Please note this transcript was generated by AI - apologies for any mistakes:

Pippa Goulden (00:43)
Hello and welcome back to another episode of PR Made Simple. Right, today I'm talking about something that I see everywhere, whether it's in business groups I'm in, online conversations that I'm seeing, whether it's in my DIY PR membership, my one-to-one accelerators, my get-known cohort. This is a common theme with female founders. basically thinking that they aren't

expert enough to be doing this work. So I'll be speaking to brilliant business owners, people who've built successful companies, who have great results, who know their stuff inside out. And they know, they get it, they know they need to build authority, they know that visibility isn't enough. That piece of the puzzle has landed, but they doubt themselves. They doubt whether they're qualified enough.

They worry what people will think. They worry that people they're pitching to will question their credentials. And this is what I want to say to you if you've ever had that thought. You are already enough. You are qualified as you are. That is not the problem. The one thing that's actually stopping from you from being seen as the expert, it's not your credentials, it's not your CV.

It's not your experience. It's that you haven't decided that you are the authority. So I'm gonna talk about the internal shift that I think has to happen before any external PR strategy will work. And hopefully this will give you a bit of fire in your belly to realize that actually you have everything inside you. You have everything that you need to be doing this work.

You shouldn't be waiting for something else to happen. You don't need to get more qualifications, more experience, more clients. You don't need to grow your business to X, Y, Z, because you are actually the person that the journalists, the podcasters, the gatekeepers are looking for. Back in November, I did an episode about the visibility myth, about how visibility and authority are actually two different things and why in 2026, more than ever before,

as founders, we need to be focusing on building authority through strategic PR rather than just worrying about visibility and turning up on stories and being seen. Being seen isn't enough anymore. You need to get known for what you do. And I stand by every word of that episode. I'll link it in the show notes if you wanna go back and have a listen. But here's what I've noticed since I've started having this conversation more and more about authority.

I've spoken to so many brilliant business owners who get it. They understand the concept. They know they need PR. They know they need that third party credibility. They know they want to build trust and authority, but they're not doing it. And when I dig deeper, it's never about strategy, although that is important, but it's never about not knowing how to pitch or what angles to use, because those are actually really straightforward. We can sort that out for you very quickly.

It's always about this, the second guessing. Do I really have the credentials for this? What if people think I'm being arrogant? Who am I to position myself as the expert when there are people with more experience than me or other people are doing it in different ways? Does that sound familiar? Because this is the real barrier, not the visibility, not the strategy. It's the internal permission that you are not giving yourself. You're waiting.

You're waiting to feel ready. You're waiting for some magical credential that will finally make you feel legitimate. You're waiting for someone else to give you that permission. And while you're waiting, somebody with half your experience and more balls is claiming the space that you should be occupying. And I want to talk about why this hesitation is costing you because every week that you are not positioning yourself as the authority, you're

attracting clients who see you as a peer, not as an expert, which means lower prices and more pushback. You're watching opportunities go to less qualified people who are just more willing to own their expertise. You're staying stuck in the algo loop, talking to the same audiences, getting the same results. But the thing that really frustrates me

people that need you most, your ideal clients, the ones willing to pay premium prices, the ones who are looking for an expert to work with like you right now, they can't find you because you're not positioning yourself where they're looking. You're hiding in plain sight on social media instead of being quoted in the publications they read or they're aligned with or interviewed on the podcast they listen to or speaking at the events they attend.

And it's not even whether they're hearing you directly through these things. It's the credibility that doing that work gives you that helps them to see that you are a trusted go-to, that you are an authority in your industry. And why is this happening? Because you're questioning whether you're qualified enough. And let me tell you something, you are totally ready for this work. The only thing missing is your willingness to own it.

So what actually needs to happen? You need to decide, not in an arrogant way, not in a fake it till you make it way, but in a I have done the work, I have the results, I have the expertise and it's time to own it way. This is an internal shift and honestly, it's 80, 90 % of the battle because this is what I see happen when somebody makes this decision, everything changes.

Suddenly they're not second guessing their pictures, they're not apologizing in their emails to journalists, they're not downplaying their expertise when they get on podcast interviews. They show up as the experts and people treat them like one. You see this shift happen, it is amazing to watch. And this is what we do in my one-to-one accelerator. Yes, we work on strategy, yes, we craft angles and pictures and positioning, but the real work, the transformational work,

It's helping you decide that you're the authority and then acting accordingly. Because actually, once you make that decision, the strategy becomes a lot easier. The pitching feels much more natural. The opportunities start coming to you because that shift in energy, you're putting yourself out there. You're telling the world that you are ready to do this work and it attracts those opportunities to you.

So let's have a look at what deciding you're the authority actually looks like. Cause it's all very well me just saying decide you're the authority, isn't it? But it means introducing yourself as the expert in your field, not just somebody who's doing this. Pitching yourself for opportunities without apologizing or over explaining, setting premium prices because you know your authority commands them,

Speaking with confidence about your unique way of doing things, your philosophy, your frameworks, your methods, not waiting for permission from anyone else. And this is what happens when you do the work, you get invited for the opportunities instead of having to chase them. Journalists start coming to you for quotes.

Podcasts hosts seek you out, event organizers approach you because authority attracts opportunity, but it has to start with you deciding first. So look, I could give you all the PR strategy in the world. I could teach you how to pitch, how to craft angles, how to build relationships with journalists. But if you're not doing this internal work first, if you haven't decided that you are the authority, then none of it is going to land in the way it should.

I see this all the time with journalists. come into my Meet the Media sessions and they talk about the fact that they want to hear from experts because you're actually helping them to do their job. They aren't the go-to specialist in whatever industry you're in. They need you to help them to write their features, to understand the complex research that they might be diving into or

explain in layman's terms what that means for their readers. The journalists, the podcast hosts, the PR gatekeepers are not the experts in your subject. You are, and they want to hear from you. And so that is why it's so important for you to be able to do this work, to tell yourself, to make that shift in your business from being worried about putting yourself forward for things.

from being scared of the opportunities to feeling like you have every right to step up to those because you don't need more credentials, you don't need more experience, you don't need permission, you just need to decide now that it's time for you to do it. And so here's my challenge for you this week. I want you to introduce yourself as the expert in your field to whoever you're talking to. it out loud, write it down, see how it feels. Notice the resistance.

I have Mrs. Doubtfire, she shows up all the time, but I talk to her and I put her back in the kitchen. Notice the buts, the what's, the ifs, and then do it anyway. Because the moment you decide that you are the authority is the moment that this is gonna change for you and your business. I'm gonna be doing a lot more on this over the next few weeks. I have a really exciting workshop coming up in March where we will be deep diving this and looking at how to build authority from the inside and from the outside.

So keep your eyes peeled for that. you want to talk to me about any of the work that I do to help founders do this work, then drop me a DM. You can find me on Pippa the PR set on Instagram. I'm Pippa Golden on LinkedIn and I can't wait to help you do this work because it is so,

important, it makes such a difference to so many different areas of your business. The business that you want to build is waiting for you to step up and claim it. And I know that sounds cheesy, but it's because it's true. I have had this happen to me through my business. When I stepped up to get known, to build my profile as an authority in my industry, everything changed for me and my business. And I want that for you too.

So have a think about this, start doing the work and I will see you again soon for another episode of PR Made Simple.