Latest / The SmallBizChat with Melinda Emerson / How to Secure PR for Small Businesses with Michelle Songy

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How to Secure PR for Small Businesses with Michelle Songy · The SmallBizChat with Melinda Emerson

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  Three, two, one, zero.
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  Ignition.
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  Lift off.
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  Ending small business failure.
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  Welcome to the Small Biz Chat podcast with the number one small business expert, Melinda
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  Emerson.
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  Melinda's goal is to end small business failure, and she'll give you the information
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  you need to succeed and live the life you dream of.
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  Now here's your host, the small biz chat lady herself, Melinda Emerson.
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  Have you subscribed to the small biz chat podcast?
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  Well, it's time.
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  Every Wednesday, we offer listeners bite sized actionable tips to start and grow a successful
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  small business.
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  In just twenty minutes or so a week, you can get a ton of insight and resources to propel
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  your business forward.
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  Be sure to subscribe to the Small Biz Chat podcast today.
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  Hi, everybody, and welcome to this episode of the Small Biz Chat podcast, where we tackle
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  real world challenges of running and growing a successful small business.
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  I'm Melinda Emerson, the small biz lady, America's number one small business expert and
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  your host.
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  And the mission of this show is simple, to end small business failure.
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  Every week, we bring you candid advice, proven strategies and inspiring stories from top
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  experts and entrepreneurs so that you can build a business that works for you.
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  And if you love what you hear on the Small Bitch Chat podcast, please share this episode
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  with a friend or fellow business owner.
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  And don't forget to give us a review on Apple Podcasts wherever you listen to your favorite
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  podcast shows.
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  I wanna invite to our podcast, miss Michelle Songhi, who is the CEO Presshook.
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  Now, Michelle, you are already a serial entrepreneur and you're like still kind of
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  young.
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  So can you tell us about how you came to, like what inspired you to start press up?
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  Tell us what it is and what inspired you to start it?
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  Sure.
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  And thank you so much, Melinda, for having me here super excited.
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  I was the reason I started was honestly, it was my last company was my first business I started
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  it was a tech startup.
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  And as many founders, you're wearing all the hats and try and doing everything from business
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  from investment to sales to marketing.
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  And the one thing I never took a stab at yet was your PR and really getting ourselves out
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  there.
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  A lot of our competitors had were showing up everywhere everyone knew about them.
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  And I was like, we haven't yet just done it.
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  So it was either too expensive, or I couldn't figure out how to do it on my own.
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  So I started to self teach myself.
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  And that's really what opened the doors for me to say like, hey, like, there's no in between.
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  It's like, there's nothing to really help you figure out how connect with media and build
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  relationships and do it in the right way.
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  There was just nothing that existed at the point at the time.
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  So I know that a lot of small business owners confuse PR and marketing.
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  How would you define PR?
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  And why does it matter?
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  Right.
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  So PR, I know a lot of people think of it as a luxury, but I actually think it's something
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  important to do like if you're in a, like cash crunch, if there is like a downturn, you know,
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  because it helps you Yes, it helps you build credibility, meaning you don't pay for the
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  placement, you're not paying for an ad, you're not forcing someone say, hey, review my
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  product, and I'll pay you for it.
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  But instead, you're getting featured in articles, interviews, podcasts like this, based
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  on the merit of your story.
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  So unlike advertising, which is completely controlled and paid for PR is the opposite.
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  But it's completely about third party validation.
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  And that's what makes it so powerful.
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  And that's why I really just wanted to get in this space and kind of break into it and
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  disrupt it, I guess, as you would say, and uncover it.
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  And yeah, so that's what makes it so powerful.
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  So like when a trusted influencer or journalist just writes about your business talks about it,
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  it creates that lasting trust.
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  And then I really just think that PR can help level the playing field.
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  That's what I'm trying to do for small businesses is like, how can I level the playing
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  field?
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  So it's not just the bigger brands getting all the attention, but their huge budgets and, you
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  know, the crazy, you know, stunts they can do, but it's like helping you punch above your
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  weight and reach customers organically.
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  All right, so let's talk about the myths that are out there about PR because I think a lot of
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  people are afraid to go after PR like it's trying to get a first date, like it's all about
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  the rejection thing.
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  Like, to help me understand how can people, like what are some of the misconceptions that
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  you constantly hear when people talk about how hard it is to get PR?
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  Yeah, I mean, honestly, I think it is hard.
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  When I tried to do it myself.
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  I was just like pitching into the void.
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  Was like, Who am I pitching?
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  How?
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  What am I saying?
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  And it's hard.
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  So I was like, you know, you kind of understand you learn how to pitch an investor, I learned
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  how to pitch during doing sales, and I could do that and figure that out.
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  But for some reason, when I was trying to pitch a journalist, like, I just was like, Oh, my
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  gosh, I'm a little nervous.
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  What am I saying?
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  I don't even know how to go about this like pitching process.
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  And I think that, there's definitely a layout and a structure and a way of doing it in the
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  right way.
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  And that comes down to getting really clear on your story.
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  And kind of like if you're going to an investor, it's the same stuff.
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  It's like, what is the problem you're solving?
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  Why are you the right person to be doing it?
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  What makes your product or journey like interesting, timely or different?
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  Like, just have to think about like the actual news.
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  This is not branding.
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  This is not advertisement.
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  This isn't a sales pitch.
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  This is like you trying to like weave yourself until into culture and news and events and
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  stories.
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  So it's a little hard, you kind of have to like kind of twist your head and not be salesy,
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  really, at the same time pitching what you're doing and you know why it's great and solves
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  this problem and why you're doing it.
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  Alright, so how can a founder right know when they are PR ready?
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  Right.
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  Sometimes I'd say brands can be a little bit too early on the early side of it.
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  Maybe your product hasn't been tested by customers, you don't have any sales yet.
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  You need to get that product market fit, do not let an expert like a journalist who all they do
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  every day, like a food critic is review different food products or different tech
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  products, like, don't let them be the first to like review and give you feedback there.
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  That's not going to happen.
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  So you definitely need to have a product, a good looking established like website, social
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  media, good to have followers and people look like you're in it like you're not so even if
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  you have a new product, you can't look so new, because they're not going to feel comfortable
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  just suggesting that to their readers, because it's them, it's their credibility to, and
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  liability they have to look for.
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  So I definitely think sometimes it's a little too early.
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  But if you got some early customers, you got some traction, you have some good feedback,
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  you've kind of worked out some of the kinks.
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  You know, then you can really, then I think you're in a better place of like pitching
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  yourself.
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  But you don't, I don't think you'll also have to wait till you're like series A, or
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  something, you know, I think you can get started in that like DIY and kind of doing it
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  on your own in a small capacity.
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  So let's talk about that all important pitch because sometimes people think just because
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  they opened a business that that is news.
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  Can you please explain this for people about how to really build a pitch that a journalist
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  or blogger or podcaster would even be interested in?
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  Right, well, really comes down to who you're pitching, right?
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  Because if you're pitching someone like you, obviously, you want to focus on small
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  businesses, like what problems small businesses have these days, like back it with some like
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  data or insight, and kind of like why you want to talk about a certain topic.
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  So that'd be different than if you are pitching somebody that writes, maybe they write for like
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  bon appetit, and they write a lot about like recipes and products, you'd want to write
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  about, you know, how this new product you have can work really well, for certain ingredients,
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  or for certain diets and something.
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  So it's like, you can't just do one everyone thinks like, oh, we'll just do a press release
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  and just send it out to hundreds of people or 1000s or even just doing the same pitch.
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  That's not going to work, you're going to get zero replies, if you're just pitching generic
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  and bland out to the world like you really need to look at and I think these days, there's,
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  know, there's so many different people, there's substacks, there's podcasters, there's
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  journalists, influencers, so you kind of have to look at who you're pitching, what they write
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  about what they talk about, looking at their content, and how you can like, weave yourself
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  into like, help them like give them some new content, right?
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  Think of like, an idea or topic they can talk about.
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  So say like, you're you're, you know, you're not like the rice in the bowl, you're like the
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  turmeric or the salt, you're like a piece of it.
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  But don't just think that your story is what they're going to just want to talk about and
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  blast and just promote you, because that would look like an advertorial and they don't wanna
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  do that either.
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  And I will tell you that I often get pitches, I swear to you, wanna do a whole book about how
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  not to pitch folks, not to pitch media.
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  Because I think one, I often get pitched by people who then I might express some interest
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  and then they'll have the nerve to ask me stats about my podcast, like whether or not it's
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  worthy of their time after they already pitched me.
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  And I'm going, I'm sorry, you pitched me, you didn't bother to look up how big or how long
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  standing or how many, I have almost 300 episodes out here, I'm not a new podcast, I'm
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  actually a very big and influential small business podcast, but I have literally had
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  people be like, oh, so what's your reach and what's your Especially if they're using some of
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  these podcast interview services that are just out pitching people, praying that they get some
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  interest.
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  And then I express interest and I mean, I literally sent a scathing email one time to
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  somebody saying, Listen, if you are too stupid, you're in the PR business and you're too silly
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  that you didn't even look up who I was or how big my reach is or how long I've been doing my
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  show, like if you don't have actionable advice for my audience, I don't want you.
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  If you have an enterprise level thing you're selling, I really don't care.
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  Like if you don't understand who my audience is, kick rocks with an open toed shoot.
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  But I'm amazed how often I get pitches that are completely inappropriate or just irrelevant.
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  Is astonishing.
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  Yeah.
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  And you can even think about like, what's happening?
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  What are people thinking about are gonna even when it when the story goes live.
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  So a story might not go live for like two, four, three months, even you don't know.
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  But the first pitch, like if I was pitching you today, I might say, Okay, well, a lot of people
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  are going back to school, there's a lot and a lot of business owners also have families.
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  So maybe there's this topic about like, how to deal with work and family and you know, you're
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  trying to get your kids to school and how to like stay organized and keep it together
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  through these times.
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  Or maybe I might even pitch you something longer saying like, well, you know, the holiday
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  gift guide season is the biggest season for products to sell.
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  Like, you know, I'd love to talk to people about like, when they can start marketing
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  themselves, how what are some ideas for really getting making your product giftable for the
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  holidays.
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  So you kind of just need to be thinking a little down the line too, because
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  that's a perfect topic that I would respond to because August is the time when you really have
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  to start planning for holiday.
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  And so absolutely a pitch like that, I'd be all over it, but it's just amazing to me how often
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  people don't do their homework on the people that they're even pitching.
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  Like, it's like, they've never read an article from this, you know, writer from the New York
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  Times and yet you're gonna pitch them.
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  It's like, don't do that.
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  Yeah.
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  But let's talk about some of the other mistakes.
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  What are the some of the other PR mistakes that people make that they are just like clueless
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  to?
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  Oh, there's so many.
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  I'm definitely like being promotional, like, just too promotional, just pitching me the
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  story about why you're so great.
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  Why this such a genius idea?
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  Lot a lot a lot of not just being like, remember, imagine how many I hear some
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  journalists say they get to 800 pitches a day.
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  Yeah, I mean, that's on the high side, but still think about them just like flipping
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  through pitches and emails like yours needs to be so tight, so short and sweet.
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  So to the point, the one thing I do when someone sends me a pitch, usually, I'm like,
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  Oh, gosh, I literally delete like 90% of it, just copy, delete.
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  And I'm like, send a couple of these points.
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  But again, yeah, so it needs to be about, like timeliness.
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  It needs to be about, you know, maybe a culture like a something that's like a trending topic
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  that we're looking at, or just like what makes you stand out compete, what makes you different
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  than your competitors, like, make it really easy for them to understand, like, if you use
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  all this, like, customer, like promo, we kind of language, like, it's too much fluff.
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  And they're like, I can't, I don't understand what you're talking about.
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  So you need to make it really simple, really easy, but also like stand, it needs to stand in
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  a crowd.
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  So that's why it can be tough.
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  And I get it.
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  I think it is tough.
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  And that's why I think it's so worth it when you get it.
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  But it's just like learning the system getting the system down.
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  And it's again, it's, it's kind of, I would say it's most similar to pitching an investor VC,
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  you know, think about how you pitch them.
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  Yeah, you cannot belabor that email for sure.
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  But let's talk about the length of the email.
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  Should you have attachments?
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  Like what you know, let's just talk about some very practical logistical thing around how do
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  you pitch someone.
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  Right.
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  Always helps if, yeah, you're linking to the product or service.
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  Exactly.
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  You're talking about visuals are great.
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  You don't wanna put too many because it might clutter their inbox and or go
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  to
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  spam.
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  I like to do, like, a couple short sentences, a few bullet points, ending sentence, and it
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  might just be like, hey.
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  I'd love to send you a sample or show you a demo.
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  You can always link to, like, a press kit or media kit.
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  At Presshook, we do have free media kits you can you can start get someone started and have
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  a media kit you can use a link to that will have information about your business, your
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  founding story, images, social links, of like everything they need is in one place.
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  So it's making it super easy for them.
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  And then also just like a subject line that stands out also, obviously, like using their
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  name is nice.
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  And I'd say like being personable, it's you definitely it's nice to say like, if you
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  noticed, you know, something publicly they've written about or talked about, I think it can
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  be a little bit creepy if you get a little too personal, and go deep into their Instagram,
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  personal Instagram or something about them.
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  So I think there's a line we know you don't want to cross.
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  But I do think that connecting to them in some way is nice.
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  Yeah, making a connection of like, why are you reaching out?
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  Absolutely, I couldn't agree with you more.
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  Sometimes I've actually gotten pitches where people cut and paste them from other people and
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  left that person's name or the name of that person's podcast in it.
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  Yeah.
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  Oh, yeah.
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  People with journalists get that all the time.
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  They're like, I get even just like your name, the name spelled wrong.
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  It's like kind of just sit and think about it.
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  And again, you don't have to pitch 1,000 people like, there's probably not even 1,000 for you
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  know, really for you to reach out to but start small start targeted, you know, and really kind
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  of pitch.
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  Sometimes I think too, I've just been talking about this a lot.
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  And what I write about, but you know, your product isn't isn't great for everyone.
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  Not everyone in the world is going love your product, but kind of be specific about like,
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  who it is good for.
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  Like, the more you kind of get specific, then they'll be like, Oh, right.
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  Yeah, that's great.
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  I, I can connect to that.
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  But if you're just trying to sell everyone, that it's the best product for them.
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  That's, I just think like, that's not going to work out.
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  So just being specific of like, who your products really for and how they would relate
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  to that.
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  Now, once someone gets on the media gets on TV gets a feature in, you know, Inc.
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  Magazine or something, What is the best way to maintain media contacts like after coverage?
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  Right.
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  Always, it's a nice thank you.
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  Like, thank the journalists for having you on or for writing about you.
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  Like, you don't realize how many people don't even say thank you to them.
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  You do not need to send them flowers or anything like nothing that don't send anything
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  to their house, but just a nice thank you.
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  And then after that, I think if you see one of their articles, and you thought had a good like
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  idea or opinion, or like, oh, I love what you said about this.
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  I was just thinking about that.
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  You know, if you send them a piece of like insight, like kind of think of it as, you know,
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  if you do see something relevant that you can kind of give back to them, that's great.
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  Or if you have a new update, business update, something else that happens, like a lot them
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  will say, like, Sydney, I'm I'm fine.
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  Like, keep sending me updates.
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  I'm not gonna take and write about everything you send me.
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  But sometimes it's the right place, right time, where they have a fit in an article, it'll go
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  in.
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  So I think it's good to to keep in touch.
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  Definitely, I'd say more like journalist, especially if you're talking to, and that are,
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  like, really targeted in your industry.
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  But, yeah, I think a nice, like, following up, keeping keeping the relations, liking their
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  content, commenting on their content on LinkedIn or wherever else.
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  Like, it's just keeping you recognize like, keeping your name at the front of what they're
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  talking about.
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  Also, just not always just pitching your product, but, like, how can you add commentary
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  or expertise or give them an extra, like, nugget of something for what they could be
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  with.
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  So just think about like how you can also help them and support their work because they're
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  working really fast.
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  They have tight turnarounds, I wouldn't say if they have nearly the highest incomes in the
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  country.
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  So know that they're working really hard.
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  And many of them are and that, you know, just see how you can be of help to them.
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  Now, about platforms like Substack?
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  I know that you recently started a Substack called Captain Hook, which I think is
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  fantastic.
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  So tell me about how can you leverage Medium Substack, like other sort of like
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  nontraditional media to pitch yourself.
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  Right.
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  I yeah.
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  I mean, I love the Substack network, And it's a bit more freeing because you have these
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  independent publishers, it could be like an ex journalist of New York Times, you know, there's
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  also brands that have their own these days.
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  And there's a lot of just like independent publishers and just moms and people and just
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  everyone, you know, people just starting one.
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  So I love that they just have like so much freedom, you know, like a publisher might say,
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  Oh, we can't write about this or that or this and, and they just are already getting so many
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  pitches.
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  So I feel like sub sax is still like newish in a way.
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  And of course, like the big ones, I'm sure getting a lot of pitches.
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  There's like a lot of new ones, lot of niche ones.
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  So like, even just like getting in touch with them and like building a relationship with them
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  from the start.
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  But I think it's still kind of the same way you just you just really have to understand their
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  content, like, what are they writing about?
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  They're writing about like recipes.
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  So if you pitch their products, like, are they going to do a product review on you?
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  Or if they write about, you know, you know, like, there's just so many different topics
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  they write about.
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  So you just have to see, like, would mine be a fit?
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  Do you see your like them referencing or talking about similar businesses?
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  You can also do searches on it.
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  So you can search for your category, like food and beverage or travel, anything like that and
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  see Substacks that are the best sellers and the, rising stars.
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  So I always am tracking those.
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  And then you can also just search them, like search name and like Substacks will come up.
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  So maybe they've talked about a competitor or similar company, like you could reach out.
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  I love it.
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  Okay.
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  So if I if you were just talking to some small business owners that had never ever tried to
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  get PR, what is the one thing you would advise them to do just to get started?
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  To get started, I would start doing the first thing is to get a list, start thinking about
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  that list of media that you want to get in touch with.
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  If you want to be more of a thought leader and get your voice out there, obviously, there's
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  the podcast, if you really want to get some credibility, and you think, okay, if people are
• 20:59
  going to really try my beauty product, then I need to have some, you know, top tier good
• 21:04
  quality, like credible journalists and people review it and make me look credible.
• 21:09
  That could be important and things you want to put on your website.
• 21:12
  So you might be looking for like Allure and Mary Claire and Forbes or different people to
• 21:18
  review your products.
• 21:20
  But kind of do some research, you know, like these are your ambassadors.
• 21:26
  So look into your research, like who's talking about your category, your, you know, your
• 21:33
  industry the most, and there's a lot out there.
• 21:35
  But I would definitely like do some of your own research pinpoint some people that you're like,
• 21:40
  wow, this is someone I'd really love, I think would be perfect for.
• 21:43
  And then start Yeah, I would have those lists ready.
• 21:46
  And then I would start just making an introduction to that initial outreach.
• 21:50
  Love it.
• 21:50
  Love it.
• 21:51
  Alright, last question.
• 21:52
  What is the best business advice you have ever been given?
• 21:56
  Oh,
• 22:00
  I have a Yeah.
• 22:02
  I like the one about, like, starting with distribution, not just product.
• 22:08
  And this is not just because I own like a martech and I'm in marketing PR.
• 22:12
  But I have so many friends and people that come to me and they're like, Oh, I just, I just
• 22:16
  wrote this book, or I just did this, or I just built this app.
• 22:20
  And they're like, So what do I do with it now?
• 22:21
  And I'm like, Woah, you need to think about this, like, while you're building it.
• 22:26
  And like, as you're creating it, you can can't just have a finished product and then decide.
• 22:30
  So I really think that, like, you need to have, like, great content and then tools, like, they
• 22:38
  mean nothing without a plan to get them in front of the right people.
• 22:40
  So always design with distribution in mind.
• 22:44
  Right?
• 22:44
  We thinking of
• 22:45
  build the audience before you build the product.
• 22:48
  Yes, that is Yeah, I think that's what people are
• 22:50
  noticing really what you need to do.
• 22:52
  But But yeah, where you were going with it.
• 22:54
  Yeah, my only other advice I from the tech side too is like, you don't need to do what is it
• 23:02
  like, do things that don't scale at first, because you really need to like, hold some
• 23:08
  relationships, like build relationships with those customers, you can't just like start
• 23:11
  something and say, we just need to get 100, we just need more and more customers, more and
• 23:14
  more customers, and you're just trying to like scale it.
• 23:17
  And I think and I've even done that at times.
• 23:20
  And I think what you miss out is like, you're really not building, you know, you're not
• 23:25
  building those relationships, getting the feedback, refining the product, and building
• 23:29
  that brand loyalty.
• 23:30
  So that always will come.
• 23:31
  But I think, yeah, you really want to nurture those early customers.
• 23:37
  Love it.
• 23:37
  Love it.
• 23:38
  Alright.
• 23:38
  Well, thank you so much, Michelle, for being here with me on the Small Bitch Chat podcast.
• 23:43
  I feel like you are a wealth of information.
• 23:51
  Thanks for listening to the Small Biz Chat podcast with Melinda Emerson.
• 23:55
  Subscribe to this podcast wherever you listen to podcasts, and join us next Wednesday for
• 24:00
  more fantastic information and interviews.
• 24:03
  You can find more sources and small business success strategies by visiting Melinda's
• 24:08
  website, succeedasyourownboss.com.
• 24:11
  Thanks again for listening, and we'll see you next week.