PR Success from Building Relationships

If you don’t think building relationships has anything to with gaining media exposure, it’s time to think again. I’d like to share just one of many stories of how building a relationship with a journalist has blossomed in less than a year.

February 2013

While watching the 10:00 news on my local FOX station, I saw a segment called, “The Next Great Thing,” hosted by anchor, Laura Evans. It was all about featuring a new company with a great idea and at the end she said if you

know who has the next great thing, tweet or email her. Of course I did both right away. She loved my product but more for her other segment, “Laura’s Likes,” where she features several products with a common theme. The problem was, we couldn’t figure out a theme where the product would fit. I kept in touch via email and continued to work on the perfect theme.

April 2013

Crazy as it may seem, April was “National Healthy Foot Month” so I gave it another try and Laura loved it. She had some other products related to feet (shoes, etc.) so we were a go. She had seen from my website that I had appeared on television before and she invited me down for an interview.  You can watch that segment HERE.

May 2013

There is an incredible baker in our community who decorates cookies like masterpieces of art, 2 Sweets. I recommended her to Laura, who featured her cookies on a segment of Laura’s Likes.

June 2013

PR for Anyone™ was underway and I decided to launch Expert’s Corner and reach out to people in the media to do interviews about gaining publicity. I asked Laura if she would do one on “How to Get on Local Television” and she said yes. See her interview HERE.

August 2013

I connect two friends of mine who have amazing products that relate to doing good to others, Good Karmal and Be Good to People with Laura and they will be featured on Laura’s Likes this month during Random Acts of Kindness Week.

September 2013

I met a woman with a great product, Gator Ron’s Sauces and Mixes. But then,I learned her entire story of how it was her husband’s idea but he was stricken with ALS and passed away before the business launched. She decided to move forward with the business, in his honor, and donates proceeds of every sale to ALS research. I reached out to Laura and connected them because I was so moved by the story. Laura felt the same and did a tailgating segment including Gator Ron’s and shared their amazing story.

October 2013

Laura reached out to me about a 30-minute special she was doing about a round-up of the “Next Great Thing” and that she would like to feature my products and also me as an entrepreneur sharing the journey of going from taking an idea to market.

December 2013

My first television special, “The Next Great Thing” aired. Watch it HERE. FOX was so pleased with how it turned out that they ran a news segment promo of the show featuring me as well. Watch the segment HERE.

So… from April to December in the same year, I personally appeared on my local FOX station three times and was able to book several other people on the show as well because of the relationship I have built with a journalist… that all started with a tweet.

Start building your media relationships today! Let me know how it goes.