How to Discover YOUR “Media Niche” and Use Targeted Publicity to Build Your Business

Whether you own, run or market a company, getting your business in the public eye has to be one of your best moves. To be able to consistently do that takes smart advertising and even smarter publicity tactics.

When it comes to publicity though, most people who are new at the game believe they can write a press release, send it to a radio or TV station or local newspaper, then just sit back and wait for the calls. Then, when the phone doesn’t ring, they might make a follow-up phone call or two to the newsroom…only to learn that no one’s even glanced at their release!

That’s a lot of hard work down the drain.

So what’s your first “media marketing” step? Simple. You need to find the media “niche” that best suits your message.

You first need to look at your message and ask yourself a few questions. Is it newsworthy? Is it consumer related? Does it have a local twist? Is there a visual aspect to it? Is it a topic I can have a long conversation about? What age group am I targeting? Is there a financial income I’m targeting? The answer to these questions will help you determine the correct medium.

Let’s Take TV First

Whether a morning, noon or evening newscast, they communicate to their audience through pictures. It’s all visual. A producer is looking for something “camera-worthy” that’s also newsworthy, entertaining, informative, or a “how-to.” If you don’t think your message can be visual, think again.

We once had a life insurance agency that wanted us to arrange local and national TV appearances for their CEO. The segment pitch we prepared was an interview about the importance of life insurance and why it’s vital for women to protect themselves for the future.

That probably sounds to you like a visual sleeping pill, right? But we had our client prepare big, attractive graphs showing the mortality rate of women versus men, and that told a powerful visual story. It wound up being a very successful interview for the media as well as our client.

Each newscast, believe it or not, is written specifically for a targeted audience that’s based on age, profession, and income. For instance, early morning news shows are usually watched by working adults and families getting ready for school. Noon shows are aimed for stay at home moms and retired individuals. Late night news is usually targeted for younger business people.

Matching Up with the World of Talk Radio

Radio talk shows, in contrast to TV, communicate through words rather than pictures. It’s conversational, so you need to have a message that lends itself to a conversation. What’s more, many radio shows love local angles. Is there a “community angle in your message?

Like TV, radio talk shows vary from morning to night. Morning shows, as you might suspect, generally have shorter interviews during “drive time.” With news, weather sports and traffic, talk show hosts don’t have time for 30-minute interviews.

Midday shows, now run the gamut of topics since so many people listen to the radio at work. Today, you’ll find lots of business shows airing during the work hours.

After work is the second “drive time” of the day. Listeners are more relaxed then, and it’s more conducive to a longer interview.

And don’t discount those overnight shows. Think no one’s listening? You’d be mistaken. Evening and overnight interviews reach a broad audience of listeners, including 2nd and 3rd shift workers, public service employees, truckers and many people who work overnight.

Getting Yourself in Print

Magazines and newspapers resemble radio and TV in that they’re looking for the newsworthy, the entertaining, the informative as well. But certain segments of print also like visuals.

For example, if you’re pitching a story about a new clothing or jewelry line -- send photo’s with your pitch. Or, if you have a story about a gourmet food product, make sure to include a delectable dish photo. Whenever appropriate, photos can help you make the grade.

Of course, if you want professional help in pitching your message to the media, we can certainly help. In fact, that’s what most of our clients rely on us to do -- match their message to the right media… then actually land the best media placements!