The overlooked speakers fight for stage time with these weapons, with Pam Perry

Hello and welcome to this episode of The Unnoticed Entrepreneur with me, Jim James, from the UK, and today with Pam Perry, who's in Motor City, Detroit. Pam, welcome.

Thank you, Jim. Thank you for having me. Thank you so much.

Oh, it's absolutely my pleasure. And you are going to share with us the importance of owners and entrepreneurs having their own media. Pam, how can entrepreneurs get noticed?

Well, one of the first things that I always tell entrepreneurs is that the media, which is traditional media, radio, TV, and print, they're always looking for stories 24/7. That's their job. And in order for you to get noticed, you need to be what they call an SME, subject matter expert. So the first part is really becoming an expert and being positioned as an expert. So in today's world, one of the main things to position you as an expert Is to have a book. It doesn't— okay, then people are like, oh my God, I got to write a book. It doesn't have to be a thick book, but you have expertise in your brain, so translate it into a book. That's one of the main things. And so once you have a book, you can then pitch it to different audiences so that they understand that you have an expertise. I always tell people, I say, if you realize that the word authority has the word author in it, so You want to be an author so that you can get authority. That way you can get noticed in media, traditional media, and you have content to share across the internet as well. But the first step I always tell people is write a book, even if it's just a tips booklet. Okay, a tips booklet is good, or being a part of an anthology is really good. But having that book first and then sharing that information out across across writing a press release, across your social media account, writing a newsletter. I mean, that is, I guess you would say that's the linchpin for all the other things that you really need to do to get noticed.

Yeah. So that's the beginning. You've got this great content, but a big part of what you and I were talking about before we started recording was how important it is for business owners to own their own media. You've talked about books, but why do you think it's important Pam, for business owners to actually own their own channels and their own publications. We're gonna talk about your own magazine, Speakers Magazine, how you've done that. So why is it important that an entrepreneur owns their own outlet?

Yeah, it's important because as a publicist for many, many years, we would pitch and pitch and pitch. And then a lot of times maybe the media won't pick you up. And so at a certain point in time, it's like, okay, if they won't pick you up, then I'm going to have to create my own noise. And so when I say that, meaning that You can have your own newspaper by doing your blog. You can have your own magazine by doing a digital online magazine and posting it on Issuu. Or you can have your own podcast by hosting it wherever podcasts are hosted. You can have your own TV show. All of these different channels, you know, print, radio, TV, magazines, all of those things can be owned yourself. By the tools that we have today, where when I started 20 years ago, all we had was MySpace.

Right.

That was it. Facebook, I don't think even was even around. So now we have a point where we can actually create our own books. We can create our own music. The gatekeepers are gone. You don't have to wait for a television station to offer you an opportunity for an interview. You don't have to wait for a radio station to offer you an opportunity. You can create your own media. You can do your own television show, your radio show, your own magazine, and your newspaper. Blogs are really, you know, they can be your newspaper. That is an RSS feed that people can syndicate and actually get that information on a regular basis, just like they would a newspaper, daily or weekly. So yeah, it's so important to not just wait, that you can actually go straight to your own platform and create your own media outlet. And I'm a big proponent of that. Speakers Magazine is an example of that because so many times, especially for African American speakers, they would not get the same shine, I guess you would say. We would pitch and pitch and pitch and they wouldn't get noticed. And I said, okay, I'm tired of waiting for the traditional media to give permission. To these great speakers. And I said, we're going to create our own magazine and it's advertorial-based, create our own magazine. And we will really promote it as a publicist. I would promote it out. We send it to the media. We'll send it out to conference people. We're just making sure that they get seen. And that's really the whole part of it. And so that's how people can own their own media. And it's published on Issuu, is not spelled the typical way, but it's I-S-S-U-U. UU, I believe, Issuu.

That's right. Issuu.com.

Yeah.

And I'll put that in the show notes as well. It's a great platform for self-publishing.

I love it. And you can embed videos in it as well from your show. You can share it and it's just a really good platform to really produce your own digital magazine. We actually print ours as well. So this is the printed copy, but you can print it and have just a digital copy as well. And this is—

yeah, Pam. So people that can't see Speaker's Magazine, Just tell us the format because many people might think, oh, it's much too difficult to produce your own magazine. Can you just take us through some of the mechanics of that and how you produce it? Because that's often the bottleneck, not the idea, but the implementation.

Yeah. So it's a monthly. So for 5 years we've had it and I never missed a date, even during the pandemic, it was always monthly. So we produce it by the 15th of the month, we're actually working on The following month. So we produce it every single month. The COVID size, it's not an 8.5 by 11, so it's like half of that. I got the idea from Jet magazine, which is— there's Ebony magazine and then there was Jet. It's no longer around, but Jet was like a digest size. So it was like a digest size, a little size that you can put it in your pocketbook or something like that. It's 16 pages. And within the 16 pages are typically 2 stories and 10 speakers that are featured. The COVID speaker is on the front, and then the center spread is actually the COVID story on the actual person who's on the COVID And then the back is typically a conference that is— this person that's on the back is going to be the COVID of the next following month. So the person who's on the COVID typically has an event or they are launching a book. So they're launching something. So that's the news of the speaker. And then within it, our speaker bios or one-sheets, mini speaker one-sheets within it. And basically it's like they talk about their talking topics, their bio, their pictures, their social media, how people can get in touch with them. And so that they have like a little mini one-sheet that goes out to the media and to meeting planners and to our subscribers. And then within it is some articles. And the articles are typically like, this one is like how to create social media graphics that make you shine. Or how your purpose was meant to help you profit. So it's usually something that speakers need in order to edify them, but then also generally, I guess you could public as well.

Yeah. So Pam, you're solving a couple of problems there, aren't you? One is getting the content collated, but you're also helping your clients, those speakers, to get some distribution, aren't you? Yes, definitely. Which is fantastic. Is that costing you money or is this sort of like a marketing budget? Because that can often be the other issue that people face.

That's true. It's like a marketing budget in a way. Obviously people will see that I am the publisher of the magazine. There is an ad in here about the services that I have as well. So people can see that as well, but people pay to be in the particular issue. So it's an advertorial. It looks like editorial, but it's actually an advertorial. So it's paid and it's earned at the same time. It's like a paid-earned type of program, but it's typical in basically a lot of media today where people are paying to be covers of magazines, inserted in the magazine, being on television shows. Podcasts are even doing that as well. I've realized that I was like, oh, okay. So people pay to be on podcasts. So those are different types of paid and earned at the same time. And that's just because the market is so competitive now that people are doing that.

But I love that, Pam, how you've managed to create your own channels and then make it even to a profit center, right? That's a really wonderful piece of entrepreneurship. entrepreneurship in yourself right now. You've also mentioned about using Clubhouse just before we started recording. There was a fear that Clubhouse would go out of fashion, but listening to you, it sounds as though it's grown. How are you using Clubhouse as, you know, a channel for yourself and for your clients?

So everything kind of rolls from the Speaker, right? From the Speaker's Magazine, you've got the Speaker Show and the Speaker club, right? The Speaker PR and Branding Club. So within this club are the people who are in the magazine, and they come on because you need to hear them, right? So it's an audio app, so you need to hear what they're sounding like, and they're sharing their expertise. And we talk about all things PR and branding and also about marketing and revenue generation as well. So every Tuesday and Thursday we're on at 9 o'clock. We have about 2,000 members that are part of the club. But every Tuesday and Thursday at 9 PM Eastern time, we're on. And what happens is that we record, because you can record Clubhouse now, and it's not just iPhone only, Androids are part of it now as well. But we record and then it's transcribed. And so when they're transcribed, we turn them into books. And so they're like quarterly Clubhouse convo books, and the speakers can use them as lead generations. We give them out People can download them on the website, but it's a way to— the Clubhouse conversations that you miss, you can now read them, right?

Yeah.

Those are the things right now. So I love Clubhouse. It's very easy. You don't have to worry about— the sound quality is good because it is an audio app. And you can also inbox people as well. So you can directly connect with people. So you can be, quote unquote, in someone's club or on Clubhouse. But you can also inbox them directly and message them. So that's a new feature that I enjoy as well, because people have gotten a lot of business from Clubhouse.

Yeah. So it really is becoming like sort of conferences, almost like a conference presentation area, right? But with direct outreach as well. That's fantastic. So that's really changed things a lot too, hasn't it? Now you've also mentioned how as an entrepreneur, when people build their own content channels, there's an opportunity when they cease to run the business that they could leverage the platforms that they've built for what you've called an encore career. Can you give us an example of an entrepreneur that, you know, you've worked with that's sort of migrated from running a company to actually then becoming a brand in their own right?

Yes. And so, Jim, you know, all of us, we're our own brand anyway, right? So you're an entrepreneur, you're a brand, right? It's like, okay. So I'm a brand. So I have one client, her name is Dr. Geneva. And after 40 years working in nonprofit, she really wanted to do something different. Her first genre into really entrepreneurship was really creating this podcast. So she did the podcast and the podcast had to do with leadership because she was always a nonprofit leader, started a whole lot of different nonprofits in Detroit. She was headed like United Way and all that kind of thing. So she did the podcast, she did 52 of them, and then she took them and she made them into a book. Her first leverage into doing something on her own. So she did her podcast, turned it into a book, and then from there people were asking her like, what do you have after this? And she decided to create an online course, and then the online course was sold from the podcast. The course talked about how to live a vibrant life. Over 60, 65 actually. And people were saying, you're so vibrant, you're still keeping involved. And so she speaks, she has books, she has courses. And then she moved from just the podcast, which was audio, into actually video. So the video is now streamed on LinkedIn, streamed on YouTube, streamed on Facebook. She has a Facebook group, she has LinkedIn groups. Now at this point, At 70, over 70, I hope she doesn't mind me telling her age. She's got a very large following even on TikTok. Okay, so TikTok, Reels, Instagram, Facebook, everywhere. Now this is someone who had a career that was very traditional, and now at this point she's doing courses, books, doing a lot of shows and speaking and things like that, and books. And it's part of what she's doing now. It's her encore career. It's like after her career, it was like, of course. So now she's doing all of this now. And that's really— and she's a spokesperson for AARP as well. So she does programs with them. So a lot of the things she's— I guess you would say in a way a motivational speaker. She wants to share her leadership lessons with the younger generation, with the Gen Xers and the millennials as well. like how to really run and be successful in your career. So that's really what she's doing. And then she's also inspiring people who are feeling like, ah, you know, I don't really know what to do with my life now I've retired. And she's showing them how you can still have a vibrant life. And that's really the name of her course called The Vibrant Life Blueprint.

Nice.

So yes, it's the thing where she's owned the media. She wasn't waiting for a gatekeeper to give her permission. She went and did her own particular things and it's working out really well. I mean, you will see her, people say, we see you everywhere. We see you more than we did when you were working. It's because she's got these tools.

So Pam, you talk about the content creation, owning the platforms. That's great. For most people though, there's the problem of the, you know, not the creation, but the attracting the audience. You know, I have the same with this show. You know, it's easy to create the content. What's not easy is to get the audience. How do you solve that part of the puzzle for people?

And that's part of the basic marketing formula, I guess you would say. So if you have a podcast, just like you would anything else, you want to create a press release, let people know. Like if you have a monthly podcast and you have your guests booked ahead of time, I always tell people, I said, write a press release, put it on the wire, let them know what guests you have coming up. That's, you know, you have it in your head what you're doing, what the podcast is about and who your guests are. I said, just for the month ahead, just let them know who your guests are. I said, that's really a simple thing to do. And you will be surprised of how other organizations will pick up that press release. And then you'll start sharing it in your own social media tribe to let them know what's coming up. Just like a movie that's coming up, you're like creating a preview or a trailer. You can do trailers for your podcast as well. Mm-hmm. Like, I think you do like little teasers for your podcast as well, which is a good thing to do. Just like we would for a movie, you're doing a trailer ahead of time. And I always tell people, I said, you have an email list. That's your main thing that you're going to own is your email list. You want to let your email list know that you have this content. You're going to share out your blog via your RSS feed. You're going to share out your YouTube channel, you know, to your email list. You're going to share the podcast links. You want to share your content with your list and then invite them to share it out as well. And that's why, you know, we got the paid, earned, owned, and shared media. In order for it to be shared, you have to let people know. And I said the simplest way is the email.

Yeah, that's a really good point that you should forewarn people or not forewarn, but, you know, promote in advance. And that's a really good tip I should take on board myself. Pam, tell us as an entrepreneur yourself, how have you got your own business noticed?

You know, one of the things that has really gotten me noticed was speaking. And I don't consider myself like a platform speaker, like a Les Brown or Tony Robbins or anything like that, but I speak on my expertise. So I go to a lot of different conferences and I speak. I may not get paid to speak as a speaker, but I speak in order to get clients. And so that's why I'm so adamant about the Speakers Magazine. And also writing books. So I believe speaking and writing books is one of the main things of how to get noticed. By doing the magazine, I also do a podcast. I also do a magazine, a podcast, and also the TV show. And so those are the things. And obviously I'm active on social, but really the linchpin is really speaking in your area of your expertise to conferences. Like if it's a book conference, if it's a publishing conference, if it's a PR conference, I'm speaking at those conferences and making sure that I'm showing up. There's a podcast conference I'm going to in Dallas and in a couple of weeks as well. So I'm going there as media for Speakers Magazine. So I'm going to a podcast conference, which I have a podcast, but I'm also going there for media at the podcast conference. So I'll be interviewing other podcasters as well.

Well, I love how you are blending all these different platforms and cross-referencing the different kinds of content and audiences. That's fantastic, Pam. Now you're over there in Detroit. If you want to get ahold of you, where can they find you, Pam Perry?

Very easy. pamperrypr.com. That's where all things are there. The magazine, the blog, all the social, even the TikToks are there at pamperrypr.com. You can find it all there.

Well, you are really a content creation wizard, Pam. So thank you so much for coming on the show and sharing with me and my fellow Unnoticed Entrepreneurs. Really how to get noticed by owning your own channels. Thank you so much.

Thank you, Jim. Thanks for having me. It's been great.

It's my pleasure. So you've been listening to Pam Perrin. As always, I will include in the show notes the details of my guest, in this case Pam, but also the software she's referred to called Issue. And so until we meet again, I wish you the best and just pray that you keep on communicating.