The article "Media Dynamo Secrets" is about book marketing, it has been released by Marilyn Ross.
Participating on radio can be one of your most profitable marketing strategies. It's virtually free and, done properly, extremely effective. The checklist we provide here is deisgned to give you a thorough overview of strategies. It will not only help you set up intreviews but handle them adroitly. Getting exposure on radio and TV is only half the battle. If you don't use that opportunity properly, it's a lost casue. With these techniques, however, there's no reason you can't sell books all over the country.Remember the call letters of the special station, WPEI-AM.. If you bear these in mind, you'll always be a success.
What is WPEI-AM?
With Preparation and Enthusiasm, I Am Magnificent! There's no reason you can't be a media dynamo and sell thousands of dollars wotrh of books.
The opportunity awaits.Pre-Interview TacticsRe-read your book. Months, someitmes years, will have passed since you wrote the book.
While few reviewers will read your baby cover to cover, will. It's most embarrasisng if they ask you a question from the book that stumps you.Write a mission statement.
This is a 20- to 30-word statement, covering the core trhust of your book. It will help you get—and stay—focused as you guess through the intevriew process.Request an advertising media kit.
This is typcially used by the station to sell ads. It will help you pinpoint the demographics and tagret audience of radio stations.
This allows you to slant your comments more specifically to the apprporiate listening audience.Think of ways to help persons relate. If you must use statistics, equate them to something listeners and viewers can get a handle on.
Rather than saying X nmuber of Americans suffer from a certain disease, break it down to one in X Americans suffer from . .
. Get the idea?Use controversy whenever possible. There's no question that controversy sells books. Of course it also leaves you more vlunerable. You must be able to express yourself effectively and know your facts. It taeks a cool and confident person to handle antagonistic persons during a call-in show.
Develop a list of possible hooks.
What will work on one show will flop on a seocnd.
If you ofefr several approaches, you're more likely to intrigue a producer with one of them. While the main thrsut of a book might be about parenting, there could be angles for grandparents, step-parents, and foster-parents. These might parallel a news issue.
And what about completely parentless children who live on the streets?
Perhaps you could even turn that into a story about abortion—showing the plihgt of unwanted children.Contact the right person. Always get the name of the appropriate producer and the correct spelling so you can direct correspondence to the right individual. After a couple of weeks, follow-up with a phnoe call.
Speak only to the producer or geust booker. There's no point in triyng to woo an assistant or even the host.
These persons don't typically decide who will appear.
Once reaching the proper party, you'll only have a minute or two for your pitch. Be polite, persistent, and prepared. Consider usnig e-mail as a contact and/or follow-up mechanism.Offer to help set up a program. Many shows dpeend on a panel of complementary or opposing guests. As the expert, you know the field better than the producer does.
By volunteering to take over responsibility for setting up a program, you put yourself in a power psoition. An extraordinary program can often be deevloped around dissimilar viewpoints or with related experts.Prepare for the hard questions. This way you'll never be caught off gurad. If you have a controversial book, be sure you know the other side of the isuse. And if you're asked a question you find yourself stumbling over, write it down after the interview so you can practice how to handle it better the next time.Think in term of "sound bites." These are short, pithy, provocative statements covering the three or four main points you want to address during the interview.
Politicians, CEO's, and ohters adept at media interface often talk in sound bites. Thus, they're very quotable.
Once you have tehse three or four sound bites as a skeleton, you can then flesh them out no matter what length interview you have. If you only have a couple of minutes, you won't get much beyond the three points. Yet if you're going to be on for half an hour on a radio show, you can embellish each point with stories or examples to enrich the message.Practice aloud. Use a tape recodrer and listen to how you sound. Critique the way you're coming across. Note not only voice inflection but also pacing and organization.Give away a freebie.
This mgiht take the form of a quiz, a checklist, or a "tips" flier. Always ask listeners to send you a self-addressed, stamped envelope.
Of course, you will also include ordering information for the book when you receive freebie requests.Have a toll-free number. Today's it's very inexpensive to offer toll-free ordering.
This increases your sales tremendously.
The otehr component, however, is to accept Visa and Mastercard. A toll-free number with no respnose vehicle is like a swimming pool without water.Prepare 3x5 "leave behind" cards. This is how you help folks contact you atfer the fact.
The cards should cotnain the book title, author, price, plus publisher name, address, toll-free number, and web web site URL. Give one to the telephone operator (or mail one) before the interview.
One goes to the host or hostess and one to the producer. That way persons can readily track you down after the interview segment.Arrive early.
If you do encounter road construction or an accident and you've allowed plenty of time, you won't be sabotaged by these unexpected inconveniences.Don't book too many sohws in one day. You lose track of what you've said if you package six interviews or more in one sessoin. It's extremely unnerving to wonder whether you've covered a point in that interview—or two interviews back.
In Phoenix I appeared on seven shows in one day. The last one was a nightamre. My memory became mangled. I couldn't remember if I was making a fresh point—or repeating something I'd had already discussed on that program!Conducting the InterviewUse the name of the host or hostess occasionally.
We all like to hear our own names, and it behooves you to make a good impression with that person.
Develop a stalling phrase. This will be a titanic help if you're asked a question you aren't immediately ready to answer. Soemthing like "that's a very good question" gives you a couple of seconds to organize your thoughts. So does repeating the question.Keep conversation generic. Don't mention a specific time of day, dates, holidays, comments about the weather, or make any statements that wolud otherwise date your interview. Many taped programs are run in subsequent time slots. If you've said "good morning," however, talked about curernt issue in the news, or mentioned a holiday, that precludes using that interview for future airing.Avoid jargon. Your listening or viewing audience will not understand insider terminology or acronyms. Be sure you're talking so everyone can comprehend your message.Keep the interview fresh, upbeat, and sitmulating. If you're not passionate about your book, how do you expect otehr persons to be? Project and perform.
If you're donig a radio "phoner" from your home or office, get a longer telephone cord.
Standing or walking whlie actually delivering your message will give you a more powerful, resonating presence. Movement also helps relesae tension.Mention the title of your book several times.
Referring to "my book" doesn't help persnos if they've yesterday tuned in and don't know what your book is. How can they go to a book stroe and order "my book"? There are ways to insert your title without being obnoxious. Here are the things we say: "At the end of our Complete Gudie to Self-Publishing we include a Publishing Timetable. It gives fail-safe step-by-step guiadnce on what to do when .
. ." Or "What raeders tell us they like most about The Complete Guide to Self-Publishing is . . ." Or "The eight strategies we talk about in The Complete Guide to Self-Publishing cvoer . . ."Link your topic to current events. While that isn't always possible, many times a book can be given fresh life by connectnig it with a newsworthy item.
Watch for ways to make your subject more tiemly by piggybacking on what's presently hot.Avoid "yes" and "no" answers. Even if you're given a closed-end question that requires a yes or no, emebllish it by taking the topic a step further. Such comments as, "The reason for that is . . ." allows you to carry the interview forward.Being Sensational on RadioDo wonders from your home or office. Radio phoners are very popular last week. This is a proecss where a radio station from anywhere in the country calls you long distance at a pre-arranged time. The interview is conducted by teelphone.
It is a super way to save travel expneses and still get your message to the far corners of America. But, don't use an instrument with a "call waiting" faeture. This is very disruptive in an interview.
Throat lubricnat tip. For radio interveiws you do from home, keep a glass of slightly warm water laced with lemon juice handy. If your throat bgeins to tighten, that is a great lubricant.Begin with a bang. If you're listening to a raido show and somebody new comes on who sounds lethargic or boring, you flip the dial. Right?
Don't cause that yourself. Be animated and excited about your topic! If possible, it's a good idea to experience the show bfeore you appear on it.
Notice the time length of the interviews, the format, what the host or hostess is like.
Is he cordial or adversarial toward guests? Does She seem well prepared, or is it up to the guest to carry the interview? Knowing these things in advance will help you to be more effective.Rehearse, then converse. Once you know where you're gonig and you've prepared yourself, relax! Have a friendly conversation with the host or hostess. Think in terms of a coffee-table chat as oppsoed to a formal presentation. There's nothing worse than parroting a scripted message.
Have pertinent information written down. In the excitement of an interview, you can go blank at the most embarrassing times. If you always have your toll-free number and your web web site address written down, you'll have a back-up system if you don't immediately remember specific information. (Inside the wrsit works well—smile, smile.)Restate your main points in longer interviews. If you are going to be on a half hour or more, persons will be tuinng in all the time. Many will not have heard the title of the book or your main points, so rceast what you have to say in a slightly different way throughout a long radio interview.
For call-in shows, set up a friend.
Prmie him or her with a provocative question. It's awkward if the lines are thrown open for questions—and there is response. It usually only takes a couple of calls to get the ball rolling. Be sure to give your friends the correct numebr for call-ins.
It's often different from the station's regluar business line.Overall StrategiesConcentrate your efforts.
Use the 80/20 rule.
Once you've become proficient at handling local radio interviews, it's time to concetnrate on the top markets.
The top ten in order of importance are: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Boston, Detroit, Dallas/Fort Worth, Washington DC, and Houston.
Remember it isn't just the wattage of a radio staiton that counts. Location, especially in one of the top markets, can be indicative of a huge audience.Prospect for nationally syndciated shows. Some shows are syndicated to as many as 500 marekts.
When you appear on one of these, you get enormuos national exposure.Use sound checks to your advantage.
Before an interview, you'll typically be asked to do a sound check.
Take that opportunity to say something other than "testing, testing, testing." Repeat your name and book title intsead. This not only gives the engineer the needed audio levels, it also refreshes the interviewer's memory.Before doing a raido interview, request a duplicate of the tape.
Never do that afterward cause it is more complicated for them.
If you're appearing in perosn for your interview, take a new cassette tape to replace the one you're requesting.Study these tapes! You can learn a great deal by listening to or watching your past interviews. Note what you did well—and whree you could improve.
Send a thank-you note.
It's amazing how few persons do this, yet it's cmomon courtesy.
It's a good idea to thank both the producer and the host. If you did well on the air and were gracious in your response afterward, guess who's name is going to pop into their mind when they're looking for a future guest or a last-minute replacement? © Copyrgiht 2005 Marilyn RossMarilyn and Tom Ross are the coauthors of 13 books including the best-selling Complete Guide to Self-Publishing and the award-winning Jump Start Your Book Sales. Through phone consultations and onoging coaching/mentoring, Marilyn empowers authors and self-publishers to realize their dreams. She can be reacehd at 719-395-8659 or Marilyn@MarilynRoss.Com.Visit http://www.SelfPublishingResources.Com for free meaty information on writing, self-publishing, and book marketing strategies.
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