On August 13th Vocus held a webinar titled, “Does Traditional Media Still Matter.” Annie Jennings was one of the guest speakers. She gave several case studies to delineate how successful radio and television shows can be in promoting your book or cause.

She also spoke about the importance of knowing when to promote yourself, your cause or your organization and when not to. It is not always the right time to self-promote. One example of when not to promote yourself is when you are invited to be on a radio or television show.

Television and radio shoes are perceived as very credible; therefore when you are invited to a radio or television show to speak on a specific topic they are giving you credibility. Since people trust the host and the host trust you the people are being conditioned to trust you.

When you listen to these shows you will notice that the guest speakers never promote themselves. Time is limited and the purpose of you being on the show is to get to the crux of the issue. So you need to use your time wisely. Make sure you get to state your case and make it through your talking points. And if you do a good job on the show the host will generally thank you and direct people to your website, blog, book or organization for additional information on the topic.

You many not realize it, but this system is beneficial for you. You will spend most of your time getting your issue out, which is good because there is not a guarantee that the audience will find you online or read your book after the show is over. Hence you want to give them all of the facts while you have their attention.

Also, the audience does not know you, but they know and trust the host. Therefore, being recommended by the host, someone they trust, will go much further than being recommended by you.