For example, when I did a story about how hot it was at the beach, the angle was usually sun screen, and the expert would be a skin doctor at a local hospital. If a dog bit a mailman, I'd seek out a dog trainer. And if a celebrity got busted for drunk driving, I'd find a magazine writer who followed such things. Finding experts for a video interview was easy! All it took was a phone call to any of a dozen local hospitals, veterinary clinics or magazines. The expert would usually be available within a couple of hours, which was crucial because I was producing stories "day of air" and my deadline was always looming!
Just about everybody wants to be on television. Going "on the air" as an expert is great for one's ego and one's business. And once one television producer puts you on the air, the likelihood that others will follow suit is almost assured. Get on television often enough and you might even be offered a job on a 24-hour cable station, a celebrity in your own right!
But getting yourself noticed in a video is no longer contingent on a news producer calling on you under deadline so he can interview you for your expertise. Let's face it, once I found a retired airline pilot who could explain plane crashes, I didn't need to seek out another one. It is up to you, the business owner, the expert in what your company provides in the way of goods and service, to take the initiative and create your own video interview. Then take that video presentation and post it online, put it on your website, and send a link to it to your local newsroom when something timely happens in the world you can comfortably comment on. Chances are, that video you created will generate a phone call from a news producer under deadline.
And don't forget to smile when the camera light goes on.
