The State of SMTs

The Current State of Satellite Media Tours

Today SMTs are more popular than ever—with stations and with clients. As a result there are more satellite media tours booking at any given moment than ever before—and this in turn makes landing that prime market interview more competitive.

Here are a few tips and considerations from NBN’s Director of Media Relations, Dan Schwartzberg, to ensure that your tour has a competitive advantage:

Time: see that your tour is one of the first to market by allowing 7 weeks of booking. Factor 1-week for media alert development and approvals, plus booking time – ideally 8-weeks total.

Note that there are exceptions, including A-list celebrity talent, breaking news and exclusive content – if you have something truly special, stations will still book on a moments notice.

Talent: a more competitive marketplace means stations can pick and choose tours, and that decision often comes down to the caliber of the talent.

Giveaways: Sations are looking to extend broadcast stories to social media, and one way to do that is with a product giveaway. This approach benefits all as it extends your product messaging to multiple platforms.

The hook: is your editorial creative, unique and smart? Consider adding a poll or survey to your tour to increase booking appeal. NBN can run a low cost consumer poll with 4-weeks notice.