Does getting national magazine coverage for your business seem like a fairytale?

When I dig deep into the pitching practice of my coaching clients, we often reveal those forehead-smacking things that make a pitch go from fab to totally drab.

Before send your next pitch, hit the delete button on any pitches that include these three fallacies:

You Didn’t Read the Magazine

So how was the latest issue of the magazine you’re pitching? If you’re sheepishly looking away from this blog, then I know you didn’t read the latest issue.

Why is this so important?

For a slew of reasons. You need to know the magazine would actually COVER what you’re pitching (don’t pitch adorable baby clothes to Cosmo magazine).

You also need to know who to pitch. You need to know which section of the magazine you’re pitching. And you need to customize your pitch for the tone and target of the magazine.

If you’re sending the same pitch to more than one magazine, hit DELETE.

Your Subject Line Sucks

Does your subject line make an editor want to open that bad boy right away?

If not, then you might risk your pitch getting deleted before it’s even opened.

Gulp.

Take a cue from magazines. They are absolutely genius at writing headlines that get you ripping through those glossy pages and devouring the copy.

If your subject line doesn’t stack up to the headlines you see on the cover of the magazine – hit DELETE.

You Didn’t Personalize

Mass pitches suck. Plain and simple. Plus it isn’t worth the sea of crap you’ll leave in your mass-pitching wake. Instead of waking up to a slew of magazine editors clamoring to cover you, you’ll wake up to a bunch of ticked off editors who are now annoyed that you’ve clearly pitched them something that you also sent to every other competing magazine.

Epic fail.

If you didn’t start off your pitch by introducing yourself and include information on how your pitch would work for this specific magazine, hit DELETE.

Want more information on pitching magazine editors? Don’t miss my free call How to Get National Magazines to Feature You this Wednesday, June 29th from 8pmET to 9pmET.

Sign up here: http://casseracommunications.com/freecall/

This call will be crammed with helpful info to get national magazine coverage.

And if you’re not available, don’t worry. You’ll get access to the recording afterward.

Have you ever thought:

“I want to go big.”

“I want to play a bigger game.”

“I want more national visibility and exposure.”

Sure ya have. We ALL have.

But sometimes when we put all of our focus on getting bigger and bigger, we forget to sprinkle some love right in our own backyard.

That’s right. I’m talkin’ about dominating your hometown.

In the latest issue of O Magazine, Oprah talks about the early years of her now infamous show. She mentions how the network wanted her to visit the markets that didn't catch on to her show yet to try and boost ratings. Instead, she visited the markets that were already raving fans, and showed gratitude to the people that already supported her show.

Clearly, it worked.

Whether you’re an Oprah fan or not, you can still take a page from her book and show your local scene some love.

What’s extra superdelic about going after local press is their willingness to treat you like a star. In a national magazine, you might be lucky to get one line of ink on page 112. But your local paper might offer you a full page feature smack dab on the cover. The local media loves featuring local people with great stories.

This is also a great strategy for experts that want to eventually land national TV appearances. You can build up a series of clips as a regular guest on your local morning show and eventually have a professional video editor piece them together into what’s called a demo reel. Think of it as a video portfolio to show national TV producers what an amazing guest you are. National TV show producers want to see you on TV interacting with a host or reporter and sharing your information in short and sweet sound bites. The only way to get this experience is to get some local TV appearances under your belt.

So how do you make this all happen?

1. Get copies of all your local newspapers and magazines and make time to listen to your local talk radio shows and watch the morning news programs. If you loathe your local news, get over it. This is all about publicity baby!

2. Make a list of all of the places that would be appropriate to cover your business (example: you might be able to pitch your business story to the local business journal and the business section of your newspaper, and then you might spin a lifestyle angle for your local magazine or morning news program.)

3. Find contacts for each of the outlets you’ve researched. For TV and Radio, call the station and ask to be transferred to the producer for the specific show that you want to guest on. For newspapers and magazines, look for the editor or appropriate section editor contact information.

4. Come up with at least one pitch idea for each local outlet you choose. Make sure it’s appropriate for the outlet you’re pitching (example: local newspapers like covering interesting entrepreneurial stories where TV looks for visual stories, usually with some sort of demonstration – like a fashion show or cooking segment).

5. Contact each of the folks on your local list with your idea (via email or phone). Make sure to make your first sentence an introduction – “Hi, I’m Judy Smith with Bella Boutique right on 7th Street. I have a story idea for you…”

6. ALWAYS follow up about a week after you’ve delivered your first pitch.

7. For any outlets that are interested, take pride in your interview or story and treat it just like you would any national placement. Promote it out via social media, post it on your website, tell all your family and friends, and – most importantly – thank the media and ask them if you can send them regular story ideas for future coverage (they’ll love you for it!)

8. For any outlets that aren’t interested, shimmy up some new pitch ideas for the next month and repeat the same process of pitch + follow up. This allows you to stay on their radar with good story ideas, rather than nudge them unnecessarily.

What is your experience with local press? Have you done anything within your local media? Do you want to? Post a comment below!

You’re waiting in line at the grocery store, impatiently tapping your foot as the line you “thought” would be quickest turns out to be slower than dirt.

Then, like a beacon of light, you turn and see a glossy stack of magazines shouting:

• “Who is the dad of January Jones’ unborn baby?”
• “Exclusive First Look! Breaking Dawn”
• “I’m Lucky to Be Alive”

You quietly pull the magazine from its holder, hoping…praying…no one is watching you, judging you. You peel open the page.

You devour a story on how the Kardashian sisters lost 20lbs in 5 days….slam it shut….and put the magazine back in its holder.

“Hmpph,” you grunt to yourself. “I can’t believe people read this trash.”

So, how did this “filthy” magazine still entice you to sneak a peek in the most public of places?

Because tabloid writers are GENIUS at capturing your attention.

And it would be super savvy of you to rip a page out of their playbook. Here’s how to do it.

Learn WHAT People Want and HOW they Want It Delivered

You might personally frown upon tabloids, but it doesn’t matter. They are popular and successful with a knack for giving readers what they want – news written in a compact and peppy style with popping, eye-catching photographs.

If you’re struggling with making sales, take a step back. Do people really want what you’re selling AND do they want it in the method that you’re delivering?

A client of mine, a life coach with an audio information product, wasn’t quite making the sales he desired. After some marketing research, we changed the name of the product and revised the sales copy, broke the audio into three parts so people could listen for 15 minutes each instead of a full 45, and added a transcript to each audio.

This made all the difference with sales – understanding WHAT his audience wanted and HOW they wanted it delivered.

Use Celebrity Trends to Sell your Customers

People want what celebrities have. Period. So even if you don’t have a celebrity clientele, you can still capitalize on the trends that celebrities set that are featured in the tabloids. Just a simple sweep through a recent magazine taught me:

• That Reese Witherspoon and Leann Rhimes are really happy with their second marriages. If I were a Relationship Therapist, I might write a blog or host a teleseminar on Secrets to a Successful Second Marriage.

• Celebs are jazzing up outfits with silk scarves. A fashion stylist or designer might offer several ways to work a scarf into your outfit, or provide a celebrity “look for less” feature.

• Stars are snapped at lots of events, giving event planners lots to work with. Maybe dog birthday parties are the new trend. Or celebrities asking guests to donate to charity in lieu of gifts at weddings and baby showers is the hip thing to do. Plenty of good stuff for content as well as possible new party themes to offer.

Write Killer Headlines and Copy

Having trouble writing headlines for blog posts, media pitches, or marketing materials? A stack full of tabloids will cure even the fiercest writer’s block. Seriously, tons of big-time copywriters use tabloids as fodder for sales copy.

The trick is learning how to spin tabloid headlines into something that works for your business.

Here are some examples:

Tabloid Headline: Sarah Palin’s Dark Secrets
Your Headline: The Deep Dark Secrets to _______ Every Time (example: The Deep Dark Secrets to Feel Loved Every Time)

Tabloid Headline: Britney’s Secret Struggles
Your Headline: Solve your Secret __________ Struggles (example: Solve your Secret Dressing-Slim Struggles)

Tabloid Headline: How I Did It! Jennifer Lopez talks baby weight battles and her stay-sexy secrets
Your Headline: How I Did It! <your name> talks _______ battles and ________ secrets (example: How I Did It! Melissa talks big debt battles and financial freedom secrets)

Tabloid Headline: Too Thin for TV: Costars Plan Intervention
Your Headline: Too _____ for ________: A ________ Intervention (example: Too Tired for Fun? A Happiness Intervention)

Simultaneously, tabloids convey a story in a simple, easy to digest style. How complex is your own message? Is your customer grasping your message? Are they taking action?

Or, are you jumbling up your copy with too much industry-speak gobbledygook that only your peers understand (and not your customers)?

Test out some of these tabloid-inspired strategies and see how they work for you.

What do you think about using tabloids for marketing inspiration? Do you have any sample tabloid-worthy headlines? Questions about the advice above? Post a comment below!