I am a big fan of the media query service known as Help a Reporter Out. Every day, I find out about reporters, bloggers, and other people of influence who are seeking commentary or perspective from experts like me and YOU. And because I want to get known for my expertise so I can get paid, I make a habit of replying to those queries that are a perfect fit for my own story. You can visit the site, join for free, and start receiving queries in your in-box right now. I highly recommend it.
In my experience, the keys to standing out among a sea of replies are to follow the directions noted in the query, meet or beat the stated deadline, and put some personality into your pitch.
Several of the queries from last week asked for a one-paragraph summary of my story, and I was able to reply within minutes because my story was already on paper. And I was delighted to receive replies from both that my story was exactly what they needed. Coverage should follow very shortly and in perfect timing.
- If you were to share YOUR story in one paragraph or less, what would you say?
- And are you ready to share it at a moment's notice?
If you want to get seen, heard, celebrated, and COMPENSATED for the expert status you own today, you have to step up and out so the right people can find you. Responding to a HARO query is a great way to get the mission accomplished.
Here is my one-paragraph example. My challenge is for you to write one for your own company and to start sharing it with the media outlets and query posters for whom your story is a perfect fit. Come on. I dare you!
It's Your Story. Tell It Well. Start Today.
In the darkest days of the Great Recession, my boutique publicity agency (launched in 2001) fell on hard times. After a brief stay in “Pity Party Hotel,” I wrote a book called Bye-Bye Boring Bio: The Solopreneur’s Ultimate Action Guide to Get Seen, Heard, Celebrated and Compen$ated for Expert Status. A friend dared me to write the first draft and share it as a gift to the guests who had paid to attend a do-it-yourself publicity workshop I was leading in Portland, Oregon at her invitation. I created the first draft in three weeks because I desperately needed to find a new way to serve the marketplace in a daunting economic time. Making boring bios better for client attraction seemed like a timely way to guide others in trouble to a much-needed outcome. Today this well-reviewed and popular workbook is the foundation behind the Get Your Client Attracting Story Done Worldwide Virtual Workshop. This virtual training earns raves and results in powerful story transformations for the hundreds of action-takers who participate from English speaking nations around the world. It is also among the useful training elements in the Get Known Get Paid Success System and among the tools that clients in my Get Known to Get Paid PRIVATE Mentoring Program enjoy. And, just this week, I debuted a new GIFT BOOKLET called Heal Your Boring Business Bio Now – The Bio Doc Offers Tips and Story Makeovers to Show You How, and it’s available for free download between now and Dec. 31, 2013. A shiny New Year is fast approaching, and there are plenty of bios that still need healing for optimal client attraction. The bottom line is that my interest in better business bios saved my bacon at a time when I really needed to bring some home. The bounty continues, one book purchase, workshop, training system, and mentoring program at a time. The lesson from all of this makes me grin. When the world dishes up lemons, find a way to make lemonade. Let the healing for boring bios begin because “The Bio Doc is In.”
“OMG! Nancy's book is a GOLDMINE of ‘bio brilliance!’ What's especially delightful about this immensely helpful book are the before/after demonstrations of bios that go from ‘meh’ to magnificent under her tutelage. Well done, Nancy!”
—Linda Claire Puig, 6FigureNewsletters.com
