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…And Turn Your Host’s Listeners into Your Followers

The most difficult thing about being a public relations professional is correcting a client’s perceptions about the field of PR itself.

PR people are depicted in the movies as “spin doctors,” stretching the truth or lying outright to present their clients in the best possible light.

That characterization couldn’t be further from the truth, and not because the portrayals are exaggerated and phony, but rather, because they proceed from the false assumption that a PR agent’s work is just about “selling” his client. The truth is, public relations is a marketing tool that is most effective when it isn’t trying to sell anything. At the heart and soul of any good PR effort is the desire to provide the news media with a story worth telling, plain and simple.

The hard truth that a PR agency has to help clients understand is that journalists and hosts don’t care about selling your book, your product, your story or your messages.

What they do care about is serving their viewers, listeners and readers with information and entertainment that keep them tuned in and paying attention. The more eyes and ears that are focused on their shows and publications means more advertising dollars for those organizations. And that is the “bottom line” in those industries.

Keeping that reality in mind, the best way to have successful interviews is to forget you’re selling something and work your marketing efforts around the goal of being the perfect radio guest. The key tactics to this strategy are:

• Don’t position yourself as an author or executive. Instead, position yourself as an expert in your topic or your industry. Don’t try to sell anything other than your depth of knowledge and your ability to help answer key questions about some aspect of your topic that may have been in the news recently. For instance, a realtor can talk about escaping foreclosures. A stockbroker can talk about how to manage your own portfolio. Experts on just about any topic can look to the newspaper and find stories related to their expertise. Find that news story and shape your interview pitch around it, and include the fact that you have expertise in the field.
• Make the host your friend. Talk candidly and openly about your topic in relationship to the current events surrounding it, and engage the host. In a recent interview, Lee Habeeb, co-creator of The Laura Ingraham Show and media coach to many of today’s top talk radio hosts, said, “The most important audience is the host. If you can engage the host, you will have engaged his audience. For example, the only reason most people gather around “The Savage Nation” is because they’re interested in what Michael Savage has to say and what he is interested in. So by proxy, you don’t have to worry about entertaining Michael’s audience; you simply have to engage and entertain Michael.”
• Don’t sell. Stay on topic during the interview, and when appropriate, mention the free material on your web site that could benefit the host’s listeners. If you engage the host, give a great interview and offer helpful information, you don’t have to worry about selling anything. The host will do it for you. He’ll make sure his audience knows you’re an expert, he’ll give out your web site, he’ll mention the name of your book or he’ll talk about the value of your product. He’ll do the promotion for you.
• Have a web site that does more than sell your product. If you are an author, provide free “tips articles” that explain your topic or your viewpoint in an informational manner. If you’re selling a product, create free reports or articles for your site that lay out the problem your product solves, again, in an educational tone.

How does this help you promote your book or your products?

Simple – one of the primary points of sale for almost every industry today is the Internet. Your web site is your virtual storefront or sales team, and companies pay big money for search engine marketing ads that are designed to drive traffic to your site. With your free report, you can drive radio listeners to your site in a non-commercial way that doesn’t lead them to believe you are selling anything. All it does is make you look smart. The host, tired of people using their shows to promote themselves, appreciates you not sounding like an infomercial and even urges his loyal audience to visit your site. If you’re really good, the host may even ask you back another time.

And you achieved all this simply by resisting the instinct to “sell,” and instead re-focusing your efforts toward helping the radio host offer listeners a good show.

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You have been working yourself to exhaustion for countless hours and it’s finally finished. After a lifetime of dreaming, you are finally holding it in your hands. Your book: the focus of all of your energies and a labor of love. You want the whole world to hear about it (and hopefully buy it), but you aren’t sure how to make that happen. If you have limited budget, one of the best and most cost-effective ways to let people know that your book exists is talk radio.

There are publicity firms who specialize in booking authors on talk radio, but what are the advantages of hiring them? Here are 5 advantages of hiring a publicity firm to promote your book on talk radio:

1. They Know How to Play the Publicity “Game.”

Most authors know that they need media exposure, but have no idea where to start or who to call. Generating publicity can be difficult and even complex. You have to know the right shows, the right stations, the right producers, and the right time to call. Hiring a publicist takes out all of the guesswork.

2. They Will Help You Develop Your Message.

One of the most valuable things a publicity firm can do is help you develop the right message or angle to use to get the media’s attention. They will examine your book and message and will be able to pick out the angle that will maximize interest in you and your book.

3. They Will Get Your Message to the Right People.

While it’s true that you can call radio stations and attempt to book yourself, you may not get very far. Many hosts and producers won’t even consider a guest unless they are represented by a publicist, assuming they even take your call in the first place. A good publicity firm knows how to provide a show producer with everything they need to book you as a guest.

4. They Have Established Relationships with the Media.

Experienced publicists have cultivated strong relationships with talk radio hosts and producers. In some cases, these relationships last several years and help open up doors that might otherwise be closed. Often, a host will book a guest solely based on the recommendation of a trusted publicist.

5. They Have the Experience to Guide You.

Going out there and doing interviews without any tips or any guidance can be quite daunting. A good PR firm will be able to coach you on the fine point of “talk radio etiquette” and will be able to help you correct any missteps you might make.

By factoring in all of these advantages, we can help alert the masses about your book. As specialists in book publicity for nearly two decades, EMSI has the experience and the know-how that you need to help accomplish your goals.

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As a PR professional, I’ve never liked the way movies portray public relations people.

Usually, they’re characterized by Hollywood as slick-talking flim-flam artists who promise the universe and deliver next to nothing.

And there’s a reason why Hollywood zeroes in on that rendering of PR pros – because our profession does have its share of people who are just like that. I wish it weren’t true, because the vast majority of PR professionals have integrity and work hard to earn their clients’ trust. But the bad apples do exist, and every time I hear real life stories about those kinds of PR people, it infuriates me.

I received a call the other day from a potential client who described to me her campaign that was executed by a retainer-based PR firm (and they charged a bundle) that was so shoddy and mismanaged, it cast a dark shadow over the entire profession in her mind. And, just in the past month, I had similar conversations with two other companies who also had bad experiences with PR agencies.

The sad thing is these bad experiences could have been prevented or foreseen if only the client knew what questions to ask during the hiring process. As I care very much about my profession and the people we serve, let me share some insight about what questions you should ask your PR agency BEFORE you sign on the dotted line. If you get satisfactory answers to these questions, you’ll be well along the road to a successful campaign.

1. Do you have experience in my industry? – All PR agencies are not alike, and agencies that tell you they can handle anything aren’t necessarily telling the whole truth. An agency doesn’t need to be a specialist in your particular industry, but it’s important to know something of your industry in order to understand your business. It’s essential for being able to understand the underlying news angles prevalent in your industry and in the news, and for being able to write strong pitches that represent you well to the media. You don’t want to pay for your agency’s learning curve, so make sure they have experience in your industry. 
    
2. What mediums do you specialize in? Print? Radio? TV? All of the above? – More than 95 percent of all PR firms tend to specialize in print media. But, if your company’s message also plays well on radio or television, make sure the agency can deliver that as well. And the issues go deeper than just the type of media, but also the size of the outlets. If you want to be interviewed on talk radio shows, does the agency have contacts with high powered stations in top 100 markets, or will all your bookings be at LP (low power) stations in sparsely populated areas with few listeners.
    
   Ask what media they specialize in, and also ask for samples of past campaigns. If they can’t show them to you, chances are you won’t get the coverage you are paying for. 
    
3. Are you a pay for performance or retainer-based agency? – This is an important question, because retainer-based agencies work on a “best-efforts” basis, meaning you are paying for their time and skill. Your risk is that you pay their monthly fee with no guarantee you’ll get the coverage and results you were hoping for. With pay for performance agencies, you’re guaranteed the media you pay for and in some cases you’re billed as you receive coverage, mitigating your risk as the client. A pay for performance agency doesn’t make money unless you get coverage so it’s a win-win situation. 
    
4. Can you provide samples of current client campaigns? – This “look-see” will provide you the documentation to support the agency’s promise that they are actually capable of delivering against their promises. Compare your needs to their current clients, so you can assure yourselves there is a fit. Remember that good client case studies aren’t a guarantee you’ll get the same results. However, chances are that if the agency achieved success for other clients, the odds are decent that they’ll achieve comparable success for you. 
     
5. Are you a local, regional or national agency? – Local agencies may feature lower costs, but their media contacts are limited to their own city. This is fine if all you need is local coverage. But if your company does business nationwide, you want to hire an agency who is speaking to national media every day. An agency with national media contacts is far more preferable than an agency with a media database service that they use to “dial for dollars.” With that in mind, don’t choose an agency just because they’re located in your city and you get “face-to-face” time. What matters more is whether they meet your criteria for getting the job done. 
    
6. Who will be managing my campaign? – With many agencies, the role of senior management is to bring in new clients, not actually execute the work. So, before you choose an agency ask about the level of experience of the person or people who will be working on your campaign. In some agencies, Account Managers are rookies fresh from college or interns playing a key role in the execution of campaigns. As an insider, I highly recommend that you ask questions about the qualifications of the team who will be handling your account.
    

In addition to asking these questions, make sure to choose a firm that understands your topic, has enthusiasm for your message and can communicate about it intelligently. In the end, you want a firm that you feel comfortable and confident with so you can establish a long-term working relationship.

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If you’ve decided to become an expert in your field, in any field, allow me to show you how much faster that process can be – and how much further you can reach – through the publication of a well-written, carefully-planned, readable and entertaining book.

Books provide what I call “portable expertise.”

Low-Tech, High-Impact

Anywhere a book can go, you can go. Yes, there are more high-tech ways to reach your audience, but when someone’s wi-fi isn’t working, your book still is. When someone’s at 30,000-feet and can’t use their laptop yet, he or she can still open your book.

In a bathroom stall, in a parking garage waiting for an appointment, at a corner café with a cup of coffee, in bed late at night not wanting to disturb their spouse, in an elevator, your book goes anywhere they can go; and if you have a book, so do you.

Speed is a constant in our hurly-burly world. Gone are the days of leisurely lunch dates, quiet afternoons, relaxing weekends or two-week vacations. Now it’s all about screen-time versus face time, productivity over quality and half-page memos versus quarterly reports. We are supposed to do more with less and sooner rather than later, and with all our high-tech gadgets and multi-tasking interfacing, our brains are still trying to catch up.

Enter… THE BOOK.

Stay With Them Even When They’re Gone…

The book remains as our link between then and now, fast and slow, more and less. Everyone has a blog, only a fraction of people have a book. Everyone has a website, only so many of those websites have a book for sale. Ebooks have yet to corner the market on credibility and creativity, and even books on tape have to be written, recorded, delivered and digested.

The book remains THE penultimate source of distilled wisdom and what I call portable expertise. If you give a conference and the audience was too wowed by your presentation to digest every word, there’s your book in the back of the room to take with them to devour your expertise later.

During a lecture, a seminar, a meet and greet or a conference, you only have so much time to present and then it’s on to the next speaker. Books let you deliver the entire range of your expertise in 300 pages or less – and all in a nice, neat, presentable, impressive, PORTABLE package.

Let’s face it: you can’t be everywhere at once. One of the unique values of a published book is that it lets people bask in your expertise wherever they are, whenever they can. It can also be liberally shared because, again, this expertise is portable; a quick handoff to a business associate, a client, a fellow parishioner, a neighbor, a colleague or a friend and your portable expertise has just doubled; now you really can be two places at once!

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Few people I talk to consider themselves authors; fewer still ever picture themselves writing a book. Well, if you’re still undecided about whether a book can propel you to expert status in your field, consider a scene of two people who walk into your office each seeking your business. Each has impeccable credentials, is wearing a tailored suit, and has an impressive resume that sparkles with confidence and great talent.

One candidate hands you a glossy business card.

The second hands you his book.

Quickly: who just won your business?

You’re Already an Expert, Why Shouldn’t People Know That?

Let’s face it, in our business – in any business – success is all about perception. When we meet a book’s author, we immediately perceive that person to be an expert on whatever subject he or she is writing about. That author is far more impressive than the guy or gal who comes along without a book.

For someone to take the time to write about a topic, give it an impressive title and subtitle, organize it, review it, plan it and get it published, says much about a person. It says, “I am focused, clear, passionate and drive.” It says, “I am an expert in my field and, what’s more, I’m eager to share that expertise with all comers.” It reeks of credibility, expertise, influence, maturity, solidity and, above all, success. What’s more, it makes that person special and unique. It’s an impressive credential.

It will do the same for you. A book will also:

• Increase your visibility
   
• Bring new business
   
• Announce your presence
   
• Distill your thoughts
   
• Give you “portable expertise”
   
• Provide publicists tons of material
   

I tell you this because if you are ever to truly celebritize yourself, if you are truly to become an expert in your field and own the niche you’re in, you must begin to think about yourself not just as a celebrity but as an expert-turned-author-turned -celebrity. Books are central to the Celebritize Yourself process.

A book gives you instant cache. It ups your credibility factor. To stay competitive in today’s cutthroat world of would-be experts, a book is no longer a stand out – it’s a must-have. Name almost any expert you can think of – in any field – and you will find them listed on Amazon.com. And not just in the music or DVD sections, but under books. You’ll find thousands! Try it.

Business Card 2.0

You’ll see my point. Today’s book is yesterday’s business card. Or, perhaps, it’s today’s “Business Card 2.0,” an interactive, user-friendly, narrated tour through your expertise. It is an instant introduction to your thoughts, feelings, expertise, know-how, advice, wisdom, and personality, rolled into a neat 200-300 page package within a cover of credibility-boosting blurbs from respected peers and colleagues.

Add your snappy author’s photo, wrap it in a great title (and subtitle), create a slam-bang cover with your name on it and, presto-chango, you are now an author ready to compete on the same playing field as any other celebrity. Now, all you have to do is come up with that great idea for a bestselling book that can magnetize an endless stream of clients or customers.

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