You need to get on drive-time radio!
Why is drive-time radio so valuable to somebody's publicity campaign and why should you try to get onto it?
There are probably more than a dozen reasons why it's important for you to actively pitch your story to drive-time radio hosts. Probably the most obvious of all is that you can make a lot of money at it. Drive-time radio can work for both big companies and for individuals who have a book to sell, or they're professional speakers, or consultants.
Some people underestimate the power of drive-time radio. They think maybe that when they're called by somebody in a small town somewhere who wants to do an interview with them about whatever their subject of expertise is that there will be only a couple of hundred of listeners. Well, I would still submit to you that even just a couple of hundred people, if you get in front of them at one time, that's not a bad deal. But if you get into some of the bigger cities, you can get in front of literally thousands and even hundreds of thousands of people at one time.
Consider the example of Bart Baggett, who's a handwriting expert. He's been on more than a thousand radio shows during his career. He was on with Howard Stern one morning. Well, first of all, that takes some guts to even get on Howard Stern's show. But Bart had plenty of experience. He handled it very well, and in one morning, he sold $25,000 worth of products and services, just from being on The Howard Stern Show. That's a home run. There's no question that you don't get those every day,
But I think a lot of people really cheat themselves because they start thinking, "Well, I want to get on Oprah." I commend that. That's a wonderful goal to set. You have to work awfully hard to get there, and it's certainly worth the rewards when you do. But in the meantime, you can spend a lot of time working cheaply and efficiently at getting on radio shows all around the country, and it can make you a bundle of money, certainly be worth your time.
The other benefit of doing radio is that you don't get onto a show like Oprah unless you can really tell your story very, very well. You're pretty well screened before you get onto that program. Getting on these small, or maybe not-so-small radio and TV programs around the country gives you a wonderful opportunity to really sharpen your skills in front of a microphone and in front of a camera, because you can get tremendous command of all your information. You can even have some funny stories, some humor that tests well, and you can try it out on some of these shows. You can sharpen your skills to the point where you do get that call from one of Oprah's producers, and when you do, you're being auditioned on the spot.
This tip is part of the powerful recording How To Get Onto Drive-Time Radio Shows, which is available in audio and written transcript form.
