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Pippa Goulden (00:44)
Hello and welcome back to PR Made Simple. Right, today we are going to look at how you can strategically use PR opportunities within your business to amplify what you're doing. And I'm gonna talk about my own experience of what I've done with some really strategic PR that I've generated for myself and then what I'm seeing with the founders that I work with through my one-to-one, through my DIY PR membership. Because most people think PR is about just getting a bit of

press coverage here and there, or collecting placements, getting your name in a magazine, and then being able to use it on your website, your As Seen Ins. And don't get me wrong, they are incredibly important for your business. Those As Seen Ins really help to build trust when people visit your websites. It's why founders use them in their social media profiles. They're all over LinkedIn. But the founders that I see getting the best results from their PR are doing

something a bit different, or maybe not just different, but they are thinking about it more strategically, they're not just getting the opportunity, they are using it over and over and over again. And that's what I want to talk about today, because this is the beauty about the PR opportunities that you're getting for your business. Because they're not just one and done, that's over, like an Instagram post where it's gone and no one's ever gonna see it after 24 hours.

that actually things that you can be using over and over again within your business. And there's two things that I want to use as examples within my own business, how I've done this. One's a speaking opportunity and one is a really strategic bit of press that I did. I want to show you how I identified the right opportunities, how I pitched for them, and then how I have been using them within my business ever since and how they are really helping me from a trust

credibility and an authority piece. I'm going to walk you through how you can do the same thing because this is a process right? It's not luck and it's not a difficult process. I promise you when you know how to do this stuff it actually becomes a lot easier and I think one of the barriers to people doing this for their own business is that they think that it's overwhelming that there's like some secret sauce that they don't know about and that you know they've got to be let into a

an exclusive club to find out about, or you need to pay a PR thousands of pounds to do it for you. Well, actually, it's really straightforward.

And if you've been around here a while, you've probably heard me talk about the Top Draw talk that I did last January, 2025, which has really changed the trajectory of my business. There's absolutely no doubt about that. It's an industry event and I had put off pitching myself for that opportunity for three and a half years. I had a very loud voice in my head saying, who do you think you are? They're never gonna

put you on the stage or there's lots of other PR people, why wouldn't they choose them? Or also a little bit of, they'll find me. When they're ready for me, they'll find me. Anyway, I've done other episodes about how I did a lot of mindset work in the lead up to this and I really changed my approach and how I was putting myself out there. And very much this has come from...

the mantra that I've developed, which is on the other side of fear is joy, because I knew that I had the potential to do that talk. I knew that I had some interesting things to say to that audience. And I knew it would be a really good thing for my business. So I put on my big girl pants and I got it. I did the talk. And that is where a lot of people stop. They do the thing, they post about it, they move on. They might make some connections from.

the event or that kind of thing. But I didn't move on from it. I mean, I'm still talking about it now over a year later. So, you know, maybe it is time to move on. But that talk has done so many things for me. It's become a piece of storytelling that I can use in my business over and over again. It's become amazing content for me. The stage footage.

the signals authority, every time someone new comes into my world, I use that on my socials, I've used it on my website, I've used it on my Facebook ads, I've talked about it in specific podcast episodes, it's giving me content over and over again.

because it's still working really hard for me. And it's given me a template to teach other people how to do their own PR. And it's also become the foundations for some of the stuff that I teach within Get No, my group sprint and my membership and with my accelerators. One talk identified really intentionally, like I knew that that was going to be a game changer for me. I then pitched it strategically and I then amplified it.

hugely throughout my business. And that is PR that actually moves the needle. It's when you're actually incorporating it into the bones of your business, rather than just saying, look, I got featured here and everyone moves on from that. There's so many different ways that you can amplify that in your business. Another piece that I wanna mention here, because it's slightly different, it's not a speaking gig, it's a press opportunity.

and it shows something really important about how to choose strategically what you're pitching for. So in December, November, December, I'd been thinking ahead to 2026 and I knew that I really wanted to talk a lot more about authority over visibility. I could see that visibility had become a bit of a buzzword. It was being used by everybody without.

really giving a huge amount of context or looking at what that visibility was actually going to lead to. And I knew that actually authority was something that I wanted to talk about a lot more in terms of how that's actually going to help you in your business, to grow your business a lot more than just showing up and being visible in inverted commas.

And so I started thinking really strategically about how I could be having this conversation about authority over visibility. I did some podcast episodes about it, so I did some owned content. I wrote about it on my blog. I've written emails about it. I've written about it on my, and I talked about it a lot on my social media. But I knew that having a piece of earned.

press coverage around it in a really reputable publication would really give my argument gravitas. And so this is what I did. I pitched with really strategic intention. I knew startups would give me that credibility piece. I knew that startups often are, they're often interested in content from guest contributors. I'd done something for them maybe a couple of years before about PR and raising your profile.

So I knew that there was an appetite for it. I've also worked with lots of my clients who've got press coverage on there. So I knew that there was a strategic opportunity there for me. And I very specifically pitched that article that I wrote to them. Sometimes if I'm pitching myself as an expert who can comment on general PR opportunities or building profile, I will pitch a more general.

email to the editor showing them that this is what I know about and these are the different areas that I could cover if they're of interest for you. But for this startup piece I was very specific about pitching this authority visibility piece and I will link it in the show notes so you can have a look at it because I knew that having that piece of coverage of press coverage that I'd written

was going to really help me from a strategic perspective when it then came to me talking about it. And for example, I emailed my mailing list last week and I linked to that piece when I was talking about my authority workshop, which is taking place next week. So I really knew that I wanted this to be part of my core positioning for 2026. And that is exactly what I pitched for the startups piece. There was no like secret sauce.

really very short but sweet email that pitched this idea of this is what I'm seeing, would you like me to write a piece for you about authority versus visibility? And it landed and I now have that published piece that gives me that credibility and the proof that I know what I'm talking about on this topic. It backs up everything I say about authority in my content, my emails, my sales conversations. I can link that out over and over again if I want to.

It gives me a platform to own that positioning before I'd even really like launch the authority workshop that I'm doing next week, for example. It means that it's become a core part of my strategic growth strategy really within my business. And it's still being referenced now. We're in March and I wrote that piece back in December and I'm still using it now within my business.

And that's the bit that people often miss. It's not just about getting the piece published. It's about then being strategic about what you want to get published. One that serves where you're going. One that serves you strategically with your business objectives and the topics and the areas of your thought leadership. I know lots of people don't like that word, but you know, that's what it is. It's showing that you know what you're talking about in subjects that are going to help you to grow strategically with this messaging.

with this authority piece. So those are two pieces that I've done really strategically in the business. And I wanna talk to you about the actual process because it's not about me, it's about how you identify with your own version of this. So the step one, and this is what we do in all the areas of the PR set is getting clear on what you want to get known for. So before your...

identifying that single opportunity, you really need to know what you want to get known for and that positioning work is so important. It's something that often founders, whether they are five, six or seven figure founders, often haven't got that positioning piece nailed. And the problem is if you haven't got that positioning piece nailed, it's really hard for you to know what you want to get known for. And so you avoid pitching yourself up.

opportunities or people ask you, I've had this lots of times where people say to me, yeah I've been asked to do podcasts but I don't really know what I want to talk about on those podcasts because there's just so many different things that I can talk about. So I want you to really think about those areas that you can own. For me it was this authority piece over visibility, for you it might be something very specific to your expertise, your method, your way of doing things, your point of view and if you're not clear on that

then I want you to really focus on that being the first thing that you fix because without it, you'll be pitching randomly.

be no strategy there and you'll be wondering why nothing's sticking.

The next step is identifying the right opportunities. And again, this is where people go wrong. They either go for everything and anything. They're just desperate to get a bit of press coverage or they freeze because they don't know where to start. And the question to ask is, where does my ideal client already go?

not where I think they should be, where are they, what podcasts are they listening to, what publications are they reading, what stages, what industry stages are they interested in, and that's where you want to be. But remember, it might not actually be that they are picking up an issue of that magazine and reading it, but the credibility is there. So it's great if you get read about, and that has happened to me before people have read something that I've written and then they've come to me. Absolutely, we want that.

but also if you're featured in the Times or Red Magazine or wherever your audience thinks, that's impressive, then that is doing that credibility job for you. And you can then maximize the content and then the things that you've talked about in that article or on that stage or on that podcast through all of your owned content. So for the top drawer talk that I did, my clients are in that world. My clients knew

that that was an impressive stage to be on. It connected me to other people who were connected to that event. For startups, my clients are founders who read that kind of content. Both were really intentional choices, not random submissions. so therefore I'm not wasting my time on those opportunities. And then I really want you to think about your pitch and it's pitching with a specific angle. It's not just your credentials here. So...

It's not just here I am, this is what I do. It's what is in it for their audience. That is always what we wanna be thinking about when we're pitching. It's what does the end reader want to read about or podcast listener want to hear about or person attending an event want to hear someone talk about on a stage. Always move it to what they want to hear or listen or read about. And often your pitch will need an angle.

So something timely, an interesting take on something that's going on within your industry. The startups piece worked really well because authority versus visibility is genuinely something useful and it was different to what lots of people talk about. The TopDraw talk worked really well because I had something very specific and relevant to say to that room about accessing PR and how they could use PR to grow their business.

So lead with that idea and back it up with your credibility, keep the pitches short, and then, you know what I'm gonna say next, don't you? You need to send the fucking emails, right? It's not about overthinking it and worrying about it and spending hours and hours and hours on these pitches and overthinking it and leaving it in your drafts. It's about getting on and sending those emails. And then the last piece of this puzzle is the amplification.

So once you get those opportunities, use them. Don't just post about it once and move on. Think about how does this become a piece of content that I can reference through my socials, through my emails, through my podcasts, whatever platforms you've got. How can you use it within your business in a way that doesn't get, you know, over the top and fatigued, but you can be using that ongoing. It's an evergreen piece of content for you. How do you help it? How does it help you with your positioning?

across your socials, across your emails, across your sales conversations. Can it lead to other opportunities as well? Speaking gigs lead to podcast invitations, which lead to press features. They compound. I promise you, once you've done one of these things, you will find that there are more, it opens the doors for more opportunities for you. And how does it demonstrate my authority to someone who's just found me for the first time? Think about that authority gap. Think about, this was last week's episode, if you need to catch up on it.

Think about the process of people coming into your world, discovering you and wanting to know more about your approach and how do they then find you? And are those things, are these pieces of authority showing up? Are you making it easy for them to build that trust, to do that deep dive, to understand your approach? Because that is where this work,

works so hard for you in terms of building your authority, building that trust quickly and building that credibility. And this is what I mean when I say PR is more than just press. It's more than just a talk. It's more than just a podcast interview. It's that body of work that builds your authority over time. So being really strategic with those well-chosen, well-used opportunities is worth 10 random places that you've never done anything with.

So if you're listening to this and thinking, right, but what's my version of this? That is exactly what we're doing next week in my authority workshop. Come along, it's a two-part workshop and we're gonna deep dive on exactly this. What you wanna get known for, what are the right opportunities for you, what is that authority ecosystem that you ideally want to have within your business so that you are closing that authority gap, you're closing that trust gap, you're allowing people

to get to know you in a way that actually lands. So come along, all the information, I'll put the link in the show notes. You will leave with a plan and a way to build your own authority ecosystem. And that is not getting more credentials and more certificates. It's using what you have already in your business. Next week, I'll put the link in the show notes. And if you miss this, if you're listening to this later, you will also be able to...

watch it as a replay so don't worry about that if you're listening to this late but if this work if you know that this is work that you want to do then I would really recommend starting with this authority workshop because I think it's going to really help you it's only 47 pounds plus fat it's a two-part workshop you are getting a lot of my brain for it it's going to be amazing even if I do say so myself and don't forget you can find me at the prset.com I am Pippa the PR set on Instagram I'm Pippa Goulden on LinkedIn

and I will see you again soon for another episode of PR Made Simple.