How to get press for your business with Sabina Hitchen

Today we're talking about how to get pressed for your business. And I was saying earlier, I'm really excited to talk about this because first of all, it's a question I get all the time and I can give you some tips on how to do so. But I'm normally receiving pitches so I can say what I like, what I don't like, but I'm not sending them out as much. So I don't know all the ins and outs of what someone else would potentially offer solution. And that's why we have Sabine here. And before we officially get started, I do want to say if you ever have any questions about building your brand, about how to with your pricing, your pitching, anything, if you have a professional service business, I'm now on this new app called Intro where you can just ask me questions and I can answer them in as little as 15 minutes. And I had a lot of fun yesterday because this guy that I had a call with, he's starting this new service where he helps parents develop a more healthy relationship with their children, both mentally and physically. And with everything going on in the world, obviously I think it's really important to have that mental part. And I was talking to him and I'm glad I did because he was going to jump right into launching his product before pre qualifying, before studying his audience, before forming partnerships. That's going to help him grow his business a lot quicker. So that's what we're talking about when we book these sessions. Just helping you avoid confusion, more or less compress time and avoid making mistakes. It's fun for me. Hopefully it's fun for the person booking the call too. But if you ever want to talk to me and Meg, my assistant will drop a link in that it's called Intro and perfect way to do it. So why would you want to talk to me? I'll introduce myself. Name is Terry Rice. I'm a business development consultant and that normally helps involves other helping other entrepreneurs build their brand and revenue. Also a staff writer, Entrepreneur magazine and host of the upcoming podcast Launch youh Business by Entrepreneur magazine. And today we are joined by Sabina Hitchens. Sabina, I'm going to mess up your intro so I'm going to have you do it yourself. Please go ahead.

I will gladly take it. Hey everybody. First of all, glad to see you here. Whether you're here live or listening to this later, we are psyched. I could talk about PR all day long, especially as it applies to small businesses. My full time job, I'm a PR strategist and I run an education platform and community called Press for Success, which is sort of like everything you need to do to run your PR as a small business, besides the publicist and a quickie quickie. Background in me is I used to actually be a high school teacher, believe it or not. So I was a teacher after that. I thought, I need my New York City chapter. So I left out of the Midwest, literally for the moment, totally unplanned, moved to New York City, fell into a publicity job where I was googling what is pr? The night before my job, I was like, oh my gosh, I'm over my head. A year later, I had an office. Shortly after that, I had a staff. And PR was meant for me. And I tell you that only because, number one, it's important to remember, especially professionally speaking, like, where you begin isn't always where you end up. So stop stressing out, overthinking. I was a high school teacher. Now I'm teaching people how to get publicity. I was working in Fashion Week in New York. I'm like, what am I doing here? I'm a high school teacher. So you never know. And. But those two careers, education and publicity, basically got married. And that's what I do today is just help entrepreneurs figure out how to get present. Sort of like the democratization of press and everything you need is my mission to give it to you. I saw in my education days how these tools change your life. And so now we're going to give it to you PR wise.

Awesome. I think we can all relate to Googling how to do your job the day before you start a business. So thank you for sharing that and normalizing it. But again, for everyone, just let us know where you're dialing in from. Again. I'm here in Brooklyn, we have Sabina in Maine, and we're talking about how to get press for your business. So I'll just ask a general question to get started with everyone. Yes or no, have you ever received press for your business? And by pressing mean any media outlet, it can be your local newspaper, it can be New York Times, whatever it is. But yes or no, have you ever received press for your business? And by the end of this talk, the goal was to have you all feeling comfortable doing so. And next time I ask you, you will all say yes. But Sabina, when we think about getting pressed for our business, I mean, I think people are just confused, right? They think they have to hire an expensive PR company. They think they have to have like a fancy website all These cool photos, so and so forth. But just initially, where do we get started if we want to get pressed for a business?

Okay, so I. And there's. First of all, it's like, that's a huge question, right? But I'm going to break it down into some little micro things I want you to think about that isn't overwhelming because it doesn't have to be like Terri's saying. And before I dive in, though, I just want to say, like, remember, it's like swimming. Terri and I can talk about how to do it forever. You can, like, Google it, you can read it, you can watch classes, but if you don't get in the water, you're not going to learn how to swim. So as we're teaching you, remember that the best way to get press is also start to try to take action on the things you learn. And if you're bad at it, that's how we begin. And you get better and better as you execute it. But let's talk about the basics so very first, Like, I want you to figure out, what do you have to offer, right? And a little bit later, Terri and I are going to get into some actual story angles that will work. But, like, think of the things you need to get pressed for. Is it your product? Is it your service expertise? Do you have, like, expert tips to offer to the press? Do you have a fantastic story to offer to the press? These are the things you're going to have to offer. So you need to start thinking, what am I sharing? Cause just saying I'm a small business owner or I'm an entrepreneur is not an offer to the press. So start thinking, what am I offering? That's the first thing. And the second thing I want you to ask yourself is like, where do I belong? Right? Where does my expertise, where does my story, where does my product belong in the press? These are jobs you have to accomplish or you will be hiring someone. And you don't have to. So you have to start doing the work. Where do I belong? What magazines do I belong on? What podcasts? What dot com? What TV shows? Start sourcing those in, putting those somewhere like. Like an Excel spreadsheet or something, right? These are like the foundational things all of you can begin doing. And Terry said he wants you to start being confident to say, like, I can do it. And the next time we chat, you'll be like, I did it. One of those first things is like creating that spreadsheet where you can start building a media list of homes for your story. Or your product or your expert tips. But if it doesn't exist to me in, like a spreadsheet or on paper, it doesn't exist. Right? And as you start doing, as you start building a media list, like, the list appears, because that's just algorithms. You start researching people on LinkedIn. LinkedIn is going to feed you more people. You start doing on Instagram, they're going to feed you more people. Start finding those homes and then finding the people who cover things like you in those homes. So maybe it's a parents dot com. Maybe it's a, you know, Mashable. Maybe it's an InStyle.com. maybe you want to give tips on the every girl. Like, there's so many. In essence, there's so many places. But figure out where and then the who. Right? So you're figuring out, what do I have to offer? Where do I belong? Who's covering me there? And then here's what I want to show you. Like, and then we'll go the next question, I'm sure. But, like, I have not yet said once, like, send an email. Because the thing about PR is all the real work is before the relationship building, the research, the writing, a really strategic email, the pressing send on an email pitch is like the finale of your work. Like, your child could press send on an email that you schedule. So, again, what do I have to offer? Where do I belong? Who is covering stories like me, where I belong? And then let me create a really strategic pitch that can easily be taught to you so I can consistently get into a flow. So you're not sending one pitch and you're like, I'm famous, Oprah. I'm here. You're sending like a pitch every month and you're getting into a flow. So that's like a basic. I know that was a lot. But that's like an overview of if you can conceptualize those things, which I think we can. We explained it in, like, a few minutes. You can begin getting pressed for your business. We don't need to overthink it. My first PR boss said to me, sabina, it's pr, not, er, like, chill out about it. And it's true.

I love that. Yeah, it's a good way to think about it. And just as a AV thing, there's like, is your mic kind of near where your hands are? Because I'm hearing a little bit of noise every once in a while.

I had a little piece of paper on my computer. Let me know if that's a little better.

It probably should be better now. But, like, it felt like a record scratch. I was like, oh, what's she gonna say now? But I think we're past that. Yeah. I mean, I like the fact that we're talking about, first of all, where do you want to be known? Because sometimes people reach out to me and say, hey, Terry, can you get me an entrepreneur magazine? And let's pretend they have, like, some kind of gadget that helps you, like, water your lawn. I'm like, you're better off being in a trade magazine as opposed to, you know, entrepreneur, because entrepreneur is about solving problems for people. And even that when people pitch me, they're like, oh, I've done all this cool stuff. Look at me, look at me. And I'm like, I don't care about you or your company. I care about my audience. And if you don't have content that's going to help my audience, it's not going to fit. So I think doing that, the person.

And the outlet and the context. Right. Like, not every story is going to connect to every outlet.

Yeah, yeah. And the last thing I would say is your point about making a list is super valuable. And what I would suggest is making a list of these outlets you want to be in and then just following people that write for these outlets in an organic way. Because often when I'm thinking about a story and I'm trying to find someone to mention it, it's someone I already know because I'm connected for one reason or another. We don't have to be friends. But if I realize, wow, you're often talking about xyz, I'm just going to go to you directly. And therefore, that's the best way to build it. It's going to take time, but you'll be top of mind when I need someone who's an expert in X, Y.

Or Z. Oh, for sure. And can I add to that also? Because I think people, especially small business owners, we want press, right? So we're thinking, okay, everyone says, I should be an entrepreneur. I'll say entrepreneur. I guess I should be in ink. I guess I should be on the Today Show. I guess I should be in Oprah Magazine. Like, these are the things we hear constantly as people's dreams. But you really need to understand that the media landscape is rapidly changing. There are so many, many homes for your stories and places, your audiences. So first of all, you got to get in there, like, get into that media space and start looking at the places you can be. We think it's the. It's so much hard work, and we're putting in time, but that is going to cut your time to get to the press down so much faster. Those relationships will get you faster. And then another thing I wanted to add on. When Terry says people come to him and they're like, I want to be an entrepreneur. Like, our friend, our mutual friend Joelle. Everyone's like, I want to be on the Today show. And it's like, that's a vast place. Like, there are multiple hours in the Today show. They service different kinds of businesses and different kinds of stories. There's a huge magazine and website to entrepreneur. There's different kinds of people covering different kinds of stories. So really look within those places to see who you really belong with and where you belong. And though it takes a little work on the back end, it's going to get you there so much faster.

Yeah, I agree. It's funny. I'm thinking about this one person as you were talking that pitched me, and she pitched one angle, and I was like, cool. I don't cover that. And then she pitched, like, a completely different angle about, like, some, like, financial issue that her family was having with, like, an ex wife or whatever. And I'm like, are you just throwing, like, random stuff at the wall, like, trying to get lucky, Terry?

Anything?

Yeah. And I was like, just like, I'm like, go hire someone for pr because, like, you, you shouldn't be doing yourself. But so kind of along those lines, I mean, what stories should you tell about yourself? And obviously, you want to have different angles, but. And again, for me, it's like, are you going to solve a problem for my audience? But it depends on the outlet. So what are some stories that you should tell about yourself where it provides value to the media outlet?

Exactly. So first, let's talk about actually telling the story of yourself. And again, like we alluded to in the beginning, your story isn't, I'm a small business owner or I'm an entrepreneur or I'm an expert. Like, none of those things are actually stories for you. So what you really want to be talking about are, like, things our mutual friend Patrice calls a founder's fire. I like to call it, like, your big wonderful why? But when you think about your business, it's like, not. Like, I heard this great example when it's like, not, I make pizza. This is how I make the pizza. This is who I make the pizza with. This is the dough. I make the pizza. This is the family recipe. So all these stories that actually make up the who and the how and the why behind your business. Perhaps there's a transformational moment. I used to be an investment maker. Now I make granola. That's actually a true story. I heard recently that got lots of press. Like, I used to be a high school teacher. Now I teach entrepreneurs how to get their own press. So everyone has a little bit transformation. Often if you're a small business owner, there's that transformation. I was doing that and this. So again, these are stories of value. Not just like, do a commercial about my business. Can you tie your business to something timely or a news topic that everyone's talking about? Maybe it's the great resignation that became the great regret. And you're helping people find your way out of that. And then finally. So those are like some quick story angles. But I really also wanted to say, like, if you're an expert listening right now, like Terri's an expert, often service providers, you are experts, right? So another thing I like to do is have some go to story angles that I think people go crazy to about for experts. And I actually wrote a couple down I wanted to share with you all because we're here and Terri's got a great audience. So here are some, like, quickies. If you're like, what's an angle someone's going to get into for my story beyond just your story itself, Right? So an easy one is help people prevent mistakes. How can you and your business and your expertise help someone prevent mistakes? It's my biggest win with the press all the time. Like four fashion mistakes women are making this summer and how to prevent them. 5 mistakes business owners make that cost them big money and how you as an expert can prevent them. So to me, that's like a big story angle that also works and also another, like, in any brand can use it. Another big win I love to suggest is like, what to do before you fill in the blanks. Like, what to do before you go on your next date with an online suitor. What to do before you go on your next grocery trip to save you money. What to do before your next pitch presentation to make sure it's a winning presentation. Like, all of those things are story angles that you can replicate. But whether you're telling a story about yourself or sharing expertise, what you're doing is giving value. And so like Terri said before, it's like, what can you do to give value to these new sources? And I like hooks like that because you can make them work for different publications with the different kinds of value. So those are Some stories that I feel like can really quickly catch the media's eye that some of you listening to right now I hope can actually take and run with.

And speaking of that, if you are not taking notes, just like I wasn't, you can always go to my website and Megan, who's on right now, it has some really great show notes for you because I was like trying to mentally take notes so I could have a good reply, but I. There was a lot. So all good information.

I'm gonna give you some salt, like, you know, people like tell it, give some expert tips or tell a transformation story, which is all great, but you're like, well, what is that gonna look like? And I wanted to give you some of my like go to's because like the press want to use what works. I have used the same kind of hooks with different kind of filler, so to speak, in them for a long time and they work repeatedly over and over again. So I'm going to pass that magic along to you.

Yeah, I appreciate it. It's funny, I was talking to this guy, I want to get his name right, Cliff Kennedy yesterday, and he's the CEO of a company called Frios Pops. So they make like frozen pops or whatever. And it's a mobile franchise that he owns. And the way that he started this company is he was driving one day, got stuck in traffic, was really hungry, stopped at one of these trucks, got one of these pops. Love it so much that he bought a franchise. Loved that so much that he bought the whole franchise organization. So, like, that alone is a story, but there's another story within the story because his family comes from the oil business. That's what his, his grandfather started, his father started, and he left that because he wanted to go into this, this frozen treat business. So there's a story about, you know, just really following your passion and maybe having some issues with, you know, your family not understanding so on and so forth, but still going forward. And he was just a nice guy in general too. So I'm like, I'm talking to him. Like there's so many angles that came out of like this, you know, five minutes of talking to him. But I think sometimes we don't realize that we have these stories to be told because we're used to telling our own story. So it's like, oh, no one else had this problem? Well, yeah, I mean, other people do. And you've navigated successfully, so how about you share it? And that's what makes it a good.

Story, by the way. I Love that. It's sort of like, meet the man who went for a popsicle and ended up buying the entire, entire popsicle company. And I. And by the way, I feel like, you know, you're saying all of us, we wonder, like, do I have a story? Short answer. Trust Terry and I, the answer is yes. But one thing I like to do for people is have them play that sort of fill in the blank. Like, meet the local business owner who. Meet the local mom who started a, like, everyone's favorite new parenting blog. Meet the local fitness pro who started the goat Pilates trend, Like, whatever it is. And know that you don't have to have some kind of wild story. You don't have to buy the Popsicle company or the franchise. You can be doing something locally where you are, but it's the story that's going to connect people to you. And it's sometimes easier to connect to a regular story as opposed to, like, I lost my legs and then I did this, then I did that, and now I run a business. So trust that your story, just because of the way you tell it and what's happened is going to connect with someone and give them permission to do something in their life. But, yeah, we're so used to what we're doing, we see the messy part of our business and we forget that. That's, like, a good story, too.

One thing that you mentioned that I think bears repeating is you have a good story and tell it and find it. But what you don't want to do is what we call story inflation, because you're trying to make it seem like it's bigger than it is. So if you're like, oh, I have this new company. We did a million dollars in revenue next year. We're the next unicorn. I'm like, you realize a unicorn is a billion dollars, right? So, like, just say you started a company, you know, with a loan you got from your uncle, and here's where it goes like that. That might be cool, too. But when you're inflating things like that and trying to, like, trick me into thinking I care when maybe I shouldn't, you've lost all trust. So I think if you just have, like, the meat of it down and have a good angle, like, I love, like, meet the guy who stopped for, you know, treatment, bought the whole thing. That's real. You know, he doesn't have to say how much money he's making this thing. I literally was stuck in traffic and was hungry, and now I own this thing.

So, I mean, to add to that, Terry, and this is like pr, Inside Baseball, but a lot of publications and will now ask for proof. So if you're like, I went from making cupcakes in my living room to a $2 million business, the pandemic, they'll be like, show me the money, show me the people. Work. And I have had to like, walk multiple small business owners through the process of sharing their tax returns for stories for Forbes, Business Insider, other places. So you can't just be like it used to be, sort of, you could say anything. And people like, okay, we believe you. But that's not like that anymore. And again, it doesn't have to be. People just want to know. Remember the famous Oprah interview with Sarah Blakely? She talked, they said, we want to see your staff. And she's like, it's the local FedEx guy. And my grandma, like, I'm working in my living room, you guys. And they were like, all right, so it is. That's your office. And that is what is like the folklore of her story right now. Right? So your story, where it begins, is magical, actually.

Yeah, yeah, I'd agree. And so, I mean, some people are listening, are like, okay, cool, awesome. Like, how do I get this done quickly? Right? I'm short on time and I really need like a pop for my business. What's the. And I, and I never look for Hex because hex normally aren't sustainable. But what's the fastest way to get press for your business?

Okay, so the fastest way, and I agree, like, especially press, you have to be in it sort of for the long game, because again, you can bang out a quick hit, but then you really are like, there was once a song called Informer, and it was back in the day by some goddamn thing like snow. Anyways, my point is you don't know who I'm talking about because he's like a one hit wonder that you only knew if you were like a child of the 80s and 90s in high school. The 90s. That's my point. You don't want one hit, so you want consistent press. So what do you need to do? You need to stop thinking I'm just gonna like vomit out emails to everybody and drive myself crazy. And instead I just want you to just stop doing anything but focus on looking for places you belong, popping them in that media list you're going to create. After talking to Terri and I today, and then relationship building with people who are covering the content that you seek, you're going to be reading their stories and you're going to be complimenting them and engaging with them. And as you do those two things that are actually sort of pleasurable to do as an entrepreneur, like read some content that's interesting, look at your local news, read a magazine as you're doing that, like you're going to, the paths to your press are going to start appearing the places you belong and start coming to you. So the first thing is just like invest more time than anything in relationships and researching that content. Just spend your time doing that and then pick some stories out to consistently once a month, dedicate. I'm going to send a pitch out once a month and I know that sounds like a lot, but it's one email. Pitching is just business email. Let's not over get in our heads. So can you send one business email and a follow up about your business every month? Yeah, I think you can. I think you can. So that's all we want from you, is just the basics and we're going to give you before you leave today like three of my favorite story wins in terms of landing these kinds of stories. So we'll help you out there.

Awesome. I mean, here's one take I would have on this too. How to get press. I think when people get pressed, it's because they want to look significant. And I think instead of pursuing significance, you should do something significant first and then get loud about it on your own channel. So what I would say is whatever story you have, whatever angle it is cool. Talk about on Instagram, talk about it on LinkedIn, so and so forth. Because then when someone does research on you, even if you have a crappy pitch or they don't really get it yet, if they go to your profile like, oh wow, this person actually is interesting. So on my end, I told a story a few years ago at the height of the pandemic, if that's even a time period, about how I got laid off in 2009, I think it was. And I got a $40,000 raise after being out of business or out of work for five months. Multiple outlets reached out to me saying, oh, Terry, gosh, this is such a timely story. Can you tell it for, you know, this podcast, this, this newspaper, even my, my college that I went to did a feature on me. So what I would say to people is like, yeah, sure, pitch awesome, whatever, do your thing, right? But if you can't show up consistently to tell this story, you really only have one shot and it's that email that you might have messed up in Cause I have typos all the time. So if you want to pursue significance, then do something significant that people will reach out to you. Or what you could also do is instead of going one to one with your pitches, it's more of a many to many where many people enjoy telling other people about you. And that's how you get discovered as well.

People find you like the press are just like us. My husband used to be a newspaper editor in New York City and he's consuming massive amounts of media all the time. Reading about cool people looking on Instagram, what's trending on TikTok, what's this person doing here? That's what they're consuming all the time. And when you said something Terri, I also wanted to piggyback on what you said, like, do something significant. Also, if you want to be someone who the press come to be of value, like this whole relationship with the press is being of value to them. How can I provide them expert advice? How can I provide them insight into expanding on some stories everyone's already talking about? How can I give them a darn good story for their audience? Because the press have to come to their bosses with good stories consistently to share. So keep saying, like, how can I be of value to this specific person and what his or her needs are? And slowly that expands. But again, like, all of this can feel really daunting until you start doing it like any task. And Terry's a performance guy, but I feel like any task is way harder in our head than we start executing and learning and figuring it out. But the act of just hearing about it and deciding what it's going to be for you and your business isn't going to get you where you need to be.

So you mentioned being a value to your, to the press. And I took like one PR class when I was in business school or maybe undergrad I can remember, but I learned about a site called Hero Help a Reporter Out. First of all, can you explain what that is and does it make sense to be on platforms where journalists are supposedly looking for people to contribute to stories?

Yes, that's a great question because I like, will answer that differently now than I would answer it like five or ten years ago. Because Haro and Helper is called Helper Reporter. It's been around for eons, right? It's been for ages. So back in the day it was like a new thing and there'd be handfuls of PR people and small businesses on it, and it's every day churning out PR opportunities from the media. But I'm going to say this because it's my job to be straight, honest, all of you as well. It has become something that is less police and it could be people trying to get paid opportunities from you. Random people blogging in their basement who are like, hey, send me your products and stuff. So you have to be discerning there about the opportunities you're going to spend your time because time is money pursuing. You also have to think there are thousands or more people all pitching these opportunities at the same time. So number one, there are some challenges there, but it still gives you a couple things. Access to PR opportunities you never have any other way. Also a visual of what stories the press are finding interesting. Looking at what stories are bubbling up in the press, you're like, this is what matters to people right now. This is the timeline they're on. These are some people in the press that matter. So I would say go in there, do it with a discerning eye. Knowing not every press opportunity has to be answered. Like you don't have to say yes the invitation of every party you get invited to and know that a lot of people are going to respond. So not getting a response is normal and it's just competitive, right, because everyone's reacting to an opportunity. Something I'd like to give you to chew on instead would be like the advent or the use of substacks by reporters like substack emails which are, you know, reporters are just sending out their private. Their emails out requesting story stuff. So massive amounts. Reporters today's show like high quality, real simple, loads of them are now using free emails. You can sign up through substack and they will request things. So often if there's a freelancer, you know, they're probably on substack and then they're going to sometimes daily, sometimes weekly request sources, experts. I saw someone from People magazine sourcing the other day, New York Times, aarp, Wall Street Journal so that I would do some research into. And like we're a Google university world, you can track down who has a substack who's a reporter. Pretty quickly they want stories and that's going to be fed to you. So I'd also throw that idea out to people as well.

Another great tip. One other thing I would mention, I'm sure you're, you know, pro. This too is actually having a personalized pitch. So on my end, when someone reaches out and says, hey Terry, I see I wrote an article about this, I have something similar. Whether it's for the similar Audience or it's a similar product or a tool, whatever, you're going to get a response from me. But if you're like, hey, Terry, I have this new thing. It's this app that helps you find your left shoe. I'm like, when are they were talking about apps and left shoes? Right. So I would say, going back to what you said earlier, Sabina, you're better off sending off one or two pitches per month as opposed to just like throwing stuff at the wall. Because if someone sends me a very thoughtful pitch, maybe I don't care about it, but I can pass that on to someone internally who might. And. Or if they pitch me again, I'm like, okay. They're not just making stuff up as we go along. So I'm having a lot of questions here. I want to make sure that we stop and say, if anyone else has questions, give me one second, please do go ahead and enter them in the chat window. Happy to answer them. So any questions about how to get press, how to respond to, you know, any kind of press outreach you're getting? Floor is yours. Want to make sure we answer your questions here as well as having this dialogue here. Go ahead.

Oh, I was just going to say, when I say send one pitch, you guys, I don't mean like one physical person. I mean one angle. So, like, four fashion mistakes everyone will make this summer, you're going to send that to, like, 20 different people, right, who might be interested in that, but, like one angle of a pitch. But again, yes, all possible. And, like, throw those questions at us. Awesome.

But you did hint at. I think it was like three story frameworks that we must know. So let's go ahead and cover those, too, because I don't want to forget about that.

Yeah. And this is again, like, we've alluded to a couple of these already, but if you're like, I want to get pressed now, Sabina, I want to go to my local abc, NBC, cbs, fox. That's a great place to start. Start local, right? It's easy, low lift. And I want to practice being a TV star locally because then if you can draw a small circle, you can draw a big circle so you can go national after that or do whatever else. So what I would say is there's three different stories that are going to move you fastest. Number one is that your founder story. That's a great one to pitch locally, but again, you're going to lean into things like your transformation, the why, the how, the pieces about it. So it turns it into a Story. So your founder story to local news is a big win right now. I would encourage you to work on that. Number two, I would encourage people. Another story that's going to book faster is leaning into your expert tips so your expertise can be just like the back door into the press. It's the fastest way. You're giving value, you're giving expertise. You're not promoting your business directly, but your business is right there with you. As you deliver expert tips, you're asking yourself, what tips can I deliver as the expert for my industry that I'm from, or what tips can I give? Just anecdotally, I'm running a business as a busy parent, I am working from home, I'm working with my spouse. So what can you give that way? So expert tips, another fast win in terms of getting the press. And the final little quickie, I would say a framework I'd love you all to consider is piggybacking on news stories that are, that are popping right now. So anything the news wants to talk about, they will want to talk about over and over and over again. Jlo and Ben get back together. We're not going to stop talking about that until they have a baby or something. So what can you, can you be a relationship expert talking about, should you get together with your ex? Are you a wedding planning expert who's going to talk about what their wedding is going to be like? So again, piggybacking on news stories, relationship like, you know, family counselors, what are their kids going to think being, you know, reunited? So piggybacking on news stories is going to get you the fastest, like entry into the press because they're talking about these stories in real time. So if you can add to the conversation, you're going to get yourself and your business into that story faster. So that's like these like the fastest ways to get in the door press wise.

I, it's funny, I didn't really think about that, but it does work, right? So I don't want to name any inciting incidents because they might be negative. It's like someone's like, here's my take on this. This is why that person got so angry. Here's why it's so important. But like, yeah, you're right. They're just using that as a, is like this, this momentum to piggyback on. And I like what you said earlier about being an expert, right? So I can say like, here's my life as a busy working dad who has, you know, four kids or I can say Look, I want to do a series of tips for how other people can quit their 9 to 5 and start a professional service business with zero money down, using the skills they already have. That way. I'm showing up week after week after week after week. And I think that's where people sometimes miss out because they're like, oh, I just want to tell my story. It's like, well, how about you help other people transform and provide ongoing value? And then from there you can just keep on getting more spots. So another thing that I think, and I wasn't prepared for this either, is what to do after you are featured by the press. Because a couple of years ago I was on Good Morning America, which I understand is like a hard spot to get, but I'm on Good Morning America talking about like social media marketing or whatever it was, and I had a lot of people just reaching out to me afterwards saying, can you talk about this? Can you talk about that? And I wasn't prepared to absorb that much attention. I also wasn't prepared to repurpose this content on other social media channels. So I don't want to say it was a wasted opportunity because I learned something from it. But once we get pressed, what should be the next thing that we do?

Great question. So what you said was, right, the first thing, even, like when you know press is coming, if you do, you want to stage yourself for success, like, so making sure whenever I'm about to do an interview or be in the news, I make sure my social stuff is all staged the way I want, like someone to discover it. I can make sure I have my website set up to capture emails, all the things I want to do, knowing that's coming. So stage yourself and then, yeah, you want to leverage it. So some quick checklist items. Like, yes, you think the reporter who did the story for you. No, you don't have to give them a gift or like ice cream or product. They can't even accept it legally most of the time. So you thank them privately, but you also thank them publicly by sharing your opportunity, your press moment on all your social platforms and LinkedIn and Facebook and Twitter, Instagram, because they need those shares. They want their content to be clicked and to grow. So you share it everywhere and then you remember to future share it. Like do a throwback schedule, throwback Thursday posts to celebrate that not everyone was watching Terri on Good Morning America the moment it was happening. Even though, like millions were. So he's going to make sure that's an ongoing Facebook ad or that's something in an Instagram throwback Thursday where he shares it some more. And then like you said, yes, socially, you want to share it on social media. You want to have it on your blog, in your newsletter. You want that stuff to live on your website. Not just like on the as seen in bar that goes across your site, but maybe on the sales page of someone can buy consulting with you on that sales page. It should also say like, as seen on Good Morning America and stuff. So all those steps to me saying yes to you are being validated by this, this press you're sharing. Something I want to tell everybody that they have to remember when we're sharing our press, though, we're thrilled. Like, oh my God, I was on Good Morning America. Watch it here. Remember, not everyone else is like, I can't wait to take 10 minutes out of my day to watch Terri. So when we're sharing this, it's not just like, I got press. Here it is, it's saying, come watch me when I'm on. I share three secrets, you know, to da da da on Good Morning America. I'm going to reveal this and then let me tell you this. When you do your newsletter and your blog, you want to tempt people to engage in that even more. So you're going to say, come to my blog. I'm going to share two more extra tips. I'm going to show you behind the scenes footage of me at Good Morning America getting ready. I'm going to tell you some stuff I didn't tell anyone else about this experience. So again, leverage that in so many ways that that one experience for three minutes has become like so much content for you that builds authority and trust and people saying, damn, he was on Good Morning America. Did you see that on his blog and in his newsletter and on Instagram and like everywhere. Right? All those things.

Well, no one saw it in any of those places because I didn't do that. So mess that up. Yeah, yeah, I'm gonna, I'm gonna do that. But I know you help people get pressed for themselves as opposed to going through a PR agency. And on my end, I'm normally more likely to respond to a pitch from an individual versus an agency because I know I'm just like another person they're sending it out to. But do you mind sharing an example of someone who you worked with and who was able to successfully pitch themselves to a brand and any kind of outcomes from that as well?

Oh my gosh, like all day long. So, yeah, my job is to teaching small Business owners how to pitch themselves. So I'll throw out top of my head. I was using that JLO thing because it's real. There's a relationship expert named Lily Womble, best name ever, Southern Guild, based in New York City, who started piggybacking on all these JLO stories and tying them into news stories. And she's been on multiple New York City news shows. They've now given her a regular beat, a monthly relationship beat on it. True story. There's a woman named Maria who has a company called In Kind Boxes, who told her story all the way to Good Morning America. Again, a story she told. There is a woman named Nadia Murdoch who's a fitness expert who saw some people doing body shaming of actresses. And she pitched some expert advice on getting over body shaming. Landed it in a news story within, I'd say, minutes of her pitching it. So, again, these are all people. Because once you sort of know, this is what I have to offer. This is what a basic email pitch should look like, which you can all be taught how to do that. It's like this is how you write an email and then you're just starting to execute. It becomes this empowering thing. You're like, I can do this. Like, I can literally do this for my brand. And then on a very basic level, if you're a product person out there all day long, all day long, I hear about small biz product makers landing their products and gift guides and story places, because that is like very straight up, easy pr Once you learn it, that is just creating product pitches about your business and sending it to places that just cover product. There's no story involved. It's just like, how much does it cost? Is it pretty? So again, that stuff you can turn into a flow and they're getting themselves in gift guides all the time. So, oh my gosh, yes, it is 100% a possibility and I'm surrounded by it all day long.

Awesome. Well, I appreciate everything you've shared with us today, including that last flurry of real stories. But where can people learn more about you, your organization? What's the best way to follow up?

Okay, so pressforsuccess.com is my website that is an education platform and community where we teach you how to do all the things you need to do to get press and have a good time doing it. And then on Instagram, sabinaknowski K N O W S and my name is Sabina, you'll find me talking about all things PR all the time. I'LL answer questions and I will make you believe you can do it.

Awesome. Well, thanks again and everyone listening. As a reminder, all those show notes will be on my website. There was so much that you shared that again, I couldn't write down. But we appreciate your time and we're all going to go to your website, learn more about you, get some more information. So. So thank you for that and look forward to talking to you again soon.

Thank you all. Talk to you all soon.

Take care.

Bye.