Use Talking Points in Pitches

Issue #857 Oct. 4, 2014 Publisher: Joan Stewart

“Tips, Tricks and Tools for Free Publicity”

In This Issue

Use Talking Points in Pitches
Find a Publicity Partner
Thank Your Sponsors
Hound Video of the Week

This Weekend in the Hound House:

“Squeak. Squeak. Squeak.” That was the sound of my family and me munching on cheese curds–the solid parts of soured milk–at the Cedar Valley Cheese Store in Belgium, Wis., yesterday morning. They’re visiting from Ohio this weekend, and I took them on a surprise side trip to the store for Fresh Friday. That’s the day the cheese makers bring the warm curds out of the vats at 11 a.m. String cheese, too. Fresh curds really do squeak when you bite into them. You can order the curds and other varieties of cheeses from Cedar Valley’s website. Happy squeaking!

1. Use Talking Points in Pitches

When publicist Michelle Tennant pitches the media, especially when the pitch ties to breaking news, she often includes talking points.

It’s a bulleted list of suggested angles the interviewer might use when covering the story.

Remember the sweat lodge disaster in 2009 when two people died as a result of participating in a nontraditional sweat lodge exercise in Arizona, hosted by James Arthur Ray?

Michelle pitched her client, Dr. Jonathan Ellerby, a consultant and speaker, whose expertise in spirituality and sweat lodges was a perfect tie-in. Michelle included six “talking point possibilities” in her pitch. One of them was that a good lodge is not about the heat.

She also included a paragraph explaining all the ways the media could reach Dr. Ellerby: by phone, by satellite, or in person.

It worked. She booked her client on “Larry King Live.”

Michelle shared the exact pitches she used to land three of her clients in top-tier media including “Dr. Phil” and CNN’s “HLN.” They’re in the bonus handouts that accompany the video replay of a webinar I hosted on “How to Tie Your Pitch to Breaking news and Make the Media Interview YOU.” It’s perfect for authors, speakers, experts and others who want to tie into breaking news stories but aren’t sure how to deliver the pitch.

Michelle demonstrates, step-by-step, exactly how to do it. No more guessing.

2. Find a Publicity Partner

If you’re a small to mid-sized business or nonprofit with very limited resources, how can you get better publicity and the approval of your customers or donors?

Build a relationship that has mutual value.

Team up with a big company that has more money and resources than you do but needs to show the public that it does good deeds.

Beyond Expectations, a nonprofit based in Trenton, N.J., teamed up with Comcast to participate in the “2014 Comcast Care Day.”

Communications expert Linda Rastelli explains how they did it. And she offers six valuable tips for any company or nonprofit that’s going after a corporate sponsor, or for corporate sponsors interested in finding an ideal partner for cause marketing.

Read “6 ways cause marketing can rocket your publicity to new heights.” It’s a guest post she wrote for my blog and it includes valuable tips for any company or nonprofit looking for a partner.

3. Thank Your Sponsors

Here’s a very special way to thank your corporate sponsor.

While editing Linda Rastelli’s guest blog post on cause marketing, mentioned above, I noticed the three logos at the top of the website of Beyond Expectations, the New Jersey nonprofit that has teamed up with several major companies. “Special thanks to our sponsors,” it says.

What a nice way to say thanks.

Don’t bury this information deep within your website. If other companies you’re courting for a sponsorship can envision their logos at the top of your site, that’s one more enticement that might encourage them to say yes.

Media companies, despite their shrinking profits, still make excellent sponsors because they will usually give you free advertising as part of the sponsorship. But you must know how to approach them, explain what’s in it for them, and be willing to do almost all the work.

My “Special Report #36: How to Clinch a Media Sponsorship for Your Fund-Raiser or Special Event” gives you more details on how to go after media sponsor.

4. Hound Video of the Week

Looking for a Halloween costume idea for your dog? Here are some ideas.