Kunal Chandiramani – Do Not Pay For Media Coverage

Apr 15, 2021

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BIO: Kunal Naresh Chandiramani is an Internet entrepreneur, inventor, and best-selling author. He is the founder and CEO of KStar and subsidiaries and host of dToks.

STORY: Kunal was launching a new venture, so he paid for media coverage with the hopes of getting thousands of customers. His ROI was horrible.

LEARNING: Do not pay for media coverage; instead, attract customers organically. Media coverage does not guarantee sales.

“Build a business that the media wants to cover, instead of being the business that wants to be covered.”

Kunal Chandiramani

Guest profile

Kunal Naresh Chandiramani is an Internet entrepreneur, inventor, and international best-selling author. He is the founder and CEO of KStar and subsidiaries and host of dToks.

He is also a three-time TEDx speaker. In the past, he has been an advisor to various for-profit and not-for-profit boards.

Worst investment ever

Kunal was launching a new venture, and he decided to pay for a press release. He thought that to be successful; a business needed media coverage. That is why he chose to spend quite some money for the press release to be published.

The fame that never came

Kunal had huge expectations about the press release. After he paid for it, he realized that it was just a glorified advertising channel. The ROI was just horrible.

Kunal was under the impression that all the best ventures in the world have a lot of media coverage. He also thought that media coverage would get him customers but quickly learned that would not happen.

Lessons learned

The best media is the one you do not pay for

You have to realize the difference between good media and bad media. You do not pay for good media. Organic media will bring you better ROI compared to paid media coverage. So if you want to do press releases, do them organically.

Andrew’s takeaways

Focus on attracting your customers instead of promotion

Attraction is always better than promotion. The intelligent business person is the one who attracts the media and gets them to come to him. Focus on reaching out to the world about your products or service in a unique way that attracts people to come to you.

Media coverage does not guarantee sales

To make sales, you need customers. Getting on TV or any other media channel just for fame will not bring you sales.

Actionable advice

It’s important to realize that not all your decisions will change the world, and it is okay to make a few mistakes.

No. 1 goal for the next 12 months

Kunal’s number one goal for the next 12 months is to continue doing stuff that impacts many people.

Parting words

“Do not get too serious. Just have fun and be yourself.”