Dream Come True: Hudson Henry's Good News Granola Featured on Today Show with Kathie Lee and Hoda 4th Hour

This morning, I was watching the Today Show at my sister-in-law's house while on a family visit. I watched a few segments that featured some products and organizational ideas (that possibly were sourced by organization experts in other small business communities like In Good Company), and I thought about Hope Lawrence at Hudson Henry Baking Co., and how her dream (as stated even on her packaging) is to have her "Good News Granola" featured on the Today Show. She's been working towards that dream and it's actually how she found Tin Shingle: she wanted to get on the Today Show, and discovered that our business membership program had the components to make that dream a reality.

After making my children's breakfast, I'd actually turned off the Today Show so that I could focus on getting them dressed and getting out the door. Moments later, Sabina, Tin Shingle's co-founder and my business partner, emailed me saying: "It happened!!"

"What happened?", I wondered. I dove into the email to learn that Kathie Lee and Hoda just aired a feature of Good News Granola as one of their Favorite Things. (It's also my favorite granola snack that is always stocked in my cupboards...)

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What a glorious way to start a Monday!  Now here's something you should know: Tin Shingle is all about empowering entrepreneurs like Hope to build buzz - that's what we do, day in and day out.  We demystify PR, social and online marketing via education, motivation tools and tips so that you can be sure people hear, see and read about your business.

The founder of this granola company that was featured on the Today Show, Hope Lawrence, is a member of Tin Shingle and is especially inspiring to me because she is a mother of two boys who started her granola business so that she could build a business and raise a family. Every decision she makes is made around her family. She doesn't move as quickly as other entrepreneurs because she's on a family vacation, or picking up her son, or is baking granola. But she does it at her own pace. Sabina and I call that a "holistic business" approach, and it's one we try to live by as well. Very often, entrepreneurs in our field don't have families, and they have many more hours in the day and night to grow their business. But the pace of an entrepreneur with a family is slower, and that pace just paid off for Hope.

Hope landed this segment with persistence, patience and by following Tin Shingle's Membership Program. She used several Tin Shingle membership tools to help her get featured on the Today Show. Here is how Hope got featured on the Today Show with Kathie Lee and Hoda:

• Hope read our (free) articles in the Ask the Expert section to learn how to pitch the Today Show and Kathie Lee & Hoda 4th Hour.
• She attended our #PRTuneUps including the virtual classes about how to land a spot on a morning show.
• Hope used our community and resources to check and get feedback on her pitch to strengthen it before she sent in to the show's producers. This helped ensure her pitch was in tip top Today Show shape.
• Hope used our Media Contacts to pitch her product to the right producers.
• Hope then used strategic emails to follow up with the producers and then waited when she needed to. When she had questions she took them to our Community Forum to get thoughts from others who'd been in her position.

And really, Hope had hope for her product, created fantastic packaging, has a darn cute website, and has enough spunk and "wow factor" that her brand was a fit for the show.

We are so thrilled!

See her packaging here, which truly illustrates her belief in the power of good messages. She states her mantras, one of which is to "Ask for what you want". See the first sentence in the packaging "My dream is that this little granola company will allow me to spend my days with my boys and land a spot on the Today Show":

Done. Mission accomplished thanks to Tin Shingle's Membership Program. Play the clip below:

How To Get on The Wendy Williams Show - A Simple How To Guide

Wendy Williams.  How can you miss her?  This one time NYC radio DJ has taken her eponymous show to the top of the television ratings, meaning that if you're an expert or brand featured on the program, you're going to get major, instant exposure.  It it possible? Heck yes! In fact, one of our Tin Shinglers did and you can read her story here, showing us once again that small businesses do have a chance to be profiled on the "small screen".  In the article below we'll outline HOW to get on and we have also included a link to the producer contacts for you to get to piching.  But first: master the art of pitching Wendy Williams!

There are two things to ask yourself when daydreaming about being on The Wendy Williams Show.  First:  are you even a fit for the Wendy Show and Second: how do you get yourself on the show?

Never fear, we're hear to answer these questions and give you tips on making the process so easy that you'll figure it out faster than you perfect your classic, Wendy "How You Doin"!

FIRST: DO I BELONG ON THE WENDY WILLIAM SHOW:

Let's be honest, not everyone is meant for Wendy.  You know who is certainly not ready for Wendy?  Anyone who has never watched the show.  If you simply want to be on it because you hear it's a big show and you want press, stop here.  You aren't allowed to read any further until you have watched some clips of the show.  I'll make it easy, you can find them HERE.  If you've read any of my DIY PR posts you know that I'm a big believer that you must study the press you're pitching.  I mean you Google the names of people you go on a date with, you'd never hire a babysitter without checking references, you check Yelp when you are considering restaurant choices...Important things take research.  Getting press for your business is important.  Don't take it lightly.  Even in regards to shows that take, well, everything lightly.

How will you know how and what to pitch if you have never seen the program?  How will you know what types of guests and segments they do?  How will you know what types of products they love?  How will you discover clever ways to spin your product in?  Do your homework.

The WW Show isn't like the Today Show...That said they follow standard procedures most days.  They have celebrity guests, cover hot topics, gossip, celebrity news and from time to time they have on experts with tips or products that are great for Wendy's audience. 

The show itself describes the program as follows:

Entertainment talk show, hosted by New York DJ, syndicated radio host, TV personality and best-selling author Wendy Williams. Show features advice during the "Ask Wendy" segments, "Hot Topics" commentary on news headlines, and interviews with celebrities and everyday people.

What do Wendy & her audience love?

Before you get to part two below (the How to get on) first be sure you or your product could be reasonably spun into the context of the show.  Wendy loves bling, Wendy loves fabulous, Wendy loves cool and fresh tips and tricks, Wendy loves celebrity attachment, Wendy loves beef jerky (okay irrelevant but true).  At the same time, Wendy's viewers like value, they like getting product giveaways, they like tips that will help them save money and be fabulous, they love product segments that won't break the bank....Can you provide these things?

Okay I PROMISE I Belong on the Show, How Do I Get On...

There are so many ways to "get on" a show and connect with producers.  From calling the station to finding them on Twitter (yes they're there).  It's an internet world, it's a networked world (both on and offline) and the contacts are the easy part here...A call to the show describing what/who you are and asking for the best producer for your topic can even net you a contact, but that's only half the battle...See below for a useful set of tips all under the "how" category:

If you are a potential expert who will be sharing tips and tricks, create a quick and to the point pitch that introduces you, links to your website/reel, gives a few sentences max about what you do and why you're qualified and good for Wendy, and then bullet out 5 or so segment ideas that you could demonstrate.  Make sure segments are highly visual and fit with Wendy's demographic.

Introduce the option of giveaways.  Whether you are a product or service, The Wendy Show loves giveaways, and if you can give to her audience (you will need to provide approx. 225 products or gift certificates) it could help you.  If you are an expert, find one of the products in your segment that will offer a giveaway.  It's a great "cherry on top" of your pitch.

Court the experts who go on the show! If you are a product based business they are unlikely to do a segment all about you alone, unless you're really newsworthy and you are a Hot Topic...So, track the experts who make regular TV appearances and share your product with them, for future segments they'll be doing.  This will not only help get you on Wendy, but on several other shows as well!

ASK to send a sample.  Don't blindly send them (hello waste of time and money).  But if you can find a great person to send them to, you have a better chance in showing your stuff!

Pitch yourself into a Hot Topic! You may not be worthy of a whole segment, but you could tie yourself to a Hot Topic. Be cool, newsworthy, find a celeb attachment to your product and you could be well on your way!

Be Fun!  Have you seen this show? It's not serious! It's not NBC Nightly News, it's a blast! You must bring the blast - if you are up tight and not bringing the energy and you're an expert, this isn't the show for you! Get your Wendy Shoes on (tall and fabulous) and bring it!

Be timely: Valentine's Day, Spring, St. Patrick's Day....That's what we're looking at on deck - get creative, make a seasonal segment up that is fresh and fun.

Don't give up and think it will be easy!  If it took one try (or two) to get on a national TV show everyone would be doing it! Pitch a lot, pitch patiently and politely and await their feedback.

Open up your net!  Your network that is!  You'd be surprised how many people are separated by only a few people from their media goal.  You know where you won't find them?  In a silent bubble of disconnect? Put it out there, look on social media, network, ask around...If you are a good fit you're bound to have people who can help connect you!

Last but not least!  Acces the Contacts via Tin Shingle:

Our contact database is packed with TV producer contacts including those from Wendy Williams!  If you're a member of Tin Shingle, you can access them directly via this database!