How to Get Media Attention: Get on TV & other Media for FREE

Do you want to learn how to attract media attention for your small business, book or blog?

When we started our business and website we had no advertising budget.

We were writing a frugal lifestyle newsletter and wanted to reach as many people as possible. And we thought that getting free media coverage through newspapers, magazines, and TV was the best way to promote it.

But how could we get free press attention?

What Didn’t Work

Steve created a press kit with a press release, samples of our newsletter, a family photo, and bios. We snail-mailed the press kit to several newspapers and TV stations and got no response.

We couldn’t figure out why the standard press release and media kit didn’t gain us any media attention for our small startup.

What Did Work

Out of sheer desperation, Steve got the idea that face to face meetings would be better than unsolicited mail. So he started making phone calls to journalists and producers.

Within a few days, he had an appointment with an editor of a local newspaper. He hand-delivered the press kit and two days later a reporter was in our home interviewing us and taking photos.

It really worked – we had just attracted our first bit of free media coverage! 

Next, we tried the same thing with two larger newspapers; a regional and a state-wide publication.

We were amazed when phone calls to editors or reporters resulted in face to face meetups, interviews and stories.

Getting Media Attention Happens When You Know How to Pitch

We learned that reporters and editors were just real people like you and us. They have a job to do, they have goals, they have families (or pets) that they want to take care of.

Knowing that they’re human and have the same needs as we do makes it easier to relate to them. We wanted to help these journalists do their job.

And helping them, made it even easier for them to give us what we wanted … free publicity and media coverage.

Getting Good Morning America’s Attention

After our second and third newspaper interviews were published, we started receiving emails and phone calls from other forms of media. Our initial press coverage generated a lot of buzz. We were contacted by more than 15 radio stations, TV stations, and magazines.

They wanted to interview us!

From March to the following April we did more than 20 interviews with local and regional media outlets. Most of them were places that we didn’t even have to pitch. They came to us.

With several TV spots, tons of radio and a number of newspaper interviews under our belts, we decided to reach out to national TV shows.

It took several months, but in April of the following year, we landed a spot on Good Morning America – just 13 months after we published our first newsletter!

And as a result of the interview on Good Morning America, we not only landed a book contract with Random House, but we kept getting more and more national media requests.

The Benefits of Getting Free Media Coverage

We had no budget for buying TV or radio spots. But if we did, we would have been spending money for 30 seconds of fleeting messaging. Sure if you repeat the same message a number of times you’ll get traffic to your website and the phone to ring. But buying lots of ads costs lots of money.

What we discovered is that getting interviews on TV and Radio gave us 5 minutes to share our story – sometimes even longer.

And that in those 5 minutes we could really connect with people. We were sharing information that would benefit the audience and it felt genuine to them. It didn’t feel like they were watching an infomercial.

As a result of the length of the media spots and the credibility we were given, our website traffic started to soar. And so did our product sales.

How Will Getting Free Media Help You?

If you could get your message about your Business, Book or Blog out to local and regional media outlets what would happen?

• Would your phone start to ring?
• Could your website traffic spike?
• Would your product sales or service requests spike?
• Could your book sell more copies than ever before?

If you have a small business, book or blog that you want to promote, getting free media exposure is one of the fastest ways to do that.

Helping Others Reach Their Goals

We’ve helped dozens of friends and associates get media attention and free media exposure.

We’ve given them step-by-step details on how to set up their website, how to write a pitch letter, how to plan for an interview, and what to say during the interview and after the interview.

And as a result, they’ve seen some of the same results that we received.

We’ve fine-tuned our media pitching formula and put it into a course designed to equip you to get free media exposure for your business, book or blog.

This course is comprehensive. It will walk you through the steps you need to take, to get editors, producers, and reporters to invite you to be interviewed.

What We Received

We’ve really been blessed to meet some amazing people in the media. People like Dr. Phil, Montel Williams, Marie Osmond, and news anchors from NBC, CNN, Fox, ABC, and CBS. They’re all just real people.

We’ve also met some incredibly talented producers, camera people, and sound techs.

As these people move from one company to another we’ve received even more media requests.

Up to this point, we’ve been given the opportunity to do more than 30 National and International TV appearances. Scores of local and regional TV and radio interviews. And more than 200 newspaper, magazine and website interviews.

We have become experts at getting free media attention and coverage.

We calculated the value of the time we’ve been given on National TV shows alone. If we were to have purchased all of that airtime it would have cost more than 18 million dollars!

And it was given to us at no financial cost. Of course, it did take preparation and travel time, but we’ll discuss this in detail in the course.

How to Get the Course for Free Media

If you’re interested in learning how to successfully pitch media opportunities we’ve got the training course for you.

The MoneySmart Free Media Course will give you the know-how and tools to pitch and land media appearances like a pro. It will help you grow your business, book or blog like you’ve never seen before.

This video describes our journey from unknown to media personalities.

You’ll start to see the same results we did. And you’ll get to meet some amazing people who will help you reach your goals … as you help them do their job better with great interview material.

• Read testimonials from real people who we’ve helped to get free media exposure.
• See a list of the modules included in the course
• Get info on the special Bonuses we’re offering
• Sign up for a series of 6 emails that will empower you to start getting free media.

Get the info on the Free Media Course.

Free Media Training Email Challenge Series

If you’re not sure about the course, we have a Free Media Training email challenge series. The six emails in the series will share principles and tips that we used to get free media. It will also give you an opportunity to see some of the interviews and learn the backstory of how we pitched and landed the interview.

Signup for the Free Media Training Email Challenge Series.