How Do You Become The Obvious Expert at a Young Age?

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Permalink Reply by Joshua Houghton on September 24, 2008 at 9:48am

Hey John,

I would love to hear your breakdown on the press releases as well as how to get into the media. Personally for me I have been using my blog to educate the public about hypnosis and trying to take some of the mystic stuff away from it. I live in a decent size town, but technically i'm the only hypnotists beside one other person who is a licensed professional who uses hypnosis as a side deal. I do my best to use the resources I have to educate the public, but would love to hear your ideas. Btw, Looking forward to your article too.

~Joshua Houghton
www.whatsonmybrain.com

Permalink Reply by John Weir on September 25, 2008 at 4:19am

Press Releases

Writing press releases and getting your name out into the media is a much simpler task than many people believe. I read a statistic that said over 85% of the things you hear and read in the news has been placed there by people like me who have learned to use the media to their advantage. What people don’t understand is the media is desperate for news and are constantly looking for things to use. With that said, lets move forward.

The very first thing I did was create an email list containing as many contacts in the local media as I could find. I ended up creating a list of about 600 people. These people include newspaper reporters, radio dj's, producers, TV personalities, TV news desks etc. In order to find these contacts I would recommend google searching your media forums and visiting their websites. Often times, under their contacts page you can find a full list of everyone involved at the particular place i.e Pittsburgh Tribune-Review for instance. If you are lucky enough to find a list like this, copy and paste every email to a word document. If not, dont fret, there are other ways to obtain this information. All you have to do is locate one email and once you do now you know the way they structure their email for example jsmith@media.com or johnsmith@media.com, or smithjohn@media.com. Once you know the email structure, you can compile a list of emails by finding reporters names, locating a list of anchors, etc. Finally, sometimes their emails are available on the website but just not all in one place. This is often the case when looking at radio stations. Many times radio DJ's will have their own page and you have to go to all of them in order to get all the stations emails. This does require work however when you are first getting started you must be willing to spend some energy getting the ball moving. Once you get an email list together it is worth millions of dollars. I cant even tell you how much free publicity, media coverage, and radio interviews I received by doing this. One other side note is that some media websites have a link to send in press releases to. Always send them to that locate however still email your press releases to everyone you can.

NOTE: Once you get your list you CANNOT spam or send group emails to the media. If you do your press releases will never be read, you will be blocked from their server, and you now missed out on a golden opportunity for your practice. When sending the press releases via email there are two options. First, is to send out individual emails to your media list. Just watch some tv and copy and paste your way through the list. This is the way I got started and it can take several hours but its an excellent way to do guerilla marketing and every time I did it I was rewarded with some type of press. The second way to do it is to setup an emailer. I had one made for my website and an emailer individually sends out the press releases to everyone on your list. This saves tons of time and my recommendation for everyone down the road.

Once you have your media list, you need to begin writing your press release. A press release is a very simple thing to write. I learned to write press releases by going through the newspapers and reading how their journalists wrote articles. I would recommend doing this for anybody getting started. There are a couple key elements that you need to know about.

First, in order to write a press release you must have something that is news. What is newsworthy, almost anything. For example, if you recently got certified in hypnosis, just got back from a training program, or went to the NGH convention thats news. If you achieved a major accomplishment thats news. Your local hypnosis chapter is having a meeting, you just opened a new office, you completed a cd project thats now available for sale, you are now on the web...those are all newsworthy. I hope you are getting the idea that you can write a press release for many, many things. If you are unsure if your topic is news feel free to email me and I will be sure to get back to you.

Second, your press release cannot be an advertisement! This is very, very, very important. Press releases cannot sound like an ad or a disguised ad. Editors and media personal are excellent at weeding out press releases that are nothing more than a hidden advertisement and will not use them in the paper, TV, etc. When you write a press release stick to the facts only. Your press release should answer the following "who, what, when, where, and how" thats it.

Third, Your press release needs to have a great title or what is often referred to as an attention-grabber as well as a strong first sentence. Luckily, just having the word hypnosis in your title is often times intriguing enough. More importantly, your first line has to get the reader interested it in or they will move onto the next thing on their list. Use your hypnosis and NLP talent to create a good opening line.

Fourth, make your press release short and sweet. People in the media are very busy and do not take the time to read long, drawn out press releases. For the greatest chance of your release getting read keep them to one page or less. Remember, some of the greatest communicators are the ones who say things in a concise and powerful way.

Finally, there is a certain way the heading at the top needs to be. It must read:

PRESS RELEASE
For release on xx/xx/xxxx or Available for Immediate Release
Contact Person: John Doe
Contact Information: (xxx) xxx-xxxx and email

Title of Press Release

Body of paper

At the body of the page always include something like this:
John Doe is available for newspaper, radio, and TV interviews on hypnosis and will be glad to answer all questions you may have. You can reach John Doe at (and include your contact information)

There are a few other things worth pointing out. First, don't get to hung up on making it perfect. Every single press release I have ever sent has been rewritten by the reporter or another person. Just make your press release compelling enough to get someone to do a piece on you. Second, if your press release runs in the newspaper, they will NOT call you and tell you they have included it. The best way to find out if your press release was in the paper is by setting up a google alert with the key words hypnotism, hypnosis, your name, etc. Then everyday google will email you a list of all the newspaper articles that ran that day that have your key terms in it. Finally, even if they don't run your release it doesn't mean that what you have done was ineffective. What they do is create a folder on you and begin compiling information about you and saving all your press releases. So what ends up happening is if they need filler for they paper or news report they will go into peoples files to find something they can use. I sometimes get reporters calling me about press releases I have sent years ago. The important thing is to take action...you will be very happy you did.

I hope this helps shed some light on the process of generating press releases and getting free publicity. This is a fast track way to be known in your area as the obvious expert!

Abundance to all,
JW

Permalink Reply by Joshua Houghton on September 25, 2008 at 6:08am

Wow, Great post John and I'm sure this will bring some great things my way. Thanks for taking the time to post this.

Joshua Houghton
www.whatsonmybrain.com

Permalink Reply by Michael Ellner on September 26, 2008 at 9:22am

The Conference Board is a highly regarded economic think tank and business information resource for major trans-national corporations. According to them the most powerful way to influence newspaper and magazine readers is a well written Letter to the Editor.

If you see something that you can respond to as an expert in hypnosis -- Do it!

Example:
The following is a letter that I submitted and that was published in the Washington Post in both their print and on-line editions

Washington Post
Interactions
Tuesday, April 20, 2004; Page HE02

Thousands of highly skilled, well-trained hypnosis professionals who are
certified by credible organizations like the National Guild of Hypnotists and
the International Medical and Dental Hypnotherapy Association were unfairly
associated with quackery when "Research: Hypnosis Proven for Some Conditions,
Untested for Others" [April 13] reinforced the myth that medical experts always
know best.

Tragically, tens of thousands of people who could be helped to feel better,
heal faster and be more effective -- if they actually consulted a professional
hypnosis practitioner -- will instead visit one of the perceived experts and
risk being told that they can't be hypnotized because they are poor subjects.

Before 1952, conventional medical experts viewed hypnosis itself as quackery.
Now that the many benefits of hypnosis are irrefutable, we are told that
legitimate hypnosis professionals are quacks and that only medical experts are
somehow qualified to practice hypnosis.

Podiatrists, optometrists, midwives, chiropractors and psychologists all
operated within the same realm of quackery in the recent past. It is time to
expose medical professionals who are more interested in protecting their turf
and wallets than protecting the public's health and well-being.

Michael Ellner

New York

Permalink Reply by John Weir on September 26, 2008 at 2:46pm

Michael,
That is a powerful letter and I enjoyed it very much. What an awesome way to solidify yourself as an expert. I never thought of this route before and think its an awesome tip. Letters like yours surely will help a lot of people to see hypnotism in a new light. How did you find that column in the Washington Post to respond since you are in New York? Did you use a google alert to notify you of the editors column? Any information you can share would be a great help. Thanks so much for the excellent post!
JW

Permalink Reply by Michael Ellner on September 26, 2008 at 4:34pm

Exactly - I saw the news item via a google alert for hypnosis-

We are in an ocean of opportunities!

Permalink Reply by John Weir on September 27, 2008 at 2:33pm

Steve,
Have you ever considered doing volunteer work for your college to get experience? I used hypnosis to put myself through school and one of the ways people found out about me was doing work at my school. The Great American Smokeout is coming up which you could volunteer your services for or go to student activities/peer tutors and let them know that you can help students with test anxiety. This really helped me get practice working with clients and also helped to generate word of mouth business. Just something to think about. Hope all is well and I wish you many blessings.
JW