prepared to present appropriate background information to support them. You might even put your key points in writing and present them to members of the board when you meet with them.

Practice your presentation

Make sure you know how long you’ll be able to present, and leave time for questions. Practice your presentation so you aren’t tongue-tided, particularly if you dread the thought of sitting at a table with seven or eight newspaper executives who might grill you.

Anticipate difficult questions

Compile a list of the most difficult questions you can image being asked. Craft responses for each one. Then practice your responses until you are comfortable with them.

I’ve written here about how newspapers are dying, but until they’re gone forever, the newspaper editorial board remains a powerful group of people you’ll want on your side.

Posted In: How to Interview, Media Bias, Newspaper Publicity
posted On: 12/7/2008: 12:40 pm: By Joan
Comments: No Comments

When TV/radio talk show guests cancel, hosts need fill-ins

If you’re angling for some free publicity this holiday season on radio or TV talk shows, here’s a tip that I included under the headline “…And Build the Relationship” in Tuesday’s issue of my ezine, “The Publicity Hound’s Tips of the Week.” It generated reponse from several readers.

Contact radio and TV talk show hosts and guest bookers, even big radio shows in the top 20 radio markets, whose programs you want to get onto, and offer to fill in during the holidays if another guest cancels. This tactic works year-round, but it’s particularly effective during the holidays, when guests are in short supply.

Too many people are Christmas shopping, preparing for the holidays, or away on holiday vacation, and TV and radio talk show hosts find it hard enough to find guests. When somebody cancels because of the flu, snowstorms, or another commitment, hosts go into panic mode.

Gina McNew of the Diva Success Network says she knows what it’s like to have guests cancel:

“I have had two guests contact me in the last couple of days apologizing that they can’t make their radio interviews that have been on the book for months. I am scrambling like crazy to find replacements! Hope your Hounds take your tips to heart!

Email Gina if you’d be willing to fill in at the last minute.

The Rev. Thomas Harrison, who works as a “secret shopper” for churches and who I wrote about in the item “Back Door to the Wall Street Journal” in the October 13 issue of my ezine, reiterated the importance of being a fill-in guest:

“When I ran a TV station and we had guest programs, there was one guest I know I could call as late at 10 p.m. for a 7 a.m. program the next day. He was always available, and thus a favorite of ours.”

Offering to fill in at the last minute is just one of many ways to be a valuable news source the media love.

Posted In: Authors & Publishers, Holidays, How to Interview, Pitching the Media, Radio Publicity, TV Publicity
posted On: 12/3/2008: 11:39 pm: By Joan
Comments: 2 Comments

Every day is a bad day for press conferences

Somebody just send me an email with a subject line “Quick question for members of the media”:

Good morning!

Quick question . . . .

If you were to go to ONE press conference a week, which would be your favorite day? Is Monday a good day, at the start of the week? Not Friday, I imagine; right? Wednesdays – to get out of your routine and break what can be a monotonous week? This is not a fickle question, or a trick question; I’d love to know – truly!

She included a link to her website.

Here’s how I responded:

I would probably do everything in my power to avoid going to a press conference altogether. Reporters despise press conferences because the vast majority of them are irrelevant. If it is of any significance, all media people leave with the same story.

So, bottom line, I would do everything in my power if I were you to NOT hold a press conference in the first place.

When I interviewed Sandra Eggers, APR about Creative Alternatives to Boring Press Conferences, she gave example after example of fun media events that generated fantastic publicity, like:

—A fun “Kid’s Town Hall” that publicized what was otherwise a boring college news event. (Lots of cute faces for the TV cameras!)

—How a florist association announced its formation by giving away 50,000 roses and carnations to new moms in local hospitals.

—How a group used hundreds of conch shells to publicize a lack of funding for special education in Michigan.

By the way, sending a blast email to media people brands you as clueless. If you’re not sure how they do their jobs, read my newsletter for publicity tips, or ask your colleagues for guidance.