This transcript is generated by AI - apologies for any mistakes

Pippa Goulden (00:44)
Hello and welcome back to another episode of PR Made Simple. I hope you're well. We've had a little break. I, summer took over and I've also come out of my meh summer and I have hit the ground running actually in September. I was a bit worried. I remember last September it was a bit slower. I found it a bit harder to get back into it but I am really back into it now. I'm really enjoying it. I'm...

just seeing some amazing results with the people that I'm working with in my membership, my one-to-one accelerator. I am enjoying my business again. I'm not juggling, which is probably part of it. So we're back, podcast is back. And I thought today I would take you behind the scenes and tell you what I am doing with my own PR strategy for the end of Q3 into Q4 and beyond, because I think it's probably quite useful for you to hear.

my approach for my own business and what I'm doing because my business is predominantly built on PR. I do ads, I obviously do socials, I do the emails, but it's all integrated and it's all led by the fact that I know what I want to get known for and I know who my audience is and I know what the right strategy is for me. Over the years I have really worked out where it's worth me investing my time.

what works for my business objectives, which in the short term is putting bums on seats for my membership, my programs, my one-to-one, but also long term, it's building the business, scaling the business, speaking on the right stages, getting invited to do the things that connect me to the right founders that I wanna be working with. So that's kind of my long term goal and vision for the business from a scaling perspective. So I thought,

I'll just deep dive into what I'm doing because hopefully it will help you. It will show you how you can apply this to your own business as well. And that PR isn't the reserve of big brands with big budgets. You should absolutely be doing this work in your own business. If you want to get known for what you do, if you want to use PR as a core growth strategy for your business. Okay. So let's dive in.

So just to give you the context, there are a few big things happening in my world right now. So Get Known is my six week group sprint. The doors open very soon and it kicks off week commencing the 5th of October. So it's the 10th of September today when I'm recording this, you I am getting into launch mode. I have been doing stuff behind the scenes for a while. I've had a wait list open, all of that kind of stuff.

If you're on the wait list, you will be the first to find out about it. So join that wait list. The link's in the show notes. But I wanna talk about how I'm building up to that launch and what strategically I've done to help me get in front of the right people to talk about Get Known and the sprint and all the brilliant things about it. Within the context of Q4 as well, I have Get Known Live happening in November in London.

tickets are selling really well. I am not worried about that. We're still kind of two months out and I think nearly three quarters of the tickets have gone. So for me, that isn't a primarily revenue event. I want to make money from it obviously, but it's more a stake in the ground. It's part of my own authority ecosystem that I talk about a lot. A full day with incredible speakers like the editor of

in chief of Grazia, Dr. Lizzo Reardon, who's gone from 2000 Twitter followers to being the media go-to. She's regularly on the range. She works with brands in the States. Like she is incredible. PR industry gatekeepers and the founders who've done this work and seen it change everything. So that is the event that I am really starting to focus on. I mean, I've been focusing on it for months.

But you know, for Q4, that is a real focus in my business. It's a bit of a stake in the ground. It's a bit of a look at what I can do to help you get known for what you do. And I'm building into December, looking ahead to what I'm launching in January, February, because I know again, that's a key time for my business. So that's the context of the strategy and the objectives behind what I'm doing to feel get known.

to make sure that I am optimizing and maximizing Get Known Live and using it as a real yardstick within the business and then looking beyond into

Q1 of next year and making sure that all the pieces of the puzzle from a business perspective are in place, that I'm my accelerator, that I'm launching the right things in January, et cetera.

Pippa Goulden (05:36)
And before I go any further, I just want to say this. You do not need to have a launch coming up to do this work. Everything I'm sharing with you applies, whether you are in launch mode, whether you're launching a new product, a new service, something next month, or you're just building your authority and profile for the long term. Because the pipeline you build now pays off in six months, a year, two years, it compounds.

So even if you have nothing specific coming up, this is still for you. But I'm obviously, you know, lifting the curtain on what I'm doing because this is very specific to what's going on in my business. And I'm launching Get Known and I'm also building up to Get Known Live and then other things that I have planned in into January, February and beyond. But this work that I'm doing isn't just about the launch. It's about long-term reputation.

getting known for what I do, bringing people into my world, making sure that there is enough there for them to get to know me through every stage of the buyer journey. Okay? So I just want to clear that up. So whilst I'm talking about launching, I'm not saying you have to be in launch mode to be doing this work, but I'm just showing you how I apply it to my own business at the moment.

Pippa Goulden (06:53)
So I do want to put into context as well that quite a bit of the stuff that is happening now in terms of PR for me for September, the stuff that's linking to the launch of Get Known, I have done already, right? I can't just click my fingers in September and go, all right, I'm ready to do some PR now for a launch that's in a few weeks or imminently. I've been building that pipeline.

over the summer, actually before the summer, so that it lands at the right time. So it can be as strategic as I can make it from that perspective. And that's the first thing that I want you to take from this, Strategic PR is not reactive. It's not sitting waiting for the right things to land in your lap. You don't decide that you want opportunities in October and start pitching in October. You have to start planting the seeds before then.

So I want you to be thinking about your business, what you've got coming up in your business, looking ahead, know, six months ahead really, starting to think strategically long-term with this work, because that is what is going to give you the best bang for your buck. And it means that you can really be strategic, I'm gonna say that word so much, but it means that you can be strategic when it comes to actually doing things that are then aligned with launches or promos or key...

periods and times in your business, it might be like Christmas is a key time for you. You want to be starting to do that work now, if not before, because you want to be making sure that the right things land at the right time that you can then amplify through the rest of your business. So what am I actually doing? So September for me is workshops in other people's communities. I've lined up several of these strategically timed around my launch. And that is one of the most effective things that I do.

getting in front of warm, engaged audiences who are already gathered by someone they trust, yeah? So I'm capitalizing on the fact that these people are working with somebody they trust. they've got a curated audience. Somebody inviting me into their membership or their group or their space and saying, Pippa knows her stuff.

she is a go-to person for PR, you need to listen to her. That fast forwards that trust piece so much more than any ads, any Insta cold audience stuff. I promise you using other people's audiences to fast forward that stuff is so powerful for you.

I am also doing my own workshop on September the 22nd called Done Waiting. The link to sign up to that is in the show notes and that is going to be for anyone who wants to find out about how they can use PR in their own business.

It's a really good way I find of people fast forwarding again, giving them the opportunity to hear me talk, work out whether they like me, work out whether they want to be working with me, just opening their minds to PR. Sometimes it's a long, like nurture thing where, you know, they might come to a workshop and, work with me in six months, a year. Sometimes they are literally buying on that workshop. It very much depends, but the link for that is in the show notes as well.

So that's kind of workshops. So I have my own workshops that I do and I then do guest workshops in other people's communities and talks and that kind of thing. Podcasts. So I have lined a few up that will hopefully, fingers crossed, be coming out kind of within the next few weeks. And obviously you are slightly at the mercy of the podcast host for that, for when they do come out.

But you can say like, this would be really great for me, this would align, you might have affiliate links that you can share with them as a kind of incentive to make sure the timing's right for that. Podcasts work really well as like evergreen PR for you because people listen to them at different times. So you might get, you know, people listening on the launch week or whenever, but you might also get people deep diving into them at a different time. Like I still get people saying, I listened to you on that podcast that I did a year ago, you know?

So podcasts are really great as a method for you to be able to deep dive into what you know about. The people that I work with often love doing podcasts because it allows them to really get into what they know about and it allows you to, as a buyer, to listen to that person, to make sure that you wanna work with them to understand their methodology. I have just made my next...

like high ticket investment, I've just joined a new mastermind that I'm really excited about. And I have followed the person whose mastermind it is for probably a couple of years on Instagram. I've got to know her well through her Instagram, absolutely. And I have flirted a little bit. I've done some quite low ticket things that she's offered and I like her style, but it was her talking on a podcast that made me kind of...

sign on the dotted line because I felt like I really wanted to deep dive into how she does things, into her approach, into I wanted to hear her talk in more detail you know about stuff which you're just not going to get on an eight second reel or on a minute stories and so it was the podcast that really pushed me over the line for that and I just wanted to flag that to you because I think it's really important we get so focused on our social content and the emails that we're sending.

I want you to be thinking about your buyer every stage of their buyer journey. And it might be discovering you. It might be that PR is how they find you, but it might also be further along the line that when they're thinking about working with you and they're wanting to know more, they actually Google you and they listen to you on the podcast. They read the articles that you've written. I do this a lot, especially when I'm investing in something. Maybe not for a lip gloss.

you know, that you see on Instagram. Absolutely. You might just, that might be a quick purchase, but for things where people are needing to invest more, they want to know you more, that buyer journey has changed. And if you are not keeping up with how that buyer journey has changed, if you're just relying on your socials and your emails to do the work for you, you are going to get left behind in 2026 into 2027. Things have changed so much.

The next piece is in-person events and networking. This is a non-negotiable for me. I know that when I meet people in real life, it speeds everything up. It's genuinely good for me from a business perspective, but it's also really good for me from a joy, happiness, getting out from behind my desk, seeing people, chatting to people, really, like having good conversations with people. I went to Ideas Fest yesterday. It was absolutely brilliant. And I will talk more about that, but I have...

committed to going to new things this quarter, new networking groups, new rooms, not just the comfortable familiar ones, because what I'm looking ahead at is my Q1 and filling whatever it is that I have going on in Q1. And those nurturing relationships start now, meeting new people. One of the things that really reminded me at Ideas Fest was seeing how many...

other people there are out there to work with. Like there are so many people that don't know you yet. And there are opportunities for you in so many different places. Obviously you wanna start being strategic. You wanna be focusing in on those things that are gonna get you known for what you do. But it was a really good reminder that there are things out there that I haven't explored yet. And I found probably in Q2, Q3, I was feeling really like safe. I was doing the safe things.

And actually it's interesting, I did this this time last year, like last year my Q4, my mission was to have more joy and fun in my business and I really did that and I went for it and it was so good from a mental health perspective, from enjoying my business and from the opportunities and the things that it created in the business, it was brilliant. This year it's all about exploration, so that's what my kind of theme, I don't do word of the whatever because my mind changes all the time.

but I'm really looking at exploring new people, new ways of doing things. Don't get me wrong, I will stay building the networks that I have, going to some of the same events and that kind of thing because A, I see my friends, I see my work besties, those kind of things and that's really good for me.

but also just having those ongoing building relationships is really important too. It's not always about new shiny things. So it's getting the balance right. Absolutely, I appreciate that. And you're kind of listening to this thinking, I don't have time to do all of this stuff. But I find actually when I think that is often when I need to do those in-person things, when I need to get out from behind my desk, when I need a bit of a shake up in terms of the rhythm of how I'm kind of approaching my day and that kind of thing.

So in-person events for me in Q3, Q4, totally non-negotiable. Dancing on other people's dance floors. Okay, so this again, it works so well for us in the small business community. Instalives with people who've done Get Known, instalives with people who maybe are aligned with me, who have the similar audiences, shared content, showing up in other people's audiences.

That's one of my favorite things to do. It's a really kind of low hanging fruit kind of thing. It doesn't take a huge amount of effort. You have to be a bit planned and a bit like thinking ahead. But again, you can do those things. You can turn them around quite quickly and press. It's not my main focus for this quarter. It never really is, to be honest, for my PR. It's like my secondary thing that I do because I know that when I talk, when I do the workshops, the podcasts and that kind of thing, that is what puts

bums on seats in terms of sales, in terms of me getting known for what I do, but press for me is a really good credibility piece. It is a reminder that I know what I'm talking about. It makes people go, she's been featured in there. She must know what she's talking about. And that will absolutely be the same for you. As a credibility piece, it massively can't be underrated. Massively can't be underrated, is that even a phrase? You know what I mean.

So I have a few specific pictures going out to industry publications, business titles, the right kind of publications that either reach my target audience because they read them or, and this is a tactic too, they might not even read it, but it will make them go, ooh, she's been featured in that. So strategic and targeted, you know, I only need one of those things to come off, right? I'm not talking about spray and play at all with this.

So I also want to talk to you about something that I'm doing this September because it's obviously going to be very relevant for you. I have really honed in on what I want to get known for and the thing that I'm doing in September and it makes me feel a bit uncomfortable but I am owning it unapologetically, okay? So on socials I am getting only what I can call boasty because I can't think of a better word but not in a like...

God, can she just shut up? But I have gone into September really owning the results that my, the PR setters are getting, my members, my one-to-one accelerator, some of the stuff that my get-know-nors have done before and, you know, it's still having an impact now. And it's been really interesting. It's only the 10th. I've kind of been doing this for a few days. I have been getting more likes on my stories than I have done for a very long time. You know, people see that success.

and they respond to it in a positive way. So whilst you're going, I couldn't do that, it feels too much, it's too much like blowing smoke up your ass and all that kind of stuff, absolutely not. They want to see your success, they want to see the results that you get. So that's what I'm doing, it's giving me more engagement, I'm getting more responses, it's leading to conversations as well.

Okay, so that's one thing that I've just kind of I'm owning it on my emails and mainly on my socials. I have also challenged myself to pitch something every single day in September. I did start this on the 4th of September, so you'll have to give me a few days grace. And I will be honest, I so I had the idea on Friday and I just went into it without much preparation. And I think what I need to do is take a little step back and actually give myself a bit of prep to

you know, allow me to springboard into the rest of September because scrabbling around every day is not ideal for thinking who to pitch to. I've done it so far every day, we're on the 10th, I mean it's not, know, it's only a few days but it has got me into that mode of who am I going to pitch to, what am I going to pitch, what am I thinking about, what am I pitching that is going to be useful for them, how can I work with that person, how can I get them into my world, you know, all of that kind of stuff.

So I will keep you updated on how that's going, but I want you to have a think about that. A few things that I wish I'd done is maybe spend a bit of time upfront building a list. I've kind of got a list in my head and I have a working list, but I think I would have had a bit more of an intentional list to work from that would have helped save me bit of time every day, because then I'm not scrabbling around. And that's what I always say to people is do that work upfront, know, upskill yourself with the knowledge.

do the prep so that you can hit the ground running. That is actually what we do in Get Known. We spend the time doing that prep. We focus in on what you want to get known for, which is so important. And then we focus on the prep. So that allows you to then hit the ground running when it comes to the pitches to sending those emails, okay? But I have been pitching every day so far in September and I am going to carry on doing it. So you may well hear from me.

I also wanted to just leave you with a little story from Ideas Fest. So I saw a business friend of mine, a friend, I just call her a friend. She runs an amazing event and she announced it months ago. It was off the back of her doing it, and then she announced the next one. And I sent her a DM, bear in mind we're friends, like we have lots of conversations all the time about lots of different things. And I said,

my god, I'd love to do a workshop. Let me know if you want me to do it. And I left it at that because she knows me, I know her. Life happened. I didn't follow up on it because I was like, she knows who I am. I've given her the idea. Anyway, I was chatting to her yesterday at Ideas Fest. no, step back. When she announced the workshop lineup, I wasn't on it. I wasn't gutted, but I was a bit like, I could have done a workshop, you know? nevermind.

I saw her yesterday at Ideas Fest and we were talking about events and obviously she's doing, I'm doing Get Known Live, she's doing her event, we were talking about it and she said to me, my god, you should do a workshop at the next one and I was like, yeah, I did send you a message saying I'd love to do one and she was like, my god, I totally forgot. I was on holiday when you messaged me and what I'd been doing was getting pictures from people so I just put them on post-its on my wall so that when it came to me working out the best

curation of the day, I had all the people in front of me who'd kind of pitched themselves and you weren't on a post-it because you'd sent me the message when I was on holiday and I'd totally forgotten I wasn't on her post-its. Not because I wasn't good enough, not because she didn't want me, because she was on holiday and she forgot and I didn't follow up. So it's just a little lesson. The no is almost never about you. It's about timing, inbox, life, a post-it that never got written.

which means the answer is always to follow up, but also just not take it personally, to keep going, to keep sending those pictures even when you're pitching into the silence, okay? Don't take that silence personally. So, the other thing that I got from Ideas Fest was I met some amazing people. my God, I loved it. It was really good. If you wanna chat to me about Ideas Fest, DM me, I've got lots of thoughts on it. But something really struck me, right? The founders I met,

who struggled were the ones who couldn't clearly articulate what they do and who they do it for. They had the expectees, they had the clients, but they just hadn't done that positioning piece. And that means that everything is so hard for you, so much harder for you. You your content's harder, your emails are harder, getting across what you do to people is harder, meeting somebody at a festival for three minutes and having a quick chat is harder.

because you can't articulate what you do. And if that sounds like you, if you know that you are brilliant at what you do, because you are, because you're listening to this, but you haven't distilled it into the things you want to get known for yet, or if you know exactly what you want to get known for, but you haven't started doing this work yet, then this is your sign, okay? The doors to get known, my six week sprint are opening very soon, six weeks of doing this work.

with me building your positioning, your PR strategy, getting you pitching for the right opportunities, doing this work that I am doing now in my own business to grow my own business as well as supporting all my amazing PR members and accelerator clients and soon-to-be get-known sprinters, okay? So join the wait list in the show notes, you'll be the first to hear about it with some juicy early bird bonuses and if you want a taster of this first,

22nd of September. It's called Done Waiting, How to Use PR to Get Known for What You Do and Grow Your Business, right? It's for you if you know you are fed up of waiting for things to drop in your lap. If you are fed up of seeing your competitors getting the press coverage, getting the speaking opportunities, doing those things that you're like,

God, I could have done that and I would have been so much better. I know, I know you would, right? If you are done waiting, then come along to this session on the 22nd of September. You can sign up and get the recording, but I really encourage you to come to the live because how many of us actually end up watching the recordings? I mean, I know some of you do, I don't. But come along to the live 22nd of September. Again, the link is in the show notes. It's for you.

if you are done waiting for those opportunities to come to you and you are ready to go out and grab them because they are there for you and it's such an effective way to build your business. It's such a brilliant, fun, joyous way. Like the speakers that I spoke to, I saw lots of people that I know that we had PR setters doing talks at Ideas Fest. Other people I know. The buzz that they had.

from doing that talk, they will use it now, they will capitalize it hopefully, they will amplify it through the rest of their business. It will give them that moment in time to amplify what they do, to help them get known for what they do, okay? I want this for you too, okay? So come to my training or jump into the group sprint, whatever works for you, but just know that you can get on and do this because Q3, Q4,

beyond are waiting for you and it's only going to happen if you take the action. I will see you again soon for another episode of PR Made Simple.