If you like instant(ish) gratification, this post (and accompanying) publicity lesson is for YOU!
But first a little reminder/newsflash/life truth:
As a general rule, people help people they know and like – even know just a little bit, like “social media know”. It’s simply human nature!
That life truth may be working against you and your business at the moment because you’re trying to get publicity – or simply email responses from – members of the press who don’t know you or recognize your name (YET!), but I’m going to help you change that in just a week!
That’s because the GOOD NEWS part of this newsflash is, you can actually flip the script and start making that “know and like” rule work in your favor. That means you can actually start getting known – and dare I say liked – very quickly and I’m going to show you exactly how, right here!
Being liked and known isn’t just important in life, it’s imperative when it comes to business and publicity success.
Members of the press and potential collaborative partners will open and answer emails, and often choose to work with people whose names they recognize, and whose businesses they know and like (again, even a little bit).
That can intimidate entrepreneurs and small business owners who are doing their own publicity work before they even try to take action, especially when they are trying to build relationships with their target, “dream” local and national media outlets.
Today I’m sharing three foolproof steps to get into media relationships building mode quickly so you can get to that publicity faster as well.
So fast, in fact, that if you commit to following and attempting all three by this time next week you will have made significant progress when it comes to relationship building, and YOU WILL FEEL IT!
Below you’ll find 3 strategies you can start using this week, each of which comes with an explanation and then a specific step you can take to “activate” that strategy.
If at any time you feel stuck or have a question, just tag me in our Press for Success Facebook community or follow me on Instagram for some real-time tips!
“Pick Three”: Get Clear on Who You’re Reaching & Get Laser Focused
THREE EASY STEPS my friends, that’s all that stands between you and starting next week much closer to high-value relationships with the media that could propel you into major business success.
Before I lay out my simple, proven-successful moves I want you to make, you need to choose WHO you’ll be laser-focusing in on connecting with this week. Your guiding thoughts when making those selections?
START SMALL
I highly suggest you “pick three” when it comes to media relationship building and avoid adding countless, barely-researched names onto the list. You want to actually make contact, make an impact, make progress, and enjoy the process. You do not want to add too much to your already busy workload.
Choose 2-3 people in the press at a time to start engaging with, you can always add more depending on your business needs, bandwidth, and how that initial engagement is going.
CONNECT ACROSS PLATFORMS
My opinion? If you want to avoid your business being a “one-hit wonder”, you want its name and story appearing across platforms which means you should pick your targets from different types of media. You have so many options to work with – magazines, dot-coms, television, radio, podcasts, local, national – there are so many “media homes” a.k.a. amazing opportunities to share your story!
CHOOSE ACTIVE ENGAGERS
For this step to work, you’re going to have to connect with your targets on social media (Instagram, or if they’re not there Twitter). With that in mind, remember that if the media targets you select haven’t been active for months on Instagram (or Twitter) you may want to consider choosing another target for this specific relationship-building exercise.
CREATE VISIBLE REMINDERS OF YOUR TARGETS
Once you’ve made your selections, write their names on a PostIt you can stick on your computer, or pop them into your PR Home Base planning calendar in their designated space (a template you have access to if you’re a PR Program or All Access student).
You may even want to temporarily set alerts on your target’s Instagram feeds so you can be notified when they post, should you want to engage with them there and not miss a beat!
Again, one more time for the people in the back: Do NOT choose too many people to connect with! The people who complain about wanting to go beyond three targets and choose to add 15 people to their laser-focused outreach list are often the people who end up taking action with ZERO targets in the end!
Make Actual Impact with your Social Media Interaction:
Are you wasting time on Instagram thinking you’re getting noticed by people you want to connect with when in truth, you’re barely showing up as a blip on their radar?
Simply following someone you hope to connect and engage with isn’t cutting it these days.
Most of the people you hope to pursue (whether members of the press, influencers, potential brand partners) aren’t getting overly excited when they get a new follower or heart, but leave a comment on something they cared enough to share in a static post or DM them via an IG-story and that interaction is going to register.
How do I know this?
Because I’ve been on BOTH sides of the fence and have grown (several) high impact relationships with members of the media AND business owners who have sought to connect with me, through the magic of Instagram DM’s and comments.
IT WORKS if you’re authentic and consistent. If you’re not, you’re simply wasting everyone’s time.
Start interacting the right way with your media targets and your name (or your business name) – no matter how small you are/where you live/how small your marketing budget – is going to start registering.
Perhaps they’ll even start following you back (I’ve seen this happen to several students!) Even if they don’t, when you eventually move your interaction over to email, there will be more familiarity there and because of this, more of a likelihood of a response coming your way!
Send Out a Praise Email or Praise Post to Your Media Target
Now that you’ve decided the WHO in terms of your laser-focused media relationship building and begun your high-value social media engagement, it’s time to bring it home with a PR play that simply asks you to be authentic, be specific and strategic, and be consistently tapped into the content your media targets are creating in order to send a very simple email (or social media post) PRAISING them for their work.
This form of communication is all praise no pitch, it’s simply complimenting them – authentically and specifically – about their work. This could mean letting a fashion editor that you’re hoping to connect with know you loved their spring trends layout in their magazine, letting a blogger know what you liked about a recent mom entrepreneur round-up, or even a quick shout out to a local newspaper reporter who covered something that really resonated with you.
This PR power strategy works in two ways: First, it ensures that your initial connections with your media targets are positive and clearly display that you follow their work (without asking for anything in return), and because you have to consume their work before complimenting them (obvs!) it’s going to train you to actually research and get to know the content that you hope to end up in! WIN WIN WIN!
Want to read more about praise emails and posts? This quick read will walk you through it!
A quick and important P.S. regarding this tactic:
Some of you will do this because you trust me, and you know that I only teach you PR tactics and strategies that work. Others will think to themselves, “Praise emails and posts? Too basic/I have no time for that/That will never work” and because of those excuses, they’ll never try it. STRIVE TO BE THE FIRST PERSON!
THERE YOU HAVE IT: THREE SIMPLE STEPS!
Three simple steps, a world of PR possibilities and relationships waiting for you!
As you take action (come on, give it a try!) please be sure you tag me and keep me posted on your progress. Find me via @SabinaKnows on Instagram and be sure you use the hashtag #PressforSuccess when you reach out!
Remember that anytime you need real-time strategic (LIVE) support, ongoing PR Opportunities and media “how to work with me” interviews, streaming video trainings and more, our Press for Success All-Access membership awaits you!!!
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