The first time I saw Paul Hartunian work his magic was in 2002.
I don’t even remember where I got the ratty old VHS tape from, where I saw him teaching a room full of business people how they could get literally millions of dollars in media publicity for the bargain basement price of 15 cents.
i.e., what it cost back then send a FAX.
But he was going through the audience, one-by-one, briefly listening to what they do, then just brain storming out one incredible idea after another they could use for a press release to get all kinds of free publicity – including radio interviews, TV interviews, and full page newspaper ads that’d normally cost tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of dollars if that space was purchased as advertising.
I don’t think I ever saw so many people in an audience taking notes so fast.
By the end I was sitting there trying to figure out how to afford his dayem course.
But alas.. it was $800.
Which was about $795 more than I had at the time.
So instead:
I just kept watching that video where he gave the “what” to do, but not the “how” (you needed his course for that). And it was, in many ways, the first and most valuable direct marketing/copywriting/email lesson I ever learned, and the “fingerprint” of it is still in all my emails, ads, books, newsletters, videos, articles, podcasts, and other content to this day.
I, of course, hopped on his email list right away.
And while I didn’t realize it at the time, he was also teaching me advanced email game.
Every single email was about tips for getting free publicity.
He gave away all his best ideas, experiences, and thoughts – free, in the email.
But, what he did not give you was the structured “how to” of it.
So all it did, week by week (he sent weekly emails, if I remember correctly), was make me hungrier for his course, more obsessed with being able to afford it, and even day dreaming about all the ways I’d use it.
When I finally could afford it, I was “all in” on it.
I went through it at least dozens of times – both the manuals and 6+ hours of audios.
For months I ate, breathed, and crapped publicity.
His training for writing tight, irresistible press releases reporters had almost no choice but to respond to had some of the best tips I still use today for my bullets/fascinations, headlines, stories, and closes.
I even wrote about this last May and June in the Email Players newsletter.
Specifically:
The direct mail test panel we used for Low Stress Trading that got 5x the industry average for response (that nobody thought would win) was written not like an “ad” but…
A press release.
And it was 100% inspired by what I learned from Paul Hartunian.
Not long after I practically memorized his entire course chapter by chapter, verse by verse, and precept upon precept, I took advantage of the two free press release critiques he gave away with it. The first press release I sent was for a client in the self defense niche at the time. And Paul spent a lot more than I was expecting on it, giving me all kinds of invaluable tips for the headline and the close (he liked all the bullets…)
I still have that critique.
And it still takes me to school about my ads, emails, and other ad copy, not just press releases.
The second press release was for a book I wrote about dogs.
I spent weeks writing, re-writing, tweaking, tightening, and reading that press release out loud. When I sent it to Paul to be critiqued, he got back to me with a much shorter critique. It was barely a few sentences. And it said there was nothing to improve.
Next step:
Send that sucker out to the media.
So I followed the instructions in his kit for building and/or buying a media list, and started FAXing it to radio stations all around the United States. I think I FAXed about 1,000 of them. Paul was mostly against using email to send press releases because in his experience and his students’ experience… emails simply didn’t have as much chance of getting read by reporters wanting to call you back, talk to you, grill you for information to share with their audiences.
i.e., give your business lots of free “advertising.”
Reporters were getting inundated even back then with often 1000s of emails per day.
And fewer and fewer people were FAXing, saying it was outdated, arcane, whatever.
Thus:
That meant that FAX machine was way less crowded.
Which meant press releases sent to it were more likely to be seen.
Which meant they were more likely to be responded to.
Around that time he even told a story about one of his coaching students who had FAXed a release that resulted in a bunch of free publicity and sales for the business.
But, the reporter said:
“we actually prefer email, hardly anyone FAXes us press releases.”
It was a perfect example of “don’t ask the deer how to hunt it, ask the hunter.”
But back to my first press release campaign:
One of the things Paul recommended to newbies at publicity was to only send your press releases to SMALL radio and TV stations and newspapers. He said the reason for this was to get your confidence up and to do lots of interviews. Get all the nerves out, and get comfortable with the process, before going for the bigger media outlets.
When I got my first “bite” on the radio stations I could barely sleep.
I don’t think I did sleep, now that I think about it, that first night.
But right after that 8 minute interview I took a look at the site’s ad rates:
$25 for a one minute spot.
I could hear Paul’s voice (exactly as he said it in the course):
“Nobody’s listening”
So I kept sending out press releases, kept honing my craft, kept writing different angles and bullets and headlines, and kept doing more interviews. Over and over and over again for the entire Summer. And it was like that mobster in the movie “True Romance” explaining how the first time he killed someone he threw up. The second one was no Mardi Gras either, but it was more “diluted.” Now he does it just to watch the expression change.
So it has been for me ever since with doing interviews, speaking, talking to thousands of people live.
Teen Settle was so shy he could barely even get up in front of a class to recite a report.
These days?
I try to have fun with hosts just to get them to throw me curve balls for the hell of it.
And it was another life lesson I learned from Paul:
Just get in your iterations when learning and doing things you want to get great at. I’ve applied that to everything important ever since. And it’s why I go through courses, books, trainings, whatever it is, a minimum of 10 times. And often 20, 30, 40 times if it’s something I really want to get good at.
Whatever the case, I was hooked after that.
And later, when podcasting became more popular, I also used what Paul taught to get booked on shows.
I’d send press releases using his system to get on almost any show I wanted.
And not just shows for business, but for that book about dogs, too.
In fact, the biggest for that I got on was an Animal Planet affiliated show. I remember that one being frustrating. Not because it was a bad experience, but because the host went through my ad and just started asking me about all the bullets, asking me to reveal the secrets while apologizing for asking, but she just had to know.
I didn’t have the skill to handle that sort of situation in an interview then.
But it was a good problem to have…
I also learned a lot from Paul about running a print newsletter.
I subscribed to his print newsletter for years before he retired it about ten years ago. And there were a lot of little things he did I took notes on. When it came time to do my own print newsletters those little things I took notes on made it all go a lot easier, smoother, and more profitable.
Speaking of ten years ago:
Around that time, word must have gotten around to him about what a fan I was of his, because he sent me, totally out of the blue, a big box one day with his Public Speaking course tapes as a way to say “thank you.”
But probably the #1 most important lesson I learned from Paul:
“The world is changed with a checkbook”
Not good thoughts, or good vibes, or likes, retweets, or any other airy fairy woo-woo hootenanny people do on social media to virtue signal that have zero impact on anything or anyone.
No, it’s that nasty checkbook.
To illustrate his point he told a story in his course about how they had just rescued a puppy who had been thrown out a two story window. The puppy’s leg was broken. And when he went to the vet, the vet didn’t fix it up by being paid in Facebook prayers or “sending good thoughts!” or whatever.
Paul had to pull a checkbook out and write a check.
I’ve never forgotten that lesson either.
In fact, here’s something else to think about:
Next week I am being interviewed by a magazine about using World-Building in the business of fashion. It ought to be interesting, to say the least. Me, of all people, talking to the media about fashion..
But what I learned from Paul about interviews will be applied.
There are certain things he taught and did that make doing interviews not only a lot more fun (for you and the reporter/host), but a lot more profitable, too. And if you do it right, they tend to want you to come back again later. That’s key. Because, again, this ain’t about fame and glory. It’s about the checkbook. And at the end of the day, media publicity – big outlet or small podcast – is about growing your business.
So that, too, is yet another lesson from Paul Hartunian.
All right, I’ll end with something related.
And that is, he refused to give interviews on PBS or NPR.
i.e., the government, tax payer funded platforms.
Reason why was, he said they were jerks about letting you give out your contact info. And about six years ago, I was graciously invited by Russell Brunson to speak at his Funnel Hacking Live event.
And I was all ready to do it… until I read the fine print:
No promoting yourself.
Not even just a website to a free opt-in with nothing for sale.
They told me it was “tacky.”
Well, I don’t know what kind of pitch fest goo-roo bums they’d trotted out on stage prior to think that.
And I figured they had their reasons for the policy, and respected his decision, he has to do what he has to do, especially an event that big.
But, to me, what’s more tacky is getting people all dressed up with nowhere to go. If I give an audience great info, and they want more, it’s only doing them a disservice by not showing them where to go to get more… before they get distracted by something or someone else, and in a way that lets me CURATE them my way.
Something I can’t do with letting them Google me on their own or whatever.
I want to bring people in who come correct or not at all.
Which is one reason why my list not only gets high inbox deliverability, but I also don’t deal with a lot of idiots my peers do. And Paul, indirectly, taught how to curate like this with this attitude about those not allowing you to give out your contact info and media rejection (refusing to do an interview) if they don’t play the game.
Anyway, I haven’t even gotten into all the other publicity “miracles” Paul performed.
Like, for example:
How he (a Jersey man) literally sold the Brooklyn Bridge for $14.95.
Not to mention how he got on all the big national talk shows at the time, including the biggest like Johnny Carson, and how he got so much free publicity and non-stop coverage and reporters begging for him to be on their shows (as he taught, publicity begets more publicity) he once had to literally leave the country just to keep his privacy and sanity.
It’s all well worth Google’ing.
Here, I just wanted to give my own personal experiences with Paul’s teachings, and try to give you a look at some ways I’ve used to help grow my business that you might have picked up from reading about it.
I have literally used what he taught nearly every day for the past 20+ years.
And I will continue to do so for the next 20 years.
So RIP to the old publicity master.
I highly suggest you do a serious study on him.
And, if possible, find his courses and other products.
It’ll almost certainly be money well spent.
Ben Settle
P.S. Pretty much everything in my free mobile app in the “Acoustic Settle” channel is interviews. And, in many ways, they are all a result of what I learned from Paul about handling, profiting from, and working interviews.
If you don’t already have my mobile app, you can get it free here:
