“Exposing Your Product In The Media”
By Todd Edwards, Ed.S
Copyright © Todd Edwards 2011 Smashwords Edition
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter 1 – How to Design an Effective and Successful Media Pitch
Chapter 2 – Creating your Media Kit to Work as a Winning Tool
Chapter 3 – Researching Contacts through Social Media and Search Engines
Chapter 4 – The Value of Using an Informative Press Release
Chapter 5 – Designing a Creative Company Overview that Works
Chapter 6 – Congrats, You’re Booked
Imagine that you’re standing alone, cold and helpless in today’s difficult fiscal environment with an enormous amount of stress, frustration and anxiety being compiled upon you, like pressure from a vice as you’re being stripped down to nothing but your bare minimum. Now throw into the mix a bit of helpless uncertainty because the bills are starting to pile up and you have no clue how to generate more income in today’s extremely difficult economy to make it another day. What’s going to be your next move?
Have you ever felt like you were standing naked at ten below with that helpless feeling of not knowing what to do or where to go next? Scared that you might lose it all with that next important decision, shivering in fear because that particular move could be your last?
This is how many feel when it comes to exposing their company, product, idea or service in the mainstream media; they know they want to but either have no idea how, are too afraid of taking the costly risk of retaining an expensive PR firm or don’t have the money to spend. What these individuals don’t understand is that they don’t have to squander enormous amounts of money on PR to get their company or product exposed in the media. They can do it for free in a contemporary, fresh and modern do-it-yourself approach that worked for me and could work for you also!
Being as such, I want you to understand that there are numerous facets that entail the industry of PR, but the primary focus of “Standing Naked At 10 Below” is along the lines of a current day, informative guide, a cheat sheet of sorts that focuses solely on the process of publicizing your company or product and exposing it in the ever-changing mainstream media for free without using a PR professional, buying airtime or obtaining costly media contact and/or distribution lists. It not only explains how you can look like an expert in your field, but it describes how, in an easy step-by-step way to book television and radio segments and to as well, get the newspapers, magazines and blogs to not only look at your company, product, idea or service, but to be intrigued and interested enough to write a story about it.
“Standing Naked At 10 Below” not only connects and relates to any company, product, service or idea, but it shows and explains in a detailed way how to write and design an effective pitch, how to create a winning media kit, how to obtain almost any media source contact (producers, editors, reporters, anchors, writers, bloggers) from any facet of the media industry that you’d like to acquire without spending a dime, how to create press releases that work, how to design a winning company overview, along with how to intertwine all of these facets into your pitch and finally, what to expect once you book the gig with examples and non-examples in explicit and great detail. This is all from the point of view of someone who was initially clueless about the process of product exposure in the media, to booking almost everything that he pitched on his own without the use or expense of any PR agency or affiliation. It’s divided into seven chapters.
Todd Edwards is the creator of the branded writing style Reality Rhyming® that’s based on the premise “If Your Life Was A Poem, What Would It Say?®” and “If Your Pet’s Life Was A Poem, What Would It Say?®” and is considered as a distinguished celebrity poet and an expert in his field. He has designed Reality Rhyming® personalized poems for celebrities such as: Elton John, Justin Timberlake, Oprah Winfrey, Ellen DeGeneres, Martha Stewart, Regis Philbin, Kelly Ripa, Suzanne Somers, Kathie Lee Gifford, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, Will I Am, Blue Collar Comedy’s Bill Engvall, Maria Sharapova and many others, along with collaborating with more than 30 philanthropic organizations and charities. His work has been featured on Entertainment Tonight, the TODAY Show, ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, NPR and numerous others, as well as being exposed in a vast amount of other media sources and outlets throughout the country. Todd is also a member of the South Florida Writer’s Association and has his B.A. in Communication, his M.S. in Exceptional Student Education and his Ed.S in Educational Leadership all from Barry University in Miami Shores, Florida, while also working as an English and Writing teacher to Special Needs high school students for Miami-Dade County Public Schools. Todd is also a former USTA #1 state ranked (Florida) and top 10 nationally ranked (United States) tennis player in the 30’s Division of singles, doubles and mixed doubles.
Author, Todd Edwards
We all have experiences in our lives that change our intended course or path, but inevitably, when you have a particular love of something, you tend to find your way back, sometimes even by accident.
My love of the PR industry stemmed all the way back to the beginning of my freshman year of college. One of my first college courses was a TV media class and from that point on I was hooked. I declared Communication as my major and all I could think about was Marshall McLuhan’s influential phrase, “The medium is the message.”
I loved writing copy for commercials and PSA’s, creating storyboards for mock advertising campaigns, finding target markets and demographics for particular consumer brands, learning how to edit and produce TV segments, but most of all, I enjoyed the art of getting products exposed in the media.
It was challenging at first, learning how to handle the stress of being a student-athlete on the college level. I played #1 singles and doubles for my school’s tennis team and had a scholarship, but like many kids newly exposed to this environment, my educational endeavors weren’t exactly a focus; my tennis career was.
Simultaneously, I had this newfound love for TV and I wanted to learn more, so I focused an extended amount of time in this arena and found that the PR program was the place for me. In my first PR class, I received an “A”. I enrolled for the second PR course that was required and found it slightly more difficult, but nothing that I couldn’t handle. All I knew was that I wanted to be a PR pro!
It’s now Wednesday, about 8:45 a.m. and I’m sitting in the hallway waiting for my class to start. My PR professor comes over and tells me that she wanted to see me, that there was something important she wanted to talk about. I was a bit tired from going out the night before, but got up and followed her into her office, closed the door behind her and sat down at the same time as her. She then looked at me with concern and pulled out a paper which had red ink smothered all over it. I asked her what it was, to which she so eloquently replied, “This is your paper. I think you have a problem. I think you’re illiterate and I want to help you with your problem.” Ok, now, this is when I woke up from my tired stupor as you can imagine. I was in too much shock to even respond to her stupidity, but to just respond, “Excuse me? Are you kidding? I received an ‘A’ in your class last semester and you’re telling me this? You can’t be serious!” She then told me she was available anytime for me, at her house or in her office. It didn’t matter, she just wanted to help. Now, I’m not implying anything, but to this day I still wonder what type of help she was referring to. Anyway, I walked out of her office, sat in the back of her classroom and withdrew from her course later that day and along with it, redirected my focus from PR into the less specialized field of Communication itself. From this point on, I just wanted to get my degree and play tennis.
It’s funny how I look back at this and laugh. What could have happened with my life if I wouldn’t have gone through that particular experience? Would I have worked for a PR firm instead of modeling and acting? Would I have gone on to attain 2 graduate degrees in education like I did? Would I have gone on to become a top nationally ranked tennis player? Would I still have been a Special Education teacher working with children of all exceptionalities and disabilities? Would I have started my own company which inspires and empowers others through my branded writing style of Reality Rhyming®? Who knows, but I can say this, more than likely not.
I’m thrilled and proud of everything that I’ve worked so hard to accomplish, take nothing for granted and am blessed and lucky to have the support and love of my friends and family. Fate sometimes has an ironic way of working itself out. I’ve gone from being “so-called” illiterate in college, to creating my own writing style and company, and on top of that, have taught Language Arts, Writing and Reading on the high school level for the past many years.
Maybe I had to prove a point? Maybe subconsciously, that was the case, but it definitely wasn’t my intended plan. Illiterate; it’s just too funny to even repeat, especially being an honors student in high school. I’ve always been an overachiever and have attained most goals that I’ve set for myself. This is why you always follow your dreams and don’t listen to other opinions so strongly, but to just take them in enough to sift through.
On that note, this book acknowledges everyone who was told that they couldn’t do something and then achieved it. If you have a passion and a dream, my suggestion is that you follow it, anything is attainable, but it’s always wise to have a back-up plan just in case.
Even though my desired path was well behind me, my love for PR has never wavered and it’s because of Reality Rhyming® that I was able to not only submerse myself back into the world of PR that I so dearly missed, but to do it in a successful and professional way that got my own company tons of national and local exposure in all facets of the media. Who knows if this was an accident or just fate that brought me back to my intended calling, but I can tell you this, it’s such a natural high booking TV segments and print interviews; I love every second of it!
So here I am back on my intended path, right where I’m supposed to be, working in the exciting field of PR and thrilled that I’m now able to educate and provide my secrets of exposing whatever it is you want to any media outlet while in turn, potentially boosting your company’s revenue without any cost to you.
It worked for me and it could work for you too! No more wasting money and doing things the hard way. It’s now time to take control, do things right the first time and get the media exposure that your company or product deserves.
You know, it’s funny how life works, but I guess in the end, I was meant to experience everything that I have so that I could create this book and expose PR to you for what it is from my perspective. Each of us has a journey, but my one big question still remains. What ever happened to my college PR professor?
Chapter 1 – How to Design an Effective and Successful Media Pitch
This first chapter should be titled “What the PR Pro’s Don’t Want You to Know” because I discuss in an easy, ten pronged step-by-step approach on how to design your pitches to the media outlets by connecting your company, product or service to something relevant in today’s society in a detailed “How To” guide that works. Within these steps, I also demonstrate how to get (the decision makers) attention and interest so they continue reading, while explaining how and why you should come across as an expert in your field. Additionally, I express why it’s important to show (the decision makers) that people need whatever it is you’re pitching and as well, I educate you on how creating emotion will impact your pitch. This is based on my real life experiences, which is complete with an example pitch.
Chapter 2 – Creating your Media Kit to Work as a Winning Tool
This second chapter deals not only with the importance of creating a winning and informative media kit (along with the process of how), but an effective one that’s designed in a way that looks professional and organized. Life is about perception and this couldn’t be any truer than here. I discuss what elements should be put into the media kit, why they are necessary and how the media kit is incorporated in the media pitch itself. It’s important to impress and I show you just how to do this! I use my own media kit as an example.