Have you ever been reading the newspaper and found a story about a topic you could have been interviewed on? Then low and behold, there?s your competitor being quoted as part of the piece.

Does your competitor have more knowledge about the topic than you do? Probably not. But what your competitor may know is the art of piggybacking.

Piggybacking is a term used to tie in your expertise, product or service into a current event.

When a current event happens, reporters need to cover it ? and they are always looking for someone to interview about it. Here are just some of the current events that you can tie into:

* Weather
* Trends
* Holidays
* Breaking news
* Controversies

When I was a TV anchor and reporter, one of the best piggybacking stories I was pitched was from an owner of a small army/navy store. During the first Gulf War in the Middle East, a big national story was the scare of anthrax and other chemical agents. The store owner called me up and told me how gas masks were flying off the shelf, but he worried that people wouldn?t know to put the mask on properly. This pitch not only made it on my newscast, but soon the man with the little store was receiving national coverage.

The key here is to think on your feet. Current events are usually dead within a few days. So once you think of a tie-in, you need to pitch journalists right away. Your best bet is to call each reporter and say, ?I notice that XX is happening, I have some additional information on the topic of XX that may be of interest to your viewers/listeners/readers. And I am available for interview today.?

Don?t leave that last sentence off. It gives a state of urgency and gets journalists to schedule a time right away. So next time, it?ll be your competitor reading about you in the newspaper.