How To Land National Media Coverage

9 Insider Strategies for Landing Free Publicity on Radio/TV Shows, Newspapers, Magazines & Online

(Download the PDF)

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Want to get on National TV?

Few things can change your business — and your life — faster than landing the right national media appearance.

I’m talking about appearing on a major national TV show like ‘The Today Show’ or ‘Good Morning America’ or being written up in a large national magazine like ‘People’ or a newspaper like ‘The New York Times.’

Almost overnight, you could go from struggling to suddenly having thousands — even millions — of people interested in buying what you’re promoting, ordering your book or product online and in stores, hiring you for speeches, consulting, and more.

Here are 9 ways to land media coverage for what you’re promoting…

Imagine having the opportunity to promote your business, book, product, service, or even yourself to thousands — if not millions — of people!

That’s exactly what happens when you’re interviewed on a national TV show, podcast, or radio program, featured in a magazine or newspaper or reviewed on a popular website or YouTube channel.

When the media interviews you, or does a feature on you or what you’re promoting, you’ll reach a huge audience of potential buyers with your message.

And you don’t have to spend a penny on the exposure!

Let me give you an example of the power of publicity.

When my past client Barb Schwarz, an expert on home-staging, appeared on ABC’s ’20/20′, she received 2,300 email requests in the first hour alone.

She was featured throughout the segment which ran for seven minutes.

Staged Homes on ABC's 20/20

(A mere 30-second ad spot on the same show can cost $72,000!)

So, by that math, Barb received $504,000.00 worth of air time yet never paid a penny for advertising.

In fact, many PR firms would say she received ten times that — $5.4 million worth of exposure.

Why?

Because a feature story is ten times more powerful than advertising.

Barb can forever show prospective clients that she was featured on ’20/20′, which gives her instant credibility.

What the Media Will Almost Never Tell You

“But why would the media feature little ‘ole me?” you ask?

The fact is there are more media outlets than ever before.

They all need to do one thing: provide fresh information and stories that their audience will find interesting.

What where YOU come in.

You see, the media NEED you.

They must CONSTANTLY find interesting stories and people to interview, day after day, month after month, hour after hour.

Let’s take the average host for a radio talk show.

Let’s say his show runs from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. every weekday.

That means he has to fill three hours Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.

And it never stops.

There’s always a new day and a new deadline.

The media needs you because they have a voracious appetite for fresh content.

However, there is one thing you MUST know how to do to so the media gives you coverage:

You must position what you’re promoting in a way that serves their interests and audience.

Most people don’t know how to seize that opportunity.

They don’t know how to THINK like the media.

Consequently, they shoot themselves in the foot, make a lot of expensive mistakes, and even get blacklisted by the media without knowing it.

I don’t want that to happen to you.

In this report, I’m going to show you 10 proven strategies for grabbing the media attention you deserve. (Download PDF).

I’ll show you how previously unknown people (who had never received major publicity before) were able to apply my techniques and land valuable free publicity for themselves and what they were promoting.

I don’t want to sound like I’m bragging but…

I’ve probably helped more people attract free publicity than any publicist or PR expert in the world.

Well over 15,000 experts, authors, and entrepreneurs have received free publicity as a result of my company’s coaching, services, training, and expertise.

Many previously “ordinary” people who had never before received major media coverage send me thank-you notes and emails after they use my company’s training and services to get booked on major media outlets like ‘Good Morning America’, ‘The Today Show’, ‘The View‘, ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox News, and CNN.

They’ve also been featured in The New York Times, Time Magazine, Entrepreneur, Inc., USA Today, and many more.

My company helped launch such bestselling books as ‘Chicken Soup for the Soul’ by Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen, ‘Rich Dad, Poor Dad’ by Robert Kiyosaki, ‘Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus’ by John Gray, and the ‘Dummies’ books.

Every year, I do something no other PR expert or publicist has ever done.

I bring together over 100 TV producers and print/online editors from many of America’s most influential media outlets to teach my attendees — people just like you — how to promote their message.

I then arrange for my attendees to have one-on-one, face-to-face appointments with these same media so they can connect with them personally.

In this report, I’m going to share with you some of the proven strategies I routinely teach and use with my clients to get them media coverage. (Download PDF).

The Secrets to Attracting Media Attention

Most experts, authors, speakers, and entrepreneurs make a big mistake when approaching the media.

They lead with what they’re promoting rather than an IDEA for a show or story.

They essentially say to the decision-maker, “I have a new product or a new book and you should interview me.”

Or, “My business is amazing, you should write about it.”

This approach usually scares the media away because it sounds more like a sales pitch than a topic or story that will interest their audience.

Here’s the good news…

If you approach the media the right way, they’ll often GLADLY interview you.

They’ll also let you tell people where to get more information about what you’re promoting.

More on that later…

But HOW do you approach the media in a way that makes you irresistible?

That answer is to give them a HOOK.

What’s a ‘hook’?

Have you ever been watching TV and suddenly a host comes on and says something like, “Coming up… our next guest will reveal three simple ways to cut your grocery bills in half. Don’t go away!”

That’s an example of a hook.

The TV host just teased you into watching a whole bunch of commercials so you can find out how to cut your grocery bill.

Let’s talk about how to create a hook for YOU…

Think about it this way.

Fill in the blank below.

“Coming up, ________________.”

What is the question or statement a TV host could say that would tease people into waiting through a bunch of annoying commercials just to hear what you have to say?

Or suppose people were looking at the cover of a magazine where it lists some of the stories inside.

What phrase might they write about YOU that would get people to buy that magazine and turn right to that page?

The answer to that question is your hook.

Truth is you can, and should, have several different hooks.

But sometimes it’s hard to create them all by yourself.

Let me help you do that more easily by giving you some proven formulas for creating really good hooks.

Strategy 1: Offer a ‘How-To’ Angle

My student Elizabeth Lombardo has appeared on ‘The Today Show’ multiple times by offering ‘how-to’ segment ideas…

Dr. Elizabeth Lombardo's Media Reel

My client Elizabeth Lombardo is a psychologist.

But there are a lot of psychologists out there.

She also wrote a book on happiness.

But there are lots of books on happiness out there.

Elizabeth wondered, “How am I going to stand out among all the other psychologists and happiness books?”

“How am I going to grab the media’s attention?”

Be willing to talk about things that are NOT in your book.

I taught her to do something most authors never think about doing.

I taught her to give TV producers a good hook by offering to talk about things that are NOT in her book but ARE related to it.

For example, her first book is titled ‘A Happy You: Your Ultimate Prescription for Happiness.’

In the book, Elizabeth shows people how to increase their self-confidence, become more grateful and forgive other people.

Those are important things, but they’re not very INTERESTING to the average TV producer when phrased that way.

However, when Elizabeth was preparing to come to The National Publicity Summit and meet TV producers and print/online editors from America’s top media outlets, she realized she had to make herself more media-genic.

In the training at the Summit, I pointed out that one of the best ways to grab the media’s interest is to show their viewers or readers how to do something SPECIFIC.

Elizabeth realized that instead of telling producers she can help people manage their stress, it would be more effective to offer, “How to avoid being an over-stressed mom.”

See how much more specific that is?

Rather than offering to help people overcome their fear, she noticed airplane disasters and earthquakes had been dominating the news, so Elizabeth offered, “How to deal with the fear of disasters.”

Both of these hooks landed her appearances on The Today Show.

Elizabeth didn’t have a publicist at the time.

She learned how to do her own publicity.

Most of my media friends tell me they would rather hear from YOU directly than from a publicist, provided you know how to present yourself effectively.

That’s what I’m here for.

I’m so proud of Elizabeth.

Through hard work and persistence, she landed her first appearance on The Today Show.

But it gets even better…

She is such a good guest, Elizabeth has now appeared on The Today Show more than 13 times, as well as Dr. Oz, Steve Harvey, CNN, and FOX News.

How to Apply This “How To” Strategy…

To apply this “how to” strategy, ask yourself: “What problems do people have every day that I know how to help them solve?”

Make a list.

Then drill down and make each one even more specific and focused.

For example, a hook like, “How to relax” isn’t as appealing as, “How to relax in rush hour traffic.”

That’s an actual hook we created for one of our clients.

He was booked on more than 40 radio talk shows using it!

So be specific.

It could lead to a ton of free publicity.

Strategy 2: Counter a Myth

How I helped Robert Kiyosaki make his book ‘Rich Dad, Poor Dad’ famous…

If you have ever tried to get publicity and failed, don’t let it stop you from trying again.

Often it just takes a new approach to hit PR gold.

Robert Kiyosaki’s success is a good example of what can happen when you continue to believe in your message and when you’re absolutely committed to sharing it with the world.

Initially, he had hired a PR firm to promote his book but was very disappointed with the results.

After spending a lot of money, he’d only been booked on a few college radio stations and not much else.

Most people would stop there and figure the media wasn’t interested.

But not Robert.

His wife Kim called my office and explained they had 3,000 copies of ‘Rich Dad, Poor Dad’ sitting in their garage.

They had self-published their book and wanted to find a way to promote it effectively.

So my team created a hook for Robert that we ran with some additional copy in my ‘Radio-TV Interview Report.’

The headline was a natural hook, “What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money (That Most of Us Don’t).”

Radio talk shows loved Robert because he did something that the media love: he countered a common myth.

For example, he would talk about how people THINK if they just go to school and get good grades and work hard, they’ll be rich someday.

But Robert said that’s not true.

He argued that people needed to create passive income by investing in businesses and in real estate.

He also countered another common myth.

He said, “Your house is NOT an asset.”

You see, Robert defines an asset as something that brings you positive cash flow rather than costing you money.

Bat at the time (remember this was before the 2008 financial crisis), people would often get angry and defensive because what Robert was saying went against the typical advice they usually heard.

So don’t feel like you have to get everyone to agree with you.

Robert loves to “draw a line in the sand and dare people to step over it.”

When you do that on the air, you may attract more controversy and criticism, but you also attract more publicity and book sales.

Robert send me this letter – it’s proof that publicity can change your life!

To Apply The “Counter-A-Myth-Strategy”:

Fill in the blank:

“Most of the people I serve believe they need to __________ in order to __________. But I know from experience this is a false belief.”

So my hook could be, “Why you don’t have to ___________ to _____________.”

Example: “Most people I serve believe they need to exercise in order to lose weight. But I know from experience this is a false belief.”

So my hook could be, “Why you don’t have to exercise to lose weight.”

Do this at least three times and odds are you’ll have at least one good publicity hook!

Strategy 3: Demonstrate the Problem You Solve

How Kevin Connell landed on his local FOX TV station…

I went to a business seminar and happened to sit next to a very nice guy named Kevin Connell.

As I recall, we began talking during one of the breaks. He said, ‘Steve, I know your company helps people land free publicity. That’s a great service. Unfortunately, I couldn’t really get publicity.”