4 solid strategies to stand out and attract more free media exposure

Media outlets constantly search for stories and people who will captivate the attention of their audiences. What this means for you and your organization is that today is the best time to reach out and earn your share of the millions in free publicity that is available every single day.

How do you impress the media and stick out in a sea of wannabes?

First and foremost, don’t waste their valuable time. Virtually, every media outlet is operating with fewer staff than they had last year. This means that they still have the same pressing deadlines and space to fill but they don’t have enough staff to do it.

If you want your pitch to stand out amongst the thousands that hit their inbox today – it has to be memorable, relevant and thorough.

Here are my TOP 4 Tips to guarantee you attract attention no matter what product or service you are selling.

1. Be Newsworthy.  You can never hope to “make the news” if you have no idea what is going on in the news.  The media is not interested in your product or service.  What they are interested in are celebrities, politicians, sports stars, scandals, natural disasters and other headline news.  If you want to be featured, you need to make what you do relevant in the context of what is happening today in the news. Tie what you do to someone or something that is newsworthy and you will become the go-to-expert for top shows, magazines and newspapers.

2. Tailor Your Story.  If you don’t read a particular publication or follow a show, chances are that it will be almost impossible for you to hit the target with the editor or producer. They get thousands of pitches every day – if it doesn’t fit squarely within what they do, they will simply toss it in the garbage. It is better to send out 2 custom pitches a day that are carefully crafted than 100 generic emails or faxes that are too broad to appeal to anyone.

3. Create your own news. The other day I got a call from a national news organization who read my pitch that 1/3 of the population suffers from insomnia. They immediately wanted to interview me. Now, insomnia has been around since the beginning of time. Why did it become a pressing national news story on Tuesday at 9am in Melbourne? 1/3 of the general population is a lot of people. If something affects a lot of people, it becomes newsworthy. The trick to garnering media attention is to take some aspect of what you do and make it tangible and real (as a problem) to the lives of many.

4. Follow the story and add to it.  If you watch carefully you will notice that the media tends to follow a hot story for an extended period of time. Take for example Claire Werbeloff, the chick-chick-boom girl, who became a Youtube sensation around the world for lying about  the events leading up to a Kings Cross murder. Even though she had no talent, connection to the crime or evidence, we were forced to endure more than 4 weeks of national coverage on her (not the crime).  She eventually went on to be featured in Ralph magazine and was offered work with Channel 9.  To emulate this you need to track the pulse of hot news stories and be on the lookout for opportunities to enhance the coverage by contributing insights and expert commentary. When it comes to breaking news, the media is on the look-out for related subjects which add to the story or new angles that are fresh and captivating.

Media outlets capture eyeballs with news and they are not in the business of selling your products or services. By following the news and becoming newsworthy, you will increase your chances exponentially of being picked up and featured.

The good news is that media outlets are constantly searching for stories and  people who will capture and captivate the attention of their audiences. What  this means for you and your organization is that right now (TODAY) is the best  time for you to reach out and earn some of the millions of dollars of free  publicity that is available every day.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/3142180

More important than originality or intrigue, is the ability for a writer to help us experience the world in new and meaningful ways. Far beyond the obvious – the power of words to make you hear, to make you feel, to make you see—and above all to make you dream. Words hold the power to define and eradicate boundaries – both physical and mental.

Twitter has the potential to separate the literary men (and women) from the mice! Where else can you say so little or so much with 140 mere characters?

I would advocate that if you can master the following Twitter secrets, you will have learned all that there is to become a better, faster, more concise, compelling and articulate writer.

Keep it Simple

Tweeting forces each of us to think and write simply. With only 140 characters available, it is imperative to get to the point and be succinct.

Know When Enough is Enough

Ninety-eight percent of communication is knowing what to say AND what not to say. Enough said.

Be Relevant

Pay attention to what is newsworthy and topical. Be prepared to break new ground and have a unique or controversial opinion. In particular, watching the current trends (and items which are hash tagged) will allow you to put your finger on the pulse of public opinion and shed new light and insight on hot topics.

Get To The Point…the Entire Point NOW!

With Twitter, you have no choice but to start and finish your thought(s) in one short sentence. This necessity will enable you to focus your mind, idea and words in every aspect of your writing – articles, blogs, books etc.

I sometimes wonder what the great literary geniuses – Hemingway, Shakespeare, Wordsworth, Frost, Austen and Chaucer – would have thought of Twitter? I doubt they would have bothered to bore us with the details of their everyday movements online and I have no doubt their true genius and literary prowess would have shone through and put us all to shame – in 140 characters or less.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/3232558

Right now you are probably asking yourself “how does she know that?”.

I haven’t even seen any of your press releases… and that’s OK, I don’t need  to. I already know the answer. Trust me!

First of your press release is WAY too long…

Second, you don’t have any bullets in them. Media people have the attention spans of mosquitoes and you need to feed your story idea to them in a press release with 30 second sound bites.

Third, no one cares about your product, service, company or book. You need to  react to what is in the news today! You aren’t doing that, are you? How does  what you have to sell relate to the latest sports scandal, celebrity melt  down, internet scam or politician who has accepted a free flight on Qantas?   Does your press release fix a major problem that listeners/readers have today?

Fourth, no one is reading your press release because you are mailing or  faxing them out in bulk and not following up. You need to electronically send them out to several places (both local media and big online services like  prlog.com) and follow them up with an actual phone call.

Finally, make sure you turn your press release into an article and send them  out to Ezine release companies, post them on your blog, mention them on social media (Twitter, Facebook, G+, LinkedIn, Pinterest)  and include them in your Enewsletter blast to your database. Remember, you will  be lucky if you receive a response to your first press release. The key is to be  short, sharp, newsworthy, interesting and persistent. Relevancy, follow up and  persistence are the 3 keys to your success.

Stay tuned for my next installment where I am going to show you how to write a $10m Press Release!

Rhondalynn Korolak, Author of "Financial Foreplay®" and "On The Shoulders of Giants

It has been over 50,000 since human beings lived in caves.  All those years ago, life was pretty much about survival – each morning our ancestors would emerge from their caves and scan the horizon for imminent danger.   Although things have changed a lot in our external environment in the last few thousand years, in many ways, the wiring in our brains has not.  In fact, 90% of what you and I do on a day to day basis is still based on that ancient wiring and survival mentality and it is precisely this legacy that needs to be re-directed to prevent self sabotage from holding you back, personally and professionally.

You see our brains are wired to spot and avoid danger.

Even though the danger may not be “life or death”, we see this dynamic play out in our work environments almost every day.  For every daring and outlandish new idea that is proposed by one hopeful soul, there will be a long list of sceptical colleagues who are willing to offer 20 reasons why the idea might fail or cause harm.

So, how does this play out exactly?

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Rhondalynn Korolak, Author of "Financial Foreplay®" and "On The Shoulders of Giants

Lily Allen may not be an authority on business, but she hit the nail on the head with her honest, irreverent spin on a timeless mystery – “how to know what to do when you have no idea and you’re not prepared”.  In her platinum selling song, she sings:

I don’t know what’s right and what’s real anymore
And I don’t know how I’m meant to feel anymore
When do you think it will all become clear?

Everyone knows that we have been conditioned NOT to admit that we don’t know all of the right answers.  Even though we know it’s not true, our teachers, bosses, politicians and even the media have modelled this “fake it until you make it” mentality.  Since the mind doesn’t know the difference between a real or imagined event, acting ‘as if’ seems like the logical solution to temporary uncertainty, or does it?

“I don’t know” is a simple phrase.  Simple and powerful at the same time.  While there can be no doubt that to use it denotes uncertainty and the risk of embarrassment, with it comes an attribute that is far more rare and influential…authenticity!

Over the course of my life, I have been asked some difficult questions both personally and professionally – I’ve been put on the spot, caught unprepared and left exposed and vulnerable.   Many times, I racked my brain to come up with the answer – a plausible response that hit the nail on the head or got me out of jail [metaphorically speaking] for free!  Other times, I just got lucky.

But occasionally I must admit, “I just don’t know!”  I simply cannot say for sure.  I just don’t have the answer right now.

Sometimes admitting you don’t know can be the most empowering, intelligent, authentic and liberating response that you can offer.  Compared to stumbling through a half baked idea, outright lying or trying to pull a cohesive response out of thin air, admitting you don’t know is a sane solution to this diabolical dilemma.

To be honest, none of us has “The Answer” to everything.  If you think you do, chances are you know even less than you thought!  If someone has taken the time to ask a question and placed their trust in your expertise, they deserve pearls of wisdom not propaganda.

In fact, in order to be a true leader and to earn authority, which is the foundation of your ability to influence others, it is simply not enough to be knowledgeable.  You also need to be truthful.  Therefore, in order to master the power of influence, you must establish yourself as both honest and powerful in your communications.

When in doubt, “I don’t know but I will find out” is the best answer.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/3925288