So you’ve sent out your press release to radio show producers and worked hard to get booked on some talk shows to get some free publicity. Now it’s time for your efforts to pay off. Here are some tips on how to make the most of being interviewed on the phone by a radio show host.

Before the show, send the host, producer, and switchboard operator a card with your contact information. Listeners frequently call during and after the show to learn how to reach you.

Try to listen to the show before your interview date. If you have a friend who lives in that market, ask them to record it for you. Most radio stations now make their shows available on the Internet, so check into that possibility.

If you’re doing the interview by phone, make sure you’re in a quiet room where you will not be disturbed.

If you have call waiting, turn it off. You don’t want to be interrupted by an incoming call.

It’s a good idea to have a glass of water within reach, in case your throat gets dry. When the producer calls, or when you call them at the appointed time, assume you’re on the air, even though you probably won’t be. This way, you won’t inadvertently say something that you don’t want the audience to hear.

Standing raises your energy level, compared to sitting, so consider doing it during the interview. Also, your voice sounds much better if you are standing, or even pacing. You might want to use a cordless phone with a well-charged battery. If you have a corded phone, put a longer cord on it so you can move around. But be careful not to trip on it.

During the interview, offer the audience something for free, such as a tip sheet. Make sure they have to write or call you to get this freebie. This technique will help you build a list of prospects you can contact later.

Soon after the show, send the producer and host a thank-you note. The personal touch sometimes helps in getting booked again down the free publicity road.

Danek S. Kaus is a veteran Silicon Valley journalist and Public Relations . He is the author of “You Can Be Famous! Insider Secrets to Getting Free Publicity.” Get More Publicity Tips and learn how to Get Radio Publicity Grab a totally unique version of this article from the Uber Article Directory

Most business owners, entrepreneurs, authors, musical artists and others who want to get free publicity shoot themselves in the foot when dealing with the media and end up not getting the publicity they might otherwise have had. Here are some mistakes to avoid:

Not coordinating new and traditional media campaigns. Many people believe that publicity programs should be one or the other, or that traditional media is dead. Both of them are very effective ways to get free publicity.

Trying to oversell on social media. You can use them to sell, but your primary focus should be on creating relationships, which can often lead to business profits.

A poorly written press release. The press release should read like a newspapers story, even if it is for broadcast media. It should be in the inverted pyramid style. Start with the most important point and proceed to the least important point. It should be written in the 3rd person–she,he — not you, I. It should be somewhere between 400 – 600 words.

A weak press release headline. This is the most important part of the release. It should quickly catch the journalist’s attention and convey the main point of the story.

Advertising. The press release should read like news, not a thinly disguised advertisement. Avoid hype and industry jargon.

Talking too long. Journalists are very busy. When you call them on the phone, be polite but get to the main point fast.

Being late. Many people trying to get free publicity pitch stories without giving reporters and editors enough advance notice. If you have a scheduled event, send your pitch at least two weeks ahead of time for newspapers and broadcast outlets. Most magazines have a lead time of several months to a year.

Being unavailable on deadline day. Reporters are always on deadline. Make sure that you are available when they on a deadline for the story they are doing about you. They will often have additional questions to ask you. If you are not around for them to talk with you, they might kill the story. So be available if you want to get free publicity.

Danek S. Kaus is an experienced business journalist and publicist. He is the author of “You Can Be Famous! Insider Secrets to Getting Free Publicity. Get Free Publicity Tips at his website and learn how You Can Be Interviewed on Radio Talk Shows

The press release has long been the staple of publicity campaigns. Although it is still a powerful tool, you need to adapt it for Search Engine Optimization for online publicity campaigns.

You can choose from a wide number of press release services to distribute your press release online. In order to get free publicity, and the maximum publicity benefits from your release, you should employ the strategic use of keywords–specific words and phrases that people use when doing a search online.

Because this article is about public relations, it contains several related keywords such as publicity, free publicity, get free publicity and public relations.

Some of these keywords are searched more often than others. Those that have the highest number of searches also have the most competition for people’s attention and top search engine placement. Of the phrases above, public relations has he most searches and the highest competition. Get free publicity has the least.

Be sure to spread the keywords throughout your press release. You should use one word or phrase in the headline, another in the first paragraph and then several throughout the body of the release.

Be careful not to get too keyword happy and load up the release with them. Scatter some here and there so that they seem, and are, an organic part of the release. This piece probably has too many keywords, but since it is an article about keywords, it is kind of hard to avoid.

The keywords you choose must relate to your business and website. After all, what good is SEO if the keywords don’t bring visitors? That means if you’re in the clothing industry, don’t write a press release full of keywords about cars.

So how do you find good keywords and learn how popular they are? You can use the Google keyword tool for free. Just type in some keywords and Google will tell you how many searches there are for each of them and suggest some others for you to consider.

Danek S. Kaus is a journalist journalist and Public Relations Expert. He is the author of “You Can Be Famous! Insider Secrets to Getting Free Publicity.” You can get More Publicity Secrets and learn how to Be Interviewed on Radio Talk Shows

A fun way to get free publicity is by delivering free talks to local groups and businesses. There are several benefits to public speaking.

You get to meet people face-to-face, which can help you to create new social and business relationships.

If you have dreams of becoming an author, it can help you to build what is called a platform, a base of fans or people who know your name, which can make you more attractive to publishers. You can get additional publicity by letting the media know where and when you are giving your talk. They might list the event in their calendar of events or even send a reporter out to do a story.

Perhaps it will lead to a lucrative career as a speaker.

Business groups and service clubs offer great chances for you to give talks. Some of the best known are Kiwanis, Knights of Columbus, Rotary, Soroptimist, and Lions Club, though there are many others you might check out.

These types of groups have memberships that can range from a couple of dozen or so to well over 100. Most groups meet once a week; and the majority of them have speakers at their meetings who will talk for a predetermined time, usually 15-30 minutes. Generally, they don’t pay guest speakers, though if you’ve published a book, most of them will let you sell it at the meeting.

You can find these clubs on the Internet and the phone book. One of the best ways to get information on each local club is to call the Chamber of Commerce in your community and nearby ones.

Most chambers are extremely helpful, though often shorthanded, and keep lists of clubs in the community. Ask them for contact person for the groups you would like to speak to. While you’re at it, ask the chamber if they are looking for speakers. Many chambers now have links to member organizations in their websites, but again, usually for the contact person, not the group as a whole.

Danek S. Kaus is a Silicon Valley business journalist and publicist. He is the author of “You Can Be Famous! Insider Secrets to Getting Free Publicity.” You can get More Publicity Secrets and learn how to Be Interviewed on Radio Shows

There is no limit to the types of stories you can pitch to the media to get free publicity, though some are easier to sell than others.

Here is a list of some of the types of stories journalists are likely to respond to. Some of these will apply to you, others won’t; but you can use them as a stepping-stone for related public relations ideas.

Do well by doing good. Sponsor a charitable event or volunteer for a charity. If you’re a business owner or a manager, you might encourage your entire staff to participate. Doing good works offers two chances for publicity. You can send out a news release to announce the commitment you’ve made before the event and another one after the event detailing some of your accomplishments.

Celebrate a milestone or an anniversary. Just sold your 10,000th car? Reached a 10th, 25th or 50th anniversary? Let journalists know. It’s a great time to get free publicity.

Write a how-to article. If you own a pastry shop, offer an article on how to get a flakier pie crust. If you own an auto repair shop, offer tips on trouble-shooting or basic maintenance.

Connect into the news. There are so many possibilities. Let’s say some celebrity couple announces that they’re getting divorced. If you’re a psychologist or a marriage counselor, you could offer a press release on how to have a better marriage. If you’re a divorce attorney or a CPA, you might issue a release on the financial consequences of divorce.

Conduct a survey. If you sell computers, you can get free publicity if you do a survey about the most common customer complaints and announce your results to the press. If you run a health spa, you might do a survey to determine whether walking or jogging is more popular. Malcolm Kushner, humor consultant to Fortune 500 companies and author of such books as “Public Speaking for Dummies” and “Presentations for Dummies,” has garnered national publicity for his annual “Cost of Humor Index.” Each year he assesses the cost of such humor-related items as rubber chickens and whoopee cushions, then sends out a press release announcing his findings. He’s been featured on several top TV talk shows and other national venues.

Danek S. Kaus is a veteran business reporter and publicist. He is he author of “You Can Be Famous! Insider Secrets to Getting Free Publicity.” You can Get Free Publicity Tips at his website and also learn how to Get Free Publicity on Radio Talk Shows

A great way to get repeated free publicity from the same media outlet is to become an expert source. An expert source is the go-to person that a journalist calls whenever they are doing on a story related to a certain topic

To get started, establish a relationship with a local journalist who does stories in your area of expertise. If you’re in the natural health field, for example, contact the health writer. Think of some possible ideas that might make good stories for them.

Next, create a list of local experts who can address the topic. You might want to contact these experts to be sure they want the publicity. Be sure to include your own name and contact info on the list if you are an expert on any of the topics.

The ideas you pitch to the journalist must have a news angle. They should not be a thinly disguised sale pitch for natural health. You can get lots of ideas from trade publications, that is, magazines that are written for the professionals in your field. Watch out for stories about trends, new products and such. Think of ways in which they could have a local hook.

Next, call or email the journalist who covers health. If you call, introduce yourself briefly. Very briefly. Journalists are usually on deadline. Tell him or her that you would like to send some possible story ideas from time to time on natural health, with a list of local experts who will speak to these issues. Then get off the phone and send your story pitches.

Or, simply email your list of story ideas. Introduce yourself and mention your credentials in the beginning of the email. Indicate that you will send ideas from time to time. You can usually get the email address of a journalist by calling the main phone number of the media outlet.

If the journalist likes any of your ideas, you’ve helped them in two ways. You’ve given them a great idea. Second, you’ve saved them a lot of time doing research because you’ve provided a list of experts to contact.

When the reporter does the story, a couple of things might happen. You can be one of the experts who gets some free publicity in the story, or you might not. Either way, you win.

In the first scenario, get get some free publicity.

In the second, you’ve at least established the beginning of what could be a long-term publicity ride. The journalist now knows who to call to find out who some of the experts are for certain stories. Your help will be remembered because journalists are always on deadline and are short on time.

If you are continually helpful, eventually, you will be one of the experts who gets quoted in some of the stories. Plus you have an open door to pitch stories that might feature only you.

Danek S. Kaus is Silicon Valley-based business journalist and publicist. He is the author of “You Can Be Famous! Insider Secrets to Getting Free Publicity. You can Learn More Publicity Secrets at his site. Want to share your expertise on radio talk shows? Click Here

If you want to get free publicity, you need to know how to deal with journalists. They are very busy and are always under constant pressure to meet deadlines. These tips can help you open doors and establish a long-term successful relationship with reporters and editors.

When you call, immediately ask if they are on deadline. If they are, ask them when you can call back, then politely get off the phone.

Be brief. Don’t be chatty. Get to the point right away and when you’ve finished-you guessed it-get off the phone.

Ask if they are the right person to talk to about your story pitch.

Ask them what their contact preference is–phone, email, fax or snail mail.

Ask if it’s okay to follow-up with them in a week or two. Some journalists will say yes, some no. If yes, call back, but not too soon. In general, wait at least a week after they have received a press release, unless they have indicated otherwise.

Be polite and friendly.

Know your subject matter. Reporters and editors are too often pitched stories by someone in an organization who has no clue about the product or service or what the story is all about. If you want to get free publicity, be knowledgeable.

Be available, especially when they are on deadline for your story. When compiling their stories, journalists often think of new questions to ask or need clarification on some aspects of the story you have given them, either in a press release or during the course of the interview.

There should be one main contact person for the journalist. But you should also have a backup in case that person is not available and the journalist needs a quick answer to a question.

if you can, offer to do more. When a journalist asks you a question, unless it is highly technical and beyond your understanding, answer it, offer to research it, or have an expert in your organization get back to them. Do NOT tell them where they can go find the information for themselves. Journalists are almost always on a deadline, so don’t try to create more work for them.

Danek S. Kaus is a an experienced journalist and publicist, and the author of “You Can Be Famous! Insider Secrets to Getting Free Publicity. Want more secrets of how to Get Free Publicity and learn how you can Be Interviewed on Radio Talk Shows

Many media outlets, especially the print ones, use two special calendars that you can use to get free publicity.

The first calendar you can take advantage of is the calendar of events. These will run for a week at a time or on weekends. You can use them to get free publicity for any upcoming events you may have. But competition for this space is high, so increase your chances of being accepted by writing your notice in the exact format of those already listed.

For example, the calendar of your home-town paper may begin each listing with the topic, followed by the date, location and cost, if any, of the event. Others may start with the topic, then the cost, date and location, etc. Although the differences seem small, you can use them to increase your chances to get free publicity.

If you follow the exact style of a calendar, you make it easier on the person who has to not only pick and choose calendar items (from the many that are sent) but edit and format them. When they see an item that matches their format, they are more likely to use it because it means less work, which translates into finishing the job sooner so they can move on to the next task.

So use this fact to your advantage.

Another secret to getting calendar listings is to keep your pitch short.

The other calendar you should be aware of is the editorial one. Most publications do an issue or a special section on various topics several times per year, such as personal finance, health, automotive, and so on. Call the paper and ask for the editorial calendar. Sometimes somebody in the newsroom will send you one or you may be able to get the advertising department to send you one.

Once you receive the calendar, check it to determine when they are going to do a focus on a topic that relates to what you do. Think of some aspect of your product or service that will be useful to the publication’s readers.

A few weeks ahead of your scheduled event, send the publication a press release. Be sure to follow up a couple weeks later to increase your chances for free publicity.

Danek S. Kaus is an experienced journalist and publicist, and the author of “You Can Be Famous! Insider Secrets to Getting Free Publicity. Get More Publicity Secrets at his website and Get Info on 150 Radio Talk Shows that want to interview you.

Many people don’t attempt to get free publicity because they believe the myths about publicity. Here are seven that you need to know the real truth about:

Myth 1. Publicity and advertising are the same. You pay for advertising, but you don’t pay for publicity. Even if you hire a publicist, the cost is much less than advertising. Yet it has more value, because publicity is treated as news.

Myth 2. You have to know someone to get free publicity. Like anything else in life, it helps if you have contacts on the inside. But they are not necessary. Every day, thousands of people without contacts get free publicity in the media.

Myth 3. Only the big guys can get free publicity. Wrong. Refer to Myth 2.

Myth 4. You should send your press release everywhere. Doing this is counterproductive. You should target your release to the right outlets and the right journalists. For example, say your company has just released new customer relations software. Don’t buy a giant media list and send it to everyone on it. Select the business publications and talk shows and the editors of the business sections of newspapers and magazines, as well as business websites, and send your release to them only. Warning: only send the release to one person at a media outlet at a time. If that person turns you down, then it is okay to contact another one.

Myth 5. You can get a lost of free publicity if you send out lots of releases. Wrong. Don’t waste the time of journalists with trivia. Send them too many trivial releases and they won’t bother to read them when you have something really important to announce.

Myth 6. Bigger is better. Don’t write long press releases. Journalists have too many to read. The ideal length is 400 – 600 words. If you have more to say, you can provide additional items such as a bio (biography), company history or fact sheet. If the release interests journalists, they will then read your supporting material for more information.

Myth 7. You can get publicity if you buy an ad. Except with smaller media outlets and some trade publications, buying an ad will not influence the decision to do a story on you. With most journalists, telling them that you will buy an ad if they do a story is a turn off and it may make them decide not to do anything at all.

Danek S. Kaus is a veteran journalist and publicist. He is the author of “You Can Be Famous! Insider Secrets to Getting Free Publicity.” Check out his site for More free publicity tips and seehis Publicity and Writing Services and a free phone consultation.

Acting coach Judy Kerr was the on-set dialogue coach for the “Seinfeld” TV Show. She is the author of “Acting is Everything: An Actor’s Guidebook for a Successful Career in Los Angeles.” The book is now in its 11th edition and is one of the most respected books on the business of acting.

In addition to her work with the Seinfeld cast, she has coached numerous people to help them sell things on TV and to be more entertaining while being interviewed on talk shows. She offers some great advice for giving a sizzling performance on TV talk shows:

1. If you can tell a great story, you’ll really do well, according to Kerr. She advises practicing story telling with friends to get their feedback.

2. Be succinct with your message. “Get to the point quickly,” Kerr advises. “Assume the listener knows a lot about the subject, so you don’t have to give them every little detail, unless you have a great joke to tell them that is entertaining and part of the message.”

3. Know in advance the stories you want to tell and the messages you want to give the audience. Bigger shows make this easier because they have a talent coordinator. This person will interview you in order to get to know you. This can make it easier on the host and makes the show go a lot smoother. On smaller shows, you will probably want to give the host and producer a list of questions in advance.

4. Write out your stories and messages ahead of time. Kerr advises that you keep them short and to the point. If you are trying to sell a new product, make sure to tell people all of the things it can do, according to Kerr.

5. If you become aware that the camera is doing a shot of just you, and that the audience is watching, remember that you are really talking to the host. You want to engage that person as much as you can.

6. There may be times when you want to talk into the camera. When you do, imagine that you are talking to one person in their living room. You might also imagine that it is someone who cares for you a lot, like one of your parents or a close friend. Pick someone who does not judge you.

Danek S. Kaus is the author of “You Can Be Famous! Insider Secrets to Getting Free Publicity. You can see more ways to Get Free Publicity and See his book He is a veteran journalist and publicist. Grab a totally unique version of this article from the Uber Article Directory