Latest / The SME Stream / EP BONUS: Publicity & Popularity with Tess Woolcock

Transcript

EP BONUS: Publicity & Popularity with Tess Woolcock · The SME Stream

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: From ZM and iHeartRadio. It's Board to Boss. Real stories
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: of how to navigate starting your own business with me.
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Georgia Patton, Welcome to a little bonus episode of Board
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: to Boss. I've mentioned my publicist test Will quite quite
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: a lot on this podcast, as well as some of
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: our guests, so I thought it'd be quite a fun
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: little episode to bring her on to kind of get
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: an overview of her job and what PR is in
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: general and why you should have it for your business.
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: So, Hi, Test, Hi, thanks for having me, please to
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: be here for the bonus episode, and.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: You even featured on episode ten with Sam No look.
• 0:38
  Speaker 3: At Me, Look at Me. A contributor contributed to the podcast.
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: I want to start off just so everyone can get
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: to know you a little bit better. So can you
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: explain what your role is in PR and how you
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: found yourself in this world?
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: Okay, So I started my PR agency four years ago now,
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: when I came back to New Zealand. Previously, I had
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: been a journalist all of my career. I had dabbled
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: in PR here all there, but I've been TV reporter
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: TV and ZED Channel seven, nine and ten in Australia,
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: and then I was the EP of the E channel
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: for Australia and New Zealand. And when I came back
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: to New Zealand, my marriage broke down. I was a
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: single mother with a three year old, faced with working
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: in television long hours and let's be honest, crap, crap pain. Yeah,
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: I had to pivot. I had to find something and
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: I had to keep.
• 1:21
  Speaker 3: My child alive. So I started a PR agency and
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: here I am four years later.
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: Crazy, it's been four years.
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: I know, I know.
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: So what does my role and how basically I need
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: to get my clients coverage in the media, So that
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: could be TV, radio, print, you know, across across the board.
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: I kind of do two things. It's product based placements,
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: but then it's story based placements. And given my background
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: as a journalist, I have a news for a story,
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: so therefore I will find different angles.
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: I sometimes, as you know, I get.
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: Really personal with my clients, like tell me your life history,
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: tell me your health history, like what have we got
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: to work with here? And find all different types of
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: stories for my clients to get them featured in the media,
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: to build their personal brand and to build their their
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: business brand YEP.
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: And so the difference for those listening, is that, like
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: product base is just highlighting the product and the attributes
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: of that product and what makes it different, and there's
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: never really any founder's story that comes with it.
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: Be safe for your sunglasses, getting all of the different
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: product placement and Remix and Fashion Quarterly and all the
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: different magazines, we just see a product placement of your
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: sunglasses with board George and the price in the website.
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: It could be like Mother's Day Gift Guide, Christmas Gift Guide, and.
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: Then you see just a flat lay you know, you know,
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: hot hot pecks of Smarth that there's a pair of sunglasses.
• 2:39
  Speaker 3: That is product placement.
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: So obviously that's building your brand, but no one knows
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: who you are, who is the founder behind the brand.
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: So personal brand is where we work to create stories
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: about you, about your business journey, about your personal life
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: and health.
• 2:54
  Speaker 3: Disaster, whatever whatever.
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: It may be, and utilizing that to tell your to
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: tell your founders story to build your personal brand.
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: Exactly when do you think is a good time for
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: a business owner to start investing in PR.
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: I think you should do it right from the beginning. Really,
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: I think when you're launching, that's when you're new and
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: that's when you're exciting. And a lot of businesses don't
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: do that. Yes, they think i'll launch, I'll see how
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: we go, and then i'll do PR down the line,
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: which you know, I have done a lot of campaigns
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: with businesses who have done that, and I say, now's
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: your media launch. But to be fair, a lot of
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: media are looking for new and exciting things. And if
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: you've been around for a year and you haven't had
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: any press, there's kind of nothing fresh really to say.
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: So you need to be looking to get PR when
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: you've got something new and fresh and exciting to say. So,
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: what's the most exciting thing launching a business? So I
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: would say you need to be thinking of it right
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: from word go.
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: I guess that's kind of similar to how people say
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: on TikTok, not just to show from launch date, but
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: to show the building of the brand. I guess it's
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: the same. And you replicate that through the media as well.
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: Absolutely absolutely, And it is get that behind the scenes
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: stuff from before you even you know, hit play on launch.
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: Having all of that can be used down the line
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: as well. You'd be surprised what can be turned into
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: a story.
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: Yep. And we touched on this slightly in Sam's episode
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: when you're getting your clients media. You've obviously got these
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: amazing relationships with all of this media, but how important
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: is it for the founder of the business to build
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: those relationships as well.
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: I think it's really important. Especially you can't make a
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: journalist cover your business or cover your brand. But if
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: they genuinely like what they see and they genuinely like
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: you as a person, yeah, you've got a lot a
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: better shot creating a relationship. And obviously I have them
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: with the journalists, and that's what people pay me for.
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: But everyone can do that, and I even encourage my clients,
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: as you know, yes, to do that as well.
• 4:43
  Speaker 3: It's not like I just hold this.
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: When we host events, we have the media there, you
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: get to meet them.
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: And when I go to other events, I now know
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: them because I know what's going on on their Instagram
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: page and their TikTok, and I can bump into the
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: street and have a conversation with them because we feel
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: like we know each other.
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: And having that is so valuable because they, you know,
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: MY relationship goes so far.
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: But if they also really have.
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: A connection with the brand and the business owner and that
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: gives you that texture.
• 5:08
  Speaker 3: It's just as.
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: There's a popular saying with a PR that no PR
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: is negative. Is that it? What is it?
• 5:20
  Speaker 3: There's no such thing as no such thing.
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: As bad publicity.
• 5:22
  Speaker 3: Yeah, what's your take? Yeah, there is there.
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: Differently is if you are canceled or do something really
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: shitty in your personal life and it goes viral, that's
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: that's not good for your for your business. And I
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: think anyone in crisis comms would one hundred percent would agree.
• 5:38
  Speaker 3: With you on that.
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: You know, if you I don't know, he's he's like
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: a horrible example. But if you, you know, attack someone
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: or there's domestic violence or abuse or something that came
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: to light and people see you as this, you know, responsible,
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: reliable face behind a brand, and these headlines are being generated,
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: no one's gonna buy from you. You're gonna you're gonna
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: lose customers. There is definitely such thing as bad publicity.
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: Let's take all the aggressive, bad stuff out of the way,
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: and let's go to some lighthearted dramas. Let's go into
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: like the meritive first sight sphere where it's nothing about
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: your business and it's just dramas between founders or that
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: sort of stuff that's not detrimental to anyone. Do you
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: still think that that's good publicity or are you along
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: the lines of positive stuff only keep all the rubbish
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: out of the media.
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: No, No, I think if it's how, it's how you
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: react with it when it is in the media. So
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: for example, if you have some bust up, it's then
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: how you go and change that narrative or how you
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: take responsibility for that narrative. I think if you're like, look,
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: I shouldn't have said that, I apologize, I take full
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: responsibility for my actions, you know, and and front foot
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: the bad things you've done, you can absolutely turn that
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: around and that could be used in a positive way.
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: But I think if you're someone who comes out, you know,
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: with quite a hard hitting attitude, doesn't take responsibility that,
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: then those headlines are going to keep perpetuating down the
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: track and it will have a ripple on effect.
• 6:58
  Speaker 3: In terms of your personal brand.
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: YEP, I wanted to lightly touch on different ways that
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: you can use pr throughout a business's marketing strategies. For example,
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: how we work as if you land me a product
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: placement or even like a brand owned a founder story
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: in a magazine. We then utilize all of those articles
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: and clippings throughout our meta and Google and TikTok advertising
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: and what are some other ways that you've seen founders
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: utilize PR to kind of make the most of those opportunities.
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: Well, really, what PR does, which we haven't kind of
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: touched on yet, is creates credibility for your d definitely,
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: So I think using that PR in a way to
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: kind of showcase that that credibility is what you need
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: to be doing. I think it's things as easy as
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: you know, just adding it onto your website as seen
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: in our magazine, as seen in Vogue.
• 7:46
  Speaker 3: What is that going to do for your your business?
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: You know, it's going to really elevate your brand, popping
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: it even on your your social media, So you're really
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: using these placements you get to.
• 7:57
  Speaker 3: Build that credibility. Leverage, yeah, and leverage yeah, absolutely.
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: Yeah. The second we started getting publications, I've put up
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: my website and I do think it works, and I
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: think it makes people look at your business not just
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: as a small business or a growing business. You're now
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: established and you're in the media and you're known.
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: And I think it's also really important to kind of
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: show where like show those placements because a lot of
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: people do pay for them, and there's a real difference
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: between an advertorial and an editorial places, so I can
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: explain to.
• 8:24
  Speaker 3: You what they are.
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: If you like, the editorial means we're not paying the
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: media organization for that placement. An editor, a fashion editor
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: in your case, will be like, Hey, I really love
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: this product. I'm going to mention it. I'm going to
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: write a review on it. I'm going to put a
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: feature on it in my in my magazine or you know,
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: on my on my blog, whatever whatever it might be.
• 8:46
  Speaker 3: So that is editorial.
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: Advertorial is Another person within the organization will be like, hey, yeah,
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: if you give us ten thousand dollars, we will write
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: a really glowing.
• 8:56
  Speaker 3: Review for you.
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: You get to approve the copy of it, if you
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: get to select what image as it is, and we
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: will pop that in the magazine, but it will say advertorial,
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: feature or pay partnership or somewhere in there because it
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: has to be outlined. So for ten thousand dollars, you
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: can absolutely be in Murray Clear, but it's not going
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: to be editorial and people know that and see that.
• 9:16
  Speaker 3: There's actually a lot with the UK.
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: Magazines like British Vogue, British Glamour, they have this campaign,
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: particularly with the Australian you know, small business brands, where
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: they will approach you.
• 9:26
  Speaker 3: Someone from Contenesst approaches you and it's like, look.
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: If you give us three hundred pounds for I think
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: it's like a three month contract. You can appear in
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: British Vogue three times and.
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: I think I've received you and I'm just so spam.
• 9:38
  Speaker 3: Are they real? You do?
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: But you're in this like weird little section of the
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: magazine where it's literally like all hundreds of like brands
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: listed with like a tiny little photo and everyone knows
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: it's been paid for. And I think that's my point
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: I'm trying to make is anyone can be in British
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: Fogue on that page, but if you're actually in Vogue Australia,
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: you want to actually use that article, use that piece
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: and show that it's editorial, because there's a lot of
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: people that are just paying for it saying they've been
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: featured in it, and then that can kind of muddy
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: the waters a little bit. So you actually want editorial
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: and to showcase that in however you're profiling it.
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: And I think that's quite a big perk of having
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: a PR agent like I do with you totally is yes,
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: I pay you for your services, but I've never paid
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: for a feature in any of the magazines.
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: And that's a good point to make. You're paying a
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: PR person to create those relationships with the media and
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: to get those editorial placements.
• 10:28
  Speaker 3: Cool.
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: I think I'm going to wrap it up with one
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: last question with the future of PR. Do you see
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: it changing in any way?
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: Look, in the four years I've done it, and as
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: a journalist for the twenty years before that, it changes all.
• 10:41
  Speaker 3: The time, especially as the media landscape changes.
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: So for example, you know, during COVID the magazine's diet,
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: now they've come back, and the New Zealand market TV
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: is going through a really, really tough time. So yeah,
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: the media landscape is constantly evolving, so PR is constantly changing.
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: Influencer marketing. As you know, been into the business of
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: five years, that's changed piece controls massively over five years.
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: So I think it's like anything, you need to be
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: aware of the current media landscape. You just need to
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: be keeping up to date with sort of what's happening
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: in the world because absolutely that changes a lot, cost
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: of living. Everything impacts on everything. So yeah, in the future,
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: it's hard to say. I think things will definitely get
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: more digital. I've heard from friends who are one friends
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: editor of a newspaper here in New Zealand. Apparently the
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: price of prints of newspaper is going through the roof.
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: He said that newspapers will be gone in ten years,
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: so yeah.
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: I can imagine that you heard it here first. Oh,
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: it's all been really interesting and I'm sure everyone who
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: is listening has learned a lot because there's not many
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: places where you can get real open conversation on how
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: to get PR or how to leverage it or what
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: the benefits are for your business. And since bringing you on,
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: I've really seen the difference. Have we been working together
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: a year now, I think so. Yeah. Yeah, I've really
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: seen the difference in kind of the trajectory of growth
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: for my business. And it's been so exciting and to
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: see myself in like magazines and see my product and podcast. Yeah,
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: getting this podcast like it's all related and without the
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: PR I probably wouldn't have even landed this podcast, so
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: it all kind of works in roundabouts. So to everyone listening,
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: just start looking into either doing a little bit of
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: pr for yourself or look into getting an agent, because
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: I think it does a lot more for your brand
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: than people give it credit for it.
• 12:25
  Speaker 3: Absolutely now I agree with that. Yeah, thanks Test, thanks
• 12:28
  Speaker 3: for coming on, Thanks for having me.
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: Thanks for listening. Boor de Boss is a z M
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: podcast for iHeartRadio with me Georgia Patton. This episode was
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: produced by Pixi Copperrell, engineered by Meg pud and Call
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: It with production help from Sam Harvey. If you liked it,
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: hit subscribe to get notified whenever we release a new episode.
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: Listen every Tuesday on iHeartRadio or wherever you get your
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: podcasts and make your business idea a reality.