If you’re trying to get onto one of the big morning TV talk shows to promote a product, tie it to a current event—and then sweeten your pitch by offering similar products.
That’s what Liz Murphy of Formula PR in el Segundo, California did. Several month sago, she pitched the morning TV talk shows on behalf of her client, FatCatInc.com, which makes pet toys. To make the story more enticing, she offered photos of other pet-related items with a political twist, including those from PoliticalPartyPets.com and RuffRuffandMeow.com.
Publicity Hound Lisa Solomon of Political Party Pets emailed me yesterday and was shocked that her company was mentioned during a six-minute segment on political items on the “Today” show yesterday.
“Liz contacted me six weeks ago and asked me to send her some high-resolution images of the Political Party Pets items to include in her pitch,” she said. “Her pitches also resulted in getting my company exposure in a Florida newspaper and on a Florida morning TV show. She rocks!”
Liz’s strategy, which also got her client onto the third hour of ”Good Morning America” on the Internet, was incredibly smart and follows the advice given by Lissa Warren, who was my guest during a teleseminar on “How to Get onto the Morning TV Talk Shows.” If you’re pitching those shows, or any journalists or broadcasters for that matter, make their job easy. Let them know about other products similar to yours.
Lisa, of course, can return the favor, and mention Fat Cat Inc. and Ruff Ruff and Meow in her pitches.
About Joan
The Publicity Hound
I agree that teaming with other businesses to pitch a whole story, rather than going it alone, can be a very successful PR strategy. In fact, earlier this year, Political Party Pets teamed with My Dog Votes (which encourages pet owners to keep pet-related issues in mind when choosing their elected officials) to be “running mates” in a joint 2008 marketing campaign. The press release we sent out announcing the partnership resulted in coverage on pet-related blogs and in newspapers around the country.
I wasn’t surprised that Liz’s pitch was successful: in fact, she told me last week that Political Party Pets might be featured on Monday’s Today Show episode. Since they never contacted me, though, I assumed that they would not be using my products for the story (now, reviewing my recent orders, I’m pretty sure which one came from a Today Show staffer).
I owe all the PR success that all my businesses (including Political Party Pets) have achieved to the valuable knowledge I’ve gained from your website, weekly e-newsletter and 89-day press release writing course. You’re definitely top PR dog in my book!
Lisa, regards your part : “I wasn’t surprised that Liz’s pitch was successful: in fact, she told me last week that Political Party Pets might be featured on Monday’s Today Show episode. Since they never contacted me, though, I assumed that they would not be using my products for the story (now, reviewing my recent orders, I’m pretty sure which one came from a Today Show staffer).” I could wish you best of luck and I’m sure you would get featured @ many many places. you have a very nice site up.