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Pippa Goulden (00:44)
Hello and welcome back to another episode of PR Made Simple. Now today's episode might sound a bit counterintuitive but we're going to be deep diving into why I tell my clients, my DIY PR members, people in my world

Pippa Goulden (01:00)
ignore some of the opportunities that come their way.

Pippa Goulden (01:03)
And this...

episode has come from a conversation that I had with a brilliant founder recently who had done PR, paid lots of money to a PR agency to do some PR for her. And the PR that they got for her was never going to work for her business. It was unrelated to her mission and what she was doing.

It's story told, but it told stories about things that were totally not relevant for her and what she was about. It got her in publications that weren't going to get her in front of her target audience and weren't going to do anything for building credibility and trust and that authority ecosystem. And the problem is that a lot of people, when they're focusing on PR, just focus on press. And then they get these targets that they want to get a number of press

coverage for you and it just ends up being really futile. It takes up time, it doesn't do anything for you and your business and really frustratingly from my perspective, it makes you think that PR doesn't work for you when actually PR is doing a lot for you already probably within your business without you even realizing. So I'm gonna deep dive into this today. I'm gonna help you understand

why more PR is not necessarily better PR, why not all PR is good PR, and what things you should be looking for when it comes to your PR that's actually going to shift the dial for you. Because I really want you to ignore the wrong things that aren't gonna work for you and get laser focused on the right ones that are actually going to make a difference to you and your business. They're gonna help you get known for what you do and they're gonna help you to grow.

and scale your business. I see this all the time, brilliant established founders who are saying yes to everything or a PR is going out and doing it for them. And they then wonder why that's not moving the needle. But the people in my world, when we really look at it, when we look at it really strategically, the founders that I work with,

or selective, they go after the right specific opportunities and their authority is building faster than almost anyone else because they're doing it really selectively. So let's look at this, let's look at which camp you're in and hopefully I'll bring you over to my camp too. So the first thing is the spray and pray trap. That is the version of PR that most PRs default to.

And most people default to if they start doing their own PR as well. And I completely understand why, because it feels productive. You pitch to as many people as possible. You say yes to everything that you can possibly do. You go after press coverage in any publication that will have you. You accept the right speaking opportunities. You accept every speaking opportunities, regardless of who's in the room. And sometimes it works. You get the press coverage. You do the podcast. You speak at the event.

I've seen people as well paying for articles and magazines thinking that they're going to transform their business, but actually nothing changes because the press coverage doesn't reach your target audience. It's not getting to your people. And even if they're not reading the publications, they're not influenced by those publications that you're getting in. Maybe the podcast audience hasn't been right for you. The room wasn't full of your ideal clients. So,

This is exhausting, this way of doing things, because you're putting an enormous effort in for very little return. And the problem isn't that you're doing the PR wrong, but it's that you're doing the PR without a strategy, without looking at your business objectives and your target audience and marrying those two things together. So if you have been around a while, you will have heard me talk about this

but it's because it's so important. Your business objectives plus your target audience equals your PR plan. And that is the framework I come back to with every single one-to-one client that I work with before we start any PR activity. We do this a lot in the membership as well. But it's just two simple things to think about. And it's really getting to the bones of why you're doing the PR in the first place, not because it's like a marketing add-on.

because it's getting to the core of what you're trying to achieve in your business. So I want you to have a think, what are your business objectives right now? What are you trying to do? Is it attract more high-ticket clients? Is it selling or launching new collections? Is it building your reputation in a specific industry? Is it looking for positioning you for building speaking fees, for example, looking at raising investment? Whatever your objectives are, they're going to be leading you down.

to different PR paths, different PR strategies. And the answer to that question changes everything about what PR you should be doing and where you should be focusing. And then that second piece is looking at who your target audience is, not just female founders or small business owners or people who go to the gym. Specifically, where are they hanging out? What are they reading? What are they influenced by? Even if they're not reading those magazines again.

It might be that they are still influenced by the brands. What podcasts are they listening to? What events do they go to? What communities are they part of? I've worked with founders in my one-to-one accelerator where we actually don't really focus on press at all because it's not the right thing for their business objectives and for their target audience. So remember that those two things together are gonna help you develop your strategic PR plan that's gonna get you talked about by the right people in the right place.

And this is why this is really important. So say your target audience is senior HR directors in financial services. You you need to look at what is going to move the needle for you and get you in front of those places. What...

You know, being quoted in People Management magazine or speaking at an HR conference, they are going to shift the dial for you in a way that getting in the sun definitely isn't going to. The right opportunity is the one that puts you in front of your people and moves your business forward. You know, even if the other stuff is really flattering, it can be a real distraction for you.

So I guess the key thing is understanding how to assess the opportunities before you say yes. Like how do you actually filter what is right for you and your business? These are some things that I want you to ask yourself. Does this reach my target audience? Not a vaguely similar audience, your actual target audience. And like I said, it doesn't matter if they're actually reading it. It matters if they're aligned to the publication. That's the most important thing. Or are they listening to those podcasts?

Are those podcasts on their radar? It's going to impress them that you've been featured. It's going to do that trust and credibility piece for you. Make sure you're doing your research before you're pitching yourself. Listen to the podcast, know the publications that you're reading to, look at who's commenting and engaging. Do they feel like your people? The next thing I want you to ask yourself is does it serve your business objectives right now?

And this one changes depending on where you are in your business. So if you're trying to build credibility in a new space, a smaller but highly targeted opportunity might serve you better than a bigger but less relevant one. Small niche podcasts are really powerful and absolutely, I often talk to people who want to get on the big shiny, sexy ones, but often it's the smaller niche podcast, for example, that can actually really shift the dial for you and your business.

You you want to be making sure you're getting in front of the right people in the right audiences. Another thing to ask yourself is, is this the right moment for me to be in this space? Sometimes, usually it is the right timing for you, but is it worth you holding onto that opportunity for further down the line, depending on where you are in your business, if you're in launch phases, that kind of thing, or...

Is it that you are looking at building that internal authority, that external authority and that authority ecosystem and that is where you want to be looking at the pieces that are going to build long-term trust and credibility. It's okay to note that it might be something that you come back to later on if it doesn't quite fit with where you are in your business at the moment.

Another thing to look at is what's the effort versus the return. So every PR opportunity is going to have a cost for you, your time, your energy, your preparation. A keynote speech requires lots of prep, for example, a podcast, guest appearance, maybe less so. Neither is inherently better, but you do need to look at where you are in your business and if you have the capacity to be doing those things.

And a really good litmus test for doing this is to ask yourself if you would be proud to put that on your media as seen in page. That's a good gut check for you. If it's like a national publication that feels a bit off brand for you, then it probably isn't really worth your while doing it. But you know, some the smaller niche podcasts, for example, that are really gonna help you from an elevated credibility perspective, from an alignment perspective, that kind of thing. If it's reaching the right people, if it feels aligned,

If it feels like a yes for the right reasons, not just because someone asked, then that is a really good test for you. I have done things where I thought, yeah, I'll do these, I'll give it a go, and you know, it's not been the right thing at all. But actually, sometimes it is good to try. Other times you think, I really should have listened to myself. So you know, the more you do this work, the more you'll be able to trust that gut instinct that tells you whether things are gonna be worth your while or not.

And if you can't say yes to at least three of those things, then it's probably not the right opportunity for you right now. And that might not be no forever, but really look at those factors to consider.

So let's look at the opportunities that are worth saying yes

What does the right opportunity look like? It's specific to your audience. You know exactly that it's gonna reach your people. It aligns with what you're building right now. It's not a distraction from your strategy. It is your strategy. And that's why having a strategy is so important, because actually it helps you to focus. It saves you time. It stops you going after the things that aren't going to shift the dial for you.

Does it open the next door for you? The best PR opportunities don't just deliver value in the moment, they lead somewhere. So a podcast appearance could lead to speaking invitations, a press feature leads to you being on the journalist radar, speaking gigs lead to brand collaborations. Think about where the opportunities might take you, not just what it delivers today. Now sometimes that's gonna be really difficult and it's gonna be impossible for you to predict. So.

I often talk about one of my DOIPR members who got featured in the Daily Telegraph, which was read about by the producers of BBC Morning Live. And she ended up having a whole feature on the TV about her and her business. So you sometimes don't know where those magical things are going to appear, but putting yourself in the right places strategically is much more likely to lead to those opportunities than going back to that kind of spray and pray approach that we talked about at the beginning. So.

Hopefully from this you can see that the founders getting the best results from their PR aren't the ones doing the most, they're the ones doing it the most strategically. They know their audience, they know their objectives, and they say a confident no to things that don't serve them, but they are also proactively pitching themselves for the things that they know that will. And that is the difference, isn't it? It's not about sitting waiting for it to happen to you.

It's about proactively going after the things that are going to shift the dial for you and your business. And that happened to me when I pitched myself for the speaking opportunity 18 months ago that I knew was really gonna help shift my profile, raise my profile, get me known for what I do. That was me proactively going after it and stop waiting for them to find me, to discover me, because that just doesn't happen.

So that's what I really want you to think about. And if you want help figuring out what those things are for you, if you want my help getting to the bones of you and your business, understanding what is going to shift the dial for you, then that is exactly what I'm here for. I have space in my one-to-one accelerator now for the end of April, May. And obviously in my DIY PR membership, you can come in and use.

the resources that we have in there to help you do this yourself.

So I'm here to help you figure out that is exactly what the PR set is here to help you do. The key thing is taking action. And yeah, you might get it wrong along the way, but knowing that you have a strategy in place, knowing that you have a plan, knowing that you know what you want to get known for, knowing that you've done that work on your positioning as well is going to really help you with this work. So come on in and see what it's all about

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