e161 From Unknown to Unstoppable - How To Use PR to Get Known with Pippa Goulden
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[00:00:00] Welcome. Welcome to the Heads Together podcast. I'm your host, Gill Moakes thank you so much for being here. I always say thank you so much for joining me again this week on this assumption that you've heard other episodes of this podcast. You might well be brand new around these parts, and if you are, I'm so happy you found me.
I hope you enjoy this super episode. I'm joined this week by my guest, Pippa Goulden. Pippa is a PR expert. She's really experienced in this and she has so much to offer us in terms of helping us get known for. Her mission is really to demystify PR and help small businesses use it to build their brand so they can drive sales and actually grow their business.
PR is, honestly, I think it's such an underrated [00:01:00] thing in our businesses. We don't prioritize doing our own PR in the way that we should. You know, Pippa has founded The PR Set of which I'm a member. I really love it. This is a membership. It's very accessible. It's a great membership for supporting you to DIY your own pr.
Highly recommend you check it out. I'm gonna put the link in the show notes and her D iy PR members and clients are using pr.
Pippa really is the go-to person for this, so I'm so happy to have her on the show. She's also gonna do a guest masterclass for us inside the Coaching Business Academy as well. So exciting things to come for my academy members. In the meantime, let's jump in. I can't wait for you to meet Pippa. She makes this topic so [00:02:00] accessible, so easy to understand, and she really gets to the crux of what holds us back from doing PR and how to take action that's gonna build momentum to get us these bigger results.
Okay, let's dive in.
Welcome, welcome to the Heads Together podcast. I'm Gill Moakes, and I am obsessed with cutting through the noise when it comes to growing your business. Each week via intimate coaching conversations and inspirational stories. I share what it really takes to get the results you want. In a way that feels right to you, I am all about attracting higher ticket opportunities, building authentic relationships, and creating the abundant, full fat version of your dream business.
I mean, how many of us have beavered away creating a light version of what we really want? [00:03:00] The thing is, I honestly believe. When you are outstanding at what you do, there is no limit to what you can achieve. So are you ready to put our heads together and make it happen? Let's go.
Hi, Pippa. Thank you so much for joining me. Oh, thank you for having me. I'm excited to be here. Yes. It's so good to have you. I feel like we know each other way better than we really do because of your amazing membership. 'cause I just can't stop absorbing everything in the PR set. So I, it's like, I feel like I really know you, but I think we've spoken once.
Oh no, I do. I feel like I know you too. So there we go. We'll have a good deep chat now as well. Exactly. So for everyone listening, can you just share a little bit about who you're and what you do, your story, where you come from? Yeah. So yeah, I'm Pippa. I am the founder of the PR set that I [00:04:00] started. Oh, I think we must be about four and a half years ago now on a mission really to make PR accessible to small business owners, entrepreneurs, founders, people doing really interesting things who may think that PR is something that's too expensive for them, or something that kind of grown up businesses do, or big businesses do, but not something that they really think is.
Well, I've kind of stopped counting at 20 years. Is that enough? I think you're qualified now. Fine, thanks. I kind of, my background is big agencies, big consumer brands, lots of fun. But I realized what I really loved doing was working with smaller businesses and when we moved out of London, it sounds really old fashioned, but I didn't want to be commuting.
Who does that anymore? Oh God. No, I hear you. That's why I gave up my corporate job and started my first business was because. Taste another summer with my nose in someone's armpit on the tube. So I get it. Exactly. So I changed what I was doing and I actually brought a [00:05:00] publication down to the southeast where, where we'd moved to kind of only about 40 minutes out of London.
But I bought a publication that a friend of a friend had started in the northwest down here, and it gave me so much insight into. Well, obviously editing and running a publication, but how wrong? Lots of people get pitching to journalists and how wrong? Lots of prs who are being paid lots of money get pitching to journalists and how wrong small business owners get.
When actually they could make a few tweaks and make those much more effective so that the seeds for the PR set and then during lockdown, I had that kind of time to think like we all did, and realized that what I really wanted to be doing was having my own business and. Working with these incredible founders and people that are doing really impactful things with their work.
And so I started the PR set to, yeah, make PR more accessible to these brilliant people who I now work with, which is [00:06:00] exactly what you do because I know because I'm member and. I would urge you if you're listening to this and PR is one of those fuzzy things, I know P gonna get into this and you're give some clarity around what PR is.
But if listen something, find out about, I check out show notes obviously, because what I think does is so in alignment with the way I like. To run my business is you have a massive spirit of generosity in the membership. I think you don't hold things back. You give away a lot in the membership, and I just love that.
I think there's a few memberships oh, in that vein that I feel really aligned with and drawn to, and so many that aren't. So I think that's really special. So yeah, if you're listening, do check that out for sure. Oh, thank you. That's nice to hear. Yeah, it's true of pr. I think there are more people than we realize who don't really understand what PR is, number one, or what it can do for their business.
Can you [00:07:00] break that down for us a bit please? Yeah, and I think you're really right, and I think if you are feeling confused about what PR is. Please don't be embarrassed about that or like think that you are silly or stupid or whatever, because I actually think the PR industry's done a really good job of making it feel quite confusing, probably almost deliberately, really, because it then makes you think that you can only do PR if you have a PR specialist doing it for you, and it's just not the case.
So when I'm explaining what PR is, I talk about it in terms of using a third party to talk about your business, and it's that third party endorsement that is powerful. It could be a journalist writing about you in their magazine or a newspaper, but it could be somebody having you on their podcast, for example.
Or it could be you talking on a stage in front of a curated audience or a collaboration with another brand's business. It's basically using somebody else's platform to get your business talked about in the right places by the right. [00:08:00] In your marketing, your email content or your social media content telling people about yourself, it's getting somebody else to tell their audience about you.
And that's where it's really powerful because it's someone else saying, Hey, check out this person. They're great. Yeah, and I think the thing with PR is that often people talk about it just in terms of press and absolutely like that is one part of pr, but it. Absolutely not the only one. It's, it's thinking about what do people think about you?
Do people know about you? Are they talking about you when you're not in the room? And that's where it so powerful. And you said something that I think is really important about having the right people talk about you in the right places, because what I have noticed is that some people are just looking for pr, any kind of pr, and that's not necessarily strategically the right move, is it?
I mean, you're the expert, not me, but I I'm assuming that being [00:09:00] really intentional, whose audience?
You could spend a lot of energy, couldn't you? Pitching just to any about any topic, how do the best use of energy is? We're doing our own pr. I think that's a really good question because actually if I take a step back and people come to me and say, oh, I've tried pr. It doesn't work. If I look at why it hasn't worked for them, it's generally because it hasn't been done strategically.
It hasn't been done. In alignment with their business and their target audience. And so they've got, maybe got a bit of press coverage and they're sitting there waiting for that to change everything. And PR just doesn't work like that. It's about building momentum. It's a slow build. You can't just click your fingers, turn your PR machine on, and it starts happening overnight.
And so what I do when I'm working with people and through the membership, through my one-to-one clients, through everything I do, it is about having a strategy and that strategy. It's [00:10:00] really simple. I'm not talking about 65 page PowerPoints. I'm literally talking about having some sort of plan that looks at your business objective.
So what are you trying to achieve in your business? And then looking at your target audience, and you probably hear this from everyone who is in the marketing world, who you know, understanding your target audience is so important. A, because actually when you understand who. What's influencing them? Where are they getting their knowledge from?
What are they listening to? What are they reading? Even if they're not necessarily reading Red Magazine, but if you being featured in Red Magazine makes them go, Ooh, she must know what she's talking about. You know? That's really powerful. So when I'm talking about strategy. It's really simple. Know what your business objectives are, know who your target audience is, and put a plan together that allows you to look at the right PR routes that are gonna lead you to that audience.
Mm mm That's really interesting. So say [00:11:00] for me, for example, I teach people how to grow their coaching business. I don't only need to go to publications about coaching, but I do need to go to the publications where coaches are likely to be consuming content. Right. And it sounds obvious, but sometimes I think people get the blinkers on, don't they?
If they're a health coach or something, they're, they're just going to the health publications. But I think, you know, that really limits us then, right. Yeah, absolutely. And there's a lot of competition in the past. There's a lot of opportunities, don't get me wrong, but I wouldn't necessarily, especially from a coaching perspective.
So I wouldn't necessarily just look at. Print press, online media because there are so many other opportunities and especially if you're trying to build up a rapport with somebody to, you know, bring them into your world for them to trust you actually, often speaking, opportunities I find with kind of service providers are a really great way of doing that.
So. Deep [00:12:00] diving into what you know about, whether that's podcasts, Insta lies with other people, some sort of collaborations with people that kind of are in your world, but not necessarily direct competitors. All of those places where you can show your knowledge, but also, you know, bring a bit of you to the table as well.
You know, it's harder to get that in a print article, isn't it? I.
My academy members is that as coaches, we have to work even harder than most other service providers in terms of the trust. People will hire a graphic designer. Based on obvious talent as a graphic designer or a fellow, I don't think people hire coaches in the same way. People will only hire you as a coach if they genuinely trust you.
That's the only time they're gonna invest in you. They have to [00:13:00] genuinely trust. You can get them the results that they're looking for. And that's why PR is so powerful. 'cause it adds those layers of trust. It's somebody else saying, check out this person. I believe in them. I believe in their business. I believe in what they're saying.
And that can be press and press is a really great way. It's is a really great trust trigger actually for you. But there are lots of other ways to do it as well. And I think often when I'm talking about this with people, they're like.
Whilst you come to it thinking, I don't understand what PR is, and you look at it, you think, oh, I'm actually doing pr. Well actually, if I do it, you know, with a bit more strategy and a bit more intentionally, then think how powerful that can be for you in terms of really getting you known for what you do and building your business.
I think you're right. One thing I see a lot is people putting so much time and energy into their marketing, which they think is just their social media and their email marketing and, and maybe they're networking. Those things tend to be, [00:14:00] they'll put loads and loads of energy into that and this. PR piece, which is so validating and so an injection of steroids for trust because it, it's someone else saying it about you gets neglected.
And yet I think you're right. If people could just take a bit more of an overview of their marketing and include the PR in that, it can be so amplifying for what they're doing. Yeah, I think you're right. I. The default is, ah, I need to do something. I'll pick my phone up and I'll do a post or a story or a, so I'll post on Instagram?
Yeah, something on Instagram as if that's gonna miraculously attract. Exactly. And I think, you know, five years ago, you could probably just rely on Instagram. I mean, I do it myself. Don't get me wrong. We've all relied on this. That we don't own, that we have no control over. That actually is like we're doing battle with every day.
There's so many other routes that we could be looking at and we kind of default back to the [00:15:00] one that we know, and I don't necessarily think it's always the right approach. I think it's actually quite a dangerous approach now as well to be relying on any kind of social media, because I think all social media is to don't have other organic.
Actually, I, I have to just spend money to advertise my business. That's a very different landscape that most people aren't ready for. No, and I think even if you are paying for it, having, you know, PR works really effectively when it's integrated with the rest of your marketing. So if you are just paying to.
What you're doing without any of those layers of trust and credibility, then you almost missing a because effect marrying. Yeah, absolutely. And that is how the best strategies are formed, aren't they? It's taking the best of each thing that you could be looking at [00:16:00] best of each kind of department of your marketing and bringing it together.
I always talk about a marketing ecosystem and I think that is what really makes the difference when you get everything singing together. Yeah.
There's a lot of resistance to this and I don't really understand why. I dunno how many people I have suggested to draw up a wishlist of podcast. To me, that doesn't feel like a big ask, and yet I get resistance to that. I give people resources as well around you. Or here's everything you need to do that, but for some reason, hitting send on that email to pitch to a podcast host is hard for them.
What do think is the reason people are so resistant to. I think there's a few things, but I think the [00:17:00] main thing that I see is it's overthinking. It's our brains stopping us from pushing ourselves forward for a number of reasons. I think people get scared about rejection, and so if you don't send that email in the first place, you won't get rejected.
I think there's a fear sometimes that we're gonna look arrogant or too big for our boots, you know, to be like. Driving ourselves forward and putting ourselves forward for things. And actually none of those things happen. I think we overthink as well for other people. So we, we think for them, right? So we think, I won't send this email to someone, they won't want to hear from me because, or this journalist won't want to include me because how do you know until you send that email, you have absolutely no idea if.
You are to land in their inbox at the right time. And actually it could lead to something brilliant. And I think there's definitely, I mean, you'll know, know this more from a coaching perspective, but I think there's something that we do that protects us and keeps us safe. Inverted comm, when [00:18:00] actually.
What we really need to be doing is putting on those big girl pants and putting ourselves forward for things because we sit waiting for things to happen to us, and it just doesn't work like that. And I'm guilty of this. So I'll tell you a little story. I've, there's a speaking op that I'd wanted to do for like the last three and a half years, and I've worked really hard on building my profile.
I've done the podcast, I've got.
Make connected with the right people on LinkedIn. I'd done everything to the point where I was thinking they'll find me. And then I did quite a bit of work last year with my coach on my mindset and all of that stuff. And I was like, I'm not waiting for this to happen to me anymore. This is mine. I want this.
So I pitched myself in October, had a call with them, literally a week or two later, and I the speaking in January and it has changed my business. A few ways for the better in terms of bringing people into my world, leading to other opportunities, bringing clients in, [00:19:00] paid for clients. Like it's been incredible for my business.
And I sat there waiting for that to happen. And it wasn't until I went, okay, I need to take a spoon of my own medicine, that I actually, you know, I put myself forward for it. And it was fear that was holding me back. Oh. So first of all, what a brilliant case study of how powerful PR can be. You know, I mean, how many Instagram posts and LinkedIn posts and emails and blogs would you have had to write to get that kind of, or probably you would never have got that kind of amplification without doing it, but I.
Inside and out. You not immune to.
Great. And you know, but I procrastinate. I'm like, oh, but I'll just do this first and then I'll send that email. Yeah, [00:20:00] absolutely. And we all do it. I think it's human nature, isn't it? It's doing some sort of protection thing, but actually it's not really doing anything for you at all. And I think people say to me.
Within like the members or my accelerator clients that I work with, you know, what's their secret? Oh my God, that person's doing so well. What's her secret? There is no secret. Her business is no different to yours or mine or anyone else's. It's just that they are putting themselves out there. They've decided not to care what people think, or they realize that people don't think like that.
Mm-hmm. Therefore, there's no point worrying about what people think about you. 'cause they're not thinking. No one has enough time to think about anyone else's business that much. So they're just taking the action to make things happen. And it's like a snowball down the hill and it feels hard at first.
That's when it gets sticky and it's like, oh God, this is really annoying. It's taking me time. It's, you know, but that momentum starts building and then you suddenly feel this like change of pace and people start coming to you. They [00:21:00] know who you are and what you're doing, and it's a long game, but it's worth playing it because it really does make that difference once you start building that momentum.
I think you're so right and that's actually exciting if you're listening to this, that should be exciting you because that's available for you if you do the work. Yeah, absolutely. I always say that as well, like what we are probably most scared of actually often turns into being what we are loving the most in our business, like standing on that stage.
For me, obviously I, I was so scared doing that talk, but I loved it and everything. That's then come from the back of it. I've just been, it's brought me so much joy and I think I was so scared of doing it that actually now I'm like, yeah, bring it on. Let's do some more. Was it a recorded talk? It was a total Connor on a stage at a big event called Top Draw, which is like a big industry event.
Yeah. So yeah, it was brilliant. It was really good. I loved it. You know, you're so right as [00:22:00] well because. I know that when I first started the academy, I had resisted doing a group program. I almost had this snobby sort of, oh no, I, I pride myself on one-to-one coaching. I don't have an interest in doing a group program, and that was complete bollocks because the, the actual reason was that I was really scared no one would sign up.
Yeah, that was why I didn't do it. Now, I would say I just get so much joy from the academy and now I'm bringing out a membership, the collective. I can't think of anything better than these group experiences and doing that, but there was a while back where I just wouldn't do it because I was too scared that it would flop.
And also, you know. If things don't go, like they don't, I, you know, I have pitched myself since and not got things or it's not been the right thing. Like I'm not saying you will never get rejected again once you get something. It's part the cause, isn't it? Yeah. It's just part of it. But what you realize is, and I don't think the rejection gets.
[00:23:00] Easier, but you just deal with it in a better way. So it's like, oh, that's fine. That's I'm not for them. I'll move on the next thing. I'm not for them. That's fine. One thing that I hear is, or the pushback I hear, is it's just so time consuming. If you are someone who's got this limited bandwidth, and that's how you're, you're feeling, and you and I know that actually it's probably because you're prioritizing the wrong things is why you feel you don't have any bandwidth to do this.
But if you were someone that was really struggling to find the bandwidth, where would you suggest people start? If they have limited time, yeah, it's really valid, isn't it? Because we are trying to be the sales director and the finance director and the CEO and all of the things in our businesses, and it's a really valid point.
I, firstly, I would do a bit of an analysis and see what is taking up most of your time, because it's highly likely that you've spent three hours creating a reel that was viewed by 200 people. You know, is that the best use of your time? But one of the things I. [00:24:00] I would recommend investing some time to upskill yourself at the front end.
Because if you feel overwhelmed, 'cause you dunno what to do, you are never going to do it, are you? You're just gonna sit there thinking, oh, I dunno how to do this. So if you can invest a bit of time up front so that you do know, so that when the opportunities land, you know, you see them, then you can just jump on them rather than thinking, you know, spending two hours writing an email that.
Really should take you kind of 15, 20 minutes. So I think once you know what you're doing, you'll get a lot more confident. And then it's a case of just doing the, do I try and do 15 minutes a day of pr? Like do one thing every day that's just gonna move stuff forward. Other people might want to like block out an hour or two a week, but prioritizing it because I think the with down the.
And if you are not prioritizing it, I really see the impact like three months on. If I've taken my foot off the pedal, I'll feel it like three months down the line in terms of I won't [00:25:00] have like podcast interviews lined up or things kind of going on, things coming out that I've done. So yeah, I would really like look at your time, look at where you're spending it, and then actually like do a little deal with yourself to prioritize it.
That's, did you say an hour a day? No. Did you say 15 minutes a day? I do. 15 minutes a day. That's so doable. 15, 20 minutes a day where, because obviously I know what I'm doing and I break it down, so I break it down by quarters. So I know for me that the key things are like speaking. So podcasts work really well, like guests.
Spots in memberships work really well. Talking stuff seems to just is my thing and that's what I prioritize. So I have like my own targets where I'll try and get a certain number of podcasts, guest spots, that kind of thing. And. Secondary thing for me would then be either collaborations or maybe some written articles for a, whether it's in press or for the right blog or that kind of thing.
So I've prioritized, I know what [00:26:00] works in my business, and so I prioritize getting those things ticked off the list, and then I go and do the other stuff. From there. So it just breaks it down into bite-sized chunks. So it makes it really manageable and it means that I can achieve what I set out to do rather than having a really long list of press or, you know, PR opportunities that you're just never gonna get through.
And I think that's. Such good advice. I'm just actually thinking about that from my own perspective of how I have this beautiful long spreadsheet of all the podcasts that I would like to be pitching to. That feels a little bit overwhelming. So it, it's very easy for that to slip down the Asana tasks.
Exactly. Because you've got a really long list. Yeah. If I just had send this one email to this person. You know, and broke it down like that as one email to write each day, I feel like that would be doable for me, be much more doable. And you'd get through it much quicker, wouldn't you? Because rather than going, okay, now's the time that I've gotta send 20 emails, you just never gonna get through.
And then you just don't do any. [00:27:00] No, exactly. It's not like you just do a few, you just don't do any, because you just can't face the task as a whole. Yeah, exactly. Yeah.
Whether it's to a journalist or a podcast or a event organizer, people get a little bit paralyzed with the perfectionism. Absolutely. Around the pitch. Yeah. Now, I do think, like in the PR set, you are great at providing support on this of how to pitch and you know, what makes a good pitch and all of that kind of thing.
So I would definitely, like I say, check that.
Perfectionism and actually get into motion doing that 15 minutes, 20 minutes a day. Yeah. So the first thing I think that we do is, is a mindset thing again, but we, we've turned press or whoever you are pitching to, into this big, scary thing that is like some sort, right? We, we put them on a pedestal, don't we?
[00:28:00] And we think, oh, they're, they're like so much me authority. It's not true. If you can reframe it that you are actually helping a journalist to do their job, or you are helping a podcast host to fill an episode, actually think about how you are helping that person that you're pitching to. So you see it as, rather than you needing something from them, it's actually much more of an equal thing.
Mm-hmm. And then I think the other thing when it comes to effect pitching, and this is what I really learned, this when I was editing the publication, was. Trying where possible, and I know it's hard, but trying to remove your own agenda. So making it not about you, but about that end reader, that end listener, that end viewer, and the person who you're pitching to.
'cause you're helping them to do their job. So rather than me pitching to you saying. I'd love to come on your podcast and talk about the PR set and talk about X, Y, Z. I mean, that's so boring. Nobody wants to hear that. But what I could do is pitch to you saying, you know, I can help your listeners to [00:29:00] understand what PR is and how they can use it in their business to get known for what they do to grow their businesses, to get over the mindset blocks that they might feel, that kind of thing.
That's much more. To resonate with you and what you are looking for in terms of content for your audience than giving me an advert for the PR set, which is quite frighten gonna bore the socks off everybody. Yeah. The episode itself or the conversation that we have has to be value in and of its own right, doesn't it for the listeners?
Exactly. Yeah. I was just gonna say, so when it comes to the pitch, it's thinking, what do I know? Where's my knowledge? And it's obviously we're kind of talking from a coaching perspective here. So what are the areas that I am seeing all the time with my clients, for example, what are things that I can really.
You know, get to the bones of, that's going to be insightful for the podcast or for the article, but also what is my, like unique take on it. So try not to be the same as [00:30:00] everyone else. I actually did an interview the other day with somebody who'd been in one of my programs on my podcast, and she got a client off it because.
She was talking about something that was so different to kind of, so any conversations I'd had before actually, and somebody had listened to it the day it came out and jumped straight into work with her 'cause they loved her perspective on it. Power of pr, PR works. PR works. We've gotta get on this. I know.
I've gotta wrap this up. This is my problem, is every time I have a conversation with an expert like yourself, Pippa, is that by the end of it. I've gotta do more of that now. And of course that happens every time I speak to someone. So then it's like, it's all of the things I need to clone myself. Yeah, I know.
And that's the thing, it's also being realistic, isn't it? Into Yeah. What you can achieve and not beating yourself up too much. And, and setting realistic goals, I think is probably the first thing you know. You are unlikely to get on this morning until you've done a few other things, for [00:31:00] example. Yeah. So being realistic about it and starting to get yourself out there.
Start with niche things, niche podcasts, that kind of thing can be a really great way to just get going. I always say to people as well, just. Look at your network, look at who you know. That is a really great place to start, and that's how when I launched my business, I started kind of tapping into people I, I knew because it was just a lot easier to say, hi, can we do something together?
Because they know you, they trust you, they like you. So yeah, that's a good place to start if you're new to this whole thing. Absolutely. And networking its best as well. Taking the next level, this.
That's when I think LinkedIn comes into its own actually. And that's how it should be used. Really. Yeah. I often say like, use your social tools, help you become discoverable, like having opinions on things, not just doing kind of like generic content ideas that you've seen [00:32:00] someone else doing. Actually putting a bit of a stake in the ground.
But yeah, thinking about how you can use, use LinkedIn and Instagram both.
Place to connect with journalists, I'm sure. I think you were saying earlier about, you know, I wanted to give this talk so I made sure I did all the right things and I connected with them on LinkedIn. Was one of the things that you mentioned. That sounds like a good practice. Yeah, they were. Coordinators, so that was probably a more natural place.
LinkedIn, yes, there are more and more journalists on there actually. There's also quite a few journalists on there who you can learn a lot from Jane Hamilton from The Times and The Sun, for example. She's a workplace expert. She's a really good one to follow. She does lots of tips on for kind of prs and people kind of putting themselves out there.
Yes. Instagram as well. Lots of journalists are on that, even just to kind of get a feel for who they are and what they like doing. Twitter, RIP is still, it's still going. It's still hanging on by a thread and there are still quite a lot of journalists on [00:33:00] there, so you know, obviously you might not want to be on Twitter for your own.
Personal use, but just to mental health, having a look. Yeah, exactly. I'm not saying dive into Twitter, but it can be quite a good place to find journalists and connect with them and they're often, they use it as a bit of a shoutout when they're looking for, for things if you use the hashtag journal requests.
So yeah, those social platforms are a great way to kind of find people. Definitely. Interesting. Yeah, I wouldn't have thought of Twitter, but now you've said that. I guess that would be, but I don't, still don't think I could bear it. No, I mean, that's the other thing, isn't it? You've gotta put your own boundaries in place and do what's right for you in terms of, you know, there's no point being on Instagram if it's just not something that you're ever gonna use, or it's just gonna cause you, you know, more stress than it's worth.
I do really like this idea of starting with your own network and then radiating out. From that, there's this myth, isn't there? That PR is about having this amazing little black book of contexts. What would you say [00:34:00] to that now in terms of actual pr, in terms of what we can do for our own businesses? Well, I think you've probably got some great contacts anyway.
You could start with, if you are thinking about the fact that PR isn't actually just about press, and there's a few things on that whole kind of, you know. PRS can get in touch with journalists and I need a PR to do it for me 'cause they know all the journalists. You know, I've worked in PR for 20 years. I do know a lot of journalists.
I absolutely dunno every single journalist out there, there's hundreds of like thousands of them, but also. They're not gonna cover my clients. Even my really good journalist friends are not going to cover my clients if the pitch is wrong, if the story's not right for them. So the key, it goes back to the pitching rather than the contacts.
The contacts are actually much easier to find than you realize. There are lots of contacts out there and there's lots of kind of ways of finding email addresses or working out what their email address might be. The key is the pitch. The key is knowing what they're looking for. [00:35:00] Effectively to them, rather than just because you know, a con know a journalist, they're gonna feature you or feature your clients.
So this has been so helpful. I feel like this has been really actionable as well. People are screaming Jane Hamilton, the Times I, I'm literally making load of notes. Oh, I'm sorry. Is anyone still listening? This is a personal session for me. The pitch I.
Whether there is anything that you see people making mistakes around time and time again that you could give us as a little parting gift for this episode that we can use to not do moving forward? Yeah, definitely. I think the thing with your pitch is you want it to be short and sweet. You don't want it to have like five pages of information about every single element of your business.
You want to be pitching the key things that you are able to help. Out with, [00:36:00] so for example, if you are a coach specializing in, say, midlife women, you know, CEOs in the workplace, for example, you know, you want to be really thinking about what levels of insight do you have around that audience that will benefit the journalist and that readers gonna want to know about.
So it might be worth breaking down in say like five bullet points of things that you showing. Your breadth of knowledge breadth, but with some key bullet points. So break that email up. You know, think about it when it visually lands in their inbox, it needs to be really quick and easy to read. You've, you wanna hook them in straight away in the first line or two.
You don't want to waffle on about everything that's ever happened to you in your business. It's short, straight to the point. The other thing that I really noticed when I was editing the publication. PRS would often tell me what to write about, which really frustrated me. So don't tell the journal how to do their job.
Don't send them a finished article, for example.[00:37:00]
They will want to get your expertise. They might ask you to write an article or write 500 words or whatever. It's for them, but let them ask you to do that rather than doing the work and sending a finished article, which is highly likely not to be what exactly what they need. The other thing I would see on the flip of that.
Would be people apologizing for taking up space. So I'd often get pictures from, and it was usually the small business owners saying, oh, I've got this little business and I'm terribly sorry for coming into your inbox. And you know, oh, we've, we do this business and ugh. Versus somebody who lands in your inbox and is like, look at what I've started.
Look at how I'm innovating. Look at the people that I'm working with and the results that we're getting. Becauseand X. You are gonna be much more likely to go with that energy of the person that is really believing in what they're doing than the person that's kind of apologizing for being there. So really think about that and, and I think some of it comes down to mindset stuff, doesn't it?
And [00:38:00] I'm sure this is kind of, you know, your area of expertise, but you've got to believe in what you're doing. You've got to kind of put your weight behind it and you know, put your stake in the ground when it comes to being really confident in who you are and what you're doing. Energy comes through in those emails when they land in that inbox.
So yeah, I think really. Knowing the basics of how to pitch, forgetting your own agenda, keeping it short and sweet. Oh, go bespoke as well. So do your research. Know who you're pitching to on what pages they write or what they've written about previously, you know, mentioning work they've done. You've read an article that, that they've written, you know, that is all really positive things for them that, you know, I remember getting emails from people saying, oh, I read the article you wrote X.
I'm the same if someone pitches to come on the podcast and they say, oh, I really like this episode where you talked about such and such. And conversely, yeah. One of the things I just can't [00:39:00] stand is when people send me something that is clearly a templated email where I've even had pictures where the font of my name is different.
The body of the, so literally, so. Come on. Yeah, I don't actually have templates for pictures. I dunno if you've noticed that in the PR set, because I show you how to do it. I don't want you all to be copy and pasting it for that very reason, because it just becomes really obvious when it's templated and, oh, I love that episode.
You did. It's like, really? Did you? You haven't actually listened to anything, have you? So, yeah, I think just. Taking action, you know, and not overthinking it. Obviously I'm, I'm kind of giving you guidelines here, but I don't scared better and better isn't. I think it's so [00:40:00] important not to let this perfectionism and thinking that you have to spend three hours wordsmithing this email to get it exactly perfect.
That is gonna put you off doing it again more than anything else. Right? If you make it so onerous. So I think it's allowing yourself the grace to send an okay pitch and.
That's such good advice. The key thing for me, I think that I'm taking away from this conversation is the piece around letting go a little bit of your own agenda. And I think I, on some level I knew that, but the way you've worded that makes it really clear. Put down your own agenda and pitch it from the perspective of, I think that audience.
Here's why I'm a good person to talk about that topic. But yeah, absolutely, and [00:41:00] and also I would add to that, that people love it if someone else is making them look good. Yeah. And I think that's the same for anyone, whether you're a journalist or podcast host, you know, the host of a coaching program, whatever it is, if someone else is gonna make your life easier and.
Why would you say no to that? So if your pitch can get that across. Yeah, absolutely. I think you're right. It's going in as an equal partner to whatever you're pitching to, isn't it? It's not like being so in awe of whoever you're pitching to. And so, don't get me wrong, sometimes there are things where you're like, oh God, this is a big one.
I'm, you know, this is the email that I'm sending off. But we've just got do it like just. Over and the procrastination stopping us from moving forward is the thing's us. One thing I find is that I have to, sometimes, if it's something big and I'm like nervous about sending the email before I start working on it, I make a commitment to myself that [00:42:00] at the end of this session of working on it, I'm gonna hit that send button.
Yeah. So I better just do the best I can do. 'cause I'm gonna hit the button. I love that. And I think that can work quite well. Just make a commitment that you're gonna hit send. Yeah. And actually I was having a chat with someone the other day who was saying that they have like a CE. Persona that they step into.
And she finds that really helpful when it's like separating her from her business. And she mentally will step into that, like CEO and pitch herself as that CEOI mean, she's the same person, but you know, it's, it's almost like the Beyonce, like, you know, Sasha, I love that persona. Like it's, and, and if that helps you to pitch yourself, then absolutely.
Like whatever's going to get you pushing yourself out of that. Zone that's keeping you safe, that isn't actually doing anything for you, I think is a really important thing to do. Completely agree. Ppa, thank you so much. This has been a really, really good episode because I feel it's actionable. People are gonna get stuff from this that they can [00:43:00] go away and start trying now.
And the other thing that it's brought home to me actually is doing the PR in your business is.
You gave that example of what you doing, that talk, the impact that had on your business in terms of paying clients interest. You know that all us, if give this consistent and your words if start building momentum. That's the key thing, right? Isn't it? Keep doing it. Yeah, absolutely. And yeah, let me know.
I'm excited to know how people kind of, what happens to them as a result. Exactly. Yes. And I would love to know that too. So as always, email me if you've tried any of these things. If you listening to this and you're like, do you know what? This is so much more doable than I thought it was, and I'm gonna make a commitment.
Email me info and you.[00:44:00]
Yes, Pippa, if people would like to find out more about you, where's the best place? Where do you hang out? Online? So I'm at the pr set.com, or if you just search on Instagram, Pippa the PR set, or, I'm Pippa Golden, G-O-U-L-D-E-N, on LinkedIn. So I'm everywhere. Perfect. And I'll all of those link, not Twitter, down.
Get back. Twitter. I love how we're both refusing to say X. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Sorry. XI mean X. You know what I mean? Well, no, we don't. We don't. Don't mention the X. No, exactly. Okay, that's perfect. I'll pop all of the.
Listeners, please do some of this. It will make a big difference. And also it's leveraged. This is leveraged work. So where we're all complaining that we lack time to do all the things in our business will [00:45:00] prioritize this because this is leveraged work. One email sent off can bring in a load of bigger opportunity than you could have generated for yourself.
Pipa. Thank you so much. Oh, thanks for having me. My pleasure. Thanks for being here. See you soon. See you again soon. Bye for now, everyone.
I hope you enjoyed this episode and that getting our heads together this week has filled your mind with what's possible. If you love the show, would you do me a massive favor? Please? Would you leave a five star rating on Apple Podcasts? It would really help you Put more heads together, reach more ears, and expand more minds.
Until next week, bye for now.
