As I was writing the previous tip about the “Coats for Kids” drive, I couldn’t remember all the details. So I Googled weatherman Vince Condella.
Here’s what I learned about him within about 30 seconds:
–He rides a Harley.
–He’s a “Seinfeld” junkie.
–He likes guitar music, quality coffee and ice hockey.
–He was named one of the 15 best local TV Weathercasters in America, according to “Partly Sunny,” a 1995 book by Alan Fields.
–He grew up in Lombard, Ill., in the western suburbs of Chicago.
–As a child, he would try to copy the style of his hero, longtime Windy City weathercaster Harry Volkman. Condella performed his own weather broadcasts in his parents’ basement where his dad helped him paste a United States map on a huge sheet of metal. Young Vince put magnets on the back of home-made weather symbols to stick them on the map, just like Harry did every night on TV.
–He was petrified of thunderstorms when he was a boy.
I learned all this from just one article. OK, Publicity Hounds, listen up. If you were trying to pitch a weather-related story to Vince, or trying to get him to promote your product, service, cause or issue on one of his weather segments, what would you mention in your pitch?
If you said Harleys, “Seinfeld,” good coffee, ice hockey, his weathercaster award, his ties to Chicago, or his fear of thunderstorms, give yourself a dog treat.
The Publicity Hound® urges you to Google your media contacts before pitching. You just might find a treasure trove of facts you can weave into your pitch to get their attention. If you know the hobby of a particular reporter, and it happens to tie into your product or service, you can invite the reporter to participate in your story, not just take notes on the sidelines. If you teach ballroom dancing and you just read a column in your local newspaper by a columnist who says he would love to learn ballroom dancing, you can invite him to your studio for a lesson. In my “Special Report #42: Tips for Letting Reporters Experience Your Story, Not Just Write About It,” I give give you lots of ideas on ways to get reporters excited about your story. Not all reporters will agree to “participate,” but many will, and you’ll end up with a better story.