#139: The Fastest Way To Achieve Expert Status In Your Industry With Lisa Simone Richards

What it comes down to is positioning yourself with value. What do the listeners of that podcast care about? What do the viewers of that YouTube channel care about? What do the people reading that site care about? And how can you show up with value, supporting them and giving them a solution to their problems? That's when you're going to get the yes. That people are going to value having you on their site. Pull open the curtains that everyone's like, oh, I thought I needed a fancy publicist for that. You don't. I'll just show you how.

Come on this journey with me each week when you join me, we are going to chase down our goals, overcome adversity. Adversity. And set you up for a better tomorrow.

I'm ready for my close up.

Hi, and welcome back. I'm so excited for you to meet my guest this week, Lisa Simone Richards. She's a PR and visibility strategist for anyone who wants to get more eyes on their business. Through her free workshops, masterclasses and mentorship program, she gives you the insider secrets on how to get exposure and reach more people without spinning your wheels on social media. Her clients learn the lather, rinse, repeat formula for more visibility, which makes them more sales. Ka ching. They go from invisible to in demand. Getting interviewed on top podcasts, partnering with big names in their industry and building their authority, expert status, getting featured on major media like Fox, NBC, Forbes, and more. Lisa, thanks for being here.

Heather, I'm so excited to have this conversation with you. Thank you for inviting me to be a part of the show today.

Yeah, well, as I had mentioned to.

You, this is a topic that I.

Strongly believe in and I practice myself. However, I've never brought a how to to our audience. So I'm really excited for you to drop some knowledge on and let's start here first, why do you think it's important for people to lean into PR 100%?

So more than ever, it. And the thing I keep hearing from people over and over again is how difficult it feels to break through the noise. Especially in the last two years, a lot of people have been moving online. And even when I was inspired to start my own business, I saw that a lot of people were leaving corporate America to take a chance on themselves. So the truth is, you can be the best at what you do, but if you're the best kept secret, nobody actually knows about you. And that means that they can't work with you. And if people can't work with you, that puts your business at jeopardy. So my mission is to make sure that people who have taken that chance on themselves, who want to have a significant impact, know the tools that are a little bit different from what everybody else is saying so that they can actually get their name out there and get recognized as the expert that they are.

It's very noisy out there and everyone claims to be an expert, but if you don't have something to back that up, you know, it certainly is debatable, especially with LinkedIn and the ability to really research someone and see, you know, what is valid and what's not.

Yeah. What I'm seeing so much now is that people have been told about two types of media, but they haven't really been told about the third one. So. So social media is something that we're all pretty familiar with. Recreating content on Facebook, on Instagram. And I think it's so fantastically powerful that we can say, hey, this is the content I want to put out. This is the time of day that I'm going to do it. And then I can actually DM my ideal clients on the back end. That's not something we ever had access to before. That being said, everybody is doing it. Also, the algorithm is controlling how many people see that. So even if you have 2,000 followers, it may only make it in front of 200 of them. So that's why I don't think social media is the only place for you to put your egg, so to speak. Secondly, people are pretty familiar with paid media, so that could be buying ads on Facebook or on Google. But the challenge with that is we all know how to ignore ads. Whether we're flicking through a magazine or watching television or YouTube or we're driving down the freeway, we know how to tune it out. And the other downfall there is that when you turn off your ad spend, your content is gone. So the third media that I love to share with people is called earned media. This is actually having other people sing your praise. This is showing up as the content. So somebody else is saying how great you are and highlighting you as that expert with earned media, paid media, social media, anybody can do it and buy their way into it. Earned media, that's not just for everyone. It's reserved by those who have been chosen by Forbes, by TV stations, or on podcasts like this one to be interviewed to share their skillset. So I would love for more people to know about earned media, not only because it typically doesn't cost money, but it positions you way more powerfully than saying, hey, look at me, I'm awesome. Versus Forbes, saying, hey, look at this business. They're awesome.

So most people hear that, and I think they understand, but they either say, well, I'm not really an expert, I'm not rock star status, or don't you have to hire someone to land you opportunities like that?

So that's absolutely on the money. One thing I hear from people all the time is like, oh, well, I'm just not at that stage to have a publicist yet. Like, it sounds like it's one of those things for, like, really fancy celebrities. And the truth is, it is way easier to get access to these kind of exposure opportunities than most people think. Like, I can share some tools just in the next few minutes on this show that'll have media opportunities landing in people's inboxes and really giving them kind of the know how to get started. So I think social media is a great way to start positioning yourself. But hopefully through the course of this conversation, people are going to learn how to actually amplify it, get in touch with the gatekeepers who can say, okay, you're in Forbes.

Okay, so where do we begin?

So what I would love to speak through is what I call the ladder of publicity. Because I find no matter how much I could go on the show right now and I could drop the email address for the editor at Forbes, for example, I can give all the tools, but if somebody doesn't feel confident putting themselves out there, they're not going to do it. So typically, what I like to do is teach my clients to move up what I call the ladder of publicity. So this is a way you can take your PR and your visibility into your own hands. And you can also grow your confidence as you move from step one up to step two up to step three. So is it okay if I kind of go ahead and start sharing what this looks like?

Yeah, absolutely.

Okay, so let's say you are someone who maybe has never gotten featured anywhere before, and you know that you want to grow beyond your own audience, you want to reach more people. So the first thing that I recommend, and actually let me backtrack before I even go into this, one thing that I always like to teach my clients to do, and I'd love to share this with your listeners as well, is to have what I call a healthy media mix. So think about how you like to consume content. You might either probably have a preference for watching it, listening to it, or reading it. So we have to remember that our clients have have their preferences as well. So I always encourage people to get on One written platform, and we'll talk about some examples of what those can be. One audio platform. We'll also have some examples and then a visual platform. So no matter how your client likes to pay attention and consume content, you're showing up in that way. Further to that, if you're showing up on all three platforms, audio, visual, and written, you're also creating a little bit of buzz. Now, you're not just showing up in one place when someone Googles your name. You're not just on your own website, but you're on this podcast and you're on this Facebook Live forum example. So, okay, going back to where I started before the media mix, knowing that it's a healthy idea to have one of each of the three types of visibility. The thing I love to share with people, to get started with is to go for written content. Now, this can go one of two ways. This is either you as an individual are writing a piece of content for an external site. So maybe you're doing a guest blog post or writing an article for a website. So you are the content creator in this one. Alternatively, you can be interviewed by someone. So let's say somebody at Forbes Entrepreneur Inc. Wants to interview you. They'll email you a few questions or maybe hop on the phone and they put the article together. So those are two different ways that written content can come together. Now, in terms of different types of written media, we could be talking about doing a guest blog post, writing an article for your local newspaper. If you rely on foot traffic in your business, writing an article for a website could be even like contributing content. Actually, I would love to share one way for people to start getting feedback featured right now, if that would be helpful.

Yeah, absolutely.

So as you're just starting to put yourself out there in the written format, and the reason that I suggest written first is if you've never been featured anywhere and you have that inner perfectionist just like I do, who wants to be like, I'm not sure it's just ready to hit send on yet. And you want to maybe like write the article, come back 24 hours later and edit it. Maybe you want to send it to a few friends to edit, but this is your opportunity to have that perfectionist win and then hit send when you feel good and ready to. It doesn't work that way with audio and video, so that's why we're starting here. So here are two ways that people can start getting written media features right away. Number one, there is a website called Help a Reporter Out. I Believe the website is helpareporter.com you can give it a Google and what this is, this is an email database that connects sources with journalists. So what I mean by that is there is somebody working at your local morning show newspaper website and they need quotes from an expert to be able to like substantiate and back up their content. So you sign up on helperreporter.com it's totally free. You will be signing up as a source. So you are signing up as a subject matter expert. And three times a day you will get an email in your inbox from HealthPro Reporter saying, hey, someone from Forbes is looking for this kind of like specialist. Somebody from this popsugar for example, is looking for a quote from a personal trainer. So as soon as that email lands in your inbox, see what they're looking for in your category and hit respond on it right away. That's how some of my clients started Getting feature on Popsugarself, msn.com, yahoo.com, within a matter of weeks of working with me.

That's how I got the COVID of the finance section on USA Today. It's crazy.

See and again, everyone thinks that, oh, I need a fancy publicist for these things. No, I just want to open the curtains and share with people that it actually is pretty accessible. And for those people who might be like, oh, I don't know if I'm the best at this topic. My trick with Haro is be the two things my mom always asked me not to be fast and easy. So when you see that email come in, respond right away. Don't send them a novel about what you do. Answer the question. And I'm looking for someone to talk about these three stats on handbags. Pop in your three stats and say if you have any more questions, email me here and they can get back to you. So the fastest person towards the end of that race is the one who wins. It's not necessarily the best. So don't worry about that if that's something that's coming up for you. So that's one way to get interviewed in a publication because we talked. You could either write the content or you could be interviewed. So that's one trick. Hellcareporter.com the second trick that I would like to share with people who want to get started with written content is go on Google and type in quotations, write for us and then whatever your industry is. So W r I t e 4s confidence could be something you looked up. Write for us. Publicity could be something that I look up. And then what's going to come up in the Google results are sites that are looking for experts to create content on that subject matter. Now, I'll say off the jump, these aren't going to be the biggest websites in the world, but if you are just starting to put yourself out there, you need to remember someone at Forbes is going to be looking to see what your background might be before they give you that coveted position. So it's okay to start contributing on these smaller sites because now you're going to start building a name for yourself. And by the time the bigger opportunities are ready for you, you've actually laid the foundation that people will be like, oh, okay, I've seen this person in XYZ Place. Let's give them a platform here. They're obviously credible.

That makes so much sense because you're going to feel more confident. You're going to feel like you've got some experience and you're building your name. So it makes sense that Forbes would consider looking at you because now you're starting to show up in SEO. I love that.

Exactly. And it also helps us move up to the next step. So once you see yourself featured on a website and you see your name like, you know, your shoulders, go back a little bit. I remember the first time I got featured in a magazine and goodness knows, God bless my mother, she has no idea what I do. And I've had the same career my entire life in public relations. She has her little spiel. Lisa helps coaches get publicity. That's what she says whenever somebody asks or God help her how I do it, but that's what she knows to say. So a few years ago I got featured in a magazine. They actually did a three page spread on me. So there was an article and the pictures and like, do you know how I felt after that came out? Because it might sound silly to talk about ego, but let's be real, it's there. Like my shoulders were back. I believed in myself. I was like, I got this spread in a magazine. Mom took the magazine to Trinidad to show all the family who still didn't know what I did, but it was legit. So think about how not only you're going to feel, but how will you be perceived by your friends, by your peers, by your colleagues, and by potential clients when they say, oh, this person has been featured in so and so. And to also keep in mind, if you're somebody who sells a product or a service, you want to elevate your positioning for most likely unless you position yourself as like, you know, a cheap bargain alternative. Now when you start getting these kind of features, you become premium. You are in a place where you can actually afford to charge a little bit more than the other guy. It's not going to be a race to the bottom when it comes to pricing simply because of the way that you've been positioned and the way that you are now being perceived.

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It's so true. People associate that name recognition and the affiliation with a big outlet as wow, that person has this value. That is, it's very real. Incredible. And so many of us are trying to differentiate ourselves from our competition. That's a fantastic way to.

Absolutely. And then further to that, you can take those logos and put them on your website. So as soon as somebody lands on there, like even giving you an example, like if I were to look at working with like let's say a life coach or a relationship coach, which I have done both of and I see on your website as featured on Cosmo. Truth is, I haven't had a subscription to that magazine since I was 12. I haven't bought an issue since I was like maybe 18. But I am a 38 year old woman who did read that growing up. So if I see you've been featured on Cosmo and your website, automatically my perception of you has gone up, your status has gone up. And I'm a little more curious and also a little more willing to pay if I want to work with you. Because you have that street cred.

Absolutely. And not only on your website, but on all of your social media as well.

Absolutely. And the great thing with that is like that credibility never goes away. Years ago I was in a business mastermind that maybe had 100 or so people in it and I wanted to be seen by the coach of that mastermind. And I knew she had a vision of being featured in Forbes. And I'm like, I can do that for her in 10 seconds, no problem. So I was able to connect her with a writer, had a really great feature story written about her, and that was in 2017. So four years later, her Instagram bio still starts with as featured in Forbes. So that's a powerful thing that you can be putting all over the place. And again, nobody Writes as featured on Instagram or as seen on Facebook. We're all doing that. So we need to do something differently to be able to stand out and break past the noise.

You gave the example of that coach that you knew you could get her on Forbes right away. How do you show up as unique, valuable and different when you send a pitch in?

Yeah, that's a really good question. So I would say the number one mistake that I see with a lot of people who want to get features and press coverage is they make it all about them. So imagine I came to you, Heather, and I was like, hey, Heather, my name's Lisa Simone Richards and I have this six month mentorship program and I would love to come on your podcast and talk all about it. That would be a quick delete. So the key is, however, and you.

Know this, that's the majority of pitches that we all get.

Absolutely. And that's why I want to make sure that everyone who's hearing this episode is highlighted. That is not the way to do it, to give a really solid pitch. Here's what you want to do. And I'm going to take it back to when I was in PR school because I remember one of the teachers saying this to us in like one of our first few weeks. And I'm like, that's mean. I just paid a lot of money to be here. But I remember in Writing lab, she said to us, nobody cares about your brand or your business as much as you do. And that is like the line that has stayed with me for well over 20 years. Something like that. Let's not date me too badly here. But what it comes down to is positioning yourself with value. What do the listeners of that podcast care about? What do the viewers of that YouTube channel care about? What do the people reading that site care about? And how can you show up with value, supporting them and giving them a solution to their problems? That's when you're going to get the yes, that people are going to value having you on their site. So I'm always thinking about one tip that's really helpful is what's newsworthy. So where having this conversation at the end of July, is there something coming up in August or September that's relevant for their readers that you can support them with? Because so many times I have friends in the media who are like, I just got this great pitch. I'm just going to file it for later because it's not time sensitive. So that's another little trick you can throw on there. Be of value first and foremost. And then if you can make it timely, do that too. I used to work in the fitness industry for a number of years. Guess what they write about every single January 1st, without fail, new Year's resolution season. So what does that look like in your industry? And how can you capitalize making yourself the subject matter expert, delivering value on it?

I love that. And that's so absolutely spot on. Correct. And I'll tell you one approach that I've seen recently that's been working. I've been saying, I've at least been acknowledging and responding to the emails that I get for requests to come to my show. People have been leading with a screenshot of their review of my show. So to your point, they're showing not only, hey, here's how I can add value to your audience, but Heather, I just also wanted to tell you that I'm adding value to you for what you do, and I wanted to say thank you. And it's very hard when you see someone take that approach to just delete an email immediately because you feel some sense of, oh, I need to respond to this person. That sure was really nice of them, even if I don't know that they're the right fit for the show.

I love that tip. That's not something I considered before. And guess what I'm bringing into my mentorship program now is a little value added bonus tip. So I'm going to credit you, Heather, for that one.

But it really does work and it goes back to what you're saying. How are we adding value and just to your approach, in the original email that you sent me, you made it so obvious how you were gonna add value to my audience, how I hadn't been showcasing this skill set or these teachings before, and what it could be labeled, what the actual show title. You just made it so easy to process. And I think sometimes people overcomplicate things and go into these big, long, personal stories. You know, I get these really detailed pitches, but again, like you said, it's all about them and nothing about the listener. So thank you for breaking that down for me.

I love that. And I have so many more tips that I can share on that one. But I want to make sure that we actually move through the entire ladder. I'll leave everyone with one more tip, actually. When you're writing out to someone like Heather who has access to an audience and you're doing a pitch before you hit send on that email, read through the left margin of your paragraphs how many sentences begin with me. My And I. You're going to want to go back and change those, because people tune out when it's not about them. So, Heather, if you go back to the email I sent you and dissect it, you'll see it doesn't say, I teach publicity. It says, your listeners have built a business and they want people to know who they are. So I make it about the other person and then subtly show here's how I can support them on their mission.

That's so powerful. And yes, yes, and yes. I can't wait to go back and check it Now.

Yeah, now you can dissect it for sure. So, okay, so now we're starting to move up the ladder of publicity. We've started with written content. Whether we're being interviewed or we're contributing content, our perfectionist has won. They've gotten to, like, edit the answers in the article until we feel good about it and hit send. So the next rung that I recommend people move up to is now audio content. More people are listening to podcasts and have Netflix subscriptions in the States. So speaking for myself, speaking for my clients, without a doubt, podcasts are the number one things that actually bring us conversions from clients. Because when someone hears you talk for a half hour and they've actually listened to the show, they're probably enrolled in what you're talking about. And when they go ahead and book onto your calendar to have a conversation with you, they're, like, already partially bought in because they understand what you're talking about. So various forms of audio platform podcasts are my number one. If you happen to be a bricks and mortar business and you can only work with people in your local area, radio can be a really good platform for you as well, especially if you're in a city that has those news talk shows that like traffic on the ones and weather on the twos, because I had clients on one of those shows and their episode, like, looped for, like, five hours during rush hour. So how great was that for them? The other thing that's popping up now, Clubhouse and various variations of Clubhouse, is another great way to get in front of people. This whole conversation is about how can you leverage somebody else's audience. So how can you be on somebody else's clubhouse room? How can you be on somebody else's podcast? Because we want to grow beyond our audiences. And I think audio is a great way to do this because typically on a podcast, like, occasionally you're on video, and I think most of the time when podcasts are on video, A lot of the time it's so that the host and the guest can, like, jump off each other and see when someone's pausing and whatnot. But by and large, I find when I'm on a video podcast, it doesn't actually get. The video doesn't necessarily get published. So you can be comfortable, no makeup. I've done podcasts where I'm literally, if I'm not on camera, walking around in my underwear, talking on a phone to somebody, just about what I know. So I feel like this is a great way to build connection, get better at your messaging. But you're not on spot of being seen. So this is another way to start increasing your confidence, growing that skill set so you can continue to show up in powerful ways. So I like to start with the written, and then we move up to the audio, because you don't necessarily have to be seen yet, especially with Clubhouse.

I know for myself when I first started doing podcasts that I had a hard time listening back. Listening to your own voice when you're not used to hearing it can be really disarming. However, like anything, after you do it a couple times, it becomes more normal. And so. So again, like you're talking about moving up the ladder. I suggest starting with smaller shows first. You know, there are millions of shows out there. I constantly am getting requests on social media. Hey, can you be a guest on my show? You know, reach out to identify a.

Couple of shows that.

And who cares how big or small they are? Do it more for your own comfort because you're going to start saying, oh, wow, when I listened back, that sounded really good. Or, oh, I didn't speak as quickly this time. I think I sound better this time. But it's definitely a learning experience. The key is just to start now because that's an investing in you, building your reach and building your brand.

It's funny, I pretty much never listen to my podcast episodes. I always ask my fiance, please don't listen to any shows I've been on. Sometimes I talk about you. You don't need to hear that. But what's really interesting about listening to yourself over and over again on different shows is you start to catch on the words that you might say a lot. So absolutely, definitely, I've said a few of them on this show. But once you start to listen to yourself, you're like, okay, maybe I can come up with a synonym for that word. So I can still have a positive reinforcement. But people aren't counting how many times they say 100% for example on the other side. So it just gives you little audio clues to get that cue. Sorry to get better. And just to your point, most people who come to me say they want to be on Forbes or Oprah. They want to go for the big ones first. But when you get that opportunity, you want to be prepared, you want to crush it, you want to feel confident, and you want to nail it. So it's of benefit for you to start smaller so you can actually see, this is what I did well. This is what could use improvement. So by the time you get that bigger opportunity, you are ready for it and you're not just like deer in headlights. I have some clients who are chiropractors here in Toronto. I actually call them the property brothers of chiropractics because they're identical twins. Who knew that would have happened? And their first media opportunity was on one of Canada's largest daytime TV shows. That's live. And luckily they did a good job. But could you imagine if that went poorly? There was first time ever live TV camera, blinking, studio audience, like, don't set yourself up for that. Like, let's move up the ladder here, guys, and develop the confidence and not just think we're gonna be thrown on the spot and have it.

I'm so grateful. I did start off with small shows at first. And, you know, it was in time. It took probably for me at least over a year before I started feeling like, okay, I think I can take that next step up. I really wanted to feel solid in it. And it just, just, it's so worthwhile. There's nothing too small when you're starting. It's just gonna help you so much.

Absolutely 100%. I remember the first few times I was on podcast, I just moved into this new condo and I was like, no, I need really good audio. So I got the yeti microphone, I rented the theater room like, and now I'm just so much more chill about it. And I'm pretty sure that translates when I'm having conversations that I'm not stiff and rehearsed and awkward. Like, we're just chatting. We didn't need to pre screen questions or anything. We're just talking about the things that we know. And it's so much more. More fluid.

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Absolutely. And that works that way for everyone. All right, what's the next step that they need to go to?

Okay, so we started off with written content. We're now starting to see ourselves on other websites. We're googling ourselves, we're feeling better. We've moved up to audio content. We're having powerful conversations whether they're on podcasts, clubhouse or on radio. Now the next one to move up to is visual media. So this could be different things for different people. It could be traditional media like getting on your local morning TV show or your local news. It could be doing a Facebook live in somebody else's group, doing a live on Instagram with somebody else. It could be doing a guest training in somebody else's mastermind if you're a coach for example. But what is a way that people can see you as you deliver your message? The reason we move up to visual media, and it's the last one, is because you're on camera, people are seeing you. But this is a really great way to showcase that you know your stuff. And of course we know that visual connection is so powerful when someone can see your emotions, get a sense of your energy. Like people don't buy coaching, they buy coaches. They like you for who you are. So when people can get a sense of that, they feel more connected to you. So I want you to think about, okay, now that I'm starting to build up, feeling a little more confident. I'm perking up now. How can I be seen? And another reason I want people to think about various ways of being seen is think about like your own desire along media publicity. So let's say you are someone who would love to be on Television someday, whether it's a live or a recorded show, start doing Instagram televisions or Facebook lives to see how you do on live video. Because you can trip up, but how are you going to come back? There's no editing and going back to that. So start doing it on your smaller platforms to create that confidence. But also you can take that video and then share it with the producer of a TV show. You can share it with somebody else and say, hey, this is how I spoke to this topic on my my own Instagram account. What if I came into your group and did a live on this so that your viewers would know how to be able to handle xyz? Check out this video and see how I translate. So we can start doing it on our own accounts now. I mean, we're already creating content. It may as well be purposeful. And now we can think about doing it intentionally so that we can leverage it to be seen in bigger places.

Yeah, I definitely like the idea of starting with the written first, moving to audio and then having once you have that confidence built, moving to the video. Because I do agree with you, that for me was definitely the most nerve wracking. But like you said, it's important to have each one of these, not just one. And I do see a lot of people that just do video or just do audio. There's something about personal growth, about brand growth, about being seen in these different places, that they each hold equal value for sure.

And I think one thing, I'm someone who loves to give as much content as I possibly can in a small amount of time. So I'm always working on not being overwhelming. But I think one way people can think about it just so this is a very simple process and it's like, oh my goodness, I now I need to know how to become a publicist. Stick with writing written content for two or three months. Just submit articles to Thrive Global. Did you know you could easily become a contributor at Thrive Global? Google contribute to thriveglobal.com, a huge site with millions of readers every month. There you go. Dropped another gem. But just wait for a few weeks. For a few months, just focus on writing articles or being interviewed. Then for three months after that, just focus on taking a really solid podcast pitch and using the same pitch with a bunch of different shows. Then once you're really good at that, take your visual idea and use it for a few different months. I literally want people to get bored of what they're saying because I want them to develop a lather Rinse, repeat skill. So if you're on like written content this week and podcast next week and television the week after, you're kind of setting yourself up to fail there, unless you're a publicist like me, who's traditionally trained like that. And that's what you do all day. So take one, get good at it. And then as that confidence is there, it's going to be easier to take the next step.

I love that. You know what everyone wants to know? How do you get on Forbes? You know, people want those. So now that they've done the work, they've taken these different opportunities, they put the time. And how do you suggest they go after the bigger, bigger names?

Yeah. So one of the things that I would recommend, and this is literally my process when I log onto a website, so I would go onto, let's say, Forbes.com, and then you're going to have a dropdown menu of the different sections of the website. So there is the entrepreneur, the small business section, the women's section. Which of those sections would you best fit in? And also keep in mind, is your client paying attention there? Because if you're doing it to get on Forbes just for the sake of being on Forbes, that's one thing. But if you actually want to be hired by people you need to be paying attention to, where are they looking? So that's one thing to start with. But if you want to be featured on Forbes, like I said, I'd head onto the website and figure out what section do I make sense in. Click on that section. So let's say, for example, it's the women section. Open up women and then start to see. It'll list the names of author, source. I would start paying attention to who is writing articles. Like, just even from reading the title, what sounds like something I could be a fit for. Or alternatively, I'd look to see whose name is showing up over and over again that's consistently contributing content, because that's the person that you need to know. That's when you go in what I call sleuth mode, AKA stalker mode. And just being like, okay, the author of these articles is Heather Monahan.

Like, let me go on Google.

Can I find her email address? Does she have a website? What other sites is she contributing to? And then I would go down that rabbit hole, find their email address. Lisa, how do you find somebody's email address? Great trick that I use is on Google Chrome, you can get an extension called Hunter IO Hunter IO. And when you land on any website, it's going to predict what the email formula is if it's visible, and then that'll give you a really good clue to start finding people's email addresses. So this works for visibility and a ton of other things, but that's the way I would start really finding out who's the person who's writing this content and how do I get in touch with them.

Oh, another great way to find emails, My friend's company, it's called Seamless AI. That's the tool that I use, but the same thing, it's a chrome overlay that when you are on the site, it's going to pull their email addresses immediately for you.

Oh, fantastic. I've never heard of Seamless AI, but I'm definitely going to give that a look later on and potentially add that onto my browser as well.

Yeah, definitely. Check it out. It's been really, really helpful for me. When there's someone, oftentimes I'll have people that will reach out to me and not leave full contact information even to get back with them. And so you can circle back, you know, and use these tools to really get, get someone's email immediately and get things resolved. Okay, so I love that idea about going to Forbes and figuring out I had no idea to do that. I didn't even know. I didn't even know they would accept pitches or I didn't even know the idea of going to a writer directly. I always thought that you had to go to the entity.

Overall, a lot of websites are employing what are called freelance writers. So this is somebody who isn't employ. They may not have a Forbes.com email address, but these are individual writers who contribute articles to a number of different sites. So sometimes it's great to have an in with the publication itself. But if you find, let's say you are a business coach and you find a business freelance writer who writes for Forbes and Inc. And entrepreneur and msn.com that is a gold mine. They have access to a ton of platforms. So Freelancers really can be your best friend because they have access to so many different places.

Well, Lisa, I know we don't have that much more time with you. What other important gem do you want to drop from the audience before we wrap up?

Oh my goodness. I feel like I want to almost do a wrap up of some of the gems that we covered because I feel like I throw in so many things that my biggest wish when I do these conversations is that people aren't just like, wow, that was really cool information. Take Something one thing from this episode and put it into practice and create transformation. So some of the gems we talked about as you're figuring out what makes sense for you, are you going to go onto Google and type in write for us and your industry and start finding places to contribute content to? Are you going to go to helpareporter.com, sign up as a source and then start getting opportunities sent right to your inbox? Like, you could have one in your inbox in the next hour? Team? That would be awesome. Are you going to start looking into doing audio content? Are you going to reach out to and pitch a podcast? And if someone's looking for a podcast pitch template, I can share with them a little bit later if we want to do that, how they can get access to my fill in the blank one. Alternatively, if you want to start doing visual content, you know, you want to be on live television, for example, what's the interview you'd love to do on live tv? Go and do that on Facebook Live or on Instagram today so that you have content that you can put in front of a producer and say, this is a kind of content I'd love to speak to. And here's how I would present it.

Oh my gosh, that's so good. All right, tell us about the template that people can go check out.

It's so funny because as I'm talking about it, I'm like, do I remember the URL for it? So I think something that can really intimidate people is when you're sitting at an empty email or an an empty Google Docs and there's just a little blank cursor, like making fun of you, like, what are you going to write? So something that I created is my perfect podcast pitch. It's a fill in the blank template of exactly, pretty much kind of what I sent to you, Heather. But people can actually drop in their own information and then send it out the door, knowing that they have a pitch that people will likely and hopefully send you an enthusiastic yes to. So for those people who want my Plug and Play template, all you have to do is go to www.theperson and then they just pop in their name and email address and I will send you that template and then you just fill in your name, fill in the name of the show, and then you're just getting all my secrets there to be able to start getting booked on podcast now.

Oh, I love that. Thank you for creating that. And I'll definitely put that link in the show notes. Lisa, where do People find you, how do they get ahold of you and how can they work with you?

The best place to find me is I every few weeks host a two day intensive workshop. It's called the get the Word out workshop. And this is where I show business owners how to create a clear message and then actually use it to reach new people without spinning their wheels on social media all day. So if people want access to that workshop, the next one is coming up on August 31st and on September 1st. Those are the two days. If you're listening to it in the future, don't worry about it. It will be happening again. So just sign up so I can make sure you're notified for the next one. If you head over to www.finallygetthewordout.com, that's how you can get the information. For the free two day intensive, I send you a workbook. I take you through two days of trainings from nine to five. My promise is always to make that two day training better than the last course that you paid for, because I don't take it lightly that people are giving me their time. So I'm going to give you as much value as possible so at the end of the day, you know how to reach more people without feeling like you need to do another Instagram reel to do it.

Lisa, you already gave us so much value today. Thank you so much for all this. All these tips that you gave us and these great templates that you've created and this masterclass.

Thank you. It's my pleasure to be able to share it with people. I think it's just a matter of people don't know how easy it can be. And there's nothing that I love more than watching like my first client, Jessie Lanely in 2015, being like, I wonder if I can teach someone how to do their own pr. And we work together for a few months and now six years later, haven't worked with Jesse since 2015. She's on three morning shows every single month. Still, like, how much has that done for her business over the last six years? So I just love being able to open up, like pull open the curtains that everyone's like, oh, I thought I needed a fancy publicist for that. You don't. I'll just show you how.

Well, Lisa, thank you for the hacks and everyone listening right now, take these hacks, these tips and put them into motion. That is the one way for you to expand your reach, expand your audience and expand your business. Lisa, thank you for being here.

Heather, this was so much fun. Thank you for having me.

All right, guys, check out the links. I will put everything in the show notes. And until next week, keep creating your confidence. I decided to change that dynamic. I couldn't be more excited for what you're going to hear. Start learning and growing. Inevitably something will happen. No one succeeds alone.

You don't stop and look around once in a while.

You could miss it. Come on this journey with me.