52. How to make 2026 the year you get known: Your new year pep talk on making it happen this year Artwork

PR Made Simple

PR Made Simple is your ultimate guide to understanding how PR works for your business, to build your brand, give you credibility, drive sales and get known for what you do.

PR expert Pippa Goulden has over 20 years experience working with big brands, start-ups, entrepreneurs and founders as well as teaching hundreds of SMEs how to DIY their PR.

In this podcast she'll be demystifying PR, cutting through the BS and confusion and showing you how you can use it to get results that actually work to drive your business forward.

Whether you're DIY-ing it, want 1-2-1 support or are looking to outsource your PR, this podcast is for founders, entrepreneurs, experts and in-house teams to give you actionable advice that you can apply to your business and get results that work to grow your business.

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52. How to make 2026 the year you get known: Your new year pep talk on making it happen this year

January 14, 2026 • Pippa Goulden

0:00 | 11:43

You've set the intentions. But you're fed up watching others get the podcast interviews, speaking gigs, and press features while your pitches sit in drafts.

Small business PR strategist Pippa Goulden shows you how to actually make it happen in 2026.

Three steps to get known:

Make the commitment - this is core business strategy, not a nice-to-have
Get clear on THE thing you want to be known for (not everything - THE thing)
Take messy action - send the email, make the pitch, take the first step

In 2026, authority and trust are everything. PR gives you third-party validation that builds credibility faster than any social media post.

Stop waiting to be asked. Make 2026 your Get Known year.

Let's work together:

- Buy your ticket for Get Known Live on 16th November here (before they sell out!)

- Work with me 1-2-1 in Authority: The Impact Accelerator which is a hyper-focused, action-taking, results focused programme that's all about getting you great PR results for your business, with me supporting you all the way.

- Join my DIY PR membership using the code POD50 to get 50% off your first month - this will give you all the knowledge and confidence you need to get results for yourself. Have a look here

Follow me on instagram @pippa_the.pr.set or LinkedIn (@Pippa Goulden) for more tips and insight into the world of PR

Find out more at www.theprset.com

Book a discovery call with me to chat more here

This transcript is generated by AI - apologies for any mistakes

Pippa Goulden (00:00)
Hello and welcome back to PR Made Simple. Now this is my first solo episode of 2026, so I am gonna use this as a bit of a pep talk because you're here because you want to get known for what you do and this is all about the ways and steps you can take to make 2026 the year you get known. And I know it's the beginning of the year, you've probably made some intentions and you've told yourself that this is the year.

This is the year you're going to step up and get known for what you do. And you've done that probably because you're feeling a bit frustrated. 2025, a lot of us felt incredibly frustrated with the algorithm, social media not working in the way that it used to. I can imagine that you're a bit fed up of sitting on the sidelines, watching other people who quite frankly aren't as good as you, getting the podcast interviews, getting the speaking gigs, being featured in the press.

You're tired of overthinking. You're tired of not sending those emails. You are done waiting for things to happen to you. You know what you should be doing. You're just not doing it. And you're done waiting for it to happen to you because you know now it's time to make it happen. And I totally get it. And I get it for two reasons. The first reason is that I work with hundreds of female founders and have done over the five years of the PR set.

And I see this time and time again, people overthinking, putting it off, procrastinating, worrying what people will think about them, worrying that journalists will think that they're stupid for pitching to them, or worrying that other people will kind of think that they're getting too big for their boots. And the female founders I work with have actually usually overcome those things because they've decided that they want to go on and they want to send that fucking email. But I also get this because

18 months ago, this was me. I was walking the walk and I was teaching people how to do their own PR, but I wasn't talking the talk. I was helping other people to get known, but I was holding myself back in various different ways. And I was doing lots of PR, was doing workshops in other people's groups, I was getting press, but there were some big things that I really wanted to do that I had my eye on and I just wasn't putting myself forward for those.

And it was about October, 2024 that I really did make a very conscious decision that I was going to get known for what I did. So I stopped putting off sending those emails. There was a specific PR opportunity that I'd wanted to do for three and a half years. I stopped putting it off. stopped waiting for them to find me and I sent the fucking email and very quickly I got that opportunity.

And last January, January, 2025, I did the speaking opportunity at a trade show called Top Draw. And I really believe that that shifted things within my business and has changed the momentum of my entire business. That shift has led to more income, to more aligned clients, to more people receiving the impact of my work and then more PR opportunities coming my way. And it wasn't necessarily that individual

specific speaking opportunity. It was that shift in the way that I approached my PR, in the way that I showed up in my business, the energy that I brought into it. I was done sitting on the sidelines and watching other people do that when I knew that I could do it myself. And just yesterday, it's a bit of a seminal moment really, because yesterday I went back to TopDraw and I delivered a workshop for attendees.

So it feels like a bit of a moment to be recording this podcast for you today because I want you to use this as an example. If I can do it, if I can stop the overthinking, the procrastination, the worrying, what people will think, then you can absolutely do it too. And this is why I believe it matters more than ever in 2026. I have done a whole podcast episode about this, so I won't go into too much detail, but...

PR is really having a moment right now and I am excited for this because in a world where it's very noisy on social media, AI is writing everyone's captions, where your audience is bombarded with short eight second content every single second, where we're living in a trust recession, where people are looking for depth and more insight into the people that they want to work with and the people that they want to spend money with.

in a world where AI is actually changing the way that you're found and that search delivers you to those people, authority and trust are everything. And you can't build real authority just by telling your audience you're good. They need to see other people saying it too. So when you're featured in a publication, when you're interviewed on a podcast, when you're speaking on a stage, that's third party validation. And that is somebody else saying,

this person knows their stuff. That is going to build trust much more quickly. It's going to give you that authority. It's going to give you that credibility. It's also going to get you in front of different people, in front of new people and build trust for your business in a way that no amount of Instagram posts ever will. So doing this work, getting known, building your profile, securing those features and opportunities, it's not vanity work, this work. It is strategic positioning.

that is going to be part of your core growth strategy for 2026. Your ideal clients and customers are looking for proof that you are the expert and PR gives them that proof. So here are three things I want you to do if you want to step up and get known in 2026. Number one is make the commitment. And I mean, you need to commit to this, not as a tick box on your to-do list that you get to when you have time or...

that moves into the next week or the next month because you haven't quite got to it. Like I said, this needs to be part of your core business growth strategy. It's non-negotiable. Like I said, doing this work isn't vanity. It's not ego. It's strategic positioning that's gonna bring in better clients, more opportunities, and grow your business in a way that compounds. And I know this firsthand because this is what happened to me in 2025, and this is what I want for you in 2026.

So whether you need to do that mindset work, whether you need to get clear on why you're doing this, whether you need to start adding it into your diary, whatever actions you need to take to get this part of your day-to-day, your week-to-week, commit to it properly and know that this is the year that you're going to get known. the second thing I'd love you to do is to really get clear on what you want to get known for.

This is key to being able to move forward and pitch yourself. You can't be everything to everyone. You need to know the thing that you want to be known for. You need to know what the conversations are that you want to talk about. It doesn't need to be all your services. It doesn't need to be everything you've ever done in your business. But what is the specific thing that you want to get known for? And this is something that I see time and time again in my Get Known six-week sprint, which is launching now. It's launched. starting in February.

This is the thing that when you're crystal clear on, it allows you to drive your business forward. Those pictures write themselves, the opportunities become obvious and you stop second guessing every single thing you put out there. I've seen this with my Get Known cohort. The quick wins that they get once they've done this piece of work, they've solved this piece of the puzzle, they've really spent time stepping back and thinking about the things that they want to get known for.

That is what makes the difference to you being able to then pitch yourself. I was speaking to a founder the other day. She's got a brilliant business and she said she'd been approached for some podcast interviews and she hadn't done them because she wasn't really sure what she wanted to talk about. She's missing out on some amazing opportunities for her business there. If you're clear, if you have clarity on these things, those conversations are actually really easy to have.

And the number three, the third thing is just get started. Messy action is absolutely fine. Don't wait for it to be perfect. It's never gonna be perfect. Do not wait until you feel ready because that time won't come. Don't wait until you've crafted the perfect pitch. Just get started and maybe start small. Start with your network. Reach out to somebody you already know to do a collaboration. That could be a Q &A on a newsletter or a simple Instagram Live.

Maybe it is actually putting on those big girl pants and pitching that idea to that journalist, that email, that idea that you've been sitting on for six months. Maybe it's putting yourself forward for that speaking opportunity you've been watching from the sidelines that you've always wanted to do. Hello, it works. Messy action beats perfect planning every single time. So I want you to send the fucking email. I want you to make the ask. I want you to take that first step.

And 2026 can absolutely be the year that you get known for what you do, but it's only going to happen if you take that action and actually do something different. So make the commitment, get clear on your thing and take messy action. And if you want support doing this work, the doors for Get Known are now open. Get Known is my six week sprint where we work through the Get Known framework together. That's position, prepare, pick...

promote and you have that accountability so you actually send the pictures instead of leaving them there in your drafts you get clear on what you want to get known for you get clear on the ways that you can pitch yourself you get clear on who to be pitching to and how to pitch yourself you get clear on all the PR routes that actually going to work for your business objectives and your target audience and most importantly you start sending the fucking emails okay

It's six weeks sprint. We do have a meet the media session. You have me in the community supporting you and helping you to do this work. And I have so many case studies of female founders who have done get known, who have got insane results, whether it's clients from two articles or being so clear in the positioning of their business that they've then gone on to get.

articles and podcast interviews and they've launched their own podcast or another one who got a six page feature in a magazine and was interviewed on Sophie Ellis Bexter's podcast. You know, this actually works. So if you want to come and join us, places are available. The early bird price is available until the 26th of January. Jump in now, come and join us. Places are limited and we kick off the week commencing the 9th of February.

And if you want any more information, it is all in the show notes or DM me, find me at Pippa the PR Set on Instagram or Pippa Gordon on LinkedIn. And you can find out more at theprset.com. Let's make 2026 the year that you are going to get known for what you do. And I will see you again soon for another episode of PR Made Simple.