Media Hit That Gets Business for Ten Years with Ilise Benun

Hey there, Paula Rizzo here with Elise Bennen, a good friend and the marketing mentor. I have known Elise for a very long time and I followed her stuff and we actually have just spoken together at How Design Live not that long ago. And Elise, you told a story that I had never heard before from your former life as a professional organizer. And I was like, we have to talk about this. So Walk me through, I mean, how you're helping people now, and then we'll talk about that little tidbit, that how you got PR that lasted for years and years and years.

Exactly. So I teach creative people and solopreneurs how to market their services, basically. And it all happened because I started as a professional organizer when I was fired from my second job out of college. That's how I like to say it, and that is actually what happened, although I got myself fired. I did bad things. Oh no!

Yeah.

I don't believe you. I usually leave out. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Really? I was going to say, wow. Because you hated it or what was the deal?

It was a political situation and I'm just totally unemployable. And so I just, you know, it was just a matter of time. And at that point I was 27 years old. And so I looked around and all my friends in New York were artists and actors and musicians and they were totally disorganized and I was a little bit more organized. So I started telling people I was a professional organizer, which I thought, of course, I had made up myself. And then someone said, oh, you should know about the National Association of Professional Organizers. They— and I know you've spoken to them.

I have. It's a real thing.

Yes, it is a real thing. And at that point, it was a national association, but the New York chapter was just getting started. So I went to some of the meetings and I got very involved. And at one of the meetings, there was a woman there who was kind of thinking about becoming an organizer, but she was also a reporter for New York Magazine. And I had no idea what a reporter was, and I barely knew what New York Magazine was. But she was asking all of us what we did and how we were different from each other. So I explained to her that I worked with artists and I helped them with their marketing because that's what I noticed working with creative people at the bottom of all of their piles. It was so amazingly consistent. There was always something that had to do with marketing and self-promotion that was not getting done.

Interesting. So as you're going through their stuff as a professional organizer, you're like, huh, this is some marketing gold.

There's a message, one of those pink messages from someone who had called asking for examples of the paintings and they had never received them. Nothing had ever happened. Or, you know, an art fair that they could have participated in, but now it was already long gone. Like, this happened every single time.

Ah, that's so interesting. How telling. It was really pushing you. The universe wanted you to do some marketing. So this woman from, who was also a writer for New York Magazine, says, "Hey, I'm working on an article," or, "How did this happen?" And this was way back. This was 1988, right?

'88, yes.

Yes.

I was fired in '88, and so it was April of '88. And I mean, I didn't realize she was just interviewing people, so I was answering questions. I didn't really focus on what was gonna happen with the information, but then I heard from her right before Labor Day saying, "Oh, the article is coming out in New York Magazine over Labor Day." And I remember thinking, "Labor Day? Nobody's ever gonna read it on Labor Day." But it came out, and it was this blurb, and I'll show it to you, right?

Yes, show me. I wanna see the— I love that you kept the COVID and the whole thing. This was during the How Design Live. I was in the audience watching your presentation and you showed this and I was like, what? How did I not know this?

So here's the COVID Right, and so it was an, she was writing an article about how to get people to help you do things you don't wanna do for yourself, basically. And organizing was just one of several things that were included there. So that was the COVID And then this is just one of the pages and you can see my little blurb right there in the middle is just, you know, a little blurb of text amongst all the other people that she's highlighting. And I do remember some of these people. All right, and then here's my blurb, and I'll just read it. So since 1985, Elise Bennen, with my address in Hoboken and my phone number, right?

Amazing.

There was no email at that time. There was no websites. Has specialized in helping actors, artists, writers, photographers, musicians, and other performers and small businesses promote their talents and skills and handle their organizing and paperwork chores. She works out marketing and promotional strategies, sends mailing, gets in touch with agencies and production companies. She keeps personal databases for her clients in her computer. She's like a business manager who doesn't take a percentage. Just terrific, said one client. I don't remember who that was. She charges $20 to $25 an hour depending on the project. There is a 4-hour minimum. I mean, people called me starting on Labor Day, right, for 10 years, and the reason is because they were totally disorganized and this piece of paper, this magazine kept getting stuck and buried at the bottom of everybody's piles. And then they would come across it and they would find it like, "Oh, I wonder if this person still does it." And so literally this piece of PR exploded my business and allowed me to quit all of the part-time jobs that I had had up until then and really go self-employed full-time.

Wow. I mean, there's so many aspects of this that I absolutely love. Number one is that you had such a clear niche, right? It was very specific how you stood out, how you were working specifically with creatives, even all the way back then, right? And you can unshare the screen. How you also, how you were one example in a larger article. So that's another thing. Sometimes people say, oh, I'll never get featured. What will they need from me? But you were just one example in a larger article. Which is also terrific. And this one media hit helped you for 10 years. That's incredible. I don't know that I've ever met anybody who has had that much success from one tiny little, little blurb in a magazine.

Wow.

Oh my gosh.

And it really just kind of fell into my lap. So the, if the question is how can someone, you know, manufacture something like this or how can they, promote themselves into this kind of opportunity? Because now 31 years later, a lot is different, right? There are websites, the magazine is different now. And so I think that's an interesting question also is how do we put ourselves in a position with content, for example, and content marketing, which is something I'm a huge fan of and promoter of and a content machine myself. And how do we get our content in the right place or use our content to connect with the right people so that we can go where we want to go and find the clients we want to find and stop taking whatever comes along, which, you know, is word of mouth.

Yes, exactly. And you know, I, I, the other part too, we were talking about this before, is that people think, oh, you know, PR is not for me. I don't really need it. It's, but this is a great example of just, I mean, it, it really just sort of fell in and you did need it. It did boost your business. Wow. I love this story. So great. Well, thank you so much for taking the time to share it, reshare it with me, make me all excited about it. And also it's great inspiration for people to see how, you know, one media mention at any point, I mean, this was years ago, but at any point could really, really boost, boost your business big time. So tell me just one last thing, um, just about your website and your newsletter, because you have so much great content and your podcasts.

Thank you. So the hub of it all is marketing-mentor.com and that's where you can find my podcast, which is also @marketingmentorpodcast.com. And I do have my Quick Tips from Marketing Mentor, which is my email newsletter, which is where I share the most current thinking.

Mm, perfect. But no more organizing, no more professional organizing. So don't email her for that.

No more organizing. Exactly. No, I don't do that anymore. I love it.

Well, thank you, Elise.

Of course. Thank you, Paula.

And if you want the media to pay attention to you, you've gotta know what they want, right? Well, I've got you covered. Go to paularizzo.com/checklist and you can download my free checklist on how to become a go-to media expert. That's paularizzo.com/checklist.