Gaining Media Attention With Katrina Cravy

Gaining media attention may not be an ongoing goal for many growing businesses. However, a former TV host and Emmy-award winner in consumer reporting explains that if we can pitch the media effectively, we can sell anything to anyone. Katrina Cravy is the author of On Air: Insider Secrets to Attract the Media and Get Free Publicity. This easy-to-read book also has far-reaching applications for presentations, pitches of any type, and YouTube videos.

Who is Katrina Cravy?

Katrina’s roots in journalism can be traced back to high school when she wrote her first story in the school newspaper which stirred some controversy at the time. After a twenty-year career in TV broadcasting and an Emmy Award to her name, Katrina is co-founder of CharismaQ, a new platform for uncovering the inner charismatic genius of their client base. She is also the author of On Air Insider Secrets to Attract the Media and Get Free Publicity: Broadcast Your Business, our main topic in this conversation.

Interview Highlights

• High school – the young writer who wanted to make an impact.
• From reporter to author, coach, and business owner. “I wanted to solve a problem everyone was asking me.”
• The hard work behind getting a client prepared for a 60 Minutes interview with Steve Croft. This video gives a glimpse behind the scenes.
• When attempting TV or media attention of any kind, the wrong question is asking how to get on TV. The right one is, “How to get attention?”
• The book has broad applications for those in sales, anyone in the c-suite, and those preparing for presentations (Katrina prefers the term performances, and we agree).
• The primary reasons why PR is rarely on the mind of business owners.
• An overview of the H.A.V.E. formula and the part of the framework those using it struggle with the most.
• Think like a journalist when using written communication to news anchors, assignment chiefs, or producers–use bullets to address what, when, where, how, and the benefits for the audience.
• The best approach to connect with reporters on social media.
• The lightning round: raising your volume, the seven-second rule, feelings over facts, fifteen vs. twenty-five seconds, the power pose, and killer-filler words.

Pearls of Wisdom

On preparing for the biggest stage –

We are told that the world is a stage, but so many people are so under-rehearsed. We haven’t rehearsed for some of the biggest moments of our lives and we think that winging it is going to work because it worked for us in the past, but it’s not really a thoughtful approach to how you want to get in front of people.

On the importance of gaining media attention –

If you can sell it to the media, you can sell anything.

On crafting great emails –

The biggest problem I see, especially in professional public relations companies, is that they write too long. You think you’re being very smart by writing a really long thoughtful email. That’s actually the worst thing you can do. Journalists need to know and any other person needs to know the ‘what’, the ‘when’, the ‘where’ and the ‘how’ in bullet points. Tell me what’s in it for me and for my audience. If you can look through your email and take out every ‘I’ and change it to a ‘you’ statement and make it about the other person, you’re going to see much greater results.

On the seven-second rule –

The seven-second rule is how long you have to make a first impression, and it is probably even less now. I would encourage everybody to ask other people what story am I telling about myself? What story can others read on me before I’ve opened my mouth because you get seven seconds and you want those seven seconds to be the best they possibly can be.

On the power pose …

If you’re ever walking into a meeting that you’re not feeling great about or if you’re feeling less than physically getting big, a power pose can change the way that you feel. Your body will react to your power pose that you do for two minutes.

Find a walk-up song that gets you pumped up as you’re walking in the door. You need to be on top of the situation.

On the importance of PR readiness –

Even on your own social media channels, you have to be willing to tell your story. And you have to tell it well enough to make people go, “Hey, I’m really I’m attracted to this.” I think that business owners don’t think about public relations in the bigger part of their strategy because they’re just doggy paddling and just trying to make everyday work.

Books Mentioned

1. The Power of Moments by Chip and Dan Heath
2. Upstream, also by Chip and Dan
3. The Four Agreements

Important Links

1. Katrina’s Amazon author page
2. CharismaQ
3. Katrinas personal website
4. Twitter account

During our lightning round with Katrina, we played the killer-filler game. I’m hoping when Katrina updates her book, that she includes this exercise as it’s a fun yet powerful way to eliminate filler words in our everyday speech. I learned about this game when doing research for this conversation.