This transcript is generated by AI - apologies for any mistakes 

Pippa Goulden (00:43)
Hello and welcome back to another episode of PR Made Simple. Right, we're six months into 2026. I mean, if you can tell me where the year's gone so far, I'd love to know. But I thought that this was a really good point to do a bit of reflecting about PR, what I'm seeing across the board with the founders that I'm working with, within the industry, within the of the wider small business community. And so I'm doing a two-part podcast. So the first one,

This week is going to be about reflections of the last six months. And then the second part next week is going to be the looking forward episode about what to do in the next six months to step up and get known for what you do, how to incorporate PR into your core growth strategy for your business. But I thought it was really useful to talk today about what I'm seeing across the board because a lot is happening.

in respect of PR, incorporating it into your business, how important it is becoming for businesses of all sizes out there within the context of AI search and all of the kind of authority building work that PR, PR's having a moment and it's very rare that we get to say that. PR's always seen as like, well, I don't know, agency wise, it's always seen as advertising's more annoying little sister.

or a bit of an insignificant add-on for a marketing director to think about at some point. But actually what we're seeing now is a real shift in the industry about the prioritization that brands need to be having for PR

because AI is leading the show when it comes to search and you can't just gamify your SEO anymore. It's all about credibility, authority and trust. And those are the things that I, as you know, have been banging on about for a long time on this podcast, but those are the things that work so well from a PR perspective. So I'm gonna talk today about what's working out there. So...

We're six months into 2026 and I have been watching something really interesting happen across the founders that I work with, whether it's in my DIY PR membership, my get known sprint, my one-to-one accelerator, my clients, my consultancy. The ones who are thriving are not the ones who have cracked the algorithm or gone viral or built massive social followings. They're the ones who are not putting all the eggs in the social media basket.

They are building their authority in a much more strategic, intentional way. They're not just posting, crossing their fingers and hoping for the best in a way that you probably could four or five years ago. And I wanna give you some real examples of people who are doing this because obviously it's much easier to see it for real rather than me telling you the theory behind all of this. In my DIYPR membership, we've just done a pitch challenge. June has been dedicated to pitching to...

knowing who to pitch to, to getting your pitch on. And it's been amazing to watch because when the founders dedicated just a bit of time each week to actually pitching themselves, they started getting results really fairly quickly on this. one of my members got featured in the New York Post. That one feature led to a radio interview and that then led to her pitching herself for the iPaper.

And that feature in the eye paper led to her getting three discovery calls for her business. Three, from one strategic pitch that started that kind of chain of momentum that she could never have planned for that. That would never have been part of a marketing plan. And this is what happens when you stop waiting and you start pitching and you start like taking it into your own hands. in my DIY PR membership, we have a regular accountability session, which is where

you take the action, you're on a Zoom with me, with other members, and it's all about you ticking that PR off your to-do list. And it's quite amazing how many messages I will get from people who say, you know that accountability session we did yesterday? Well, actually, this is what's happened from it. Somebody reached out to some old corporate contacts that she had in the session, and she's lined up some brilliant work with one of them to go in and do in her new

business to go and do some sessions for these corporate clients. It's happening because they're taking action to move the dial for their business. And this is what happens when you stop waiting and start pitching for yourself, okay? And then there's one of my one-to-one accelerator clients. So we've been working together for about nine months now. I bloody love her, she's amazing.

we've been working really strategically on authority placement for her, really intentional coverage in the right places that's going to do the right job for her in terms of building trust and credibility with her target audience. And in the last six months, she's been featured in director magazine, people management, stylists, like lots of really key industry titles, as well as other like consumer titles that are gonna make her target audience go, well, she does know what she's talking about.

So she's doing all of the internal authority building measures too. So she's been invited to do a live podcast recording at a conference. She's been doing keynote talks, some paid at events. She is attracting high level clients and she's doing this as well by being very vocal on specific issues within her industry, sharing her opinions clearly consistently.

really leaning into that thought leadership piece, which often is part of the puzzle with this work. It's about really giving your opinions about the things that you think within your industry, the things that are gonna, sticking your head above the parapet sometimes and demonstrating genuine expertise rather than just showing up, okay? And then there's Carly, who you might have heard on the podcast a couple of episodes back. If you missed that episode, I really recommend it, because she's a really great example.

of somebody who's built a proper authority ecosystem, her podcast, her press coverage, her expert commentary, she's getting featured in really great magazine publications. And so when her ideal clients find her, they're not just seeing one Instagram account, they're seeing the full breadth of her expertise across multiple platforms and sources. And that's what make them trust her quickly and convert to clients.

And I'm seeing this again in my own business. about six months ago, I wrote an article for Startups Magazine about why authority needs to be the priority in 2026 over visibility. And I've been using that consistently in my marketing ever since. It keeps working for me really hard in my email marketing. I'll reference it in

talks and calls that I'm doing, I use it in my social content, you I've been using it over and over again. And that's the point, the PR doesn't stop working when the feature goes live. It gives you so many opportunities to then amplify it within the rest of your business to show that you know what you're talking about. And this matters now more than ever before, because this is the context that I want you to think about, right? As I've mentioned, AI search is changing everything.

More and more people are using AI tools as their starting point when they're researching experts, looking for solutions, deciding who to work with. You know, it's not just Google doing that anymore. And AI does not pull from your Instagram grid. It pulls from credible third party sources. The press features, the podcast appearances, the expert commentary, the thought leadership that other people have referenced and shared.

There was a finding recently from Muckrack that more than 95 % of cited links in AI generated responses came from non-paid sources. So earned media, the PR that you're generating represents a really significant share of that. And I want you to think about what that means, because

the world says about you and the world is mostly saying nothing about you yet, you are going to be invisible when it comes to AI search.

And the people, the founders, the brands that are incorporating this now into their search solutions are going to be the people that are ahead of the game as this continues to build and ramp up. And the founders that I work with who've been building their authority ecosystems, getting quoted, getting featured, showing up as genuine experts in their industries, they're the ones that are gonna win when it comes to AI search as it gets more dominant, not because they're paying for it.

not because they're doing more on their socials, because they're earning it, because they know what they're talking about and they are putting their heads above the parapet and they're pitching themselves, they're getting out there and they're getting featured in the right places by the right people. PR's not just having a moment because it feels good to be featured somewhere. Don't just do this work because you want to see your face in a magazine. It's having a moment because the way people search, the way people discover, the way people decide who to trust is fundamentally shifting.

And earned media is right at the center of that shift. Earned opportunities, okay? And I want you to be part of it. I want you in another six month time when we're looking back at how 2026 has gone, I want you to have started doing this work now so that you can get ahead when it really matters. And looking across everyone I've mentioned today, there's a really common thread with the people that I work with. The people I work with who are really nailing this.

None of them are doing it randomly, okay? Yeah, they might throw a bit of mud at the wall and see what sticks, absolutely, but they're not sending generic pictures to a full media list, you know? They're not trying to get anywhere. None of them are sitting there waiting for it to happen to them. They're not waiting to be discovered. They are being intentional with this. They know what they want to get known for. They know who their audience is and where they are.

they are pitching the right opportunities with the right message and they're amplifying every PR opportunity that they get so that it keeps working long after it's gone live. And that's the difference between visibility and authority. Visibility is showing up. And I talked last week in the podcast episode about passive visibility and why it's not gonna work for you. So if you feel like you are passively doing this work, you're not proactively.

jumping in, pitching yourself for opportunities, you're holding yourself back, you're waiting for it to find you, then I'd really recommend going back one episode and listening to that, because that will really help you focus on what you need to be thinking about. Authority is showing up in the right places with the right messaging and making it work as hard as possible for you and your business, and that is what I want for you. As we head into the next six months, as we come to next week's part two episode where we really look at your six month roadmap,

And so that's the picture really that I can see from the last six months. The founders who are getting real results, they're getting the press coverage, the podcast interviews, the speaking opportunities,

They're building their authority ecosystems with the earned things from the podcast or the speaking ops or whatever that might be. But they're also owning their authority too, whether it's their podcast, their thought leadership, their content that they're putting out in terms of the conversations that they're having. And they're the ones that are getting the results. They're the ones who have stopped waiting to be discovered and started building their authority intentionally and strategically.

And so next week, I will be talking to you specifically about what that looks like for the second half of 2026 for you, what to focus on, where to start, how to make sure you finish this year having actually done the work rather than overthinking it. Make sure that you are subscribed. Make sure you also, I haven't asked you this for ages, but please like and subscribe and give me a five star review, because it really does help. you know.

And it's really nice for me to know that people are listening to this as well. So come and find me on Instagram. I'm Pippa the PR set. I'm Pippa Gordon on LinkedIn. And you can find me at the prset.com. Tickets for Get Known Live are now available. so excited. Get Known Live is happening on November the 16th. It is for founders who want to get known for what they do. There's gonna be industry experts, PR gatekeepers.

incredible founders who've been there, done this and got the Get Known t-shirt. It's going to be a full day with a room full of incredible, ambitious female founders. The link will be in the show notes for you to buy your tickets. Be quick, I sent it to the wait list last week and the tickets have started going very quickly. I am so excited.

And so it's going out to my wider email list and I'm gonna be doing lots more marketing around it over the next few weeks. So if you do want to come, I would jump in whilst you can. Whilst there's tickets available, you can pay for it across three parts. Anyway, it's gonna be great. I'm so excited about it. But yeah, I will see you again next week for part two and For another episode of PR Made Simple.