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40. Small Business Public Relations Power with Jordanne Pallesen
9 Plays4 months ago
In this episode, Nicole chats with Jordanne Pallesen, the Founder of Julep Publicity, who brings over 15 years of PR and communications experience to the table. As a nurturing mother and a seasoned professional, Jordanne guides small business owners through the often-overwhelming world of public relations.
She helps clients successfully execute PR campaigns, amplify brand awareness, and secure media opportunities that boost your authority. Jordanne shares her journey, the inner workings of Julep Publicity, and how you can access results-driven PR services.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- The importance of honesty and transparency when telling your story.
- Strategies for building up your credibility and exposure through the media.
- How to extend your reach with self-serve PR platforms like HARO and Qwoted.
- What engaging a PR strategist looks like, costs, and can accomplish.
- Insights into Jordanne's subscription PR service for small businesses.
For more inspiration, subscribe to Unbound Turnarounds on Apple Podcasts or Spotify!
LINKS:
- Connect with Nicole
- Connect with Mallory
- Connect with Jordanne: https://www.juleppublicity.com/
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Unbound Turnarounds
00:00:02
Speaker
Welcome to Unbound Turnarounds, a podcast all about the challenges women business owners think about constantly, but rarely voice. We're Nicole and Mallory, entrepreneurs, friends, and co-founders of Business Unbound. Our mission is simple, make business feel better. And that starts with honest conversations about the ups, downs, and turnarounds of entrepreneurship.
Season Four's Theme: Support for Entrepreneurs
00:00:26
Speaker
So whether you're just starting out or you've been your own boss for years, tune in for stories, insights, and strategies that actually make work work for life. Welcome back to Unbound Turnarounds. And just to remind everyone, here in season four, we're talking all about different kinds of support and systems that entrepreneurs need.
Guest Introduction: Jordianne Pallison
00:00:49
Speaker
And we're loving it so far because we've covered a lot of different topics, but one that we haven't covered yet, we are tackling today. And that is public relations for entrepreneurs. So we have with us Jordianne Pallison, and she is the owner of Julep Publicity. And that's a public relations agency specializing in media relations, influencer collaborations, event promotion, and thought leadership.
Is PR Only for Large Businesses?
00:01:17
Speaker
And with more than 15 years of industry experience and accreditation in public relations, she is a recognized authority in the industry. Plus, as a small business owner herself, she actually understands what we need. So thank you so much for joining us. Oh, thank you for having me. I'm so excited to be here.
00:01:37
Speaker
Yes. So like I said, this is a topic that we have not covered. And I frankly haven't heard much on other podcasts about business either. So I really have a lot of questions about what you do, how people can use these kinds of services. So before we dig into some of the tactics, there's probably a lot of people wondering, I'm too small for PR. This is something that's for
00:02:05
Speaker
big businesses, corporations, like this is a tech industry thing. And I just run my own little business. And so I must be too tiny for PR. Now, is that true?
Understanding PR's Role in Marketing
00:02:17
Speaker
Or that is that's a myth? Totally true. And I'll take it a step further. What like most people like what is PR? How can they even help me? That's a very common question I get and a very common misconception that it's
00:02:31
Speaker
Not for small businesses, and that's just not true. It definitely is for small businesses. It's for the solopreneur. It's for the small business owner, the mid-sized business owner, and of course, those big businesses. It's for celebrities. Anyone who really wants to position themselves as a thought leader in the industry needs PR. It's absolutely critical to that.
00:02:53
Speaker
And PR, you know, it really is a marketing discipline that's all about communicating and building a mutually beneficial relationship with stakeholders. So stakeholders could be your audience, it could be investors, it could be employees, using communications to build a relationship with stakeholders.
00:03:12
Speaker
Okay, so any size business can do it, whether you're big or small, even whether you have a team or you don't have a team. I think what's cool about it is that a lot of entrepreneurs are in this space by themselves, but it's because they are thought leaders in a niche, right? So it's, you know, somebody may be
00:03:33
Speaker
running a one-person business, but that's because they've got 20 years of experience doing that particular area of expertise. PR is actually a really great fit for small businesses, especially for people I think that don't maybe like or understand or want to get in a lot of traditional marketing.
00:03:56
Speaker
And so that's why I'm excited to chat with you about what this can actually look like for small business owners.
00:04:05
Speaker
What advantages does PR have over some of those traditional marketing efforts that people see? Like, okay, should I just post on Instagram? Like, you know, people that don't maybe love social media and they're like, I just feel like I have to do it. Or they're like, do I have to print ads? Like, I feel like PR is not just
00:04:28
Speaker
print ads or posting on social, right? So give me kind of this scoop of what PR can look like.
Advertising vs PR: Building Trust and Authority
00:04:38
Speaker
Okay, so my all-time favorite quote, and it's actually on my website, is advertising is saying you're good. PR is getting someone else to say you're good. And I love this quote so much because I feel like it showcases what PR does. And in the same quote, it also showcases the power of PR. And when I'm working with a lot of entrepreneurs, I come across this
00:05:01
Speaker
a lot. They don't want to talk about themselves. It's hard for them to feel like they're boasting anything like, I'm a professional hype woman, so I have no issue. And part of my job is getting entrepreneurs out of their shell, which is totally fine. But I think that really the PR
00:05:17
Speaker
does something in a way that no other marketing discipline can and that is showing authority credibility trust social proof you can't buy your way to showing up as an expert and gaining trust with an audience or having that social proof you can't buy that the ads.
00:05:37
Speaker
And when you're posting on social media, great. And by the way, all of these things definitely serve their purpose. But PR just does this in a way that there's nothing else that can. And when you're posting on social media, you're posting your own content or, again, that you talking about yourself.
00:05:54
Speaker
And PR is someone else talking about you or you talking about your, you know, your expertise on someone else's platform. Exactly what I'm doing right now. Yes, exactly. So I think that's the other thing is that it doesn't need to be an uncomfortable way of putting yourself out there. Right. What I like about what you're doing is that you give people some really
00:06:17
Speaker
like low hanging fruit almost to be like, you know what, like whatever you want to be doing, wherever you want to be seen as an authority on this topic, there are some ways that you probably haven't thought of that we can do that. And I like what you said before too, that it's a mutually beneficial approach, right? So it's not just PR is not just going out and asking people to talk about you.
00:06:44
Speaker
right? It's exchanging maybe knowledge or input or maybe you're featured in an article or maybe you're featured in a podcast or things like that. And that's when presented that way, that's a pretty doable thing for an entrepreneur to be like, Hey, do you want to talk about the thing that you really love doing and are really good at? Like that sounds okay. You know, and you're like, Oh,
00:07:10
Speaker
Oh, is that all I have to do? Yeah, that's literally all you have to do. I'll prep you for it. It's going to be great. You're going to be fine. But like you said, you need to pull that out of some entrepreneurs, right? Exactly. And I think you just hit on the head the difference between PR and marketing. Marketing is selling your services, promoting your services. PR does that, but it's an indirect way.
00:07:33
Speaker
Like I say this over and over again, especially if you're wanting to show up as a thought leader, you have to show up as a resource. So you're never just like, hey, sell my services or let me talk about my services. That's not interesting. What's interesting is when you're talking about how the audience can actually do this or how the audience can benefit or what the audience needs to know. So you're showing up as a resource and that translates into natural promotion.
00:08:00
Speaker
Well, and I think to a lot of people that might feel like sales or marketing feel yucky, this is a really good alternative that feels more authentic. It feels like it has their personality in it. And then it's not such a stretch, right? What you're saying is you can be exactly who you are talking about the things that you love and are really good at.
00:08:22
Speaker
And it doesn't have to feel salesy and, you know, marketing and all about you. And I think this is a nice, like you said, it's indirect, but it's also an indirect way to get entrepreneurs to talk about themselves. Yes. Exactly. Yeah. You know, like, help me help you, please. Exactly. Yeah. The world needs to know what you have to share. The world needs to know and positioning yourself as a resource is a great way to kind of summarize what the angle is.
Effective PR Strategies
00:08:52
Speaker
Tell us about some of the PR strategies that you find really work for entrepreneurs that they may or may not have tried in the past. If PR was not on the radar, what are some of the things that you're like, you know what? Let's start here. Media relations is one.
00:09:10
Speaker
getting on podcast interviews, doing a TV interview, showing up as mentioned in a media outlet, whether that's a magazine, newspaper, online blog, or an industry publication. So that's media relations.
00:09:24
Speaker
Another strategy would be contributing content. So there's actually a lot of paid opportunities out there that you can join like Forbes Council. Inc. has one. Entrepreneur has one. You have to apply and there is a fee. But once you get accepted, you can actually start writing content for some of these media outlets.
00:09:45
Speaker
There are also earned ways to do this. You can approach media outlets and just offer to write them content. That's contributed content. That's another strategy. Awards and speaking opportunities, that's always something to look at for entrepreneurs. There are things like influencer collaboration, collaborating with other social media influencers,
00:10:09
Speaker
and events if you're in a space where you can create cool events or experiences for your audiences. These are all strategies that PR can really drive for you. So I feel like the things that you just ticked off
00:10:24
Speaker
they kind of apply maybe a little bit better to certain types of entrepreneurs. So it's not like a one size fits all strategy. So you may be a consultant and you're really comfortable with public speaking. And so you might go with that particular client and say, you know what, you are an excellent speaker. You have a really compelling topic. I'm going to go out and find like these speaking engagements, awards, things like that that are really public facing.
00:10:52
Speaker
versus if you have someone that's a little more of a wallflower and not quite so comfortable with that. You can align a PR strategy that way and say, you know what, how about some written content? How about you contribute to this
00:11:07
Speaker
this publication's existing article on this as an expert, right? And do a quote for them. So it's something I'm guessing where you can tailor the PR strategy to that particular person and personality as well. Absolutely. Yes, absolutely. I would never put someone who isn't comfortable speaking in front of audiences on a live TV interview or in front of an audience.
00:11:32
Speaker
but a podcast recording, maybe that's something they're more comfortable with it, right? Cause they're zooming all day long and they're interested. So we would start small and grow and then yeah, contributing content or most times now media will just ask for interview questions in a written format. So it's really like not putting anyone out there too much, but you can still get those wonderful features. Okay. Perfect. I feel like there are some, you know, by the time we end up working at our homes for this long,
00:12:02
Speaker
we've somehow lost the ability to interact with the public at some point. And so if people are worried about it and you're like, Oh gosh, if I try to do this, is this going to be totally outside my wheelhouse? The answer is no. Right. If you have a peer strategist, they will be listening to you and what you want to do, not just saying, here's the cookie cutter way that PR works. And you need to be doing all of these things.
00:12:27
Speaker
No, no, yeah, that would never be what I would recommend. Hopefully you would never encounter that. Yeah, I mean, even it's kind of like a muscle to though, right? Podcast interviews and booking podcast. The first one may be a little, you know, bumpy, but then once you start saying the same things over and over, you really find your groove. And that's an important thing for entrepreneurs too. I mean, there's so many different parts of our business, right? That we fumble and fumble through and then we get it and then we master it and then we're
00:12:56
Speaker
awesome at it. That's the same thing with media interviews. When you work with a client, describe to me a little bit how that relationship works. What does that engagement look like? How do you start to get to know a client and even figure out
00:13:11
Speaker
What among this clients areas of expertise what's what's the hook rate what do we want to talk about so how do you even get started with someone new. Yeah so technically we do complete strategy deep dive i use something called the r pie model which is research planning implementation and evaluation and we start with all of our clients.
00:13:36
Speaker
creating this RPI model strategy. From there, we do a lot of research, industry research, what's happening, and then we rely on the client to tell us what is happening in your industry. Let's just take an accountant, for example. If you're an accountant, I'm sure there's specific publications that appeal just to accountants.
00:14:01
Speaker
And I would argue that maybe that's not your target audience, but it would be beneficial for you to show up on those media publications so you can position yourself as an authority figure. And so just deep diving, getting into the background research. And then we also rely on the client to tell us what's trending in your industry, what's
00:14:20
Speaker
new research that's come out. What's timely and happening? I use this example all the time, but Taylor Swift is a recent cultural phenomenon, right? Like everyone knows everything about Taylor Swift. And what I think is fun is
00:14:35
Speaker
this is months ago, but taking Taylor Swift and applying it to different industries. So I have like, I work with a branding expert. How does her branding impact what's going on and how can you weigh in on that topic? Whatever it may be, it should be something that's like timely. It could be completely unrelated, but you as the expert, how can you weigh in on something that's happening that's super timely? Yes, that's a great point. And the other thing that I'm kind of feeling as you talk through this is that
00:15:04
Speaker
if we have a busy entrepreneur who's like, I don't have any more bandwidth. Like there are also things that a PR strategist can be doing on their own, right? Like you're out there doing the market research. You're out there looking for opportunities. You are talking to the media outlets. Like these are things that you are actively taking off of someone's plate, right? So what, how does that kind of division of labor end up between you and your actual client?
00:15:33
Speaker
Like what do they need to provide versus what services are you like, you know what, don't worry about it. I got that part.
00:15:41
Speaker
We really just try to extract everything in that first discovery call and get all the information we need so that they can just sit back and review and approve things from that point out. Then from there, it's truly just like, hey, here's your podcast interview that I secured, here's the details, and then we'll prep you for it. Then that process, here's the interview questions. Let's hop on a call and we can go through these together. It's truly just us.
00:16:07
Speaker
Extracting information we go out we find the right media outlets for you we contact them we pitch them we tweak our pictures and make sure that it's something appealing we think of ideas that maybe could be timely and then we secure the interview and we bring it back to the client i will say that part of PR is a lot of knows right and so we shield that from the client to which is really better.
00:16:33
Speaker
That's a great point. Honestly, would pay for that. Yeah, yeah. Would pay to be insulated from, no, thank you, not the right times. Yeah, that's a great point. And so when you come back to someone with opportunities that you've secured for them and you prep them, this feels a lot like you are a virtual member of the team to me. Is that how you would see it as well? I always love
00:17:03
Speaker
when people consider me as an extension of their team. I've always had that philosophy.
00:17:08
Speaker
whether it was at an agency or on my own, I really want to feel like a member of the team.
The Importance of Trust in PR
00:17:14
Speaker
And as a PR consultant or PR agency, they really should be working at a higher level with thought leaders and they should know what's coming so they can anticipate things, whether it could be a potential crisis or whether it's an upcoming promotion or strategy around a big launch or whatever the case may be. It's important for PR professionals to be on the forefront of business.
00:17:38
Speaker
And so, yeah, it's important that trust factor is really- Yes, the trust factor is a big deal. You mentioned two things there that I want to touch on briefly, which you said PR can be great for launches and crises.
00:17:53
Speaker
It may also not be that someone needs or wants a PR strategist for year round, right? That may be. But it also may be that you need someone for a specific period of time. And do you find that that is also somewhere that you can plug in? Like someone saying, hey, I have this big new product, like I have a lot invested in it. I need it to work. I'm really like the content is great. How do I make sure this
00:18:21
Speaker
broadly speaking is seen by the industry for the value that it has.
00:18:27
Speaker
versus maybe someone had a catastrophe, little business catastrophe as one does. And it's just like, I don't even know how to navigate this, right? Like maybe they have media calling them and they don't have media training, you know? So do you find that there are some people that could use PR for a specific period of time versus just ongoing thought leadership?
Planning for Launches and Crises with PR
00:18:55
Speaker
Yes, I do.
00:18:57
Speaker
But the thing about PR is that it does take time. You have to factor that in. That's simply because if you want to show up in a national print magazine, it's going to take me four to six months for me to actually pitch them and then show up in print. Right now, I'm working with a product-based client.
00:19:22
Speaker
I have already sent the Magnolia Journal is working on their holiday gift guide. I've already sent them the product. We're already in conversations for December, November. It's that far out.
00:19:38
Speaker
obviously online and digital much shorter lead time. But if you're considering like, oh, I have this big product launch, I really want to engage PR, minimum you should be engaging, in my opinion, like three months before launch. And have PR be part of the strategy, right? So engage them in the timeline. And maybe it is as simple as a conversation.
00:20:01
Speaker
Meeting with the PR agency figuring out timeline and then reengaging when the time is right But yeah, there's definitely times where you can do it for a certain period but just keep in mind It's like I've seen a lot of situations. Oh, we have an event next week. Can we get some PR around this? What? No And that's not because of me it's just because media have these lead times and
00:20:24
Speaker
that need to be considered. And then a crisis situation, that's a little bit more tricky. There are agencies out there that specialize in crisis management. And if you find yourself suddenly in a crisis, I would recommend going to an agency that specializes in crisis management because there's
00:20:40
Speaker
There's one guy in San Diego who literally has his cell phone number, I think, listed on the front page of his website because if you're in a crisis, you need to work right there. It's literally happening right now. I have a plan for it. Yeah. If you engage early with a PR professional and you have a potential for some sort of crisis or controversial thing, you can plan for that and PR professionals should plan for it. So let's just say there is
00:21:07
Speaker
You know you create a series of what could happen and then you have an action plan to follow it up just so that in the instance
00:21:14
Speaker
something does happen, media call you, you're already like, I know what to do. Here's the statement. You know, or I'm even thinking, you know, we had product for campaigns that was stuck on a boat that was stuck in the canal when it was blocked, you know, and it's just like, well, if that was, you know, a publicly launched product that you had pre sold, and suddenly it's not here, like that may be one of those times.
00:21:39
Speaker
where you're just like, okay, I probably need to get ahead of this. So yeah, okay. That makes sense. Now there's another piece of this that I think is interesting, which is being able to use your existing community and peer support to basically amplify everything that you do with PR. So tell me how that kind of works in your strategy and how, how do you coach people on
00:22:06
Speaker
making every PR moment count more and go further. One of the big things is when you do get a media placement or podcast interview,
00:22:16
Speaker
is taking that next step and creating content around it and then sharing it out with your network, right? So this podcast interview, for example, I will share across all of my channels, newsletter, social media, everything, and that will help not only create, it'll be beneficial for me, but it'll also be beneficial for you. And that's really important because you want to
00:22:40
Speaker
You want to have a good relationship with media whether it's Forbes or whoever and share their work and support them So to sharing out the content to your own audiences is great and then for your community I would encourage people just like to even ask them to share it out right if you're really connected with different people asking them to share it out just so it could get even further and
00:23:05
Speaker
Utilizing your community to see if there are some low-hanging fruit that you can connect with so is there someone if you're in a networking group or something and someone has a podcast and it's fit for you and just reaching out to that host great way to get started on your first podcast interview.
00:23:23
Speaker
is utilizing your network and your community and then being able to kind of, again, take it that next step and share it out there. And a lot of people actually pay and amplify, you know, do paid posts around their media placements, right? So you can really like amplify it even further with a paid strategy.
00:23:42
Speaker
Yes. Okay. And it's something where I think that people also are sometimes reluctant to tooth or an horn, right? And so there's a little bit of accountability that you're also buying when you have a PR expert.
00:23:59
Speaker
to just say, you know what, this is what this is for. You're providing things of value. You don't need to feel weird about it, right? You should be sharing in these ways and you should be confident about doing that. And here is why, like a little bit of mothering, I feel like can be required.
00:24:18
Speaker
Yeah, and it's kind of like, you gotta just leave the ego at the door. If you're showing up as a resource and you have important information to share with people, you owe it to people. You gotta just kind of reposition how you think about it and you kind of have a duty to share that important message and you're doing a service to people. So I think if you shift the narrative slightly and to
00:24:43
Speaker
serving and resource versus boasting and, you know, then I think that can help a lot too. Right. Because it is if we could just go from self promotion and pivot that to resource and sharing and expertise. Right. Because we also all engage in that. Like we look for those resources ourselves and we don't feel weird about it. Right. It's sometimes just that imposter syndrome. And how do you get people past that? It's just that
00:25:12
Speaker
talking through that reframe with them, because I'm guessing you have clients who are just feel like I don't I'm not sure I'm big enough or important enough for you know,
00:25:23
Speaker
How do you reframe that? Yeah, it's kind of what I said earlier. It's kind of like a muscle, right? We just start small and then it gets bigger and bigger and and I think there's something that happens when suddenly an entrepreneur goes from here Can you respond to these help me respond to these interview questions to actually seen it in print or online? and there's a shift there and when that happens over and over over again and
00:25:48
Speaker
I see business owners just kind of like step into it and own it. Same thing with podcast interviews, right? We start small, start small, and then it's like a muscle. We just get great over time and it just doesn't become a thing anymore. It's not a thing anymore. Yeah. As we know, because we both do podcasts now and we're totally fine. Yeah. I don't feel weird. Do you feel weird? No, we're fine. No, and I remember it's so funny.
00:26:10
Speaker
A few years during COVID, I started a business page and I had to do my first Instagram live. I had no followers, but I was
00:26:18
Speaker
visibly shaking, I'm probably being a little vulnerable to this, but visibly shaking by myself in a room doing an Instagram live with no followers. And I'm like, this is bananas. And now all day long, like, that's not even a thing anymore for me to even I can't even relate to that person. And so it's just a big shift, I think when you you do it over and over and over and just step into the confidence of it. I love that story because it gives people permission to be like, oh, gosh, I'm nervous.
00:26:49
Speaker
I'm nervous. But she could do it. I can do it. Which is true. Like you said, this is a muscle. And if you want the results of it, you have to be willing to put yourself a little bit further out there. But in like a supported way, like this is a big supported risk type of type of industry, I feel like because you have someone through it, which is the best way to go do something new. Always.
00:27:17
Speaker
Love what you're hearing? Go from big idea to business owner in five days with our free Be Your Own Boss Bootcamp email course. Or learn how to implement the insights from this show in your existing business with our complimentary guide, Five Ways to Make Business Feel Better. Packed with practical tools and solutions, these resources draw from our collective 15 plus years of entrepreneurship and work with more than 100 clients.
00:27:47
Speaker
visit unboundboss.com to grab your freebies. It's time to make work, work for life. There are some proven strategies that I'm guessing you pitched to clients over and over because they work pretty well for all small businesses. You mentioned some things like podcast interviews already, and that I think is a big one, and then a really nice, friendly place to start.
00:28:14
Speaker
You've also worked a lot with Harrow and Quoted. And so for people who are new to this, I know about Harrow, but most people probably don't. Take us through some of those key places that you are engaging a lot.
Finding Media Opportunities with Tools
00:28:28
Speaker
Tell us what they are. Tell us how they work. What are they for? Yes. So this is a great, these are great tools and resources. If you're trying to maybe touch into this yourself and explore doing it yourself,
00:28:41
Speaker
Quoted, Haro. Hero is a new one. I think it's called SOS. Connectively, all of these names. And quoted is my favorite. That's Q-W-O-T-E-D. Essentially, they gather journalists who are looking for experts. And the journalists are posting their
00:28:58
Speaker
needs on these websites. They're writing an article about finance. They need to speak with a financial advisor right away to actually help them build out this piece. The financial advisor gets a quote in the article, and the journalist has a solid source, an expert who knows what they're doing and is certified to actually speak on these things. These are my favorite websites for
00:29:23
Speaker
entrepreneurs use for quoted, for example, you go on there, you can create a profile, add a ton of different hashtags that are relevant to the things that you're an expert in. And you could even find yourself getting journalists requesting to interview you, which is why I really like it. You can get inbound media requests, which is always the best place to be, right? Unless you're in a crisis. Yes, then only outbound. Yes.
00:29:50
Speaker
Inbound requests is the best place to be. These websites are really valuable, not only so you can show up as a resource, we're going to go back to that, showing up as a resource to these journalists. You're working with them, it's a pleasure to work with. They may use you again when they're like, oh man, I need another expert to weigh in. Well, you were easy to work with, you've got their deadlines, provided great information, they'll come back to you. But one thing that I find with Paro specifically is I can identify trends.
00:30:19
Speaker
So, and just so the listener is no, you get three emails a day, you scroll down the email, and it's a list of let's say like 25 different journalist requests, you can easily at a glance see, Oh, am I a fit for any of these journalists requests. And what I noticed as a PR consultant is I can actually see trends. So if I'm seeing
00:30:41
Speaker
multiple journalists request someone to weigh in on Taylor Swift or something like that. I can then go back to my client. Like we need to actually pitch out Taylor Swift because it's a hot topic right now. And I think a lot of journalists are talking about it. So I like it for two, two different reasons, but yeah, they're great, great resources. There's another one called journal requests. And I believe that's on Twitter. I don't personally follow that one as closely, but you're just on, you're on X, I guess X now,
00:31:11
Speaker
on X and you just scrolling, you can see journalists who need expert resources. Well, and it's awesome those resources pool all the requests, right? And it's searchable and you can have a profile on it. And that's just a way of making PR really accessible in a way that it was not previously at all.
00:31:32
Speaker
And then you know this is in my mind at least this is how people get kind of those featured in Forbes that's how you get that on your website and if you're thinking i want to be seen as an expert in this space this is a really good way to. Work with a higher level clientele right charge more make more of you know the types of sales that you want to be making.
00:31:56
Speaker
And having that authority where like you said in the very beginning, other people are talking about you and saying that you're great. That's how you kind of stair-step your way up there. Which brings me to a question of, do you encourage clients to go out and get like different certifications? Like how do you find that when you're pitching someone, what kinds of proof points
00:32:23
Speaker
are helpful to make your clients stand out amongst everyone else that they're getting pitched by? Yeah, that's a good question. Well, first, I truly believe everyone has a story to tell, and everyone has maybe a different area of expertise
00:32:39
Speaker
You and I are both female entrepreneurs, small business owners. Regardless of what else we're experts in, we can speak on that topic. It's just identifying those areas. Obviously, if you have certifications, I think that helps, especially if you're speaking about things related to finance.
00:33:00
Speaker
law, accounting, health, all of these things are, it's very helpful to have certifications because journalists, especially at those tier one level, they need sources because they most likely are not, let's say a registered dietitian themselves. So they need to speak with a registered dietitian and they need that expert.
00:33:22
Speaker
and they have to buy requirements, they probably need those certifications. But it's not completely necessary. If there's other industries, let's say PR, for example, my APR accreditation is probably not going to necessarily put me
00:33:39
Speaker
ahead of someone else who doesn't have it, it may, but I think we can both still speak to the same things. Gotcha. Would you also, when you're working with a new client, are you also just taking a quick peek at their website, their social channels? Are you looking at that and saying, are we presenting the face and the story that we want to be? I know you're not in the website business,
00:34:03
Speaker
But I'm guessing you know that when you pitch it to someone, that's the first place they're probably going to go and look up this person that you just pitched. So do you ever give people advice and feedback on, hey, you know what? Here's what I think makes your story really unique to this audience. Let's make sure that's also reflected in your public image. Absolutely. And my recommendation is always bring in PR after you have that stuff dialed in because
00:34:31
Speaker
You're going to get one chance to make a first impression, so it doesn't mean you have to have the best flashiest website. You don't need to wait for perfection, but make sure that it's presentable and it's in a place that's presentable. I also do a social audit and make sure that we build out your bio, we have a media-ready bio, and we make sure that that looks consistent across the board.
00:34:55
Speaker
your social media really should be like if you have a business page it really should be updated and ready to go so yes we look at all of those things before we start pitching you out because head shots please have a professional headshot yeah head shots all of those things and that's why i like green and PR a little bit later is is.
00:35:19
Speaker
my recommendation to most businesses. Gotcha. Okay, that makes sense. So you've been in this business for a while, and there's been a lot of change, I'm sure, as with every industry. What have you seen lately in the landscape of PR that affects how you work with small businesses?
The Evolving PR Landscape
00:35:40
Speaker
I would say, you know, when I first started out, it was
00:35:43
Speaker
There's a couple big national TV shows. There's a couple big print glossy magazines. You land those like home run. And the good thing and the bad thing is now there's so much more media to tackle. There's now a blending of paid versus earned.
00:36:03
Speaker
There's a lot of disguised paid that show up as earned that's not quite as authentic. That's one of the biggest challenges that I see and how it affects small business owners. I love the one thing that has emerged, I feel like, as a really strong channel is podcasts.
00:36:22
Speaker
as a channel to get interviewed on. Previously, this was non-existent, and now most people can go out and get on podcast interview. It's very accessible, especially to business owners. I really encourage business owners to be doing this. I would say that's one of the biggest things
00:36:43
Speaker
influencer collaborations, regardless of the industry is up and coming. Like you could have, I've seen big tech companies and software companies partner with influencers.
00:36:53
Speaker
finance firms, Furtanworth influencers. Social media influencers are starting to bubble up. It's the new media, I would say. I could go on and on. There's a lot of things. One thing I do, I think this is a good point to talk about, is red flags that you should notice. I am constantly targeted by
00:37:14
Speaker
get featured, guaranteed featured in Fox and Forbes and entrepreneur and like Yahoo. So while maybe some of these are legitimate, I would caution anyone to pay for guaranteed placement because as a PR professional, yes, there are paid opportunities out there, but most of these
00:37:37
Speaker
are simply a paid press release going out on a newswire. Yes, your content is showing up on some of these publications, but it's not in the same way as an earned media placement. All that to say is it's something that I'm really seeing more and more of. I would caution entrepreneurs to pay tens of thousands of dollars for a paid placement because
00:38:03
Speaker
I just don't think it'll do the same thing as traditional media relations. And that's exactly your role in helping people sort through the opportunities. And partly your role would be to keep that out of their inbox at all.
00:38:19
Speaker
right? We have a media person, she's right here and you can move her and she will know if this is legit. So it's like, you know what, I don't I don't want to sort through that. I would like you to tell me what I should be doing because that is your expertise. So
00:38:40
Speaker
We agree. Now, when business owners are thinking about making an investment in PR, what does that typically look like? What types of engagements might that be? How's it organized? And then what do you find as
00:38:55
Speaker
performance metrics that you are sharing back with clients? Is it placements? Is it reach of website traffic, things like that? Just tell us what a basic engagement looks like. Typically, you engage with a PR agency or a PR consultant on a monthly recurring retainer. Some are project-based, some
00:39:20
Speaker
You know, you have different retainer links. It could be one month. It could be three months They give you six months whatever they can keep but
00:39:26
Speaker
Typically, it's a recurring retainer, and there's different sizes. You could work with a consultant. You could work with an agency. Consultant is usually a one-man show or a freelancer. An agency is going to have more resources, more team members to pull. So there's definitely benefits of working with an agency, and there's benefits of working with a consultant, too. It just kind of depends on what's a good fit for you. And as far as
00:39:53
Speaker
what I'm sharing with my clients when I get media placements is in the evaluation phase, when we first start, we kind of identify like, okay, what metrics are we looking for? And how are we going to compare those? Because a long time ago, PR placements were compared to advertising rates. So if you got a placement, a PR placement in, let's say, Allure magazine, well, that would be the equivalent of whatever the ad rate in Allure magazine was. And
00:40:22
Speaker
over the years, like PRSA and the APR standards, like, no, you cannot equip, like those two things are not the same. So now it's really looking, and then digital age, it's so different. So now we're looking at things like, we'll share the placement, we can see you have tools and systems, you can see kind of the reach, unique visitors per month, those types of things.
00:40:44
Speaker
I would encourage people to take it a step further. How did that podcast interview actually lift the business? Did it do anything? Can we track? Did you see an uptick in traffic after it aired? Did you see your social media post that you posted about the podcast interview? Was there higher engagement there?
00:41:03
Speaker
Adding things to your website, like how did you hear about us, especially if you're on a podcast interview and actually listing that podcast interview is super valuable too. You can see the direct correlation, looking at Google Analytics, seeing where traffic is coming from, things like that can actually help you determine if PR is actually moving the needle for you.
00:41:26
Speaker
I will say, though, that there's just going to be times where you won't know if it moves the needle, because with a podcast, I will have no idea how many people listen to this episode. I may never know. But going back to what we said further, it's like you taking the content and sharing it out there. Well, at least you can know based on your own analytics, if it's kind of moving things for you.
00:41:51
Speaker
And it's important that not everything has a tied back dollar value. That's the same with marketing. In a lot of ways, you're not going to know.
00:42:04
Speaker
For some things, you put it out there and you hope that it does what you want it to do, but it's not going to be as trackable as web traffic or things like that. You have to be okay with that because the point, the intention of it is different. You're not doing it as a sales landing page.
00:42:22
Speaker
Okay, you correct that and see how many people fill out the form and do the thing. But if you're trying to become a thought leader with more authority, these are somewhat ambiguous things for now until you get called by someone who is a high authority
Establishing Authority Through PR
00:42:37
Speaker
publication. You're like, Oh, so I think
00:42:40
Speaker
that now I am seen as this type of resource or now I'm able to say that I'm featured on these types of things, which actually just makes it easier for me to get into more of those types of things. Then you can say, my client's been featured here and here and here and here, and then that opens up a little level to you.
00:43:02
Speaker
So do you find that sponsorships are part of this PR piece or is that more on the marketing side of things? Are you also able to help people find sponsorships maybe for their programs or events or things like that? Or is that kind of on the other side of the marketing PR line?
00:43:25
Speaker
I would say that's a gray area, and it just depends. I do brand collaborations often with my clients, so make partnerships that are mutually beneficial, whether it's a product or service-based business. I absolutely feel like that's an important thing is getting you in front of another audience.
00:43:45
Speaker
But sponsorships specifically, it just depends. It's definitely something that could fall in our wheelhouse, but if you had another marketing person on your team, I could see us sharing responsibilities in that.
00:43:58
Speaker
Yeah, I do feel like there is a little bit of gray where you're like, is it marketing, marketing, or PR? And sometimes you just feel your way through it. Well, yeah. And social media specifically with influencer relations and influencer collaborations, there's a lot of crossover there. And so there are dedicated social media agencies who will do influencer relations. And then there's dedicated PR agencies that will do influencer relations. So that's another kind of crossover. And that's just the result of
00:44:26
Speaker
the PR landscape changing so much. Yeah, totally. Well, and you mentioned kind of what a general engagement looks like. For you specifically, you have a cool version of this that's actually a subscription model for
Affordable PR Services for Small Businesses
00:44:40
Speaker
PR. So tell me what that looks like and why you arrange things that way. Yeah. So I have the huge affinity for small businesses.
00:44:48
Speaker
And my entire consulting career as I'm growing my agency and been on my own, I've always wanted to provide a service that's affordable and approachable for small business owners. I first started off during COVID creating a course where I was teaching people how to do their own PR. And I just noticed the shift. People wanted just done for them. And now I'm a business owner. I get it. I don't want to learn how to do another thing. Just do it for me.
00:45:16
Speaker
And so my agency does do full service agency. We have a team, I have another senior level partner that I work with, and we have full service like everything under the sun. But I recently rolled out this new subscription based service, and that is for solopreneurs, entrepreneurs, service based business owners, because we're focusing on thought leadership specifically, and we're focusing on media relations specifically.
00:45:42
Speaker
Content creation, awards, and speaking things, we wouldn't handle those for you. We would guide you on those things. You have a dedicated team. You have a PR person, but I'm focusing on media relations, so podcasts, bookings. I'll do take care of all that for you. We're creating profiles. We help you with your strategy. We create your messaging. We do it all at just a much more approachable price point.
00:46:08
Speaker
I'm really excited about it because our agency retainers can range anywhere from $5,000 to $10,000 per month. That's an ongoing retainer. This is around $1,000 per month. This is just a minimum of a three-month commitment to get going and get started. I've just had a lot of success.
00:46:28
Speaker
with the people who have joined and it's such a joy to be able to like get small business owners these placements and take care of it for them. Yes. Well, and that's why I was excited to chat with you because I think it's not something that gets covered very often in the space because it's not usually accessible to a solopreneur. And you have the experience of being a small business owner, which is,
00:46:56
Speaker
a unique perspective on this. And I think does build that level of trust because you know, you know what it's like. And that's what people really want. Like they want someone else's, like you said, an extension of their team with that trust factor to say, you guide me and I'm willing to put in some legwork, you know, to save a little bit of budget. But, you know, I still get top tier expertise
00:47:24
Speaker
from someone that understands where I'm coming from. And I think that's a big deal. And we wanted to feel like you're getting the interviews served up to you. We're doing the outreach on your behalf. We're managing the profiles and everything on your behalf and sending out the pitches and all of that good stuff. So it's a really great opportunity for small business owners to start putting
00:47:49
Speaker
I love that. Thank you. Thank you for doing that. And not just leaving this whole industry as out there in too small, you know, because I think this is where a lot of the thought leaders are. They live in this space of one person consulting shops. And that's where a lot of the knowledge lives.
00:48:08
Speaker
that should be out there. So, okay, well, as a fun closer, I'm curious if you have a cool PR success story that you would be interested in sharing, just as a like, this was another moment when I loved my job.
00:48:23
Speaker
Oh, gosh, I'd like to, but I'll just share one. Recently, I worked with San Diego's first postpartum retreat, postpamper, a wonderful woman who started that completely on her own, right? She didn't have any team members or anything like that, launched it. And we decided that instead of like, in addition to media relations,
00:48:43
Speaker
We needed to create an event experience where people could come and see a postpartum like most people don't know what that even means. So we set it up at the hotel where these retreats take place.
00:48:54
Speaker
And I invited influencers, I invited media, and I even collaborated with brands. So big brands like Kula, Honest, Boppy, got those brands involved. And we had this incredible event that was just so successful. We had social media influencers sharing the pictures of the room all set up, the postpartum room set up on their Instagram. We had a local media attend and do a podcast interview with the founder after the event. She posted that.
00:49:23
Speaker
podcast, a snippet of the podcast on her Instagram, and it was the audio overlaid with video of the room, and it went viral. It was a real, and I got over a million views, and the founder was able to completely book out her retreat for months after. It was just a cool success story because
00:49:46
Speaker
I got her, she got mentioned in Forbes, she got mentioned local media. It was just a fully encompassed, everything, brands, influencers, media. It all just came together so beautifully. I just love postpartum retreats and what they do and what they serve. It was really, really special. That's probably my recent most favorite. That's a fantastic example because when you tell that story, it feels
00:50:13
Speaker
so authentic and you can feel the personality of the founder. And it's like everything that you did for her just amplified what was already good, what was already there. And you just took it and made sure that more people knew about it.
00:50:33
Speaker
right? And then those people amplified it further. And that's, I think a key takeaway is you're already doing good stuff, entrepreneur, like you're doing it. What you can help people do is take that a step further so that other people can take it way, way further.
00:50:55
Speaker
So you're keeping it from being like a secret and you're getting all the good that people are doing out there. And I mean, imagine how she felt, you know, having that kind of attention and recognition of what she's doing. Like that all just feeds back into you and gets rid of, like I said, that imposter syndrome. Like we don't need any more of that. Get out of here.
00:51:15
Speaker
Exactly. That's a perfect example and a great way to close. Thank you so much for chatting with us. I love this conversation. This is all things that I feel like need to be talked about more in the small business space. So thank you for sharing your time and wisdom with us. Thank you so much for having me. Yes. All right, everyone, that's it for today, but we will talk to you again next week.
00:51:41
Speaker
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