You’d be amazed at the unsolicited junk that publicity-seekers send to TV shows where they want to appear as guests:

• Bulky press kits
     
• Books they’ve written (sometimes multiple copies for everyone on the staff)
     
• Envelopes stuffed with marketing materials
     
• Press photos
     
• Press clippings 
   
• Long letters explaining why they want to appear on the show
     
• Videos that show them speaking to the local Rotary Club
     
• Even gag gifts accompanied by pitches that  they think are clever, but fall flat

Guess where most of this stuff ends up? In the trash bin.
   
   
Why Producers Don’t Want This Junk

Producers are too busy to wade through mountains of materials. So the publicity seekers have nothing to show for it except crippling postage costs.

If producers and guest bookers don’t want THAT, what do they want?

For starters, they need to be pretty sure you’re going to be a compelling guest. That means not withering under the lights. Or upstaging the show’s host. Or telling long-winded stories that viewers don’t care about. Most importantly, they need to know that your story is interesting.

Four producers and guest bookers for major TV shows will tell you EXACTLY how to pitch them, when to pitch them and what—and what not—to send when they’re the guests on a webinar hosted by my friend, Steve Harrison, on Thursday, Feb. 16, at either 2 or 7 p.m. Eastern Time. Register here. Even though the wbinar is free, I promote it as a compensated affiliate because I think the very best way to know exactly what producers want is to hear them explain it.

You’ll learn lots of insider tips from those who book guests for ABC, NBC and CBS. They include:

• Mariann Sabol, “Live with Kelly”
   
• Tommy Crudup, “Rachael Ray”
   
• Dan Fitzpatrick, “The Wendy Williams Show”

• Stacy Rollins, Telepictures Productions
   
• Others to be announced.

If You Can’t Attend

If the time is inconvenient for you, register anyway, and Steve will notify you when he hosts similar programs. Or recruit a friend or assistant to listen for you and take notes. 

Dying to get onto one of the big TV shows like the “Today” show?

Of course you are. Just one appearance can send your book flying off the shelves.

If you’re a small business person, it can mean thousands of people rushing to your website.

If you’re an expert in your field, it can mean more consulting assignments.  

To get onto TV, here are three things you do NOT need:

1. A big, expensive PR firm to pitch your idea to the producers.
    
2. A highfalutin degree like a Ph.D.
    
3. A long track record of publicity successes.

What you DO need is a compelling story idea, delivered in such a way that the producers know the audience will love you.

A former NBC producer who booked guests for “Today” and “Dateline NBC” will explain what it takes to become a regular guest on national TV and even get offered your own show, during a webinar at 2 and 7 p.m. Eastern tomorrow, Thursday, Feb. 9, with my friend, Steve Harrison.

Steve will interview the producer and explain how to brand yourself for the media in a way that celebrates your uniqueness while also separating you from all the other experts in your field.

You’ll learn about publicity superstars like Jennifer, who became a regularly featured lifestyle expert on Fox News Channel and “The Early Show,” and scored coverage in hundreds of print media outlets including O the Oprah Magazine, Redbook, US Weekly, Success and Entrepreneur.

Register for the webinar “How To Become A Regular Guest On National TV And Other Secrets Of The Publicity Superstars” by clicking here. 

If you can’t attend because the times are inconvenient, sign up anyway and find someone who can listen and take notes for you.

Please note, this is NOT my webinar. It’s Steve’s, and I promote it as an affiliate. He usually doesn’t record these, so show up, or risk missing it.

When a favorite journalist is promoted, leaves the newspaper for a new job, or wins an award, smart Publicity Hounds swing into action and deliver their congratulations, a very important part of building the relationship.

Be aware, especially, of things like writing, editing and photography awards. They don’t  mean a hill of beans to the success of the newspaper, but journalists think they are a very big deal. I worked in newsrooms for 22 years, won many awards, and they were a huge deal.

How do you congratulate them without gratuitous brown-nosing? Here are seven ideas:

• Send a handwritten note. Most well-wishers would cop out with an email. But you want to zig when everybody else is zagging. A postage stamp and a few minutes of your time are a cheap price to pay to stand out from the crowd.
• Is the journalist on Twitter? If so, send a congratulatory tweet. Link to an article about the award so others who follow the journalist can read it.
• Are  you friends on Facebook? If so, post congratulations to their wall, and give the URL for the article announcing the award. You can also link to the winning article or project.
• Create a short “way to go!” video and email the link. With a little editing, you can also provide the link for the winning project. Consider posting the video to their company’s website.
• Go ahead. Ask the journalist if it’s OK to post the video to YouTube.
  
• Is the journalist on LinkedIn? If so, consider writing a recommendation. But sure to explain what factors made their work so special, or what happened as a result. This is the place to recommend, not just congratulate.
• Call and leave a short, cheery voicemail message.

Don’t do all of these, or it will, indeed, be brown-nosing. And never sneak in a pitch while you’re congratulating.

What Else You Shouldn’t Do

• No flowers. Women reporters I’ve worked with love flowers, but they’d get the heebie-jeebies when sources sent them.
• No gifts, gift cards or anything of value. Many newspapers have ethics policies that prohibit reporters from receiving these. Don’t put someone in the uncomfortable position of having to return a gift to you.
• No tickets to sporting events, the theater or other entertainment venues.
• Don’t invite the journalist to lunch and dive for the check. He might not be able to accept a free meal. See 18 ways to schmooze with reporters.

Don’t forget sports reporters, copy editors, photographers, graphic artists and other newsroom employees. Ditto for TV producers, anchors, sportscasters, meteorologists and radio talk show hosts. They love being congratulated, too.

What have I missed? If you’re a PR person, a journalist or a Publicity Hound, what ideas can you share that have worked well?

Also see: 12 ways to say “thanks” to a blogger or journalist

Today is the last day to take advantage of a price break for attending Steve Harrison’s National Publicity Summit, Oct. 12-15, in New York City. Only three spots are remaining.

The price goes up by $1,200.00 after today, Friday, Sept. 23. Apply here.

Harrison is admitting 100 attendees who will get to personally  meet over 100 top journalists/producers who do stories and shows for major media like: ABC’s The View, CNN, Fox News, Today Show, Woman’s Day, MSNBC, Live With Regis & Kelly, 48 Hours, Fox & Friends, ABC’s 20/20, USA Weekend, Dateline NBC, Inc., Health, Entrepreneur, Family Circle and many more top outlets.

All those media were represented at previous Summits. Most of them will be at next month’s event,  along with producers and journalists from media outlets who will be attending for the first time.

“For the remaining 3 spots, we will consider all applications submitted through today,” Harrison said. “However, all things being equal, we’ll admit people in the order in which they applied. By the way, if you apply and for any reason I cannot accept you, I’ll give you a gift which will help you get more national media exposure.”

You’ll Learn How to Pitch

Harrison’s staff trains you so you can meet journalists face to face and pitch them with confidence.

After Rory Cohen, an expert in the psychology of success, attended the summit, she was booked on ABC’s “The View” and also got a cover story in Entrepreneur magazine.  That created a snowball effect.

“After I was on The View, I was able to get booked on CNN, which then led to a four-page spread in People Magazine,” she said.

As a result of the summit, author Linda Franklin appeared on the “Today” show twice, Fox & Friends, Fox’s “Good Day New York,” Hallmark Channel’s “New Morning,” and in MORE magazine, Essence Magazine, The Boston Globe, The San Francisco Sentinel, The South Florida Sun-Sentinel, MSN.com, The Huffington Post and at least 25 radio stations throughout the U.S.

Full Disclosure: I am a compensated affiliate for this event and for any other products and services you buy from Harrison.

The one thing that most media outlets do the worst job covering is themselves.

That’s why Publicity Hounds who want an inside peek at the personalities and politics at local TV news stations should head over MediaBistro’s TV Spy blog.

You’ll find news about:

• Which anchors, reporters and meteorologists are coming or going at local TV stations.
     
• Which ones have made the news because they’ve been charged with crimes, like the San Diego meteorologist charged with performing a lewd act, and former NY1 political reporter Dominic Carter who returned to New York television after a two-year absence that included a very public domestic abuse trial and three weeks of jail time.
      
• How local reporters are making national news, like this story about the three reporters drafted by the “Early” show to report on their communities’ reaction to President Obama’s new jobs bill.

Be sure to read the blog comments, where more juicy tidbits are buried.

Don’t miss TV Spy’s Watercooler discussion forum and the jobs board. You can also follow them on Twitter.

You can also search for blogs in your own local TV markets. I found these blogs for Arkansas TV News and Omaha TV News.
     
    
Other Tools to Help You with TV Publicity:

How to Get onto the Local TV News Tomorrow

How to Get Booked on the Morning TV Talk Shows

How to Tie Your Story Pitch to Breaking News & Make the Media Interview YOU

What separates people who are masters at generating publicity from those who are constantly grousing that “the media doesn’t care about my story?”

Often, it’s knowing how to be a valuable media source. Here are 10 ways to make yourself indispensable to reporters, editors, freelancers, broadcasters, bloggers, ezine editors and all new media.

1. Understand your Number One task: to be helpful.

A reporter’s job isn’t to give you publicity. It’s to write an interesting story so that people will continue to subscribe, read, watch or listen. Anything you can do to make that happen will put you in their good graces.

2. Be available around the clock.

If a reporter calls you when it’s inconvenient for you to talk, do everything possible to rearrange your schedule. If you ask the reporter to reschedule the interview a day or two later, you could miss being featured in the story. Give reporters your home, office and mobile phone numbers.

3. Make it easy for reporters to access background information.

Things such as bios, fact sheets about your company, downloadable photos, your logo, and other materials should be accessible in your online pressroom. It’s best to not make your pressroom password-protected.

4. Do what you say you’re going to do.

If you interview with a reporter and promise to send them a White Paper you’ve written, send it when it was promised. If you promise to follow up with the answer to a question that you were unsure of during the interview, follow through.

5. Give reporters and bloggers additional leads on stories they might be interested in, even if those stories aren’t about you. 

Those leads can include people who are doing innovative things in their industries or those who would make interesting profile stories. Leads can also include emerging industry trends, and ways that companies or nonprofits are using technology to save time and money. If you can provide background for any of those stories, let the reporter know.

6. Read stories they produce, and provide feedback.

Do this very carefully.

Let’s say you work for the county health department and you want to establish a relationship with the local health reporter. Read her stories regularly and occasionally offer feedback. Were they accurate? Did she miss a key angle of the story? Was the story well-reported?  Yes, you might end up offering unsolicited comments to a reporter who has a thin skin. But any competent reporter should welcome feedback.

For bloggers, this includes commenting at their blog. Check back at the blog periodically after you comment. Good bloggers respond to comments and often keep the conversation going.

7.  Pitch follow-up stories.

If a journalist interviewed you six months ago, and something significant has happened since then that ties into the story, let them know. Journalists love “follow up stories,” and so do readers.

8.  Stay in touch by offering reporters specific information they need.

While building relationships with reporters, ask: “How can I help you?”  Listen to what they tell you, and give them what they need. “How can I help you?” is just one of 10 magic phrases that journalists and bloggers love.

9. Never go over a reporter’s head and complain to their boss unless you have talked to the reporter first.

Relationships with journalists won’t always be rosy. When a reporter treats you poorly, or writes a story you think is biased, or includes an inaccuracy in an article, resist the temptation to immediately contact their boss.

Call the reporter first and discuss it. If you don’t like what you hear, then and only then, contact a supervisor.

10. Say thank you.

So few people write thank you notes anymore. If you do, you’ll really stand out from the crowd. Never thank a blogger or journalist for covering your story. Instead, thank them for their in-depth interview, their accurate story, their thorough questions, or their writing style. And never thank them “for giving me publicity.”

Another effective way to thank journalists and bloggers is to share links to their articles and blog posts on the social media sites.

What have I missed? What do you do to be an indispensible media source?

If you missed the webinar that Steve Harrison hosted a few weeks ago on how to get onto big TV talk shows like ”Rachael Ray,” “Live with Regis & Kelly,” and the “The Wendy Williams Show,” you have another chance to listen. 

Steve is repeating it at 2 and 7 p.m. Eastern Time today, Thursday, Sept. 8. He and his guests will explain how to be interviewed on top national TV shows on ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox. Register for the call here.

On the 90-minute call, you will hear from:

–Mariann Sabol from “Live with Regis & Kelly”

–Tommy Crudup from “Rachael Ray.”

–Dan Fitzpatrick from “The Wendy Williams Show.”

–Stacy Rollins, Telepictures Productions

–Plus others to be announced

The call is free, except for your normal long distance charges. Here’s what you’ll learn:

–How to increase your odds of getting on ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox.

–Understanding the mindset of national TV producers and what gets them to book you as a guest.

–The strategy a husband-and-wife team used to land a 7-minute segment on the “Today” show.

–What you should send TV producers (and what you shouldn’t).

–The most important question you must be able to answer to land a TV appearance.

–The biggest mistakes to avoid when pitching TV producers (including ones that could get you black- balled forever!).

–Case histories of three authors and entrepreneurs and the strategies they used to get on top TV shows.

I promote this call as a compensated affiliate because getting onto these big shows is one of the quickest ways to sell a book, pull traffic to your website and encourage OTHER media to call you. (Yes, the TV shows all pay attention to each other. And many print journalists watch, too.)

Register here. Once registered, you’ll receive all the details on how to participate, within five minutes.

See you on the call!

If you’re trying to get onto one of the big TV talk shows, the best place to start is usually at the show’s website.

But knowing where to look, and making sure your  pitch stands out from all the rest, can be near impossible.

That’s why Publicity Hounds who want to be on shows like “Rachael Ray” and “LIVE! with Regis & Kelly“ will be far ahead of their competitors if they listen in on a teleseminar tomorrow when Steve Harrison, publisher of Radio-TV Interview Report, interviews veteran producers who book guests for some of America’s top TV shows. The teleseminar is at 2 and 7 p.m. and you can register here.

His guests will include these producers:

• Mariann Sabol of “LIVE! with Regis & Kelly”
• Tommy Drudup of “Rachael Ray”
• Dan Fitzpatrick of “The Wendy Williams Show”
• Stacy Rollins of Telepictures Productions

You’ll learn how to increase your odds of getting onto ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox. They will also explain how you can understand the mindset of national TV producers, and the factors that convince them to book you as a guest.

Steve will also discuss strategies used by others to get booked on big shows, such as what a husband-and-wife team did to get a seven minute segment on the “Today” show.

You’ll also learn what to send national TV producers and what not to send, the most important question you must be able to answer to land a TV appearance, and the biggest mistakes to avoid when pitching.

Don’t miss this one! Even though the call is free, I’m an affiliate for Radio-TV Interview report and receive a commission if you buy any of their products or services.
     
    
Receive Media Leads 5 Days a Week

Don’t miss the many opportunities to receive free publicity by being a source for working journalists and broadcasters.

Five days a week, Steve Harrison’s media leads service called Reporter Connection will email you dozens of leads from journalists and others who are working on specific stories and need sources and other materials. Subscribe to the free service here.

It’s far too early to conclude whether Google+ is a valuable social media platform, or simply the newest shiny thing, even though self-proclaimed Google+ “experts” are multiplying like rabbits.

It’s worth nothing, however, that Muck Rack, the site that tracks major journalists and what they’re writing about on Twitter, has listed more than 140 journalists on Google+. Many of them work at top-tier media outlets like the New York Times, Huffington Post, Fox News, Washington Post and ABC News.

How can you use this information?

Follow them. But don’t pitch, at least not yet. It’s far too early. People are still figuring out how to use this.

If you’re not sure where to start, you’ll find a helpful article here. If you’re REALLY into Google+, follow Pete Cashmore, CEO and Founder of Mashable, on Google+.

If you need an invitation to Google+, email me and put “Google +” in the subject line.

If you’re a journalist who wants to be added to Muck Racks list, or you’d like to recommend a journalist’s name be added, complete this form.

Finding a messy make-up bag just before you're supposed to leave for a media interview can rattle you when you least need to be rattled.

Pitching yourself to TV talk show bookers or your local TV news directors, and convincing them to say yes, just seems like the hard part.

It really isn’t. The far more difficult task is knowing how to respond to the many emergencies that can pop up from the time you’re booked to the second you walk out of the recording studio, after the interview.

Here are seven emergencies to prepare for if you’re doing broadcast interviews.
     
    
1.   You haven’t left enough time to do your hair and make-up.

Earlier today, I was schedule to appear on a live webcast with Don Crowther, the creator of the Social Profit Formula 2.0, a social media course I highly recommend. I’m one of several people he interviewed about our successes with social media. We were supposed to do the interview at 3:40 p.m. in San Diego. I was to come to the studio at noon to be briefed.

That pink mess you see above is what I saw about an hour before I was to meet Don. My tube of liquid lipstick cracked, or the top came loosef en route to San Diego.

Most of my make-up was swimming in the bright pink goo, and I didn’t notice it until I pulled a bottle of liquid foundation out of the small plastic bag and ended up with stained fingers.

During interviews, I frequently talk with my hands. Would the several thousand people watching the webcast see my neon pink fingers as I wave my hands in front of me? Or would I have to sit with my hands planted firmly in my lap?

Luckily, I was staying with Christine Buffaloe, my virtual assistant, who lives about 10 minutes from the recording studio. She retrieved nail polish remover. But as I was rubbing like mad, the toilet paper I was using to apply it kept crumbling.  Chris found a clean rag. Within about 10 minutes, the stains disappeared. But it was a hassle I didn’t need.

A hair and make-up emergency can also occur when your stylist calls you the morning of the interview to cancel because she’s ill, and you can’t find another stylist who can take you at the last minute.
   
  
2. Traffic is backed up on a major road you’ve taken to the TV studio. You won’t make it on time.

Leave enough time to deal with closed roads, freeway back-ups, detours and bad weather like ice storms.

Do you have enough gas in your tank? Check the night before the interview.

If it’s in the dead of winter, do you have a back-up driver you can call if your battery is dead and you have no other way to get to the studio?
   
  
3.  You learn the day of the interview that the clothes you had planned to wear don’t fit.

Nothing is worse than taking your favorite silk suit out of the closet three hours before you’re to arrive at the studio, only to learn that it shrunk after it was dry cleaned.

Wardrobe emergencies include missing buttons and no appropriate shoes to wear with your outfit.

A few days before the interview, dress yourself in the clothes you plan to wear, including all matching accessories, so you aren’t hunting for them at the last minute.
   
  
4.  The TV producer calls you and asks if you can come to the studio an hour early because someone  who was scheduled to be on the program before you has cancelled.

Always leave extra time the day of the interview just in case this happens.
     
    
5.  The talk show host who’s interviewing you cuts short the interview. It was supposed to be five minutes. But it’s only a minute and a half because a previous segment ran too long.

Whatever you do, don’t complain! Be gracious. And send a handwritten thank-you note to the host and to the person who booked you.
     
    
6. The interviewer asks you a question you can’t answer.

This isn’t really an emergengy, but you might view it as such.

The best thing to do is to simply say “I don’t know,” and then bridge to your key message.

But why not be prepared? Ask the interviewer beforehand for an idea of the questions you’ll be asked. Broadcasters don’t mind doing this, unlike their brethren in the print media who hate “prepping” interview subjects.
    
    
 7. The interviewer fails to hold up your book and mention it on camera, after telling you that she would.

Don’t refer to your book. Just answer her final question and look like you’re enjoying yourself. When the interview is finished, thank her.

Authors who have upstaged their hosts, particularly pushy authors who mentioned their books,  have been blacklisted.

If you’ve done TV interviews and you have more tips to add to this list, share them here.
  
   

More Tools to Help You:

Special Report #2: Questions You Can Expect Reporters to Ask During an Interview.”

The Dangerous Hidden Secrets of Print & Broadcast Reporters

How to be a TV Talk Show Host’s Dream Date