1508 – The Authority of Broadcast TV with TenXPR’s Samantha Jacobson

0:28Hey there, thoughtful listener. commercial-free entrepreneur wisdom podcast. Agency owners, consultants, coaches, and B2B service providers, head to upmyinfluence.com slash guest. And I'd love to promote your expertise to our amazing audience. Let's get on with the show.

0:54With us right now, Samantha Jacobson. And Samantha, you are the founder and CEO of 10XPR. That's found on the web at 10XPR.com. Samantha, thank you so much for joining us. Thank you for having me. I'm excited to be here. Well, this is my background. So I'm really, I love geeking out on media, but my bread and butter historically has always been local broadcast TV. It has been such a joy to build my other company doing that. I love being in service of local TV audiences. It's just such a joy. And that's one of your primary, well, not just local. I always tell people, don't have a local because local's great.

1:43I mean, local, your one segment can play five times. It could play seven times. It could be go to the other affiliate in another city and they could use it. So there's a lot, that one segment can go a lot of places. So I love local too. So I agree with you on that. You know, in fact, so what I would do, that's exactly what happens. So here in Orlando, so both Fox 35 and KMG. So I'll go in and do the segment. And this happens today more so than I think it did previously, where I'll record this segment and then I'm getting media pings. Oh, it just aired in Jacksonville. Oh, it just aired in Tampa.

2:21It's up in the panhandle of Tallahassee. And I'm like, that's awesome. Like I'm not getting into all these markets. And most of these stations now have streaming too, and they need content for that. So if it's a good fit, they'll take it and run it on there too, because the younger generations are watching TV on their streaming, their phones, their apps, wherever it is. So it's amazing. Yeah. So it's almost like, again, it's just kind of a doorway into really great authority and influence. So obviously I'm super biased because I love it. But can you talk a little bit about maybe your background and how you develop these superpowers to help clients get broadcast PR exposure?

3:08So I specialize in national, local and streaming. That includes all the morning shows, talk shows and business shows to local to national streaming as well. So to answer your question about my background, I'm I'm myself and a former TV producer. I was a TV producer for 20 years. The last show I did was CBS This Morning with Charlie Rose, Gail King and O'Donnell. I actually went there with Gayle King and her senior producer. I was her booker. I booked for all of them, but mainly Gayle's booker for six and a half years. I had a baby. I woke up. Donald Trump was running for president. School shootings were at an all-time high.

3:51Time to get out of the newsroom. So the natural transition is to go into PR, which who knows better how to pitch people than somebody that was on the other side getting the pitches all the time. Um, and, uh, so I did that for three and a half years. COVID happened a blessing in disguise for me. I started my own business. Um, I was doing full PR for a while and then friends in the business started hiring me to white label my work and to put their clients on TV. And then I realized, oh my God, this is what I really love. It feels like I'm back in the newsroom. It's exciting. it's fun it had all the elements I love and I decided you know what I'm gonna niche down and I'm just gonna do TV so uh again it's national local and streaming and it's kind of what I do and it's earned media it is not pay for play I get that question a lot that yeah which we should point out because um there are uh I would say a surprisingly large amount of pay for play opportunities in the TV world as, you know, kind of the industry is, you know, always kind of getting its footing.

5:00So I come from the real news world of like, yes, and CNN and places like that, where we do not pay for any stories. It is against news policies. It would not be considered news. We do not do that at all. So if I get you booked on a show, it is a hundred percent because a producer wants to tell your story, they're going to tell it the correct way. Authentically, it will not say sponsored by anywhere. Um, and you always get better material when they actually tell your story for you. Um, and it's just always better. I mean, it's truly third party people know when they're watching a commercial, you know, and it just doesn't carry.

5:45So it's kind of like this, you know, the whole thing between, you know, like authentic, true earned PR versus marketing. So right. It was like this, you know, kind of the thing is, you know, you have a little bit lower control over messaging, but higher trust as opposed to marketing, which is ultimate control, but very low trust. A hundred percent, a hundred percent agree. Yeah. So the authority for it is amazing. I mean, obviously, and then they put it online and the backlinks you get from it and all of that is just, listen, people see their websites growth tremendously when they're on shows, whether it's local, national, whatever it is, they're definitely seeing growth from it, hits, people signing up, whatever they're pushing them to, you know?

6:29Yeah. And Samantha, you know, just getting the visibility, I've always kind of argued is, you know, that's about half the value, you know, And the authority that you get from broadcast TV is like, we value that. When if you have a friend, neighbor that gets highlighted on television, like that's a big deal. Like my, you know, when it first started happening for me, my mom and dad were so proud and like everyone was talking about it. And I'm like, oh, cool. You know, it's so, so, but it's, you know, just getting that though, again, it's, there's so much opportunity around what you do with that.

7:15And you've kind of alluded to that. Would you mind maybe talking about kind of this kind of visibility versus, oh, no, no, no, you can make this payoff, you know, based on how you use this placement? Well, so, I mean, there's definitely different ways to handle it. Obviously, there's two ways to get on TV. One is that you have a great story that somebody wants to tell it or a great product or a launch that you're doing. And the other one is, is there's something going on in the world that you're the expert that they're going to use you and your expertise to explain to the audience why or how they should be using this or doing it or how to understand something.

7:51So there's two ways to get on, obviously. And then obviously on the other side of it, I mean, saying as seen on ABC and having those links and being able to show your audience that follows you, that you were the expert NBC Miami decided to put on to talk about X, Y, and Z. I mean, it drives authority and I don't even know the word, authority and belief, I guess. You are the expert in that field for sure. So you take a TV segment, obviously put it on social media and blast it out to your own audience. Because again, this TV audience, like they're just getting to see you for the first time. I don't know that necessarily the phone's going to be ringing off the hook.

8:38it can, you know, the phone's not necessarily going to be ringing up. But what's the marketing rule? They say people have to see you seven times before they pick up the phone. I mean, that's average. So yeah, I mean, the point is, is visibility is all about getting out there and having your brand seen, your name seen, people looking at you more than once before they actually buy. So yeah. So, you know, in addition to obviously sharing it, blasting it out on social media, archive that, you know, get that on your website. so that when people go to your website, they're like, oh my gosh, this is someone that has been sought after in the media for their thought leadership and their expertise.

9:17And so long-term, what that does for your sales is it's going to improve your conversion rates. It's going to improve your sales cycles, especially if you're an agency owner, a coach, consultant, you know, leveraging that can really make your life a lot easier. People will just treat you a little bit different. I agree with that. I do agree with that. I mean, it's acceptance on the mass scale. I mean, that's for sure. It's like saying that you're at this level of authority, for sure. How can someone get themselves prepared to be media ready? So what's super important, there's a bunch of things.

10:01I mean, I actually have a free ebook that anybody can download if they want from my website about five hacks you could do right now to book yourself on TV. I also have a guide of like things you need to worry about, like your background, where you're looking. Are you looking at the green light or are you looking down here? Also talking in soundbites is probably the most important thing and knowing the exact four points you wanna get out. No matter, listen, three minutes is fast and it's super fast when you're on TV. Um, and you have to be able to make sure whatever you want to get your point across the four things that, you know, it inside and out, no matter how that question's asked, you can get that line out and make sure that you, you, you hit those marks of exactly what you want to communicate.

10:47Yeah. I would imagine in your time, um, working with Gail and, and others that, uh, you probably had to encounter great guests and maybe some bad guests. What are some, what are some things that a bad guest might do anywhere in that process of either getting on TV or once they're there and they're doing their segment. It's not communicating with producers. If you're not telling them what your four talking points or five things to make sure you get out, if you don't tell the producer, they're not going to tell the anchor to make sure they ask those questions. So the most important thing you have to do is supply those talking points.

11:29Also, what is your call to action? What do you want it to say under your name? What is it? Where do you want people to be able to find you and how do you get there? So, I mean, they might not let you put a website, but you can put your book. You can put other things. If you want to share your book cover, they'll do that too. The other thing is, is you should never be the person promoting your product or business on TV. Let the host do it. It is their job. So that's the most important thing. Like they'll show your book cover. They'll say you're the author of it. Let them do their job. Just be able to listen really well so you can answer the questions well.

12:07That's another like super important skill. It's like you really need to pay attention to make sure you're answering exactly what the host asks. Take me behind the scenes. Imagine you have a guest and they say something like, well, on page 38 of my new book, you too can be a winner. you'll discover the three amazing secrets. What's happening in the green room at that time, at that point? They're going, wrap it up. Yeah. Get them off the stage, wrap them up. Yeah, there's a big old shepherd's crook and they're like, they're like, roll the commercial. Yeah, don't be a bad guest. Okay, so listen, you know, when you do get your opportunity, you know, just, I know from my perspective is play the long game here.

12:48Be an indispensable resource for the producers and the talent because you will be called back if you can really shine and make their job awesome. The other thing I would say is make sure you answer right away because they're looking and the first person they get to fill that spot is the one they're going to put in that. So you've got to be quick because honestly, they all want to go home at the end of the night. They don't want to be sitting and waiting for a guest to figure out if they have a guest to fill that hole. It's their job to fill it. They have to keep it going. it. So that's a really important thing also.

13:20So like be responsive. If you hear from a producer, respond right away. If you get an offer, respond right away. Do not wait and think about it. You need to answer right away. Yeah. Your website, 10XPR, T-E-N-X-P-R.com. When somebody goes there, obviously they're going to learn and you have the free download with the PR hacks to getting in broadcast TV. But what else would you recommend people do? There's definitely, you could take media classes where you learn how to talk and be trained to actually answer the questions. I suggest if you've never done TV, that's a really important step for you.

14:00It really teaches you how to talk in soundbites, how to be able to listen and pay attention. And like little things, Like what's a Chiron? If a producer says that to me, what does that mean? Yeah. And things like that. And like what your background, like the other thing that drives me crazy is like, if you're doing a zoom, make sure your bed is not unmade behind you. It drives me, that drives me. Or if there's windows behind you, what can they see? Yeah. Yeah. Lighting, all of that sort of thing. Yeah. It's, you know, again, just, you know, it's not that difficult, but if you just, you know, again, Samantha, working with you, working with a professional, you know, really great PR professionals will know what to look for so that again, this media placement doesn't turn into just like a one and done.

14:49Like you don't want that. You want those long-term relationships. Yeah. The gift that'll keep fun given. Yeah, totally. And listen, if that's a hot topic and it's in the news every day, come up with new bullet points, share them. What else can you talk about? What are other angles? If that's how you stay in the cycle and like people keep calling. Yeah. All right. Samantha Jacobson, 10XPR.com. Samantha, this has been fantastic. Oh, what types of clients do you work with? Like, what are they doing? So, you know what, for me, I like it all over the map because producers don't want the same thing for me every day.

15:25So it could be a brand, a business owner, a CEO of a publicly traded company. I love doing earnings when they have earnings come out and doing all the business shows. It could be anything like that, an organization that's like has something they're launching. So for me, it's all over the map. Experts in their fields are great too, because we can jump in lots of news jumps. All over the field is good for me, for sure. All right, Samantha Jacobson, founder and CEO, 10XPR, T-E-N-X-P-R.com. Samantha, thank you so much for joining us. Thanks, Josh. Great to see you.

16:08Thanks for listening to the Thoughtful Entrepreneur Show. If you are a thoughtful business owner or professional who would like to be on this daily program, please visit upmyinfluence.com slash guest. If you're a listener, I'd love to shout out your business to our whole audience for free. You can do that by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or join our listener Facebook group. Just search for The Thoughtful Entrepreneur in Facebook. I'd love, even if you just stopped by to say hi, I'd love to meet you. We believe that every person has a message that can positively impact the world. We love our community who listens and shares our program every day.

16:52Together, we are empowering one another as thoughtful entrepreneurs. Hit subscribe so that tomorrow morning, that's right, seven days a week, you are going to be inspired and motivated to succeed. I promise to bring positivity and inspiration to you for around 15 minutes each day. Thanks for listening and thank you for being a part of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur Movement.