This transcript was exported on Jul 09, 2022 - view latest version here.
Hi guys, welcome to our weekly Facebook live show. I'm Jen Beon. I'm the founder of generation PR and the creator of generation academy, which is all of our world of training and content and our community, the profitable PR pros, community, everything to support the PR community with honing your skills and becoming a pitching powerhouse, and then launching, growing and scaling a profitable profitable is the keyword, uh, PR agency on your terms, one that you love a business that you're super fired up about. Um, so that's me in a nutshell, that's what I do. And that's why I show up every single week to help you guys figure out all the things as it relates to your business and your pricing. Um, speaking of we just released a podcast episode this week that I think is really good. Um, hold on. I'll tell you exactly what it's called.
It's the most recent one. Oh, I might hear me talking on this. Hold on one sec also. Sorry. I'm a minute or two late. I got like kind of a cool email that I'm pretty excited about. Um, okay. Wait, hold on. Let me tell you it's, uh, LA LA LA LA LA seven ways to build your PR pricing confidence. So you get paid more. Um, I've actually gotten a few messages on LinkedIn and stuff saying that they felt it was really helpful and they were ready to make the shift from a freelancer mindset over to agency owner, or more confident about the value of the service they're providing and committing to value based pricing over hourly pricing or project based. Um, so if you've been hanging out here for any amount of time at all, you know, hi Nelson, you know, that that's, uh, like sort of the foundation of the, um, path to profitability framework that we teach inside the agency accelerator.
So that's a good episode for the podcast, if you wanna listen to it. I mean, even I was listening to it again. Yes. I listen to my own podcast. I like to hear how they're edited and, and I was like, you know what, there's some things here that I'm saying that are really good and really true. And I needed to be reminded of it myself and get back into that mindset when I price my services. Um, and so listen, I mean, it's like, we all know what we know, but sometimes you need a refresher and I guess even I need a refresher on the things that I'm saying to the community anyway. Um, and last week I was out, I mentioned to you guys that I was going to, uh, Yellowstone with my family, which was incredible. Anybody who's been kind of following along with what's happened there, there were these kind of once in a thousand year floods and major parts of the park were closed.
The south entrance was closed, but my husband he's ANMA, I mean, he just should have been a travel agent, although they're kind of obsolete now, but he figured out exactly the day to go and where to stay. And we ended up getting into the park the day that they opened. And thanks, Seren. Um, I noticed that you were doing some beautiful, um, you know, travel out in nature and I was totally drooling over your pictures. Um, and I think you said it was like the best trip you had ever taken. I've never been to that part of Canada. Um, it looked absolutely beautiful. So I loved all the pictures you shared. Um, but yeah, we drove into the park. The best part of it was maybe there's a lesson here. I guess we had thought about canceling. We were unsure when we were gonna be able to get in.
And if the lodge we were staying in inside the park would be open and my husband's planned and canceled this trip probably about four times. And he's said, you know what? We just have to go. We have to go, we've blocked out the time. And, um, let's just go. And he made a plan B, so he said, they're supposed to open on this day. I checked it out. They're still on track, but if they don't, we won't have a place to stay in Jackson hole, which is where we are gonna be. We flew into Idaho falls and then went to Jackson hole for a few nights. He said, I'm gonna make a plan B so that we can give them one day of, you know, grace, if, uh, there's a problem with them opening, but it ended up that they opened on time. And the P the beauty of it was the park was totally empty.
And I don't know if any of you have been, we've been making the rounds with the kids on the national parks, uh, Yosemite, which is my absolute favorite and Zion and Bryce canyon. So crowded and so busy that it's really hard to get lodging. And it's really hard to even drive around the park or get parking at the various hikes and the various waterfalls and things like that. This was a once in a lifetime experience being in the park, completely empty parking at every, you know, Geer in every, uh, waterfall and every hike, every Trailhead and the animals were out in full force. You know, I think that's why the bison were Goring people left and right. I think there were three bison Gorings while we were in Yellowstone for four days, obviously, not us, but, um, the animals got used to kind of being alone for two weeks.
So we saw bears, bear Cubs, elk. We saw moose, which I guess is pretty rare. We saw something that looked kind of like a coyote Wolf hybrid, um, deer elk, and we just hung back and, and looked at the animals and it was awesome. So I think the lesson here is, you know, go for it and maybe make a sort of plan B on something you're on the fence about, and that gives you the security to say, okay, if it doesn't happen the way it's supposed to, then we have another option. And if that doesn't work, then it's not meant to be, but it was so meant to be for us. And just having that experience in the number one national park in the country on the hundred and 50th anniversary of Yellowstone was supposed to be the busiest most crowded summer they've ever had.
And it was like 10% full and the lodge was empty and all the parking lots were empty. It was a really special experience. So not that the floods are a great thing, they're definitely not, but, um, you know, they bounced back quickly and it was beautiful. So that's where I was last week. But this week we are gonna be talking about characteristics that comms pros need to be successful. Um, you know, it's kind of funny cuz these titles sometimes are not exactly how I would word it. Um, but we pull content based on questions that people are asking in this community. And also we look at search volume. Um, this is a big thing now is even regular publishers are choosing stories and choosing products to feature based on data based on search volume. So we are always looking to make our headlines SEO optimized.
So maybe I wouldn't totally say it. I think it says like, um, uh, the eight public relations characteristics, all comms pros need to be successful. That has a very high, um, like score and Co-Schedule for SEO optimization means people are searching for that. But I think we're just gonna talk about in general characteristics, quality skills that all comps pros can benefit from having and, um, you know, we're all different in our own ways, but there are a certain few factors that are pretty consistent across the board, at least in our community. And you know, the folks that I know that are here. So if the title sounds a little wacky, that's because it's all geared towards search, you know, we're doing the best we can and it's not necessarily how I would speak, but it's how we are going to ensure that the most people that need this content will find it.
So if you ever wondered why our titles are a little bit like searchy written, that's why, uh, but let's chat about this. Let me jump down to my notes. So if you are thinking about making a leap into PR or you're already doing PR, maybe you're freelancing or you're in house somewhere, and you're thinking about making the leap to your own agency or you're upgrading from being a freelancer to an agency owner, or you're leaving, you know, your role in house. Um, and you wonder what it takes for a PR pro to thrive. Um, we're gonna talk about those factors and there are things that are inherent and innate in you and there's things that you can also learn. And I think that there is a lot of, you know, I've been in the 17 years and the whole time people have been saying, the sky is following the sky is following media's dying and it hasn't died.
It's changed. And I think the biggest change all along was the sort of, um, you know, shrinking of opportunities in print and like massive explosion and opportunities in digital. And we've always looked at that as a positive, but I'd say now more than ever, um, there are pretty major changes that it doesn't mean media is dying or PR is obsolete. It doesn't, it means there are new rules to the game and we are going to learn those roles so we can play the game at a high level and get results for our clients. Um, so you know, the biggest one in my space, which is, uh, brand product promotion is the necessity to have a well converting opportunity for affiliate revenue. That's just a given, um, last year it was like nice to have this year. It is a must have. And maybe even the number one factor, like I said, media companies will never, uh, and pardon of me?
Um, uh, what was I saying? Um, media companies need to make revenue from their stories that they're featuring and it has to be quick and it has to be, you know, a certain amount to cover their expenses. Um, it's shifting away from traditional advertising now it's paid partnerships and, um, you know, the affiliate revenue and for anyone who wants to learn specifically what I'm talking about, I actually did a masterclass on this inside the pitch lab that was all about pitching for holiday gift guides, but it was, uh, kicked off with this concept of why affiliate marketing is more relevant than ever when it comes to securing media features and what to do about it. And we actually had a call with a client yesterday and I walked through the entire, um, part of the presentation about that. And she's like, this is so eyeopening.
And we have a lot to think about. So if you're curious, what I'm talking about, um, there is a pro there is a masterclass inside the pitch lab, and then we are also having an expert come into the pitch lab next week and give us kind of a state of the state. So we really understand what's happening from the media perspective. So, you know, I have all these things here that I'll go through, but I think number one, we have to be, um, on the ball on top of our game, you know, be experts in what we do so that we are ahead of the trends we are building in the changes into our strategies for clients. So we're serving them the best. And there was no greater example of that for me and my agency and our PR community than this, um, huge shift towards paid features in terms of revenue generating through affiliate links and what that has to look like, what are the factors that are important?
Um, what's the dollar amount that is gonna move the needle for them. What is the preferred platform? What is the commission percentage that matters that will get them to pay attention to you? Who do you talk to, to get these features that tie back to affiliate revenue? We covered all of that. So if you're interested in learning more, you know, let me know here, and I'll give you a link to reach out to my team and learn about the, um, oh hi Nick, um, to learn about the, uh, pitch lab, but we're gonna dive into these qualities, characteristics skills that PR pros have that will help you find success. And if some of these are a little bit lacking, then maybe jot it down and we can talk about how you can improve some of these skills. The first one is being responsive. I think this is maybe one of our major superpowers or one of the things that sets us apart, um, that clients always comment on.
So if you're a good PR professional, you cannot take forever to respond. It looks unprofessional, slow, it lacks an urgency, and it can cost you valuable media relationships and potential future clients and features. So being responsive in every way, whether it's communicating with your current or potential clients responding quickly to media, um, pros, editors, freelancers for their requests, what are they asking for? Do they wanna interview your client? Do they want images? Do they need clarification on something you pitch them? Um, maybe people are reaching out to you on your website through a form and you are answering these inquiries when it comes to your services, be on top of it. And again, anyone who's been here for any minute of time knows I'm not advocating that we all work 24 7. In fact, it's the total opposite. Be incredibly responsive during business hours. And if you can't in business hours or whatever you feel is reasonable, the times you wanna be accessible to clients, you know, um, one of our, one of our, uh, community members was saying that she was working on a strategy and talking to the CEO of the company and made herself available at 8:00 PM.
And he sent her a message on Voxer text or something and said, I am available 24 7, always ready and kind of hinted. Like, I appreciate that. You're the same. Well now she's set a precedent that she's available all the time. You can be, um, responsive during normal business hours and respond quickly to journalists, stay on top of your clients. If the clients are the bottleneck, you need to figure out a solution. So you're not waiting on your media contacts or keeping them waiting while you wait for your clients, because these are your relationships. You've built them. You leverage these relationships for other clients. You can't let one slow client. Non-responsive client ruin these opportunities for your other, your other clients. And as you build your business, that's like your value or your contacts. So Nelson saying here he's responsive at all times, uh, with his smartphone by his side, super easy.
Um, and he doesn't really let it go until he goes to sleep. So, um, you know, if you're in a different sort of industry, I, I represent products and it's easy to just kinda, you know, that's not really a 24 7 news cycle. So I am able to turn off nights and weekends and full, um, honesty genuinely. I have not had to work or had a client ask me to send something, do something or whatever. On a weekend in years, I'm talking probably more than a decade. When I said to myself, this is a boundary I'm setting, and I just started behaving in that way and clients respected it. And if you're incredibly responsive during business hours, or you get to them the next day, even if you decide you wanna work late, just send the email in the morning, boomerang it to go out at eight in the morning, they get the hint that this is when you are responding and they're responding right away.
Um, hi, Sally, it's so good to see you. Sally was on our call for agency accelerator plus yesterday, which I thought was a really wonderful collaborative call. They always are. Um, so that's number one is be responsive, but be responsive on your own time and terms. So you're setting that precedent and clients will respect it. Two is you have to be flexible. So like I said, the landscape for media and PR it's always changing and you have to be willing to adapt to keep up. We've seen bigger agencies kind of, um, stay stagnant because they are not as nimble and able to adjust on the fly like boutique agencies are. And I always talk about that as a benefit to working with a small agency, it is extremely beneficial to have a small, nimble team that can make, you know, be flexible and make adjustments on the fly.
So if your client unexpectedly adds a new launch or they mush, , they push forward or backward a promotion that they're doing, that's maybe been in the works for a while. You have to be willing to be flexible, so you can move quickly. You can adapt as needed. And then beyond that flexibility is gonna help you land more clients that you love, like your dream clients. Um, it's gonna show them that you are professional, you're ready for anything. Um, you know, with, with one client, we just had, we were really struggling. And I think the reason, um, the reason that we struggled is cuz they did not have a strong affiliate presence opportunity. It was pretty limited. And we kind of told them that would be a factor. And then over time it ended up really being a factor. And so we, we were flexible and I said, you know what?
This is a big spend for you. And if you're not getting the value, I don't need to make you stick out your contract whenever you're ready. If you feel like it's time to cut bait, I'm okay with that. And the client was so appreciative. She actually gave us another month and a half. And then she was like, you know what, let's move on. And she said, I know you guys were doing everything. I would come back to you in a heartbeat. We know it's not you, um, you know, send us a request of all the products you want. As we wrap up, we were like, Ooh, more products, skincare company. Um, so being flexible, I, you know, I'm not one of the, I'm a lawyer. I'm not one of these people who loves to chase down every dollar in a contract. It's exhausting, it's cheap, it's tedious.
It's, you know, um, yes, if I've done the work and they haven't paid, we will go after open invoices. But for this client, it just wasn't working. And we were stressed about it. My team was stressed about it. So for the benefit of everyone, we had some flexibility and we let her end it early and she would come back. Um, oh my gosh, hi Morgan. Um, Nelson saying yesterday, there was a post in our profitable PR pros community. If you are not watching this in that community, jump on over in Facebook search profitable PR pros. We have the best, most collaborative, supportive and awesome community for PR professionals online anywhere. I like swear by that. And he's saying that, um, Sabrina Childres Miller had a client that turned down Forbes in USA today because they were too busy. Cool. Um, this is insane. Clients hire us to get them stuff like this, to turn this down as just stupid for the client.
And I know Nelson will agree with this. It's frustrating for us because our wins are our wins. They're our results. And it's our content to leverage. It's our results to leverage for case studies and to show other clients how great of a job we do for our clients and what kind of top tier publications we're getting. So for her client to get those opportunities, which are major top tier opportunities, um, and then turn them down. That's taking something away from you too, because these results are the things you leverage. Um, like, you know, our proposal process is 95% a capabilities deck with case studies and results. Um, I know Nelson has shared extensively his corporate coms, you know, capabilities deck rather than even calling in a proposal. Ours is mostly, um, results. And yeah, and Sally saying, she had a CEO client do this and he was blackballed forever from the publication.
You can't let your clients do this. So if you get the sense, they're going to do this, it's jeopardizing your relationships and you need to have a conversation with them and do whatever it takes. Like if he's too busy, answer the questions yourself, or if she wants to talk to him specifically, get on the phone with his assistant and say, I need 15 minutes. Look at his calendar and tell me when he has to make this happen. Um, and sometimes there's a conduct, um, clause in your contract that says, if your clients pull BS like this, maybe there's a penalty, um, or a fee or something, or you can end the contract for behavior . So we've had a lot of, uh, members of our community say they have a behavior clause, so we're gonna be flexible, but don't mistake, flexibility for a lack of boundaries.
You know, like I said, it's important to be flexible, but that doesn't mean you're dropping everything, the drop of a hat for something that's not really an emergency or not really urgent. And in fact, um, when I, I reached out to a member of the media to get clarification on this concept around, uh, affiliate marketing and the how to compete with the big retailers that are going to be providing huge discounts because they over bought and their warehouses inventory is overloaded and it's expensive to have inventory. Their SA their, um, earnings were down. So huge companies, Walmart target, Amazon, they're gonna be slashing their, um, prices on big ticket and actually large items, things that were really popular during the pandemic that probably aren't as popular, like patio sets and, um, small appliances, air fryers, you know, things. We were all like, oh, I'm home cooking.
So let me get these premium, uh, pans and these appliances, or I'm working out from home. So let's get a Peloton. All of those things, the sales are way down. And so in order to have earnings for the next quarter for their shareholders, they're selling at a loss. So if our small clients are gonna compete, we have to convince them to increase the, um, percentage of commission in a big, big way. Um, but I wanted to really understand what went into this. So I reached out to a member of the media to talk to her for clarification. And she literally said to me, um, I'm happy to get on the phone with you because you and your team have never annoyed me. and then when we got, I was like, that's cool. Okay. We're not annoying check. That's good. And then she said, you can't imagine how many PR pros will message me and text me and say, um, they, um, that it's urgent and they have to get on the phone immediately and then they'll get on.
And it's like, we're launching a new product. And she's like, are you freaking kidding me? That is not urgent. Um, Audrey, are you in our agency accelerator, we have a contract, um, template inside the agency accelerator. And it's, uh, based on all of the things that have come up in my business over 17 years and members of our community, and it's geared towards protecting you and indemnifying you and ensuring you get paid, getting paid in advance of service, regardless of results, not contingent on results. So if you're curious about that, that as a template and we go over in the agency accelerator, exactly what you need to be thinking about when it comes to your retainer agreement. So if you're not in there, let me know, cuz that's in there and for the amount of money you would spend on an attorney, um, yeah, it's in there.
Okay. Yeah. Search for it. Um, it's in there for sure. And if you have problems, let me know and I'll have someone on my team give you a link. So yeah, we have all the templates you need to run your agency inside that program. Okay. You're gonna be flexible. Um, don't drop everything. That's not flexible. That's no boundaries. And I want you to have boundaries. The third thing is think organized. So if you are a freelance or independent agency, you're in charge of yourself, an organization is extremely important. So, um, especially Sally's my, maybe one of my biggest cheerleaders. Um, she said the agency accelerator is phenomenal. Thank you for saying that. I think it is. I think it's, you know, we've had great results, but um, yeah. Thanks Sally. And she's in like literally everything we've ever put out into the world and, um, always shows up for these lives.
So Sally, I'm so grateful for you. Uh, okay. So you're gonna be organized if you're working from home, it's really hard. You have to have your physical space, your workspace and your schedule to be totally organized so that you can, first of all, be efficient and jump in and know what you have to do and get those tasks accomplish. But also who's, um, Facebook user that just said I concur. Um, it just says Facebook user. I don't know who it is. I'm wondering if it's Chrissy. Tell me Amanda Young. Oh, good. I'm loving the agency accelerator. Awesome. And then, uh, Sally said life changing and Facebook user, maybe Chrissy Benell I don't know, said I concur, but tell me who that is. Um, okay. You're working from home, your physical workspace, your schedule have to be organized and um, you gotta be ready to kind of jump in and I want you to step back so that you can leave this and go into the rest of your home and have work, not be following you.
Oh, hi. Hi, Elaine. And then, oh, it is Chrissy. Um, I don't know why it doesn't show up, but Nick also says I second it glad I joined and has been, uh, making a big difference in mindset and structure. Awesome. That's so, so good to hear. I love getting feedback like one way or the other, we always look to improve. Um, and if it's helpful for you, obviously, it's just such a joy to hear that, but I'm so glad Nick it's working for you. Um, so keep your space organized, be willing to kind of, you know, have that boundary of where your work is and where your home is and don't let them commingle. And when it comes to pitching, this is extremely important, especially networking with media professionals or doing client outreach. Um, you have to have a system that will let you know when to do tasks when to follow up our follow ups needed.
And so a good organizational system is really essential to being an effective PR pro. And the more organized you are, the more successful your life will be as a PR professional. And that doesn't mean what works well for me is gonna work well for you. We can show you, we have tons of systems around this, like CRM, you know, just sort of the information doesn't have to be expensive. We do a lot of our stuff in Google sheets, so our team can keep track of it. So our clients can keep track of it, just adopt a system and stick with it because that will help you stay organized. If you go bouncing around from Asana to Trello, to Monday, to slack, to, um, Asana, or I already said a sauna , uh, or whatever you're using, um, you're gonna just never settle in and be organized, choose a system that you will stick with and keep it really organized.
So you know who to follow up with when to follow up, what's the status of everything. Um, and knowing that sometimes client development biz dad takes a little while. So you want to get those leads in your system. So you have a process for following up at the right time and reminding yourself to follow up. So being organized, number three, really important. Number four, I wanna see hearts. I wanna see thumbs up. I wanna see if you agree with this one, but as a PR pro, you need to be thick skinned. You have to be able to not let things affect you personally not take things personally. There's so much that is out of your control. Yep. Look at that. Boom. I see heart thumbs up guys does that resonate. You have to be thick skin. So, um, so much is out of our control.
You may pitch and hear crickets. Although we do have a lot of resources inside of the pitch lab where we're helping you evolve and fine tune your pitching so that that's not the case, but it still happens. Um, you may think that a client feature is like locked and loaded a hundred percent happening. And then it gets pulled at the last minute. And I swear every time that happens, I'm more disappointed than the client. I swear. I'm more disappointed than the client. Um, and so we never, we never count anything as confirmed until it's literally in our hand or on the screen in published mode because we know that things changed. So you have to be fixed skinned around that. You may be absolutely killing it for your client and they still pause or terminate services, or they're not satisfied. And you're like, what? We are crushing it for you.
We had a client, we were crushing it for them getting so much press, especially in the middle of the, like at the beginning of the pandemic so much. So we submitted our campaign for them for an award I'm trying to see. It's like that one right there. Um, for a PR industry award, we won best campaign in beauty fashion lifestyle space. And I was literally submitting our application and hit enter. And then one second later, I'm not even kidding you. Um, my team texted one people on my team texted and said, oh my God, they just fired us. And I'm like, what? . It was like the most taken aback I've ever been. And it's funny, six months later we went, we won that award for the campaign that I was submitting at the time. It was just such an ironic thing. But literally they were like, you guys have been doing a great job and they had just written us a testimonial, but they said, now that we're at this next level, we're ready for a bigger agency.
So thanks for your help getting there. That was awesome. You know, we outgrew you and I was like, good luck with that. I haven't even seen them anywhere. Um, maybe they are getting, I don't know, but, um, it's just like, what? So it's you can't take that personally. I did not take that personally. There was nothing more we could have done so much. So to the point that we're winning top billing and industry awards, based on the results we're getting. So that sucked, this was a client. We loved, we got great results for them. We were able to leverage that, to get other clients in our niches. And they were like, you know, thanks. We're moving on. You can't take that stuff personally. So you have to remember, you're skilled, you're qualified to do this. You build your own resilience and defenses. Not that you're numb to it, but you learn to let sort of the bad stuff, just roll right off your back.
Um, not winning a client. I can't tell you how many times I'm like, oh, we are a shoe in. And then they're like, yeah, we decided to go with someone else and I'm bummed, but I know we did everything we could. And I know we would've been a great fit for them. And there was another factor at play. And most of the time they end up coming back at some point. Um, and anyone who follows tanks gimme a thumbs up. If you know what I'm talking about, tanks, Christina Naja on social media. It's like all of a sudden she's, Internet's big sister out of nowhere. The last year she does rich mom, you know, rich mom stuff on TikTok. Anyway, she has a theory about boyfriends. You know, when you break up with a boyfriend, they either come back or their life gets worse. so I think the same thing about clients, they usually come back.
So I try not to take it personally and having a thick skin, I think is also just really important, not only in PR, but in business in general. Um, you know, it's all a lesson. Everything is a lesson learned. So as long as you are looking at things like a learning opportunity, you know, uh, Adrian, oh my God. Right? LOL. They don't realize the big firms just will pass their account to interns. Exactly. Uh, Morgan saying that what we do is basically a sales job. I see that all the time, um, PR is a very elevated type of sales and you're gonna hear a lot of no's and that's okay because the yeses are so, you know, impactful and powerful and, um, you can't win 'em all and you just have to have thick skin and be okay with it, even if you're crushing it for a client.
And they're like, yeah, thanks. Nice knowing you cuz it's happened. So, um, yeah, thick skin. So let me recap one through four, in case you just joined, you have to be incredibly responsive, flexible, organized, but not at the expense of your boundaries and you have to have thick skin. Um, and five is of course being a great writer and having good grammar and being really detail oriented, not orientated. That's not a word detail oriented. Um, if you love to write and you love to create stories and creative storytelling and, um, you craft messages in a way that are really compelling and you draw people in and you can look at something and see the nuances and see how to position it, to elevate it in their niche and set it apart from their competitors. Um, if that is you, then you're well suited for PR for sure.
And that is one of the top skills, if not the top is being an excellent writer and you are painting a vivid picture, you're doing it in the most effective and concise way. Brevity incredibly important in PR which anybody who joins every week, I go an hour. Brevity is not my strong suit, but it's like a main gate we're hanging out, you know, but in writing short and sweet, you know, if you write something, aim to delete two sentences that maybe could come in a follow up short sweet to the point. So great storytelling, great positioning, great angles, um, catchy, uh, subject to get the editor writer to open your email. That's it. You just want them to open it and read it and succinct. And that is a major skill, if not the most important, but I want you to keep in mind that being a great writer is a lifelong journey and you can always take steps to improve your writing and your pitching skills.
It's what we're also focusing on inside the pitch lab. But what I know for sure is that you do have to be really detail oriented and have really precise, accurate grammar and spelling like little small mistakes, typos, incorrect details. They can undermine your credibility. Sometimes editors will even forward your pitch to your client, which is Savage. It's so rude, or they'll put it up in these editor groups and put you on blast. And sometimes they'll make a, half-ass attempt to like cross out your name, but they're making fun of you. Sorry. If you don't think they are, but they're like, oh my God, this person's a publicist. Look at their writing. So if you're always spot on with the smallest details, you're gonna be prepared for success in PR your clients are gonna be impressed. You cannot send a proposal with a spelling mistake. You cannot send a response email to a new business inquiry with a spelling mistake.
They'll move on. It's that minutia that matters. Um, if you focus on the details, your clients are going to notice your impeccable work, your media contacts are gonna trust you and always make their job easier. But if you are not confident in your grammar, or I think as I get older, I'm missing words. I think I'm assuming or seeing words, um, not in any like really super important outward facing emails, but every now and then I'm like, oh my God, I'll re do you guys ever do that? Where you send an email to maybe a client or your team member, and then you, they reply and you read your original. And you're like, oh my God, like, did they delete words and letters? Because that is not what it looked like when I sent it out. Oh, no, that's what it looked like. So I think my mind assumes there's words there.
And um, you know, if it's missing a word like, uh, or it's, um, in instead of of, yeah. Sally's like, I've done that. I swear as I get older, my mind is seeing those words there that are not there. If you are worried about that, you need to get a second and maybe a third set of eyes on your pitches and your proposals. Um, it's called having a senior's moment while I'm at that level. And it also started for me, um, in pregnancy and I never , I never regained all of my like mental capacity. I still am like, why do I walk in this room? Like, what am I, oh, what am I doing here? This is what happens when I write emails. So if you are at that, Grammarly is a must at a minimum for sure, which is an extension you can put on.
Even my son uses Grammarly. And like, first of all, you need to learn the rules of grammar. Grammarly is there as a backup to check. If you make a mistake, Grammarly, great tip you guys really great tip. My son is just like Grammarly. He doesn't know the rules. So I'm like, you need to still learn. You have to know the difference between there, there, and there, right? They sound the same. They are not the same. And I'm sorry to say, like, I judge you for poorer. If I know you're consistently using poorer and you're a PR professional, I, it makes my skin crawl. It makes me cringe. So if that is not your strong suit, get another set of eyes on it. There's no problem with that. And that is what the pitch lab community is there for plop your pitches into our community. And, you know, I even will go in and tag people that are in the same arena, um, and get their eyes on your pitches so that, you know, you're sending out something that is completely accurate.
So being a great writer, having impeccable grammar and being really detail oriented and knowing that that is a skill you can hone for the rest of your life. It's not just like, oh, I'm good. I, I did it. I'm good. Um, I don't need to work on it. You have to continue to evolve your skills. So being a good writer, and if you don't feel confident in your grammar, get a second and third set of eyes inside the pitch lab, we will, we got your back. Um, you also have to be creative. So it's one of the most important skills for PR professionals. Um, yeah. Sally, great, hire an editor for key things as I'm dyslexic and spelling is not my forte. There you go. You know, that's it, if you know that that's like your kryptonite or you're, you know, not as strong in that, what does it cost you Sally, to have an editor put eyes on it?
What does it per hour? Just curious, cuz I think that that will help people see that that is a good investment. So you're sending out pitches confidently knowing that they are, you know, there's another set of eyes on it and they are buttoned up. Right. Um, tell me how much you're paying for that. So creativity, obviously we know is really important. Every day is different. Um, every client has different needs, your pitches. They have to be creative and fresh and highly tailored to your client and their audience is need maybe 60 an hour. I was gonna say 75 or less. Yeah. I pay a copywriter about 60 an hour. Um, she's been working for me for like a very long time. She's amazing. So 60 bucks an hour, they read three, four of your pitches and put some, uh ZJ or correct things. And you're good to go.
So find yourself a copywriter if that's a, a weakness of yours. Um, so we know that you have to be creative to tailor your pitches to the specific contact and the specific beat at the specific media outlet. There's no spray and prey. There's no one size fits all. You have to highly tailor pitches to their audience and your client's ideal customer so that you're, um, connecting with them based on what that client avatars or customer avatars looking for or what the publication typically covers. What's the tone, what's the style. Um, even from day to day, our job changes so much that you have to be, you know, again, flexible, but also creative. You wanna think outside the box. And this is where you're able to think about what makes you the one that your clients choose to work with. What's your secret sauce? What are you exceptional at?
Um, you know, there's tons of PR pros out there. So many in our community. Obviously this community is collaborative. We don't, you know, come in here and take without giving because we're all here to lift each other up and we know there's enough work to go around, but why would someone choose you over someone else with your level of expertise? So you wanna hone what makes you unique, hone that creativity hone that specific skill or gift. Um, we were talking about it yesterday in terms of, um, when clients ghost you on proposals and you're like, what happened? We sort of went through some of the features that this, um, person in our program had gone through, had included in her proposal. And there was a lot of like, well, I'm new. I just started a new agency. No, I'm sorry. You've had a decade of experience and a decade of results and top tier publications.
You don't have to qualify that. And so take that out of the mix because it's coming from a place of like weakness and showing that, you know, I really need this cuz I'm new and I don't need to charge you that much because I'm new. Well, you're not new. They get direct access. Oh, hi Morgan. Um, oh, more. Oh no. Who, so is this Chrissy? Yeah, this group is so supportive. It's Chrissy. Morgan was kind enough to even hop on a call with me and offer advice. That's so awesome. Morgan. Thank you so much. Look, the connections that are made are so awesome here. Um, so if you have that experience, what can you look at collectively and be like, I did all this. And one of the things that all of these results have in common is the positioning or the angle of it is really tailored to that publication or, um, were able to position our clients.
This was like an interior design PR professional who was able to position her clients in a way that got them established in their communities as the go to for their specific style or whatever. Um, that's getting creative as a PR professional. And if you're able to do that, any interior design client would say, I want that, I need that. I need to be the, you know, best kept secret and secret. No more based on my work. And I wanna be known like this is my style. You know, there's a few PR or a few designers out there that are known for their specific style. They're getting media attention and also social leveraging social media to become known. And those are the ones that get brand partnerships. There's a lot more opportunity for you to support them in their careers. Um, when you're able to use your creativity to carve out their unique place in the world and what makes them special sometimes, you know how, when you're trying to write your own bio, you're like, uh, I know what, I know what I would.
I know things about myself, but I don't know how I would put it. It's harder to write about yourself. It's harder to pitch yourself, um, an interior designer or whatever client that needs to be established as the go-to authority. They can't really think of themselves that way they want it, but they don't know how to say it. So that's your creativity and your superpower being able to do that. Okay. That's uh, six number seven on the skills you need are, uh, being creative. So it's did I already say creative? No fixed skin. Okay. No, uh, oh no, I did E or an ambitious. I did say creative. I just said creative. So number seven is being eager and ambitious. So be prepared, stay prepared, be on top of your industry news. Um, seek out opportunities when you're eager and ambitious. Um, you are able to stay on top of opportunities and, you know, leverage technology.
So that you're like first in line, like if you sign up for hero, which is help a reporter out, um, there are still really good opportunities on there. You have to be fast, you have to be first. So that means you're eagerly checking. And you know that that's a tool you have, you can leverage, even if you're not winning those opportunities, you're still able to use hero as a tool to show what the media is looking to know about right now. So don't discount it if you're not, there's so many people vying for these opportunities. So you need to, you know, be first and if you're not, if you're like, oh, that came out an hour ago, you probably aren't gonna be first, but, um, you can still figure out, maybe that's a good angle for your client. You might not get that opportunity, but you can still use that idea and pitch that out.
So you're always, if you're eager, you're ambitious. You're always looking and thinking and looking for inspiration and ideas. You're always evaluating your own work and seeing where things can improve or what worked and leverage that skill and go deeper for that client or other clients. It's just like, you know, you wanna be the best you wanna be known in your industry. You're on top of move, you know, movers and shakers in your industry where they're going. Um, media moves, there's an Instagram account. Precision now runs media moves. Um, I think it's still called media moves if it's not somebody correct me and let me know what it's called, but just being on top, not like saying, okay, well I'm an expert in my niche now. So I'm just gonna ride that wave. I don't need to keep going with the, um, you know, eagerness or the level of passion and excitement that I brought.
I will say. I believe that when we win new business, it is because I'm able to really demonstrate how ambitious we are, how excited we are about the opportunity and also how much we love the work we're doing, how much I still love my business. 17 years later, I love my business, which is why I'm on here. Trying to help all of us have businesses. We love too sharing whatever I can to ensure that everybody who's taking this leap loves what they're doing. And I think that that eagerness and that ambition to still be the best comes through on our sales calls. So always evaluate your work, bring the energy, bring the excitement, bring the heat. It is magnetic. Honestly, it's magnetic. People are like, I love that. You're so excited about our brands. So thanks for the hearts. Um, I think that's a, a big thing that it's hard to fake.
Um, but it's really important. I think clients also need to see that you are excited about what they're up to so that you're not just dialing it in. They want to know that you have that passion for their mission, their, um, products, their services, their values, the founder story, all of that. So number seven is eager and ambitious. And then eight is the last one I have for you, but it is to be empathetic. So I know there's this misconception that PR pros have to be extroverts. That's not necessarily the case. I mean, you should be outgoing. You should be able to connect with others. Um, and you know, be interested in people, ask questions, try to always learn when you're having conversations. It's great to be all of those things, but you don't have to be completely extroverted to be successful in PR. I honestly I'm like an, I think I'm an introverted extrovert.
I love being by myself. I love being alone in my home office. Um, sometimes when I go out to events, I feel really drained. So I get my energy from being with myself like, you know, alone and focusing on the things that bring me energy. I don't feel energy from big crowds. I feel depleted sometimes it's, it's tiring for me. So I think maybe that's an introverted extrovert or an extroverted introvert. I don't even know. But instead of having to feel like you need to be extroverted, the root of success in PR and especially now is empathy.
So people are repelled and they hate when companies come off as ignorant on social issues or larger problems, their tone deaf, um, they don't take a stand or they're specifically vague as their comms professional and as your own founder and leader of your business, you need to be able to empathize with audiences to figure out what they're struggling with. What is going to resonate with them? What will absolutely hit the, uh, miss the mark? Like what is like, oh my God, this is, you know, oh my God. The thing that immediately came to mind was that Olta beauty, Cape spade, fragrance, horrible debacle. I, if anybody knows what I'm talking about, give me a heart, leave me a comment. Um, somebody was definitely fired over that. Um, I, I, I don't even wanna repeat it. It's, it's very triggering. And it came at the beginning of suicide prevention month and it was so tone, deaf and so awful.
Um, definitely not an empathetic or even dialed in, um, you know, kind of ignorant on social issues just really bad, but you wanna be empathetic. Oh yeah. Hi Rochelle. Um, and you want to be able to empathize with the customers, with your, with your clients also, and be able to say, okay, I get what you're trying to accomplish and I can see how frustrating it's been for you to not get the media attention that you've oh my God. It was so hi Rashida. Oh my God. It was so awful. I can't even repeat it. It's just too terrible. But um, I mean, they've been raped over the calls. I don't need to do it again, but you get it. It's just a lack of awareness. And just whomever was in that comms role. Um, you know, didn't have empathy, but they were also like just dumb.
I don't know. It was really just terrible, but, um, empathizing with your clients and their needs and their struggles, and also empathizing with the media and what their needs are right now. Literally, when I jumped on the phone with this contact, who is a commerce writer, she said, if we don't generate revenue to a certain amount in a certain period of time, we lose our jobs. So no longer are the days when we can write about things we thought are cool, just for the sake of it, just for the sake of entertainment. It now has to be calculated, data driven infotainment that also generates revenue.
And that is something I now understand that the media is dealing with and they don't, that's not why they got into this. They got into this cuz they love to write or they're passionate about whatever, you know, their, their subject matter niches or whatever they're experts in writing about. And now to be like, I have to only write about things that will make money in order to keep my job. I, I empathize with them. That's a hard place to be. And now that I really understand it, and if you wanna know more about what I'm talking about, um, inside the pitch lab, we have a master class that I just recorded about two weeks ago called, um, something around landing features in holiday gift guides for your products, your client's products. Um, we kicked off with a discussion around this and it just gave so much clarity around why this matters so much right now.
Now I get it and I can empathize with what they're experiencing and know that I can give them what they need to help them effectively do their jobs. And I guess keep their jobs. So empathy matters and knowing what your client's, um, customers are struggling with, allows you to empathize with them and create pitches that are solutions for them. You see, it's really important. So you, you know, just be able to empathize with their audiences, figure out what's gonna resonate, figure out what is not gonna hit the mark whatsoever. And you create pitches that really connect and land exactly how you need them to. So that is what I have for you today. I'm gonna just drop in a link to our free PR insider secrets guide, which is really good and recap. Um, the eight qualities of a great PR pro. So number one, being responsive, two you're flexible, three, you are organized or you learn how to get organized.
We can show you how to get organized inside the, uh, pitch lab and the agency accelerator. We have processes in both of those programs, um, for thick skinned. Don't take it personally. It's not personal it's business. Yeah, it sucks. But it's not about, it's not about you, you know, don't take it personally, be thick skinned, um, be able to handle no, be able to handle crickets from the media, be able to handle when features get canceled, you did everything you could. It's out of your control. Um, you have to be five, a great writer and have impeccable grammar or have somebody check it. You can get a great copywriter for 60 bucks an hour to get eyes on your pitches. So easy. Um, six, you have to be creative and seven eager and ambitious. And I don't care how long you've been doing this. When you get on the phone with prospective clients or the media you are selling, and you're excited about what you're doing, you love your work, you love their products.
That energy is magnetic. So that's seven eager and ambitious and eight empathetic. You don't have to be an extrovert at all you don't. And in fact, I spend most of my time right here behind my keyboard. You know, I can be an introvert if I, you know, and still be successful as long as you're empathetic and you can connect with your clients, the media and your client's target audiences and understand their needs, their struggles and present solutions. So those are the eight. What are we calling them? Remember? I said, it's all, uh, SEO search driven, eight public relations characteristics, all coms pros need to be successful. So I hope that was helpful. Thank you guys for sticking around. I'll stay on for a minute or two. If anybody wants to post a question inside the comments here, and I'm gonna just drop a little tidbit of info.
Um, I am now a certified high performance coach and we are going to be kicking off a small group coaching program for, um, taking, you know, taking your life to the next level in all aspects, your influence, your relationships, your business, your hobbies, your health, all of it. Um, it's a proven methodology. I am now certified. I am trained in this methodology. I'm so excited. Um, you know, I've been asked to do one on one coaching forever, and I know I'm always like, let's talk about your business, but they're like, we wanna talk about everything. And so now that I am trained in this, yeah, thanks Nick. Um, we are launching a small group coaching container for our community. Um, it's going to be wonderful. It'll be a 12 week program. Um, we're still ironing out like all the details for us to launch it is going to be a beta program.
So anyone that's part of our beta launches nose that we deeply discount. We want people to go through and have a great experience. We wanna have testimonials. Um, we want a little forgiveness as we're ironing out the kinks, but the results, the transformations that will all be there so, if you're interested at all, like get it on your radar, keep an eye out. Or let me know here. Um, in the comments group coaching, just say group coaching, um, high performance coaching. So it's not like life coaching, but it's all aspects of your life. So you can live a more fully charged life F having fun, whatever. It's not me telling you what's important in your life. It's you understanding through this process, the areas of your life, where you might not be showing up fully and how you can change that. Um, it's the areas that you really wanna focus on right now that you feel the immediate need, or maybe it's something where you score yourself sort of middle of the road, and you have other areas that you're really low on, but you're not ready to tackle that.
Let's focus on things that are important to you now for quick wins. And we're gonna just elevate all aspects of your life with your business, your relationships, your health, your money, your, um, your spirit and your, uh, uh, influence and all of it. So it's, um, elevating yourself to be a complete high performer. Yeah. Serena, I, I hope you can join us. And you would, I mean, obviously our community is curated and we have really good people in here. So the container we are gonna create for the group coaching experience is going to be awesome. I'm so excited about it. It's like something I've been wanting to do for a really long time. And I was just finally able to get my certification. So if you're interested at all, let me know Serena. We will let you know when we launch our beta, it's gonna be for this first group, like probably 50% off of what the program's gonna cost in the long run.
So get in early, get in, in, let's do it. Let's hang out and become high performers together so we can live fully charged lives that are full of joy, full of connection, full of depth, um, passion and fun. You know, I just wanna have fun. Girls just wanna have fun. So that's my little like tidbit on that. I'll let you know when we know more, but anybody have any questions before I hop off, guys wish me luck. I have a mediation today in about an hour. We've been waiting a year to have a mediation with my son's school district to help us with all of his services. So I think we're, I think we have a strong case, but, um, wish me luck because we've been waiting a really long time. You can see I'm like nervous. I'm like, so, um, yeah, I'm excited. It's finally here, but I'm also nervous.
So maybe I'll let you guys know next week, how it all works out. Um, any other questions before I hit the road? Anybody need anything or I can direct you to a resource? Anything like that? I'll stay on for one minute. I know. There's oh, thanks, Sally. Yeah, I'll keep you guys posted. Thanks, Nick. Keep that going. I need that like mojo here. Um, awesome guys. Well, thank you so much for being here. Live, break a leg, break a leg. Um, fortunately we have an attorney that specializes in special ed. So I don't have to like put my lawyer hat back on. I don't know anything about how all of this works, but apparently there's been a lot of violations, so we have a strong case, but we'll see. Um, thank you guys so much. I really appreciate you all being here. If you're interested in joining that group coaching experience, it's gonna kick off sometime.
I believe at the end of this month, I think, I don't know. I have to get it. We're ending before it's 12 weeks and we're ending before Halloween or, or Thanksgiving. Oh, linked to the agency accelerator. Um, sure. Hold on. I will do that right now. It's super good. You will love, and here we go. Oh, wait. That's not it on it. Do do do. Okay. Oh, it looks like it's CLO. Why do we do this? Um, who is that? That said that you can get the on the wait list here, but we also have a webinar. Um, and I can have my team link it out. Um, I forgot it's on, on a wait list, but it's open. It's just, I don't know why this is on a wait list. So let me know who it is and I can have my team reach out and give you a link to our, um, what do we call it?
Crickets to crushing it? No, that's for the pitch lab. Oh my God. I totally forgot you guys. It's my, basically my, um, path to profit. It's a path to profitability framework that I teach, which are the four pillars. It's my own proven framework that I developed. Um, you know, based on four pillars, strategy, sales, service scale, we go through all of it. It was me CRI really? But you're already in the agency accelerator. Aren't you Chrissy? It was me. Thanks. It's like hard just as Facebook user. I don't know who it is. So anyway, if you wanna learn more, let me know. I can get, um, Miranda to reach out. I just don't know. It says it, uh, Facebook user Chrissy. I thought you're already in the agency accelerator, but let me know. Um, thank you guys so much for being here. I really appreciate all of you and I will be here again next week. So I'll see you then take care, have a great rest of your week. Bye.
(Edited) FB Live 7-7-22 (Completed 07/08/22)
Transcript by Rev.com
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