The Secret to Getting Booked on Oprah

I get this question all the time. How do you get booked on Oprah?

I’ll tell you what I’ve told everyone else. If you haven’t done dozens of media interviews, you don’t want to be on Oprah. You’re not ready.

It’s like a high school quarterback saying “I want to play in the Super Bowl.” He’d want to have a lot of victories notched before he got a chance to play in the biggest game of his life.

Sitting on Oprah’s couch is about as good as it gets from a PR perspective and if you’re booked on her show, you had better bring your “A” game. You get prepared by doing a ton of local and national media interviews.

But assuming that you’ve done that and you’re finally ready for Oprah, here are some tips from some of her former producers:

1) Watch the show

Producers say it’s amazing how many people pitch stories to the Oprah staff without ever having watched the show. Start recording episodes and really study them. Watch the rhythm of the show, the type of guests she has on and the subjects she tackles.

Would your segment actually fit? Or is it better suited for another TV talk show? There are plenty to choose from–Dr. Phil, Ellen, Rachael Ray, Regis and Kelly, Bonnie Hunt, Wendy Williams and the list goes on.

2) Pitch something topical

For instance, right now a marriage counselor or sex therapist talking about Tiger Woods and cheating is much more likely to get booked than other less timely subjects.

If a news item breaks on a subject that’s right up your alley, that’s when you should grab the phone and call one of Oprah’s producers.

3) Try, try again

Oprah has dozens of associate producers who field calls from potential guests and publicists. The producers don’t always talk to each other. If you get rejected by one, don’t give up. Just call back and ask for another producer and begin pitching again.

4) Check out Oprah’s website

The producers are always posting show topics that they need of guests for. Here are three topics they’re trying to book guests on right now:

–Oprah, MAKE OVER MY MAN!!
–In Need of a Marriage Ref?
–Did you take “Oprah’s No Phone Zone Pledge?”

Oprah’s been doing her show for 25 years. After interviewing thousands of guests she’s announced that this is her last year. She’s leaving her show to concentrate on opening her very own channel, OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network in 2011. Maybe it’s finally time you worked up the courage to get yourself booked. What’s stopping you? Fear of rejection? Isn’t that what Oprah’s message is about in every single episode?

Take Oprah up on her advice. Be your best self and claim your place on Oprah’s couch this year.

www.oprah.com

Georgia Funeral Director is Buried in Free Publicity

A Georgia funeral home owner “urned” millions of dollar in media attention by offering a free funeral to anyone who signed up for an unusual promotion.

Barry Miller of McGuire, Jennings & Miller Funeral Home came up with a legally binding agreement.

If you signed the contract admitting you planned to get behind the wheel while intoxicated on New Year’s Eve, crash and kill yourself while impaired, Miller would give you a casket, flowers and a burial all for free.

It’s a freebie that no one signed up to accept.

“In today’s society, sometimes you have to go to the extreme to get attention and that’s what we were trying to do,” says Miller.

Long before he opened his first funeral home, Miller lost a loved one who was killed by a drunk driver. He says the pain of that memory is what inspired the offer.

When asked whether it was just a publicity stunt, Miller told reporters, “If I had not lost a family member, you could call it that, but since I have been on that side of the fence, the answer is ‘No.’ I’m doing this to motivate people to make the right decisions.”

Miller has made this same offer every year for the last decade. Only one person has ever expressed any interest, and that didn’t last.

If anyone ever does sign up, Miller says his first call will be to local authorities to provide them with the name of the New Year’s Eve celebrant officers will need to watch.

Mr. Miller says he’s actually received letters from alcoholics saying that they had fallen off the wagon but the free funeral offer really shook them up.

Watch the MSNBC report

My calculator would explode if I tried to add up the value of all the free PR Miller has received over the years with this simple offer that he’s never had to honor.

Miller makes my personal PR Hall of Fame with this idea. He markets his funeral business without spending any money and sends a chilling message to would-be drunk drivers at the same time.

How about you? What can you dream up that will accomplish the same thing for your business? Smart public relations isn’t about what’s in your press kit or how clever the headline is on a news release. It begins and ends with the story idea itself.

The old ways of doing PR are dead and buried. Writing meaningless press releases and sending them into newsrooms simply doesn’t work. They’re inundated with them. Of course, you’re welcome to keep doing it that way, but in the words of Barry Miller, “It’s your funeral.”