Television
Just to be clear right from the get go, I'm not talking about booking a spot on CNN or Rachel Ray. Maybe, in time and with a lot of luck, that will happen someday. But honestly, you really can't plan for that kind of thing. You can, however, work toward a smaller goal and work your way up.
Start super local and contact your local news station. You can also see if your area has a public access cable show. Either or both of these will work for our purposes. If your hometown is anything like mine, they are always looking for special interest pieces to run throughout the day.
Now, you may be wondering what kind of sales bump you can expect from a five minute spot at 5:45 on Tuesday morning. Honestly, not much. But, with permission from the station, you can post the video clip on YouTube and your website. This benefits you in several ways.
First, there's something very professional about appearing on TV. Showing up on the airways automatically gives you a level of expertise that can't be bought.
Second, Google loves video. This increases your chance of other readers finding you, gaining you new exposure outside of the average guest blog.
Third, media loves media. When you send your press packet to another outlet, such as a bigger news station, you can include a link to your local news spot. This shows that you are already a story and that you are capable of participating in a segment. I say this because not everyone makes a good story. Some guest stutter and stumble all over their words or freeze up on questions, making it harder for the host. If you can show you are good at taking and answering questions, another station will know they aren't taking a huge risk by scheduling you.
Being on TV may not be the huge lift authors used to get from a mention on Oprah, but it can be a great way to get some unconventional exposure that can lead to bigger and better marketing for you and your book.
I've done this before and it boosted my book sales a little. Great post!
ReplyDeleteI'd love to hear about your experience some time.
DeleteOne of the many things I've learned from the 2nd year of the #Challenge is that social media result require patience and believing that the hard work it takes will pay off in ways you can't predict. Your TV post is a good example of casting your net upon the waters and seeing what catch you pull in. Instant results is like a dead in street, you don't get far often, but continuing to explore, learn, write good 'stuff' works.
ReplyDeleteExactly. There is a recent trend in marketing to ignore these sort of efforts and only focus on tactics that have calculable ROI. Of course, that's only something you can do when you can tie sales directly to the promotion. Unfortunately, this ignores the awareness aspect of marketing. We need to remember that half the battle is letting people know the book exists. As authors, we should take advantage of every opportunity to do this we can.
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