Watch What Others Do

Learn what you can from the way others play the media. Identify those who already have a strong media profile in your sector; do they come up with better quotes and better information, or is their success simply down to the fact that they are willing to turn up? If you want to use the media to raise your profile as an expert in your field, you have to be willing to put yourself about a bit; it may mean cancelling an engagement or getting up unconscionably early in the morning to get out and do a radio interview. You will have to make a judgement call each time as to whether it is worth it – but from years of working in radio and TV, we know producers really remember the people who ‘got them out of a hole’ by being willing to fill an interview slot when they could not find anyone else at short notice. That is how certain people have become such frequent commentators – simply by reliably delivering value to the audience, and by being willing to devote the time to it, when others were busy or slow to return calls. If your topic is not of interest to the wider market, you can still achieve profile in your own sector, which is all that matters if that is what will help you raise presence and demonstrate leadership with your target market. Think about what are the current hot issues in your sector are, and ensure you have some relevant views you are willing to share. Then you are ‘oven-ready’ when the media opportunity comes up, rather than having to go away for hours to think what you want to say. (Taken from the book The M-Factor by Tom Maddocks.)The M-Factor