Radio Media Relations
This morning as I began my day, I listened to Tom Joyner, one of my favorite daily morning radio stations. There was a medical speaker who was sharing advice about women’s health and how we can take better care of ourselves through practical living. He recited the dangers in using certain personal products for women and how those products can cause female issues and other problems if used over a prolonged period of time. His information was extremely interesting and quite helpful as the host actively engaged him, asking more questions that brought even more information out.
After listening to the radio interview after about 3 minutes, the whole thing suddenly turned into what seemed like a staged infomercial! As the “herbalist” spoke (he insisted that although he wasn’t a certified doctor, he did have relevant information…ok?), he began to stress the fact that the use of these particular products was damaging and the only remedy was what he conveniently sold on his site – – and almost exclusively on his site.
The host was becoming particularly agitated (as was I) and asked the quasi-doctor that if he and his site had the key to this health issue, and if it did in fact work so well, then just why doesn’t the FDA release this information to the public and bring healthy living to all? Just why?
Aggravating Interviewees
Now the good herbalist doctor still had me right up until this point. And, he could have kept me along with the listening audience…right up until he made his next statement(s). He said that the FDA “got it wrong” and that they only want to “capitalize on the consumers” and that they “don’t recognize him as being a leading authority in his field” and so on and so forth. Really? Could the FDA be that wrong and that conniving as to gamble with the health of the general population? But the clincher was not yet delivered. The herb doctor went on to inform the listening audience that they could find out more information and find good, solid products if they only visit his site at www…
No, I didn’t forget to add the rest of the site address, I just couldn’t hear him clearly and he was talking so fast after this point, that it made the rest of his interview completely unintelligible. You see, that agitated host that I mentioned earlier had become even more agitated and was starting to become short and choppy with the good herb doctor. The doctor knew his time was limited, so he tried to squeeze in his web address at every available opportunity, whether the host asked for it – – or not. And really, the host was not asking for it.
In media relations, there are many opportunities where you can share your corporate message with the public and gain an interested following in the process. When you share and disseminate information that is of high interest and that the listening audience can benefit from, you successfully establish yourself as an expert (over time) and people began to look to you for answers. I was an interested follower this morning because the herb doctor was giving the audience information that was timely and very, very interesting. However…
The major drawback that happened in this interview was the way the herb doctor basically hijacked the interview and made the space more about him and his site than offering the audience good information. While there is absolutely nothing at all wrong with marketing, the herb man went about it all wrong and will perhaps now even be disdained more than he will be embraced in any online media relations circles.
What could he have done differently? He could have NOT talked about his glorious website so much! Yes, he should have shared his wealth of knowledge and yes, he should have mentioned his website. But towards the horrible end of the interview, the herbal doctor was all but screaming his website address and telephone number out for the audience to call for more information. Although I did try to listen to get the site, the host’s agitation had gotten the best of her and she was over talking him, trying to cut through to go to real commercials. The herbalist was done.
Media relations have to be treated like any other marketing strategy and give the audience less, not more. Mention the website’s name. Mention the blog’s name. Give out your phone number. But please steer clear of the “my-products-are-super-great-and-will-change-your-life-and-everybody-else-has-gotten-it-wrong” attitude as it does absolutely nothing but turn off your listening audience. And, isn’t that counter-active of the thing that you want to do?
Less is more and less gets you noticed. Are you practicing less in your marketing strategies?
I am a freelance writer, blogger and professional motivational speaker. I primarily focus on business content, offering my clients strategic marketing strategies for their businesses. I have been an entrepreneur for over 13 years, after having worked extensively in corporate America.