Marketers often talk about how important it is to address the key pain points of your audience. That makes a lot of sense because you have to know what your audience struggles with before you can offer help.
But do you know what no one ever seems to talk about? The Media’s pain points.
It’s probably never occurred to you. And that’s okay. But if you as a nonfiction author know, understand, and consider those pain points, you’ll have a distinct advantage.
You see, I’ve worked behind the scenes in national television for more than 30 years and I know from personal experience how hard media folks work to serve the needs of their audiences and to make the people who work above them happy.
Let’s look at television. Producers are under unrelenting pressure from all sides to create amazing shows. And I’ve seen their pain, up close and personal.
Experts who cancel at the last minute. Overly demanding celebrity publicists making entire production teams jump through hoops. Guests who don’t follow simple instructions and end up jeopardizing entire segments, moments before taping begins.
And that’s all before lunch. Which by the way is eaten while working, often in a control room or edit room, during a 12-16 hour day.
I’m not telling you this because I want you to feel sorry for people who work in TV. We know what we sign up for. But I am giving you some behind the scenes insights that will help you succeed as a nonfiction author who wants media attention.
Because let’s be honest. You want publicity. TV producers have the power to make that happen for you. So understanding the pressure they’re under empowers you to do the following:
- Communicate concisely and appropriately. (By not sending an email every day until you get booked. Spoiler alert: You won’t.)
- Interact in a way that is respectful of their time. (Most people do not. Trust me.)
- Empathize with them as human beings. (Who have cars that break down. And kids who get sick in the middle of the day. And are doing the best they can to do good work they can be proud of.)
So many authors and experts who appear in Media are so focused on their own goals that they fail to see the other person in the equation.
Because the Media is made up of individual people. People who have a job to do. A job they take seriously, and that is to serve their audience. (And if they don’t do that, they’re out of work.)
So your job as a nonfiction author who wants to utilize the immense power of Media is to have that exact same focus – serving the audience.
And if you don’t know how to do that yet – stop pitching the media! Please trust me on this – you don’t want to be doing media interviews if you don’t know how to maximize every single opportunity. I created Profitable Publicity to prepare you to create valuable marketing assets for your book and your business. Find out more here.
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