A No-Cost Back Door To Getting On The Radio
Today I’d like to share a resource with you guys that only came to my attention recently. It’s called RadioGuestList.com and it’s essentially a no-cost back door to getting radio publicity and exposure.
In a nutshell, RGL is a service that connects radio show bookers, podcasters, talk radio show hosts and even television producers with expert guests to fill their shows.
So how do you qualify as an expert guest? Well, there are two ways to look at this…
First the obvious one: You are likely a recording, performing, and all around professional musician and therefore an expert on the subject. I subscribe to RadioGuestList.com and there are regular listings for shows seeking musicians and entertainers. Why not you?
But that’s fairly straight forward. There is also a second, and perhaps more important approach you can take. As we’ve discussed in a lot of the Music Marketing Manifesto and Insider Circle training, there is a goldmine of traffic and easy publicity for artists who look beyond their genre and ask themselves what “niches” they fall into.
Getting any kind of publicity (radio or otherwise) is going to be hard if you are only looking for publications that want to share the latest rock, pop, or hip hop artist with their listeners/readers. When you pitch yourself that way you are going up against huge artists with (sorry to break it to you), much more relevant and interesting stories than yours.
HOWEVER, if you look beyond your genre and think about yourself as a three dimensional human being with other interests, passions and experiences, you’ll usually start to see other areas of your life in which, with a little polish, you can easily share and help others, and for all intents and purposes qualify as an expert.
To use myself as an example, here are a few areas that have strongly defined me as a person over the last few years.
• I am a singer songwriter who has released three albums.
• I am an online business owner and marketing consultant.
• I am a parent.
There are many more items I could list, but each one of these can be broken down into a “niche” or topic of discussion which I feel I can bring a lot of value to. IE, music, business, and parenting.
And funny enough, over the last three weeks I have seen listings on RadioGuestList.com from shows looking for musicians, entrepreneurs, and even guests who can speak on the topic of parenting.
Here’s an example…
Each and every day my inbox is filled with new listings from radio shows, talk shows and podcasts looking for guests to speak about various topics of interests.
Obviously these “niches” will be different for everyone but just about everyone has some area of passion and expertise in their life which they can share with an audience and ultimately tie back into their career as a musician.
The nice thing about these radio opportunities is that not only do you often get a chance to share your music, but you are also given a large span of time to connect with your audience as a human being. Moreover you are not only given an opportunity to pitch your site (ideally your squeeze page), but you are usually encouraged to do so and often endorsed by the trusted host of the show.
A few quick tips for anyone looking to quickly establish themselves as an expert on a topic…
There is a difference between trying to build a career as an expert on a topic vs. simply building enough expert status to leverage for press and radio exposure. However if you are going to be regularly approaching show producers and pitching yourself, there are a few quick things you can do to help your chances…
• Be informed – This is obvious but it’s needs to be mentioned. Read a book or two on the topic and get your talking points down.
• Build a niche specific web site – A simple WordPress blog will cost you next to nothing and can be thrown up in an afternoon. Even a tab on your existing site will help. You just need somewhere to send show bookers in your initial pitch email. If you are pitching yourself as a musician than chances are you already have this covered.
• Practice – Speaking on a topic for the first time can be a little nerve racking for many. It won’t hurt to have a friend or two interview you in preparation. If the interviews turn out well, why not start a podcast of your own?
• Everyone loves an author – By no means is this required but nothing says expert like having a published book on the market. It’s surprisingly simple to write and publish a short 50 page ebook and publish it to Amazon’s Kindle platform via BookBaby.com.
Does RadioGuestList.com actually work?
Well, I’ve replied to a whopping two listing opportunities over the last couple of weeks and I just landed my first booking. In fact I landed two bookings from the same producer; Biz Talk w/Dr. Ande and Entertainment Radio. Broadcasting in Sacramento CA area on 88.7 Cable FM & Xfinity Channel 18 in late January.
How about you?
Have you been marketing yourself to niche specific audiences? Please share your thoughts and experiences in the comments below. I’d love to hear your story.
It would be nice for the next Reason or whatever upgrade could pay for itself instead of having to starve for half a year to pay for it on a pension. I never was a business tycoon. Maybe I should throw caution to the wind and try some of these ideas. I just don’t have that sort of confidence.
Thanks John.
Thanks John for this helpful insight, I just signed up for their e-letter.
Cheers
Francesco
Sounds good. Hopefully you’ll be able to land a few on air interviews. Best of luck.
Enjoyed the article very much, I’m planning on using the strategy……thanks John.
That’s awesome Sonny. Great to hear, and thanks.
Always inspires me to read your stuff John, If only I could learn to apply it.
Glad to hear you find it inspiring. I think all one can do is take the first step, then follow it with another. Get in in touch if we can ever help.
One thing I would love to do is have a CD out. All my music is going to YT, and no where else. Its great but I seem to have no input as to how to do all these things, and like someone says my ‘label’ is independant, how do they do all this? I went to a Tafe College praying they would teach me all this stuff in a kind of supportive way, but no luck there. As you say its that first step, but in my case in which way is that? I rather do things properly from the start or not at all. Okay thanks for the comments and yes I do read all this, just the business side seems a bit over my head. Thanks and have a Good Xmas and New Year also.
Info needed alot. Answered some of the things I’ve been asking myself for awhile now. Bout to forward this to my partner.
That’s awesome Vincent. Glad to hear it.
Excellent ideas as usual John, Hip Shakin Mama is a very active online personality and these leads and ideas are just the type of thing that we can take to heart and put into practice. All the best!
That’s awesome Richie. Glad I could help spark a few ideas.
thanks John, its an intersting read, and i look forward to following your advise.
Thanks Aggrovator. Happy to help.
Many people don’t realize that talkback radio is desperate for guests.
Producers will assign their hosts a percentage of hours on their shift that must be filled with content NOT music.
So if you’re a guest who can fill time with entertaining content then you’re likely to get invited back over and over.
A couple of other tips:
# You can get a lot of interviews very quickly by doing a fax broadcast. If you combine what you’re doing to raise money for a charity you some companies will send a broadcast fax to hundreds of radio stations completely free.
# Always think ahead. If you come up with one sexy exciting topic for an interview on radio think of another even sexier topic that you can talk about. Then you can pitch that next idea while you’re talking to the host.
That’s how you go from one interview to a whole series of interviews that can last for years.
Great advice Andrew. thanks for sharing the tips.
Thanks for the information i was unaware of this site.
Happy to help Gerald. Thanks for reading.
Fabulous suggestion for generating traffic. What i love is it encourages us to be who we are and share what we know…Authenticity vs. marketing tricks…Seems to be the direction Search and rankings is going anyway. I will be trying this. Hail to the era of the jack-of-some-trades!
Awesome Scott. Glad you dug the post. Thanks for the comment.
Nice – I’ll be interested to check this out.
HARO, at http://www.helpareporter.com/ is doing something similar, and I’ve heard of people making bookings through them as well.
Hey Mike,
Yeah, HARO is a great resource. II don’t find it to be as ideal for musicians, but for those that have a well developed niche it is definitely worth checking out.
Hey John – are you able to tell us what angle you used to get those bookings? Will you be wearing your “SEO for musicians” hat, or is this something else?
I am a composer, guitarist, and singer/songwriter who has been inspired by many of your posts. Thank you for sharing your wisdom John! My musical niche is combining open tuning tapping and percussive fingerstyle guitar with positive, inspirational lyrics- sort of like Michael Hedges meets Dave Matthews and Joni Mitchell. I’d like to express that reading your post reminded me of the pure connection to human beings, sometimes which can relate to topics that do not necessarily involve music. Following your dreams, being ambitious and goal driven, and connecting to your creative spirit is something that I aspire alot to share with others. It’s great to incorporate this message not only through the music, but through speaking on the topics and writing blogs about it. Again, thanks for doing the same for us John! http://www.christielenee.com ; http://www.youtube.com/christieleneemusic
Thanks Christie, that means a lot.
Hey John,
Thanks very much for the big shout-out!
Love to see what you’re doing to help musicians with your blog here.
We love musicians, too, and hope to help many of your readers if they sign up for our free publicity interview service emails.
Mahalo!
My pleasure. You guys have a great service?
…”Mahalo”? You located in Hawaii? I’m a born and raised Waimanalo boy myself 🙂
I always look forward to your great posts. Marketing and promoting are always needed and should be focused on each day. I think a niche for myself could be empowering young girls.
Thank you sharing with your fellow indie musicians and artists.
My pleasure CJ, and thanks for the kind words. Glad the post has given you a few ideas. All the best.
This tip comes at the perfect time for me John. Thanks. I haven’t personally though much about marketing myself out to different niches, but you give me a lot of ideas. I’ll get back to you once i have some experience under my belt. Awesome stuff. Thanks.
Thanks Laurie.