Why You Need to Become a Local On-Air Contributor and How to Make it Happen

I'm Bill Corbett, professional speaker, author and television program producer and host. After nearly 20 years of traveling nationally and internationally, delivering presentations, I sat down and wrote the Amazon bestseller, FROM THE SOAPBOX TO THE STAGE: HOW TO USE YOUR PASSION TO START A SPEAKING BUSINESS. 

Get more help by listening to the GET PAID TO SPEAK PODCAST to help you use what you feel passionate about to inspire change in others.

There are so many incredible things you can begin doing immediately to help launch yourself as a speaker in your local area. One of those things is to become a local expert that television show producers can call on to appear on local news and magazine shows to help them fill airtime with quality programming that people want to watch. Becoming an on-air contributor is easy to do but takes time to develop yourself and some patience to make it work. In this episode I'm going to teach you how to do it and share some segments of my on-air interviews with local ABC and NBC affiliate stations. So, let's get started with, why you need to become a local on-air contributor and how to do it.

Television producers need content and subject matter experts that can provide that content.

All you have to do is find the producers and introduced yourself to them. Start by thinking of the people you can help, the people that will eventually be seated in your audience when you're speaking. Imagine them in your mind and imagine the problems they may be dealing with. Just think about who you can help because of what you know. Let's say you worked in HR and want to speak to HR professionals. What problems do they deal with. If you are a car dealer, I would imagine that you might have other car dealers in mind. What problems can you provide the answers for to help them sell more cars.

Once you have their contact information, send them your information as to who you are, what your expertise is and how they can contact you. Keep it brief, professional and concise. Then weekly, send them topic ideas they might interest them for a future segment. Keep an eye on national new or trends that you could offer advice on. 

Once you get noticed by local producers and they like you as a guest, they will begin calling you regularly for on-air opportunities.  When you are presenting something that ignites the passion in you, everything changes. The topic is delivered effectively, the audience is receptive and you as a speaker feel so complete and aligned with your self and your message. So figure out what your message is and start putting it together to change the lives of others. I want to hear what your ideas and questions are. Email me at Bill@billcorbett.com and let's connect. I'd love to hear from you. 

For more help with professional speaking, go to http:TheGetPaidToSpeakPodcast.com. Copyright 2022 Bill Corbett and The Get Paid To Speak Podcast. All Rights Reserved.

How to Piss Off Producers and Never Get on TV and Radio

Marketing yourself as an expert in your field means getting in front of prospects using traditional media outlets such as television and radio news. But only those who know how to work effectively with the gatekeepers of this industry, known as producers, will actually get invited to appear in front of the camera or the microphone. This article lays out many successful techniques for working with producers, but in a humorous style that demonstrates what some adults actually do that kills their opportunities for getting media attention.

One way of growing your brand and expanding your influence as an industry expert is to become a much sought after contributor to television news programs. That means creating relationships with the producers of those news programs and giving them what they need to do their job... content. All it takes is a little humility, professionalism, patience, and persistence to make it happen. But all too often I've met people who don't get it and instantly ruin their chances of ever getting on those programs. They're also the ones who tend to complain as to why they aren't getting the business they expect. To give something for the rest of us to learn from, here are 12 ways of never getting on TV, courtesy of those who've burned their bridges before us. 

Don't Watch Local TV Programming: Major network affiliates offer local news programming to feature both local and national stories to inform and educate their viewers. Ignore your local stations and don't take the time to find out if they offer a morning, midday, or early evening local news magazine show that features local experts. 

Don't Contact Your Local Stations: Most major affiliate network stations have local offices and studios that are staffed by receptionists. Don't waste your time, trying to find their contact phone numbers to ask for the names and email addresses of the news magazine show producers. 

Don't Bother Introducing Yourself: Because you're far too busy and have so much to get done, don't reach out to the local producers with an introductory email explaining briefly who you are and what information you can provide them with, to help them beef up their segments. 

Don't Send them Leads: As an industry expert, you're probably constantly watching for the latest trends and producing content such as books, eBooks, articles, blog posts, and more. Don't bother to help a producer out by sending an email containing a 3 - 5 bulleted story lead each week that you can comment on. You have way more important things to do. 

Take Your Sweet Time Replying: If by chance a TV news program producer does respond to one of your leads, wait a few days or even weeks to reply. Better yet, have your assistant reply instead or ignore the email all together. You can't possibly be expected to fit in one more thing into your day. 

Make Your Existing Appointments More Important: When a producer needs an on-air contributor, they may ask an expert to come in at a moment's notice or very early in the morning or even very late at night. Decline the producer's request by being too busy or unwilling to move existing appointments. This way they are sure not to contact you in the future. 

Let Them Know How You Were Inconvenienced: If by chance you get invited into the studio for an on-camera interview and it is cancelled or postponed, place a call or send an email to the producer letting them know how inconvenient that unexpected change was. I'm sure they will apologize and make it up to you. 

Demand to Speak with Their Boss: If you had gotten all the way into the studio and your segment is suddenly preempted for breaking news and you're dismissed, let the producer know how angry you are and demand to speak to her boss about being inconvenienced. 

Call and Voice Your Disappointment: If the segment in which you were interviewed did not air on the date and at the time you were told, call or write the producer to let him know how unfair it was for you to have invested your time and effort for no reason. I'm sure they'll make sure it never happens again. 

Do Not Send a Thank You Note: Save your money and don't buy a box of thank you cards. Forget about sending off a short note of thanks to the news program producer, you can use that valuable five minutes for other more important matters. 

Let Them Find Their Own Expert: Once you establish a relationship with a TV show producer, they may contact you out of the blue, when they are seeking commentary on a topic that is close to, but not exactly within your area of expertise. Let them know that you can't help them or just ignore their request all together. Do not recommend to them, any other experts in your network that may be more skilled at providing what they're seeking. Why bother helping them if you're not going to benefit from the opportunity. 

Send a "Nasty Gram" Letter to the Studio: Without notice, your emails to the producer are coming back undeliverable, stating that the producer is no longer working there. TV producers experience lots of stress and are under great pressure, which means the person in that position may change frequently. But that's not your problem. Send an email or letter to the studio describing your inconvenience of having to start the process of finding the contact information for the new producer, all over again. As ridiculous as some or all of these points might sound to you, I've seen or heard of unconscious professionals making these exact mistakes. I coach experts in growing their speaking business. I help my clients understand how busy producers are and what it takes to grow yourself as an industry expert that producers call first. I welcome comments on how you've seen others make these mistakes or new ones that I did not include in this piece.

Bill Corbett is the author of the Amazon top-seller, From the Soapbox to the Stage: How to Use Your Passion to Start a Speaking Business. Connect with Bill at http://BillCorbett.com.