Earning broadcast attention for your product, cause, expertise, or event can make a big difference in the results you enjoy in your business. Today I am happy to introduce a new guest blogger to Authentic Visibility who can elaborate with a great deal of credibility on this particular subject. Janet Vasil is an award-winning broadcast journalist with more than 25 years experience as an anchor, reporter, producer, host and voice-over narrator in radio and television news and information programming. When your needs call for someone with this experience, Janet Vasil is one very talented professional to have on your team. This is the first of a periodic series of blog posts Janet will be sharing to upgrade your broadcast publicity skills. Your comments about this and all posts at this blog are always welcome and appreciated, so let me hear from you!
Take it away Janet!
Local television news is what they call in a sellers market in real estate. Because the station has what you want — free publicity — they can ask for a lot and they’ll get it. Here are a few things to consider when pitching TV news people.
Think visually. No matter how great your story is, if the reporter can’t imagine what the video will be, they’ll pass. If you call or send an email pitch that says, “CEO Bob of ABC company is holding a news conference about the new electric doo-wop,” that’s a big yawn. News conferences make bad video. But if it’s “CEO Bob of ABC company is unveiling the new electric doo-wop with a factory tour for members of the media and the opportunity to drive the new doo-wop,” now they “see” a story for TV.
Make it easy for them. Local television news crews work on extremely tight deadlines, often with multiple deadlines, throughout the day. They want to shoot everything they need quickly and easily. Think of it like “One Stop Shopping.” They don’t have time to drive across town, picking up a sound bite here and some video there. If you pitch them a story that’s all in one place, they’re more likely to do it.
Be ready to go. If you are pitching a local connection to a big story breaking in the region, state or nation or a story that’s a localized sidebar to a major hot story making news, the TV station may want to come out right away or in a few hours to shoot it. Be sure your business calendar is clear. If you say, “That’s not a convenient time.” or “I’ll get back to you when I can do it,” forget it.
Be honest. Deliver what you promise. Getting a TV crew to come to your business or event with empty hype (Brad Pitt is invited) can backfire. Be an honest expert with a solid story and offer to act as an industry resource on future stories. That’s the way to build a relationship and can lead to more publicity.
Media Momentum Coach Janet Vasil uses her more than 25 years experience as a radio/TV anchor, reporter and producer to help women entrepreneurs, authors, service professionals and other experts step into the spotlight, reach out to the media and profit from free publicity on TV, radio and the “virtual” airwaves. For more information, visit this link.
