By Gini Dietrich
I am ridiculously excited to be back from summer vacation to restart our webinar series. We are starting off with Michael Smart and, like his last name might imply, he is, well, smart.
I met Michael a year ago when we spoke on a panel together at PRSA. It was the end of a 12-day, five conference speaking tour for me and to say I was not at the top of my game is putting it mildly.
He came in wearing a suit and tie and he was as professional, buttoned up, and on message as his attire might suggest. I was blown away at his content and even learned a thing or two.
That is why I asked him to come hang out with all of you for an hour a week from today. On Thursday, September 17 at noon ET, he will be our host for our monthly free webinar.
Pitching Secrets of the New Media Relations Superstars
It is time to learn the secret weapons to boost your ability to connect with the journalists and bloggers who matter most.
Michael starts off with a great case study that show you why you should never, ever, ever, ever, ever mass pitch journalists and bloggers.
He talks about how to choose the 17 top-tier outlets…and what to do with everyone else, how to send an embargoed release and get journalists to commit to it, and how to show a real return-on-investment.
You already know:
- Journalists and bloggers are swamped;
- Old approaches to media relations don’t work anymore; and
- Sending the same pitch to everyone on your media list is ridiculously not effective.
So he’ll help you get over those hurdles.
What You’ll Learn
- New ways to frame boring stories
- How to apply 80/20 principle to your media list
- Specific formulas for your pitch emails
- Lots of examples of successful pitches
- How to use his media relations roadmap
- Determine what to pitch
- How to create content to make stories more compelling to news media
- Why video should be included in your pitches
- How to make the pitch…and succeed in coverage
- How to exploit pop culture without going overboard
- How to frame a story so a journalist or blogger will go with the story without you
- How to get a link back from a credible URL…and make not only your client happy, but me too!
- An argument against the “I don’t have time to customize my pitches” argument
- How to build a media relations campaign that drives revenue (or donations, if you’re a non-profit) or valuation
- How to customize your pitches without sounding like every other PR pro
- Many more media pitching tips
What Else You’ll Learn
- What he has in common with Benedict Cumberbatch
- When he and I were Aquafina spokespeople
- A prize for listening
- Why you should Google “BYU Mathletes Rap“
- Quick tool tips
- Technology that will dramatically increase your success rate
- What the heck his Inner Circle is and why you should care
- Where to get additional resources
Webinar Details
The webinar is one week from today—September 17 at noon ET (that’s 11 a.m. CT, 10 a.m. MT, and 9 a.m. PT, for those of you who can’t do time zones).
It is free and it’s a two-step process.
First, go to Spin Sucks Pro and click the register button.
Click on the blue “free add to cart” button.
That button will then change to “checkout.” Click that.
Either create a new account or log in to your account.
Click “purchase” (it’ll show $0.00 so don’t panic that you have to pay for it).
Click the blue “Pitching Secrets” link. This will take you to the registration page on ClickWebinar (you’ll also receive an email with this information).
Register for the webinar on that page and you’ll be good to go!
If you can’t attend live, please still register for the webinar. This will tell us to send you a copy of the recording.
See you next week!