Video didn’t kill the radio star after all!

Radio, along with TV, is the most trusted source of information sharing in Australia and community radio is a fast track to connect with your local community.

Loretta Hart shares shows how you can win at sharing your brand on community radio.

Watch this episode on: YouTube.

Listen on: Spotify, Apple Podcasts.

Loretta Hart’s website: https://Lorettahart.com
Loretta Hart’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/loretta-hart-524972b5/

Transcript:

Lou: Hey! So, I am joined today by Loretta, who is going to tell us a bit about using radio as a medium to promote yourself. I’m pretty excited to hear about this because it’s something that never really occurred to me. So, Loretta applied and it sounded very interesting, so I thought, “Yes, let’s have Loretta on and hear a bit about this.”

Loretta: “I love it, yeah.”

Why Consider Radio?

Lou: “So, maybe you start by telling us why we should consider it?”

Loretta: “Sure thing, and thanks for having me, Lou. Why we should consider it? I love radio because of its intimacy. Because you get to be in someone’s ears, you get to, they get to hear you, they get to experience your vibe, all those things which doesn’t always come across in written text, you know, in a blog or, you know, in a written form in a sales page. So, it’s lovely to have an intimacy about it. The other great thing about radio is it’s often live, so your energy is up. And I don’t know if you’ve ever done pre-recorded videos, you take and you do like 16 takes. I know I stuff that lineup. There’s a vulnerability about being live on radio, so it’s a beautiful form of connection.”

“And I’m involved in community radio, and I’m not quite sure if you know much about community radio, but basically, it’s radio by the people, for the people. There are community radio stations all around Australia, all around the world. There will be one pretty much in everyone’s hometown that you might not even tuned into, but it is an accessible way to be able to get your message out there without having to really feel like you’re competing with the big kids, you know, on the commercial radio stations thinking, ‘I could never get on, you know, Triple M or Fox or whatever the big ones are.’ We don’t need to be there because our audience necessarily isn’t expecting us to be there, you know what I mean?”

The Value of Community Radio

Loretta: “So, I fell into community radio, and I absolutely love it. I never really planned on being in there, but when I started, I was like, ‘This is amazing.’ And I’ve got a platform that I can help elevate people’s voices and messages. And then I started to look out for people who I could have on my program that I could have really cool conversations with. And do you know what happens, Lou, when I reach out to people? Do you know the first thing they say when I say, ‘Would you like to be on my program?'”

Lou: “Tell me.”

Loretta: “They say no. Oh, and they go, ‘But I’ve got nothing. I’ve got nothing to sh… Oh, why would no, I, why would you invite me?’ So, and I think because we often don’t value what we know or our expertise or our thing that we do because we just do it often with a lot of ease.”

“So, what I would, the first, my first tip for anyone thinking, ‘I wonder, no, could I, no,’ yes, the answer is yes. If you are someone who can speak, then radio is for you. Okay, so the first thing is decide that you can, and then you work out how you’re going to get on.”

Getting on Community Radio

Loretta: “So, I’ve got a tip on that. Can I share that, L?”

Lou: “Yeah, that sounds like a good, uh, yeah, next step, right.”

Loretta: “So, what I would do is, so, community radio stations are, they’re not commercial, so they don’t play ads. They, they, they will do community sponsored announcements and those sorts of things. So, we can’t promote businesses. We can’t get on there and, I can’t have you come on and say, ‘Sale, sale, sale, next Tuesday, get down and buy all my stuff.’ That’s not what community radio is about.”

Sharing Expertise on Radio

Loretta: “So, it’s not about promoting a business, but it doesn’t mean that you can’t go on and share your expertise. And we all know when we share expertise, someone goes, ‘Oh, I heard such and such talk about that. They could be my person, my connection. I’m going to reach out to them.’ Do you know what I mean? We all know that when we give value, that we create connection, and that’s what people buy. They buy because they know, like, and trust someone.”

“Yeah, I’m, we’re always trying to build that up. So the first thing you need to do is find your local community radio station, and there’s a whole list of them. If you Google it, you’ll find them in your town. And even if you haven’t got one in your town, you can absolutely potentially be on someone via a telephone link-up, so they can be a couple hundred kilometers away.”

“And then you need to approach them and let them know who you are and what you would be able to come on and chat about. So, like, I can see you thinking, like your eyes thinking. So if you’ve got a service or you’ve got a product or you’ve got knowledge that you can share, what I say to people is think about what the story is for that.”

“So, for instance, this morning I had a family lawyer on my program, and we spoke about nesting, this concept where when people break up, the kids stay at home, and the parents come in and out of the house, right? So she was able to come in and share that expertise. I said her business name, I said her name, she sounded really intelligent and really professional. Do you know what I mean?”

“So, have a think about what is something that I can share, so that I can say, ‘I’ve got this expertise, I’d love to come in and share on a program.’ Does that make sense?”

Lou: “Yeah, it does actually. Like, it’s making me want to say something. I was just thinking, this being on a show is a good opportunity, you know, to share your expertise, but because it’s in an interview format, and you might have like a specific topic that you’re interested in or know a lot about, it gives you the opportunity to chat with someone who may not know very much. So it’s almost like while you’re speaking about your subject with the host, it’s also like you’re talking to the audience and like approaching it as if they’ve never heard about it before.”

Loretta: “Exactly. And so, something that I always suggest to people is, I say, ‘Have you got a blog that I can read?’ Like, say if you were to approach me, I’d say, ‘Have you got a blog, or have you got something that talks about what you want to talk about?’ So that as the host, I don’t have to go and do a lot of research, because we don’t have a whole lot of time, right?”

Lou: “Yeah.”

Loretta: “So, I have a bookkeeper that comes on and talks to me maybe every six weeks. I have a woman who’s a consultant in accessibility and inclusion. And what they do is, they will go, ‘Hey, Loretta, what are we going to talk about?’ Like, ‘I don’t know, what are we going to talk about?’ We’ve got a relationship, obviously. ‘Also, what’s your latest blog? Send it to me.’ So they send me the blog, and you know, in blogs, we tend to set out the concept, and then we maybe give a couple of steps to break it open for someone. That’s what you give your host, and they will go, ‘Tell me about nesting. Who’s it good for?’ And then, you know, this blog that I had this morning, it had the pitfalls and it had things to consider, so I asked her about those things, and she sounded brilliant because she’d already written that. Do you know what I mean?”

Lou: “Yeah.”

Loretta: “So, what I will often say to people is, when you come and you say, ‘Hey, I’ve got this expertise around family law,’ just for instance, as an example, or bookkeeping, or health and nutrition, or whatever the thing is, to make it helpful for the host, for them to understand how they’re going to make a story out of it, give them what the pitch is, or give them the angle. It might be osteoporosis weekend, osteoporosis week in two weeks’ time, and you work in health and fitness, and you know that, you know, weight-bearing exercises are really important. So if you say, ‘Oh, can I, you know, did you know it’s osteoporosis week? You know, women break old bones if they don’t lift weights, blah, blah, blah, blah.”

Making Your Story Interesting

Loretta: “So, understand how you can make a story out of it, understand where you fit into the news cycle, or maybe you’ve got an event that’s coming up and you want to share about the event and what the message of the event is. So, work out because the host needs to have a story, they need to understand why they’re interviewing you. Make sense?”

Lou: “Yeah, gotcha. So, like, what would you say to someone who is like, ‘Oh, but my topic’s not interesting?'”

Loretta: “Can you give me an example of not an interesting topic?”

Lou: “Well, we could talk about what I talk about, which is ads. Like, a lot of people are like, ‘Oh, I don’t like ads,’ but they make businesses money.”

Loretta: “Exactly. So, every business wants to make more money. So, if you’re pitching to me, there might be a study that has just been done that you’re aware of, or something that says, ‘One in two businesses fail every year; however, those that engage with their audiences do better.’ I don’t know, there might be some study, and you would go, ‘Oh yeah, that’s because they’re actually, because ads work when they’re connected, when we have human connection and behavior, and we understand who our ideal client is and all that sort of stuff.’ So, you might come to me and say, ‘I’d love to come and talk about human behavior and why people buy.'”

Lou: “Yeah, well, that’s interesting.”

Loretta: “Yeah, I mean, I got there in the end. I had to think about it. So, it might be a study that’s just been released in your area. LinkedIn is great for that sort of stuff. So, go and find a really cool article on LinkedIn that you didn’t even write, that actually points to why your area is interesting and helpful. Maybe then take that as inspiration, write a blog post about it, and then you’ve got your story.”

Lou: “Yeah, yeah, yeah. I can see that working.”

Diverse Guests on Radio

Loretta: “So, I mean, I have had illustrators of children’s books, artists, nutritionists, fitness coaches, a financial advisor, family therapists. As I said, inclusion consultants, business consultants, people with lived experience of health conditions. There’s sort of nobody that I wouldn’t interview as long as there’s a story in it, as long as there’s something that I can relate to, and it’s of interest. We can make it happen.”

Lou: “That sounds wonderful.”

Maximising Your Radio Appearance

Loretta: “I’ve got one more tip. Can I give it? Because I know we’re probably running out of time.”

Lou: “Oh, yes, please.”

Loretta: “Okay, so, you’ve got the gumption up to ask, and so maybe you’ve pitched yourself to them, and you’ve decided you’re going to do that, and here’s my story, and here’s the angle that I’d love to be helped with. And I would definitely have a listen to the different shows on the community radio station. Which one’s going to be the best fit for you, right? Okay, on the day, take a selfie of yourself outside of the studio.”

Lou: “Okay, right.”

Loretta: “Before you go in, say, ‘I’m about to be on 94.7 The Pulse at 10 a.m. Make sure you tune in.’ Listen to me, tag the radio station in there, in your social media. Make sure you get a selfie with the host inside. They will want that, absolutely. Ask them if you can have a recording of the interview. They will absolutely give you the recording. Repurpose that recording, send it to your email list, put it on your social media, make little bite-size things out of it. If you’re going to go to the effort of doing it, repurpose it as much as you can and get the most out of the experience.”

Lou: “Yeah, milk it, totally milk it.”

Loretta: “Yeah, because you’ve done the work thinking about the topic. So, you might as well put it in as many places as you can.”

Lou: “Yeah, yeah. Like, you know, when I’m getting a photo shoot with a professional photographer, the last one I did, she set aside like 5 seconds just to take a photo of herself taking photos. Like, you got to seize those micro opportunities wherever you are.”

Loretta: “For sure, absolutely, absolutely. And the thing is, if you, so, there will be three things you will say to the host after the interview is done. Okay, the first thing you’ll say is, ‘That wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be.’ The second thing you’ll say is, ‘That went really quick.’ And the third thing you’ll say is, ‘I didn’t use any of my notes that I prepared.’ [Laughter] But you, you’ll be nervous, you’ll think you haven’t got enough to say to fill the time, and you’ll write copious notes, and you, but do all that, do all that, and feel really prepared.”

Lou: “Yeah, yeah, yeah. I agree. It’s nice, like, even if you, like you say, if you don’t use the notes, just having that preparation beforehand will make you feel more relaxed and less anxious.”

Loretta: “Totally, and it just means that the words come a little easier to the lips, you know. They just stumble out of your mouth a little bit easier.”

Lou: “Yeah, for sure.”

Loretta: “Yeah, there you go.”

Lou: “I agree. Oh, that is so wonderful. And yes, this is like really nice that we could fit this into a little bite-sized podcast episode.”

Loretta: “Absolutely, yeah. No, but utilize what’s out there. Hosts are always looking for content, and they love a good guest, they love a prepared guest, and so be that person.”

“Awesome, that sounds great. Thank you so much, Loretta. Would you like to plug the name of your show?”

Loretta’s Radio Show

Loretta: “Sure, it’s Loretta’s Front Page on 94.7 The Pulse. It’s Wednesday mornings between 9 and 11. If you head to, I’m in Geelong, okay, so if you’re not in Geelong, you can still hear it. You can head to the website, 94.7 The Pulse, Loretta’s Front Page, and you’ll be able to hear all my back recordings. Have a listen.”

“There you go.”

Loretta: “And I talk about news and current affairs, and I have a strong focus on women’s health, their stories, and issues that impact them.”

“Oh, that’s wonderful. I might have to give it a listen when I’m looking for something to listen to.”

Loretta: “Please, please do. It’d be great.”

“Okay, thank you so much, L.”

Loretta: “My pleasure. Thanks, Lou.”

➡️ Where Next? Tune in to Loretta’s Front page on 94.7 The Pulse!