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The Oprah Magazine: Get into O
Copyright © 2002 - 2010 by Susan Harrow. All rights reserved.
Knowing how valuable it is to get in O, consider your competition and
understand that, like The Oprah Winfrey Show, the standards at the magazine
are some of the toughest in the industry. O prides itself in being a publication
that values beauty, courage, attention to the finer points of relationships,
and people doing amazing things in the world. To get in, here are three
things you should know.
1. It's got to be beautiful.
If your product packaging and product itself isn't an eye- stopper, it's
most likely not going in O. One publicist who has gotten a number of her
clients in O told me that she had a client whose product was fabulous,
but the packaging didn't show well so she had no plans to pitch it. Jeanine
Boiko of J9 Public Relations, who got her client Bonjour Fleurette in
the magazine three times for three different products, has a rule of thumb.
"For a product to work in O, ask yourself this: if you walked past
your product on the shelf somewhere, would it catch your eye and make
you stop? It must have unique, attractive packaging that will photograph
well." Jeanine's advice, especially to new business owners, is to
not play it cheap with packaging. "At the end of the day, it's all
about the draw of your packaging."
2. It's got to be meaningful.
If you're looking to write something for O, Executive Articles Editor
Dawn Raffel says the magazine teaches people how live their best life:
"It's about realizing your own greatest potential and also about
making a contribution to others." Whether you want to write about
yourself, be written about, or write about someone else, ask yourself
two questions: Are you/they making a difference in a big way? Are you/they
making a difference in a way that is important to Oprah?
Genevieve Piturro, founder of the Pajama Project, gets a "yes"
on both counts. Her charity gives new pjs to abused and poor kids, many
whose mothers are in prison. Some of these children never owned any pjs,
and certainly not new ones. "They lose their minds when they get
pjs. You'd think we were giving them chocolates!" says Jennefer Witter
of The Boreland Group who was the publicist responsible for Piturro's
placement in the magazine. Pitturo scores big on two points: She tapped
into one of Oprah's key areas of importance: abused children. And she
created a remarkable endeavor that caught a lot of people's interest given
the emotional pull of her story. When you think about children going to
sleep at night in a fresh pair of pjs instead of tattered, dirty clothes,
it conjures an image of safety and home. Made me want to donate....
3. It's got to be well-written.
O's readers expect the content to dig deep into emotional, physical,
and spiritual well-being on many levels. O delivers on this expectation
by seeking out top authors and freelancers from the best national magazines
and newspapers in the country from the New York Times to Wired to write
on topics as diverse as women slavery to how men really feel about breast
implants to the death of a beloved dog. You can either be interviewed
by these experienced writers or write an essay or feature on a topic that
touches the heart of the O reader.
To get into O, The Oprah Magazine may take you 1-2 years. But I've haven't
met one soul who said it wasn't worth it. Henry David Thoreau said, "If
one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors
to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected
in common hours." So if getting in O is one of your dreams, keep
advancing toward it with all the steadiness of a tulip reaching, reaching
toward the sun.
The above was adapted from "Get into O Magazine" which is available
here. The e-book also has a section on how one woman got her product on
the Oprah's Favorite Things Show.
Here are some of the results of people who got into O, The Oprah Magazine.
I wish you similar success.
==> "The O feature got us into over 100 retail outlets,"
says Denise Loren of
http://www.bowwowtv.com,
whose company makes DVDs for dogs, which increased her business by 75%.
With no money spent on advertising, they made $100,000 in retail/wholesale
dollars last year. "The impact for the company once we were in O
was that it legitimized us. And that's important for a one-product company."
==> Genevieve Piturro who founded the pajama project, a charity to
give new pjs to poor kids, went from 5 chapters to 30 and growing. She
got 9000 new pjs donated and a donation of $5000.
==> Stephen Shapiro, author of Goal-Free Living: "How to Have
the Life You Want NOW!," says that his article helped springboard
him into Entrepreneur, Investors Business Daily, and Family Circle. His
speaker bookings increased dramatically, he got listed as one of Tom Peters'
"cool friends" and is in process of shooting a pilot for a TV
show.
==> Author of "Yes Lives in the Land of No," BJ Gallagher
says, "I'd been trying to get the attention of this high- powered
agent forever. Just last month the top-notch agent signed me to an exclusive
contract representing my next book. Did my O article make her more inclined
to say 'yes' to my book proposal? Undoubtedly."
==> The volume of Dr. Volgman's cardiology program at Rush University
Medical Association expanded substantially. "O put the program on
the map," says publicist Chris Rush.
You can get this 136 page e-book in addition to popular products and
programs from more than 20 marketing and publicity experts who have partnered
to bring you intelligence that will get you publicity in every area from
speaking and getting on national TV to getting buzz on the net to making
your book a bestseller. Go here:
http://prsecrets.com/store/ to find out more.
P.S. Please pass this on to at least 5 friends, colleagues and associates
or anyone you know who would like to promote themselves, their business
or product, become a speaker or make their book a bestseller. Thank you!
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Susan Harrow, CEO of
http://prsecrets.com, is
a top media coach, marketing strategist and author of
Sell Yourself Without Selling Your Soul® (HarperCollins),
The
Ultimate Guide to Getting Booked on Oprah, and
Get a 6-
Figure Book Advance. Clients include Fortune 500 CEOs, bestselling authors and entrepreneurs who have appeared on
Oprah, 60 Minutes, NPR, and in TIME, USA Today, Parade,
People, O, NY Times, WSJ, and Inc. |
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