Pitch Oprah Magazine: Get Featured in O Magazine & Skyrocket Your Sales
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Getting featured in O, the Oprah Magazine, is like winning an Oscar. No other publication validates your product or service like this one.
One chocolatier doubled her sales in one month. Another entrepreneur increased her sales by 60% in 30 days. While the sales were meaningful to her the mention meant much more than dollars in her pocket. It brought attention and awareness to breast cancer, a cause that was dear to her heart. Oprah magazine made Oprah's 2.65 million subscribers aware of this important issue.
Know that the standards at O represent some of the most stringent in the magane industry. Since getting featured in Oprah's magazine is highly competitive it's important to understand what kind of qualities the editors look for in people, products and services. O, The Oprah magazine values such things as courage, beauty, the complexity and subtleties of relationships, and people who help their communities or are impacting the world at large. Sometimes these people are ordinary folk doing extraordinary things in unexpected or unusual ways. Other times they are people whose passion and life work is about making a difference in the lives of others.
3 Things To Know If You Want to Be Featured in O, The Oprah Magazine:
1. Beautiful product packaging is a must.
If the product packaging isn't gorgeous, it's unlikely to get in O, The Oprah Magazine. Jeanine Boiko of J9 Public Relations, who secured a placement for her client Bonjour Fleurette in the magazine three separate times for three different products, gives this advice:
"If you walked past your product on the shelf somewhere, would it catch your eye and make you stop?" She further explains that the product packaging must translate well in a photograph. Cheap packaging on the outside is often interpreted as cheap product quality on the inside. Chintzy isn't Oprah's style.
2. Your pitch should be meaningful.
Former Executive Articles Editor of The Oprah Magazine Dawn Raffel states that the magazine teaches people how to live their best life: "It's about realizing your own greatest potential and also about making a contribution to others."
Two the essential questions to ask if you want to get yourself, your product or your cause in the magazine:
Are you making a difference in the world on a grand scale?
Are you making a difference in a way that Oprah cares about?
Founder of the Pajama Project Genevieve Piturro, gets a big thumbs up on both points. Her non-profit collects new pajamas for abused and poor kids, many whose mothers are in prison. A number of these children never owned even one pair of pajamas, and certainly not brand new ones. Piturro began collecting new books for the children as well. She remembered how warm and safe she felt at home with her parent's reading to her in her snuggled up in her cozy PJs in her warm bed, and wanted to give these kids this same good experience before they went to sleep.
Pitturo connected on three points: She tapped into one of Oprah's hot buttons: abused children. She tapped into a second one of Oprah's hot buttons: reading and education. Thirdly, she developed a memorable cause that attracted many people's interest, given the story’s emotional pull. Doesn't hearing about the Pajama Project make you want to run out and buy pajamas and donate money to this worthy charity?
3. Your pitch needs to be well-written.
O's readers count on the content to delve into emotional, physical, and spiritual well-being on many levels. Oprah's magazine lives up to this expectation by inviting top authors and freelancers from the best national magazines and newspapers in the country to write about what matters to them. The bylines in the magazine are ones from the writers of publications like the New York Times and Wired who expound on topics as diverse as how women feel about their private parts to mothers awaiting organ transplants for their ill baby boys.
You can get into the magazine in a couple of ways. Either by being interviewed by these experienced writers or by writing a feature on a topic that touches the heart of the O magazine reader. Or by getting your product reviewed by the editorial staff.
Realistically, it may take you one to two years to get published in O, The Oprah Magazine. But I have never met a single person who said it wasn't worth the wait.
Management consultant and university professor Peter Drucker says, "Most people are more concerned with doing things right than with doing the right things. The secret is to focus on doing the right things right."
If you continue to do the right things right you will be on the right life path toward getting into O, The Oprah Magazine.
Media coach & marketing strategist, Susan Harrow, author of Sell Yourself Without Selling Your Soul (HarperCollins) http://www.prsecrets.com
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Great tips! I found myself published in "O" back in 2000, when I responded to one of her online surveys about "success." I did, in fact, write my response based on what I thought the readers would want to peruse, in addition to what was going on in my personal life. I think this is a great example of "knowing the reader," and writing accordingly. Good hub.
Great article! Very helpful and you included tips that the average person can use to increase their chances of landing a spot on Oprah. Some PR entrepreneurs charge big money for this type of advice. Thanks for you generosity Susan!
Hi Margaret,
You're so right that everyone needs soundbite training. It's really the hidden key to making our media work--not just for O, The Oprah Magazine, but for ALL media. Keep up your good work in the world.
Susan
Steph,
Wow, congrats on getting into O! What a smart strategy you used. There i nothing like "knowing your reader". Kudos.
Susan
Carmin,
Yes, the "average person" can get in O. Many "average" people do extraordinary things. All best to you!
Susan
Great advice! Thank you.
I am trying to start a nonprofit.that would help people who has been in prison,There are other programs in the city,but they are not ran the way i would do this one,people will be taught a skill as well as how to function with family.substance abuse will also be a very importtant part of the program,needall the help i can get thank you george
I am trying to start a nonprofit.that would help people who has been in prison,There are other programs in the city,but they are not ran the way i would do this one,people will be taught a skill as well as how to function with family.substance abuse will also be a very importtant part of the program,needall the help i can get thank you george
This is a great Hub... it is very thorough and well researched... I am busting my brain trying to figure out a way to meet the requirements of O now... before all a person could do was hope but now I actually have something specific to work towards... thanks so much
Very good piece of writing.
My product: Jade eggs,jadeeggs.com + 9 other sites, was on the Rachel
Ray february 25th with shawn White!!!
> show.
> We want to be in Magazines (women) sunday papers and other shows.
> What can u do for us.
> JP
> Juniper enterprises
> jallif@rof.net
> 970 927 5040
Thank you Neil!
JP congratulations on all your great publicity! So I can learn more about you and serve you best please tell me more about you & your company here:http://www.prsecrets.com/appointment.php so I can recommend next best steps.
Warmly,
Susan
I think two things stick out for me on this great hub:
1. What you have must fulfil this requirement: "It's about realizing your own greatest potential and also about making a contribution to others."
2. It takes time to get in and won't happen overnight. Les Brown waited 2 years before he got into Ebony Magazine.
Susan, thanks for sharing
Regards
Michael
Hello Susan,
I found the information you provided was informative; as well as, inspirational - Thank You! I believe I have what it takes to write great articles for the Oprah magazine, however what I still cannot seem to learn is how do you actually submit a proposal, article or clips for review? I am very eager to try and break into a freelance writing career so any information would be appreciated! Thank you for your time and consideration! precisionrepairs@gmail.com
Hi Susan:
The information in your HUB article is so helpful - thank you very much for being so sharing and being so thoughtful.
Best,
Alyssia Alexandria ( aka Alysasa - thePHATgirls )
Hello Susan,
thanks for your great post. I am currently working on a product and it will be ready for launch by October 2011. I would love to have it featured in O or on the Oprah show. I am planning on donating 1 item for every 10 items sold. Could you please provide me with some information/recommendation on how to go about getting Oprah's attention and possibly having it featured on the show or in O magazine.
Thank you,
Natasha
Great Article!
My new Christian relationship book entitled, "The Female Fool: 10 Reasons Why You Aren't Attracting a Good Christian Man," is currently being launched worldwide. I would love to share my story with the O audience in how my book "The Female Fool" is making a difference to so many females who have or had found themselves once playing the "fool" for deadbeat men. I am extremely passionate about godly relationships that seems to be very weak in the world today. A vast number of females have lost their lives due to domestic violence issues that are steadily rising. My message goes into great depths which taken place years ago when I witness my father murder my pregnant mother to death with a hunting knife: a very toxic marriage that could have been avoided. Many females get caught up in dead end relationships because they fail to seek God first before seeking a man. We live in a society where some people hate to mention the name and fame of God: until something tragic happens when they need His hands of protection to guard the earth. My message is much needed to help stir females into the hands of a great God who would lead them to a good Christian man who would love them the way God requires. For more information, check out my website at www.melissahudson.vpweb.com. Thanks and God bless.
- Jeanine Boiko of J9 Public Relations
Jeanine got her client Bonjour Fleurette in the magazine three separate times for three different products.
- Bonjour Fleurette in O Magazine
See how the Bonjour Fleurette luggage tags were packaged and photographed for O Magazine
- O, The Oprah Magazine
Get familiar with the content of O Magazine
- Genevieve Piturro Oprah Show
See how Piturro was positioned on the Oprah Winfrey Show
- Free ezine with tips, techniques & insights on promoting yourself with authenticity & spirit
Sell yourself without selling your soul: 60 second secrets. Articles on everything from how to prepare your soundbites for Oprah and other top TV shows to information on how to triple your business using publicity.
Find a Bra That Fits--O, The Oprah Magazine
Caregiver-007 3 years ago
The beauty, the cause, the emotion, the pitch... You laid it out so succinctly. Thumbs up to you, Susan, for an excellent Hub article!
But now, when we have all that, we need sound-byte and media presentation training, as well as introductions to the right people. We need you! Thank you for being there.
Margaret Hampton