You have a brand. You have a business. You are an author, a singer, a podcaster, and an entrepreneur. So now what? Get my biggest tips for generating buzz without paying the high ticket price of a PR agent.
What is PR? Public relations, PR for short, is what gives you the two most important things that you need as an entrepreneur (or creative)— authority and credibility. PR is a tool that injects your brand, your mission, and your call to action into the public's consciousness.
Beware of The Lowest Hanging Fruit: Social Media
According to Forbes:
Social Media Fails. Yes, social media is a noisy environment. And simply adding more posts to the ocean is an immediate failure by the agency or by an entrepreneur. So is spending inordinate money to “buy followers” or to get people with massive followings to share or re-tweet. But the ability to get meaningful stories amplified through social media in the places your customer's visit is a powerful PR maneuver. Particularly when the message is micro-targeted through Facebook tagged to a particular topic on Instagram or Twitter, or shared through a special interest group, social media wields massive power beyond the original audience who sees an article when it comes up in the press.
Social Media has lowered the bar for do-it-yourself public relations. Social Media takes your power away, because they own the land that you promote your brand.
Understand the power of your brand and understand the newsworthy angle to your brand identity. You can create a newsworthy angle to your brand by following trends in your industry. I use Feed Spot to monitor competition and understand what is working for my competitors and what is not working.
Follow the trends and news stories that are current on most people's feeds.
Ask yourself: What is happening today in the news and how can my messaging apply to the most current topics?
Create A Memorable Pitch
A public relations pitch is a convincing attempt to garner the attention of media outlets and journalists. This pitch must be a short personalized message that outlines the value of a story and explains why it should be published. Typically the pitch should be 150 words long but can reach up to 400 words. This pitch should be short, engaging, and timely for the topic. Journalists and broadcasters do not have the time to pour over hundreds of pitches so it is important to get their attention.
Crafting The Pitch
Number one, you need a timely news hook that’s relevant to the outlet.
Two, sell the topic first and yourself second.
Three, include statistics that back up your claims with facts.
Four, provide talking points.
Five, make sure that you stand for something.
What makes you memorable? What makes your message irresistible and newsworthy? When you are confident in your pitch, start your research. Begin the deep dive into researching periodicals, journalists, and media outlets that cover topics you are an expert in. Muck Rack is a great resource to find journalists that cover stories in your industry.
Use the all-mighty tool of Google to find journalists who are obsessed with what you opine. Reach out to these journalists with your perfected pitch via email response. If you are bold enough, call them. Engagement and relationship building is key to growing a repository of a journalist fanbase. Do not get discouraged by silence or the inevitable "no". It takes time to build a cadence of public adoration. It takes time to build a brand of substance.
You Got This- Jules
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