Episode 105 - How to Get Your Product Business Featured in Big Name Media
How Product Owners can Increase Revenue and Business Opportunities in Q4 with PR
Whether you sell handmade jewelry, artisanal soaps, or innovative tech gadgets, getting your product in front of the right audience consistently is crucial to growing your brand sustainably. While social media can play a significant role in your marketing strategy, there's an often overlooked avenue that can provide incredible results without spending hours editing videos in hopes of going viral—Public Relations (PR).
The Changing Landscape of PR
Traditionally, PR might have seemed like an exclusive club that only well-connected entrepreneurs could access. However, PR is changing, and it's becoming more accessible to everyone. You no longer need to depend solely on someone else's connections or hire an expensive publicist to get your product noticed. The gatekeepers of traditional media are no longer the only ones holding the keys to your story. You have the power to push down the gates yourself, and we're here to guide you on how to do just that.
The CPR Method: Proven Pitch Framework
1. Credibility (C): Start your pitch by establishing your credibility. You might be wondering how to do this if you're a small business owner without a long list of accomplishments. But credibility doesn't necessarily mean you need a laundry list of achievements. A simple sentence about your experience or your unique perspective can suffice. For example, "I am a founder that has experienced X first hand.
2. Point of View (P): Journalists are looking for experts who can provide a unique perspective or valuable insights. Your pitch should position you as an expert, not just a salesperson. This part of the pitch should convey why your product or story matters in the context of a larger trend or issue. For instance, if you sell skincare products, your point of view might be noticing how consumers are getting annoyed having to completely switch up their skincare routine in the cold winter months vs hot summer.
3. Relevance (R): Relevance is the most critical element of your pitch. It's what ties your story to the season, trend, or current events going on. Whether it's the holiday season, graduation season, reaction to a new policy or any other relevant time frame, your pitch should clearly explain why your product or story is timely and deserves attention NOW, and not 5 years from now.
Cold Pitching: Making the First Move
Cold pitching may sound intimidating, but it's a necessary step in the PR process. It’s not like you’re getting hung up on mid introduction, or a door slammed in your face. The goal of a cold pitch email or DM is not to write the entire story for the journalist but to pique their interest enough to get a response. Remember, you're not sending a sales pitch; you're initiating a value-driven conversation trying to get the journalist interested in hearing more. So you don’t need to be an amazing writer or experienced sales person!
Here are some tips for effective cold pitching:
1. Timing: Send your pitch emails on Mondays, Tuesdays, or Wednesdays around 9 a.m. This ensures your email is at the top of the journalist's inbox when they start their day.
2. Subject Lines: Craft concise and specific subject lines that encapsulate your pitch's main idea. Avoid spammy or misleading subject lines.
3. Follow-Up: After sending your pitch email, follow up on social media within 24 hours. Engage with the journalist's content and politely remind them to check their email.
4. Email Tracking: Use email tracking tools to monitor whether your emails have been opened. This helps you gauge interest and follow up strategically.
5. Persistence: Don't be discouraged by rejections or crickets. Aim to receive at least five rejections per week, as it means you're actively pitching and gaining experience.
The Versatility of the CPR Method
The CPR Method is not limited to securing traditional media coverage like articles. It can be applied to various PR opportunities, including podcasts, speaking engagements, partnerships, awards, grants, product placements, and more. Pitching is really the ability to confidently go after any opportunity you desire by positioning yourself as a reliable, valuable expert. Here are a few examples:
Examples of CPR in Action
Let's explore some real-world examples of how product owners have used the CPR Method to secure media coverage:
1. Zero Waste Soap Brand: The founder of a zero waste soap brand positioned herself as an expert in conscious consumerism. Her pitch emphasized her commitment to sustainability and how her product addressed the issue of single-use plastics during COVID, a highly relevant topic. This approach led to features in Martha Stewart, Apartment Therapy, Philly Magazine, and even recognition as a finalist in the Target Retail Accelerator program.
2. Jewelry Maker: Another entrepreneur, a certified gemologist, used her expertise to pitch a story about choosing hypoallergenic metals for summer jewelry. She highlighted potential sensitivities during the summer, making her product relevant and helpful to readers.
3. Moisturizing Stick Creator: A founder who created moisturizing sticks for on-the-go use focused her pitch on "Three Must-Haves for Your Poolside Bag." By linking her product to a summer-related topic, she easily gained media coverage and expanded her reach.
4. Waterproof Bag: A military spouse who designed multi-purpose bags with waterproof lining leveraged the CPR Method to pitch her story relating her product to parents' needs during the pandemic, particularly for travel with children.
In all these examples, the founders went beyond merely promoting their products; they positioned themselves as experts and connected their stories to relevant trends, seasons, or issues.
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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[00:00:00] Hey everybody. And welcome to another episode of the product boss podcast. I'm your host, Jacqueline Snyder with my awesome co host Mina Kounalosy. Hey Mina. Hey Jacqueline. So friends, we are really excited to bring to you a very special guest today. We have Gloria Chow. She is a PR mentor and award winning pitch writer who teaches early stage founders and business owners how to hack.
Their PR with her proprietary three step CPR pitching method. And this has helped thousands of bootstraps, small businesses, get over a combined one. Okay. Wait for it. This is like Austin power style over here. 1 billion organic views in top tier outlets, such as New York times, Vogue, fast company, Forbes, and more.
Now I know a lot of you out there have always thought, how do I pitch myself? How do I get into gift guides? How do I get PR without having to hire a publicist? So we're so excited to have Gloria here today to help us sort of start to think about this and strategize. So Gloria, welcome to the podcast.
Thanks for having me. We're so excited that you're here. So, in part of your bio, it says that you're a former us diplomat. I have never talked to a former [00:01:00] us diplomat. So hello and welcome to the podcast. I'm going to sit up a little bit straighter. I feel like if anyone's thinking of a career shift, this one's for you.
Cause that is as dramatic as it gets in terms of switching careers. So tell us about that. How did you go from a diplomat to then someone who's working in PR and just crushing it? Well, you know, I just love to be everyone's unofficial hype woman. Like that's always been my thing. And so communications, I've always wanted to work in that.
actually used to be a film producer before that. Um, but I always was interested in policy diplomacy. I grew up by cultural bilingual. And so I thought my path was going to be that very kind of, you know, 25 year with a pension government. Service person. And I found myself deeply unhappy with all the bureaucracy and the red tape.
And I really wanted to do something else. And I thought PR was great because it combines kind of what I love to do, which is to hype people up and also my communication skillset. So I must have applied to over a thousand jobs. I mean, I have the LinkedIn receipts to prove it. I had people referring me and they all were kind of very confused by my experience.
And of course the PR agencies want you to have. cookie cutter agency experience, which I didn't have. And so I was like, you know what, [00:02:00] let's screw this. Let's roll up my sleeves and figure it out myself without a Rolodex, without any kind of introductions. And I literally started cold calling. And I mean like Googling newsroom CNBC and calling the operator and perfecting my pitch thousands of times to.
Where they would just stay on the phone with me a little bit longer and a little bit longer. Of course, I've had phone stamped in my face. and I think that's really what spilled my business because I've hacked it on my own without industry contacts. never part of the cool kids club. I don't know any journalists and I really think that PR is changing because you don't need to depend on other people's relationships anymore.
We can hold the gate, we can push the gate down. We actually have the keys to our own story and I'll share with you exactly how people who's listening to this can also do it themselves too. I love that the keys to our own story, so important and so empowering and what a bootcamp to put yourself through of cold calling, right?
back in the day, I don't think I've ever even told this story to Jacqueline. I lasted one day doing appointments for Kirby. Vacuum cleaners. Do you guys know what the Kirby vacuum cleaner used to be a rep for them? Actually? Yeah. And it was awful. It was so hard. I lasted for one day, [00:03:00] maybe not even the full day.
Maybe it was there for like two hours, longest two hours of my life. So cold calling is really hard. And that's amazing that you went through that, figured out the things, and now you're reteaching it to. Other people, and you've actually created a methodology around it.
can you get a little bit into your methodology of how you teach people how to pitch themselves? Because I think as product people, we tend to think that we can hide behind our products. And this is something that Jacqueline are, you know, pushing or shoving our students to do all the time is learn how to pitch yourself, work that muscle.
You know, if I could talk to younger me now, I would be like, it out for more than one day on this Kirby job potentially. but you know, can you get into your methodology and how that's evolved? Yeah. I mean, I definitely want to say that, PR is changing. We're all staying at home. No one's going to fancy networking events and it's okay.
If you're not a TV personality, you know, like I don't really love to be on camera, but in order to have sustainable income, in order to get your product out to more people, you can't depend on ads, right? We know that ad tracking is going away. You're might be targeting a 12 year old playing video games.
Who's [00:04:00] in no position to buy your product. Especially if you're spending hours on Instagram, that's all fine and dandy until you're banned until the algorithm doesn't like you. So I'm really talking about the longterm. What can we do to build SEO? What can we do to build credibility? It's going to be that major domino.
That's going to let all the other dominoes fall, whether it's getting into an award, a panel or a retail accelerator, So from all the thousands of times I've cold call and cold pitched, I started to pick up on patterns of when the journalist would respond or read my email. And it really boils down to these three components, which I call CPR.
C stands for credibility. P stands for point of view, because remember experts have point of view and your pitch to the journalist cannot be a sales pitch. It has to be positioning you as an expert. This is key. And the R for CPR stands for relevance. That's the most important part of the pitch. It talks about the season that we're in, whether it's holiday or graduation or summer or winter, that's going to allow you to get to the top of their inbox and get the journalists who respond.
The whole point of cold pitching is not to write the story for them. It's just to get them to make a decision. Yes. I'm interested. Tell [00:05:00] me more. That's it. That's it. I think a lot of people feel so inundated and they think PR is, is really complex puzzle, but it really is just two things. It's writing a pitch and sending it out, writing a pitch and sending it out.
And the more you do that, the more you can hone in on your message, the more you can pitch yourself to all kinds of opportunities, whether it's consulting or partnerships. So that's really what the CPR method stands for. And I can definitely give you all kinds of examples of how it applies to every type of business.
Yeah. Because I think that's the thing. Right. the product based business owner out there that maybe is the handmade business. I make jewelry or, I pour candles or I bake cookies or make caramels, you know, you're saying position yourself as an expert, but how are they even possibly an expert or credibility when they might downplay themselves.
So how would somebody brainstorm? We used to be able to land those opportunities. Yeah. So in terms of credibility, that's the least important part. It's literally one sentence of, I am a founder, or I have seen this firsthand in my customers. So I think the energy behind knowing how to transform your marketing pitch.
which you all know how to do into a newsworthy pitch is to step away from the product and realize that the journalist is not your [00:06:00] customer. They're not going to buy from you. So you have to give them maybe tips or tricks or trends or insights or data or comparison or contrarian point of view, or something that you're seeing.
it doesn't have to be groundbreaking research, right? You can use third party data. We just want it to sound like you are an expert with a point of view. That's it. There's no. Legal standard for when an expert is, but the more you make it sound like a sales pitch, the less likely it's going to get covered.
So let's go into the actual pitch. I'll give you an example around over 60 percent of people in my PR program are female founders. I make physical products. so one of the people I worked with, she makes soaps, so they're just like very unattractive round soaps, zero waste packaging. So she doesn't even have a packaging, right?
The CPR pitch that we came up in terms of the credibility was very simple. One sentence, you know, she cares about the environment. She, really is active in this conscious consumerism trend. Now that's the C in CPR. Now P stands for point of view. Now point of view is three reasons why her product is perfect for the conscious consumer that year.
And why is it relevant? Right? The R it's relevant because single use plastics during COVID is exploding, like everywhere we go [00:07:00] is single use plastics. So how can we make better decisions as a consumer, While following this trend of. Becoming more sustainable. So the ending, that's how her product came to life.
And that's how she was able to land Martha Stewart, apartment therapy, like Philly magazine, all of the things. And she was a finalist for the target retail accelerator, which by the way, on the application, the last question they ask is, have you been featured in the media? Not how many TikTok followers you have, So think about your product. Think about the problem that it solves every single person that's listening to this. I can bet that you made a product to solve the problem. It's not just to get rich quick, right? A lot of times while we're building our product, we get further and further away from our why, and we got to do the work to peel away the layers of the onion.
So what is the actual message? What are you doing? That has nothing to do with your products, right? So for her, it was helping people make better decisions when single use plastics was everywhere and it worked. And she's been able to get on so many gift guides and she stopped ads completely because they weren't working for her.
I love that. That was such a great example. you know, tons of people sell soap. So it's giving her a great angle of why it matters, tell us a [00:08:00] little bit more about your clients so you teach them how to do their pitch essentially to get.
Showcase. And then, where does it go from there? Like, how else can they use their pitch I feel like, when they're pitching, like you said, it would be to retail or even potentially to boutiques and everything like that. They can definitely use their pitch in more than one places, just honing in on it.
Yeah. I mean, it's really a way of having a value driven conversation. That's not salesy and about me, me, me, me. Right. Because for anything, even me getting onto this podcast and starting that conversation with you, I wasn't like, Oh, I need to get more customers. I was like, here's a method. Here's a solution.
Now, obviously, you know, that I have a business, right? I'm not a charity. So I think that a lot of people just need to first figure out how to translate. their marketing message into something that is value driven. So that's number one. And number two is I'll give you an example of why it helps with everything.
I had, Leanna Gant, who is a cancer survivor and she had problems taking her medication. There was like all these measuring things. And she came up with a very simple sticker where you can put it onto Any size, whether it's like a bottle or whatever [00:09:00] medication and you just rip off the days that you take it, she ended up getting it into, you know, target and Walmart.
And she said that's only part of the problem is that you can get it into a retailer, but they're not going to do the selling for you. So that's where the CPR method comes in is because now that she's gotten into a fortune 1000 retailer, how is she going to get eyeballs on her product?
Right? They don't help you out with that. Once you're in CVS, they're not doing the marketing for you. So she was able to use a CPR method. To get onto parents magazine, to speak on podcasts, to speak about her cancer journey and all the different doors started opening for her. So all of a sudden she was not only talking about her product, but also her, journey as a mom, her journey as a cancer survivor.
So all of these things, and she definitely has a transformation because now she sees how the method can be applied for podcasts for speaking for gift guides, even submitting herself for an award. that's so important. The value part, because so many times. People, business owners come at it from a point of an eye or me.
like I created this because I wanted this and me, me, me, I, I, I, and the customer, the person you're pitching to the retailer, they're more like, but what about me? Like how is this going to transform me or my business? Or what's the [00:10:00] value you're adding to me? And I think even like you're saying.
the rip off on the bottles, her product, it was like, this was a problem I had that you probably have a very similar problem to this and need a solution. So because of this problem that I had, I've created this for you and this is how it's going to make your life easier and better.
And so I think it's really important. This is such clarity what you're teaching is, yes, it's great for pitching yourself for publicity, but I think it's just great to narrow in on this messaging across the board. Like you said. Yeah, I really see it as like a bridge. How many bridges can you draw?
Because the more people that come into your universe, the more strong your community is, and the more opportunities you have for all kinds of business opportunities. Absolutely. so people are hearing you talk about the CPR method and that they're thinking, okay, great. I've got this, I'm figuring this out, but what do they do with that?
Once they come up with this pitch. So PR is very simple. It's writing a pitch and sending it out, right? As many times as possible. So now that you have the pitch with the CPR method, you're going to have different ones depending on what season you're in. Right? So if you make a body butter, you might have one that's for holiday gifting, but you might also have one for summer, winter eczema, you know, [00:11:00] whatever, right?
so know that you're going to have different opportunities. Opportunities in different pitches. Now that you have your pitch, you gotta send it out. So you gotta find the journalists who are covering your beat, whether it's a beauty editor, wellness podcast, or whatever it is. Most of the time it's probably not gonna be the editor in chief of Vogue.
They're probably doing their own book tour , right? So finding that specific journalist, increasing the touch points by not only sending the email, but following them on Twitter, maybe Instagram or LinkedIn is gonna be much better. It makes sense, right? Because even if you're cultivating sales, you wanna increase the touch points with your leads.
So think about The journalist as a long term relationship that you're building, follow their stuff, compliment them, engage with their content. That's only going to help you establish that relationship because guess what? That journalist probably writes four or five or six different outlets, It's very possible that they're a freelancer. So that's why I say like. PR is something that just keeps on giving you the ROI, but a lot of people don't want to start it because it's not as easy. I will say as like spending hours chasing down every customer, but it definitely is one of the highest ROI activities you can do.
Can we talk a little bit about timing too? So, what you're talking about is. establishing like [00:12:00] any other relationship when you have a relationship with retailers, it really is about connections and building that and having it be an authentic connection. but can we talk a little bit about timing?
So if you're sending out your pitch, how often should you do it? If they say no, do you take that as a no? Do you repitch them? What does that all look like at the, back end of that? Oh, such good questions. I definitely go into it you know, my PR program, the PR starter pack. But what I recommend my PR members to do is send an email on a Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday.
Thursday and Friday, some people might be out of the office. I usually like to send it around 9am their time. You can schedule sense that way. It's on the top of their email inbox. You want to make your subject lines super specific, super punchy. Don't make it spammy. Don't say something weird.
Like I made you a video or here's your coupon. Make it so that it encapsulates what you're saying, right? Three ways to, be, more eco conscious this winter or best gifts for a picnic for mother's day, whatever that is, right? So that's just the quick little tips. Obviously there's more of that in my program.
and then I want you to follow up on social media within 24 hours. The point of that is to [00:13:00] basically remind them to check their email. It could be. A simple DM by saying, Hey, I know since you cover this trend and we're in this season now, I sent you this, story with three different trends, or This is the title of the email I sent on this day. Let me know if you haven't received it. So boom, it does two things. It connects you to their network. And then it tells them to actually go back and check the email. And here's another quick tip. Do not send any emails unless you install an email tracking device,
we track everything these days. It's as simple as Googling, like a. Very low cost Chrome extension. If you use Chrome and you can monitor if they're being opened, because if they're not being open, then you can keep sending and sending and sending again. And here's the thing about rejection a lot of times founders, because it's so unnatural for them.
It's not like every day you wake up and you're sending it to journalists. It can seem so intimidating, but the fact that even respond with like, no, thank you. That means you're getting somewhere. I actually tell people, I want you to get five rejections a week. So that you can get so comfortable sending out those pitches, planting those seeds, because you're competing with very aggressive, pushy PR agencies that are getting paid 20, 000 a month.
So how are you going to be able to own that story? Right. another thing is I interviewed someone from business [00:14:00] insider and she says she definitely doesn't respond to all the emails. I mean, there's no way, right. But she has a very unique way of labeling it where she'll label the email, possibly for later or spring summer story or whatever that is.
And when she is tasked by her editor for the story, she'll go do a quick search in her inbox, quickly pull up the email and say, Hey, are you available for a chat? So that's why it's so important to keep pitching to own that process by setting up like a team at email address. So you have clarity onto who's opening, right?
So that way we don't have to depend on someone outside of us. And keep putting your name in that hat because you never know when they're going to go back to their email and invite you to actually speak as a part of an article. So good. I want to hear another CPR of another, founder that you've worked with.
I do too. I think one question I have that's in addition is does your story change? Cause I feel like the relevancy would change. Right. So could you give us another example of what you did with your method? Yeah. So obviously we talked about the gift guides, which is all the like Valentine's Day, hot sauce day, whatever Mother's Day, but then there's like the seasonal one.
So I recently wrote [00:15:00] one for someone who makes jewelry and she actually was a certified like gemologist or I forgot what it's called, but she has some kind of certification for making jewelry. And a very bootstrapping founder, mompreneur. And the pitch was not about like her jewelry and why it's popular and all.
It's great. it's about how to pick the best, hypoallergenic metals for your summer jewelry. And so it was about things to avoid, right? Cause that's kind of a sensitivity thing that people experience in the summertime. Now there's another founder who makes, Moisturizing sticks. So it's like a stick, you kind of, pop it open and you can put it on your face.
Great for summer travel bag. Right. It could be three things to put in your poolside bag. Or, I had another military spouse who makes, a bag that's multipurpose that is lined with waterproof material. And instead of being like, Here's the best bag. We talked about how during Covid, this was a great mommy bag for people to bring kids toys and things to keep their kids entertained on the first flight that they were gonna take in two years, right?
So it's all different angles, all the different things. I mean, I could go on for hours and hours, about these pitches. Those are really fun to listen to. I gotta say I could listen to for hours going over those, that's gonna [00:16:00] say hours and hours and more ideas. I love it. . That's sort of how we work too, because I think the way that our brains work when we're coaching and.
Working with our students up front and close is that we can see further for them. I think so many times you probably see this with your founders is that they get so narrowed into what they're doing, what they're selling a hook of a story that they think is important. How do they flush that out?
how do you help them expand their mind to the possibility of. Yes, I make these bags, but can you use it for, a plane ride with your kid, which is so specific, but maybe they're like, these are great ideas, but I can't even wrap my head around it. Yeah. I mean, think it starts with understanding that it's not about your product and looking at the season that we're in.
So using the CPR method, focusing on the relevance and in my PR program, the PR starter pack, I actually go through the pitches that I wrote. I have gotten top tier features and I go through it line by line. Here's why I wrote the subject line. Here's why I wrote the intro. So you start to just see it from how I write.
And then you come up with different ideas, right? And then I offer, one on one pitch writing, but for most founders, once you're in there, they have a media database. They have all the different [00:17:00] pitch templates. It's about honing that skill. And a lot of them are able to just take it and run with it and get featured.
I had someone get featured twice in us news, in one month in an article called what is Pilates? And this was literally published in 2022. So if you have a limiting belief about, Oh, well, What I have is not important anymore. Like it's not interesting. They are still publishing articles about what is Pilates in 2022.
So there is always an opportunity to pitch at every single level, every audience, the world is your oyster, but you really have to shift your mindset. So good. So what's one tip that you could give our product bosses that. You could tell them to help them with, pitching.
Well, obviously watch my PR masterclass. You'll see exactly how the pitch is. but just think about getting into one gift guide, how that's going to be able to save you so much money and give you ROI. So just like what I said with the zero waste soap brand, Think about what's happening.
Let's say you make cheese, Instead of being like, here are three flavors, whatever. Think about what's hip, what's trending. Maybe the hipsters like some weird kale, vegan cheese. I don't know. It could be something that's interesting to pair it with there. Yeah, those [00:18:00] hipsters for sure. Right. So something that's interesting, something that's not so obvious.
I wrote a pitch for someone who makes sparkling juices. She makes non alcoholic wines and instead of the most obvious pitch, which is really the top layer of an onion. All about getting to that juicy core. We peeled back the layer and it wasn't five reasons why you should drink less. It was literally about how the sober curious movement, cause there's like hashtag on social media, sober, curious people were dabbling in the sober, curious lifestyle, whether or not that's going to survive a pandemic.
So
thank you. they found something. It may not be alcohol, but So you pitched it in that way and then it was more relevant to social media, you know? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Incredible, incredible ways to think and I love that you're talking about all these points because it definitely resonates with the way that we teach as well. in terms of it's more than their product, It's more than what they're selling. It's how it makes the customer feel. And you're talking about it from a different perspective too, of like, How do we connect? And I think in the way that the economy is like the downturn of the economy. And a lot of people are talking about that. this is the way, like you said, ROI, it's not Instagram and TikTok, but what you're learning, what they [00:19:00] learn inside of your program can be used in that way.
So instead you could do a TikTok about hashtag, sober curious there could be a whole TikTok on it. And it just brings that clarity. Where you're saying, okay, I'm pitching about this, but this also makes sense to my customers and makes it relevant. I'm not saying bye bye bye, but I'm making it super relevant for them.
Or it could be simply contrary. And we're not into this. sober, curious, ultimate fail. I love that. That's actually one of the topics. So I did a podcast episode on top 10 angles. Anyone can pitch. And a contrarian one is actually one that's really popular. and it doesn't mean that you're saying like the earth is flat.
It could just be like, here's what the other gurus are saying. and another thing you just made me think of another angle. I had someone who, makes like a lipstick, you know, it's, it's lipstick. It's organic. she DM me and she's like, you know, I need to figure out like what to write about.
My inclination is to write something about clean beauty. And I said, okay, that's great. those get featured. We have tons of those in the starter pack, but I noticed that you're Asian American. And I noticed that you used to work in Hollywood as a makeup artist. And that was right around the time during the shootings.
Remember like when 20 like Thai massage therapists got shot and it was like this whole like Asian. [00:20:00] So I was like, what if you pitch something around the stereotypes around, Asian identity and how Asians are portrayed in Hollywood, because you used to do the makeup and she pitched it and Cosmo wanted her To write from her experience, an op ed about how the romanticization about Asians is literally killing us, Because the fact that we're not properly represented, and that was on the front page of cosmo. com. Wow. That's the front page. And she like natural lipstick but then it turns her into this face that represents the brand that stands for something.
Yeah. Yeah. She had a unique point of view as an Asian American artist and seeing that there's literally like zero Asian people in Hollywood. And if they are, they're very stereotypical. Right. So yeah. I love that. It's incredible. So good. I mean, we keep talking for hours and hours about all these ideas. so I guess I just want to, talk about a why it's important to determine the problem to help their customers overcome it.
Right. So, we're getting into this and we're kind of talking about that. Right. And so people are thinking, okay, well, what's my story, right. because I think, again, what we're talking about here is. The idea of yes, we can pitch PR. This is a way to blow up your business in the way of like SEO searchability.
We've had some of our [00:21:00] students use PR to get on the today show and good morning America and have some really great moments in time, Those don't last forever, but in that moment, it shifted them to another level. so, but again, With this idea of the economy shifting and connecting deeply with customers, is there any other tips that you can give anyone or how they can use your method for that?
Well, I think for me, pitching yourself onto one podcast, that's six pieces of content. That's reels, audiograms, graphics, quotes, Instagram, YouTube. I encourage every single person who's listening to pitch themselves onto a podcast, whether it's large, small, whether it's not about your product, whether it's about you being, from wherever there's going to be a podcast, not ours though.
But this one is so good. Think about that.
There'll be practice. You know, and also for speaking, you know, I use a CPR method to get a very early stage startup to speak at South by Southwest. And, you know, that was like, you know, back in 2018, they went on to raise like 500 million, but it's really about shifting your mindset from.
What's the product spec? What's the ROI? Sell, sell, sell. then stepping back and positioning yourself as a leader and looking at the trends, the insights, [00:22:00] what's happening in the market, I worked with someone who was like 22 years old. She was making gold bracelets and.
Etsy kicked her off the platform because they had very aggressive policies about like how you have to provide free shipping. And she's like, well, wait a minute. Etsy is all about small business. So I found this to be very contradictory. So she ended up tweeting like a journalist who like covered like e commerce and they actually had an interview, like write it in there because she basically was you know, here's Etsy saying that I'm not saying like Etsy is bad or good, but I'm just saying Etsy and Amazon's not going to come after you if you like on the coattails of something bigger that's happening.
Right. Which, you know, and that was a big conversation in our community as well was Etsy. And, you know, my mom's an Etsy seller and she's always like, they're on the customer side more than the maker side, So I get it, but then it's like, but aren't you on our side?
So that's such a great pitch as well. So how, if somebody wanted get into this? Like, how do we learn about, you know, what our CPR method, how could they, how could they work with you? Well, I'm on all the things. So Gloria Chow at CHOU PR, and I have a podcast called small business PR.
I interviewed journalists, gift guide editors, all that. but if you want to watch the actual method, the CPR [00:23:00] method. In text form, word for word, I revealed two pitches on my masterclass. You can watch that today at Gloria chow, pr. com slash masterclass. Amazing. Awesome. well it's been amazing, Gloria, you did such a phenomenal job. I don't know how anybody can't listen to this and get like a million tips. You just gave so many and. Even I feel like just lit up by all these ideas. So, Thank you so much for being on and being so generous with all of your advice. And, we're also going to be on your podcast. So everyone make sure to subscribe to both podcasts, take a listen. There's going to be so much goodness and check out that, incredible webinar. That's going to teach you some more.
So thanks again. Thank you. One more thing, a gift to your followers. If they DM me the word product boss, I will give them a free podcast pitching template. It's been featured on business insider because I really do believe that no matter what you do, what you make, you deserve to tell your story. So DM me the word product boss.
I will give you the pitch template. That's gotten me onto so many podcasts. And so you can do it too. So smart. Thank you. Thanks, Lauria.