I’m thrilled to introduce you to one of our standout students of The Leveraged Business Business School™, Donna Cravotta of Social Sage PR. Please welcome Donna as a guest contributor to the The Leveraged Business blog. As always, we’d love to hear your feedback. Please post your comments and questions below. ~ Fabienne. Connect with Donna on Facebook here.
Public Relations (PR) is one of the best ways to get in front of scores of your ideal clients and other media outlets for FREE. It’s a win-win! Media outlets get your valuable content to share with their audience and you get the benefit of exposure to an audience they’ve already gathered for you – on a solid online platform. And in some cases, Google values the content on these media outlets higher than traditional sites, so any related social media posts or links back to your site are fantastic for increasing your search engine rankings.
Entrepreneurs can easily incorporate PR as part of their The Leveraged Business marketing pie. (Click here to tweet this.)
Get started right away with my four simple steps to ensure you don’t miss out on valuable media opportunities, to increase your visibility and attract more ideal clients.
1. Sign-up for HARO, Radio Guest List and Pitch Rate. These are all free services that will send you daily emails with listings of media opportunities posted by journalists. I have landed valuable media using these resources not only for myself, but also for my clients – and as a result have had success in getting media exposure and free publicity…you can too!
2. Create your media kit. This is a compilation of everything the media might want to know about you – in one central place. Your media kit can be posted directly on your website – or in a document uploaded to your website. I suggest not sending the media kit as an attachment in an email – but instead direct them online to view all the different components. Here’s what you should include:
- Biography
- Company Bio
- Description of products, services or book
- Prior media
- Images, headshots (downloadable)
- Links to videos
- List of 5-10 sample Q&A for media
- Testimonials
- Press releases
- Speaking topics
- Speaker One Sheet
- Book excerpt and Book Fact Sheet (for author media kits)
If you don’t have everything on this list, it’s OK. Just include what you have for now and add on as you go. Keep materials brief, easy to read, and not overly busy so they can be printed easily. Content is more important than design.
3. Write a brief email pitch. If you are responding to a media request through one of the sites listed above, the subject line should reference the request. Focus on how you can help their audience. Take the time to do some background research on the media professional you are contacting. Early in the email, mention a recent article you enjoyed by the journalist. Or, if the inquiry is for a radio or TV show, include something that would indicate that you’ve actually watched or listened to the radio or TV show. This is important, as it will capture their attention. Read and reread the media request, giving them exactly what they requested and honor deadlines. Follow the media professional or the outlet on social media and engage with them further – by sharing their work and commenting on their blog posts. They love this.
4. Use social media. When you do receive a media opportunity, be sure to share it online, across all of your social media platforms. Add it to your media kit for future reference. Be sure to thank the media professional – not only in an email but also a tagged mention on social media so they are sure to see it.
These four steps will help you get started to receive new media opportunities and publicity which helps you get noticed – and get clients!
Donna Cravotta, CEO of Social Sage PR and creator of The Total Social PR System™ is fiercely committed to guiding entrepreneurs in gaining visibility and fostering engagement online through the creative use of Social Media and Public Relations.
With over twenty years of experience in the corporate world and seven years guiding her amazing clients to achieve remarkable success, Donna’s mission and commitment is to provide all of the elements necessary to successfully amplify your unique voice and share your purpose in the online media arena.
23 Responses
I *love* the media kit checklist!
Loved this article Donna! It was very informative, particularly the advice about what to say when responding to those media requests. I always wondered if I was saying the right thing and now I know how to better position my responses.
Wonderful points, Donna! Thanks for the Radio Guest List and Pitch Rate resources! Checking them out now!! 🙂
Great Heather – please be sure to share any successes you have!
I already signed up for the resources, and am reminded of what still needs to be developed for my Media Kit… Your approach to Social and PR, is unprecedented. My company, Brandscape Atelier is so much further because of SocialSagePR.com! Thanks for sharing your “brownies”!
Love to share my brownies! Thanks Kerri and so happy that we are able to help you grow your amazing business!
And I must point out that, once again, Fabienne and Derek are offering new and better ways of saturating CABS students with valuable, FREE content. This guest post was outstanding. Thank you Team The Leveraged Business for putting the tools of success in our eager little paws.
Eager little paws! Yes, always upping their game!
Donna wrote the bible on this stuff. Especially the steps we can do ourselves, with little investment other than time, to garner media opportunities. With her guidance, I have submitted and had accepted contributions to four HARO queries. Had I done it any other way than Donna’s, I am sure I would not have gotten the results I did. Just do what she says – you can’t go wrong.
Mark YOU are a rockstar and everyone needs to know it.
Heartfelt thanks Donna. I have to start believing in me as much as you do.
The bulletted list describing the Media Kit is so easy to follow and CLEAR!! JUST like The Total Social PR System! Thank you for shepherding all of us entrepreneurs into greener pastures! @DonnaCravotta:disqus = Social Media Fairy Godmother… 🙂
Thanks Cena! You were a big inspiration to build the system! One media response and you landed a Fox interview! Brilliant!
This is an AWESOME article Donna!! Definitely need to get a media kit done!! It’s an honor to be part of the Total Social PR group and learning with so many other amazing entrepreneurs!!
Thanks Rose! It is an honor having you in the group! Could not do it without YOU!
Donna, it’s so great to see this all in one place. Can’t wait to get started on my new media kit! And, BTW, now I’m doubly glad that I signed up for your course!
Thanks Terri – so glad you are in the program too and cannot wait to see what you and Bessie achieve!
So brilliant Donna!!!! Your strategies are stellar!!!! Since we’ve been working with you in your Total Social PR System our list has tripled and we are everywhere helping people!!!! Donna you are a goddess!!!! Thank you for helping us get out there in a really big way!!!
Thanks Stacey! I just gave you the tools you ran with it baby! So proud of you!
Great article, Donna! Thanks!
Thanks Kandi! So glad you enjoyed the article, what was your takeaway?
I loved the tips on registering for media notifications, but my favorite was building the media kit online. I realized I have a lot to work with in terms of creating a media kit! I can’t wait to work with you on a personal level!
Great! There are so many simple and free or very inexpensive things you can do. Gets me giddy! Would love to speak with you!