Public Relations 101

by | May 3, 2022 | 0 comments

Public relations is about putting yourself and your business in the spotlight. It is an arm of marketing many people don’t utilize to the fullest extent — or at all! It is incredibly valuable and the only investment you need to make is time.

Transcript
Kimberly Beer:

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Jaz:

Welcome to The Business Animal podcast. Saddle up for a

Jaz:

gallop to the top of the animal industry. Where you'll learn how

Jaz:

to tame your wild business beast, with tips, techniques,

Jaz:

and tools that will take overwhelm to obedience school,

Jaz:

and have you wagging your tail with joy. And now your hosts,

Jaz:

Kim Beer and Cara Taylor Swift.

Kimberly Beer:

Hey there business animals, it's Kim with

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Be More Business

Cara Taylor Swift:

and Cara with Fast Horse photography.

Kimberly Beer:

Welcome to The Business Animal. Today's subject

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is public relations. And here's a little known Kim fact. I

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actually did public relations for two community colleges

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before well, actually kind of an in between my college career and

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becoming an entrepreneur. So I don't talk a lot about my public

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relations experience and I think it came as a shock to Cara when

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I brought this episode up.

Cara Taylor Swift:

It did I feel like the things that you have

Cara Taylor Swift:

done in your past are just endless. And you know, you're

Cara Taylor Swift:

not that much older than me. So like you've just had this

Cara Taylor Swift:

expansive history and endless stuff that you've done. And here

Cara Taylor Swift:

I am. And, you know, I've had a couple of careers and you've had

Cara Taylor Swift:

just a plethora of them. Always amazed. I'm like what you did

Cara Taylor Swift:

that too?

Kimberly Beer:

Well, I think that's a function of not knowing

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what I wanted to be when I grew up. And I just basically went on

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a smorgasbord buffet of let's try it all and see what sticks

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to the wall. So

Cara Taylor Swift:

It's just given you a great bag of tricks

Cara Taylor Swift:

too, I mean, like you've learned so much by dipping your toes in

Cara Taylor Swift:

all of the different waters. You know, I just think it's such a

Cara Taylor Swift:

cool thing that you bring to the table.

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I love it, too. It definitely has been helpful.

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And I'll tell you these few years that I spent doing the

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public relations stuff for the community colleges. It

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definitely taught me a lot about how to utilize this incredible

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opportunity we have for what some people consider free, I

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don't consider it free, but basically free publicity or free

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marketing. By utilizing public relations, which is where you're

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getting out into the world and making yourself known. And

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there's a lot of different ways to go about this. In this

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particular episode, we're really going to narrow in and focus on

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a unique aspect of it that I struggle with knowing how many

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people do not do this. So they don't even consider it a

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possibility. But we're going to be talking about news outlets

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and public relations that you're going to do in partnership with

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another organization or another resource that you may not have

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considered before. I know that like Cara when we brought up the

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topic, Cara immediately thought of social media as a public

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relations tool. And to an extent I agree with that. But this is

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not what we're going to talk about today we're going to talk

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about PR in a little bit of a different way. So it's important

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to utilize this very valuable resource in your business, which

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is you and your business. So our big three, let me dive into that

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because I'm going to get off topic. So our big three for this

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episode is, first of all, define your PR possibilities, what is

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available out there for you? What kind of outlets can you

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approach, what resources what things would really work for you

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and what is currently available to you. The second is to really

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establish what you can bring to the table? How can you serve and

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be part of this partnered relationship with the

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possibilities that you come up with in big three number one?

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And then finally, how do you reach out to these outlets? How

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do you go about taking that first step into creating the

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public relations that you would like to have out into the world?

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What are your thoughts around PR?

Cara Taylor Swift:

I think this can be really scary, Kim. I

Cara Taylor Swift:

think it can be really scary for animal and equine, pet based

Cara Taylor Swift:

business owners. I just I think if you're a small business

Cara Taylor Swift:

owner, sometimes you have a tendency to think about the work

Cara Taylor Swift:

that you do and your business and the problems that you solve

Cara Taylor Swift:

maybe as not being newsworthy if that makes sense. Like you can't

Cara Taylor Swift:

it's really difficult sometimes to compete with the bigger

Cara Taylor Swift:

stories that are happening in the world or even with just

Cara Taylor Swift:

bigger businesses. So I know for me sometimes it's a it's a

Cara Taylor Swift:

struggle to really kind of flip that script and think to myself,

Cara Taylor Swift:

Okay, what problem am I solving? What can I share about what part

Cara Taylor Swift:

of my story would be something that's newsworthy? And I think

Cara Taylor Swift:

that is what you and I are hoping is to encourage small

Cara Taylor Swift:

businesses like ours to consider this an option for your

Cara Taylor Swift:

business.

Kimberly Beer:

Absolutely.

Cara Taylor Swift:

It's like you said, I don't think many people

Cara Taylor Swift:

take the time to actually do a lot of these things. So I'm

Cara Taylor Swift:

excited to hear your take on it as someone who's worked in this

Cara Taylor Swift:

field for a while, and also, you know, just kind of discuss ways

Cara Taylor Swift:

we've done this in the past.

Kimberly Beer:

Yeah, I want to approach what you said about it

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being scary or not feeling like you're newsworthy when we take a

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look at what is the news really about? It's about people, and

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you, my friend or a person and your business serves people. And

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so when we look at the bigger scheme of what is what is

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newsworthy, anything that's a story about an individual is

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newsworthy, because that connects us all. If we look at

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our base human desires, it's to be part of this larger

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community. It's to feel like where we fit in and to kind of

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assess where where we are in the bigger picture. And the news is

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really there to help us be part of that. And the stories of

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humans are often the best stories on the news, because

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those are the ones that we can relate to. So every one is

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newsworthy, everyone is worthy of public relations and being

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featured on different outlets. So let's dive into that first

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one, like what the heck are we really talking about here in

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concrete terms? Because I know people banter around the word PR

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and then it's like, well, what does that really flippin mean?

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It means newspapers. It means podcasts. It means YouTube

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shows. It means morning TV shows. It means speaking

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engagements. It means becoming an influencer or being featured

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with being an influencer feature on an influencers program. It's

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guest blogging, it's 100 different ways for you to reach

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an audience that another outlet has. And for that outlet to

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bring you to their audience for enrichment and enlightenment. So

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what's available to you out there? If you're in a small

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town, I live in a small town, our newspaper is still kind of

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important. We still have a newspaper, and the newspaper

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features stories, right? And In my, our newspaper is a small

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town newspaper, it's not going to put in information about the

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major political events taking on in the world. It's that's not

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its job. Its job is to serve the community that it is in and my

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business is part of that community. And your business is

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part of the community wherever you live. So does your town have

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a newspaper? If you're in a big city, this is a little bit more

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of a difficulty. If it's in a small town, trust me, believe

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me, you it's mostly slow news days. In Adrian, Missouri. It's

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just there's very few big news days and Adrian, Missouri. So do

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you have a newspaper in your to St. Augustine is pretty big

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isn't it?

Cara Taylor Swift:

I would say we're considered a small town,

Cara Taylor Swift:

we're probably I mean, we're bigger than the the average,

Cara Taylor Swift:

like tiny town. I don't remember what our population is. But I

Cara Taylor Swift:

mean, growing by the day over here, but we do have a

Cara Taylor Swift:

newspaper, we have a local newspaper. And we also have some

Cara Taylor Swift:

local magazines that are in our community that are geared around

Cara Taylor Swift:

community events, and those types of things. So we

Cara Taylor Swift:

definitely have options. One of the things that I try to think

Cara Taylor Swift:

about when I think about PR possibilities and confidence

Cara Taylor Swift:

level as small business owners is that all of these outlets,

Cara Taylor Swift:

the newspapers, the podcast, I mean, we know as podcasters, the

Cara Taylor Swift:

YouTube shows, they need the content. They need it as bad as

Cara Taylor Swift:

we need them to use us. They need to fill space, they need to

Cara Taylor Swift:

entertain their audience, they need to be read and to be

Cara Taylor Swift:

watched whatever they're listened to. And they and they

Cara Taylor Swift:

need the content, and we are content for them.

Kimberly Beer:

Absolutely. And content is hard, right? For

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those of you who are doing social media, you know, the day

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after day after day after day after day grind of coming up

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with something to say on your social media channels is hard.

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Now imagine that if it's your only your job to be able to put

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out information into your community or to your your

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resources. We talked about newspapers as part of a local

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town, but there's also news sources that serve industries or

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communities that are outside of maybe a location based

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community. So there's trade magazines, if you serve a trade

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audience with a product or a service. Wow, that's a big

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opportunity for you. Let's say your pet or animal based

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business is building websites for dog grooming businesses.

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There's specific news outlets, information outlets that serve

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the community of dog groomers in the world. That's a place you

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need to have a featured story on you or you need to bring

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something to them that can be established. Now we're going to

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get more to that in the second step of this and the second of

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the big three. But that's a way to think about it too. There's

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industry stuff, there's communities that are interested

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together. So, and nothing is too big or too small, so you can

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approach big news outlets. And sometimes if you have a good

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enough story, and it's a slow news day, you can find yourself

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on the morning cable TV talk show, or even maybe something

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bigger than that. Or you can find yourself on a podcast that

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serves a certain community featured in a magazine that

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serves a certain community magazines now are no longer just

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in print, they're also digital as well. Becoming a guest

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blogger or being able to speak at an event where your expertise

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is showcased to a group or an industry or a community

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audience. All of these are places that you should be mining

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as a good business person, to get your business represented

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and to serve the community that you're serving.

Cara Taylor Swift:

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Cara Taylor Swift:

your equine based product or service, or create a unique way

Cara Taylor Swift:

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Cara Taylor Swift:

Yeah, I really liked that idea of starting, you know, you don't

Cara Taylor Swift:

have to think like primetime news. But you can even think

Cara Taylor Swift:

like, what is my industry? Like? What are some of the leading

Cara Taylor Swift:

news outlets or places that I get information for my industry?

Cara Taylor Swift:

And how can I reach out to them and provide something of value

Cara Taylor Swift:

that they'd want to write about or talk about or that their

Cara Taylor Swift:

viewers or listeners would want to hear about? And I think start

Cara Taylor Swift:

even just starting small with something in your local area or

Cara Taylor Swift:

in your industry is a great place to start? If you're like

Cara Taylor Swift:

me, and you get anxious about like, Oh, what do people want to

Cara Taylor Swift:

do they really want to hear from me, you know, start small start

Cara Taylor Swift:

with those folks that you know, are your audience and have an

Cara Taylor Swift:

interest in what you're talking about?

Kimberly Beer:

Well, the truth is, is that we're talking to

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animal and pet based businesses primarily in this conversation.

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And almost every family, almost every human has a pet in their

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life, pet industry is huge, it is huge. And so you have the

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ability to bring in to that newspaper, or that podcast or

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that magazine, something that serves a very large number of

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people, which is really what they want. They're looking for

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things that can bring readers or viewers or participants into

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whatever it is that they're promoting out into the world.

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Because the more people that get in there and like it and engage

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with it, the happier their sponsors are going to be who pay

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their bills. So that's a big thing. And so you've got a lot

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of reasons to do this. So what do you do first? The very first

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thing you need to do is you need to establish what you can bring

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to the table. So public relationships is a partnership,

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it has to be beneficial to all parties. In other words, you

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have to get something out of it, but so does the outlet that is

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featuring you to their audience. In this case, what you're going

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to do is you're going to bring your expertise to the table and

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your host is going to use it to enrich their audience's

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experience. When you go to approach a potential PR source

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for you are become a source. Technically you are a source and

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they are the outlet. But when you go to approach their outlet,

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you want to know ahead of time, what is it that you can do for

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them, don't just go in blindly and say I would like for your

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newspaper to write an article on me or I want to be on your

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podcast or you know, I have me as a guest on your YouTube show.

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You want to eventually ask those questions, but you want to tell

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them what it is that you can do for them. And I know for us as

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podcast hosts, one of the things that we look for when people

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approach us to be featured on the show is what can they bring

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to our audience like what is it and we're much more apt to get

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excited about a guest when they have a very clear idea of what

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they want to share with our Our listeners, because it's our job

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as podcast hosts to make sure our listeners get the best

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possible information. And so that's what we're looking for

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from our guests. Wouldn't you agree, Cara?

Cara Taylor Swift:

Yeah, absolutely. And it's funny

Cara Taylor Swift:

because I think you and I think about this from both sides of

Cara Taylor Swift:

it, because we are actively working both sides of it both

Cara Taylor Swift:

for our small businesses, but also because we have audiences

Cara Taylor Swift:

with the podcasts, both this one and cowgirls with cameras that

Cara Taylor Swift:

we need good content for that will help and will be

Cara Taylor Swift:

entertaining for the people that are listening. So it's

Cara Taylor Swift:

interesting when you think about it from both sides, and I can

Cara Taylor Swift:

really see the clear picture for me, what are the things that

Cara Taylor Swift:

helps make reaching out about PR, which I know we're going to

Cara Taylor Swift:

talk about next. But one of the things that helps me, you know,

Cara Taylor Swift:

get excited about putting myself out there and putting myself out

Cara Taylor Swift:

into the world is thinking about building those relationships in

Cara Taylor Swift:

advance so that I feel like I already have a connection before

Cara Taylor Swift:

I reach out to try to get PR out into the world. So I think about

Cara Taylor Swift:

things like Who are those people in my industry that are writing

Cara Taylor Swift:

about it? Or that are talking about it? Or doing interviews?

Cara Taylor Swift:

And how can I how can I connect with them in some way? You know,

Cara Taylor Swift:

they're out there already routinely covering my industry.

Cara Taylor Swift:

So how do I connect with them, and then that way, when they're

Cara Taylor Swift:

looking for a story, or they're seeking ideas, that may be my

Cara Taylor Swift:

business will be on the forefront of their minds, when

Cara Taylor Swift:

they're putting that out there. There are some people in my

Cara Taylor Swift:

industry, I feel like that do this really well. And because

Cara Taylor Swift:

they do it really well, because they've done the work and made

Cara Taylor Swift:

those connections. A lot of times, they're the people that I

Cara Taylor Swift:

see getting picked up to be on podcast episodes or to be

Cara Taylor Swift:

featured on YouTube channels or on the network. So I just I

Cara Taylor Swift:

think that piece of it can be really big.

Kimberly Beer:

Absolutely. And that brings me to a big

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suggestion for people do your research know what, like when

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you pick an outlet? Get to know that outlet? I can tell? I don't

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know if Cara can too. But I can tell when somebody approaches us

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to be a guest on the podcast, and they haven't listened to our

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podcast?

Cara Taylor Swift:

Absolutely.

Kimberly Beer:

I can tell by what they say it's a huge red

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flag to us, right? So,

Cara Taylor Swift:

Right

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you know, do your research, read it. And for all

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of those years that I worked in getting things put into

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magazines and getting featured stories, and all of that kind of

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stuff done. For other people. It's one of those things where

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you really do have to pay attention to what that

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particular outlet has done in the past. And when you make your

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pitch or when you decide what you're going to bring to the

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table for them, you have to look at what will really benefit them

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in their audience. And if you don't do your research ahead of

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time, you're not going to know that knowing what hole to fill

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is really good like identifying a gap in that particular outlets

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coverage of something and saying I could fit it right into that

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gap right there. And this would give a bigger picture to your

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audience. That's a huge benefit. Now, here's what I know is going

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to happen for you, you're going to look and go, oh my gosh, but

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that hole got filled by somebody else. And you've got to stop

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that thinking right then and there. Because holes can be

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filled in different ways. So your way may be unique, it may

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be a different approach, it may be contradictory, or adds

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another layer to somebody else's approach to filling that same

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gap. So definitely look into going ahead and filling those

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holes when you need to.

Cara Taylor Swift:

So one of the things that I think about when

Cara Taylor Swift:

I'm trying to identify how like a hole could be filled, or how

Cara Taylor Swift:

my journey as a business owner can be beneficial to one of

Cara Taylor Swift:

these outlets. As I start with my story, as a business owner, I

Cara Taylor Swift:

don't think that any of us out there are probably going to get

Cara Taylor Swift:

a lot of PR just by being really, really good at our

Cara Taylor Swift:

business or being really good at what we do. A lot of times,

Cara Taylor Swift:

that's not what they're looking for. It's our story that will

Cara Taylor Swift:

get the attention. It's the story of how we got started, why

Cara Taylor Swift:

we felt the need to be in this business, focusing on the

Cara Taylor Swift:

problem that we're fixing or helping with and really

Cara Taylor Swift:

identifying those people out there and or animals out there

Cara Taylor Swift:

that we're trying to serve in bringing the issue around that

Cara Taylor Swift:

to light. So you know, in it could be something like how do

Cara Taylor Swift:

you get back to your community? And of course, what problem do

Cara Taylor Swift:

you solve? But really, really thinking about that type of

Cara Taylor Swift:

thing. And bringing that to light is a great place to start.

Cara Taylor Swift:

What do you think about that? Kim?

Kimberly Beer:

I think that is a fantastic place to start.

Kimberly Beer:

Because remember what I said at the beginning of this episode,

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all of these outlets need to share human stories. News is

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news because it's about human beings and the personal stories,

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the ones that are the closest to that industry, they're the ones

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that are going to make the biggest impact and that's what

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these outlets are looking for is they're looking to make impact.

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So yes, sharing your story focusing on what's unique about

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you talking about the problem that you solve and giving back

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are all pieces and sharing your own personal story. And we did a

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whole episode on why you should share your story more here very

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recently. So if you haven't listened to that one, maybe go

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back and listen to it because I think it is really important for

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people to understand and hopefully it'll waylay a little

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the those fears that you have about reaching out to these

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outlets. Trust me on something these people want to hear from

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you. This is not you pestering them or bugging them or asking

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for a freebie or a handout. This is you really stepping up to the

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plate for helping your community, whatever community

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that is that you serve. So it's almost what I would consider an

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obligation in part of your mission to be able to do this.

Kimberly Beer:

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marketing. After three decades of working with small business

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bemorebusiness.com to request your session today. That's

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B-E-M-O-R-E business.com. See you there.

Cara Taylor Swift:

And I would add that we need to be world

Cara Taylor Swift:

aware, like what's happening in the world around us? And how

Cara Taylor Swift:

does your little niche in this world fit into that? And how can

Cara Taylor Swift:

you contribute to things that are happening in the world

Cara Taylor Swift:

around us, like a great example I like to give is when I think

Cara Taylor Swift:

about like the holiday seasons, for example. So an article that

Cara Taylor Swift:

I did for a local paper that was focused on the horse industry

Cara Taylor Swift:

was something really simple. It was coming up on the holidays,

Cara Taylor Swift:

and I wrote an article five ways to photograph your horse better,

Cara Taylor Swift:

for your Christmas card this year. And it's a very simple way

Cara Taylor Swift:

that I could contribute. And you know, Kim mentioned at the very

Cara Taylor Swift:

top of this episode, you know, this is not where you are

Cara Taylor Swift:

selling something, and I wasn't selling something I was

Cara Taylor Swift:

providing some information, I was giving some tips, I was

Cara Taylor Swift:

putting myself out there kind of as an expert in the industry by

Cara Taylor Swift:

putting that out into the world and making it available. So try

Cara Taylor Swift:

to think about what you do, how it relates to things that are

Cara Taylor Swift:

happening in the world around you. And then because remember,

Cara Taylor Swift:

if there's something happening, people are reading about it. And

Cara Taylor Swift:

if you can be a voice in that in some way or connects yourself in

Cara Taylor Swift:

a positive way, that's a great opportunity to get picked up.

Cara Taylor Swift:

Because if it's something that is big and outlets are wanting

Cara Taylor Swift:

to write about it, they're going to be looking for stories that

Cara Taylor Swift:

are related to it.

Kimberly Beer:

Absolutely. So are we ready to move on to let

Kimberly Beer:

people know how to start this process?

Cara Taylor Swift:

Yeah, I think that's a good, I think we're in

Cara Taylor Swift:

a good place for that.

Kimberly Beer:

Awesome. So a lot of you may be wondering, how do

Kimberly Beer:

you actually get this to work? How do you put yourself out

Kimberly Beer:

there for this to happen. And the best thing to do is once

Kimberly Beer:

you've established what it is that you're going to bring to

Kimberly Beer:

the table and you've thought about the outlets that you would

Kimberly Beer:

like to reach out to you can use some very traditional methods to

Kimberly Beer:

do this. Press releases are a very traditional way for you to

Kimberly Beer:

do it. Traditional news outlets still kind of expect those press

Kimberly Beer:

releases. And I'm gonna say "kind of expect" because I think

Kimberly Beer:

they understand that when you're a small business and you are

Kimberly Beer:

reaching out, you may not know all of the ins and outs of how

Kimberly Beer:

to present yourself professionally in public

Kimberly Beer:

relations. And most small businesses are not going to hire

Kimberly Beer:

a PR firm, right? So I think they offer you a lot of grace.

Kimberly Beer:

So don't feel like super uncomfortable. If you don't know

Kimberly Beer:

how to write a press release, it's okay, send an email or pick

Kimberly Beer:

up the phone and call the reporter or the host. I mean, I

Kimberly Beer:

think there are great people that approached us about being

Kimberly Beer:

on the podcast that they don't send us any kind of like a

Kimberly Beer:

formal offer. What they do, however, is send a heartfelt

Kimberly Beer:

email that says I've listened to your show, here's what I see

Kimberly Beer:

that I could bring to your show and to your listeners. Would you

Kimberly Beer:

be interested in having a deeper conversation? That's all you

Kimberly Beer:

need to do. Don't overthink this because if you get to

Kimberly Beer:

overthinking it, you're never going to put your toe out there

Kimberly Beer:

in the water. So don't overthink it if what you need to do is to

Kimberly Beer:

just simply reach out with an email to the morning TV host and

Kimberly Beer:

say I have this really cool business that we serve this

Kimberly Beer:

certain audience and I know that your listeners or your viewers

Kimberly Beer:

would be interested in what I have to say around to this and

Kimberly Beer:

hey, I've got animals and believe me you news outlets are

Kimberly Beer:

really aware that pets bring people to the to anything that

Kimberly Beer:

they do. Right? Animals are this natural attractant for humans

Kimberly Beer:

and trust me, that's who they're trying to get into there. A

Kimberly Beer:

couple of tips that I do have for this, if you do you want to

Kimberly Beer:

do speaking like on a large stage basis, you're gonna have

Kimberly Beer:

to have a speaker kit and I think we'll try to do an episode

Kimberly Beer:

about this in the near future about how to dip your toe into

Kimberly Beer:

speaking it's some thing that I have a lot of knowledge around.

Kimberly Beer:

And I absolutely love to do. So we'll grab on to that at a at a

Kimberly Beer:

point in the future. But more than that, it's about being a

Kimberly Beer:

good partner in this relationship. So be aware that

Kimberly Beer:

these places these outlets that you're reaching out, they have

Kimberly Beer:

deadlines that they have to meet. And those deadlines, they

Kimberly Beer:

don't have a ton of wiggle room. So if it's a magazine or a

Kimberly Beer:

newspaper, it's got to be at a press at a certain time. And

Kimberly Beer:

it's got to go through this whole process of designing and,

Kimberly Beer:

and planning and all of those kinds of things. So be super

Kimberly Beer:

deadline aware. Also be aware of the fact that many of them plan

Kimberly Beer:

their content months or a year in advance. So you need to be

Kimberly Beer:

aware that you may not be like right on the immediate

Kimberly Beer:

publication side of things. So reach out, don't don't try to

Kimberly Beer:

time a reach out. If you have an idea, go ahead and reach out

Kimberly Beer:

with that idea. And then be be very cognizant of taking this

Kimberly Beer:

seriously. I understand for a lot of people that there's fear

Kimberly Beer:

around it. But there's also sort of this mindset of this is a

Kimberly Beer:

free advertising piece. And I really want to kibosh that take

Kimberly Beer:

it really seriously be on time to your meetings, pay attention,

Kimberly Beer:

listen to what the outlet is asking you to do. If they edit

Kimberly Beer:

your stuff, you know, be conscientious about saying

Kimberly Beer:

that's okay, or whatever, whatever they ask you to do. Do

Kimberly Beer:

it with grace and on a timely manner. Because believe me, they

Kimberly Beer:

will love you for it. And they will ask you to come back. And

Kimberly Beer:

that's the best part, right? Because once you build the

Kimberly Beer:

relationship, then you can come back again and again and again,

Kimberly Beer:

and reach that same resource. And then you become a trusted

Kimberly Beer:

resource for whatever outlet it is. And you don't even hardly

Kimberly Beer:

have to work. They'll be knocking on your door saying,

Kimberly Beer:

can we feature you? Can we talk more? So yeah, be professional?

Cara Taylor Swift:

Yeah, I think that's the biggest thing. I

Cara Taylor Swift:

mean, you are a business owner, and you need to represent

Cara Taylor Swift:

yourself as a professional in all of your communications. And

Cara Taylor Swift:

they're business owners as well. They're on deadlines, just like

Cara Taylor Swift:

you've got deadlines. So if you want to be respected, and you

Cara Taylor Swift:

want to be asked to do it again, you want to make sure that you

Cara Taylor Swift:

take their deadlines seriously and try to work within them. So

Cara Taylor Swift:

that makes a lot of sense, Kim, good point. Now you have

Cara Taylor Swift:

something here where you're talking about helping a reporter

Cara Taylor Swift:

Out? Can you explain that for us?

Kimberly Beer:

Yes. So it's basically a service is what I

Kimberly Beer:

guess I would call it, it's called a HARO, H-A-R-O and that

Kimberly Beer:

stands for Help a Reporter Out, if you just Google that, you'll

Kimberly Beer:

be able to find them. And they send out a daily digest of

Kimberly Beer:

emails. So outlets and organizations like magazines,

Kimberly Beer:

news shows, documentaries, all kinds of things. They're always

Kimberly Beer:

looking for experts in certain fields. And so they'll put in a

Kimberly Beer:

request into HARO, and then HARO sends out a daily digest to you

Kimberly Beer:

based upon the criteria that you say I'm an expert in this, this,

Kimberly Beer:

this and this. And so if anybody requests an expert in those

Kimberly Beer:

areas, you'll get a digest from HARO that says, we're looking

Kimberly Beer:

for this person. So it could be maybe there's a magazine, a

Kimberly Beer:

women's magazine that wants to talk about grooming your dog,

Kimberly Beer:

right. So they've got you know, pet care or something is the

Kimberly Beer:

focus of a certain article. So they'll be looking for dog

Kimberly Beer:

groomers to talk about grooming tips, that kind of thing. So I'm

Kimberly Beer:

not going to tell you that every single day is going to be filled

Kimberly Beer:

up with things that would be pertinent to you. But joining

Kimberly Beer:

HARO, or putting yourself on the list is really a good first step

Kimberly Beer:

into starting to even understand what these news outlets are

Kimberly Beer:

looking for, and how you might be able to tailor something to

Kimberly Beer:

fit what they have. So I suggest you go check that out. Another

Kimberly Beer:

place that I want to mention, if you're in the equine industry,

Kimberly Beer:

there's the American Horse Publications, membership. So

Kimberly Beer:

this is a place where a lot of the news and magazine and those

Kimberly Beer:

kinds of outlets, they are members of American Horse

Kimberly Beer:

Publications. And the AHP, as it's called, has a service where

Kimberly Beer:

they will push your press releases out to their email list

Kimberly Beer:

so that you get seen in that area. So if you have those

Kimberly Beer:

formal press releases, and you're speaking to the equine

Kimberly Beer:

industry, this can be a great place for you to be able to go

Kimberly Beer:

ahead and publish those out and offer yourself up. That said,

Kimberly Beer:

you can't just it's like any kind of marketing or advertising

Kimberly Beer:

for your business. You can't just like stick it out there and

Kimberly Beer:

think that people will just automatically do it you

Kimberly Beer:

oftentimes if it's the place you want to have your stuff done.

Kimberly Beer:

You've got to chase the person down and send the private emails

Kimberly Beer:

and find out you know who's in charge of what do your due

Kimberly Beer:

diligence and getting yourself on the radar for them.

Cara Taylor Swift:

I would add that there's some options out

Cara Taylor Swift:

there for people who want to be on podcasts as well on social

Cara Taylor Swift:

media if you go onto Facebook and just do a simple search

Cara Taylor Swift:

podcast guesting, there are multiple groups that are

Cara Taylor Swift:

dedicated to finding podcast guests or being like being a

Cara Taylor Swift:

podcast guests looking for podcast guests. So if that's

Cara Taylor Swift:

something that you think might be a good fit for your business,

Cara Taylor Swift:

there are a lot of great groups that are a great place to start

Cara Taylor Swift:

for that too. Absolutely. So one other little tool that I just

Cara Taylor Swift:

want to throw out there. Some of you guys may have already heard

Cara Taylor Swift:

about it, but it's called Google Alerts. And I have a little like

Cara Taylor Swift:

a Wikipedia definition of it here. It says Google Alerts is a

Cara Taylor Swift:

content change detection and notification service that's

Cara Taylor Swift:

offered by Google, this service sends emails to users when it

Cara Taylor Swift:

finds new results, such as web pages, newspaper articles,

Cara Taylor Swift:

blogs, research that matches the user's search term. So what that

Cara Taylor Swift:

actually means is that you can go into Google Alerts a simple

Cara Taylor Swift:

search on Google Go figure, it will take you right to Google

Cara Taylor Swift:

Alerts. And you can actually set up alerts to be sent to you when

Cara Taylor Swift:

something that you're interested in like a topic or even your own

Cara Taylor Swift:

name, or your business's name is written about or mentioned

Cara Taylor Swift:

online. So this is a really easy thing to do. I've set it up for

Cara Taylor Swift:

myself, you can go in, you can type in the name of your

Cara Taylor Swift:

business and add that as a search parameter you can put

Cara Taylor Swift:

your name in, you can also put in things in your industry, if

Cara Taylor Swift:

you want to, if anyone's writing about a particular topic, you

Cara Taylor Swift:

can put that in and it'll send you directly to your email kind

Cara Taylor Swift:

of a compiled list of recent articles that have come out. So

Cara Taylor Swift:

it's kind of a neat way to monitor your brand's reputation

Cara Taylor Swift:

if people are writing about you. And also you can monitor your

Cara Taylor Swift:

competitors that way, potentially, as well by putting

Cara Taylor Swift:

them in a search parameters. And what are they up to? What are

Cara Taylor Swift:

they talking about? What are other people in your industry

Cara Taylor Swift:

talking about or writing about? Who are the people that are

Cara Taylor Swift:

doing all the speaking so it's not perfect, I will tell you in

Cara Taylor Swift:

the time that I've been using it. And sometimes the search

Cara Taylor Swift:

results send me really weird things that feel really off

Cara Taylor Swift:

topic, but it's a computer system, and they're doing the

Cara Taylor Swift:

search, but it has also caught other things that I found really

Cara Taylor Swift:

interesting. So it might be worth giving it a try, for some

Cara Taylor Swift:

folks that haven't done that yet.

Kimberly Beer:

The off topic cracks me up. Because when I put

Kimberly Beer:

in Kimberly Beer, can you guess what kind of results I get?

Cara Taylor Swift:

Well, my last name is Taylor Swift. So if that

Cara Taylor Swift:

tells you anything, I feel it to my core.

Kimberly Beer:

I love it. I love it. Yep, I bet you do get some

Kimberly Beer:

Taylor Swift stuff in there. That is fascinating. Yeah, I get

Kimberly Beer:

a lot of things about beer.

Cara Taylor Swift:

So you got to play around with it, I think

Kimberly Beer:

You have to give it a lot more parameters when

Kimberly Beer:

you have something in your business name or your name that

Kimberly Beer:

is commonly associated with something else such as Taylor

Kimberly Beer:

Swift and beer drinking. So before we wrap up today, I want

Kimberly Beer:

to give you a couple of things that I consider red flags and in

Kimberly Beer:

public relations. And the biggest one is when a magazine

Kimberly Beer:

or an outlet asks you to pay to be a featured story. Paid PR is

Kimberly Beer:

not public relations. It's an ad. So I don't say there's

Kimberly Beer:

anything wrong with purchasing this. I also say that it's not

Kimberly Beer:

really public relations, which is not what we were talking

Kimberly Beer:

about today. So just be aware of when you do this, that there,

Kimberly Beer:

there are sometimes repercussions. News outlets are

Kimberly Beer:

always hurting for money. And so a lot of times they do offer

Kimberly Beer:

this ahead. And if you just decline and say No, they'll come

Kimberly Beer:

back with a different offer, right? Because they're always

Kimberly Beer:

looking for more advertisers. That's their that's their

Kimberly Beer:

paycheck. I don't think there's as much of a stigma to this as

Kimberly Beer:

there once was, but I would still consider it a red flag.

Kimberly Beer:

And I would really question whether or not it is an

Kimberly Beer:

appropriate source for you if they're asking for money in

Kimberly Beer:

exchange for them either writing about you or publishing

Kimberly Beer:

something that you've written. And I would take that really,

Kimberly Beer:

really seriously as something I would not step forward at least

Kimberly Beer:

without a lot of thought around it. And by the way, it may be

Kimberly Beer:

come in package of something like if you buy 10 ads will do

Kimberly Beer:

an article on you. And that's a little sketchy too. I think you

Kimberly Beer:

have to weigh those things situationally to know. The other

Kimberly Beer:

thing is that I would bring up as a red flag is if you have a

Kimberly Beer:

reporter or an interviewer who asks you to state some things

Kimberly Beer:

specifically, especially that you don't want 100% agree with,

Kimberly Beer:

I would decidedly have some pushback against that. So that's

Kimberly Beer:

another red flag that I would say you need to take a deeper

Kimberly Beer:

look at.

Cara Taylor Swift:

Those are some really good points Kim. I

Cara Taylor Swift:

hadn't even thought about that in terms of you know, the PR

Cara Taylor Swift:

work, so that's a really, really great thing because I've

Cara Taylor Swift:

definitely had magazines reach out to me and also news outlets,

Cara Taylor Swift:

just local news outlets reach out to me trying to get me to

Cara Taylor Swift:

pay to be in the publication and there was just something that

Cara Taylor Swift:

felt kind of icky about it. So I could see it being a great thing

Cara Taylor Swift:

if you want to pay for advertising but I understand

Cara Taylor Swift:

what you're saying about it not being PR. So I think that brings

Cara Taylor Swift:

us to a really good place to wrap us up for today. So just a

Cara Taylor Swift:

recap our big three, first of all, just spend some time

Cara Taylor Swift:

learning about what the PR possibilities in your community

Cara Taylor Swift:

already are, or even in your industry are. So start looking

Cara Taylor Swift:

for things like newspapers, podcast, opportunities,

Cara Taylor Swift:

magazines, YouTube shows, all of those things that are out there

Cara Taylor Swift:

that you might be interested in participating with, think about

Cara Taylor Swift:

all the things that you can bring to the table, you know,

Cara Taylor Swift:

where can you educate? Where can you share your expertise? Where

Cara Taylor Swift:

can you have really great conversation topics that the

Cara Taylor Swift:

folks out there that want to, you know, learn about you, but

Cara Taylor Swift:

also the folks out there that are accessing those outlets that

Cara Taylor Swift:

they might find entertaining. And third, actually work up the

Cara Taylor Swift:

courage to reach out to those outlets. For me, I was always

Cara Taylor Swift:

super nervous. So hopefully talking through some of this

Cara Taylor Swift:

today and giving you guys some ideas will give you guys some

Cara Taylor Swift:

new options around creating some PR for your business. So I think

Cara Taylor Swift:

that's it for us today. Just a reminder, we are on social media

Cara Taylor Swift:

at The Business Animal on Instagram and Facebook. We'd

Cara Taylor Swift:

love to hear from you guys, it can be really quiet over there

Cara Taylor Swift:

sometimes. So come hang out. Let us know what you think about the

Cara Taylor Swift:

show. If you haven't already rated and reviewed, please do

Cara Taylor Swift:

that on the listening app of your choice. This really does

Cara Taylor Swift:

help us out and helps the show get listened to by other folks.

Cara Taylor Swift:

So thank you so much.

Jaz:

Thanks for listening to this episode of The Business

Jaz:

Animal. Be sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode. And

Jaz:

if you learned something today, leave us a review. To learn

Jaz:

more. Find us at thebusinessanimal.com. We'd love

Jaz:

to hear from you. Until next time, keep your business well

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