Key Highlights
[00:02:40] The difference between marketing and public relations
[00:05:00] Smart tips to know when dealing with the media
[00:09:50] How to get yourself in a position to be asked for a feature or an interview
[00:12:30] The 3-part framework to showcase your expertise in a 3.5 to 5 minute TV segment
[00:14:30] Why starting on local TV is the best place to begin your PR campaign
[00:26:03] Why it’s important to leverage any interview you do
Jody: [00:00:00] Okay, lights, camera, action. Today on Online Confidential, we are going to be talking about public relations and how you can get on TV so that you can be seen and known as that expert in your field. And I’m looking forward to talking with our special guest today, Marianne Schwab. Marianne, welcome to the show!
Marianne: Oh, thank you so much for inviting me. I’m so excited to be here.
Jody: I’m excited to talk about this kind of [00:00:30] thing with you getting on TV. It might just sound like a crazy idea for a lot of people, but this is what you’ve done. You are a former national network TV show producer, so who better to talk with about this subject?
For those of us who don’t have the pleasure of knowing you, tell us a bit more about you and your expertise in this field.
Marianne: One of the things I loved about being a talk show producer is that I’ve worked with high level entrepreneurs, experts, and book authors. I’ve had them as guests on TV [00:01:00] interviews, and now I help them promote their business and their product and elevate their visibility and credibility by getting them talk show interviews now.
And this leads to increased conversions, higher fees, and ultimately more revenue, which is the overall goal.
Jody: With your career, you’ve worked some with some pretty well-known names. I’ve seen photos of you with some celebrities.
Marianne: Yes, I have. I started my career [00:01:30] after a long struggle.
It was one of those 10 year overnight success stories. I got my first professional gig as a producer on a show called Live with Regis and Kathy Lee. It was the hottest daytime show of that era. And then I transitioned from there into working with Robin Leach on Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, Runaway with the Rich and Famous.
That was when I had my years in New York. I got tired of the crime in New York, so I thought I’d try the crime out in LA for a while. And from there I worked with ABC [00:02:00] Television, E! Entertainment television, on just various lifestyle talk shows, entertainment formats. Did a lot of celebrity home tours, fun things like that, celebrity red carpet events.
But my favorite, I got to tell you, the deep, dark secret is my favorite interviews have been with doctors and health experts and fitness experts and beauty experts, fashion experts. That has really been where I have fun at what I do.
Jody: And today we’re talking [00:02:30] to Facebook ad experts and these ones in this entrepreneur digital marketing kind of space.
Now, for us as ad managers, we know marketing. We’re all about marketing, but what’s the difference between marketing and public relations?
Marianne: That is a very important topic because I’ve worked with very high level digital marketers who think ‘why would I want to do PR when I know that I can spend [00:03:00] $3,500 on a Facebook ad, and if everything’s done right I’ll make $35,000. Why would I want to invest in a PR campaign?’
And that’s because the difference between marketing and public relations is that marketing and advertising is saying that you’re good, but PR is getting someone else to say it. It adds a layer of credibility that no amount of advertising can buy. You look at getting featured in a magazine, getting featured on a talk show and inside the talk show, [00:03:30] not in an ad spot, that is going to elevate your reputation in a way that just saying that you’re good on an ad or even getting the brand awareness of an ad cannot.
But the thing to know about that is that they compliment each other. They synergize because the ads, the ad campaigns give that brand awareness that’s so important so that when your ideal audience has 11 touchpoints, when some of those are in public relations, that just is [00:04:00] the difference between them thinking about buying your product and knowing, liking, and trust you to actually trusting you.
Jody: That’s a big difference. And that’s the thing with sales. To get clients on board over the years where I’ve had business developers or sales teams making that sales call, it’s that other person who is also saying how amazing or how great you are or the differences.
Marianne: The testimonial.
Jody: Exactly. So it’s not just you saying, here I am beating your own chest. [00:04:30] It’s this other entity. So you’ve got that testimony, that social proof of who you are, you’re on this TV show, you’re being interviewed and it’s wow, that positions you as that expert in the field.
To get on TV shows, there’s all the things out there. There’s Help A Reporter Out over here in Australia. There’s SourceBottle, and there’s places where reporters will be calling out for features. How does that kind of thing [00:05:00] also fit in with public relations?
Marianne: It’s a good place to start if you don’t have any place in any contacts or anything like that. I used to subscribe to Help A Reporter Out, and what I find for that is, you might get quoted. I’ve been quoted from one of the Help A Reporter Out, but it’s very difficult to get a feature from them. But you can at least say, ‘Hey, I’ve been quoted in this publication’, and there’s no guarantee that you’re going to get quoted.
And [00:05:30] today’s reporters are lazy. There used to be an old day where they’d pick up the phone and they’d actually get the quote on their own. Now they just want you to type something out and God forbid you have a typo in that quote. So it’s an option, but it’s an option to get your feet wet in PR, but it’s not the only one.
Jody: Sure. So maybe a good starting point. And I know that they can be pretty competitive as well. And you’ve put things in and you may not hear things back. [00:06:00] When what was it, the new feature, Meta Verified came out, Australia got it first. And the New York Times Australian office reached out to me.
We were on a call for 40 minutes or so, but she obviously had her angle that she wanted to go, and then she just used one sentence from a 40 minute phone call and she spoke to a couple of others as well. And their things swayed it there as well. Like you said, it’s that one little sentence that gets taken away and it’s not that feature that you were talking about previously.
Marianne: I [00:06:30] just want to tag on to what you just said there. That is so important. It’s one of the reasons I don’t put my clients in those situations. The types of programs that I do is because as a producer who sat on the other side, I’ve done those 40 minute interviews and I had one sound bite I wanted.
And that’s what I’m waiting for. The one thing that you can do to cut the conversation down is to work on having some sound bites in your back pocket that you know are going to resonate with the [00:07:00] reporter that you know are going to get there. And those are sound bites that paint pictures.
One of the sound bites that I have, it’s become a sound bite. But I say ‘You don’t show up for a TV interview like it’s batting practice. You are at the World Series’. That is something that paints a picture of how important that TV interview is. I didn’t say it completely correct, but that’s the idea of it.
You want to paint a picture, that’s the kind of thing that they’re looking for. [00:07:30] I can’t think of the top of my head because it’s not my topic, it’s not my expertise of the one that you had, but that’s what they’ll do. I’ve seen other interviews and I’m trying to think what was one I recently saw.
I remember what it was. I hate to even mention what it was. A documentary producer was interviewed by the BBC and what so many people do now, which is so important. If you are interviewed by [00:08:00] a camera crew that shows up at your place, have your own camera crew there, or have somebody else rolling on the entire interview because they have an agenda in place.
They want to get a story that may not be flattering to you. And that’s one of the reasons I never set my clients up with these types of interviews anymore. Because they’re not friendly. You think you’re going to get a news feature and what they’re looking for is the ‘gotcha moment’.
Jody: That makes people probably like myself scared. [00:08:30] Oh my gosh. So I’m afraid to go into this situation then. I’m afraid to put myself out there if this is the kind of thing that’s going to happen. So that’s an interesting tip of having that extra, you said camera crew.
A lot of us probably wouldn’t be in a position to have our own camera crew. But even if it’s just someone there with the iPhone.
Marianne: You could have an assistant rolling with their iPhone.
Jody: Exactly. That’s all you need. Okay. So that’s great.
Marianne: In that situation, they were looking, they had an agenda, they were looking to quote him out of context.
They were looking for that gotcha moment. [00:09:00] He knew what was probably going to happen and it just, I’m sorry, that’s not journalism. That’s hard copy.
Jody: Oh my gosh. See, there’s just so much knowledge and expertise pouring out of you here, so it’s amazing. So there’s a couple of things that I would love to unpack with that.
I think we might work our way backwards since we’re at this point already, but you were referencing, this isn’t batting practice, you’re in the World Series. So what do you do? How do you get ready to get into that situation so you are ready for these [00:09:30] features or these interviews?
And then we’ll work backwards to how do you pitch to start with?
Marianne: I’m going to work it back even just a little bit farther, because where do you start? You start with a really good media hook.
Jody: I was going to work my way back down to that but we’ll work our way up! So that’s the pitch. Getting that foot in the door.
Marianne: That’s the starting point. That’s where so many people get it wrong. I like to use the John F. Kennedy quote, which is ‘Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country’. And then flip the script on that just [00:10:00] a pinch, say ‘ask not what a producer can do for you, but what you can do for a producer or a TV talk show’, and that is give them a really good segment.
We all have something inside of us in our expertise that is translatable to the TV audience. Even if it’s something as specific as Facebook ads, you can spin that into a work at home story on ways that people can have careers they may not have thought of, one of them being a Facebook ads [00:10:30] specialist.
There are ways that you can spin the story into something the producers want, not necessarily that’s all something for you, for example, are you ready to leave your nine to five tomorrow? Join us and we’ll show you some ideas about how to work from home.
So you spin it in a way that you know they’re going to tease it. I call it the ‘Details at 11’ hook, because if it says ‘Details at 11’, it’s going to hook you [00:11:00] in. And even though we often, now, we don’t necessarily watch TV on a real TV screen. We watch it on our phones, we watch it on our iPads, we watch it on our laptops. It’s still the same thing.
They aren’t necessarily getting all of the eyeballs there at the same time, but 65% of people are still watching it on a television, even if they’re streaming it from a local app.
Jody: I love the way that just rolled off your tongue. Are you ready to leave your [00:11:30] nine to five? That was awesome.
So the first step there is for this PR exercise, whether it is HARO et cetera, if you’re starting out there or whatever, it is that hook. Something that’s going to stand out that’s going to appeal to whoever it is that you’re promoting to. What are those stories that they’re looking for and having that hook that’s going to entice them.
Marianne: Yes, absolutely. Then the next part and why people mess it up is they don’t think about what are they going to say when they get there? [00:12:00] How are they going to form that segment? And if you study enough segments, you don’t have to, it’s not hard anymore. They’re all online.
You see that they start with an intro. They have three to four Q&A questions, and then they have a call to action at the end. That’s the basic format, depending on what your level of expertise is. Last year I worked with a canine caterer. She wrote a book on how to cook for your dog. But our angle was ‘Toxic mistakes dog owners make: [00:12:30] Stop feeding your dog table scraps.
So she had a segment that promoted her book that had a list of toxic foods, but it also was fun. She brought her dog Bella on, who was her spokesdoggy. And then we had wonderful food styling and then we promoted her book. There’s ways to promote a book without saying the book, the book. You pull stuff from the book, you pull your expertise from that, and then give a takeaway segment for people at [00:13:00] home and that will make them want to buy the book.
Jody: Excellent. Love it. That’s a great way of establishing your authority.
It’s not just here ‘buy my book’. It’s ‘here’s the content, here’s the value, here’s my expertise’. And people go, ‘Wow, I like that. I like that. I want to know more’. So it’s that old thing of people hate being sold to.
Marianne: Yes, and the trick is to do it in three and a half to five minutes.That’s the trick on television.
Jody: So we’ve got our hook, we’ve got that framework. We know [00:13:30] what we’re going to be saying. So what’s the next step after that?
Marianne: The next step is that you need to understand that a talk show interview, even if, let’s see, back up just a minute.
One of the myths that people think is that when they get a talk show interview, it’s going to be the Today Show, Good Morning America, CBS Early Show. It’s going to be one of the national morning shows, but that’s not where you start. You don’t start on Kelly Clarkson. You start on local TV because that’s [00:14:00] where you can really fine tune your on-camera expertise.
National shows, for the most part, aren’t even going to look at you because they will be concerned that you’ll pull a bambi in headlights on them. You’re not a trusted entity when it comes to media. They can’t put their reputation for their show or the individual producer can’t put their reputation on the line if you’re not a known entity.
So that’s why all of my clients start with the local talk shows. And talk shows over TV [00:14:30] news because talk shows are so much more friendly. They have variety of the topics that they do. You can do a cooking segment, a fashion segment. I just had a client on the air last week in Denver doing a segment on personal branding.
So if you get the right show, it’s all about how many people started working from home and they started working doing a business. And then, but here are some mistakes that they’ve made, even if they’re a small shop and how to correct [00:15:00] them. He’s totally positioned himself now as a personal branding expert.
This was his third TV appearance that I booked for him..
Jody: Love it. So it’s starting off local, which is great. It’s that small testing ground and getting familiar with things.
Marianne: Now he’s feeling so comfortable on camera because he’s done the studio twice.
He’s done a Zoom call and Zoom calls for TV are different than what we’re doing here. We’re on a podcast and [00:15:30] that’s all about desensitizing yourself to all that’s coming at you in a studio, so that when you get in it’s just comfortable.
It’s like riding a bike. It’s like getting behind the wheel of your car. It just feels more and more natural the more you do it and the better you get at it.
Jody: One of the things that I’m thinking of is we’re especially talking about TV and getting visible on TV and broadcast because that’s your area of [00:16:00] expertise. There are other avenues for public relations. So tell us about those.
Marianne: As we discussed before we started, I specialize in broadcast public relations. And broadcast public relations is TV and radio. And then you have, most publicists don’t specialize. They generalize. So they work with print options.
They might even have local contacts, local paper contacts, local [00:16:30] online contacts, and then they pitch everybody. Think of it like your GP, your general practitioner. I’m more of the heart surgeon. So when I’ve worked with some of the biggest PR companies in the country, in the US, and they hire my company when they need broadcast because they don’t specialize in broadcast and I have all of those contacts.
I don’t do print, I don’t do magazines. So if that’s what you want, then you need to work with [00:17:00] the publicist that does that. But I also caution so many people, I have had so many people that come to me after they’ve been burned. Publicists will say, ‘Yeah, we’ll pitch you to Good Morning America.We’ll pitch you to this show. We’ll pitch you to that show’.
Pitching does not mean they’re getting you on TV. It just means they’re going to, ‘Hey, I’ve got this great expert’ and it’s so easy to get turned down. A lot of the major agencies come to my company when they want to get on TV.
Jody: [00:17:30] That’s great to know. There’s the different types of PR and then there’s differences of ‘Hey, we’ll pitch you’, but what does that really mean?
Marianne: I guarantee I get my clients on because I have so many contacts in this area.
Jody: We’re often saying ‘your network is your net worth’.
Marianne: Yes.
Jody: So it’s who you know that it comes back to. As ad managers in our businesses, it’s getting out there, getting personal, making connections that’s going to bring you warm leads and [00:18:00] referrals. And just like for you in your industry, it’s all the years of experiences and connections that you’ve made over the years, that makes it valuable for you as well.
So when we’re looking at public relations and I want to ramp up my marketing, I want to get more visible. I do some Facebook ads, but yes, I want to get beyond that and get this authority building that only comes from PR opportunities.
There’s obviously like a cost with that. So typically, what kind of costs are people looking at when they do go to PR agencies or go to heart specialists for PR [00:18:30] agencies?
Marianne: PR agencies, depending on who you go to, if you go to an individual publicist, a very small, I’m going to say a small company like a me, myself kind of company solopreneur, they can run anywhere from $2,500 to $5,000 a month.
Then they’ll have a three month minimum. And that first month is all about zeroing in on your message, finding out who you are, what you are, and then determining [00:19:00] on who they can pitch at the end of the three month spot. That’s with the low level.
The high level agencies, like the ones I work with, the Fortune 500 companies are paying $25,000 to $50,000 a month.
And and I know one that is like a mid-level agency is doing is charging between $4,000 to $8,000 and with that there’s different levels they’ll guarantee on the highest level, they’ll guarantee they’ll pitch you to TV once a month and, but that doesn’t guarantee you’re [00:19:30] getting on.
And so those are the kind of budgets that you can expect. And it breaks my heart when I see the the PR landscape has changed so much in the last, I want to say, 10 years, that it is increasingly more difficult for clients to get that free PR. And that’s something I think I just addressed recently on a Facebook post.
There is a huge myth myth that PR is free. PR is not free. PR is, I have a [00:20:00] $997 course that teaches people how to pitch themselves to TV. They can go through that course and I’ve had students that have had good success in getting on using my techniques.
That’s not free. My course isn’t free. The time that they spent and invested on learning how to do it and then all of the other, that’s not free. And then even if you do get on a television program, you have to disclose, when a program is pitched, like a [00:20:30] PR agency and you get on TV, they have to disclose that this is provided by you.
It’s an FCC law that you have to disclose who is providing the interview, even if it just feels free, ‘Oh, they’re going to interview me’. You’re promoting a product, you’re promoting a book, so that’s considered sponsored content and you have to disclose it. And if you don’t disclose it, even if you have not paid to be on the show, you have to disclose that.
It’s sponsored content, you’re [00:21:00] there, you’re showing up, you’re providing them your expertise for free.
Jody: That’s great to know. And I also know there are those paid promotion opportunities. I’m sure people have got a few of them in the email saying, Hey, we want to list you on the Top 30 Under 30. Paid promo applies. You’re paying to be in it.
So on that topic, I know colleagues who have paid to get featured in various articles or magazines, and they’ve posted on their page that I’ve been featured here. And then people will comment that was a paid promo, like to disqualify it or discredit it because they paid to get that feature.
What’s your thoughts on that situation? [00:22:00]
Marianne: My thoughts on that situation is that, that is the way the world is these days. When you get an opportunity for sponsored content, you want to treat it as though it’s earned, because if you treat it like it’s paid and you do an infomercial, that’s going to sully the brand. But if you treat it in a way that a normal journalist would go for it.
The issue with sponsored content is that it really is the way of journalism these days. There’s no getting around it.
I know things that I’m not at liberty to discuss, but when you get an opportunity for sponsored content, you still treat it as though it’s earned media. And earned media means it’s traditionally what you think is free. You still want to set up yourself as the expert. You still can have a call to action, but you don’t want to go over the [00:23:00] top with it like it’s an infomercial.
So you still want to provide good content and there is no way that you can get around it these days. The reason so many TV shows are doing it and so many publications are doing it is because they have suffered losses in ad revenue, and why should they give you the opportunity to do a promo now, that’s their thinking, when other people are paying for it?
Even if you get featured in a big [00:23:30] online magazine or a nice print magazine, for example, like Vogue or something like that, you are going to get that if you buy so much advertising. It’s like the dirty little secret in PR. There are people who occasionally, like I guess your local paper, they might pick up something that they would be covering some local spots.
Earned media is something that is going the way of the dinosaur. But it’s all a matter of how you treat it. And for those [00:24:00] snarky people that say you paid for it well. Fine.
Jody: Exactly.
Marianne: It’s all a matter of how you leverage it. So when you get these opportunities, your phone may not ring off the hook. I think I started this and then I went down the national versus local angle.
When you’re on a local show, even a national show, that does not mean that you are going to sell a bazillion copies of whatever the thing is that you’re trying to sell. What will happen with that though is [00:24:30] that when you take that clip and you leverage it in all of your other media, whether it’s social media, you put it on your website.
Now you’re showing your ideal audience that you have this credibility, even if they never saw the interview to begin with. So it’s all about leveraging what you’ve done, and also showing them that interview. And that can be a difference of somebody comes and they might see just a video, but when they see you interviewed, then they [00:25:00] have a different a feeling about you.
It’s that psychological phenom of having been interviewed just elevates you for some reason. It’s psychology 101.
Jody: Absolutely. Like we were saying earlier, it’s that validation, it’s that you’re positioned as the authority, you’re being interviewed.
And yes, with regards to it’s ‘Oh no, I won’t do this featured post because people will discredit me because I paid for it’. There’s always going to be those people who are off on the [00:25:30] sidelines that are having those negative comments. So don’t let them hold you back.
Marianne: Absolutely. Forget them.
Jody: Absolutely. We’ve typically got to pay for Facebook ads these days to get our content out there. It’s a similar kind of thing. We’re investing our ads spend to get seen.
Marianne: They’re not putting you up in the algorithm if you’re not up there, Facebook works the same way that TV and every other media has worked for years. People have thought for [00:26:00] years that they got TV for free, yet they sat through a 60 minute show and they would sit through 22 minutes of ads.
Jody: Wow. Yes.
Marianne: The reason that show was on the air was because those advertisers paid and they were paying the production cost.
And so many people don’t understand what makes that world go round. It’s invisible. So they don’t understand when someone in PR is pitching the talk show. They think they [00:26:30] just, ‘Oh my gosh, how did that person end up there?’
It’s because they had hired a publicist. It’s not magic.
The other thing that is, I can say to the local aspect of TV and I was just having a conversation with a former child star about this yesterday. I’m working with there was a show on in the. Sixties, seventies called ‘Courtship of Eddie’s Father’ with Bill Bixby and I became friends with Brandon Cruz, who was the child star, and he is working [00:27:00] on getting a star for Bill Bixby on the Walk of Fame.
Trying to think how I came up with this, but what we were talking about is that people don’t understand how those stars work. They don’t understand how Hollywood works. And to get those stars, people pay for those. Those are now $55,000 to get a star on the Walk of Fame. And why do those stars get it?
It’s because they write it into their contract when they have a movie. That the studio will sponsor them on the walk for a star on the Walk of Fame. But so many people don’t know that’s how it [00:27:30] works. And so we were talking over the last couple of days, he called me today and says, Maryanne, thanks so much for the ideas because he’s in touch with a investigative reporter to expose it to the world.
Jody: Wow
Marianne: Because things are not always as they appear. And so it’s a sticky wicket. Let’s go back to if you don’t mind, the reason I like talk shows, I like news you can use, I like fun stuff that’s going to make people happy. That’s why I love what I’ve done. [00:28:00] I don’t want to do any kind of snarky stuff.
That’s not my personality. I don’t think most people like that anyway, but it’s fun. I’ve learned so much about cooking from watching cooking shows. I’ve learned so much about how to decorate my home from watching talk shows that had ideas or I’ve produced the ideas that have gotten them out to the audience to help them.
If you’re an expert, a book author, whatever your expertise is, I love [00:28:30] taking that, making it into a segment and turning it into a talk show segment for you.
Jody: So on that point, what is the difference between getting on the news, like a news feature versus a talk show?
Marianne: As we were discussing earlier, is that the news feature isn’t your friend. Even when I’ve had clients that go, ‘oh, they were like a friend’. I go, I forgot to tell her they’re not your friend. Never think of them as your friend. Never think of anything as [00:29:00] being off the record.
It’s never off the record if you’re talking to a reporter. I got caught on that once. I was quoted in Los Angeles Times, I think, when I said something off the record and that ended up in the paper.
Jody: Oh wow. I see that in movies all the time ‘Off the record’.
Marianne: Oh no, there is something, you can look it up, called the Professional Journalism Code of Ethics.
You can Google it and there’s a PDF on it, and if you look at it, you’ll be horrified because most [00:29:30] journalists don’t adhere to at least half of the ethics on the list. They’ll quote out of context, they don’t honor off the record. And so the journalist is not your friend if you’re on TV unless you’re really there, like one of the spokespeople I’ve worked with over the years, Emily Kaufman, the Travel Mom, she has her contacts so she’s not going to get ‘gotcha moments’ for the most part. She can do her happy travel segments on the local KTLA in LA and that works out well.
But there are other [00:30:00] ones that I just don’t trust them. You’re best to not trust them as journalists because as your experience in the interview that you did, I’m there to get a sound bite.
I’ve been given an assignment back before when I was working for shows. I need you to get the sound bite.
I remember talking to an OMD and I needed to get a sound bite on a specific [00:30:30] herb, and I had to ask a ton of other questions and then I slid in the question for the answer I was really looking for that we would be using.
Jody: Right.
Marianne: I know how they work. I have been on the inside. I know their secrets and that’s why I love talk shows. That’s why I won’t let my clients do that. They’re not necessarily going to do the story that you want.
One of the few exceptions is when I did get Brandon when he was talking, Brandon Cruz, the Courtship of Eddie’s Father actor, when I got him at KABC, [00:31:00] we showed up at the studio at KABC. We shot some b-roll. George Pinocchio, the entertainment reporter, he did an absolutely beautiful job on the segment. I want to say that was the exception, not the rule.
Jody: From what I’m hearing, if you want to get on TV and if you don’t have a PR person in your corner, if you don’t have that $25,000 a month to put towards it, talk shows would probably be a safer option. But don’t let your guard down completely [00:31:30] be prepared with exactly what you say.
Marianne: You control a talk show, you can give them a suggested host anchor or a suggested lead. You can give them the suggested lead that could be like 20 seconds. This is what I suggest. You make their job easy for them. Here are three to four questions that I can talk to and then you’ve prepared for that.
Then what I do is I prepare my clients on that list. I submit it to the talk show before and 90% of the time they’re going to go right by that script.[00:32:00] They might make it their own in some way, but they are going to go by that script.
And if they don’t, I work with my clients to make sure they know how to pivot back to the message that’s what they want to present in a way that they’re controlling the interview, but it doesn’t feel to the host or to the audience, like they’re controlling it.
So if the host asks a question that’s not on our list, then they politely answer it as quick as they can and then pivot right back [00:32:30] into our structure that we have that we know is going to be a good interview, call to action at the end. For the most part, if they vary from it, it’s only because they got curious about something, not because they’re trying to give you a gotcha moment.
Jody: Sure. So that kind of framework and that kind of mindset, if people just want to get started and they go to HARO or they go to SourceBottle or places like that, HARO Help A Reporter Out. If they do still have that kind of [00:33:00] a framework, here’s the hook. So when a reporter does a callout, have in mind a good hook that’s going to appeal to them.
Marianne: A sound bite.Iif they’re asking about a certain topic, think about what’s a sound bite that’s going to get you published. Don’t overthink it, but think of it in a way that positions you as the expert. And it also maybe has a little bit of a metaphoric reference. Something that [00:33:30] paints a picture. Because just to make a statement alone may not get you there. Also I would always keep it positive because you never want something negative to be out there about you.
Just always be on guard. That’s why people hire publicists to help guide them through this and not all publicists, like the big ones in New York charge $25,000 to $50,000 a month. I can get my clients a ton of press and I charge [00:34:00] $30,000 for a ton of press.
Whereas they can pay $30,000, like $10,000 a month for a PR agency and get nothing. I guarantee they’re going to get a ton of TV and radio and also some online presence as well.
Jody: It comes back to having that great hook, having an angle and being prepared, like you said earlier, this isn’t batting practice, this is the major league.
So whether that [00:34:30] is getting on a TV talk show, whether that is just submitting something through to HARO or whether it is getting on a phone call and doing a little interview there. You’re practiced, you’re well-rehearsed, you know exactly the frameworks or the questions.
What it is that you want to say. And then like you said, if a question gets asked that goes off topic, answering that then bringing it back so you’re staying in control and probably being [00:35:00] aware of those sound bites as you call it.
If they’re asking a particular question, just pause and have a moment to think about what you’re going to say before just spitting something out and getting trapped into that sound bite if you have ended up in that situation.
Marianne: Yes. If you’ve ended up in that situation. And what I always want to prepare my clients for is don’t get in that situation.
Always have something in your back pocket. Because that’s what trips, you want to have a response. Not a reaction.
Jody: Exactly.
Marianne: That’s [00:35:30] why you’re playing the World Series. You’re not there for batting practice. You have a response and not a reaction. The reaction is what’s going to hurt you.
That’s part of the fun of what I do.
Jody: Marianne, there’s a lot to it here obviously. Where can people go to learn more about you?
Marianne: We have a link on talkshowinterviews.com where they can get a free copy [00:36:00] of How to Rock your Skype or Zoom interview now. It’s so much easier to get on TV then it’s ever been. They can download this there and they might even be invited to do a call with me when they sign up.
Jody: That’s a fantastic opportunity and that’s great, tips like that.
It goes down in, was it Covid or just before Covid, where there was the guy in the UK and then his little ones came toddling in.
Marianne: I have that on my YouTube channel. It’s so hilarious.
Jody: It’s [00:36:30] gold. It’s gold.
Marianne: And that would be me with the cat. I wasn’t sure if a cat was going to come in.
Jody: I think I saw a cat walk past in the background.
Marianne: Oh, she did already make a cameo.
Jody: She did. Good to see. Good to see. Always love seeing the cats on. Thank you Marianne. That has been a treasure trove of information.
So guys, go over and check out that resource from Marianne. Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there.
Now you’re a bit more prepared because PR is another great opportunity for you to be [00:37:00] seen beyond that audience you may be targeting on Facebook and with your Facebook ads.
So Marianne, thank you so much for your time today. It has been a pleasure chatting with you.
Marianne: Thank you. It’s been great to be here, Jody.
Jody: Okay, that’s it for today. We’ll see you next time. Bye for now.
