Reach the Top 100 Talk Shows

Issue #858 Oct. 7, 2014
Publisher: Joan Stewart

“Tips, Tricks and Tools for Free Publicity”

In This Issue

Reach the Top 100 Talk Shows
More than Just a Pitch
How to Upsell
Hound Video of the Week

This Week in the Hound House:

I had so much fun over the weekend with my family who visited Wisconsin, that I never posted photos. Here’s the best one: taken on a surprise visit to the Cedar Valley Cheese Store near my home. They’re all cheese curd addicts. But they stopped munching/squeaking long enough for this family photo which we shared on Facebook.

1. Reach the Top 100 Talk Shows

They’re called “The Heavy Hundred,” and if you can get booked as a guest on one of their talk shows, you can sell books and products galore.

Talkers Magazine compiles the list of the Top 100 Radio Shows each year.

The hosts are conservative and liberal, young and old, humorous and serious. All need a steady stream of guests that will outrage, enlighten and entertain listeners.

My friend Mitch Davis is accepting inserts for his Talk Show Guest Directory–to be postal mailed in November to the top 100 radio shows. His list is the best because the contact information comes directly from Talkers Magazine. You can see the line-up of all 100 shows.

Mitch, of ExpertClick.com, did the first Talk Show Guest Directory in 1984, so this project has legs.

He will print your PDF–one or two sides 8.5” X 11” in color. All you need do is send a Word or PDF document, and they do the rest.

See who else is already included in the directory.

The fee on the rate card is $97. But ask for a $94 price so he knows The Publicity Hound sent you. Deadline is Friday, Oct. 10.

Mitch told me that when he attended a New Jersey Broadcasters Association convention, one of the convention hosts asked for 40 copies of each PDF to hand out to association members who were looking for guests.

Call Mitch Davis at 202-333-5000 or to Mitchell.Davis@ExpertClick.com to reserve space. (I earn a commission for promoting this.)

2. More Than Just a Pitch

A journalist’s job used to be easy.

Reporters were writers, broadcasters and storytellers.

Today, they must also be “attention managers,” using every tool possible to keep you from changing the channel or clicking onto another website.

They need creative packing for the news, clever promotion, and they must convince you to share it. Unlike two decades ago when I worked at newspapers, they now pay close attention to who is talking about them. They address criticisms in public.

Thanks to Bill Heineke, who owns Heineke Communications in Chicago, a media relations firm. He shared a helpful slidedeck titled “How the Work of Journalism Has Expanded.”

It shows you the questions journalists ask themselves when deciding if they should accept your pitch.

3. How to Upsell

If you sell ebooks, special reports, audios or videos, milk the cow that’s already in the barn.

In other words, ask a customer who buys something if they want to buy more. Give them an offer they can’t refuse.

It’s called upselling, and you see this every time you shop at Amazon.com. They show you products similar to the one you just ordered.

I’ve let thousands of dollars slip through my fingers by not upselling consistently. You might have, too.

My latest guest post for The Future of Ink blog explains “7 Profitable Ways to Upsell from Your Digital Products.”

4. Hound Video of the Week

Thanks to Publicity Hound Paul Kingsman of Novato, Calif., for this KLM airlines commercial of a dog that’s trained to returned lost items, like phones, to passengers before they leave the airport. The dog is a cutie. And I love humans’ Dutch accents.