5 Strategies for Pitching to Media with Brandon LaVorgna

In the old days, you could send a news release and you probably get some coverage or at least a phone call. You just can't do that anymore. Like, newsrooms are shrinking. There's less resources to cover a variety of topics. We're more driven towards what's going viral or, you know, unfortunately who's dying that day. So you really got to stand out from all that.

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Yeah, it's been a pretty wild ride. You know, I was telling someone I've been to 48 states and it really dawned on me how much land I've covered in a short amount of time that most people don't do in a lifetime. But yeah, you know, I went to college in Pennsylvania, go Edinburgh fighting Scots and, and got my first job in Casper, Wyoming where, you know, I happened to be near Aurora during the time of the Aurora shooting. So I got some really good exposure to national media and kind of how they work at that point. Made a lot of good connections down there and stayed in contact with those people as mentors and just people to really follow and try to grow into in a sense, you know. And then I jumped after two years of being a weekend anchor and kind of leading the weekend crew and being a general assignment reporter in Wyoming, covering literally anything from, you know, Jackson Hole, where you have all that wildlife to politics was really interesting. It's a very boom and bust kind of state. So that was always intriguing to me. And you know, from there I really lucked out and landed a gig in Savannah, Georgia, where Georgia politics are quite crazy. Being right there on the port. You never know what's going to happen to, you know, we just saw what happened unfortunately over Maryland this week. But you know was around when Charleston church shooting happened. That's why media, a media plan, which we'll get into here in a minute, is so important because you just never know. I mean, on the day that Charleston church shooting happened, I was supposed to be at a fundraiser. Next thing I know, I'm headed up for Charleston, where a gunman is allegedly on the loose still after, you know, shooting all those people in a church. Covered a lot of politicians that way. You know, Nikki Haley, pretty much every presidential candidate and every president we've had recently really lucked out, Kept growing in my media career. Went up to Greensboro, North Carolina, to a top 50 market, which was a goal of mine. I always knew I would never stay in it forever. I said 10 years and I would get going, but I had goals in mind that I wanted to hit before I left so I could, you know, kind of like the Major League baseball player retiring on their, their own terms.

Always good.

Yeah, always great. Got really into the Hillary Trump stuff. Going on the bathroom bill, which was just a huge, chaotic moment for North Carolinians. You know, when you try to designate someone's birth, sex and things like that and bathrooms, it just was so chaotic. It was interesting to watch from a people watching standpoint. Kept growing my chops there and ended up in Greenville, South Carolina after. Not to be confused with Greenville, North Carolina.

Where again, I just really found myself in the middle of like national champions like Clemson football, South Carolina women's basketball, and even the men's team went on a crazy run and, you know, got to cover White House visits with Clemson, which there was fast food gate back then. And I was there for when Trump President, then President Trump was feeding them Wendy's and pizza and things like that. I didn't get a single bite, which was kind of disappointing. But, um, that was the last thing on my list. And next thing I knew, an opportunity pop popped up to go work as a public information officer, if you're not familiar with that term, more or less a spokesperson for, you know, a city, state company. There's a lot of different variations, but public information officer is usually pretty standard for cities, states, and like counties really, that government sector side of things. Worked for Greenville Police Department, helped with their media plan, you know, because I'd worked there for almost three years. I knew every reporter, anchor producer at every station, so it was able to get us our coverage when needed. I knew how to pitch the reporters, what stations were looking for, kind of what angle or maybe what piece of information.

From there. I ended up being promoted to do communications for the entire city two weeks before the pandemic hit.

Oh, fun.

Which was wild because I barely knew any of my team members, hadn't met some of them. Worked out of a 10 story building by myself during that, that first almost year.

Kind of got burned out on that, to be quite honest. It was kind of a rewarding but grueling experience. And lucked out and took a job with the state of South Carolina to work for the emergency management division to cover everything from hurricanes, earthquakes, pandemic again. Helped run the pandemic site, the COVID vaccination site for the state of South Carolina for three months, 12 hours a day. Which was just incredible to see everyone working together, no matter what side of the spectrum someone may be on if they're watching this. But just that dedication, that hard work every day was really cool. Tried the private sector. Worked for a digital marketing agency in Charleston, S.C. was not a fan, was not very rewarding. Came out to Arizona for a job and I promised myself when I walked out of one of my jobs in South Carolina, I said, hey, the price that's on my head, so to speak, with a contract or salary does not equal the price of happiness that's in me internally. And I just knew the job wasn't for me. So I quit and started the company overnight, really. And we can talk about that later. But that's kind of my background, you know, Almost a decade in news, about four years working on the city and the stateside of media pitching in a sense. And even on the private side with what I'm doing now, I just helped a client not too long ago go national.

This is where you're so unique that you've done the work in the grind of the media, being in the media, you were the media and you've also supported a whole bunch of folks to basically get the media. So you've learned both sides of it. And that's where it's one of the most common things I think people want to do is like, hey, I want to get on TV or I want to get featured in X publication, on or offline. And I feel like TV is that thing though. People like, I want to be on TV to say I've been out there, whatever it is, and.

There'S a ton of value to it. And I don't know if like going into all the merits of that is really necessary here, but it's more like, hey, all right, what's the strategy behind getting media? Like, why do you. I guess why in the first place. And you know, you have a really good perspective of this. And then what's. What's smart approach for entrepreneurs listening who, you know, they can, they can leverage the media in whatever way that they have based on the strategy. But it's like, how do you approach it? Now I feel like that's a pretty common thing is people approach those scenarios incorrectly. So I guess let's start where, like, what's the big idea? Like why, why even approach media? Why get media?

Yeah, I mean, it could be for a number of things. It could be you developed a product that's going to help a lot of people. Maybe you went viral for, you know, interacting with a celebrity, or maybe you're trying to push a bill. Maybe you're a politician. There's just so many reasons. I mean, if you really turn on the news, sometimes it's just most random stuff. You're like, why are we covering this today? And it could be for one of those reasons. But, you know, maybe you're a company and you're trying to get exposure for your product or maybe your service or maybe giving back to the community around you, despite maybe being like a Forbes recognized company. The why is really up to the company, the person, the entrepreneur. I mean, we all have some sort of moment in our life that should be covered, in my opinion. So it just comes down to your personal why, Maybe professional why. I guess maybe that could be twofold right there.

Yeah, I like that. And because I agree, like everybody has a book in them. You know, there's, there's something that is, that makes us unique, our superpower, whatever you want to call it. But yeah, it's, it's. What's that thing after all the layers of other stuff that we kind of quote unquote have to do, you know, or what's the get to do thing and, and share it widely. And I would imagine, you know, a big why is also, it's like, hey, you open the doors here, it could open up doors elsewhere and then expand that region further.

Yeah, it's free advertising in a sense, to be quite honest. And you know, with today's monopolies of the media, you know, just because you air in Nowheresville, Louisiana, chances are that station's owned by a big, big company that owns a hundred other stations. And what happens in most cases like that, you get picked up on other websites, at least if not rolled on other stations too, that may be. Found it interesting. Maybe there's a local connection. You just, you just never know.

What would your perspective be like, if someone did have that thing they wanted to get out, maybe it is a new book, maybe it's a cause or something, they're looking for impact. Of course, there's regional, there's more nationwide, and all these. There's a whole structure that I'm probably totally unfamiliar with. But would TV or this type of media that you've been in, do you think that's a good place to start or at least kind of practice a little bit here?

Yeah, absolutely. You know, I always say any kind of positive spotlight you can put on yourself, business, go for it. Even if it's a local publication. You know, a lot of times in traditional broadcast media, in terms of what you're watching with your local affiliates, national affiliates, they have a couple hours that day to put together a story. It's not a whole lot of time. But those smaller publications, those print papers that are slowly dying are still very important. They get a lot of time to dive deep in those stories. They're still very important. So always, you know, cast a very big net. You cannot go wrong by even just being covered by a podcast, by a blog, something like that. And it'll start to build. You'll get noticed because a lot of these companies watch each other or read each other. So what happens? In a lot of cases, one person will bite once, the other ones will watch, and usually within that week, if not couple weeks, if it does well or if it shows, maybe more than what you pitch to them, in a sense, they'll call you and then you're getting coverage, and then it grows from there. And as I mentioned, a lot of these little stations, these little publications, are owned by a much bigger company, and they just kind of throw it all out to everyone in a sense. So, you know, definitely do not put a box around yourself or the audience you want to reach. Now, if it's political, you obviously are not going to pitch to the opposite side, usually, unless you're super brave.

Know your audience. Unless you have an angle there. Yeah.

Know your audience, too. But be open to things, you know, you never know what a door could open, you know, and I've learned that the best ways those last, you know, seven, eight months that I've been running my company is said yes to things I normally wouldn't say yes to. And they've been just like blessings in disguise. Yeah. So, yeah, I would say start with that and know your message.

You know, it's getting really tough in newsrooms to get coverage because newsrooms are really shrinking. You used to have a team of 20, 30 people, and now it's down to 10 if that. In some cases, no. Some companies are moving away from even having a full newsroom in a. In a city like a state like Wyoming. The anchors are actually in Cheyenne, even though you think your news is coming from Casper. And that's becoming the norm slowly, just based on costs of really everything. And it's not a very financially stable business to be in. So a lot of people lead, too. So there's that twofold. It's like people are leading the business not just left and right right now. And, you know, they can't pay people in the business. So, you know, we could see a pretty big shift in the next decade or two of how your local news is viewed.

With that in mind, I'm curious, because the landscape's changing in media in general and the fact that you're saying this even on the local affiliate level, which makes a lot of sense in a small town like Casper, because that's where you spent some time, right?

In Wyoming, spent two years there. We had a team of almost 20 people on both sides of the camera. And by the time I left, that was already shrinking significantly. In a year or two after, it was down to pretty much a reporter, someone there to help in the background. And then the anchors were tossing to them from Cheyenne, which is okay, if I remember correctly, like two and a half hours away.

And that was pre Covid and all that.

That was probably 2013, 2014. And more stations are adopting similar methods. Man, it's been wild. So, yeah, media pitching is a very unique craft and it requires.

Just connection sometimes, too.

I was going to say it's. It's definitely, you know, who you know, is opens doors just in the world, let's be honest. But at the same time, like, we chatted before this on a call right after you, you know, when you're going back from San Diego is like, you definitely there's an approach to it. So, yeah, I feel like there's so. All right, we talked about the why. Figure out your why. And you know, everybody kind of can figure that out. And I think knowing the landscape of the media like you just described, it's changing. It's been changing. I don't think most people understand how. Yeah, satellites, all these networks kind of work. So there's. It seems like there's regional hubs and there's, of course, different types of publications within regions. There's national, there's podcasts like you mentioned, blogs. I mean, that's all considered media. It's just different. So it's almost like, know the landscape of, I guess, where you want to go.

And I would imagine, because I want to get into pitching and some of these interesting strategies that I didn't think about.

Yeah, this would be like kind of like a checklist, tool belt, whatever you want to call it. But in the old days, you could send a news release and you probably get some coverage or at least a phone call. You just can't do that anymore. Like I mentioned, newsrooms are shrinking. There's less resources to cover a variety of topics. We're more driven towards what's going viral or, you know, unfortunately, who's dying that day. So that kind of gets a lot of the attention, a lot of the focus. So you really got to stand out from all that from the day of news, which is something like the ship crashing into the bridge over in Maryland the other day. Things like that, where you can't predict them, they happen and they're going to get all the attention. So I always say still send the news release, which I know is kind of silly because I kind of said you can't just do that anymore. But the news release at least gets your name in front of someone's eyes. You know, make sure it's spell checked, make sure it looks good, it's clear cut to the point.

What you should do. And a lot of people don't do because when you're talking about something visual and you're just putting in words, it's hard to picture sometimes. Call that news station, call that paper, call that blog, contact whoever you sent that to and go down the list of everyone you've sent it to and just say, hey, I would like to speak to your assignment editor or is there a producer I can speak with? You know, we just sent a news release. I want to make sure they got it and really explain.

What this is.

And from there, there's a lot of things you can do, you know, again, make sure that that news release is as perfect as possible.

And because they will push aside news releases that don't look good, there's a lot of spelling errors. They're just going to think you're not a credible source. But a good rule of thumb is that four to six weeks mark, where you're hoping for coverage, let's say it's an event four to six weeks out, send that initial press release, follow up with a call within 24 hours, and then also do not forget this word. This word will get you so much, will increase your chances of really getting coverage as demonstrative. Remember that D word, demonstrative? Call and say, hey, if your crew shows up, they get to do this. Your crew shows up, they get to see this. Or we're going to put them on a boat or they're going to get the fire of a gun or, or whatever it may be. You know, I went to a story as a reporter to the ports in Savannah and no one thought to ask, hey, can we actually drive one of these giant cranes that are like $12 million and just show us driving it? So I, me being me Joe, you know, I'm kind of about having fun. I joked, I was like, what do I got to do to drive on these things? And the guy said, sign a waiver. And next thing I know, I'm the only reporter that has a shot of me driving this $12 million eco friendly crane that I had no business operating like a claw machine. But my station loved it. It was demonstrative. It showed more than just this crazy headline of port is investing tens of millions of dollars into green friendly cranes.

That's huge. I mean, you're showing, it's like show and tell, right?

It's exactly show and tell.

You're showing the proof and it's not just words or theoretical. You're in the. The seat, man.

But no one in that organization, as great as they were, as positive as they were to work with, thought to pitch that to a reporter. Reporter had to ask, which you feel bad about sometimes for legal reasons, for personal reasons, whatever it may be. Again, do not forget demonstrative things like that. Even if you're just working in a lab or you know, you got an office, try to find some way to make it creative for someone to come by instead of just spraying up B roll, as we call it.

That will get you, that will increase your chances so much more. Again, action, action, action.

Right before, I just want to go back really fast just to recap and because I know you're giving us steps and I'll just remind everyone, we'll, we'll try to make notes out of this or you know, like we'll make it actionable. But just going to the very beginning. So news, news release, press release, same kind of thing, right?

Same thing. News release followed up with a phone.

Call to an assignment editor or assignment.

Editor, producer, whoever you can really get on the phone. And you know, if you can't get a hold of those people, if you're really in tune with your local media, know which reporters cover what topics generally and just Send them a direct email, send them a tweet or an X, whatever they're called these days, that. That will get some attention too. I know I was more likely to look into a story if someone reached out to me directly as a reporter. And a lot of times the final call is up to the news director, the assignment editor or whoever it may be that's in charge of those meetings. But it doesn't hurt you. It actually helps you one way or the other. Just say, oh, yeah, I actually got an email I looked into that looked pretty cool thing.

I always love the personal touch anytime I'm reaching out to anyone. You know, maybe it's someone that even have on my podcast, like a bigger name. And you know, it's pretty much what you just said. If you don't have their email or even if you do hit them up on social in the inbox. I do like X because still, and it's been for years, not a lot of people go to those DMs. For some reason, they go to Instagram. I feel like it's lost in Instagram. Facebook, good luck. You know, you got X. And then what I love to do too is use loom. Some kind of video where I can send and show my face in the email at least. But maybe on X. But at least in the email. Like I like to put this little embed thumbnail. Absolutely.

And X is such a great platform for news attention. I mean, most reporters, that's the first thing they do, they don't go to their Facebook first. They're pushing things out. Experts and most people who are looking for their news are going to X.

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You were getting into what, timely stuff, right, with your pitch?

Yeah. And you know, let's, let's take the most recent thing that happened, Maryland, the port, and that ship crashing into that bridge and just such an unlucky thing. I mean that that ship lost power. Nothing it could do, couldn't steer. A lot of ports around the country, I don't want to say took advantage of that, but local reporters are calling them. So that's something that's timely. You know, it's just because it doesn't impact you locally. If there's something similar even thousands of miles away.

You might get attention. So just be on the lookout or call an offer, say, hey, you know, we actually have safeguards at our port here, or whatever it may be, whatever the topic may be, is it, you know, are you doing cancer research? Are you. What kind of cancer is it? There's usually a week, a day, a month affiliated with most cancers these days. So make sure you're in the timeliness. But it's also a bit about following up because you're not the only one that's probably pitching a similar topic during that. But most people don't follow up with those news releases and explaining what they can.

Yeah, that's, that's like follow ups. I feel like a superpower if you can harness that and have a system for it. So it sounds like what you're describing, there's almost, I guess not newsjacking, trend jacking. I mean, kinda. Right.

Newsjacking is an actual term. Explain it. It was something, it's where you literally do take the spotlight off of something good or bad and just make, try to make it your own in a sense. You know, that was one of the things that we taught. I used to train public Information officers. When I worked for the state of South Carolina, that was one of the things we said don't do. Now it's up to you to follow through with your duties. If a reporter reaches out, remember the public reaches out and explain the information. But you can decide not to do the interview for those new jacking reasons, especially with really sad events. And they happen all the time, unfortunately. So got to be careful. But to a company, that's an opportunity to get that free exposure, maybe get the word out about something. You know.

For instance, when we had all the shootings kind of blurred into one. But there was a shooting back in 2015 and a local company in Greenville where I worked had these life saving kits that could have made a difference. And they were actually one of the companies that was brought into that school. And the school said, nah, we don't.

Need these until, yeah, okay.

And the company was cool about it. They didn't really harp upon that. They didn't say, hey, we could have saved more lives or whatever it may be because you just don't know in those situations either. But you know, they had a reason to really reach out.

Yeah.

So be careful about newsjacking. It could be taken one way or the other. Most times it's not really affiliated with the term newsjacking.

Yeah. And I was thinking there's probably, there's a lot of positive stuff as well. I know we, you know, we look at the news and there's definitely a lot of negative and things. And maybe that's because of attention, who knows? That's a whole nother rabbit hole. But yeah, when you have something, like you said cancer, there's cancer awareness month. There's other maybe positive stories or developments and it's like, hey, you know, you can piggyback off of that if it's not always positive, but awareness, I think that's more positive than, you know, like a shooting or something.

But it's really one of those situation when it comes to media pitching, it's. So every situation is different, every reason is different, obviously. So it's hard to touch upon that without having, you know, weeks to talk about, if not longer.

So is there anything that you would avoid when it comes to pitching, like a hardcore, like don't do that, don't be like that.

Make sure everything is done with a positive mindset. Not trying to tear down another company, another person. You see that a lot in politics, obviously, with ads that run and you know, make sure you're not doing it for the wrong reasons. You know, if you're just trying to make millions. Chances are it's not going to work out for you anyway. If you have an actual good reason to be covered, that just happens to make you millions, that's one thing. But if your, your sole reason is that money, people are going to see right through you. As a reporter, I would say no to stuff because I'm like, this person's just trying to make fun. They don't really care about helping people. And that's not one of my reasons. That wasn't my why for being a reporter at the time. And so, yeah, do it with the right intentions. Be genuine. Right intentions and genuine. Those are your two keys.

I feel like every human responds better that way anyway. So it's like, think long term, long game, you know?

Yep.

Awesome. All right, so anything else, I guess on that, that pitching side of things.

Absolutely. And this was something I would see all the time, was they would send a news release. They wouldn't follow up anything like that, but we would call them and then they're like, oh, crap, what do we do now? They're like, wait a minute, you want to do the story today? Understand when you send that news release, there's a good chance if you get coverage, it's going to be same day, even if it's something that's weeks in advance because they want to do a preview story, or maybe that's the only day that they have someone available and they're like, hey, we actually are going to be down a couple crew members because of vacation, whatever it may be during your actual event. But we'd love to give you some coverage. So a media plan should be part of your tool belt, your checklist. Have at least two people designated to speak to the media and both equally as educated on that topic or event or whatever's in that media release. Make sure they know it front and back. Obviously have your priority spokesperson and then kind of sub priority because accidents and emergencies happen all the time. I've had people had to try to cancel interviews because their wife went into labor and they had to go, but you didn't have a backup. So then they don't get their coverage. And that's why I always tell them, like, if you don't do it today, there's a good chance it may not ever happen. You know, I have a perfect example of this was a couple weeks ago, I helped a $50 million Forbes recognized company get coverage with a local affiliate. That led to national exposure.

And initially we were told we get a couple weeks before that business reporter would show up. Well, business reporter got thrown into something else and was going to be focused on that for the next couple weeks. So their general assignment reporter was like, can you do the interview today? So, you know, because I had walked this company through probably a couple days in advance before that pitch, they weren't necessarily on board right away, but they're like, okay, we'll do it. You know, the owner was like, well, I need a haircut. I was like, well, do you have a hat with a logo? He goes, yeah, throw the hat on, you'll be fine. You'll forget about your hair and you'll focus on the question. And it went great. So just be prepared for those interviews. So have that media plan in place. Where are they going to do it? Is there any private information up on walls that people shouldn't see? Generally, if you tell a reporter, hey, like, this is what we got to work with, you know, I'd really appreciate for these reasons, if you try to blur this out or maybe can we shoot it in an angle? We don't see it, they're going to understand. You'd be surprised that the reasons why people had. They didn't want something aired. And I was very understanding, like, yeah, I don't want you to lose business, or, yeah, I don't want you to get sued. Yeah, so have that plan in place. Have the place you want to do the interview in mind already and just be ready. I mean, they could call that day, they could call weeks later. But that's also a good reason why you should follow up so you don't kind of get caught off guard. And maybe you get a good idea of when you might get some coverage.

Okay, that's great to know. And it reminds me of when Heather, my wife, she. She got on the news here locally and it was for wedding planning, and it happened to be right at the beginning of COVID So it was like, well, before it was a thing, but she still got her coverage. But it was just like, hey, what's this Covid thing that's coming around? And it was like early, early, early days. But I just remember it was so rushed. It was like, yeah, I think maybe they gave her a heads up of the day before, night before.

But either way, and that's good these days. I mean, if you get 24 hour notice, that is unheard of. Because usually, like I said, most things are data and they get a couple hours to interview. You shoot things, edit things, put it together, go on air and take a deep breath before so people don't understand how just fried they were.

Yeah, well, it was Kusi. So you know, they do things. I don't know.

Yeah. Rest in peace.

Are they not around anymore?

No, Kusi is, but I believe that gentleman just.

Oh, I know, yeah, A couple years. Coleman, Gary Coleman.

Yes, Just a pioneer really. But yeah. So you've done your pitch, you've sent your release, you followed up.

And you kind of have an idea. Maybe they say we just can't be there. That's when you have a media kit ready. And then most reporters stations want to shoot their own stuff and you're going to hear them say that probably. But if they just can't be there, at least maybe you could get on their website. So when you provide that stuff, they're more likely to put it on their website like oh yeah, you got some B roll we can use that's approved. Cool, that's smart. And then that web story, like I mentioned, a lot of these stations are owned by one big company. You know, like a set of 50 stations is own one by like gray, someone like that. So then when it gets pushed out on one, it generally gets pushed out. Every single one of them got it. And if it does well on the web, a lot of stations every morning, the people in charge of making those decisions, what's going to be covered that day, go to the website, numbers, the analytics, what's clicking, who's on what, how long have they been hanging out there, what's getting the most interest and that's what's decided for their ABCD and E block for their shows for the day. Sometimes I have pitched very reporter oriented, will thought out stories and I've been pushed to a viral cat, you know, like you just never know. But having that media kit ready and chances are they don't want to use it if they can be there. But it's always good to have and make sure it's well shot. Invest money into it if you can. You don't invest a whole lot. There's a lot you can do with an iPhone these days.

And that would be it. I mean it's pretty simple. But those are the little things people don't generally do. But when they did it, I was more apt to at least call them and try to set something up. You have to be understanding of day of events that just happen when they do. And if you're doing all that and it seems to not be working, you know, try to get in on the morning shows, you know, like especially if you are in A big city where they have weekend morning shows. A lot of times they're struggling to fill those, really, guest spots, in a sense.

Yeah, it seems like that's a trend. You get the morning shows, they all kind of look the same. But yeah, you could probably study a format and be like, all right, I'm gonna go for that kind of angle.

Yes. And that gets your connection going. You know, it really is about who you know, and there's reasons why, you know, like, for my business per se, I don't do media pitching all the time because some of my businesses that I work with aren't in areas where I have connections, you know, And I know how much easier it is when you have those interconnections. So find a way to get in those actual stations, shake some actual hands, put a face to a name, you know, reach out to the reporters that cover the topics that you like or the publications or the podcasts. And if that's not working, that's when you get to the point where you go, maybe I need to hire someone that does this. Because you're at that point, if it's not working, there's something that is just not clicking. And if you really want that coverage, feel you deserve that coverage. That's when you throw out some money, unfortunately. But what you'll get in return will be far greater and it'll get easier and easier because you'll be a face to a name. You'll build that relationship, and maybe you'll be the wedding person, maybe you'll be the lead on driving stories. You wouldn't believe how important in smaller markets, stories like car maintenance during winter are. And every station has that one place they go to to do the interviews because they know they're going to say yes. They know they're going to be good because they've worked with them over the years. So, yeah, build those relationships. Try to schedule a tour last. That would be my last resort is schedule. Schedule a tour as a company just to get in there and maybe do some internal pitching.

Oh, like actually at the news station itself. And then. Yep, okay, interesting.

That's our last ditch effort because they're tough to do these days. The security has gone up for obvious reasons in stations. And, you know, some stations are good about it. Some stations say, no, we don't want any strangers in here.

Well, show me a FaceTime tour or something, you know, like, get me in there somehow.

Yeah, give me something. Yeah, yeah.

This is awesome, dude. And I think of another way to extend this. I would imagine Is Haro H a R o help a reporter out. I'm sure some of this pitching can translate that way.

Yeah, absolutely.

Another one quoted is one that some teams I've worked on. There's this gal on one of them, her name's Alana, She's a badass. She works for Kimmy Seltzer, one of my clients. And she's all over the media like, and every single day I think she was on Haro and quoted Q W O T E D and it's similar to what you're saying. And she's getting local coverage. There's national coverage on certain shows, published on online shows. There's a lot of these types of, you know, networks I guess, have create. Been created online. That kind of model. The. The local.

Yeah. And online is super important. Like I said, even if you're just getting on web stories, that's very important. You know, I worked for a station where briefly, our Facebook numbers just greatly.

Overshadowed our actual air numbers. And so they tried to do Facebook shows and there are other stations that I know who have tried to do that where, you know, it's like a 3:30 Facebook show or something. So you just never know. So, you know, be open to maybe the media pitch not looking the way you wanted, but you still get some sort of coverage and then just, you know, follow up with those people. When you do get that coverage and build those relationships, that's really what it comes down to. You know, are you going to say yes? Are you going to be a good interview? Are you relevant?

And are you going to help them out? Help a reporter out? That's literally what it's made. So, dude. Yeah, I love this man. So tell me, tell me briefly about Super Bloom, what you're doing there, because I know you've tried. You've. Now, this is your. It's only been a handful of months, but I mean, like, you're. I know you're crushing. You're already freaking booked to the seams, you know, because it's obviously necessary. So quick shout out how people can reach out to you as well.

Yeah, you know, we, we do have. I'm actually kind of lined up right now where, you know, I'm not actively really looking for more clients. Yeah. You know, I'm a team of three right now. I'm officially a team of three. As of about a week ago, I'm about to be a team of four and bring on a marketing assistant. I have a lot of, you know, after 10 years in the spotlight, I'm very Private about my personal life. I have a lot of great things going on in my personal life that are requiring time away. So, you know, I know I need to bring on some help and get a good infrastructure in place before I start going, go here, go there. But you know, we do have Instagram, we do have Facebook, who have websites. Superbloom digital consulting.

Again, go to it. You're going to go to it and see that. I'm not actively pitching for people, but I've been really blessed, man. You know, Superbloom itself comes from a lot of personal reasons. A lot of, you know, I've been legally employed since sixth grade and I learned a lot of my work values from my grandmother in the garden. Some of those phrases I can't say because they're not family friendly, but you know, they, I hold them to heart. There's a song called Super Bloom by a band called Mr. Wives that really got me through the Pandemic. It's just such a beautiful song about, you know, going through some stuff. And when, you know, the pandemic hit and the world shut down, this was like the first band to put out an album. It was kind of like, no one's gonna put out new music at this time. But they did it anyway. And they had just been fired from the label and all that. I just really like their story of soldering through. You know, I was working in a 10 story building fighting the pandemic with my city at the time and it was tough. And then when I drove into Arizona for the first time, the Superbloom was going on. So, you know, Superbloom itself came from an idea of family, just being musically motivated as I am and that personal experience of coming into Arizona going, oh my God, it is gorgeous here. And also, you know, there's the SEO side of things. Twice a year. Superblooms, one of the most searched ones.

Oh, is it really?

Because it happens twice. It is. And you know, the Superblooms, it's happening right now. I'm getting hits from all over and I'm like, please don't reach out to me. I don't have the time for you. And I'm getting ready to go on vacation next week and all that. But it's been fun to be an entrepreneur. It's unlike anything I've ever done. It's most challenging, but also the most rewarding thing I've ever done. You know, I moved out here, didn't have a whole lot of connections. You know, after I left my job, that wasn't anything that clicked in my head. I said, I'll get a job right away. I landed a lot of interviews. I said no to some jobs, but at the end of the day, over 30 jobs told me, we really liked you. You're a finalist. But we went with someone we knew. So I sat there one day and my own super bloom kind of happened. I said, what am I good at? Because I can't compete with people that already have these established connections. As we mentioned, those connections are very important. I said networking was number one. So I started networking, joined a B and I group, went to social media marketing world, talked to everyone I possibly could and wrote down the other list. You know, I'm good with video, I'm good with photography, I can edit much quicker than most people just because of my setup.

And all that. So, you know, being an entrepreneur is crazy. I never thought I would do it. You know, when we were trudging through Camp Pendleton, I said, I'm gonna make music for.

I thought so too.

Radio dj. Yeah. And in a way, you know, I, you know, I think you talk about hustle and flowchart of your life. You know, it's. I do a lot of things musically, whether go to concerts, I write music, I play guitar for that stress release, work out a lot. Being adhd, you have to keep your energy level as, like, even keel as possible, which is really tough sometimes. Diet's really important, you know, to my fellow entrepreneurs, I would say, dude, you're gonna do it. Just do the damn thing. That was the best piece of advice I got from social media marketing world was do the damn thing. If you're scared, you gotta jump over and just try. You don't try, you'll never know. And it's just been such a blessing. And, you know, I really lucked out my clients. You know, I would say, don't be desperate for your clients. I know we're here for media pitching, but, you know, one bad weed can ruin the whole garden. Not to go on flower puns, but, you know, it's just, it's been wonderful. And to see what you've been doing as well has been really cool. And to really catch up on the last couple decades and really see what you're doing. It's been awesome. Exposing people and having your adorable family, which you guys fought so hard for, which has just been incredible to see. And it's such a beautiful thing because you guys are such good parents.

We all, we all have our own fight. And, you know, I think you get some cool stuff coming up too. I won't, I won't release anything here and keep private for now.

I appreciate it.

So. But superbloom digital consulting.com and check them out on all the socials. I love the whole Super Bloom analogy. I mean, there's so many. It's, it's deep.

Your company needs to mean something to you. And as someone who's adhd, and I really pride myself on that, you know, a lot of people kind of keep quiet about it. I was always very self aware in other places I work because I was like, I feel different. But I know it's not really a disability in a sense, and it's not. But we're very prone to hyper focused hobbies in a sense where you go into something and then you get bored. Right. So I sat there and said, how do I make this sustainable? And I said, what. What matters to me in my life? And I said, my family, my faith, and the people that support me. And so for me, I had to come up with a name that meant more and it had to be, even in the style, it's kind of cartoony and I'm, you know, I'm kind of wacky in a sense, but, you know, I'm also professional at the same time. So, you know, I got that logo designed the way I wanted it to and I was like, that's it. That's, that's my why every single day. And I think about my list of people that represent Superbloom and just, you know, the struggles and the successes I've had over all these years. And just like anyone, we have a lot of one side effect or the other. So every day I wake up, I recite who this is for and what is it for and my why and that, that's what motivates me every morning. Get up and, you know, do it. Do the damn thing.

Do the damn thing. There's not no better advice out there, man. Cause, yeah, let your feet freak flag fly. Build the airplane in the, in the sky, whatever. All these damn things like, be brave, be brave.

I mean, and we're our worst critics. And, you know, I'm really great at creating other people's social media plans. That's something else we do. And my own social media plan is kind of, you know, when I have time. And so it doesn't really represent what we're able to do.

That's it, man.

So when you go to all those channels and you're judging, go for it. Just understand that I could either be doing my own stuff or I could be helping you.

I mean it's. Was another analogy is the cobbler's kids shoes. You know, it's like they look like crap. You know, it's like busy, busy fixing other people's stuff. So. No, you rock, dude. So thank you so much. And this where we'll make it actionable. I might put it in the email or we'll figure out a way. But definitely keep an eye on things. And I appreciate you, man. And this. This video, you know, if you watch on YouTube all that stuff, definitely consider. Consider subscribing and follow Brandon on all the socials. I'm sure we'll be doing this again. I'm sure we'll be seeing you around as well, man, because it's the beginning of great things.

Vice versa. Because, I mean, I do have a podcast in the works. Not the near future, but you've inspired me to get into it a little bit and just building that connection. And as entrepreneurs, we succeed together. So I really like what you do, exposing people because if we. We all win together, it's kind of my place. So thank you for your time. Joe, you've been phenomenal as usual. I'm not surprised. We can't wait to see how this feels, man.

All right. Appreciate you, bro.

Sa.