EP147: Ready to get some media attention?

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• PR is crucial to building your business
• You can learn “Sidelines to Headlines” and 90 days of action and do PR yourself, or teach internally how to do it
• There are some key mistakes to avoid when pitching
• Check out Renee’s hacks and resources to get the contact of the people you want to reach

Not sure where and how to fit PR into your business?

In today’s episode of Making it Real, we’re welcoming award-winning entrepreneur, business coach, and podcast host of Into the Wild, Renee Warren.

If you’re ready to get some media attention by introducing PR and media kits into your business, then be sure to tune in and learn about what PR can do for your business along with helpful PR-building strategies.

Let’s dive in to get the REAL scoop on PR!

An important piece of the puzzle…

Renee’s background is marketing and communications so when she opened her business 9-months pregnant, she understood the space and everything content marketing and social media related.

The power of content marketing and social media creates synergy and she quickly realized that the ROI for PR in her business was 50% more than her other services.

My prediction for 2022 is how much more important it will be to have PR in your daily marketing initiatives because everything is becoming so much more diluted with the IOS update and with ads becoming more expensive and harder to reach your target audience, PR is even more important than ever before. - Renee

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So, what is PR?

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PR is about relationships.

For example, Instagram and TikTok are important channels for holistic practitioners.

And guess what?

That is still PR because you’re creating relationships with your ideal customer.

If you think about it, it’s right in the word!

How you navigate has everything to do with being a successful business owner.

When you look at the traditional PR components like press releases or pitching media, how you do it is not that complicated but it takes longer than people think.

“Commit to 90 days of action.” - Renee

I teach a lot about how to create your own PR engine in my program Sidelines to Headlines. It’s not hard and I give you a step-by-step process but it’s actually doing it after 30 days that it becomes hard.

I’m sure listeners will agree that it’s the same as how people quit exercise or stop their diet after 30 days because they are not seeing results.  

It’s about the commitment and consistency to be successful with anything you do in your business and showing up everyday. For me, all of my most successful campaigns have been from 90 days of commitment.

“Plateau is a natural consequence of progress.” - Renee

Here are some common mistakes people make when it comes to their PR

1. Not doing the right or enough research before pitching
2. The pitch is cut and paste and not personalized (ex. Hey girl, hey you)

Are you ready for a successful pitch formula? Here’s what Renee recommends:

1. Hey (person’s name, spelled CORRECTLY) so they know it’s to them and not a mass pitch.
2. Point of connection
3. a quick blurb about the connection
4. Blurb about what you do
5. 3-5 points about what makes you awesome
6. No attachments!
7. A link to your website or social media
8. Follow up 2 days later
9. If they don’t answer, sometimes it’s not ‘no’ but  ‘not yet’, so try re-pitching in a couple of months

What’s an appropriate amount of times to follow -up?

Typically once.

I’ve had successful students from my program that have followed up 3 times and have gotten a full-page feature so It depends on the relationship you have with that person (if you already have one.)

You have to be respectful of them, be kind, and not flood their already full inbox.

Ask yourself:

Is this the right person I should be pitching and do they actually talk about this topic?

Journalist beat: this is the stuff to talk about.

As a practitioner, and in your own experience would you say it’s better to do your own PR work, or is there a benefit of hiring an agency?

If you don’t have the budget ($5 - $12k a month for a 6-12 month retainer) then don’t overwhelm yourself with it.

For those women in their first million to their five million revenue, I always suggest hiring a marketing person that can manage your PR, social, and emails at the same time. You can teach that person how to do PR or you can learn it together.

When someone else is pitching you, It makes you look a little more important and you’re also not having to manage the back and forth.

So, I suggest finding somebody internally that you can train to do PR because they’re already on your payroll and once they get onboarded to how this PR engine works it’s only about an hour a day.

Resources to get the contacts of the people you want to contact:

If you are looking for some free publicity and don’t want to hire an agency to do it for you, check out these incredibly valuable platforms.

• HelpAReporterOut
• Muck Rack,
• Prowly
• JustReachOut

Renee’s secret sauce…

My secret sauce is hiring a VA (virtual assistant) and creating a standard operating procedure on how to find contacts.

Sneaky trick #1

To find publications and writers, type in your competitor’s name and search under news. Google will then populate all of their recent mentions so you know who writes about the industry and makes them more likely to respond to your pitch.

Sneaky trick #2

Twitter is the secret portal were all journalists like to hang out. Search the hashtags #jurnorequest or #HARO and you will find incredible writers and journalists that are seeking expert advice to help them with their stories.

To learn more about Renee, her programs, or freebie guides then be sure to visit her website or her Instagram.

Check out her DIY Media Kit and The Small Business Starter Kit freebie guides.

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