My first thought was: OHHHH, SHIIIITTTTTT.
Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!
I should've been thrilled, but instead, I was worried about—ready for this?—the wallpaper.
“They aren't even going to see the wall,” C tried to assure me. “Just your beautiful, beaming face.”
“Yeah, my beautiful, beaming face…inside what looks like a prison cell! What kind of successful person has bare walls?!” I said it with a level of disgust I usually only reserve for condensed milk and people who drive in the left lane.
I had just gotten the email confirming my appearance on The Today Show—including the tidbit that they also wanted to send a crew to Philly beforehand to film a set-up piece in my house ?—and all I could think about was how the ENTIRE NATION would be judging the interiors of the unfurnished place I had just bought in Philadelphia.
Cue: me sending rapid-fire emails to every single wallpaper hanger in Philadelphia, the Philadelphia CB2 store, the Philadelphia West Elm store, and anyone else I could try to convince to rush me furniture. “It'll be on The Today Show!” I yelped, not above name dropping to get the job done.
Here's what the place looked like in January of last year, LOL:
And here's what it looked like five minutes later, after hauling MAJOR ASS to get some curtains and not look like I live in an empty warehouse. (Then again, looking back at that first photo, the minimalist look was kind of nice!)
Of course, I should have started that whole process sooner: earlier that month, I had already done an hour-long pre-interview with the producers at The Today Show, where we talked about the segment and they assessed whether I'd be good on camera, right alongside AL ROKER. I was slated to be on during the third hour with Sheinelle Jones, Dylan Dreyer, Craig Melvin, and my man, Al. And that pre-interview taught me one of the most valuable lessons I've ever learned when it comes to getting featured by the media:
They. Want. Tips.
Tips are where it's at. No tips, no feature for you!!!! However, if you do have three specific, tangible tips that the general population can implement immediately, you have got yourself an interview, baby. I SWEAR.
They don't want to interview someone who's going to get on and ramble about themselves, their journey, their work, etc. Nor do they want vague explanations and summary, or some lady named Rhonda who says things like, “I help women to step into their power.”
THEY WANT SPECIFIC, TANGIBLE, USEFUL, FRESH TIPS.
THREE OF THEM.
And they want them to be instantly applicable for the general population.
This was the case across the board when I was interviewed by The Times, The BBC, The Jenny McCarthy Show, Mixergy, magazines, one trillion podcasts, and all the other publicity we did around the book launch. They alllll want specific tips.
So one of the first steps to getting yourself featured? Is actually having a handful of great, useful, unexpected, fresh, fascinating, instantly applicable tips to offer!
Which isn't always easy to do, of course, if your business doesn't lend itself nicely to “instantly applicable tips.” If you're a grief counselor, for example, there's not a whole lot that's “instantly applicable.” But—that's not to say that you can't engineer some if you're thoughtful about it. ?
And the first step to doing that?
Figure out your two main topics.
You need one niche topic, and one mainstream topic—and then you can develop a set of tips for each. This way, you can have the right tips for the right outlet, because someone from The Today Show, for example, wants something a mainstream audience can relate to, whereas someone from a podcast in your industry wants tips that are more focused. However, you also want to make sure that the two topics you pick are actually going to help you get clients and customers. That part's crucial.
So how do you figure out YOUR two topics?
Click here to learn how from my publicist friend, Selena, where she dives in more about finding your two topics—and then she'll also teach you how you can use the media to get the one thing that everybody on the planet wants:
MORE FREAKIN' SUBSCRIBERS.
Because, yes, that is the end goal! You don't want to get featured somewhere and then not get subscribers from it. Fortunately, there's a trick to doing that when you're being featured on someone else's platform—even when it doesn't feel right to self-promote. ?
We got tricks, baby! We got tricks!
Click to figure out your two topics & the trick to getting more subscribers >
Stay tuned, because I'm gonna keep bringin' the heat with even more: next up, we'll talk about your bio, and how to write one that rocks.
Until tomorrow, darling! Make sure you're subscribed to get the next installment. ❤️
XOXOXOX,Ash