Episode 109 - 3 Ways PR and Pitching Has Helped Me in Other Areas of Business
Benefits of PR Beyond a Digital Footprint
Confidence Boost:
Let’s be honest, imposter syndrome is a challenge that almost all entrepreneurs face. And even after seeing success it can still remain. Whether it’s due to constant comparisons to others' success or personal mindset blocks, this feeling is normal and is healthy to acknowledge. Now the reason PR is so helpful to combat imposter syndrome is because not only are you being recognized by a journalist, but by the entire media outlet they represent, and their viewers! There might be a million other people who do something similar to you, but taking the time to pitch yourself is something not even 1% of them do! Getting a yes from a journalists which potentially puts you in front of thousands-millions of new eyes expands what you believe is possible for your brand!
Partnerships and Collaborations:
PR also opens doors for strategic partnerships with other businesses, because media coverage can attract opportunities beyond that of traditional marketing. Not only do you gain credibility from being vetted by trusted media outlets, but your next partnership might come from someone reading that article about you! And if a business owner is googling someone like you to partner with, what do you think will show up first? A tiktok account? Or a recent New York Times article about you? And which one of those will be more trustworthy?
Sales Growth:
PR truly has a ripple effect when it comes to sales, but won’t be the same for everyone. For example, a gift guide product feature could lead directly to sales from your linked website. But maybe your sales will come from another small business looking to partner with you. If you’re a coach, maybe another coach wants to pay you to speak to their audience. An ecom platform might pick up some of your products because they already see you have traction because of your press features. Buyers for brick and mortar stores will also look for credibility and proof of concept which PR greatly contributes too. So sales might not always come directly, but through many different channels and opportunities.
Business Expansion:
Similar to the above points, PR can help you grow and scale by increasing your reach and revenue, which gives you more freedom to either develop new products, create new programs, or even open up physical stores which our PR Starter Pack students have done!! Once you have momentum, the options are endless and the growth happens fast!
Now that we’ve covered all the different ways PR can benefit your business, let’s talk tips to actually getting that coverage! No matter what your budget is or how early stage you are. PR is for EVERYONE!
Tips for FREE Press Coverage:
Relevance is Key:
Relevance is why your pitch matters now. Not 5 years ago, not 5 years from now. What is happening in society currently that you can relate to. Utilizing tools like Google alerts to stay updated on trends enables entrepreneurs to align their pitches with current topics, making them more appealing to journalists. If your pitch is relating to a current event or major world event, that can also push your story to the top of a journalists priority list! Because they need to publish it quickly before the trends change.
Follow Up and Follow Through:
Journalists have busy inboxes, so consistent follow-ups are key. But don’t just stay in their inbox. Reach out to them on their other social media platforms so you’re covering all your bases. You can compliment their work and form more genuine connections on social media where they can easily put a face to a name or have a clear visual of your brand.
If you want to learn the exact pitching framework that ALL my PR Starter Pack students use to get featured for free and build lasting relationships with journalists that earn them these amazing opportunities , check out my free PR masterclass ! It’s a great starting point so you don’t get overwhelmed on your PR journey!
The CPR Pitching Method™ helped small business-owning entrepreneurs from PR Starter Pack members see themselves as a go-to expert with a point of view, instead of JUST a founder, seller, or consultant – a standout mindset that takes you far in the world of PR.
I hope you take notes throughout this episode and maybe even listen to it again so you can really nail down the three parts of the CPR Pitching Method™ and use it to your advantage!
So get ready to press send and get your message. And I can’t wait to see you featured in the headlines.
P.S. If you want your small business to go from invisible to visible, seen, and valued, register for my FREE PR Secrets Masterclass. Soon enough, your credibility and visibility will skyrocket. Register now at www.gloriachou.com/masterclass.
Resources Mentioned:
Join Gloria Chou's PR Community: Small Biz Pros: By Gloria Chou
Additional Resources:
Join the Small Biz PR Pros FB group
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Here’s a glance at this episode…
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[00:00:00] Hey friends, I'm Gloria Chow, small business PR expert, award winning pitch writer, and your unofficial hype woman. Nothing makes me happier than seeing people get the recognition they deserve. And that starts with feeling more confident to go bigger with your message. So on this podcast, I will share with you the untraditional yet proven strategies for PR, marketing, and creating more opportunity in your business.
If you are ready to take control of your narrative and be your most unapologetic and confident self. You're in the right place. This is the small business PR podcast.
I'm so excited for today's guest. She is an OG member of our PR Center pack community. She founded her company during COVID with no experience, and she has turned this passion project into. impactful business that saves lives by fighting hunger and also working with local organizations and doing something that she loves.
Kim's story is one of resilience, is one of seeing possibilities and one of using PR and [00:01:00] messaging to lay the foundation for all the other aspects of her business. Now with PR, she has been able to not only get on to 12 13 14 huge nationally known media outlets, including TV podcasts and interviews, but she's been also able to expand her footprint because a part of her business is also about giving back.
So if you're looking to expand your reach, if you're looking to make a bigger impact and you're wondering how you can get your message out there, this episode is for you. Now let's dive into it. Now, Kim, the reason why I wanted to have you on this is because there's so many small businesses out there who are listening to this show thinking there's no way that my business can be featured, or this is too niche or.
This is too early or all the things that they limit themselves. And you have shattered all of those beliefs. And then some tell us a little bit more about the beliefs that you've been able to shatter the amazing press wins that you've been able to get to elevate your business, your mission, your life, and that confidence, how it ripples through all aspects of your business.
Absolutely. So the first thing to shatter though, is that imposter syndrome is real everyone. And it's, it's [00:02:00] okay, but it's about pushing through that and understanding that we. You're doing is unique and special. So I find that my press wins are those unique targeted lists, which I enjoy. So I've gotten a lot of love from one news outlet known as book riot, and it is for the book lover.
And I have pitched to them and actually been on a repeat on their website without even my knowledge, meaning I didn't have to repitch to be on there. I'm still going to do that for this holiday season, but I've gotten a lot of love from them. And that's right where my bookish people are. So beyond the wins from book riot, which.
very book focused. I've also had some national wins as well on the New York Post, Women's Day, Real Homes and Fox News. And my Fox News, I was on a list for the best food gifts for every kind of eater. And that was maybe less than six months from when Gloria and I first started to work together. I mean, that's Fox News and I'm a small business.
I'm a personal. One based in Buffalo, New York. And there I was on the list. I also was in an article in the Associated Press last year as a small business talking about [00:03:00] how to deal with holiday shoppers. This was during the pandemic. So a little less about my box, but I got to leverage my expertise as a small business owner.
So I've had wins in niche markets that are great for books, national wins. And then in this year, in 2023, I had a lot of local wins, which I actually found to be a very different kind of challenge, the media and support I got was from launching the read it and eat book fair and market. So I took my culinary adventure of books and food and made it a one day celebration on independent bookstore day, featuring 30 other small businesses.
Some from the food side, some from the book side and other small artisans. And there I was able to talk about the event articulately from learning and the coaching from Gloria. So taking some of the things from the press release, what's important for me, but leveraging it back up to cultural relevance. I was talking about Independent Bookstore Day and why it mattered.
So a lot of this year has been local news, but I'm really excited to have that because I am still locally connected to my business. So local to my community. So it was nice to also establish local roots as well. Now, what I love about what you've been able to accomplish with PR is you've [00:04:00] been able to turn your marketing and sales pitch into a relevant one, which is, let's be honest, what's relevant.
If it's not news, right? Journalists are not looking for you to be selling to them. They want to know why is it relevant for them? So relevance is a key part of the CPR method. You've been able to master it. Can you tell us how you've been able to find that relevance, which makes your pitch get noticed and opened by journalists?
I think finding relevance, I use things like Google alerts, not only for my own business, but also for those trending keywords again, that might be specific to what my boxes, but if you have a swimsuit business, maybe you want to set on a Google alert to see what a trending swimsuit buzzword might be. So mine are.
book boxes, blind date with a book, which is a very specific type of book world. And then I'm also looking for, there's a couple of different outlets that I'm checking on every day, but you can go to Tik TOK. What is the trending Tik TOK hashtags right now? Now, some of them might not be relevant to me, like all the dance trends.
I won't pretend that those are for me, but it's really important to. Lift your head up, I think, was one of the phrases we were talking about earlier, [00:05:00] Gloria, is that sometimes you can live in a bubble and going back up and looking at what is on the news, what's trending on social media, and that could be Instagram, that could be TikTok, whoever your audience is, or Snapchat, or also just setting up basic Google alerts.
If you invest the time to build routines to just pulse, check what's going on in the world, some kind of golden opportunity is going to pop out at you. Maybe even look at what movies are coming out between now and the end of the year. Big national nationwide movies, like for example, the Wonka movie, Timothee Chalamet, Wonka, that comes out on Christmas.
Is there something Kim can do with her box that ties to candy and chocolate? I don't know. But like now the gears are moving, but that's a huge movie. So those are just a couple of different ways that I'm looking for relevancy, but it's partially being hungry and being curious. What else is out there?
What is the world talking about? That's amazing. Okay. So other than relevance, what are the keys look for if someone is pitching and they want to get their pitch opened by journalists? I think the biggest one, instead of a list of many things, the big one is the follow up and the follow through, [00:06:00] because there are definitely times where I have talked to a writer, especially freelance writers.
Freelance writers are not always tied down to different outlets, but they're pitching different things to different outlets all the time. And I have had people come back to me and say, Hey, I'm not talking about this right now, but I will be talking about this. In two months, and this is specific. I'd say also anecdotally from my boxes is that I might start pitching for mother's day.
Maybe I don't fit with the mother's day articles going to be about, but there's father's day there's, I think somewhere out there's probably an official grandma and grandpa day, and then there's the holidays. So sometimes, not sometimes. It's always going to be about follow through. And I have found that sometimes writers still use Twitter, which I guess now it's called X.
That's going to take some rewiring in my brain, but I also have some writers that respond in Instagram DM. So it might not just be a followup on that email, but it might be going the next step. Find out where they're active. Is it Instagram? Is it X? Is it TikTok? Which I have never had success with a journalist on TikTok, but Hey, if you have, please let me know your secrets.
Even new avenues like threads, the deal is out on what threads [00:07:00] is going to be. But I do have, at least in the. book space. Book people took to threads, authors, journalists. So sometimes it's really about finding the right timing and the right avenue for communication. And you're only going to find that if you put in the effort to follow up and follow through.
And it's okay if you don't hear if you're not on that list till six months from now. That's what happened with book right. I was on one list and then suddenly boom, a couple of months later at the start of the year, they said best book boxes. For those who like sips and reads and I was like, they still thought of me.
So just remember that diligence is important and it's going to feel like you get a lot of nose, but all you need is the one to get the ball rolling. That's how it felt for me. I got that one Fox news and I was like, Whoa, that really happened. And then suddenly you just keep going and you learn what's working.
So I love what you said about follow up because I always say that you have to follow up and it's not just about sending emails. It's about following up, being a good steward of the news, maybe turning on your notifications and having that relationship. Yes, it takes work, but it'll be the best work that you do because like you said, you pitched months ago and now you've gotten featured [00:08:00] over and over from that one journalist, right?
Yep. So all about the follow up, let's go into, I mean, we can have so many episodes just about the mindset of the follow up, which we've actually covered here because I truly believe, and you know, this, everything you want is on the other side of the send button. So just send it, just press send journalists want to talk to real people.
They don't want to talk to PR reps. They want to talk to you. And you're such a living example of why that's true, because you just kind of hit them up and as a business owner, and you got featured. I want to talk about how the methods that you're doing in PR, from the CPR method, from being in our PR program, from just doing PR, how has it helped you with other aspects of your business that's not just purely visibility and media wins?
So I'd like to think that all of the pitching skills in the CPR method are tools that I've added to this toolkit, and you take your toolkit with you wherever you go. Just like how a small business owner wears many hats, you have many tools in your arsenal. I'm a small business that only exists in e commerce, but I would love to grow into a brick and mortar one day, but I'm also always looking for other revenues channels.
There's nothing wrong with saying I'd love other ways to make more money. One of those has been [00:09:00] partnerships. I have now in the past year been approached by a couple different local media outlets or organizations that say, Hey, we want to launch a cookbook club for. Our audience or our community. Could you help us with that?
And I'm like, absolutely. This is what really need is all about the culinary adventure, pairing books and food together. They don't always have to go to read it and eat. com to make that purchase. I might make something, and this is where it becomes more of a wholesale relationship, but I'm curating cookbook boxes for them.
Maybe this is an outlet that produces or publishes their own cookbooks. And they want to figure out how to market those cookbooks in gift sets or in new cookbooks. Book clubs, or it's a local restaurant or tea shop that wants to bring more foot traffic. So let's pair books and tea together. Building a partnerships with other small businesses is just another way for read it and eat to soar and get its name out.
It's partially how I think the read it and eat book fair and market was such a success was I was able to articulate what my business mission was, but also why was it [00:10:00] relevant to Buffalo, New York? Because. Buffalo cares about food. Buffalo has a huge small business culture and is very supportive. So here I am pairing in independent bookstores in my community, other small businesses, and going back to, if you think of the CPR method, the cultural relevance, it's a little sad, but we did have the tragic shooting at tops in May a year or so back now, and it was in top of mind that there were people looking for food and were hungry.
So having a book fair that was book food, but also that donation component to give back. I would never have been brave enough, Gloria. I'll be so honest with everyone at home. I would never have been brave enough to think just me could have hosted a book fair with this capacity. We had 1100 people come in one day.
I hired an event team. I never, the amount of like the financial risk of being like, I'm going to invest and rent a venue and hire an event team. What if no one comes? But I had enough confidence from pitching. You have to shake that imposter syndrome. We talked about it earlier in the episode. You have to [00:11:00] believe in what your mission is, but also what is that cultural relevance?
And I just knew I had something here and 1100 people for a first time affair was I'm proud, but even the event team I hired, they were like, you know, usually you pay us. You made so much on your ticket sales that we owe you a check. You turned a profit for your first ever fair. That was not my expectation, Gloria.
My mark, I was like, Oh, if I can get like half my money back, that'd be great. Like I, everyone was happy. I could go on and on, but really it all goes back to being able to articulate your own business. It comes from that pitching. It comes from that coaching, but remember, don't get stuck down there at the bottom.
It's not about you, but what is the cultural relevance? I took it to Buffalo. I found a national event, independent bookstore day. And then I found the local relevance, which was Buffalo cares about its people. It cares about its artisans and its bookish people. And it's also cares about making sure people don't go hungry.
And all of that would not have happened if I hadn't started working with you a year plus ago. I mean, pitching is so hard for small businesses, right? Like we're not taught the skill of like [00:12:00] advocating for ourself and going for the media and it's just so unnatural. So I really applaud you for the fact that you're going outside of your comfort zone to create an incredible new reality to elevate your business and your story.
So what other lessons or gains did PR teach you that you've been able to take throughout other parts of your life and your business? I think the biggest thing PR has actually taught me is shaking off that imposter syndrome. I think there's always a voice in the back of everyone's head. It's what makes us human, but I am small, but mighty.
And the other reassuring part of this is I still have a nine to five job. I still have a full time job. There are days when work is just a grind, but I go home and I can look at my business and go like, I've accomplished this. I've created something out of nothing other than passion and an idea. And that's what I hope everyone thinks of when you're pitching is yes, we have our CPR method and we want to bring it out and culturally relevant, but at the start, this wouldn't exist without you reading the box wouldn't exist without me.
It's in my toolkit. And it's just like this moment of pride. I almost equate it to, this is going to sound silly, but like running a [00:13:00] marathon, something like less than 1 percent of the global population runs a marathon. I have no idea what the statistic is for the number of people that run a small business, let alone a woman owned business.
But I am part of a pretty cool and exclusive club and I put myself out there and people are responding the pitching like there's so you're essentially just creating this new version of yourself in a way from pitching and I think that's a very powerful thing you can call that a confidence booster.
You can call whatever you want, but for everyone listening, you have. Taken this huge leap to create something out of nothing. And it's your passion and the PR starter pack. It has just taught me to walk with confidence. I know that's probably a very rambling meandering answer, but I hope the passion comes through for you guys listening is that I can speak so much more confidently about who I am.
And even like the rises and the falls of running a small business. I would never have dreamt this big if I hadn't learned these skills talking about 5x, talking about being on the morning news. Who am I sometimes, but I'm going to do it. It's going to happen. I know it can [00:14:00] happen is the most important thing.
Yeah. So what are the three big things that you are looking forward to creating by the end of this year? I know you have some exciting things lined up and I know that you've already done so much with PR and created so many opportunities, but tell us what you're looking forward to creating more of. The two big or the three big things I'd say is.
I just launched last week on Uncommon Goods. So I have a national launch on a national platform. I am the first ever book subscription box on Uncommon Goods. So it's live. It's rolling out. I have pitches scheduled to go out at 9 30 on Thursday morning with my remember to install your open tracker everyone to make sure those emails are getting open.
So that is live. It's happening right now. And then also Pitching for the holiday season, they want those gift lists. They're starting to compile them now. So that is the immediate and now, but I also just received a call yesterday. I applied for an incubator space for a small business space. So 200 square feet, we're talking mini pop up, but semi permanent.
So there's a chance that read it and eat might become the [00:15:00] read it and eat culinary bookstore. Still going to serve those boxes and ship across the U. S. But it's been the long term goal to also have a brick and mortar space in Buffalo. So a lot's going on, but I am very, very excited and very grateful. So here's a question that I think is an important one.
And if anyone is multitasking, I think you want to listen to this so often. I get people saying, well, I want to grow my business and I just want to hire a publicist to do it for me, which is throwing money at the problem, or, you know what, I'll just put money into ads, which is also throwing money at the problem, or, you know, I'll pay an influencer and this whole notion of having to pay someone to do it, or having like a.
Quick fix solution. Because let's be honest, if it was easy, everybody would do it. What would you have to say to that? Why did you not go the route that most people go, which is paying an ads agency or just spending tons of money on ads? And why did you decide to do this brave act of advocating for yourself through PR and pitching?
It's interesting. Cause I've had this conversation with other small businesses. Kim, why did you focus on PR versus going into dumping tons of meta ads? First off, I find ad spend extremely [00:16:00] overwhelming and it feels like quite literally you're pouring dollars into a bucket and lighting it on fire. But that's just my opinion.
To me, PR is not only awareness, but it's that relevancy story. It also involves a lot of benefits of that SEO and tracking and driving traffic to your own website. And the way I think about it is. Buffalo, New York is not the largest city in the whole world. So if I can get out there and get onto these outlets, not only am I spreading awareness, but there's getting, there's more eyeballs.
Maybe there's somebody who's out in Boise who is also passionate about books and food. And in a way I view it like creating community. And I hope that that's what other people can also think of PR. And it's also a skill that, like we mentioned earlier, It's public relations. A lot of being a small business owner is relationship building, whether it's partners, whether it's wholesale, whether it's maybe I'm going to have a brick and mortar, but that relationship part, I don't want that to get lost.
I think people might have the misconception. It becomes very transactional. It's not you. I have rapport now. And actually, [00:17:00] like, really, Instagram because she's always reviewing romance books. So I think. That was part of it. I wanted to be reconnected with the relationship part of PR, and it's made it such a more optimistic journey than my God, what was my cost for clicks?
My cost for clicks has gone up four cents. Like that part could drive me insane. So think about from PR, how it's going to impact other parts of your business. relationships, how you talk about yourself, but also those articles also create that SEO. They create traffic and they create eyeballs in a totally, to me, more authentic way than being served a paid ad 24 seven.
So Kim, you've shared with us so many amazing gems. I love having you in our PR starter pack. I love seeing you on our monthly coaching calls, but for people who are listening who are outside of our community, how can they find you and learn more about you? Yes. If you are looking for your next. culinary adventure and love books and food.
You can find us at read it and eat box. com and across all social media, Instagram X formerly [00:18:00] known as Twitter, Facebook at read it and eat box and on Tik TOK where read it and eat feel free. If you guys want to drop me a note, my DMS, I'm still managing it all myself. So I'm great to see you, or you can fill out the contact form on my website, but I would love to connect with you bigger, small, and think of us for the holidays.
Thank you so much. I am so proud of your journey. I remember when you joined our program and our community about two years ago and all the amazing accomplishments you've gained since and how you've been not only elevating yourself and your story, but helping other people in our community pitch and get featured and use all of these things that you've learned so that they can get to where they want to go much quicker.
Thank you for being a light and for helping us and everyone realize that it is possible. possible as a small business to pitch. It is absolutely possible to be on all the big publications as a small business without PR. It is absolutely possible to gain that confidence and know that your story deserves to be seen, heard, and valued by more people.
Thank you so much, Kim. Absolutely. Thank you so much for having me and for also being on [00:19:00] the journey and believing in the mission. Hopefully next year I can be like. Yeah, Gloria, I was on the morning news for Buffalo talking about something. So we're manifesting that out. And thank you so much again for having me.
Hey, small business hero. Did you know that you can get featured for free on outlets like Forbes, the New York times, Marie Claire, pop sugar, and so many more, even if you're not yet launched or if you don't have any connection, that's right. That's why I invite you to watch my PR secrets masterclass, where I reveal the exact methods, thousands of bootstrapping.
small businesses use to hack their own PR and go from unknown to being a credible and sought after industry expert. Now, if you want to land your first press feature, get on a podcast, secure a VIP speaking gig, or just reach out to that very intimidating editor. This class will show you exactly how to do it.
Register now pr. com slash masterclass. That's Gloria Chow, C H O U P R dot com slash masterclass. [00:20:00] So you can get featured in 30 days without spending a penny on ads or agencies. Best of all, this is completely free. So get in there and let's get you featured.