How To Get Massive Exposure and Media Coverage with Deb Cole

Hi, I'm Brad Costanzo from Bacon Wrapped Business. Sizzling hot business advice guaranteed to make you fat profits. Look, if you own a business or you could benefit from massive exposure and credibility creating media coverage, you're going to want to pay close attention to my guest today, Debra Cole. Look, these days most media appears to be consumed online, from social networks to YouTube and of course, podcasts. But TV still packs the most powerful punch when it comes to creating crazy credibility, exposure and even trust with clients and customers alike. That's why today's guest is perfect. To reveal the insider secrets to what works in today's competitive and very noisy world, helping you get noticed by those who matter to your business. Debra Cole is a social media pioneer and trailblazer. She's been the host of a national television show, wrote the first book on Twitter and on social media marketing. A woman of many talents, she previously founded and exited a successful software company without writing a single line of code, all while living on the beautiful north shore of Hawaii. Deb, often known as Coach Deb to her followers and clients, now runs a consulting company which takes her all over the world. She's lived everywhere from New York City to Hawaii and even Spain. But now she enjoys living on the beach here in America's finest city. That's right, San Diego. Now, Deb is about to reveal some of the insider secrets about getting on television, something she knows quite a bit about. She's starred in her own award winning television show. She's appeared in several films, commercials, and worked behind the scenes on several Hollywood sets. More importantly, she's also directed and produced shows for other celebrity brands who see her as their secret weapon. So if you own a business that could benefit from massive exposure, whether you want to be a on TV as a guest or you want to start your own show, she's about to guide you through the steps to owning the media and making yourself irresistible to the most influential people in it. Let's go ahead and welcome Deb Cole. So, Deb, welcome to the show.

Thank you, Brad.

You know, it's great to have you here because as somebody in media myself, but as also somebody who benefits from media, both my own businesses, that of my clients, I realize how important it can be, both new media, the online stuff, but also television, which I've been on your national television show. So thank you very much for that.

Yes, you were a great host, you were a great guest, by the way.

Thank you.

One of my favorites.

Thank you.

And I don't say that to everyone. I've had Some practice, just the handsome ones.

Flattery will get you everywhere.

I've learned that.

Yes. So, Deb, I've been always fascinated by the strategies that people use to get attention in the media. And one of the areas that I know very little about is really mass exposure on television. I know a little bit more about how to do it in the digital marketing world. But I really wanted to have you on the show today to share some of your expertise, because you have done, it seems like a lot of things across the entire media space. Right.

I'm older than I look. At least I hope.

21 years old.

No, that's not pushing it.

There's amazing things. That being said, I'd love to hear about a little before we jump into the actual heart of how to do it, give us an idea of the story, the journey that's taken you here. How did you get started? How did you discover media and social media, and where did it all begin for you?

I think the first thing I did is I hired someone to really get into it, because when I started my company, I knew I needed to get media exposure. And at the time, Twitter didn't exist.

What company was that?

That's how old I am. RPM Success Group.

Okay.

That was the name of the first company that I started.

What was RPM Success Group doing?

So it was a consulting company that was primarily to help business owners, entrepreneurs, the small business owner, the mom and pop, give them marketing strategies that would work either on a shoestring budget or really maximizing their budget so it would go further. So that's why when I first started and looked at social media for a marketing perspective, like, this is the best thing for a small business owner, because you can leverage your exposure so much and way more than TV or commercial. Because I noticed if you did a commercial, you were there once, right? On tv. But if you did social media, it was that one video you did. But it lasted again and again. Again, people could keep watching it. So once YouTube came on the SC, it was the most exciting thing for me.

Right, so you started off to get exposure for RPM Success Group.

Correct. So tell me about some of the.

Stuff you started to do early on.

So I first started writing for the newspaper, writing for the local newspaper. And I remember I took a class about getting media exposure. And they're like, don't try to get on Oprah right away. Right. Start with your local news. Start with your local newspaper, your magazines. Because then, first of all, you get practice. So that when you do get on Oprah, you've Practiced. You don't, you don't get nervous, right? And you, you can flub up on local channels way easier without as much embarrassment as if you get on Oprah. So I started small and I started local. So it was local newspaper. And I literally started writing a weekly column for the Star Bulletin in Hawaii, and it was about social media marketing. Okay. So it started again as marketing, and right as I was writing, the shift was taking place to social media and I started writing about. That was a. So 2001 is when I moved to Hawaii. So we're thinking 2002. Yeah, about 2002 is when I started writing for the newspaper. I did that for many years in the business section in Honolulu. SAR Bulletin. Yeah. Every Sunday.

Was social media even a term used back then?

No, no. And actually it's funny that you mentioned that because it was called new media. Right. Because it was old media or traditional media. And then there was new media, which was Twitter, MySpace, actually, I'm that old. Okay, this is all pretty cool. We were all talking about Tom the other day, our first friend on MySpace. So it was MySpace, it was Friendster, it was friend feed. There were all these different things that started that new media world. And now when I've mentioned that before, because the first book talked about new media, I don't even think it had social media in it. And I said something about, oh yeah, you know, new media channels and this dude, when I say dude, like 21 year olds, he's like, what's that? And I'm like, new media? What do you mean? What is that? No idea. Because he grew up with it being called social media. So that's. That to me is fascinating because now people today have just grown up with social media, have never even thought of it as new. It is just media.

Right.

Which is exciting.

And that's one of the things I've noticed is that new media, social media, it is becoming just all media. I remember hearing somebody mention that anymore, even with social media, it's not. Social media is not something on top of the Internet. Social media is the Internet. It's where people go first. But there's also tremendous ways to tie in mass media exposure, such as like television, radio, et cetera, which is like often called old media to new media and to use them overlapping. And you seem to have done quite a good job of integrating the two. Right.

Thank you. Yeah. Yes, definitely. As I feel even though I was a new media champion or now social media champion, I still, I didn't poo poo. And that's Yeah, a word I like to use. I didn't poo poo traditional tv, radio, because it's still had millions of people and it still had the exposure. Right. So when we talk about syndication with podcasts, what we used to describe it is, okay, it's syndication. Just like Oprah has a show that she films in Chicago, but she's seen all over America and now the world. Right? And that's syndication. So podcasts, we just are able to syndicate our own shows, which is really cool. But you want to always incorporate everything because there's still millions of people that are already there that. That pick up a remote. Right. And click through their tv. So if you already have the medium, if you already have the station, you just want to get in on those stations. Yes. Yeah. And one of the things that you asked a little bit earlier that I want to answer is something about getting started. And I had learned that when I was living in Hawaii, that there were cable stations that needed content. They just needed content. I was like, I have content. I mean, you have a ton of content. And there's TV stations that need that content. They have sponsors and. And they want to get the commercials out there. That's how they're getting paid. But they need you to supply the content. So there's plenty of channels out there. You just have to go and pitch to these places that need content.

So I'm gonna make a note in my imaginary notebook here to follow back up with that in just a moment, because I think that you just hit on something very, very powerful. And I wanna circle back to this, but your journey throughout this. So you started doing new media and different. Getting types of exposure. But as I mentioned, you've got TV show, you've been in Hollywood, you've been in all these. Give me a quick background on some of the. Some of the things you're most proud of or some of the things that are the most fun and interesting ways that you've used media or been involved with that.

So I would say one of the most embarrassing things, but yet things I'm proud of is I was embarrassing. I was on a reality show. Most people don't know this. So you're exposing the secrets of Coach Deb.

Was it the Bachelorette?

No, no, it was actually a makeover show. And it was. When the makeover shows. Do you remember Ty Pennington from Home Dep.

And it was a takeoff of those different types of. So it was their home makeover, and then it was your makeover for yourself. Right. And There were these doctors, and there were two doctors in Hawaii that I think I met them through a bni, like a networking organization. I don't remember how we met. I just remember them coming to me and asking if I wanted to essentially be an executive producer, which is all. An executive producer is someone who foots the bill. Right. Like you put up funding for a project. So a lot of films, a lot of documentaries, you have executive producer. All that person does typically is write the checks. Write the checks, yeah. And then sometimes again, as an executive producer, you can have creative input. So I was basically brought in to have creative input to put a little funds to pay for the project. Right. Because it was expensive, especially back then. Cameras were much more expensive than even our iPhones today, and less powerful, by the way. And they wanted me to be the coach on the show. And the good thing about that is I was able to have essentially some director input into it. So we got to pick the talent. We got to pick the people that were going to get the makeover. We called it Dream makeover instead of extreme because we wanted to be different than Extreme Home makeover or Extreme Makeover. And we really wanted to get to the heart of people and really look at. Okay, yeah, you changed the outward appearance, but what about the inside? And that's where they brought me in as a coach, basically a life coach. And the clips are. I mean, I have no bangs. I have hair down past my waist, and I'm talking to her. I've seen some clips of that. I've shown pictures of that, and people are like, is that your sister? Is that your cousin? Right. I'm like, who's prettier? So, yeah, so I did that, and I'm proud of it because I had some producer input into it and the spirit of it and actually won an award. So I was really. I was excited about that.

Congratulations. Yeah. So I love that because. So somebody who has been in media now for three years, and it is new media, because my show is all on iTunes and YouTube, et cetera. But I have no experience with that, so I'm making it up as I go.

Right, right.

Can you tell?

And that's good. That's really good. First of all, that you're doing it and you're winging it as you go, because that's what we all did when new media first came out.

Right? But what I think a lot of people ignore because they ignore old and traditional media, and they just want to jump in and do it all brand new for themselves. But traditional Media has been around for so long that a lot of the practices are really great practices for grabbing people's attention, whether it's the producers or the talent or the audience. And that's one of the insights that you bring to the table that not a lot of people do, is you understand how the two kind of converge. And what do you think that.

Some.

Of the best pieces of wisdom or advice that you've learned from traditional media and how it translates to what is going on today and how to use that, whether it's for myself in a podcast or if I have a YouTube show, how can I use some of the best of traditional media?

So I think. And when I started hosting my own TV show, I started watching more TV because I was a cord cutter. Sure, right. I cut the cord to tv, no cable. And then I got this gig where I was hosting a national TV show and it was gonna be on cable. I'm like, I don't even get my own show. So I started watching it, and I would watch things like Oprah and Ellen and Jimmy Fallon and different talk shows that I wanted to either emulate or get ideas from. And what I think I've learned along the way, the difference right when I got into traditional media and tv, is that it's always a higher production value. So with podcasting, it's typically you doing everything. You're the cameraman, you're the lighting guy, you do everything. Whereas when you walk on set for a TV show, there's a lighting guy, there's a writer for you. Like Jimmy Fallon has a multitude of writers. And that's what I don't think a lot of podcasters or even anyone in new media realize. Like, they don't the star, like Jimmy Fallon, he's the star. He doesn't typically write it. Right. And all of them. And that's also Oprah sheet. She had a team of writers, a team of producers. I actually worked with one of our producers, and it was just one of. It's not like she has one. So I found that was. What was interesting is with tv, there's a bigger budget. So that's why these guys are so entertaining, because all those sketches that they do are all done for them. They just sit in front of the camera and they look pretty handsome and they perform. So you're talent.

So you just mentioned something that we had talked about offline, which was how you worked with one of. Was it Oprah's producers?

Yes.

Tell me about that.

So that's how I first got started when I wanted to get on media and I wanted to just dominate on media and all channels. Right. And so I decided, well, how do you accelerate your success? You hire the best, you hire the pros, you hire the insiders, get the tips. Right.

Even in business, when I first started consulting, I hired Jay Abraham to consult me on starting a business. And it just totally accelerated my learning curve. Right.

Instead of a big fan of hiring the best as the mentors. Yes.

Otherwise you're learning as you go and you make a lot of mistakes.

So you hired one of Oprah's producers.

So she gave me some insider secrets and tips.

She got some splaining to do.

Okay.

She asked me to do some accents.

Yes, yes, you do accents.

So how did you find one of Oprah's producers? Take me through that.

Because I think it was a conference I went to and she was presenting on how to get media attention.

Okay.

And I decided. I'm. Hi. So I went up to her after the event. I think I took her to lunch. And that's another secret too. A lot of people don't realize. And I had said this once when I was presenting on stage, I went to an event and the next day I'm eating alone at lunch. I'm like, why am I eating alone? I just, you know, I'm a speaker. There's all these people have all these questions and they're asking me on Twitter and yet they're so afraid when you go in person because they think you're busy and they think you're important, which of course you are, you're very busy and all of that. But you're also very approachable when you're going to these events. That's why we go to them. And I said from stage, I'm like, I can't believe I ate alone for lunch. Needless to say, right after that there were like 12 people at the table. We got like the big round table at lunch because then people realized they had permission to approach the speaker. So that's a tip right? There is. If you go to any event, not only ask the speakers that you like, figure out who's gonna speak ahead of time that you wanna work with and ask them ahead of time. Right. Like schedule, take them out to dinner. Especially if this is a multi day event like traffic and conversion, that's a great event to figure out who's going to be there and then ask them ahead of time so they don't get bombarded.

Exactly.

So took her out to lunch and kind of.

Yeah, you took her to lunch. And then. So this was not something that she was out there publicizing that she's for hire, but you just asked her for the offer and she said, okay.

Yeah, exactly.

Was it a hefty penny?

It was not cheap. It was not cheap. And it hurt. Okay, so it hurt me putting that investment, but I knew it would take me 10 years to learn what she would teach me in a month.

Plus, if it hurts, you're gonna pay attention to it.

Yes. Right.

You're not gonna just slough it off. I mean, because people really do value what they pay for. And the more you pay for it, the more you value it. And I've seen that both with myself, with my clients, et cetera.

Right.

So what were some of the big things that she taught you early on that you've applied throughout the years?

So biggest thing was start small, start local, and get practice, become the expert, and then dominate everything. So my whole goal was to get on tv, but in the meantime, take advantage of all the other. So it was magazine, so Entrepreneur magazine. I started writing a regular column for them, and I was one of their first social media columns when Entrepreneur.com first started out. And, like, they were what I love about entrepreneurs. They were the ones who got it right in the get go. Right. They understood that, yes, they had a physical magazine, but if they go online, they reach way more people and their stories last. Right. And now they're doing it again with their videos, Right. They go Facebook live. Have you seen them? Yes. So now entrepreneur, or again, entrepreneur.com, right? They go Facebook live and you get to join them and you get to interact with them. And that's what I love most about new media, that television doesn't typically do. Now my show, I try to be interactive with them, and I tell them to tweet me. And the director's like, what's this tweet me stuff? I'm like, trust me, it's a thing. Right?

This was back then, right?

Back then. Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah. So she basically accepted. Accelerated my learning curve, and she also stepped up my goals. And the goal was not. Even though I was immersed in social media, my goal was still to do all media, which was newspaper, magazine, television.

What else is there other than television? Movies. Oh, and we did some documentary movies as well and some films. So I wanted to just dominate all of it and then really learn some behind the scenes. So that's been fun too, is once you do some Hollywood sets, you meet the editors, you meet people who. So that's the other thing Is I started, I met this one editor and I was on Paramount Studios, and I am sitting there watching him edit for a sitcom. It's a 30 minute sitcom. And he gave me the budget for their editing. How much do you think it would be to edit a 30 minute sitcom?

I can't imagine. But I have to think it's enormous.

Yes, enormous would be $1 million per episode for 30 minutes. So there's color correcting, there's sound, and then there's an additional color correcting and sound. It was like he literally gave me seven different layers and seven different places that the place would go out to. So, you know some of the Marvel movies that you see. And at the end. So I just saw Thor. And at the end of Thor, you see all of these effects. Effects. And there's different companies and there's literally two dozen under this one. And then there's something else. And then more effects. I think there's more credits to effects in Thor. Right, right. And it's the same thing.

I love how layered that is. That's so fascinating. It makes me realize how much I actually don't know about this entire world of media. But I'm learning and learning by doing and learning by talking to experts such as yourself. So you hired Oprah's producer, you got in there and obviously you were an overnight success.

Of course, that's how it all works in business. Right. You become an overnight success because you follow the rules of the gurus. No, absolutely not. It took a while. And when I say a while, it means several years. Now I was. I immediately got media exposure. Right. So I immediately got on local news stations. I got the magazine, the newspaper. So I was getting local exposure very quickly. Right. So applying that. But having my own TV show absolutely took several years. And I started as a guest.

Okay.

Right. So I didn't just go right in and say, I'm gonna start my own TV show. Cause I really had a lot to learn. Like, I'm glad I didn't do that. And it's funny because when podcasting first came out, I told. I started a podcast, but there were maybe a hundred people out there. It was just silly.

Back in the early days.

Back in the very early days. So I stopped it. Cause there's just not enough listenership. And that's when I was like, I'm going on radio and TV because there's millions there now there's millions on itunes. Right. So podcasting is great. And I would tell my Clients, get on YouTube, get your podcast out there. And as soon as they would get videos out there on YouTube, they would get picked up. So they were using keywords, and they were getting picked up again by local stations. So my goal was get on local news stations. Right. Get a lot of experience as a guest, and then host my own show. So I became a guest for all of these different places, and then I wanted to become a regular guest. Yes. So.

So speaking of becoming a guest.

Yes.

First of all, what are some of the better ways to become a guest on, like, the news stations or in shows like that? Because, I mean, it sounds pretty daunting. What are. What works?

Yeah. And I think I was scared of it at first. So there's two things I was scared of that immediately got squashed. It was just like, my fears were unfounded. And one of them was, someone's gonna ask me a really hard question, and I'm not gonna know or I'm gonna get nervous. I think one of my other biggest fears is I would not know what to say. So, first of all, none of that is true. The reporters are there to provide entertainment for their viewers. They're not there really to make you look bad.

Yeah, exactly.

Yeah. Unless it's like hardball. Right. It's something that's not what we're going after now. If you are. If you're in politics, yeah, okay, maybe. But in business, they're looking for content. They're looking for interesting stories or interesting characters to show because they want viewers. Right. And the more interesting, the more crazy stories they show, the more people watch their show.

So how do you get your pitch.

In front of them? So there are different places. And actually, Haro Helpo reporter It's one of the first services I signed up for, just contributing articles. And that gave me practice in writing interesting articles. And then a lot of it is networking. It's who you know. You hire a PR company, they will get you gigs. Right. And what I learned very early on is to write really interesting talking points, because you could get your story or your pitch in front of them, but they get so many. And now as a host, I'm like, no, no, Right. That's boring. How do I make that interesting? So do their job for them. That was the first tip I learned, is you, first of all, be interesting. Be entertaining. If you're kind of crazy and outlandish, you got blue hair. If you look weird, that's automatically gonna set you apart.

Dye your hair blue.

So that's one of my first secrets. Right.

I actually gave that tip to one of My clients recently, and I didn't tell her to dye it. I was just. Just get a blue wig, you know? And she did. So she. I love clients that will stretch it, right. And push themselves because it's getting yourself out of the comfort zone. But remember, on tv, when we watch it, it's characters, it's interesting, it's entertaining. So be engaging, be an interesting character. Don't just sit there and go, I want to talk about my business. Because that's freaking boring, right? Have a story. And then the more you can tie into current events. If you have anything that could tie into a current event for news, absolutely. Yeah.

Because if it's tropical, it makes it so much easier to get your foot in the door with that and to slide on in.

And then another secret is give the reporter what you want to talk about, right? So if you want them to highlight something really cool about your business or a story, you give them talking points that will ask either specific questions. And one thing I learned now, not everyone will do this because some people will look at it, they throw it away, they don't adhere to it. But the ones I do. Yeah, the ones that do. And again, once you become a regular guest, you start seeing what their style is and you know, how to give the anchor, the journalist, the reporter what they want. Right? And what I learned as one of the secrets is, oh, my gosh, if I just write the talking points out, some of the talking points were for me to say. And they read my talking points. I was like, that was what I was gonna say, right? And they said it. And then I. So light bulb moment. Oh, I can just do that. And the next time I was on that journalist show, I wrote the talking point of what I wanted them to say. And that fed me what I led into, like, the story I shared. And then I didn't write the story I was gonna share, because then I knew that person would do that. But it was really good for just feeding them the story that you wanted.

To talk about right? Now, you mentioned a minute ago about becoming a regular guest too. Cause it's one thing to get shown one time, but obviously the more you can be on there, the better. So explain how you become a regular.

But you want the secret on how to become a regular.

It's not called bacon wrapped business for nothing. Look at the bacon wrapped goodies.

The fat profits there. Okay? So this is another funny story that people will think, oh, it's complicated, or it's really involved. And again, like, some of the steps getting there but the way I got to be a regular guest. This is. Okay, this is funny. I'm on the TV show. I had become a guest. I think this was the first time I was on this one particular show. It might have been the second time I was asked back. Because that's. You always want to get asked back.

Yeah.

Right. So it's your goal. You want to be as engaging as possible to not just get that one hit, to get it again and again. Because often a PR company will get you different media gigs. But then if you can book yourself after, you don't have to use a PR person forever. Another little secret, but so I want to be a regular guest. And I was there and we were wrapping up our five minute segment, right. And he asked me a question that was going to be way more than a minute answer. And I basically responded, oh, I'll share that next week when I'm back. And I wasn't asked back. There was no appointment to come back. But the secret that I learned. Cause. Okay, yeah, sure, yeah, yeah, next week. And when Coach Deb's back on the show next Wednesday, I'm like, oh, my gosh. That works, right?

Yeah, just assume the role. Yeah.

Cause, okay, I risk something. So what do I risk? I risk him going, you're not going. No, he's not gonna say that.

Right.

You're not on the.

Put him on the spot.

Totally.

But in a very friendly way.

Yeah. And then what I learned is the producers typically don't know what the hosts know, and the hosts don't know what the. So the host doesn't know that the producer didn't book me as a regular guest or book me on two shows. So I was like, oh, my gosh, this is. Like, this is. That was probably one of the coolest secrets that I discovered. It totally worked. And I became a regular guest.

That is a sizzling hot piece of business advice. Gearing to make you fat.

I love it.

I love it. So.

What about taking it beyond local and even up to the more national level? Is it the same general principles or does the game completely change when you.

I think the game actually gets a little easier.

Why is that?

It was a little more pressure because I was taking over a show that already had an audience base. I was probably more nervous than when I would, say, speak in front of thousands in Australia because those were my people. Right. Like when I went to Australia and I would speak in front of Singapore, like there was thousands in the room and I'm an extrovert and there's people. There's physical people there. I can read your faces. I can see if you're liking it. If I have to adjust something on tv, I just have this lens looking at me, and I don't know who's behind the camera. I don't know if they don't like me. Right. And there's those fears. So I was a little nervous. But what I learned is the game is a little bit better because there's a bigger team behind you. So. So the level of professionalism is just so much bigger than when we would just do, like, a podcast from our. You know, our basement or our garage. Right. So I like that part about it. It was a lot less pressure for me. Cause I didn't have to be the director, the producer, the writer, the talent, the cameraman. Right. The teleprompter person. I just got to sit on the couch in front of the camera.

That makes sense.

And just perform, basically. So that's the other thing I think is the more you. I took acting lessons or classes. I took some master class. I took some Udemy classes or Udemy just on being more captivating or things that actors know. Because you can go to school to be an anchor. Right. I didn't. That wasn't. That's not like I went out to be a host. I did it to get more exposure for my brand.

Right.

But the more you can be engaging and be. Oh, and I wrote. Not wrote. Did not write this book at all. I couldn't read a comedy book, so I read a lot about comedy, and someone's like, why do you. You know, you're a serious business coach. Why do you have a comedy book? I'm like, because you want to be. You don't want to be always so serious. Right. Like, this guy's hilarious. I think we need some bloopers for the things he does off camera.

I think so.

But you're funny, you're engaging. So you are a character that people would want on tv.

Well, it helps. It helps.

Yeah. Okay.

Deb, so far, we've covered a lot of things, and a lot of that has been getting featured on other people's shows. However, as somebody who's got my own show, and I know you've helped other people produce their shows, at what point should they look to actually own the media that they're appearing on?

Mm. Like when Oprah owned Own. The nicest use of words there.

Exactly.

So owning it, as in the producing.

Their own show versus trying to be on other people's shows.

Got it. Okay, so like you have your own show bacon wrap business as opposed to just being on guests of other people's shows. So I think when you're a guest on other people's shows, you get the credibility, the exposure to all these different markets. But then getting your own show, I think once you're prepared and you feel, okay, I have enough interviews under my belt and I have a lot of content or something interesting or exciting to share, so you want to be entertaining. And I think if you want to talk about differentiating yourself, don't just produce another show just like everybody else. Model it. Model from Jimmy Fallon, from Ellen. Because they've got a formula that works. Because they've got millions of dollars in production to show you the formula that works, but somehow be different, do something different. And I think the time to own it is a. When you have the time. Because that's one thing I learned. Hosting a daily show is exactly exhausting. Do a weekly show, my opinion. Right.

So my suggestion is if you're gonna do a show, do a weekly show as opposed to a daily show, learn from some of my like, ah, trial and error there. Because it's exhausting and it becomes a job. Yes, right. So if you don't want a job as a host or anything on, on tv, just do something that's weekly, come to them weekly, do something 20 minutes, 21. Because that's the other thing is, remember in TV you have to, to put room for commercials, whereas podcasts you could do a 40 minute show, but that's not necessarily something that people can consume. Right. So just do a quick show and do it when you A have time and B, really have a lot of content to share that you would educate people or entertain people and then could get sponsorships. Cause that's the other thing is just like tv, whether you do a podcast show or a TV show, sponsorship is where the money's going to be.

Right, right, exactly. Well, that and if you have your own business, if you're bringing that in, and it can lead to lead generation and can lead to a lot of things. But the nice part is it can be both. It can be sponsorship and lead generation. And I know you work with multiple people in helping them produce their own shows and helping them do it right and follow some of these time tested formulas that have been on mass media like Ellen and everything else. And who are some of the, who are some of the people that you look to now for inspiration and advice? Is there anybody who is particularly doing it well and a good blend of mass media with online and new media as well.

I'm gonna say Ellen, but that's sure. Well, so, you know, actually Ellen's a great example who has blended it because she does her TV show, but she also embraced new media very early on. She did, Right. And then she even created an app, the Heads up app.

Yes, that's true.

So it's a game that exists. But she had her again, her team. It's not like she wrote code to write the app. We know you don't have to do that. But she created the app Heads up and it's over a million downloads. Right, Right. So she's doing it right because she's taking advantage of new media, social media. She was on there tweeting, and she'll even talk about that in her five minute monologue. When she opens it, she'll talk about her Instagram addiction. She'll talk about different things. And that lends you over to Instagram to follow her to see what she's up to. And it's like, oh, Ellen might talk to me, she might tweet to me. Right. And that's when you're doing it right. When you're using massive exposure. But then you give the people that do want to partake and participate with you through social media.

Now, when you look back at when you started doing this and the majority of time when you were trying to figure it out versus right, right now for somebody brand new trying to figure out this whole space, what do you think has been the biggest changes, both positive and. Or negative?

I think the biggest is everything's cheaper. Right. To do. That's true. Easier. I remember when you had a blog, you had FTP stuff. Right. I mean, that's how long ago it was. And it was such a chore. Yes. You would do a show and then you'd have to do that and then streaming would kind of glitch a little. Yes, exactly. Now we watch Netflix and don't even think about the fact that it is a streaming movie. And God forbid we ever have a pause and it. We're like, what is. You know, we get ticked off. By the way, there are certain things you can't say, and that would have been one of them. So ticked off, since this may go on tv and that's probably the hardest thing.

You can't say ticked off on tv.

You can't say the other word. So ticked off. You can say you can't say the other word if you're not ticked off. It's. Yeah, so that's probably the biggest challenge. And if you are doing a podcast or a YouTube channel, unless you're going to go on Netflix where you can see say anything. If you're going for cable and tv, stop cursing because they don't allow it.

Yes, exactly.

Right. So that was a challenge because I'm from Jersey and there's a certain word that you can't say on tv. It's my favorite word. And it's practice. Right. Because if it is part of your speech, right. It's just part of your sentence nomenclature.

Throw it out. I mean, they may let you slide with the censors with one, but you'll never get invited back. So you gotta be really careful.

And that's actually a tip that I learned from doing co hosting. Someone came on the show and she did say something that was inappropriate and she was never asked back.

Wow. Yeah.

Like we needed somebody. Oh, I'm like, oh, I could get so and so. And they literally, like not quite blackballed them, but they said no because they messed up. And it was a guy who said something and you're kind of marked and you're not seen as professional because you don't know the rules. So you've got to know those types of rules when you're going on tv. But yeah, the biggest difference though, from then and now is the speed in which we can consume things and upload things and the ease of it. Like YouTube is so easy. Everything is faster bandwidth even. Even our cable and Internet providers, everything is so much faster to do what we want to do with video.

Absolutely.

So that's. That's exciting to me. That's exciting to me. And so, yeah, so it's. It's never been less expensive as far as a barrier to entry to have your own show or produce it than ever before and the ease of it. And there's so many people who can help you out, you know, as an outsourcing, that makes perfect sense. Yeah. Yeah.

So, Deb, this is amazing. And obviously you're a wealth of information and you also go by the name Coach Deb.

I do. Right. Coach Deb.

Or as we see it, sometimes sand.

CoachDev. Yes, you have to say that. Oachdev. That's right.

Ouchdev.

Well, when I put my name tag on conferences, I put the at sand. And you know, people been making fun of me for a long time. And I think if you have thick skin, that's one of the things in this business that if you're gonna be a pioneer, especially in anything you do, you're going to be made fun of with social media. I got called the social media queen when it was not a compliment. Right. Like now it's kind of a compliment. It's a badge of honor. It was not when they said that. And now all of a sudden, everyone's embracing it. Now everyone's an expert. Everyone has a course on it. So, yeah, I am a little weird. I'm a little crazy.

So at Coachduff. So at Coachduff. Sombol. Coach Deb.

Yeah.

Is there a name for the symbol of the. At.

I don't know. Amperstand.

No, that's the. And symbol.

Ampersand.

Anyway. Oachdevol. So obviously the name implies that you do help people, that you do coach people through this. How do you work with clients, specifically?

So on a big level, I think of it as the Jerry Maguire approach, where it's smaller clients, more attention. So I'll tend to work with two to three big clients on big productions.

Where you go really deep with them.

Correct.

Production and coaching on that.

Right. So literally producing their shows. Producing. Helping them with their documentary or helping them get on TV or their own show. Yeah.

And then what about for people who can't quite afford or quite aren't ready for the really heavy personalized stuff? How else can they.

How can help them? Work with them? No. So I'm gonna start putting something together for the person that can't hire me to spend a whole day or spend a month and do some production. So I'm put a course together as the shortcuts, the quick tips to get them accelerated. And that's probably what I've done since I started again back in 2001 is giving people courses to give people the quick tips when they can't afford the big package. And then it may be six months, a year later, and then they hire me as a coach.

Well, it's a great way to get people to get momentum because it's a lot easier to. Once you've got momentum and it's moving to then hire the right coaches and hire the right people to help you out, as opposed to starting from an absolute dead standstill scratch. And I know that that's one of the secrets of my success is just get going and then bring in the team players along the way. Because there's a law of physics that it says objects in motion tend to stay in motion. Right. So I'm a big believer in that. So where can people find you in order to learn more about you, in order to reach out and see what.

You'Re doing and get your help the best way. Coach Deb everywhere. Again, obviously on Twitter there's a fan page, but if you go to CoachDeB TV, that will bring you to the main website that I have. And then once I do put a course together for people to get a jumpstart in media, I'll put a link there as well. CoachDev TV.

And that's if they wanna reach out to you also with some of the more personalized one on one consultation and coaching, they can reach you there.

Yes. Or if they wanna pitch to be on my show, they can do that as well. They can either send me a DM through my Facebook page or Twitter, just follow me and shout out and say, hey, I've got a story for you, or I've got something that's interesting or you know, an interesting guest and again the more interesting or, or having a story behind your business, that's what's gonna get you on a show more than just, hey, I have this I wanna talk about, right? It's having a story, being interesting.

I couldn't agree more. Speaking of having a story and being interesting, you've been very interesting, your story and sharing not all him, not just.

Saying that, thank you.

But sharing all of the insights and wisdom with myself, with the audience in an effort to kind of harness the leverage that we have. Because really, what's up, find exciting, and I know you do as well, is that never in human history have so many people been given the opportunity to reach so many people so inexpensively than right now at this exact time in history. And it's a very noisy world. But with the right education, the right insights, you can get noticed in a very, very noisy world in a way that can just cut through the fog and the clutter and create credibility. Get exposure for yourself, for your business, build a personal brand, become an influencer, which this word, influencer wasn't even really a thing until a few years ago and now it's absolutely everywhere. And this is one of the best ways to become an influencer. So Deb, thank you very much for sharing this bacon wrapped business advice here on the show with me and the audience and for the audience who is watching or listening, I want to encourage you to watch this or listen to this again and take notes. Reach out to Deb, look at all the resources that she's been providing for you and assess for yourself where media exposure, whether it's new media, traditional media or a combination of both, can really provide you leverage in your business, whatever you're trying to do. Every business these days, quite literally is show business. And people are dying to be entertained, educated, and edutained and all of this. So it is one of the reasons that I put this show together, and I invite experts such as you to make me look smart by osmosis in comparison. But I really appreciate your time and I encourage every single person to go to. Is it coachdeb.tv?

Yeah, coachdead tv. And then the new company that we launched to produce people's shows is firstminutemedia.

Com. Right. Firstminutemedia. Com. So thank you very much, Deb, for stopping by the show and thank you for watching. Share this on social media, Tag your friends and tag@sign CoachDev. Thanks a lot.