How To Get FREE Publicity (2 of 2)

Welcome to the Magnetic Marketing Podcast. This is part 2 of how to get free publicity with Dr. Paul Hartunian. Now, previously, Dr. Paul Hartunian already gave us the description of why publicity is far more important than advertising and how we can start to see the cracks and be able to get into those. This is where we really start to pull back the curtain. We're going to be listening to the Brooklyn Bridge story, how Dr. Paul Hartunian sold the Brooklyn Bridge. We're also going to learn 4 ways to get a ton of free publicity, the most important publicity campaign that you can run, and the fatal mistakes that you do not want to do.

And that list is a little bit longer than you'd expect.

So with that said, let's get into the how-to of how to get free publicity with Dr. Paul Hartunian, the man who sold the Brooklyn Bridge.

I don't think there's anybody that has had a bigger impact in the field of direct response than Dan Kennedy. The legend of Dan Kennedy should be ignored at your own imperil. They're not really lessons, they're kind of laws that you live by. Dan opened my eyes to what small business marketing looks like. Dan teaches strategic direct response that is timeless. His ripple effect touches people who don't even know his name.

The world as we know it was changed because Dan Kennedy became obsessed with marketing.

Welcome to the Magnetic Marketing Podcast with your host, Dan Kennedy. All I needed was a story to test out my formula. I started watching the TV news because I wanted a story to test out my formula on. I only had to wait about 2 weeks. About 2 weeks later, I turned on the TV news, and this was in 1983, over 20 years ago, exactly 25 years ago. I was watching the TV news, and I saw a construction worker being interviewed. And the reporter was talking to the construction worker, and he said, "Can you tell me what's going on back here?" And the construction worker said, "Yeah, that's the Brooklyn Bridge. It's 100 years old." old this year, and kind of as a celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Brooklyn Bridge, we're taking off the original wooden pedestrian walkway and we're replacing it with new wood because the old wood is rotting. I lived half an hour from the Brooklyn Bridge. I didn't know any part of it was made out of wood. Behind this construction worker was a big pile of this old wood that they had taken off, and this guy was either a brilliant marketer or he was very lucky because next to him was his truck and he parked it the long way. So what could I read on the side of his truck? His phone number. It's 7 o'clock in the morning, I picked up the phone, I saw his name and I saw his phone number. I said, "Are you the guy being interviewed right now on TV about the Brooklyn Bridge?" 'Cause I could tell it was a taped interview, the sun was all the way up, and it was 7 o'clock in the morning, the sun wasn't up yet, so this must be a taped interview. And the guy said, "Yeah." And I said, "What are you gonna do with that wood?" And he said, "It's old scrap wood, I'm gonna pay to have it hauled away." I was about to have a stroke because I'm 4 seconds away from being rich and famous. This is it. I've got the formula. I invented the formula. I've got my story. I got as calm a voice as I could, and I said, "I live about 30 minutes from you. If I give you $500, will you sell me that wood?" Well, the guy gets a tone in his voice like, "My mama raised no fools. I have junk here I'm going to have to pay to have hauled away. I got a Huckleberry on the phone who's paying me for it." "Okay, you got a deal." I hung up the phone. I let out a scream I'm sure they heard in Nashville, because I knew that was the end of my old life, the beginning of my new life. I took out my formula. I followed my formula step by step. I wrote a press release. I took out another piece of paper. I made arrangements to have the wood dropped off and cut into 1-inch squares and real thin slices. I took out that second piece of paper, I sketched out a certificate. On the certificate, I put some history of the Brooklyn Bridge, which I got from the encyclopedia. And at the bottom of the certificate, I put the two sentences that redirected my life entirely. At the bottom of the certificate, it said, "Attached to this certificate is a genuine piece of the world-famous Brooklyn Bridge. You just bought the Brooklyn Bridge. You own the Brooklyn Bridge." That is the oldest joke in history. Everybody has heard the jokes about buying the Brooklyn Bridge. "I got a bridge to sell you." "Boy, if you believe this, I got this bridge." "You want to buy a bridge?" You could have been born in a cave, in a coma, in Saigon. When you woke up, you knew all the jokes about the Brooklyn Bridge, and here I was, going to be the first guy in history to really sell the Brooklyn Bridge. It was now about 9 o'clock in the morning. Remember, 1983. No computers, no fax machines, nothing. I went to the print shop in town and I said, here's a press release I typed on my IBM Selectric typewriter, can you make copies of this? And here's a certificate that I sketched out, can you make this look professionally done and can you have it for me this afternoon? And the guy said, sure. I went home and I started to address envelopes to reporters. I knew I was gonna hit it big one day and I'd identified some reporters who were going to get my first story. I don't remember how many reporters I sent it to, but for some reason the number 67 sticks in my mind. I know positively it was under 100, and I think it was 67. I went back in the afternoon and I said, "Do you have my copies?" And he said, "Here's your press release and here's the certificate." The certificate was gorgeous. He said, "How many do you want me to print?" In my first moment of real bold, brash arrogance, I said, You start printing today. Keep printing until I call you and say stop. Don't expect me to call you anytime soon. This big thinker said, "I'll print 50." And he did. He printed 50. He now believes me and he does what I say to do. I went home, I put the press releases in the envelopes, and I sent them out into the mail. Remember, 1983. They had to go in the mail. I don't remember what day of the week they went out, but let's say it was Tuesday. On Wednesday, nothing happened, but I expected that. On Thursday, you would have thought there was an explosion in a fireworks factory in my living room. Media people from around the country were calling me to interview the first guy in history to really sell the Brooklyn Bridge. I want to pause for a second. To give you two reminders. If you think I'm bragging, get off that track. What I'm gonna tell you is the greatest example I know of the power of publicity. And second, if you're saying, "Wait a minute, I don't have a little gimmicky thing like you do, a collectible. I have a bicycle repair shop." If you've learned nothing else from these past few days, remember that a business is a business is a business. A product is a product is a product. I don't care what your business or product is, they're all the same. So on that Thursday, reporters from radio stations were calling, newspapers, magazines were calling to interview me. CNN, which was only 3 years old at the time, they didn't even bother to call. They just pulled up in front of my house in one of those big trucks with the antennas on top, and they knocked on the door, you know, CNN, are you the guy selling the Brooklyn Bridge? Yeah. "Can we do an interview?" "No, I wouldn't want to be on CNN. No, no." I was living in a 3-family house at the time. On the 3rd floor, they're running cables up and down the stairs. They had the cameras up there, the sound guy. They were feeding all those cables into that van where they recorded it. They did that in my living room at about 11 o'clock in the morning. By 2 o'clock that afternoon, CNN was broadcasting the story about me selling the Brooklyn Bridge. All around the world. If you know CNN, what happens every 30 minutes? Repeat the story. CNN repeated the story about me selling the Brooklyn Bridge every 30 minutes, 24 hours a day, for 3 days. Oh, it gets better. Hold on. Oh, it gets much better. Remember I said publicity is not about ego, it's about dollars in the bank? Once CNN ran that story, reporters from around the world started doing interviews. Radio Peru sent a crew to interview me. I never heard of Radio Peru. I didn't send them a press release. The BBC, Reuters, The Wall Street Journal, pretty much any media outlet that you can name did an interview about me selling the Brooklyn Bridge. Publicity is not about ego, it's about dollars in the bank. Every time they did an interview, I knew how to get an agreement that when they did the interview, They would say, "And if you would like to own a piece of the Brooklyn Bridge, just send $14.95 and $2 shipping to this guy. Here's his name, here's his address, here's his phone number." Mail was being delivered to me in those huge sacks. It gets better. I was working as a paramedic in a real rough urban ghetto area in New Jersey, and I would bring in these huge sacks of mail for the other medics to help me open up in between emergency calls. Paramedics, you got a cardiac arrest. Hurry up, guys, hurry up. We responded to every emergency on time. I remember one time I was in the street, I was kneeling next to this guy who had been shot in the chest, and I had a needle in my hand, an IV. I was about to start an IV on this guy. And I'm kneeling down next to the guy with his hand in my arm. Some guy in a suit— interesting outfit for that part of town— taps me on the shoulder and he said, "Are you the guy selling the Brooklyn Bridge?" Yeah. "Can I do an interview?" Bad time, pal. Real bad time. For 6 months this went on. 6 months. One of the most exciting times of my life. Wherever I went, the media people were doing interviews and promoting my sale of the Brooklyn Bridge. After about 6 months, the requests for interviews started to die down. I expected that eventually it's got to die down. But I had the formula. I was the only one with the formula. I invented the formula. So all I need is a new story now. I thought the Brooklyn Bridge story was dead. And then Johnny Carson called. It gets better. Johnny Carson saw a little bit in his local Nebraska newspaper about me selling the Brooklyn Bridge, and in that 6 months, I had developed a whole series of these certificates. And he just was curious about what it was about. He asked me if I would send him some of the certificates, and I said, "Sure." And frankly, I forgot about it. I forgot I had sent them the certificates. 3 months went by. Completely forgot about it. A woman calls from the Johnny Carson Show and she says, "Johnny's gonna do a little bit tonight on his show about your Brooklyn Bridge thing." And if you'll— don't start the video yet, but just get the menu up there. He said, "Johnny Carson's gonna do a little bit tonight on his show about your Brooklyn Bridge thing. We thought you may want to see it." If you remember the Carson Show, he did these little 15-second things. "Hey Ed, here's some jerk in New Jersey selling rotten wood for the Brooklyn Bridge." "Oh, dumb idea, Johnny. What do you think?" "Dumb idea." Next story. But I wanted my 15 seconds of fame on the Johnny Carson Show. So if you roll the clip now, I turned on the Carson Show, and this is what I saw.

Now there's a man in New Jersey named Paul Hartunian who collects and sells stuff like this, and he sent us some samples of what he claims—

what?

I said Hartoonian, didn't I? Har-toon-ian. Peter's now giving me lectures on this. All right, Hartoonian, I can handle it.

Wrong.

I didn't know. Anyway, I don't know whether we can authenticate— Mr. Hartoonian says that these are authentic. For example, a piece of Yankee Stadium, authentic piece of wood from a seat removed from Yankee Stadium during the renovation. It's a little small chip up there on the top. You see that? You can buy this. He says it's authentic. A little piece of wood from the set of M*A*S*H. I don't know how you authenticate it, but that's what Mr. Hartoonian says. Ash from Mount St. Helens during the eruption. You get a little, little bag of ash. This is a piece of cable, authentic strand of the high-strength wire that made up the original suspender cable of the Golden Gate Bridge. It's not large. But you can buy these things. The Brooklyn Bridge, right? That's what they say from the wooden walkway on the Brooklyn Bridge. The Old North Church. Now come on, Paul. Piece of wood attached is authentic segment of a beam from the historic Old North Church. The Graf Zeppelin. Piece of fabric attached to this. Remember when they redecorated the Red Room at the White House when the Reagans moved in? They say this is a piece of silk that covered the walls of the Red Room of the White House. What does he get for this stuff, you know? No, sir, I don't know. Okay, thank you. What a research analyst. And here's one I'm not sure of, but Mr. Hartoonian, an authentic piece of oak lathing from the original Tinsley Building, signed at the law offices of Abraham Lincoln.

Is there anybody here who does not know my last name right now? Is that the best thing Carson could have done for anybody? By the way, that went on for about another 5 minutes. He did a bunch of those parodies, you know, he would get dressed up in different costumes and hold up everything and keep promoting it. He came back and he promoted it again. It went probably for a total of 7 or 8 minutes. How much would you pay for 7 or 8 minutes of advertising time on Carson? A million dollars? I mean, that would have been a steal. Is anybody doubting my claim earlier that I got millions and millions of dollars worth of of publicity? If you are, I'll keep giving you more and more proof. Once that played, once that aired, again, media from around the world were calling me for more and more interviews. I have a friend who I was put on Earth for one purpose only, and that is to rain on people's parades. And I said, after the Carson thing, I said, George, I did it. I got the formula. And he said, that's no formula. That was a pet rock. That was just a little cute gimmicky thing. And I got to admit, he got me. I was convinced I had developed the formula, but he may be right. Maybe that was just a cute gimmicky thing. But I said, if I've really got the formula, it should work in any business, any product, any service. So I said, that's the way I'm going to test it. I'm going to write press releases following my formula in 5 different areas. Nothing magic about the number 5, I just picked it out of the air. 2 of the different fields were actually pretty dry and boring. I wrote the 5 press releases, I got them out to the media, and I said if I really have the formula, I should get huge publicity. And if we roll clip number 2, these are some of the results that I got. This is the Jenny Jones Show. There's an arrogant little swagger, huh? Ken and Daria Dolan, Smart Money. ABC with our good friend Paul Hartunian.

Thanks, Paul, very much. Nice to have you here on the show. We'll come right back with a spring bonnet collection you're not going to want to miss.

And ladies and gentlemen, my dream come true.

Number 1, what is your name, please?

My name is Paul Hartunian.

Number 2, my name is Paul Hartunian.

Number 3, my name is Paul Hartunian.

Only one of these people is the real Paul Hartunian and is the only one sworn to tell the truth.

This is the Phil Donahue Show. I'm married now, and I definitely have to admit to myself, only because I've been told, and it may sound conceited, I'm a very attractive man. Yes, you're right, that does sound conceited, pal. That was somebody calling in the show. So I said to my friend George, George, I got it, that's the proof. And George said, that's no proof, that was you, that's your personality, not anybody can do that. And this one I anticipated, and I had another test in mind anyway. I said, "No, no, anybody can do it, and I'm going to prove it to you." My friends had been following me for 19 years, developing this and watching it grow and grow and grow. And I said— I got a bunch of my friends together, and I said, "What I'm going to do is give you the formula." I put it down in writing and everything else they needed, and I said, "Here's exactly what I want you to do. Here's the deal. Do what I tell you to do right there." I will not look at anything, I won't talk to you, I will do nothing. And I gave it to somebody who installed carpeting, an insurance agent, a dentist, a real estate agent, a sports psychologist, a pediatrician, somebody at a bakery, a whole bunch of people, all my different friends. And I said, just tell me what happens when you follow exactly what I tell you to do. Shortly after that, the sports psychologist called and said, look at the paper, there's a huge article right in the front, all about me. And again, feel very comfortable coming up and verifying these are really what I say they are. He called shortly after that and he said, I'm in the newspaper again, but the best one came from the pediatrician. The pediatrician said, I wrote a press release just the way that you described, and I got it to several of the numbers on your list. I gave them a list of media contacts. Within the hour, I had a response from the Sally Jesse Raphael Show. I said, "Amy, this is great. Can I tell people about it?" "Paul, feel free to use my comments. You can add that I received a call from the Phil Donahue Show the next day as well." I said, "George, what do you think?" And he said, "Hey, you got the formula. What is it?" "I'm not going to tell you. You figure it out yourself." And now here's a little marketing lesson. This was 25 years ago. Because of that one piece of paper and because I understood how to get and use publicity. 25 years later, I am now wealthy, I am famous, and most importantly, I'm free. I am free. One of my favorite quotes is, money can't buy you everything, but money can buy you freedom, and freedom is everything. 25 years later, the Brooklyn Bridge story is not dead, and here's why. This is the 25th anniversary of my sale of the Brooklyn Bridge. So what did I do as a good marketer? We have some sharp people in here and you know where I'm going with this. What I just produced, and I just got these, I produced a 25th anniversary edition. I'm not selling these, that's not what I'm doing here, so don't worry. This is a marketing example. I had a beautiful beautiful padded holder produced, and on the front it says, "25th anniversary of the sale of the Brooklyn Bridge." There's the Brooklyn Bridge right there. Inside, the certificate is a regular certificate on green paper with a piece of the Brooklyn Bridge attached. Since 25th anniversary is a silver anniversary, I had some special paper produced and I had it printed in silver ink. You may not be able to see it, but this is all silver. I produced 2,500 of these. On the other side is a certificate that describes the whole event, the last 25 years. I numbered each one, 1 through 2,500, and signed it. I had a special embossed seal made, and the seal says, "25th anniversary of the sale of the Brooklyn Bridge," and there's the Brooklyn Bridge right there. Numbers 1 through 9 of this 2,500, if you know anything about art and collectibles, the lower the number, The more desirable they are. Numbers 1 through 9 are being sold, are going to be sold for $5,000 each. Numbers 10 through 99 are being sold for $1,000 each. And numbers 100 to 2,500 are being sold for $497 each. This all came from something that happened 25 years ago. Never think that what you're doing is dead. It's got life in it. So this is a whole different business, a whole different product. Stick around, I will see you folks in 25 years more, and guess what you're going to see in another 25 years? The gold edition, the 50th anniversary edition of the Brooklyn Bridge. Let's talk about the 4 ways to get a ton of free publicity. There are 4 ways to get a ton of free publicity. Number 1, you can get a ton of free publicity by being controversial. Controversy does not mean argument. Controversy simply means difference of opinion. You can get a ton of free publicity with a very friendly difference of opinion. If you were a dentist, for example, the controversy about amalgam fillings will never go away. Don't hide from controversy. It's not going to go away. Address it if you're a dentist. You should be getting out a press release about your views about amalgam fillings, about the mercury in the fillings. Number 2, you can get a ton of free publicity by having a pet rock. Don't waste a second of your time on that number 2. You're not going to have another pet rock. In our lifetimes, there have only been 2 pet rocks: the pet rock and the Brooklyn Bridge. There has never been another pet rock. And Gary Dahl is the guy who invented the pet rock. Neither Gary nor I knew we had a pet Rock. It was the marketplace that told us. Don't waste a second of your life on number 2. Number 3: You can get a ton of free publicity by being a nut. Do not do number 3. If you have an auto repair shop, do not dress up like a 6-foot catalytic converter holding a sign that says, "We can help you pass clean gas." Will you get publicity? Yes, you will. You will, not the kind that you want. You'll get nut publicity. Number 4. This is the way every one of you should be getting free publicity endlessly, day after day for the rest of your life. Number 4, you can get a ton of free publicity by solving a problem. Solve a problem. Every product and service on this planet does do nothing but solve problems. These lights solve the problem of you being able to see me. This water, this bottle here, solves the problem of me licking water off the floor. This countdown timer solves the problem of me getting grief from Bill from going overtime. Every product and service on Earth does nothing but solve problems. Now out loud, I would like someone out loud to tell me one problem that a bake shop solves. I heard a woman over here say hunger. Who said that? Keep your hand up. You win a prize. You win a piece of Abraham Lincoln's law office. Let's give the winner a hand. Would you pass that down? Pass that down. Raise your hand so they know who gets the prize. Somebody tell me one problem that a dentist solves. Pain. Oh, now you want to play, now that you know there are prizes, great. Who said pain? I heard somebody yell out pain. Right there. Tell me one problem a tax accountant solves. IRS. Who said IRS? IRS what?

Problems.

Problems, very good. Let me go over to the other side here. Tell me one problem a chiropractor solves. Over here. Somebody over here.

Back pain.

Very good. Tell me one problem a bicycle repair shop solves. Broken bike. Very good. By the way, if you got one of those, they're valuable. Don't throw them away. I was just on eBay recently. I sold one of my White House certificates up on eBay. $295. Yeah, really. I don't care what your product or service is. Make a list of the problems that you solve. Every one of those is dozens of opportunities for publicity. All you do is solve problems for people. Some people may say, "But I'm a dentist. People come to me so they don't have problems." That's right, you're solving the problem. They don't want problems. What's the problem? They don't want toothache pain. So all you do is solve problems. How many of you already understand that the press release— it's called a press release— that's what does the big part of a publicity campaign? If you want a successful publicity campaign, it's the press release that does the work. How many of you already understand that? You're wrong. That's where I was wrong in 1983. The press release actually is one of the least important parts of a publicity campaign. There are 3 pieces of paper that you need. Each one should take 10 minutes, 15 minutes to write if you just follow the formula. The press release, the bio, and the Q&A. The most important part of any publicity campaign is the Q&A. Not only knowing what to put on there, but what it should look like. Everything, the press release also, what should go on there and what it should look look like. If it doesn't look right, you go nowhere. The most important part of a press release, and we're going to talk about the press release, because if the press release doesn't do its job, nothing happens. What's the job of a press release? Very simply, the only job a press release has is to get the attention of the reporter. That's all. Just to get the attention of the reporter. Stop the reporter from doing what he's doing and saying, what? What's this about? Once the reporter says, what's this about? That's it. The press release has done its job. The most important part of a press release is the headline. A press release headline and an advertising headline are very different. You cannot use an advertising— if you write an ad, that is rarely a good press release headline. But let's talk about the headline. Some of you may be saying, but I can't write I can't write great headlines, that takes copywriting skill. No, it doesn't. With a headline, what you're going to be doing is using what's called formula headlines. Write that down, formula headlines. There are hundreds of them. I'm going to give you an example right now. So let's take a look at a headline. This is a formula headline, and I can't read that, so I'll read this. 21 Ways to Eliminate Headache Pain Almost Instantly. Almost instantly. If you will notice, 21 is underlined, and so is headache pain. That is a formula headline. When you see something underlined in a formula headline, that means take it out. So if we take out 21 and we take out headache pain, this is what we're left with: blank ways to eliminate blank almost instantly. So let's make this an IRS, a tax headline. Fill it in, and we'll say 14 ways to eliminate '9 ways to eliminate IRS audits almost instantly.' Let's make this an auto repair headline, the exact same headline. We'll make it an auto repair headline right now. '9 ways to eliminate poor gas mileage almost instantly.' Let's make this a landscaping and gardening headline. '36 ways to eliminate costly gardening mistakes almost instantly.' Do you understand how to use formula headlines? 10 seconds and your headline is done. The most important part of your press release. 10 seconds and it's done. And here's my vote for the best press release headline ever written. I am so sorry I didn't write this one. The best press release headline ever written, in my opinion: How to Date a Crazy Cat Lady. Tell me you can resist reading that article. That was a real headline just a few weeks ago on MSNBC. MSN News. How to date a crazy cat lady. It actually was an excellent article, a fun article, really enjoyable. That headline did the job. Let's talk about some fatal publicity mistakes, and I will guarantee that you are making at least one, if not many of these mistakes. Fatal publicity mistakes. Number 1, this is a huge one, this is the one I commonly see, promoting your product in your press release. That's what those $20 books do. People tell you to do. They say, "Make sure you get the name of your product in your press release, your toll-free number, the price of your press release. Get all of that in your press release." I'm telling you, if you do that, your press release is dead. It's over. Never promote your product in the press release. Your job—write this down, this is a key part of publicity—your job as a publicity seeker is to do nothing more than be a source of great information about your field, whatever your field happens to be. Whatever your— I didn't say your product, I said your field. So if you were a dentist and you want to promote your tooth whitening service, you're not going to talk about your tooth whitening service, you're going to talk about tooth whitening. Period. So you're a source of great information. The next mistake, deadly mistake that people make, calling reporters after you send out your press release. I'm sure you've You've all heard this. 3 days after you send out a press release, call the reporter to see if he got it. The reporters do not want to hear from you, and I'll give you a very clear example why. In a busy newsroom, a reporter will get about 300 press releases every single day. If people followed this rule, 300 people are also going to call this guy and say, "Hi, I just want to see if you got my press release." This guy has time to take 300 calls? Not going to happen. There is no reason whatsoever to call reporters. They got your press release whether you sent it hard copy or whether you sent it online. And you should be doing both. You should be using hard copy press releases and you should be using online press release distribution services. Next, thinking you're going to get too nervous doing interviews. I'm going to give you undeniable proof you're not going to get nervous doing interviews. I don't care what you think. People think they're going to get nervous doing interviews because they don't understand how the interview process works. If you do an interview with a radio station or a newspaper or magazine, you don't go anywhere. You do the interview over the phone. Obviously, if you're doing TV, you've got to go to a studio, but for radio, newspaper, magazine, you're talking to one person over the phone. You all can do that. You want proof that you will not get nervous? In our lifetimes, we have all heard hundreds, if not thousands, of radio talk shows. Has anyone here ever heard a guest on a radio talk show nervous? Nope. Neither have I. And you won't. Why aren't they nervous? Are they pros? No. They're talking to the talk show host over the phone. They're sitting in their easy chair, their dog's next to their side, they've got a cup of tea next they're talking to somebody over the phone. You can do that. Let me give you a few tips on your first radio interviews. Do interviews, with your first radio interviews, with radio stations of 100 watts or less. And you can get that information in any media directory in any big library. It'll list right there, it'll list the radio station and it'll say wattage or power. Your first radio station interviews should be with radio stations of 100 watts or less. Let me tell you what that means. You can spit further than a 100-watt radio station can broadcast. Nobody is listening. Nobody. The guy who does your interview is going to be terrible. You will get no business from it. So why are you doing it? Just to prove what I told you. You've got to prove it to yourself. I can tell you one thing, but you've got to prove it to yourself. You do the interview, everything was fine. You weren't nervous. It was fun. If you want to prove to yourself, by the way, that nobody was listening, at the end of your interview say, "Jeff, I'd like to thank you very much for having me on your show. In fact, I'd like to do something special for your listeners. So for the first 10 people to call, I'll send them a $20 bill." Nobody will call. Jeff will call. "Hi, I want a $20 bill." Jeff, that's unless you hang up. Nobody will call. When you do your first newspaper interviews, do interviews with newspapers of 1,000 circulation or less. Again, you can find this information easily in the library. 1,000 circulation or less. These are the newspapers that you get tossed on your lawn every Thursday morning for free. You find them in the supermarket and everything else. I have no idea why they publish these newspapers. I think the only reason they're out there is to train puppies. I can't think of a better reason to have these newspapers up there. Do the interview. It'll be a terrible interview. You will get no business from it. The interviewer will be terrible, not you. But you will see you weren't nervous, it was fun. This is something that you can do. Next fatal publicity mistake: thinking that there is a best time to do your interview. Thinking that there is a best time of the day to do your interview. The best time of the day to do your interview is whenever you're doing your interview. I don't want to hear about, "I only want to do drive time. I only want to do Monday through Friday in the morning." I'll give you an example. This is from one of my publicity students. I did an interview on a major radio station here in Chicagoland. We taped the show and it aired on a Sunday morning at 7 AM. The worst possible time for an interview. Sunday morning, 7 AM. The worst time. Not a great time slot, to say the least. The next day, Monday, I was on the phone all day talking to people who heard the show. At last count, I had over 86 people call me. New prospects to talk to, no postcards to send, no cost for stamps, no labor to pay. My kind of system, Paul Hartunis' press release methods, get me the leads. Don't worry about the time spot. Get the interview. Next big publicity mistake that people make, next fatal mistake, thinking that you don't have the the skill to write powerful press releases. Everyone in this room has all the writing ability that you need to write a great press release. Writing a great press release has nothing to do with creativity, great copywriting, or anything like that. What it has everything to do with is following a system that's been tried and tested, and we'll talk about that. Just simply follow what's already been done. Don't waste your time trying to come up with something else. You'll just be wasting your time. All of the systems that already work. This is what reporters want. This is what they look for. Next, making your press release more than one page. Again, I see this all the time. Press releases going on for 2, 3, 4 pages. What you may not know is that the reporter is looking for clues from you that you know what you're doing. One of the biggest clues they look for is how long your press release is. If it goes on for more than one page, what you're really saying to the reporter is, I can't get to the point. I need 2, 3, 4 pages to get my information out. When you can get to the point in one page, what you said to the reporter is, I can get to the point, I'm a good interview. Never, there is no exception to that rule. One page and one page only. Next, thinking that it's going to take a long time to learn how to do this. I hear this all the time. I am so busy, I'll learn this some other time. It will take you a few hours to learn how to do this and to get good at it. I've had many of my students learn my system on one day, the next day they're getting out press releases. Consider what the benefit is here. There are tens of thousands of reporters waiting to help you. All you have to do is learn how to communicate with them. It will take you a few hours at the most to learn the basics of what you know to communicate with them. Once you do that and you give them the signals that they're looking for that you know you're doing, tens of thousands of reporters are willing to help you because you're telling them, "I've got a great story for you." Next, I gotta move along here. Thinking that you need special contacts to get interviews. You don't have to know reporters, talk show hosts, producers, editors, you don't have to know anybody. When you go to them with a press release and it's got a good story, they will find you. They will say, "This press release is telling me not only not only that this person has a good story, but they know what they're doing. It's one page, it looks the way it's supposed to look, it's got a great headline. Your press release is kind of like an introduction card. Think of your press release as exactly that. It's an introduction card to the reporter. Your press release looks right, it's got a good story, the reporter then says, "Great, I want to do an interview with you." Next, this is number one. This is the number one mistake people make. Thinking that the press release is about you. It is not about you. It is about everybody but you. It is about the end user. It's about making the reporter look good to his audience. If you make a reporter look good to his audience, and by audience I mean it could be viewers, readers, listeners, whatever. If you make that reporter look good, he'll do his job, which is to do your selling for you, and he'll do a far better job of selling your product than you'll be able to do, because he already has an affiliation with his audience. Let him do his job. Why is the press release about you? What's the basic marketing principle there? The basic marketing principle is nobody cares about you. Even your mother lies. It gets worse. I don't care about you. It gets worse. You don't care about me. And I'll give you proof. I've proven everything else I've said. Every claim that I've made I have proved beyond any shadow of a doubt. I will prove that you don't care about me. A while back I broke my ankle. I needed surgery to I had to put a plate in and screws to stabilize the ankle. Did you come and visit me in the hospital? No. Did you call to see how I was doing? Did you send me a card? I don't recall in the last 3 days one of you saying, "Hey Paul, how's that ankle doing?" Right now you couldn't care less about your ankle. What you're saying is, "Time is ticking here, boy, tell me how to get publicity. You don't care. Neither— thank you very much for asking. I wish I had another prize up here for somebody who asked how my ankle is. My ankle is doing just fine, thank you. Okay, let's move on. All you have to do is learn what the reporters want. You already have great stories. Don't think that you've got to come up with a sexy, elaborate— I hate the word hook when it's used in reference to publicity. That makes you think you need something dazzling. Just tell people what you know. Let me give you a few quick examples. I bought a house a while back. I knew going into this that I needed a new roof. If I had read an article, a newspaper, which would have been generated by a press release, if a roofer simply sent out a press release, that talked about the 7 most common roofing pitfalls and how to avoid getting ripped off by them, I would have hired that guy in a second. Simple stuff that any roofer knows. Every year the AAA, the automobile society, puts out the same press release, how to winterize your car. They just put out a press release 2 weeks ago, how to improve your gas mileage. Inflate your tires. Is this news to anybody? Drive slower. News to anybody? Nothing. You don't need dazzling information. Just tell what you know. I know nothing— well, I know a lot about gardening and landscaping now, because I've done a lot of it. When I started, I didn't know a thing. Last year I had moles in one of my gardens. If a landscaper had written a press release, "How to prevent moles from getting into your gardens," I would have hired him on the spot. Because I had instant credibility. Can you see what would happen if your prospects and your clients saw your competitor on TV instead of you? Can you hear what they would say to each other and say about this new person they saw? Can you feel what it would be like seeing your competitor on TV instead of you? Doesn't all this make sense? Makes sense that if you give the reporter what he wants, he's going to give you what you want, and that's lots of press coverage and giving it to you for free.

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