Who: Lauren Greutman
Blog: I am That Lady
Take Action Sheet: Download
Transcript: Download

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Who is Lauren

Lauren Greutman is THAT lady from IamThatLady.com offering women ages 25 to 45 tips about saving money and frugal living.

She has one of the biggest blogs in the New York State which started from her passion to share in her blog anything about frugal living.

She is also a backup co-host on her local morning TV show – Bridge Street, appears regularly on 9 WSYR, CNY Central and has appeared on WNBC and Anderson Cooper, the Huffington post, Dr. Oz and the list goes on and on.

I got her on here to find out how YOU and I can strategically go about getting media exposure for our blog. Listen in as Lauren shares specific steps we can take.

Episode 147_lauren greutmanYour “Take Action” Goals

  • To get in contact with the right media people.
  • To connect with Media People on Twitter.
  • To write an effective pitch letter.
  • To land press for your blog.

Make your first contact

1. Start with the local media stations.

  • Check their websites.
  • Look for a list of people that work there. Look for the reporters, not the people that run the news desk.
  • Check their personal news Twitter handles (or email addresses, social media accounts or whatever info you can find to contact them).
  • Follow their social media account/s.
  • Pitch your idea to the reporters. Pitch to them what your blog can offer to the community – good way to get in and get talked about.

lauren on Twitter2. Get on Twitter.

What to search on Twitter

  • TV programs or shows that are targeting the same people that you are trying to reach.
  • Media people who will be interested in promoting you.

How to approach the reporters

  • Before you approach the reporter, research about them such as the types of things they generally cover.
  • Offer to create a good story for them.

Connecting on Twitter

  • Send a message on Twitter.

“Hey, I have a story idea for you, can I get your email? Can you DM me your email?”

* At this point, you should already have your pitch letter ready in case the reporter/s email you back

  • Reporter replies with their email address.
  • Email back with a pitch letter.

Note:

If the reporter you've made contact with has a different field than what you are pitching, you can ask to forward your scoop to someone who'd be interested with your story.

Remember, reporters are always actively looking for stories.

Compose an Effective Pitch Letter

– There is no standard format for creating one. Make it personalized and remember the following important points.

Important Points:

lauren4

1. Chances are high if your story is relevant to what they are trying to do and their community.

How?

  • Check big news websites for current events and current news articles.
  • Determine what value you have to offer in the context of what is significant now or that’s happening right now.
  • You can establish an event in the community and pitch that event to the station.

2. Genuinely write a letter to them about what you can offer them NOT what they can do for you.

“Hey, I am teaching this free coupon seminar in the area to help support money for X, Y, and Z, and I would love to bring it to your audience. I would love to get promotion for it. Do you think that this would be something that would fit for you?”

“Hey, I have so many people read my blog and I always tell them about coming to watch your show.”

What to include in your letter.

  • Address them by name and tell them a little bit about you and your blog.
  • Add something about your Social Media followers.
  • Be personable.
  • Be you.
  • Be confident that you have something of value to offer them.
  • Always leave with something like:

“Can I follow it up with you in a few days?” Or,

“I’ll follow up with you in five days.”

Getting on Air

1. Be ahead of the game.

– After making the connection and before going on air, make sure the following are discussed and emphasized in your last communication before going live.

Things to talk about:

  • When to get set up.
  • Talking points in your segment.

– Offer a list of maybe four to five topics that you’re going to be talking about during your segment
– Helps you take control of your segment.
– Avoids getting into topics you’re not knowledgeable about.
– Don't try to sound bossy and controlling.

“This is what I do and these are the things that I would like to talk about”

– Reduces the amount of time for reporters to do their research on you and your topic.

  • How you want to be identified on air.

– Have control over how you are portrayed.

“Lauren, blogger at iamthatlady.com.” Or,

“Frugal Living Expert at iamthatlady.com.”

  • What to put in the lower third of the screen.

“I just want to make sure we have this all planned out. How do you plan to identify me on air and what are you going to plan on putting in that lower third so that, I know ahead of time.”

canstockphoto164433462. Dress Right.

Women

  • Bold and bright colors
  • Dress for the part
  • Don't wear noisy, dangly jewelry.
  • Wear something that would still be comfortable even with the mic clipped to your dress.

Men

  • Bright colored polo shirt with blazer on top
  • Stay away from jeans
  • Avoid ties

– Ties are what anchors or hosts wear.

3. How to Behave in front of the Camera

  • Look away from the camera as much as possible.
  • Be really casual with the host and talk more with them.
  • When trying to make a point to the audience, look at the camera to talk directly to the person that is watching.
  • Don't stare at yourself.
  • Look at the host as much as you can and let them lead you.
  • Don’t look awkward.
  • Make sure that you have the right posture and keep your shoulders back and try and just stay not square with the host.

– Position yourself half way between the host and the camera, the way your body is tilted so that, you’re engaging with the viewer and the host

Create a Media Page

  • As seen on...Add “As seen on …” in your blog.

– They need to know what you have done or where you have already been featured.

  • Add your contact page.
  • If you have no press or media exposure yet, you can create a video about what you do or what you hope to do.

– The Media people will have some idea about how you act in front of the camera.

Get Organized

– have a place to organize your media contact lists and future engagements with them.

Google Doc

– make sure to write down when pitching everybody and what their responses were.

Example:

If looking for traffic to an event…

  • Choose the best media for the event (radio, TV, newspaper, etc.) that will give better engagement.
  • Determine the time to pitch them, what actual kind of media to pitch and what the expected outcome will be.
  • Kind of topic you want to pitch and finding the people in your area that you should go talk to.

Spreadsheet

  • Will contain a list of all media contacts and their Twitter handles.

– Continue tweeting with them even if not trying to do a segment.

  • Also include relevant information about future communications.

“This will be a great story in September, can you email me back then?”

Develop long-term relationships with people in the media.

How?

  • Always be on time.
  • Dress the right way.
  • Be professional.
  • Get to know the people around you.

REMEMBER!

Media doesn’t always guarantee traffic. It guarantees that you will have more clout. It helps you establish your name as an expert in your topic.

Transcript

Some people just love being able to read along with interviews, or they might just prefer to skip the audio completely and just read through the transcript. Hey, if that’s what floats your boat, it is all good. Here’s the transcript just for you :)

Click here to download transcript.

About The Podcast

Learning With Leslie

Learning With Leslie is a podcast dedicated to helping you build a business around a blog. No, not one of those blogs that will fall by the wayside when Google has a mood swing, but one that will thrive no matter what gets thrown at it.

I share tips and strategies that I’ve learnt building blogs since 2008 and interview experts who are knowledgable about various aspects of blogging so that we can learn from their experiences.

If you’re a blogger, thinking about becoming a blogger (pun intended) or are not even sure if blogging is right for you, go ahead and tune in to see what this blogging thing is all about.

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About the Author Leslie Samuel


Leslie Samuel a business coach for high-performing entrepreneurs. As the host of the Leslie Samuel Show, he teaches how to build an online business. "Changing the world one post at a time” is the mission he strives towards. As a former university professor, he has a passion for education. He's the founder of Interactive Biology, a blog and YouTube channel dedicated to making biology fun for students and teachers. As the head of training for the Social Media Marketing Society, he helps social media marketers get the training they need to stay on the leading edge of social media.

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