WWK Ep 043: Jamie Maglietta: How to Get Booked on TV
01:00:00:03 – 01:00:02:06
Jamie Maglietta
getting booked is is strategic.
01:00:02:08 – 01:00:07:21
Jamie Maglietta
You aren’t just showing up to talk about your book, you need some relevancy.
01:00:07:23 – 01:00:14:18
Jamie Maglietta
you want to be thinking about where your audience is in that moment in time, as well as the news cycle.
01:00:14:20 – 01:00:37:00
Rory Vaden
What actually makes someone newsworthy. How do you go from sending pitches that get ignored to having producers actually come looking for you? Jamie has seen that process from virtually every angle. She’s worked at CNN, Fox and MSNBC. Producing, booking and line editing some of the biggest shows in television.
01:00:37:00 – 01:00:42:00
Rory Vaden
And she’s learned that getting attention isn’t necessarily about being the biggest name in the room.
01:00:42:00 – 01:00:43:01
Rory Vaden
Sometimes
01:00:43:06 – 01:00:45:18
Rory Vaden
about knowing exactly where you belong.
01:00:45:19 – 01:00:48:19
Jamie Maglietta
She didn’t chase press, she produced it.
01:00:48:21 – 01:01:00:00
Jamie Maglietta
And I have so many examples of people that are controlling their brand. In a way, it’s so strategic that they are not chasing press presses coming to them.
01:01:00:02 – 01:01:10:13
Jamie Maglietta
before you invest in media, before you invest in like a PR firm, it’s better to be packaged, know your strategy and start on your own, building that audience and testing the waters.
01:01:10:16 – 01:01:24:23
Rory Vaden
So what does it actually take to become known in this conversation? Jamie breaks down how to get booked on national television, how to pitch journalists without getting ignored. Why your lived experience can be more valuable than your credentials,
01:01:25:01 – 01:01:30:12
Rory Vaden
and the surprisingly simple mistake that can send a pitch straight to the trash.
01:01:30:12 – 01:01:33:06
Jamie Maglietta
You don’t want to be pitching the wrong sources.
01:01:33:06 – 01:01:40:12
Jamie Maglietta
Preparation allows you to produce. It gives you freedom.
01:01:40:14 – 01:01:56:15
Rory Vaden
How do you get booked on national television shows? What can you do that’s going to make the media care about your expertise? What are the steps to creating more exposure and awareness with what you do in getting featured in publications?
01:01:56:15 – 01:02:08:18
Rory Vaden
In addition to that, we’re going to talk about how to be camera ready, how to know what you need to do to prepare when you’re getting on camera, how to have a checklist to walk yourself through to build your confidence and to be more confident on camera.
01:02:08:18 – 01:02:30:20
Rory Vaden
And we’re going to talk about all of that on this episode with my good friend Jamie Magdalena. So Jamie is an Emmy Award nominated media strategist. She has worked at CNN, she’s worked at Fox, she’s worked at MSNBC. She’s done basically every job and role that you can imagine on these national television shows. She’s dead producing and light editing, and she’s done booking.
01:02:31:00 – 01:02:34:14
Rory Vaden
She also has a degree from Harvard, so she is an expert.
01:02:34:14 – 01:02:47:04
Rory Vaden
She’s actually one of our brand builders, group members and clients. And that’s where I met her. And when she was telling me that what she does is get people on camera ready and media ready, I was like, oh my gosh, I get asked this question a lot.
01:02:47:05 – 01:02:56:14
Rory Vaden
I would love to feature you on our show. And so that is why she is here. Please welcome Jamie Magdalena to the wealthy and well-known podcast. So great to have you.
01:02:56:15 – 01:02:57:20
Jamie Maglietta
So glad to be here.
01:02:57:20 – 01:03:00:16
Rory Vaden
So easy question. How can you get us all booked on national TV?
01:03:00:16 – 01:03:04:13
Jamie Maglietta
Like you can see, just like show up, you’re going to get booked.
01:03:04:16 – 01:03:04:21
Jamie Maglietta
You know,
01:03:04:23 – 01:03:07:02
Jamie Maglietta
getting booked is is strategic.
01:03:07:03 – 01:03:12:11
Jamie Maglietta
It’s all about thinking through who you are, who you serve, a lot of what you teach.
01:03:12:11 – 01:03:21:06
Jamie Maglietta
But I came up with a framework to help people on that journey of becoming bookable and to really produce themselves, and I call it known and it’s an acronym.
01:03:21:06 – 01:03:22:03
Jamie Maglietta
So K
01:03:22:04 – 01:03:38:09
Jamie Maglietta
is for Know Your Message. You know, we talk about clarity and marketing and it’s important as a marketing strategy. But clarity is also a booking strategy. A producer needs to know who you are so they can sell them to their team and what you’re going to offer and the value
01:03:38:15 – 01:03:38:20
Jamie Maglietta
add.
01:03:38:21 – 01:03:45:06
Rory Vaden
Explain that part to me about sell them to your team. So like for those of us that don’t live in the media world
01:03:45:07 – 01:03:49:15
Rory Vaden
you’ve got a producer. Is that who you’re pitching? Are you pitching a booker?
01:03:49:15 – 01:03:54:13
Rory Vaden
Are you pitching a producer? Are you talking to a director? Like how does it what’s just like.
01:03:54:13 – 01:04:08:05
Jamie Maglietta
So it depends on, you know, where I was in my career, it’s all different. So when I was a producer, say, I’m lining a show, I’m preparing each block and determining what goes where and how much time I’m going to give you. Right.
01:04:08:07 – 01:04:09:09
Rory Vaden
Okay. So that’s where the producers.
01:04:09:12 – 01:04:10:04
Jamie Maglietta
The producers.
01:04:10:05 – 01:04:10:23
Rory Vaden
The outline of.
01:04:10:23 – 01:04:35:10
Jamie Maglietta
The show. Right. If I’m mapping out the outline of the show, in some cases an executive producers determining what’s going to go in those spots. And so you have a pitch meeting and everyone on the team, potentially 20 people, come to the table with 2 or 3 ideas, guest ideas and angles, and they need to be able to sell you as the right fit for that show and the audience, because you have to think about it.
01:04:35:12 – 01:04:41:01
Jamie Maglietta
You aren’t just showing up to talk about your book, you need some relevancy.
01:04:41:03 – 01:04:58:07
Jamie Maglietta
And, you know, I interviewed a former Fox International correspondent, Connor Powell, for my podcast, Unknown to Known, and he’s now a podcast expert, and he was saying the same thing that you’ve said before. You need to know your story. You need to know your why and that transformation you’re going to provide.
01:04:58:08 – 01:05:08:00
Jamie Maglietta
Because if you don’t and you just keep showing up and pitching and failing and you’re going to burn out. So you need that clarity. You need to know your message.
01:05:08:00 – 01:05:36:16
Rory Vaden
So okay, so when I as I hear you talk about it, I hear you saying, like I have to have clarity about my story, my expertise, what I do. But then when you use the word relevance, there’s two other things that I think about. And maybe this isn’t right. Genuinely, I don’t know. I think there is relevance of what’s happening in the news cycle and like what’s trending and how do I tie into that?
01:05:36:16 – 01:05:57:04
Rory Vaden
But then there’s the other part. What you’re just talking about is like, what’s relevant for the media network? Like, you guys are all having this meeting of like, this vision you’re putting together for the show. How do I know how to make myself relevant? Like that’s very invisible to me. So, like, is that sort of is that sort of like the trifecta of what you have to do.
01:05:57:05 – 01:06:21:23
Jamie Maglietta
Or about people magazine, for example, they want celebrity stories. If you’re not a celebrity or you don’t have a celebrity hook, you shouldn’t really be pitching them in some instances. You know, when people magazine, they have those human interest stories. So maybe you find a way to hook in that way. Same if like you’re watching Fox and Friends and you watch it all the time and you know that they’re going to have a fun cooking segment at the back end of the show, right?
01:06:22:00 – 01:06:44:06
Jamie Maglietta
I’m an author. I have a cookbook. I’m going to pitch myself. Well, what’s coming up? I don’t know, Memorial Day. I’m going to cook up a barbecue and pitch them this great barbecue idea. You’re becoming relevant to what they need right now in the news cycle, but also providing them with a creative way to attend to their audience, because the audience is maybe preparing for that barbecue.
01:06:44:07 – 01:06:44:22
Rory Vaden
Right.
01:06:44:22 – 01:06:45:06
Jamie Maglietta
So
01:06:45:06 – 01:06:52:01
Jamie Maglietta
you want to be thinking about where your audience is in that moment in time, as well as the news cycle.
01:06:52:02 – 01:06:55:00
Jamie Maglietta
You know, if people are on social media talking about,
01:06:55:00 – 01:07:13:22
Jamie Maglietta
parenting a lot and there’s a lot of parenting, you know, homeschooling. I’m homeschooling my kids right now. You know, you see that conversation taking place over and over and over again as a producer, you’re going to say that author that pitched us last week is all about alternative ways to raise your children.
01:07:13:22 – 01:07:19:03
Jamie Maglietta
Maybe we should bring that author on to talk about this news that’s happening right now in our school system.
01:07:19:03 – 01:07:41:11
Rory Vaden
Yeah. And I think that’s important for everyone to hear that. If if you get turned down from the media, it’s not necessarily that we hate you and we’re never have you. A lot of it is. The thing you’re pitching to us right now doesn’t fit what we’re covering right now. And so it’s less of like, I don’t like you, and it’s more of like a dating service of like, you fit, we fit.
01:07:41:12 – 01:07:44:03
Rory Vaden
We have a match for what they’re looking for. Is that.
01:07:44:03 – 01:07:54:23
Jamie Maglietta
I would say so. And and whenever I would get a really good pitch, I would save it. I may not reply, but I did save it in my inbox. Interesting. And that’s something people don’t realize is
01:07:54:23 – 01:08:00:04
Jamie Maglietta
in most cases you are organizing and thinking ahead and thinking this could be a good voice later.
01:08:00:04 – 01:08:00:20
Rory Vaden
I had a,
01:08:00:22 – 01:08:16:13
Rory Vaden
you know, in my mind, I used to think it was all famous people who got in the media, which in some cases is is true. But I had this friend named Matt who wrote a cookbook. I’m pretty sure it was called The Southern Gentleman’s Guide to Cooking, and he got himself on national TV all the time.
01:08:16:18 – 01:08:34:06
Rory Vaden
And the way he did it is he he taught me something. He said, Rory, you got to remember that TV is a visual medium. They don’t just want a talking head. They have to be thinking about how to make it visual. And he said, as a chef, I’ve got a big advantage. And that’s why he would always do like the what we’re grilling for the barbecue for 4th of July.
01:08:34:07 – 01:08:36:00
Rory Vaden
And he crushed it.
01:08:36:02 – 01:08:39:04
Rory Vaden
How do we so
01:08:39:09 – 01:08:51:17
Rory Vaden
the difference between a media pitch that gets put in the trash and ignored, one that gets saved and maybe looked at, and one that you go, I’m taking this to the pitch meeting today, and we’re going to try to get this person on the show.
01:08:51:17 – 01:08:58:00
Jamie Maglietta
So a lot of times when you are looking for really unique guests, those pitches come in handy.
01:08:58:02 – 01:09:18:05
Jamie Maglietta
A lot of times you’re looking at articles online to find a fresh voice that may not already be in the media tied to your story, so I always push people to print first. You want to be showing up in articles quoted as the expert, because that’s going to help the trail of support to pitch you to the team.
01:09:18:05 – 01:09:18:09
Jamie Maglietta
You
01:09:18:12 – 01:09:36:10
Jamie Maglietta
can then say, oh, Rory was quoted in Forbes magazine, and he’s now talking about this, and he came out with a new book. Oh, wow. That’s great. Cool. He’s an expert. Maybe we should consider him. You want to have a trail? And so that’s what my online audit helps people do, is figure out where they are, what they have, and what they need.
01:09:36:11 – 01:09:52:02
Rory Vaden
That’s interesting because when I, you know, I’ve gotten I’ve been on national TV a few times, but the three biggest the first time I got on Fox and Friends was right after I hit the New York Times, but I was 29 years old, so I think that was unique, and it was a cold pitch for my media company.
01:09:52:04 – 01:10:18:22
Rory Vaden
The second time I got on Fox was because I had built a relationship with one of the one of the hosts who was like following me. Then most recently, when we got on Good Morning America, we released a national research study that was a PhD led study, and I released it on Twitter. And somebody from ABC affiliate somewhere saw it, reached out to us and said, hey, I want to interview you.
01:10:18:22 – 01:10:29:10
Rory Vaden
And it was like a local affiliate late night thing. And then we didn’t even know. And then somebody told us, they’re like, you’re on Good Morning America right now. We didn’t even know it was for Good Morning America.
01:10:29:14 – 01:10:52:07
Jamie Maglietta
You need to realize that when people are searching you, they’re doing it at odd times of the day because they were working around the clock. And if we’re looking you up and we come across you, and it could be any time of the day, it’s all about how quick you respond. A lot of people don’t realize that the faster you reply is, it’s going to increase your chances of getting.
01:10:52:07 – 01:10:53:12
Rory Vaden
On if you reach out to us.
01:10:53:12 – 01:10:55:03
Jamie Maglietta
If we find you and reach out.
01:10:55:04 – 01:10:55:14
Rory Vaden
Yeah.
01:10:55:16 – 01:11:09:09
Jamie Maglietta
If you pitch and I’m like, can you come tomorrow? Are you on tomorrow? You have to be ready. And that’s also why I started, you know, teaching people how to be on camera ready, having those lights in your house, just in case you can’t show up to a studio, having a mic
01:11:09:09 – 01:11:12:03
Jamie Maglietta
ready. If you want press, you should be prepared.
01:11:12:09 – 01:11:39:09
Jamie Maglietta
And that also gets to that other letter of known, of nurturing your purpose and your presence. You want to be showing up online consistently, purposefully and strategically, building community conversation and content that resonates with your audience, that builds engagement, that potentially attracts the media to start following you. You want to be there consistently before you need attention, right?
01:11:39:10 – 01:11:42:15
Jamie Maglietta
Your online presence right now is your pre-interview,
01:11:42:20 – 01:11:45:05
Jamie Maglietta
and there’s so many great examples.
01:11:45:06 – 01:11:59:15
Rory Vaden
So even for a major national TV producer, you’re going to go look at my social media to decide, like before you reach out to me or you’re going to go look at my blog post or you’re and that’s like, that’s the pre-interview.
01:11:59:15 – 01:12:01:23
Jamie Maglietta
Your online presence is your pre-interview.
01:12:02:01 – 01:12:17:07
Jamie Maglietta
You know, I would try to pitch so, you know, say there was a podcast and we needed to book someone for it. And you’re looking for so many great, like there’s so many great people out there. Right. And you have all these great names and you’re looking into them and they all just hit a wall.
01:12:17:08 – 01:12:43:08
Jamie Maglietta
They all hit that wall of, I don’t know if I can really sell this. And that wall is there on there, not really present on social media. They’re not leaning into the media ecosystem on Twitter, on LinkedIn, and there’s no articles quoting them, and there’s no interviews of them on YouTube. It’s like if you’re not showing up and strategically positioning yourself across the internet, it’s really hard.
01:12:43:09 – 01:13:05:06
Jamie Maglietta
Now, in some cases we have I have had guests on that didn’t have any online presence, and those were exclusives. You know, I read the book, Trump okay, he’s running for office. It’s 2016. I read one of his books. I was becoming the Trump expert at work. I’m reading his books and I found this one woman quote like throughout his book, Louise.
01:13:05:06 – 01:13:24:11
Jamie Maglietta
And I’m like, who is this woman? Are they still friends? Like, she did a lot with him. I found her, I tracked her down, our team booked her, we did an exclusive interview, and she became a great get because she was able to weigh in at a time where everyone was wondering, how is Trump’s relationship with women?
01:13:24:13 – 01:13:27:12
Rory Vaden
She was close to him, and he was talking about her in the book.
01:13:27:13 – 01:13:29:21
Jamie Maglietta
And they were still friends at the time, which helped his case.
01:13:30:00 – 01:13:36:20
Rory Vaden
Yeah, but you didn’t randomly find her? No. I was like, not randomly. You were digging for it, but what I what’s interesting, what I hear you saying is,
01:13:36:20 – 01:13:47:18
Rory Vaden
it’s not that I have to have a million followers on my YouTube channel. You’re actually looking for fresh voices. But you got to have. There’s got to be a video of me on someone’s podcast somewhere, so you can see, like.
01:13:47:19 – 01:13:48:05
Jamie Maglietta
I need to know.
01:13:48:06 – 01:13:50:04
Rory Vaden
What you’re going to be like.
01:13:50:05 – 01:14:10:23
Jamie Maglietta
I need to know how you’re going to show up on camera. We need to hear how you’re going to perform. Are you going to be able to hit the mark? If I have a three minute conversation, can I get in more than one question with you? I need to know that because if you’re so fresh and we don’t know, it’s hard to trust that you’re going to nail it on on television.
01:14:11:03 – 01:14:28:01
Rory Vaden
Yeah. And I have to tell you, this is my horse story about this. So when I was the first time I got booked on national TV was Fox and Friends. Oh, my gosh, it was a huge deal, right? I’m 29 years old. Yeah. I mean, Dave Ramsey was in the green room and like. Yeah, all it was, it was crazy for me, right?
01:14:28:02 – 01:14:47:07
Rory Vaden
so I did not know this. The media company that I paid to to book us, they had an entire conversation with the Fox News team and agreed to a preset list of questions that they were going to ask me, and my PR firm never gave me the questions.
01:14:47:09 – 01:14:47:20
Jamie Maglietta
Wow.
01:14:47:21 – 01:15:08:07
Rory Vaden
So I’m up there in on national TV, and I’m realizing that Gretchen is asking me questions from a script that I don’t have. And so I can tell because she’s trying to, like, push me through the script and I’m like, they have mapped out a whole thing. And my PR team never sent me the interview script.
01:15:08:08 – 01:15:17:06
Jamie Maglietta
Now, here’s the thing. We don’t want you to have those questions. We don’t want you to know what we’re going to ask. Did you give me questions before we met today?
01:15:17:07 – 01:15:19:19
Rory Vaden
No, no, no.
01:15:19:21 – 01:15:20:16
Jamie Maglietta
You want that?
01:15:20:16 – 01:15:22:03
Jamie Maglietta
That’s not boxing, friends.
01:15:22:04 – 01:15:27:10
Jamie Maglietta
But you want that natural, organic response. And you also. Here’s the thing about that
01:15:27:10 – 01:15:40:05
Jamie Maglietta
I highly recommend if you’re podcasting and you’re thinking, I’m going to send that guest a ton of questions, don’t because they will anticipate the questions. And then when you ask a question that’s not on the list, they get thrown.
01:15:40:05 – 01:15:47:23
Rory Vaden
Off totally. Well, so so here here was the here was the dilemma though. They had on screen graphics that they had mapped.
01:15:48:02 – 01:15:49:10
Rory Vaden
We did that to the.
01:15:49:12 – 01:16:02:09
Rory Vaden
To the interview. So it was like they were they were needing me to kind of say those things to match with the graphics. But anyways, I was comfortable with it because I prefer a non-scripted interview, but.
01:16:02:11 – 01:16:04:18
Jamie Maglietta
Maybe your PR firm just chose not to give them.
01:16:04:18 – 01:16:04:20
Jamie Maglietta
To.
01:16:04:21 – 01:16:06:04
Rory Vaden
You, or they just drop the ball.
01:16:06:04 – 01:16:06:18
Jamie Maglietta
Just drop the ball.
01:16:06:19 – 01:16:07:17
Rory Vaden
They just drop the ball.
01:16:07:17 – 01:16:08:20
Rory Vaden
So I can’t speak for them.
01:16:08:21 – 01:16:14:08
Rory Vaden
Yeah, I don’t know. But anyways, that that stuff does happen. So so coming back to
01:16:14:08 – 01:16:26:16
Rory Vaden
what makes a really juicy pitch, okay, so I don’t necessarily I need a trail. Hopefully there’s video of me on social on YouTube. What about my book? Right. Like
01:16:26:20 – 01:16:31:13
Rory Vaden
like, I want to come on national TV to talk about my book, but you go, you can’t just do that every day.
01:16:31:13 – 01:16:33:15
Rory Vaden
So how do you how do you walk that line?
01:16:33:17 – 01:16:44:17
Jamie Maglietta
So I would get so many pitches and we talked about this where I had books and books, I had boxes of books. I saved some of them, and I went through them recently and it covered my living room.
01:16:44:20 – 01:16:45:09
Jamie Maglietta
They were just.
01:16:45:09 – 01:17:05:09
Jamie Maglietta
Everywhere my fox been, and maybe 2% made air like of those pitches. The ones that stood out, they were sometimes known already celebrity names or bestsellers, you know, you knew you saw that trail of their best seller. So they have.
01:17:05:11 – 01:17:08:15
Rory Vaden
A different category. So that’s one reason the best seller list.
01:17:08:17 – 01:17:26:05
Jamie Maglietta
Seller can help you stand out. But it has to be a pitch. Again, that is relevant. But I would say this you need to be relationship building well in advance of that book, and you need to be providing value to their audience in another way without an ask. And ask is I have a book, I want to promote it.
01:17:26:06 – 01:17:32:10
Jamie Maglietta
Well, can you come on as an expert in your industry and talk about other stories that we need talked about?
01:17:32:11 – 01:17:44:03
Rory Vaden
I gotcha. So, so so you’re still trying. The way you’re adding value is showing up and adding expertise and not just, oh, I have a book I want to come on, but you’re being a like more of a regular contributor.
01:17:44:04 – 01:17:53:09
Jamie Maglietta
And do it ahead of time to, you know, I always say if you have a book coming out, you know, too, if you’re, you know, you’re writing a book. I know I’m writing a book, right? I’m going to write.
01:17:53:09 – 01:17:53:15
Rory Vaden
A book.
01:17:53:16 – 01:18:02:11
Jamie Maglietta
Let’s go. I’m an expert in media. You want to book me on media, I’ll come and talk about it. I’m going to start building those relationships because I don’t need anything right now.
01:18:02:11 – 01:18:04:02
Rory Vaden
Right? Yeah. That’s that’s.
01:18:04:02 – 01:18:09:09
Jamie Maglietta
What I want to be showing up well before you need it. And that’s all about nurturing your purpose.
01:18:09:10 – 01:18:26:20
Rory Vaden
Yeah. I mean, that’s one of our BBG mantras. Build relationships before you need them. It’s interesting to go that applies to media is to go. I need to be a I need to be contributing and supporting you and your stories before. Hey, by the way, can I talk about my book? But but even that, how do I get how do I be relevant to you?
01:18:26:21 – 01:18:32:13
Rory Vaden
You guys are all having this meeting that I’m not in. You’re not? How do I. I don’t know what you need.
01:18:32:14 – 01:18:53:02
Jamie Maglietta
Well, you have to think, like, if you’re pitching CNN, there’s a news agenda. We’re focused on all the news that’s happening. And if the show you’re pitching never really has an author segment, why don’t pitch that show? You want to be finding the right shows that could include you in their in their story, in their show, in their news article.
01:18:53:02 – 01:18:55:20
Jamie Maglietta
You don’t want to be pitching the wrong sources.
01:18:55:20 – 01:19:22:17
Jamie Maglietta
So many times I would get pitched absolutely bonkers stories. I was running a legal show and I kept getting pitched, you know, a hot dog eating contest. So you want to make sure that you’re aligned with your PR firm, or that you are pitching in a more authentic way. I was talking to a few friends that are in the media, and they were saying, your pitches really can resonate when you know who you’re pitching well.
01:19:22:17 – 01:19:41:00
Jamie Maglietta
So if it’s a journalist and you’re like, hey, I saw this article you wrote, here’s my point of view on it. You know, maybe there’s a way to fit me in in the future. Keep me in mind building relationship next time you’re pitching. Hey, you know, I really appreciated your your content that you put out on YouTube about this topic.
01:19:41:01 – 01:19:51:07
Jamie Maglietta
I am an expert in this and I actually disagree. Here’s my take. And it doesn’t have to be an email. I tell people, you could be doing this on Twitter. You could do this on LinkedIn.
01:19:51:10 – 01:19:52:00
Rory Vaden
Oh, interesting.
01:19:52:01 – 01:20:14:12
Jamie Maglietta
My little secret tip is, and this is how I sometimes got guests, they would tweet an article and say, hey, this was posted in the USA today. They had this expert on that. I’m an expert too, but I disagree. Here’s my point of view. Right. And then they would send me this tweet you know exchange or I had actually I had her on my show, Nina Jankovic.
01:20:14:12 – 01:20:24:04
Jamie Maglietta
She was in the Biden administration. She, you know, was bullied a bit online and she wrote a book about her, her experience. She’s coming out with a new book, by the way.
01:20:24:07 – 01:20:34:05
Jamie Maglietta
But Nina and I built a relationship on Twitter, and I, you know, I saw what was happening to her as a journalist. And I had reached out and said, I see you’re getting bullied.
01:20:34:06 – 01:20:41:02
Jamie Maglietta
You know, this is awful. Like, I would love to stay in touch. But what she did on Twitter is what everyone should be doing now.
01:20:41:04 – 01:20:44:04
Jamie Maglietta
She didn’t chase press, she produced it.
01:20:44:06 – 01:20:52:22
Jamie Maglietta
She went on Twitter with a topic of that was of interest, and started to write an op ed. And then the Wall Street Journal would see this because she has that expertise.
01:20:52:22 – 01:21:04:08
Jamie Maglietta
She worked for the Biden administration. She’s an expert in disinformation. They would say, hey, can you write that for us? For the longest time, she would get op eds and and bylines without ever pitching. And it’s mainly because she’s showing up.
01:21:04:08 – 01:21:15:11
Jamie Maglietta
And I have so many examples of people that are controlling their brand. In a way, it’s so strategic that they are not chasing press presses coming to them.
01:21:15:13 – 01:21:23:01
Rory Vaden
And that’s because they are deliberately commenting on something in the press.
01:21:23:03 – 01:21:23:20
Jamie Maglietta
Becoming relevant.
01:21:23:21 – 01:21:26:19
Rory Vaden
With their own point of view, but on their own platform.
01:21:26:20 – 01:21:29:14
Jamie Maglietta
On their own platform. Or, you know, I had this one guest on my.
01:21:29:14 – 01:21:31:23
Rory Vaden
Show, a fascinating little tip. That’s pretty cool.
01:21:31:23 – 01:21:51:18
Jamie Maglietta
This one guest she was on, she was a TEDx speaker, but that wasn’t what got her attention. She was on LinkedIn and she commented on an article on an on an event that was happening, gave her point of view and CNN international founder, because it built such an engagement. And she wound up getting booked on CNN. And so she wound up on my podcast.
01:21:51:18 – 01:21:56:09
Jamie Maglietta
I try to find people who have had these experiences to support my belief that
01:21:56:09 – 01:22:06:19
Jamie Maglietta
before you invest in media, before you invest in like a PR firm, it’s better to be packaged, know your strategy and start on your own, building that audience and testing the waters.
01:22:07:00 – 01:22:12:08
Jamie Maglietta
And that really does bring me to that. Oh, in my known is own your story.
01:22:12:10 – 01:22:34:21
Jamie Maglietta
The vulnerability that you share now could be the value add later, and the messy middle is worth sometimes sharing. And I had this guest on my show. Her name is Kendall Williams and she has an Instagram account of over 100,000. She began talking about how she was estranged from her son and built a community around it. Journalists and producers started following her.
01:22:34:21 – 01:22:57:03
Jamie Maglietta
She didn’t know, as she’s growing as 100,000 people and they were following her, and they probably were born to her because she was only maybe one of the only people talking about this on social media, Oprah’s producer reached out to her and said, we want you on the show for Oprah. This just happened in the in November, she wound up on Oprah from Oprah, the Wall Street Journal heard about her story.
01:22:57:03 – 01:23:22:03
Jamie Maglietta
They put her in an article. She then was asked to speak at a conference. In the audience was another journalist. That journalist quoted her, interviewed her for a story for USA today. That conversation with her turned into a front page on USA today for Mother’s Day. Wow. There’s so many stories of owning your story and showing up because sometimes it’s not about your academic experience, it’s about your lived experience.
01:23:22:09 – 01:23:33:08
Rory Vaden
All right, so I want to give you some rapid fire. Best advice is this is this is advice that I’ve heard about media. And I just want you to kind of give me like two or false okay.
01:23:33:09 – 01:23:38:09
Rory Vaden
Best way to to get on media is to connect your expertise to what is happening in the news cycle.
01:23:38:10 – 01:23:38:18
Jamie Maglietta
Yes, I.
01:23:38:18 – 01:23:39:05
Rory Vaden
Agree
01:23:39:05 – 01:23:44:03
Rory Vaden
TV is a visual medium. You need to think about how your expertise could be presented visually.
01:23:44:04 – 01:23:48:12
Jamie Maglietta
You need to think about your headline and you need to provide them with those visuals.
01:23:48:14 – 01:23:49:09
Rory Vaden
In the pitch.
01:23:49:10 – 01:23:50:00
Jamie Maglietta
I would
01:23:50:00 – 01:24:04:19
Jamie Maglietta
So I had someone pitching. It was a machine. He came to me, he’s like, I don’t know how to get this. I want it in the hands of Fox and Friends. I’m like, okay, let me hear. This is just a year ago. And I said to him, I don’t know how you make water out of air like you need a visual.
01:24:04:19 – 01:24:22:02
Jamie Maglietta
You have this a cool product, you need a visual. So they made a video and they started to include it in the pitch and they started to get press. It’s all about giving me all the all I need to see this on TV, to see this for my audience and for this instance as a product turning air into water.
01:24:22:02 – 01:24:26:12
Jamie Maglietta
That’s pretty cool. But if my audience can’t see it, is they going to believe it?
01:24:26:12 – 01:24:38:14
Rory Vaden
I guess that’s the other reason why data is really a great way to get booked on TV. Correct? Because data automatically, automatically presents the opportunity to be displayed visually.
01:24:38:17 – 01:24:58:12
Jamie Maglietta
Yeah, like having a having having your own study, making sure that that study is backed because online studies aren’t as strong to the media as backed studies. Yeah. You know, by the way, your study, I think it was 78% of Americans will trust people with a personal brand Harvard business. They yeah, I think it was a business review.
01:24:58:13 – 01:25:18:12
Jamie Maglietta
They came out with 1 in 2024. And theirs was very similar in the sense that the the presence online for a CEO or anyone needs to be more authentic. You need to be building that personal brand, and you need to be showing up online to attract not only clients, but to potentially earn press for your brand.
01:25:18:13 – 01:25:32:13
Rory Vaden
Yeah, those are good. Another one, this is from a mentor. He said the media, particularly the television medium, wants soundbites. Not long monologues. True or false?
01:25:32:13 – 01:25:57:07
Jamie Maglietta
Yeah. I mean, you want to deliver your talking points in a way that’s conversational. But if you’re going to just come on and spit your talking points and not provide me with any dialog or again, relevancy to the media, if I’m booking you, I want to know that you can connect to our audience. I’ll say this when I was at Fox, I got to support authors in satellite interviews.
01:25:57:08 – 01:26:17:17
Jamie Maglietta
Okay, so that is a huge opportunity. They are going to be on a ton of different affiliates across the country. Local media is great for your brand because you probably will have more people learn to trust you because they already trust that small network. So you may be able to build your following, starting with local markets over national between us.
01:26:17:17 – 01:26:19:06
Jamie Maglietta
That’s not a question, but that’s a point.
01:26:19:12 – 01:26:20:03
Jamie Maglietta
And what
01:26:20:07 – 01:26:41:23
Jamie Maglietta
happened was in this one, I was supporting Mike Huckabee, and he came out with this book and every interview he would say, okay, who are we talking to? And I’d be like, here’s the call letters, Minneapolis. And he’d say, Minneapolis, all right. And he would Google and he would look up what’s happening in Minneapolis politically that I could weigh in on to provide them something unique for their audience and then talk about my book.
01:26:42:00 – 01:26:59:23
Jamie Maglietta
So that’s what he would do. He’d say, okay, tell them I can talk about this. And they would be so thrilled, because now they can bring Mike Huckabee on a story that matters to their audience and mention that he has a book, ask his point of view on it, and then segue into his book versus just having him on to talk about his book.
01:27:00:01 – 01:27:02:20
Rory Vaden
that’s probably the biggest takeaway for me is
01:27:02:20 – 01:27:19:21
Rory Vaden
I’ve always heard, you know, try to connect your expertise what’s happening in the news cycle. But there’s this other part of it which is that invisible meeting. And to be relevant in that meeting, you have to be familiar with the content that that outlet produces on a regular basis.
01:27:19:21 – 01:27:51:05
Rory Vaden
And it shouldn’t be that hard. You just have to go look at what they produce, watch it, figure out who is their audience, what do these people care about? And go, all right, if I can take my expertise and I can mix it with what’s happening in the news cycle, and I can match it with this outlets exact audience, and then I can write, I guess, a pitch to you to say, here’s how I can talk to this audience about this trending topic, and I’m the expert because of this, that intersection increases my odds.
01:27:51:06 – 01:28:03:19
Jamie Maglietta
Correct? It would. And it’s as you know, I don’t know if I said this already here if we were talking about it, but people want to be pitched with that knowledge, the knowledge of your awareness of what they’re doing and how they’re producing it. Yeah.
01:28:03:19 – 01:28:06:21
Rory Vaden
You don’t want to be a guy pitching the hot dogs when you run the legal show.
01:28:06:22 – 01:28:20:23
Jamie Maglietta
So you definitely want to be thinking of that and watch it, watch the shows, read the articles, consume as much news. And I know a lot of people say that, but it’s really the best way to study and research before you pitch.
01:28:21:00 – 01:28:31:07
Rory Vaden
So so the pitch itself, it’s really about that kind of customization. And then is this just an email to the the booker, the producer, like, who.
01:28:31:07 – 01:28:31:15
Jamie Maglietta
Am I.
01:28:31:15 – 01:28:32:21
Rory Vaden
Looking to send this to?
01:28:32:22 – 01:28:54:11
Jamie Maglietta
It’s all about networking. You know, producers and reporters. We like to connect with people. And sometimes you want to do it casually. And as I said, you don’t want to be asking for something at first. Just building a here’s an article I saw. Maybe it could be a great lead for your next, you know, article yourself. Like, maybe here’s a good hook.
01:28:54:13 – 01:29:11:06
Jamie Maglietta
Here’s something I heard at a conference. Maybe it would be useful for you. I saw this great speaker. You should book him for a guest. I thought of you something like you’re providing value. That’s useful. You’re not bothering me. And then when you’re like, hey, by the way, I’m dropping a book, I’m like, oh.
01:29:11:08 – 01:29:12:00
Rory Vaden
Let me take a look.
01:29:12:01 – 01:29:12:20
Jamie Maglietta
Let me look.
01:29:12:23 – 01:29:27:03
Rory Vaden
And then so I send you an email, and the email needs to connect those three things. Basically your media outlets, audience, a news story, my expertise. And it’s I need to do that in two paragraphs. One paragraph. You want to keep.
01:29:27:03 – 01:29:48:13
Jamie Maglietta
It small. So yeah, you do want to keep it tight. I have read I can’t remember what research it was from. It was a PR outlet. They said that you want to try to keep your first pitch under 200, 200 words because you’re building the relationship, you’re getting in the door, and then after you’ve gotten in the door, then you can provide them with more.
01:29:48:17 – 01:29:49:13
Jamie Maglietta
If you’ve piqued their.
01:29:49:13 – 01:29:51:02
Rory Vaden
Interest, meaning like a second interview.
01:29:51:02 – 01:29:53:20
Jamie Maglietta
Or a second in email or a DM.
01:29:53:20 – 01:30:00:00
Rory Vaden
Oh, I see what you’re saying. So the first message is short, and then if they if they want more, then let them ask you for more.
01:30:00:01 – 01:30:12:00
Jamie Maglietta
And that’s why it’s important that you get with a PR firm when they are to pitch you. That isn’t just going to do a blast pitch, they’re going to do that. They’re going to take the time to understand because it’s a lot of work.
01:30:12:01 – 01:30:13:03
Rory Vaden
It’s a ton of work.
01:30:13:04 – 01:30:30:08
Jamie Maglietta
And that’s why you also need to start it sooner. You know, we were talking about oh, and owning your message. It’s also about widening your reach. And you really can’t become known in your own audience. You got to become known in the audiences of others. So that’s where you really become known. And on that journey, a lot of people say, well, I can’t get on podcasts.
01:30:30:08 – 01:30:54:11
Jamie Maglietta
I don’t know how well what I do with people is I will put them through that visibility launch of packaging them, and then I’ll pitch them to my contacts. I’ll I’ll put them out into the world and maybe connect them to people so they can build relationships, introduce them to my network if you way. But then I will say to them, if they’re really hungry for media to go to the right PR firm, and I have a few that I recommend, and it’s all about matching.
01:30:54:11 – 01:31:13:18
Jamie Maglietta
It’s again, like dating, like you want to match the right people with the right PR firm. You don’t want to just go with any PR firm. And so I would say in that moment, you need to make sure that you’re using the media well in advance of a book launch, because you want to be gaining those legitimizes. Well before you drop that book.
01:31:13:19 – 01:31:33:01
Rory Vaden
Yeah. And amen to what you said there about the right PR firm. The reason you’re hiring them is to do that work, to customize you to each pitch, sending out something on a broadcast. It’s like that, ain’t it? Like we can’t be paying five, seven, ten, $20,000 a month to someone who’s just like, shot gunning? You’re out there.
01:31:33:02 – 01:31:34:14
Rory Vaden
I don’t I don’t think that’s that’s not going to.
01:31:34:14 – 01:31:37:03
Jamie Maglietta
Get it. But that’s also why you can’t pay someone a thousand.
01:31:37:03 – 01:31:58:19
Rory Vaden
Dollars, right? It takes real time and real expertise to pull this together. I wanted to talk to you about being on camera ready? And all of these tips. We’re out of time. Part two. So here’s what I want to do. So. So you have something called an on camera checklist, like a camera ready checklist. Right. All right.
01:31:58:20 – 01:32:17:11
Rory Vaden
So if I’m going to ask you for one great tip before I let you go, but if you’re listening and this is all interesting and you’re going, yeah, I need to be more confident with this. I need to get I need to get more exposure. I’m ready to be out there on camera. Whether it’s lives on social or webinars or podcasts or local TV or national TV.
01:32:17:15 – 01:32:17:18
Rory Vaden
01:32:17:20 – 01:32:26:01
Rory Vaden
You can get this checklist if you go to free brand training, free brand training.
01:32:26:03 – 01:32:30:19
Rory Vaden
You can get Jamie’s Camera ready checklist so you can go check that out.
01:32:30:19 – 01:32:31:14
Rory Vaden
So
01:32:31:16 – 01:32:39:20
Rory Vaden
what is one thing that we all can do right now that will make us present either more confidently on camera,
01:32:40:00 – 01:32:46:16
Rory Vaden
or just a secret tip for performing better when you know lights, camera, action.
01:32:46:16 – 01:32:48:04
Rory Vaden
What’s one thing we can do.
01:32:48:05 – 01:32:56:23
Jamie Maglietta
Well, after you’ve widened that reach? In my known strategy, it’s now those moments, and you’re only going to be able to nail those moments if you are prepared.
01:32:56:23 – 01:33:00:16
Jamie Maglietta
Preparation allows you to produce. It gives you freedom.
01:33:00:18 – 01:33:05:23
Jamie Maglietta
I had Gene Simmons. He was doing a book tour and I took I was asked to take him around.
01:33:06:04 – 01:33:10:08
Rory Vaden
The stage with him a few months ago. And it was it was wild. I got to meet him. He’s great.
01:33:10:09 – 01:33:39:07
Jamie Maglietta
So we got lost and he suddenly became like my uncle, you know, it was like, oh my gosh. So what? What I learned though from him that day was he came in prepared. He wasn’t nervous. He was prepared. And that was freeing. And you can really nail those moments when you feel free. You can also nail those moments if you do what Mel Robbins and Danny Cevallos would do when they were legal contributors, they would be available.
01:33:39:09 – 01:33:53:10
Jamie Maglietta
You know, Danny would Cevallos. He’s now with NBC. He would come on and he would we’d have breaking news and we’d say, can we put you down to two minutes? Sure. No problem. I could do this in two minutes. And we still got in two questions because he knew what he wanted to say, and he nailed it. Right.
01:33:53:11 – 01:34:12:22
Jamie Maglietta
So I would challenge everyone, create content, creating content. Those 32nd reels is going to help you gain confidence in your messaging, so that when you have those moments, you can nail them. And the same with Mel. She was always so authentic in the control room. So what I would always do is check people in and say, oh, hey Mal, how’s everything going?
01:34:12:23 – 01:34:31:21
Jamie Maglietta
How’s your family? Loosen them up. Oh. What are you what are you wearing? You know, like you’re trying to get them loose before they’re on. What are you going to say? I would always ask to. What’s your point of view? So if I’m producing and I’m doing that before someone goes on camera, you want to also kind of do that for yourself or have someone help you loosen up.
01:34:31:22 – 01:34:50:14
Jamie Maglietta
That’s what the Green Room was always for. It’s like those last minute thoughts, those last minute you got this moment. And that authenticity, though, that she would bring is what you see now. And I’ll say that she’s a true inspiration because she’s free and that’s how she nails it. And that’s why she gets.
01:34:50:15 – 01:34:51:02
Rory Vaden
Yeah, she’s a.
01:34:51:02 – 01:34:52:11
Jamie Maglietta
Master, you know, and.
01:34:52:11 – 01:34:53:02
Rory Vaden
She’s a master.
01:34:53:03 – 01:35:01:15
Jamie Maglietta
I think if you’re at home and you’re hearing this, you’re like, well, I can’t be Mel Robbins. Well, maybe you can, but it’s all about practicing and you’re only going to get better if you practice.
01:35:01:15 – 01:35:23:12
Rory Vaden
No. Okay, so I got to meet Mel last year. We spoke, we shared the stage together at a huge event, and she crushed it. And and, you know, it’s like you couldn’t be Mel Robbins today. But people don’t realize she’s been doing this for a long time, a really long. And she works hard. So does Gene Simmons. Gene Simmons is a hard working.
01:35:23:13 – 01:35:24:00
Jamie Maglietta
Hustler.
01:35:24:00 – 01:35:26:12
Rory Vaden
A hustler like these people.
01:35:26:13 – 01:35:27:05
Jamie Maglietta
And generous.
01:35:27:06 – 01:35:44:09
Rory Vaden
Excellence is never an accident. Like, they just they’re just practicing. So when you say be prepared, that’s saying no, you’re talking points. Know your point of view. Be rooted in what you want to say, and then be kind of like ready to adapt and be flexible to whatever comes at you. And to tie that together. That’s what.
01:35:44:10 – 01:36:03:10
Jamie Maglietta
Exactly which is why we don’t give questions. Yeah. Because it it doesn’t allow them to be free because they’re waiting for that next question. Okay. They’re going to ask me this. So I’ll say it there. Well shoot I didn’t get to say what I wanted to say because he never got to that question. Yeah. And that’s where it also comes in handy to have those soundbites.
01:36:03:11 – 01:36:22:02
Jamie Maglietta
Like I said, you know, meet we all in media say media attracts more media. I believe relevancy gets that first piece of media. Then media tracks media. That’s a soundbite. That’s a little tiny bit of information that I’ve prepared that I can deliver when the moments. Right. That’s how you want to think about your talking points?
01:36:22:07 – 01:36:55:08
Rory Vaden
Totally. Well, there you have it, friends. That’s Jamie Magli at some amazingly practical invite advice for you. Here’s what I want you to do right now. So share this episode with someone you know that should be on TV. Share. Share this episode with someone who you know is a guest on podcast, or should be guesting on more podcasts and just send this to them because like, literally Jamie, people like Jamie can charge thousands and thousands of dollars for the kinds of advice in the tips that you that are here.
01:36:55:10 – 01:37:12:16
Rory Vaden
Also, you can go to free brand training for to get her camera ready checklist, check her out online and keep coming back as we help you increase your reach, build your reputation, and make a difference as a mission driven messenger. We’ll catch you next time on the Wealthy and Well-known podcast.