We are all busy. I'm busy. You're busy. It doesn't matter what type of work you do - doctor, lawyer, financial planner, realtor, dentist, chiropractor, veterinarian, therapist, pharmacist, or really just about any line of work - you have more to do than you have time to do it.

One of the concerns I hear from people who want to do more media interviews is that they worry they don't have enough time in the day to do them. They see it as one more thing to do on top of an already busy schedule.

And it's true, doing interviews can take time. And if you do a lot of them, and you do the work to get more and more media interviews, yes, you can invest a lot of time.

As we are going to talk about in the next two episodes of this show, we are going to discuss the pros and cons of working with a publicist to get you media exposure. You can either invest money – a lot of money with a publicist or public relations firm - or you can invest time.

But your media efforts don't have to take 10 or 20 hours a week. Here are just a few ideas to save time and do interviews around a busy schedule:
Set up an RSS feed.
Instead of scrolling through Instagram or Facebook while standing in line or while you are wasting time at work or at home, use those few minutes here and there to scan an RSS feed for topics for media interviews. Save the interesting articles in a folder online so you have a library of topics you can pitch. That way, you don't have to spend hours looking for ideas when you decide to pitch someone in the media.
Batch activities.
Maybe you can't insist that you do the 2 or 3 TV interviews you have that week or radio shows or any other media opportunities all at the same time. You are on their schedule. But there are other activities you can batch.

Write all your pitches for the week in an hour or two and schedule those emails to go out at different times using a service like Boomerang.

Batch your research of media contacts - scrolling through their Twitter feeds to see what they're talking about, watching the shows on their websites or recorded on a DVR or a streaming service like Hulu to see what shows and reporters discuss topics in your field

Set up alerts and notifications of emails from media contacts so that you don't have to check your email all day long.

Create a system where emails from reporters, producers, hosts, writers go to a VIP folder or some account that notifies you with a ding or some sound, but only emails from those people alert you.

Those 60 seconds checking your email, scrolling through to make sure you don't miss an email from someone in the media, done 20 or 30 times a day, adds up to a lot of wasted time.
Get equipment to do remote interviews
COVID changed how interviews are done. Instead of having to go to the TV station and do the interview in studio, or in their newsroom, you can do a quick Zoom interview. As we emerge from the pandemic, I don't expect that to change. Doing remote interviews is much easier, and in some cases cheaper, for the stations.

Things you need:
• High-definition webcam, like the Logitech Brio (you do not want to use the built-in webcam in your laptop or computer)
• A USB microphone (you do not want to use the computer's internal microphone)
• Earbuds, or AirPods or some other type of headphones to avoid an echo when the host or reporter is speaking
• Lights that you can clip to the laptop or computer or desk lamps you can put behind the computer

Ideally, you would have these with you at work and at home or wherever you are so you can be ready to do an interview in a matter of minutes. Or get a small bag for the webcam, the mic, and the clip-on lights and bring it with you and your laptop to work.
Hire an assistant, virtual or in-person