If you had 30 seconds to tell your story, what would you say?
Yesterday’s Super Bowl commercials were very expensive 30-second elevator pitches. With millions of dollars at stake, I was amazed at how many companies failed to leave an impression with a memorable message. Here it is not even 24 hours later and I struggle with matching up some of the images with the brand behind a large number of the commercials. For others I can tell you whose commercial it was, but question what the message was that they were trying to communicate. With an audience of nearly 100 million viewers, you want to get it right.
But suppose you are a women-owned business or a small business entrepreneur without a super-sized advertising budget to package a glitzy corporate commercial. If through expert media relations you are given the opportunity to go live on television and pitch your products or services, what would you say about your brand?
In our role as publicist, we booked one of our clients on WFMZ-TV in Allentown and on NBC Philadelphia’s 10! Show recently. In each broadcast segment, he had as little as four to as much as 10 minutes to communicate his message.
While it may not seem like a lot of time – with succinct and targeted speech – these PR opportunities in the Philadelphia market can be extremely effective.

Before you show up on Oprah’s couch, ask yourself what you want to accomplish. At the end of any interview, what do you want the takeaway to be for the audience? What exactly are you promoting? What call to action do you want to get out there? Is the goal for your phone to ring or for people to get to your website? Do you want to sell books on Amazon or do you want to promote interest in your business for future partnerships and funding?
Spending time crafting a powerful, succinct message and delivering it with honed speaking skills will be memorable to the audience…no matter if it is a 100 million viewers or a party of two in an elevator.