At the start of February I made a website called Save the Mexican Wave.com that got featured all over the national press of Australia and also in the media of at least five other countries. I have a little previous experience in putting media releases out and am currently batting with 100% success on getting my news into at least one media outlet. Here are some tips on how to get air-time for your business:
1.) Campaign on a current story. I created SaveTheMexicanWave when I was looking for an issue that had got some media attention. Naturally, I linked this to my website www.jonksbargains.com (which isn’t a commercial website). Over 25% of STMW visitors clicked through to Jonk’s Bargains. Note: this will only work if there is one side to the story before you come along - in my case, Cricket Australia had banned The Wave, but noone was standing up to them. I became the media’s go-to-guy.
2.) The media won’t come to you. You must go to them. Journalists don’t go looking for stories - they act off tips, media releases. I put in emails, phone calls to get my story up. Just go to the org’s website and you will find the contact information easily. At first, only a few took the bait. For example, the breakfast show on radio station 2GB in Sydney told me this story wouldn’t go anywhere. But then the rest picked up on the story and soon it was the hottest talk-back topic in Australia. And what happened to 2GB? I later found out that their afternoon and drive-time producers had a big argument over who would get my interview.
3.) Radio stations (especially talk-back) and newspapers have a lot of space to fill. They need something to do with their time. Don’t just contact one person at a radio station - contact the producer of every single semi-relevant show. And don’t ignore the little stations - they may be small, but their interviews last a lot longer.
4.) Don’t write the media release like an essay - write it like an article. Don’t use long, bloated quotes and sentences. Just provide a fair amount of great quotes and you are improving your publicity chances considerably.
The intial media release I wrote SaveTheMexicanWave.com is second on this page : http://protest.jonksbargains.com/mexicanwave/release.html - I have now deleted contact details but they were listed all over the release at the time.
5. You need to have the mentality : the media is your friend. Many people despise the media. Whatever merits to this view-point, it’s self-defeating. The media is your friend, because the media will publicise your story. End of story.
6. Be opportunistic. At first, this story was going to be one or two radio interviews, a little blurb in the MX (daily newspaper) and not much else. But after I did the interview with the MX I rung them back and said.. hey guys, want a photo opportunity? I then got dressed up and went down to the MCG (the big cricket stadium here) to get my photo taken by them. While doing the photos I noticed a few media vans sitting outside - in fact, all the major stations were there. Gradually the journalists dribbled out after a press conference. At first I was too nervous, so I just stood around - 7 and 10 ignored me and left. Then I approached ABC, and they knocked me back. Coming slowly behind was the Channel 9 crew. I approached them, he called a producer and the story went to air!
7. Read this book (no, I’m not getting kick-backs.) I read Jeff Crilley’s Free Publicity a while back and it helps a lot. Jeff Crilley is a tv reporter in Dallas and he shares the tips on how to get his - and other journo’s - attention.
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