Almost Everything I Learned About Publicity, I Learned at the National Publicity Summit

http://www.NationalPublicitySummit.com/?10535

From my very first time attending the National Publicity Summit (January, 2006), I got fantastic results. Since my business deals with advising companies on selling to the federal government, I wish there was more business media there, but the consumer media at the Summit have always been great and I have been very happy with the results. My first Summit paid big dividends for me.

With 25 years of experience behind me, I knew all about my business but wanted to learn how to gain the kind of broader publicity that could build my business in the way I envisioned. I wanted to go to a whole new level. The National Publicity Summit helped me in a BIG way!

Below are some of the valuable things I have learned from attending this event:

After signing up for my first Summit (I signed up in October, 2005 and the Summit was January, 2006), I spoke to Steve Harrison, who runs the Summit. He told me, "We’d really love to have you come, but this isn't geared towards your market." He was trying to talk me out of attending, thinking I would not get the results I wanted.

I told him, "I’ve looked at the list of the media, and while I don’t have anything to say to Oprah or Good Morning America, I do want to speak with Entrepreneur magazine, so it’s worth my time and effort to come." Being in Entrepreneur was already on my wish list. So I went to the Summit.

There was training before attending, via telseminars, for all who signed up. That was really good prep for me and helped me set realistic expectations and actually raise them.

When I got to the Summit I got even more really great training. Each attender learned to present their most powerful material in the first 30 seconds of a 2 1/2 minute pitch, then we practiced it. And practiced it again! The staff with Bradley was superb: accessible, intelligent, and really, really helpful. Sometimes I got to go up in front of the group (always volunteer when they ask!). The feedback from the group was almost as good as the feedback from the professionals. All of the feedback was extraordinary.

All of the staff are friendly and helpful. By the end of my first Summit I was friends with a couple memebrs of the staff, and by the middle of my 2nd Summit, I was on a first name basis with almost all of them.

At the first Summit, when I finally got in front of Entrepreneur magazine (after a couple days of training from some very cool people) I started my pitch. About 45 seconds into my pitch the editor wanted me to stop, and I thought, "Oh, no, I blew it."

She said, and this is burned into my memory, so I believe this is verbatim, "The soonest we can have you in the magazine is July. Is that okay?"

That Summit was in January of ’06, and I actually ended up in the July issue of Entrepreneur! The magazine hooked me up with Sam Holden, who is a world-renowned photographer. I went to Sam’s studio (a refurbished firehouse in Baltimore), we shot for an hour, and I got a full-page, full-length photo in Entrepreneur with my interview. This is the kind of thing that PR firms would die to be able to deliver, and they'd charge you around $10,000 or $20,000. It was worth the price of the Summit for me.

The networking opportunities you make at the Summit can lead to a platform in your target market. From my first Summit I got publicity training, I got coverage from Entrepreneur, and I got about 10 radio interviews. I met David Reader, who had a radio show in Annapolis (close to where I live, and I was a guest), and 2 months later I ended up doing my own show at the same station! A year after that I was invited to bring my radio show from Annapolis to Washington D.C. on Federal News Radio, where I have been on the air for over 2 years. So, as an indirect direct result of the Summit, I now have my own show in the nation’s capital, which is the seat of my market on the only radio station that works for my market.

The visibility factor alone is huge. After I did David Reader’s show I did another show in Washington D.C. on a different station. A guy by the name of Brian Roberts had a show called Taking Care of Business with Brian Roberts. What was cool was that Brian didn’t do it to be a radio guy (he could have, he was really good); he used radio as a business development tool. With his own small business, his idea was that he could spend a quarter million dollars to hire the right business development person or he could buy time on this radio show and invite the CEOs he needed to meet to be guests on his show! What a cool idea! Think I do that for my show? You bet!

I have had a good reputation in the government market for a long time, so with the added publicity and the radio show there are very few in the government market who get anywhere near the publicity I get.

Never underestimate the power of your presentation. When presenting yourself to the media, remember that they don’t want the focus of the conversation to be about you. It's important to introduce your concept as it pertains to the audience they serve. That’s a very powerful lesson.

Be sure to develop a one-pager (a skill you learn at the Summit) with a photo of you, a very brief bio, and a little bit of media history about you to show that you’re not a complete novice. It's helpful to media outlets if you include some suggested questions. This is something that you can tailor to each media outlet.

If you have a book, you can have a powerful presentation by placing a full bio, a question sheet, and your one-sheet in a very nice presentation folder with a copy of your book and sending it to key media people for your niche, not to everybody because not everybody wants all of that stuff.

Before sending something like this, I get in touch with the media person via phone and/or email and say, "Please be on the look out for my package. It will come in a royal blue envelope." I use a very distinctive bubble-wrapped foil envelope in very bright royal blue for mailing my big stuff. It really stands out in the mail (a tip from author Alex Carroll, one of the Summit speakers).

These are very powerful techniques, because if you make a single misstep in your introduction to the media, they’re going to dismiss you immediately and forever.

Be proactive, not reactive. Try to tie your promotions into current news stories. Let’s say you’ve now been on half a dozen radio shows, and you’ve been mentioned in two or three articles and a piece of news occurs that is related to your area expertise, so you know a couple media people. You can immediately contact (email and phone) all of your media people and say, "This is my take on what’s going on." You then change your one-sheet to reflect the situation and give them questions that are related to that hot issue. In my experience, that will generate more press for you. This is a technique that they drive home thoroughly during your Summit training. Usually the credible person who gets in front of any media outlet first on a breaking issue is the one that gets the press. It is rarely the best person for that topic, but bright enough for breaking coverage. In this case, the early bird, gets the credibility that comes with being the “expert” on a breaking story. I’ve been able to leverage this several times and my competitors wonder how I do it! They probably think I pay the media off!

Skilled media follow-up can lead to more opportunities. Another very cool thing about the Summit is that you’re in front of somewhere around 100 media outlets of national or local magnitude. They always have national media at the Summit: talk show television, syndicated radio, city-based radio, national print, etc. You have the opportunity to present to most of these people for two and a half minutes, and they actually take your material and they will tell you right there if they have some interest. It is incumbent upon you to follow up quickly and within the parameters that they set.

Don’t start emailing them every day asking when they'll have you on their show or interview you for their publication. Sending an email once every other month should be fine, unless they ask for more frequency OR if a story breaks and you are perfect for it. By being respectful and considerate while staying in touch with editors and producers, you can build long-term relationships that will help you network and still get media coverage for you years to come. If you look at my LinkedIn profile and my contacts, you will see I have many media contacts there.

For example, I became friends with the editor of Entrepreneur magazine, and she put me in touch with the guy who heads the magazine's website. It's three years since I met her at the Summit, and I’m on the website again this month. This is my fifth or sixth time being featured on their website, and I have been in the magazine at least 4 times. On the web site or in the magazine a total of EIGHT TIMES!

You can expand your media coverage beyond your niche market. Before my first Summit I was getting press primarily in the government market and sometimes a little bit in the general business marketing or business press national environment about once a month, which is very good by any standards. Since my 2nd Summit, however, I get coverage somewhere at least once a week, and it’s expanded. I have been in The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Financial Times of London, Investor’s Business Daily and several national magazines, a couple of association magazines (great for speaking gigs) and an airline magazine! I've also been on over 50 radio shows around the country.

I encourage anyone looking for publicity to check out the National Publicity Summit. Please click on my affiliate link for more details: http://www.NationalPublicitySummit.com/?10535

It is worth the price of admission for those with something of value to say.

Not that I have an opinion.
Caveat- I am an affilate for this program and get a fee for the people who register. However, this is one of the very few programs where I do this and I only do it ebcause it worked for me.