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How to Climb the Media Ladder |
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By Joan Stewart The Publicity Hound If you or your company or organization has never received media coverage, trying to determine exactly how and where to start can be such a frightening prospect, that you're tempted to chuck the whole idea even before you begin. Or perhaps you've been covered by a weekly newspaper and would like to catch the attention of the local daily. Or maybe you simply want to build your professional expertise and start writing for a magazine that covers your industry. But you've never been published before and don't know how to get started. In all three cases, it's best to take it one step at a time by becoming familiar with the media ladder--one rung at a time. The ladder is nothing more than groupings of various media at different levels or "rungs," according to size and importance. The trick is to start somewhere on the ladder and, once you have penetrated the media on that particular rung, use the publicity to attract the attention of the media on the next highest rung, and so on. Here's what the ladder looks like: Top rung: National network news Next-to-top rung: National newspapers, national magazines Middle rung: Local Daily newspapers, radio and TV stations, business journals, city and regional magazines Next-to-bottom rung: Trade publications, weekly newspapers, special interest publications, alumni publications Bottom rung: Print and online newsletters,
public access channel of cable TV station Let's say you're an investment advisor who has never
been published but would love a story printed about your business in the
local metropolitan newspaper. That's an admirable goal, but it also
could be a long shot. Editors and news directors can't be everywhere at
once. National TV programs such as "20/20" and "Dateline" get many of
their story ideas from the next lowest rung--that is, national
newspapers such as USA Today, the New York Times and the Wall Street
Journal. Those big newspapers, in turn, read smaller metropolitan
newspapers. The metros check out local dailies, and the dailies keep
track of stories that appear in the weeklies, and so on. Need more help climbing the media ladder to get free publicity? See
How to Use Business Journals to Tell Your Story and
How to Get on the Local TV News Tomorrow. Or book Joan Stewart to present "Savvy Media Relations: How to Get FREE Print Space and Air Time" for your next seminar or convention. Email Joan at JStewart@PublicityHound.com or call 262-284-7451 for availability.
Direct comments or questions about this article, including requests for reprint rights, to: Joan Stewart
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The Publicity Hound® Tips, tricks and tools for free publicity www.publicityhound.com Joan Stewart 3434 County KK, Port Washington, WI 53074 Phone: 262-284-7451 Fax: 262-284-1737 Email: jstewart@publicityhound.com |
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