Becoming a Celebrity through TV Appearances with Clint Arthur

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Welcome to marketing speak I’m your host Stephan Spencer, and today I have with us Clint Arthur. Clint is an expert on creating celebrity, in particular with local TV. He’s also a graduate of the Wharton School of Business, he’s a GKIC info-marketer of the year, he’s an author, his books include Breakthrough the Upper Limits on T.V., What They Teach You at the Wharton Business School, and Performance, so three great books. It’s a pleasure to have you on Clint.

Donald Trump could not be more excited than I am to be here with you today.

That’s awesome, ok so let’s dig into how to create “celebrity” for somebody who doesn’t already have that kind of status. Somebody who is wanting to get more leads, more sales, more speaking gigs. Maybe a book deal, maybe being able to write for some famous magazine or whatever, but they need to start somewhere. How would you tell them to start their journey?

Alright, where were you on December 31st, 1999? Were you getting your Y2K money out of the ATMs? Were you partying with family and friends? I was driving a taxi that night, and this was towards the very end of my thirteen year of obviously, pursuing the Hollywood dream. Trying to become a movie star and a film maker in Hollywood. And unfortunately, I did not understand the most basic stumbling block of the whole endeavor, and that is, in Hollywood, like everywhere in the world, but especially in Hollywood, you gotta be somebody in order to get anything to happen. Status, positioning, celebrity. Now, Hollywood is a microcosm, and it’s a microcosm at the top of the world, but this exists in everything that anybody does. If you want to get high prices, and high quality clients, and do the work you want to do, you have to be somebody. So, that is the most important thing that people need to understand. If they don’t understand that, if they’re not willing to go after status, then they’re just kidding themselves about their real ability to achieve the potential they want to achieve in life. That’s the first thing you gotta accept. Now, how do you do it? The good news is, that, its not that difficult to begin your celebrity ascension in the wold. The way you do that is by going on T.V. That is how celebrity is created. Any other way is not celebrity. It may be fame, you may be a YouTube superstar, but you’re not a celebrity. When YouTube superstars walk down the street nobody is looking at them. But when people who go on T.V. walk down the street, people look at them differently. It’s the only way to become a true celebrity, because everyone knows that all true celebrities end up on T.V. news and talk show interviews. When your YouTube superstardom gets so big, that T.V. starts calling and putting you on T.V. shows, that’s when you really make it, that’s when you’ve crossed over. So, that is the way to begin, and the way to begin is by going on local T.V. news and talk show interviews with ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX, in different cities around the country. I know everyone wants to go on the Today Show, everybody wants to go on Good Morning America, but that’s the wrong place to start. That’s where you want to end up after you’ve done 50-100 television appearances on local shows around the country.

Essentially you’re using local T.V. as a stepping stone to get you into national T.V. because you don’t just automatically show up on the Today show. You have work your way up, show your poise and presence on local T.V. You got a sizzle reel, you got something to show that impresses the show producer, and then you get to be on national T.V.

Yes, and I object to the word stepping stone. That implies that there is no value. There’s tons of value in going on local T.V., aside from the great value of learning how to be a great guest on T.V. which is an invaluable thing. There is tremendous value in every single appearance as a marketing video produced for you for free by the best T.V. producers in the world, the best video producers in the world. My friends at ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX- they produce better T.V., better video than anybody and anytime you go onto one of their shows to do an interview, you get a free marketing video. I teach my clients how to leverage each one of those into a whole campaign consisting of five videos. So that’s part one. Stepping stone – its not a stepping stone, it is called paying your dues, it is called experience, it is called learning a craft, it’s called personal and professional development. That’s my favorite part of it all. This is a personal development experiment, learning how to be a celebrity on T.V. It’s changing who you are from the inside out. And in the process, you get all these great marketing benefits too.

Makes a lot of sense. So I think that’s a crucial distinction that you shared, between fame and celebrity. And also that local T.V. is potentially an endgame in itself and not just a stepping stone to national T.V. It’s an opportunity to create a platform for yourself and celebrity, notoriety, and fanbase, ‘1000 true fans’ as Kevin Kelly likes to say. So, how does somebody get on this track of creating opportunities, making pitches, getting on the phone or whatever with show producers, local T.V. news producers, news anchors and so forth. I would not know where to start if I were not plugged in to that world.

OK let me tell you a couple of mistakes to avoid, or time wasters to avoid. Number one, creating a press release. A press release ain’t going to get you on T.V. It just ain’t going to happen. Number two, creating a press kit. That’s not going to help you get on T.V. It’s so funny, people enroll in my Celebrity Launchpad Transformation Experience, and they’re like ‘will you advise me what to put in my press kit?’ There is no press kit that’s going to get you on T.V. that doesn’t do it, and lastly, calling up T.V. producers before you know how to do it is a real mistake. Because its just going to waste everyone’s time. They know who knows how to pitch. When you talk to them, they know basically in about three words whether or not you know what you’re doing and whether you should be on T.V. or not. So, look, you can spend a lot of time learning how to do it, it took me months of time and effort. Waking up really early in the morning and calling producers all across the country. Months and months and months to make that first booking, when I booked myself on ABC TV in Biloxi, Mississippi. That was my first booking. And I had already been o T.V. four times. I already had clips on my media page. So now that we know the mistakes to avoid, here are some things that I suggest you do.

Number one, look at the Southwest Airlines route map. And I picked Southwest Airlines because they are a low cost carrier. I say find some cities where Southwest Airlines flies that you wouldn’t mind going to, and draw out for yourself a little tour, a media tour of cities that are your target cities. And these should be places your could fly to inexpensively, and you target producers in those cities. Number two, you need to understand the way a T.V. segment works. What are the things that producers want in there because I’ll tell you what they don’t want is another talking head coming on and just flapping their lips for three to five minutes-that’s boring. That’s not going to help anybody. You or the T.V. producer, or the audience. What they’re looking for is people who can come on and create dynamic, fun, engaging segments that have good visuals. What are the visual elements you’re going to use, how can you incorporate props and a demonstration into your segment. You think about T.V. infomercials they are always so physical and demonstrative, they always show you action, and if you can incorporate action into your segment, that’s going to help you to get on T.V., and get good marketing videos.

Number three, you need to put a one-page proposal of what you’re going to do on the air. Because let’s say you do get a T.V. producer to take your call, and you do manage to entrust them with what your doing, they’re always going to say, can you send me something in writing. What they are not looking for is a five-page executive summary. They are not looking for a book. They’re not looking for rambling ideas about what you are going to do. They are looking for a concise, one-page, exact description, what are you going to do on their air, for 3-5 minutes. And if you can put that one page together as a PDF, you’ll attaché that to your email that you send them when they say can you send me something in writing on this, you’ll say sure, what’s your email address? They’ll say joesmith@wxyz and you press send, you say there, I just sent you my proposal did you get it? Can you see it? Can you open it? You need to get them to open that proposal, cause you know how it is, a lot of people say, “well send me something by email and I’ll take a look at it” and they’ll never look at it. So your job is to get them to look at the proposal, right then when you have them on the phone. That’s the only chance you have of actually converting a phone call into a booking on T.V. If you do it right, you’ll get booked right on the phone right there off one call.

Wow, that’s great, so a three-step process essentially. Cool. So you’ve created a program to teach people how to do all this. How to get a sizzle reel created of great interviews and T.V. appearances and how to target the right shows, the right cities, and have the right pitches and all that, correct?

When you say a program of teaching people how to do it, that makes me feel like what I hate. I hate seminars when they teach you what to do, and then they say OK now you just go home and implement it, and you’re good. That’s not what I’m talking about.

Right, so you have something that you call a ‘Transformation Experience’. That’s different from a seminar.

It’s a four-day personal and professional transformation experience. It’s called Celebrity Launchpad. And at the Launchpad, there is a group of high level, highly committed entrepreneurs, authors, speakers, coaches, who are personally trained by me in exactly what to do, how to say it, why you say it, when you say it, what mistakes to avoid, so you don’t look stupid, or foolish, or weak, and then, once I’ve got you all rehearsed in exactly what to do, how to say it, why you say it, when you say it, what mistakes to avoid, so you don’t look stupid, or foolish, or weak. Then, once I’ve got you all rehearsed and you’re ready, on script, practiced and ready to go, I bring in my friends who are T.V. Producers are ABC, NBC, CBS, and Fox T.V. and talk-shows around the country, and you pitch them. I guarantee if you are a participant in Celebrity LaunchPad lucky enough to get one of the 15 seats at my exclusive Celebrity LaunchPad transformational experience, I guarantee you will book yourself in at least three appearances with ABC, NBC, CBS or Fox or you get all your money back plus $500. We have one hundred percent success. I don’t accept you into the program unless you are going to succeed, because it’s my money on the line. Ultimately, I am not in the business of training people for four days, feeding people for four days, and then giving them all of their money back, plus $500. I only want people there who are going to kick butt, and the average person at Celebrity LaunchPad books themselves on 8.4 T.V. appearances during the course of the weekend.

Then, you go back home, you send out emails to these producers, you tell them when you are going to be in their city, when you want to do these appearances, basically, you create your media tour schedule with them, then you go on the shows. Then, every Wednesday night I have a coaching webinar, and this is part of where the real power comes from. Today, video marketing is where it’s at-right? Everyone wants to be doing video marketing. So, you get video marketing and performance coaching in the live event, because I am coaching you on how to preform on video while you’re training and rehearsing. Then, when you go out and do the appearances, you show up on my live coaching webinars on Wednesday nights and I watch your clips, I say “Who was on T.V. this week?”, and every week I have students on T.V., all across the country, we watch their videos, and I give them coaching on how to improve their performance. Ideally, you are going to go to Reno, Nevada on Tuesday, come to the webinar on Wednesday, get my coaching on your performance, and then go on to Las Vegas on Thursday so you can implement the coaching. There is nothing like it, it is the most powerful, impactful, profitable type of performance coaching that you could ever get on video. Guys like Mike Koenigs of Traffic Geyser and Instant Customer, he is a video marketing superstar, and he said that my training helped him triple his direct camera sales results. It’s possible with Celebrity LaunchPad.

It sounds like this is a no brainer, in fact, I watched Mike Koenigs testimonial video on your site, saying exactly that thing, that he was able to triple this close rate, and folks that I know personally as well, like Sonya Gomez said that she got 20 bookings after taking your Celebrity LaunchPad. I am very seriously considering it for myself. You were talking about performance as a .. that keyword really struck me because I had just conducted an interview with Michael Port, this was for my other show, called Get Yourself Optimized, and he talks about speaking as performance. It sounds like T.V. appearances are performance too, and you’ve really got to nail it-if you have not prepared, if you have not rehearsed, if you don’t have your messaging right, if you don’t have the right look, you are going to blow it and it’s going to be really hard to recover from that. You kind of have a one-shot deal with that particular show producer. Would that be a correct assumption?

T.V. is the ultimate media. It is the highest form of media, and if you can do great on T.V., you can do great on stage, you can do great in one-on-one meetings, you can do great in the boardroom. It all comes down to performance. Now, what is so awesome about television, is that somehow when you start to do lots of T.V., people are going to start to look at you different. Not because necessarily that they’ve seen you on T.V., but because you are going to change. When you get used to having multiple live cameras aimed at you all the time, when you’re talking and answering questions and giving your opinion, you can’t help but change in the process. This process of becoming a celebrity, hey, there is a reason why all these giant superstar celebrities make all this money, and the money, and the money is incredible-we just had an appearance from Johnathan Goldsmith, the actor who plays The Most Interesting Man in the World in the Dos Equis commercials. It’s, I paid him more money for 90 minutes at my event than I have ever spent on anything in my life, other than a car-I’m sorry, other than a house. That’s what I meant to say, I paid more for him than I’ve paid for every car. These celebrities make a lot of money because they have transformed into something really special. That’s what happens to you, in varying levels. You aren’t going to become Kim Kardashian overnight, but after you’ve been on five T.V. appearances, will you change? Yes. After you’ve done 25 T.V. appearances, will you change? Yes. Many of my students have done 25, 35, 45, 55 appearances, many of my students. So, this is what happens, you start to transform, you start to become different, more of a stand-out, more attractive, more persuasive, more influential, more impactful in all of your presentations. It comes from the way you perform. So, what is performance? Performance is how to you be. How are you being, in any given moment. There are some people who are being blah. There are other people who are being average, and there are other people who are being really entertaining, really engaging and really attractive. By going on these T.V. shows, observing yourself in the videos, and deliberately, systematically, methodically working through this process of personal development and transformation, you will become a much more engaging and powerful performer. Witness Donald Trump, he’s had more T.V. than anybody, and look what it’s done for him. It’s transformed the person that many people say is a boob, or a goon, into the number one front-runner for President in the election today. That’s because he knows how to perform, and he learned it on T.V.

Yeah, he totally, he’s leading the media with a leash, it’s just incredible what he is able to accomplish in terms of free media time that would normally cost a fortune if it was in advertising dollars. It’s crazy. Whether or not he wins, he will certainly make more than what he put into his campaign back again in whatever business ventures and exposure that he got. It’s pretty amazing. Let’s talk a little bit about the process of pitching, what is a good pitch? What is a weak pitch? How do you create pitches, is there a set set of formulas that you go through and just say, let’s insert in the blank here into this pitch formula #32, and that’s what we float in front to show producer XYZ, What is the process?

I don’t look at is as formulas. When I work with clients, I customize everything specific for their needs, because I believe that everyone is unique and different and special, and they have special things to offer. Sometimes I will have them tell a story, sometimes I will have them launch into facts, sometimes I will just have them smile or laugh, it depends. It really does depend on the person. Pitching is as much of an art as it is a science, and that goes back to performance. Really, what you say, the actual words that you say is far less interesting and far less important than how you say it. You can have people who say very little, deliver very little substance, and yet they get booked by producers because the producer is attracted to how they are performing.

For example, I will take, every single time, I will take an outstanding performance of even mediocre material, every single time, over mediocre performance of the most outstanding material. How do you get to an outstanding performance? I believe it’s through rehearsal. The #1 secret and takeaway that I want you to get from this interview if you are listening right now is that great performances comes as a result of rehearsal. It only looks easy because of all the hard work that goes into it getting ready to make it look easy. Every time. I don’t care who it is, even a person like Robin Williams who was using all kinds of chemical assistance to get to his crazy, impromptu quote-on-quote performances, those impromptu performances were the result of countless hours of rehearsing and previous impromptu performances. Every performance is a rehearsal.

This is why Donald Trump is so amazing today, he goes on stage and on T.V. over and over and over, and every time he talks about the exact same things. He talks about our veterans, strong military, protecting our boarders, keeping out Muslims, building a wall, making America great, reducing the taxation in the country, eliminating Obamacare, he talks about all these things, you’ve heard him talk about all those things every single time you’ve seen him. Every time he does it, it’s one more rehearsal for the next time. He’s only beginning, he really is. He is going to keep going and going, and every time he goes, it becomes bigger and bigger and bigger, and ultimately he will be at the Republican National Convention giving a big speech there, and then after that ultimately it will be the Big Debate with Hillary, or with Bernie Sanders, but every time he goes he ascends in the level of importance, and that means that every previous time was a rehearsal. That means for us-like you and me, and the people listening to this podcast-we don’t get the change to rehearse under pressure in real, performance situations the way Donald Trump does because we don’t have access to those stages, to those platform. In order to break in there, we need to be really good. Rehearse.

That’s key. Is a sizzle reel something that somebody needs to have to get gigs?

Ideally, you’ll have some sort of video for T.V. producers to see you in prior to getting you on T.V. because they are going to want to see you on video. Do you have to have 20 or 30 T.V. appearances before you can get booked? No, you just have to go to small cities. Go to places where they are more eager to have out of towners or different people come on their show. Therefore, you don’t need a sizzle reel. I didn’t have a sizzle reel until I had about 30 television appearances.

Got it. Okay. For the listeners who don’t know what a sizzle reel is, let’s describe that.

You take little pieces of your different T.V. clips and cut them together into something that sizzles. Remember, you’re not selling the steak, you’re selling the sizzle. What is the steak? You’re the steak. You’re the product. I don’t care what you do or what you sell. The people are buying you. That is why celebrity is so valuable. Because they are buying you. And the more famous you are, the more money you get for whatever you deliver. Dan Kennedy refers to this as the concept of status over merit. People will always pay you more for who you are rather than what you do.

Speaking of Dan Kennedy, so the GKIC award that you won, which was infomarketer of the year – Dan’s company is GKIC. What did you learn that was the most impactful from Dan, and what was it that made you the winner of that prestigious award?

The greatest guidance I’ve received from Dan Kennedy, and I’ve invested a lot of money into a lot of mentors. You name a mentor in the expert industry, and I’ve invested in them. And I’ve invested more in Dan Kennedy than any of them. I vote with my wallet, and what I’ve learned from Dan Kennedy simply stated is this: who you are is more important than what you do. If you’re not who-ing, then you are doing the wrong thing. I have focused all of my efforts on increasing my who factor. Who am I? How big am I? How am I perceived? What is my status compared to my prospects, my customers, and my competition? By continuing to focus on raising my status, that’s why my company name is now Status Factory, we help our clients build higher status. That’s exactly what I’ve learned from Dan Kennedy. There are many different ways to do it. You could be a writer of articles, books, you could be a speaker, you could be all kinds of things. The most powerful way to do it is be a celebrity on T.V., and that’s why I’ve invested so much time and effort in making that happen for myself. The great thing is, once you know how to do it, it really doesn’t cost money to get on T.V. It just requires effort.

So what was the campaign or what was it that made you really the stand out marketer for infomarketer of the year?

It was really an interesting process, Stephan. All I did was type up one page. On that page I listed the Dan Kennedy products I had bought, the mentors who were protégées of his that I had studied with, as well as him. And then I listed my products and how much money I had made from those products. Really the interesting thing is, you know how people say you should have a full – how does Brendon Burchard put it-fully integrated product suite. You should have books, DVD’s, low-cost programs, high-priced coaching, advanced coaching. The interesting thing I’ve found – I have everything, books, the whole entire product suite – what I’ve really found that makes all the money is high quality, high price product. When you have a product that has guaranteed results for high price, that’s what people really want the most. So, it is good to have a book, it is good to have a DVD, it is good to have a low-price coaching program. But really all the money is made from high price, high quality, high-value products. And that’s how I won GKIC infomarketer of the year. Celebrity Launchpad is a $10,000 cost to participate. It is not an inexpensive product, but it does have guaranteed results. We have 100% success.

That’s why I won GKIC marketer of the year. I created celebrity launchpad. I really put everything on the line. I put all my relationships with producer friends on the line. Then, when I had producers who were committed to coming on this producer panel to listen to pitches , I approached my highest status contacts in the expert industry and I recruited Lisa Sasevich to pay full boat to come on the first Celebrity Launchpad. So I knew I had to make it great for my producer contacts, and I had to make it great for Lisa Sasevich, a leading top authority expert in the experts industry. And I did. I put it all on the line, I took huge risks, and I made sure I was able to deliver above and beyond everyone’s expectations. That’s another thing, Clint Arthur always over delivers. I put all of those elements together, and that’s how I won infomarketer of the year.

Training doesn’t count unless you are replicating genuine circumstances.

Very good. So we are coming up to time here, but I have one more question to ask you, and it’s about media training. So I took media training years ago on TV, and there’s stuff like – if you’re going to wear a suit, you’re going to pull the coattails down and backwards so it doesn’t look all crinkly in front of the tv. You don’t wear certain patterns that give a certain moray effect, so stripes are out. I learned some useful skills. But, that’s only a small piece in the whole puzzle. When you’re talking about what you offer, Celebrity LaunchPad, it’s a completely different thing. Is media training something they would get on top of that, or is that included? Do you cover some of that in your program? Or is media training, in your opinion, unnecessary? Where does media training fit in for you?

Here’s the weakness of media training. And here’s why. Many Hollywood producers call me Hollywood’s top media training. I’m the only person who gives you your training on real TV news and talk show interviews. It is not in a studio. It is not rehearsing where I’m tossing you softball questions and you get to redo your answers over and over and over. We do some of that, but you’re going to pitch real-tv news to talk show producers on skype video so that they can see how you look. Either they are going to on real tv shows and you’re going to transform those pitches into performances on real shows. That’s real pressure. So my training is always under pressure. Training doesn’t count unless you are replicating genuine circumstances. Like when you’re in military bootcamp. That’s a simulation of battles you’ll be fighting. But it’s the battles that prepare you for the next battle. That’s what I’m saying. If you want to be trained on tv, go on tv. Just go someplace where the stakes aren’t so high. Like I said to Lisa Sasevich when I got her to enroll in Celebrity Launchpad. I said “Lisa, you’re somebody who is ultimately going to end up on big TV shows like Good Morning America. Would you like that to be your first tv appearance, or would you like to get some rehearsal and practice on little shows that my friends produce throughout the country?” When I say little, ABC, CBS and Fox is still bigger than any network in Australia or news shows in Canada. If you’re intimidated by working for going on a show in even the smallest city in the United States – most people don’t know the difference between NBC Reno and NBC Nightline. My point is, let’s get you in real situations. Either auditioning, or on shows. That’s your media training.

Wow. That sounds scary but also exhilarating.

It is, it’s awesome, it is really fun. And like Elvis Presley said to one of my clients, he starred in a movie with him. He said “Honey, every time I go on stage, I get them butterflies in my stomach. That just means you’re alive”. I’m looking for situations in which I get nervous. That’s when I know I’m doing something good. When I’m afraid, when I have anxiety about something that’s coming up, that’s when I know I’m about to grow. Stepping out of your comfort zone, I believe as I said on the Today Show with Brooke Shields, “Life begins where your comfort zone ends”.

Yep. I couldn’t agree more. Well, it has been a pleasure having you on, Clint. How would someone contact you or how would they apply to Celebrity Launchpad? Where do they go?

Clintarthur.tv. Clint like Eastwood, Arthur like King, and dot tv because I am looking forward to seeing you on television.

That’s awesome. So if you listeners could also go onto Marketingspeak.com and download the transcript, there will be a checklist that is included with the transcript, free pdf download. We take some of the most actionable steps from the episode and turn that into a little to-do list for you. A checklist. Go ahead and go to Marketingspeak.com for that, and we’ll catch you on the next episode. I’m your host, Stephan Spencer. See you then.

Important Links

• Clintarthur.tv
• Celebrity LaunchPad
• Twitter – Clint Arthur
• LinkedIn – Clint Arthur
• Facebook – Clint Arthur
• Instagram – Clint Arthur
• Break Through Your Upper Limits on T.V.
• Performance
• What They Teach You At The Wharton Business School
• Get Yourself Optimized

Your Checklist of Actions to Take

☑ Start with local T.V. spots as a spring-board to national T.V. The practice will help you feel more confident.
☑ An outstanding performance comes from rehearsal, and putting yourself in reallife situations is the best way to rehearse under pressure.
☑ Learn as much as you can for personal and professional growth-either by getting a mentor, coach, or signing up for Celebrity LaunchPad.
☑ Put together a media tour. Choose cities that you’d like to work in, and go talk to T.V. Producers, when you are ready.
☑ Observe any videos that you are in to look for ways to improve upon your performance.
☑ Create engaging segments that are fun and high-energy, think what you would do in an infomercial.
☑ Put together a concise one-page summary that explains that you’ll do on air. Send it to T.V. Producers that you connect with.
☑ Follow up! Don’t assume that a producer is going to look at your summary, make sure you follow up to remind them to do so.
☑ Make your performances look easy through practice-continue to practice daily.
☑ Find your unique talents that people connect with-is it story-telling, your laugh, or talking about facts Use your best qualities when pitching.

About Clint Arthur

Clint Arthur is a successful entrepreneur and GKIC Info-Marketer of The Year. He is the author of Break Through Your Upper Limits on T.V., What They Teach You At The Wharton Business School, and Performance. Clint began to book himself on T.V., news, and talk shows in 2010, and by 2012 Clint broke into the #1 Nielsen market in America when he booked his 32nd appearance on NBC New York. In 2013, he reached the pinnacle of the industry, being interviewed by Brooke Shields and Willie Geist on The TODAY Show. He now works with clients who have booked themselves on more than 1,459 network T.V. appearances, and his client list includes authors, speakers, coaches, entrepreneurs, doctors, financial advisers, and thought leaders.