Utter failure, Snoop Dog, and result-boosting tips for you

It was my big break – and then my site crashed.

Around this time last year I found myself doing a webinar with 2,000 people listening (not merely registered, actually listening to me live). It was promoted through Cision, the biggest tech vendor in PR, and they reach a LOT of people. I was so nervous I was texting close friends right before it started, begging for reassurance.

It ended up going really well, and a lot of those listeners visited my web site to check out what I had to offer. So many, in fact, that it crashed within two seconds, and everyone saw a blank page. Great.

So this year, when Cision came calling for a sequel a couple weeks ago, I moved my site to a new host :).

I did entirely new content this time, it was a hit, and (phew) my site held up during the traffic spike. Here are a couple reaction tweets:

Even though this is the 2nd time I’ve listened to @michaelsmartpr at #cisionwebinar, I’m still leaving 150% motivated to kick some PR butt! via @rmgenson

Fab delivery from @michaelsmartpr on a #cisionwebinar. Am officially engaged- which is crazy-town on a mid-day webinar. via @jennetteseward

Later I got an email from a guy who told me he has already listened to it three times.

The recording is densely packed with practical tips as well as some funny stuff that just kind of happened:

– Examples of savvy pros referencing journalists’ personal lives in cold pitches WITHOUT coming off like stalkers
– An inadvertent Snoop Dogg reference that ended up being popular on Twitter
– The contrarian pitching hack that landed a pool cleaning company in the WSJ
– How to identify the holes in your media list you don’t know are there
– The glaring flaw in 95 percent of the pitches media get each day
– A fun “name that tune” contest (see if you can get all three)
– A simple creativity formula that transformed 3 example pitches from corporate blah-blah into newsworthy and shareworthy stories

All the tactical recommendations are great, but the most important message comes right at the end. That part makes all the difference in how you actually APPLY the tactics.

I only do two free webinars a year, so I’d love for you to have an opportunity to get all this knowledge. There’s no opt-in required or anything – click over to the recording here and start watching.

WARNING – my goal in preparing the material was to make it too useful, engaging, and fun for you to be able to multitask while listening. Let me know if I succeeded :).