I’ve been doing TV interviews for many years, Bloomberg, CBS’s The early Show and lots of FOX TV, just to name a few.

They can be a frightening experiences (live, no editing, no script) or they can be powerful opportunities (SEO, website content, exposure) to add credibility to your brand.

Last week I did a 30-minute, live segment on the upcoming Super Bowl commercials. So how did I pull this off – answer questions on the spot, with poise, and share a good amount of branding insight?

Check out the 2-part interview here:  Part 1 |  Part 2

Remember this interview was a soft news angle with no controversy, I was not on the hot seat. If I was, I would have a different set of steps for that type of situation.

9 steps to smooth live, 30-minute TV interview.
1.) After the interview is booked, start doing your homework on the topic and think about the audience. I’m fortunate to have an awesome assistant, Lauren, who sourced three pages of stats, trends and history on the Super Bowl subject.

2.) Then send the producer, or your contact, a list of suggested questions with some key points from your research.

3.) The day before, review your key messages – out load.

4.) Before you go to the station, mentally get in the zone, run through your questions again.

5.) Always wear solid colors, not prints or tweedy fabrics.

6.) Women, where three times as much make-up as normal. Guys, wear powder, shiny face is not a good look.

7.) Arrive early, review your notes again. Breathe full breaths from your stomach.

8.) Write out your notes on index cards. Bring them with you.

9.) During the interview, pretend you are talking to your best friend, look at them. Relax.

10.) After the interview, get a copy. Watch it and learn from the experience. What can you do better next time?

For more Fox news interviews, view:
Can a Victoria’s Secret bag make you feel sexier?
Are you ready if your brand explodes? 4 important brand saving action items.

This week, Taco Bell experienced a greasy brand bump by some hungry law firm.

A lawsuit was filed claiming that Taco Bell was falsely advertising its beef tacos, and allegedly the 99 cents delicacies only had 30% or so beef in them, which is not enough to be defined as beef by the USDA.

The late night comedians, social media channels and journalists have been having a meaty joke and news fest. Taco Bell fired back on Friday with a news statement and full page ads claiming they are grateful in a “Thank you for suing us” campaign and welcomed the opportunity to talk taco with all of their loyal customers and anyone else who is starving for the truth. Additionally since the lawsuit broke, Taco Bell has furthered it’s position by posting ‘The Real Beef Facts’ and a quirky video touting the Super Delicious Ingredients Force, a Saturday Night Live parody that’s worth checking out.

Taco Bell says its beef is 100 percent USDA inspected, and that its recipe is 88 percent beef, 12 percent “secret recipe.”

So did Taco Bell do the right thing, by playing a bold brand defense card after a very public attack?

I’d bet my next tacos on it. When a company is a well known brand like Taco Bell with lots of good, beefy brand equity, sitting back and not saying any thing is not an option. I like that they responded quickly and took a very confident stance on the issue with provable facts. As for the law firm, maybe they need to think outside the goofy, greed gene.

Also, check out: Miracle Whip and Cate Blancett. What do these two have in common?

Most big companies think they are ready. They have a crisis plan in place, communication experts on call  and teams of well media-trained executive spokespersons.

Small companies are often less formally prepared, most don’t have a plan, limited professional training and fewer lawyers, but can actually do better surviving  a tragic accident, scandal  or even a big, bad company misstep.

How do either of these transpire?

Bad things can happen to good and bad companies on any given day.  Take Toyota, Goldman Sachs, BP or a small restaurant that unknowingly buys some tainted product and WHAM! A bunch of customers get violently sick and one dies.

I recently did a guest appearance on FOX TV on the subject of surviving a big brand hit. What do you do? What do you not do? How do you navigate through a brand disaster?

My advice to all brands, companies and personalities:

1) Do have a plan. Whether you are a mega corporation or a small business, if you’ve got accident exposure, you had better have a thought through worse case situation and how you will respond.

2) Have the right spokesperson delivering  the voice of the brand in troubled waters. BP’s Tony Haywood was the wrong guy from the get go. Not American, overly arrogant and a loose canon of  the wrong sound bites, “I want my life back”.

3) Carefully balance litigation issues and public opinion management.

4) Don’t play the blame game, take the pounding and get back to business.

This past month, I’ve had a great month of media exposure. FOX, Forbes.com, American Express Open Forum all coming out soon. I will share the links when they all publish. If you are interested in earning more publicity for your brand, check out all my secrets are in the Publicity Ta-DO list. It’s a step by step simple game plan that’s been working for me and can work for you.

And 3 myths about the practice I’m going bust.
I believe publicity is worth the investment, if the coverage is relevant to your brand, if it appears in the right media outlets and you earn enough frequency.

As a small business owner and entrepreneur for nearly 28 years, I’ve been very fortunate to have earned a lot of media exposure in my career. I’ve been on Bloomberg radio and TV, CBS’s The Early Show. I’m a regular guest on FOX TV, I’ve been featured in Fast Company, The New York Times, The New York Post, The Miami Herald and Entrepreneurial Magazine just to name a few. This media coverage or publicity has directly made deposits in my bank account. I’ve gotten speaking gigs, consulting assignments and sold books. But let me bust a few myths about this powerful practice, too.

1) Publicity is free.
Not true. Sure every now and then a company gets a call from a media source and it didn’t cost much, but some good luck and timing, and a nice feature story appeared. However in most cases, earning publicity takes time and money. Whether it’s hiring a professional PR firm, a writer or communication planner to craft to your message and or PR materials, or just the expense of getting your news out through buying lists or postage. It’s not free.

2) All publicity is good publicity.
Not true. In the mid 90’s one of my clients was involved in an FBI investigation. As a vendor, my company was dragged through this mud even through we had nothing to do with the crimes in question. This was very unfortunate and did not help my business. If fact, the negative publicity through pure association with the company hurt my business.

Additionally, when an executive or employee stays something off message or stupid, this can dramatically impact the image of the brand.

3) Hiring a big name, expensive PR firm will guarantee you publicity.
Not true. In addition to working the media myself, I’ve engaged PR firms for fees of $500.00 to $15,000 a month. There is no correlation between fees and success. The magic sauce is the degree of contact with media that means something to your business, the real news you have to share and timing. If you are a small company there are many things you can do to get publicity all by yourself. I created a TA-DO list of getting publicity. These tasks and methods have worked for me and can work for you, without investing a boatload of cash. It’s not free it will take some time and strategic actions.

In the Publicity TA-DO list you’ll learn about

• A free daily service that features what reporters are looking for and how to connect with them
• What’s needed in your press kit
• And the BIG “never-dos” when you are building a relationship with a reporter

Beyond, my tips in the Publicity TA-DO list, PR Newswire, one of our partners has some great publicity insight on messaging, release distribution and campaign analytics. They’ve put together a special PR toolkit of discounts and resources for the Oddpodz community. I’ve been a customer of PR Newswire for my companies and my clients. They have been a valuable resource for media lists, distribution and competitive monitoring issues. This is worth checking out.

In closing, publicity should be part of every company’s marketing mix. It is a great way to further position a brand as an authority in their industry, leverage third-party opinions and provide repurposeable content for search engine optimization.

Tasha Cunningham from the Miami Herald called me last week about a story she was working on about monitoring your brand’s reputation. It ran today in the business section in print and online. I’ve also posted the tools with live links in our Free Biz Findz blog. Thanks Tasha!

Tasha covers lots of useful entrepreneurial issues and shares small business tips. See story below.

Do you know what people are saying about your business online? Since the advent of social networking, businesses large and small have been scrambling to keep up with the many comments, questions and complaints they get from consumers through social media. Today, when a person is upset with the service or product they get from a business, they head to sites like Twitter, Facebook and Yelp to vent their frustrations. In a matter of minutes, that complaint can be seen by millions of people around the world, adversely affecting a brand’s reputation, diminishing future sales and driving away potential customers.

Note: While Jerrilyn focuses on marketing to women, this insight could apply to men also.

Ladies, as the chief of our households, we decide which brands to buy at the grocery stores. We search online (newspapers too) for coupons to save on them to stretch our budget.  We don’t stop buying milk, eggs, bread, butter, etc., for our families just because our budgets are tight.  They are the staples in our households.

Advertising and marketing are the staples for our businesses.  Just because money is tight, we can’t stop doing them.  We just have to find a more affordable way to do them.  Burger King, McDonalds, Nike, LA Fitness, Sears, and more can teach us a lesson when it comes to marketing in a slow economy.

They changed their pricing, created less expensive products and services without bells and whistles, quadrupled their marketing and advertising, combined physical space to reduce their overhead, and much more to ensure they keep their market share.  You are probably saying to yourself that you can’t afford to spend any more money than you already are on your marketing and advertising.

Guess what?  Yes, you can and it won’t hurt.  :-)  You can even find a way to actually reduce your costs by 20% or more.  If you’ve been reading any of my posts, you know that I’m referring to cross marketing and promotion.

Let’s start with your business cards.  Team up with two or more complementary companies to create joint business cards.  It will make you look bigger and smarter by offering your clients and prospects access to products and services that complement yours.  This is perfect for PR, marketing, and advertising specialties consultants who are networking mavericks.  They can promote each other at all of the numerous monthly events they attend.

Next, let’s give your blog a cross marketing makeover.  If you are currently paying to have someone maintain your blog, host it and or in the process of having one designed, you can team up with 5 or more complementary companies to develop an industry specific blog that makes you look like a genius.  You will save money every month while boosting your credibility.  I recommend Promembershipservices.com if you need a blog designer.

Now, let’s give your products and services a makeover.  Come up with a product or service that can be provided in a group setting.  Coaches have perfected group coaching sessions and membership web sites.  Come up with your own unique concept for a business club or membership site.  It will benefit your current clients who’ve slowed down spending money with your company.  Get them excited about your company again.  You will also attract new clients.

Finally, make your Facebook page bring in sales.  Team up with 5 or more of your business associates to create a joint Facebook page that sends traffic and sales to your individual sites as well as your Facebook pages too.  Big companies give away items on a daily basis to engage with their followers.  You and your associates can take a page from their marketing book.  Purchase Facebook advertising together to get premium traffic.  You can take it one step further and purchase LinkedIn advertising to drive traffic to the page.

These are only a few ways you can utilize cross marketing and promotion this summer. Whatever the time or cost investment required to market and advertise your company, you can reduce it to make it more feasible in this rocky economy.  Make a list of what it takes to successfully market and advertise your company to boost its sales.  Then plug in your business associates.

Georgia businesswoman Jerrilynn B. Thomas is the founder of Marketing 2 Women International.  Jerrilynn’s specialty is facilitating cross marketing partnerships between complementary business and professional women to help them increase their female client base while saving time and money on their marketing.  Her services are very exclusive.  She works with women in select business 2 business fields and limits the number per state and international areas.  Visit Womenpartner.com to see if your business is a fit for her expertise.You can follow her on Twitter @WomenPartner, Linkedin.com, and on Facebook.

It’s an average day, you are doing 507 things and the phone rings. It’s the local media and they are shooting off 21 questions at you for a story they are working on. Then, your other phone rings and a customer walks in. YIKES, what do you do?

You take a deep breath and in a calm voice, you ask these simple questions. Write down your answers, so you can follow up in a timely fashion and be ready to help the reporter and earn some valuable publicity.

First, let the caller know you are in the middle of something, but you will get back with them very shortly. Before you hang up, ask them these questions.

1. What’s their name, the person making the inquiry and calling
2. What’s their title (Reporter? Editor? Producer? Researcher?)
3. Who do they work with, what organization (Newspaper? TV? Radio? Blog? Website?)
4. Get their contact information
5. Find out if they are they on a deadline
6. What type of story are they working on (Hard news? Feature? Blog?)
7. What is the topic/theme of story?
8. Who else have they spoken to?

Now with this information, think about how you can help them, build your brand and get your message out.

Call them back after you have thought through their story agenda and how you can weave in your message.

When you call them back, arrange for a quiet area where you can talk and won’t be distracted. If it’s during business hours, let your other staff  know this is an important call and don’t disturb you.

• Do some homework on the reporter and the story they are working on.
• Have your bullets points in front of you. (The message you want to convey)
• Don’t say anything you would not want printed or broadcast. Nothing is off the record.
• If appropriate, invite them to your business where you have visuals, or offer photos of you or your product that can add to their story.

If it’s a written piece, don’t ask to review it before it runs, that won’t happen and just makes you look not media savvy.

If the story runs, drop them a thank you note and file their name for future items you may need a good contact in the media.

A positive story in the media can mean a lot to any business. For more ideas on how to get publicity for your business, check out the Publicity Ta-Do list.

Check out the great news feature on Oddpodz! And man did it drive traffic. Plus the really cool thing was the NBC news network we were on in Tampa (TBO.com) also owns the Tampa Tribune and today they ran an ad on the second page of the paper promoting the Oddpodz spot with a photo and great plug.

So how did all this happen? I wrote a one page pitch letter and placed a call to one of the anchors, and bingo, she loved the idea and sent out a crew.

It’s not always this easy. But a small business should not forget about this opportunity to get exposure. Think about how your business can help viewers. Don’t think selling, that’s where buying ads comes in, think share wisdom, advise and educate.

Our angle was all the free biz findz, the idea engine and network. If you’d like to see some examples of news query letters go to docstoc and there are tons to look at from big and small companies. Just type in “news pitch letter” in the search. And don’t forget to check out the Free Biz Findz under PR tools for other no-cost ways to get publicity.