Publicity Strategies for Entrepreneurs | Jill Lublin

Hey creative, are you ready to discuss profits, the money, the ways to make it happen? The Profitable Creative Podcast is for you, the creative, how you define it. Videographers, photographers, entrepreneurs, marketing agencies, you get it. CEO of Core Group and author Christian Brim interviews industry experts, creative entrepreneurs, and professionals alike who strive to be creative and make money at the same time. Sound like you? Tune in now. It's time for profit.

Welcome to another edition of The Profitable Creative, the only place on the interwebs where you'll learn how to turn your passion into profit. I am your host, Christian Brim. Special shout out to our one listener in Cairo, Egypt. It's a long ways from where I am. Thank you for listening. Joining me today, Jill Lublin of Jill Lublin dot com. Jill, welcome to the show.

Thank you, Christian Brim. Glad to be here.

So you promised before we get on the show to be an excellent guest. So now is your chance. Tell us about what you do at Jill Lublin.com.

So I'm a publicity expert. Oh, thank you. I'm a publicity expert and 4-time bestselling author, including I wrote the book on guerrilla publicity and And my latest book is called The Prophet of Kindness. To that end, I run media mastery intensives where I help people get publicity done without spending a fortune. That's a nice change. And I also run kindness circles. Uh, so my whole thing has always been as a speaker, as a trainer, as a leader, facilitator of, uh, all kinds of things, all kinds of programs oriented toward publicity. It's like Getting your publicity done and doing it well is my aim and helping people really have more impact and influence.

I've— okay, so I don't know if I'm going to remember this off the top of my head. There were some books written starting in the late '30s until the maybe '60s. They were detective novels. Why can't I remember? Anyway, the protagonist was the detective, and he never left his office and never left his— Archie was his secretary. What was his name anyway? I'll think about it. Anyway, there was a quote from one of his books where he was saying that he thought publicists— because this was back like in the '40s— The obscenity of needing to hire a publicist, like who would need that? Obviously, when I was young in entrepreneurship, I thought in terms of publicity being separate from marketing and really more for larger companies and/or nonprofits, right? I feel like the way the media landscape has shifted and continues to shift, that there's probably even more of a blurring of the lines. So I guess I'd like to start out with like, what to you is the definition of publicity? So from what you do.

Yeah. So let me, you know, just point out that every actor, musician, anyone who wants to stay in the limelight, if you notice, always does publicity. And in fact, when they stop, what do you notice? You don't remember who they are, right? And especially in today's world, what's so wonderful about publicity for the one, you know, the entrepreneur, the small business owner, is that now it's accessible. And so what I call publicity is the fact that the truth is you're all doing it no matter what, because it happens from the minute you walk out your door, from the minute you walk into a Zoom room, whether for networking or pitching a client. Hey, Guess what? Your publicity is gonna back you up, put you forward in the line, be in front of you, and accelerate your ability to be seen, to be heard, and to get paid. Publicity is really the wonderful gift that keeps on giving because it's the kind of evidence that you put in front of you so that people hire you and that people know you're good because you know why? Other people are talking about you. Or that you're featured in other places. It puts you definitely ahead of anyone else they're going to interview.

So would you say the distinction between publicity and marketing is the use of a third party that is kind of like— so like traditionally, like you'd have a news source and you'd send out a press release and somebody would pick it up and they'd interview you, blah, blah, blah. And that somehow it gives you the exposure that marketing would, but you're not doing it yourself. Someone else is talking about you. So therefore it gives it more credibility. Is that still the model?

Absolutely it is. You know, and, and good news for all of you listening and watching is that it actually— publicity is easier to get than ever, meaning there's A lot of podcasts you can be on now. That wasn't the case a couple years ago even. There are blogs you can get in. Wow. There, there are the fact that in your local market, which I'm a big believer in local market publicity, like getting on your ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox News radio and TV as much as possible. Because you know what happens, interestingly enough, is that the national people at national levels are looking at local news and finding interesting stories that they can pick up on. And same with the big shows too, by the way. They're watching local feeds, it's called, uh, news feeds, to see what's in the news and what stories are interesting. So get yourself locally featured. Number one, it's often easier because media in local markets needs you, wants you, and wants local experts to feature.

Yes, I actually had a PR person. We were looking at doing a live event, and that was one of her recommendations, was, you know, getting on the local show. And she said that that's usually a pretty easy lift because they're always looking to fill content, like they have a constant need for new folks. So Would you, you know, one of the things that we talk about on here a lot is the return on investment. And so with marketing, that's usually an easier computation. You know, when you're saying I spent this much on this campaign or this promotion and I track the sales and therefore I have some, something to work with. Is there ability, is there an ability to track the ROI in publicity.

Yes. Well, what you have to know in my field is there are several ways we track ROI. There's the obvious one about you're on a show and then you're, as they say, the phone rings, the website visits go up, the orders come in. You know, I had a woman who sold 45 books in a 15-minute podcast. I mean, that's amazing. I had another woman who sold an accessory for $25. She sold 600 of them being featured in one blog post. Great publicity and a good cash day, I might add. You know, it also— you measured on the bragability factor. And again, I don't mean from an ego perspective, but the fact that you've been featured in counts a lot to be able to say that, to be able to post it, to be able to use it as evidence when you're talking to clients or when you're prospecting on your website, featured in. All that means a lot. And on top of that, how we measure it is if you had paid for that amount of space. For instance, I had a woman in Women's Day magazine. She got 2 lines. Had she paid for that, it would've been $75,000. I had a woman who was 4 minutes on NBC Nightly News following my Media Mastery system. And had she paid for it, it would've cost her $725,000. And I could go on and on like that, but bottom line is you're measuring if you had paid for the same amount of time, most, most people could never afford it. And, and that part's called advertising. Publicity is free. And I will tell you, the— it's particularly the elevation of expertise, the believability, the credibility, and frankly, the way that people can now see you and trust you because somebody else featured you. It's earned media, and that's powerful.

Hey listeners, are you ready to turn your passion into profit? Then grab a copy of Profit First for Creatives. Click the link in the show notes to purchase a copy. And if you're not ready to make that full commitment, you can download a free copy of the first chapter. Check it out right now. Uh, Nero Wolfe, that's who the detective was. I can't remember if he's the author or the detective. Sorry, it just rattled, uh, you know, rattled around and came in. Um, so if, if you were going to— now you said mastermind, that sounds like something where it's DIY, uh, not you doing it for them on, on the publicity side. So you teach people to do publicity themselves or you do it for others?

Um, my Media Mastery Intensive actually gives people the tools to get publicity done with systems in place and scripts and templates and all that good stuff. Uh, I do work with people on a one-on-one get-it-done basis. It's more private. Customized consulting.

So have you found one side of the business better or worse?

So, you know, podcasts are probably the easiest to get. And I always recommend starting with that because there are matching services and there are Facebook groups to find them and ways to network that I think are really wonderful. And so I like people starting with podcasts because they're seen and they're heard and there's, you know, a good amount of time to really talk. Whereas you got usually about 4 minutes when you're on a major network on television and radio might be a slight bit longer, but not much, maybe 7 minutes. So most media is very short. You got to have your points ready to rock and roll. You got to know what your main message is. And that's, that's key. So I'm a big believer in get started however you can. And podcasts are a great way to do that.

That's great information. I miscommunicated my question. I meant for you as a business owner, is the one-on-one do it for you, do it for, versus the one-to-many teaching others to do it themselves. Have you found one segment of the business better for you?

You know, obviously it's— I receive more, shall we say, profitability when I'm working with someone one-to-one. You know, I frankly give an outrageous offer to people to take my Media Mastery Intensive. It's like $97 because my goal is to really empower people to get it done no matter what their budget. Um, so from there, you know, people can work with me privately or they can work in a mastermind group and they have many, you know, not many, but a few other choices in which, in ways to work with me. Um, but you know, as far as I'm concerned, the biggest thing is helping others get their gifts out and publicity is such a great way to influence and impact others. You know, at no cost.

So is it—

Meaning not those high advertising costs.

Right. Yeah. So I find there's a lot of models built around like what you're describing where there's the DIY, DIY, DIY. Good Lord. As a way to educate, but also inform and empower them to do it themselves. But there's this understanding that a lot of people won't do it themselves and they'll eventually reach out for you to do it for them. Was that your intent or not?

It's certainly not my intent. I mean, there will always be people who will move on to have me help them, and that's terrific. And yes, I have an offer for that. For those who are ready to just go do it themselves or even want some education, what I know is I've given them lots of information from which to proceed. And, you know, that's good news, right? And from there, it's up to each person for what they want to do next.

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So how did you get into PR?

Well, I was in law school thinking I would make a difference. I'm sorry. Yes, I know, thinking I would make a difference there. And then I, well, got to law and it's very analytical. I have a very creative, fast mind, not a great match for law school typically. And I was actually quite unhappy there. And during my first year of law school, I started working in the music business, which I actually did really enjoy. And then when I quit law school, which was in my first year, I actually dropped out. And that was very unusual for me. But a good decision and started working not only in the music business, but as the director of promotion and publicity. And then that evolved itself into multiple independent record labels, uh, some band management, some other things, and then actually opening up my own PR agency. And it was like a whole cycle of wonderful, uh, pathways to all things publicity. Then I got tapped to write my first book, Guerrilla Publicity. And that was that on the agency stuff. And now I'm, like I said, teaching people to get it done themselves and doing some customized support for people.

So you got your chops in the music industry. Yeah. Is there a reason? I mean, lots of different, angles there. What, what was it that drew you to the, the publicity part of it as opposed to some like band management or, um, you know, the recording side or the, even the legal side, like, you know, distribution rights, et cetera.

What, what? Yeah. Well, I was actually working on the legal music side. That's how I actually got into it. And I was very lucky to get in with some very high-level names very quickly. With some major rock and roll promoters. And from there, once I dropped out of law school, I obviously couldn't do the legal aspects of it and sort of more found my natural path, which is the publicity and promotion. And then ending up as the director of promotion and publicity for 4, literally 4 independent record labels, I felt like that was really my strength. And I, by the way, I did do a little bit of band management and got my band in front of Chrysalis Records, which was exciting. I just found it more professional babysitting than publicity.

Mm. Yeah. Dealing with creatives professionally is sometimes like herding cats. Uh, you said children. That's, that's fine.

That's same thing. Yes.

Um, okay. So let's, let's, uh, fast forward. What were the challenges that you had? When you opened your own agency? Like, what, what were the things that you didn't know you didn't know?

Well, one thing I definitely know I didn't know was money management, meaning, you know, like, I hung a shingle up and said, okay, I'm in the publicity business. But truthfully, I wasn't really running a business. I mean, I was running a consulting agency and my lovely fee and, you know, then we did business, but I If I were to, you know, start it all over again and do it right from the beginning, I would tell you that I would be far more financially literate, understand how to run a business, not use my own money, you know, and come out the gate in a different way. I think I spent a lot of years, you know, kind of making things up and it worked, you know, mostly it worked.

I think you were creative. That's— you just Make some stuff up.

Yeah, exactly. And I think a lot of entrepreneurs do that. It's just when I look at, you know, sustainable business over a long period of time, I might have approached things a little bit better, but, you know, it came out pretty good so far. So I guess, you know, we all have our ways of doing things. I'm just— I think particularly people should become financially literate, meaning, you know, know what's coming in, going out, what it really costs to run a business. And that might have influenced some of my decisions.

Yeah, I mean, I think it's not just creatives, it's virtually every business owner that, you know, you have your inventors and your tech people that are doing things, but for the majority of entrepreneurs, it's they have some skill or ability and they're creating a business around that and they they're either a great plumber, a great chef, a great publicist, like whatever, and they create a business around it, but they have no knowledge of what they don't know, like all of the business aspects of, you know, whether that's legal or HR or money or marketing, you know, like publicity. Like if you're a plumber, you don't know anything about marketing and publicity, right? There's a whole set of skills that comes into play that you realize you don't have. And depending upon how stubborn you are, uh, it, it, and how successful you are, uh, it can take you a while to learn those things. Um, I, I think to your point, the finances is one of those things that is almost universally overlooked. And it's not, again, it's not just creatives, it's Um, it's, it's, I, I think, a fear. I think, uh, a lot of people have a fear about numbers, that it's too complicated, that it's not something that they can understand. Um, they might have some baggage beliefs about money that they bring to the table that impact the way they run the business. Um, but yeah, I, I agree with you that, that financial— I don't even call it financial literacy. It's, it's, um, it's understanding how numbers tell the story of your business and how they can, they can drive the success of your business. It's not just a compliance-driven thing where, oh, I got to file my taxes, so, you know, let's go back and add all this this up. Can you think of a specific instance where your lack of financial acumen cost you money?

Well, I just also want to add that we are not trained to understand this. Unfortunately, you know, our school systems to me should be teaching business profitability, P&L statements, you know, how to read and understand Right from the get-go. So just saying, we're not really trained that way.

I agree.

Unless maybe you're in—

it shouldn't be a surprise. You're right. Well, no, MBAs are the worst. They don't actually know anything. I'm sorry, go ahead.

Are you an MBA?

No, my daughter is, uh, and I make fun of her.

So, oh, okay. Well, you know, I, I mean, I would tell you, even in my, um, When I was looking at things like cost of goods, you know, how much does it cost me to make my— whether they were brochures way back when or whether they were advertising in business and what made most sense. Also, you know, when to call program quits. Like, I remember starting a bit of a continuity program, an inner circle, and, you know, it was great for 3 months and then I noticed some drop-offs. Just being willing to cut losses and move forward quicker, I think, is always a good thing. And, uh, that would have been an arena— funny enough, it, I think it was ahead of its time. You know, now they're far more popular and would— people would probably stay in it longer. But even, you know, I'll tell you, I have a 1-year mastermind, and at the— I don't know, 3 months ago, literally, I just changed it to 6 months. Why? Because People's attention spans are shorter than they've ever been before. And, you know, it's, it's a lot to ask someone of someone. So I've got that. I've got a 7-week offering. So, you know, it's two different sides of the spectrum, both shorter than I ever had before. And so I think being willing to make quick changes and, you know, put a program away if it's not working, or if you're just seeing fallout, you know, just, just go, like, keep going. I think people feel like failure, but I, what I've learned is, you know, it's not about failing. It's just about readjusting.

Yes, it's data. Exactly. I mean, it's not failure. It's data. It's information to inform your next decision. Yes. And to, and to your point, making those, those iterations quicker is, is key. And I think that if in business, it's not a real, real leap for most business owners to think about, you know, tracking metrics, right? Like, I mean, that, that makes sense. Like, how many times does the phone ring? Or how many times does someone fill out a web form or whatever? Like, so metrics, that makes conceptual sense to us just to measure, to see what's working, what's not working, right? Yes. Finances are just the same thing. I mean, they're metrics. They're in a specific format so that there's more comparability and understandability between companies. But it's just data. And it's, like you said, a feedback loop of what's working, what's not working. And the quicker you can get through that loop of learning what's not working, the better off you are.

Absolutely.

Well, I know that you are pressed for time, and I am sorry because I would like to continue this conversation longer. But, you know, that's fine. We can pick it up later. How do people find— I mean, I got to guess with the title, like Jill Lublin dot com. That's the way to do it, right?

Well, actually, I've created a free gift for all of your listeners. And that's an opportunity to go deeper with me. I know our time was a little short, but I've got great publicity tips for you, and it's in an action guide that's just simple and easy. Uh, and on top of that, the gift also includes a wonderful publicity class with me where you get to ask and get answered even more publicity questions live and interactive with me. So to get that, go to Jill lublin.com/guide, G-U-I-D-E, and that'll give you that right there, and we can keep in touch and see each other again.

Perfect. Listeners will have those links in the show notes. If you like what you heard, please rate the podcast, share the podcast, subscribe to the podcast. If you don't like what you heard, I don't know why you don't like Jill, but let us know, shoot us a message, tell us what you'd like to hear, and we'll replace Jill. Until then, ta-ta for now.