Hello, welcome to my weekly Facebook live show. I'm Jen Berson and I'm the founder of generation PR. We have been around for 17 years. We're a full service PR and influencer social media marketing, and now affiliate marketing agency, um, here in Los Angeles. And I'm also the creator of the profitable PR pros, community generation academy, all the good stuff. So if you're looking for any sort of training whatsoever around your career in PR running your own business, my hair slept on my hair weird last night, um, doing PR for clients, all of that good stuff. Uh, hi guys. Let, um, we have training for you. I mean, we, we got it all. We have a ton of training that will take you the next level in your business, all around supporting clients, um, nailing earned media, which is really challenging for everyone these days. I'm not gonna lie.
So, um, let me know, who's here. I know I can count on like my 10 regular people that are so awesome. And they're also members of our programs, which is great. What I'm noticing is the people that are transforming their businesses and getting the best results or the ones that keep showing up. They keep putting in the work. It's incredibly awesome to see. Um, and I was honored, oh, hello Nelson. One of my, my writer dies here. Um, I was also honored last week to get, um, asked to be interviewed for my software platform. And Serena's another, hello, my software platform, Kajabi, where I run all of my coaching programs, all of my content. Um, and I joined the, the platform the day they launched, which was about six years ago or so. So they invited me to come and asked me about my business, my businesses, both sides of my business. And I got to meet the CEO and they're going to run a interview with me on their channels. Can you guys hear that noise outside? Yes, I did. That was a major case of FOMO. Although I knew there was no way I could have like been there because you guys were in Canada and all that, but I did Nelson. I saw you two met and you were on the beach, like so cool. I love how this community is bringing the world together.
Oh, awesome. Christine welcome. Um, , uh, uh, new to the community, listen to one of the podcast episodes and it really encouraged you. Can you let me know which episode that's really awesome feedback. I'm so grateful that you're here and you shared that with me. Um, we're here to just help our community stay on top of the trends, stay on top of the changes in our industry so that we will be the best service providers for our clients. Clients will be happy. They'll stick around. All of that is important to building a foundation in your business of consistent, predictable, recurring retainer revenue. It's all about keeping those clients happy and in the door. And you know, that I'm always talking about, well, Christine, you're new. So you don't know yet that I always talk about nicheing down. That is one of the major, um, foundational strategies in your business to be able to elevate your self, to reach bigger clients, better clients, bigger budgets, and, uh, become known as the go-to and charge premium retainers, like work less and make more that's sort of the foundation for that.
It starts with nicheing down. And so there's often a problem when you are representing a client and you have this niche expertise. So let's say for me, it would be like skincare. You know, if I'm representing a clean or organic skincare company, um, you know, first of all, do we take a competing company? Um, and I do not. So like if I did skincare, it would have to be different. It would have to be different customers. It would have to be different retail distribution. The pitches would not com compete with each other because, um, it's not a like choose one or the other situation. Like when I represented clients in the, well, I still do represent clients in the baby space, but, um, we were representing a stroller company, really great company. And then we got an email, uh, to represent another stroller company, bigger company.
So I was super bummed. I couldn't do it, but it was like the same price point and the same customer. So that was an absolute, no, that would be competing and it would not, for me, I would not be comfortable. Um, but if it was a company that sold like car seats or baby blankets, you know, that was, uh, one of the clients we had and everything they had was soft. Good. So I wouldn't have taken another company that had similar products to that. Um, but if I have multiple clients in the baby and kid space, we have to pitch them to the media. And this came from a question in the profitable PR pros group, if you're on this live and you're not in that group. Um,
Hmm. Oh, okay. Great, awesome co. So Christina's saying I listened to the latest one about media relations shift due to the pandemic. I was not getting results for a brand and I had a feeling the landscape had shifted, but I couldn't articulate it really insightful. Christine does that client have, have a solid, you know, how I talked a lot about affiliate programs and that really moves the needle. Do they have a solid affiliate strategy? Um, you know, good reviews on like an Amazon target Walmart, any site like that, um, or even Nordstrom any retailer with, uh, a good affiliate program or running it through their own website, through like share sale and they can have skim links or big links. That is something you need to really articulate to them that is having an impact. Um, and if you consider joining the pitch lab, I'll just put a link here because we did a lot of discussion around this and we did a masterclass on pitching for holiday gift guides.
And we talked specifically about how affiliate marketing is having an impact on their decisions this year. And so this is the link to the pitch lab, Christine, just so you can read about it. We also invited a member of the media in to have a masterclass with us around their thinking and their decision makings. Oh, Jasmine pitch lab is awesome. Yay. Thanks for saying that. I think it's awesome. I wished something like this existed when I was getting my start and we have people that are seasoned. I mean, Nelson was in, you know, for a year and he's been since the nineties, um, practicing PR with his own, his own practice. Um, you're welcome. It. It's great. And it's very cost effective. And, um, we had Bryce Gruber come in and talk to us about the editor's realities and what they're considering when they're choosing products to feature.
And the top driver these days is the potential for affiliate revenue for their publication. So it's a real thing, Christine, and I'm so glad that podcast episode helped you to, you know, even just see that you're not alone. You're not the only one going through these challenges where the media is just kind of like, you know, seems like they're just out to lunch and what's going on. And what's the difference here between what it was like and what it is now. So, um, if we can help you in any way, um, you know, there's tons of resources. I can point you in the right direction, but today's all about, um, this question we had in the profitable PR pros group from Francesca, you know, it's interesting. She has all are really good questions, Francesca vent, and we do a lot of training around her questions. Uh, oh no, you didn't lose your touch. You got your touch now let's fine. Tune it with like the way the rules have changed. That's what the pitch lab helps you with. So, um, Francesca said, what would you do when you have two clients in the same category whose product can potentially be pitched to the same publications? And we got a lot of, um, feedback on that post. So we decided to do, uh, live around. What do you do? Oh, you guys, for me, it's 11, 11. I'm gonna make a little wish.
Okay. Uh, so what do you do when you're working? You gotta seize, you know, that moment, 1111, why not? Uh, you're working with multiple clients in the same niche. Um, maybe there is overlap. Like the types of publication are the same opportunities. Um, you know, this is great because you have this niche expertise and you're starting to attract clients in those areas where you have that skill and contacts and industry knowledge you can choose to, um, really help them with. So that's great. We love niche. All of these things are a little tricky to navigate, but you know, when you grow your business and you take on more clients in similar niches with similar products or audiences, you have to know exactly how to navigate pitching for those clients. And, um, you know, they might be just a little similar or in the same category, or they may be full out competitors.
And me personally, I would not take a category competitor, um, with the same product and the same customer, same price point. I just wouldn't do it. Um, we have loyalty to our clients. Um, similarly I don't want them and they are not able to hire another PR firm. We had that happen. I've talked about it a lot. And it, we ended up firing the client because it was a, a hot mess. It was a nightmare to navigate. My team was like, this sucks. And we just said, piece out, not gonna deal with this drama. It was a mess. So we now have in our contract where agency of record for our clients, but unless they come in and they're like, we want exclusivity and they'll do a big category. They have to pay extra for that. But just in the spirit of partnership, um, like we have a breast pump company they're gaining traction, gaining market share, but they're not the big, big guys we're getting them tons of press.
It's a lovely team. We love working with them, but I got an inquiry from like the biggest competitor in the category. And I said, no, I said, I'm so sorry, it's a conflict. Um, and then I told my client, so he knew like, Hmm, we're, you know, we're in demand. Like, and we've been with them for, I don't maybe three or four years now, and I'm not gonna jeopardize that relationship. Um, they're wonderful. And honestly, like sometimes a bird in the hand, it's like great working with them. They're, they're awesome. They leave us alone. They're always happy. Like, that's the kind of client I want. So I'm not gonna jeopardize that to go pursue a competitor and like piss both of them off. But if there is something that would be the same publications, the same editors, but they're not direct competitors. We focus on storytelling and improving pitching skills.
So it's the most powerful way to make an editor understand the differences between similar brands or products. And it is up to us to highlight what is unique about each brand, each product or whatever, and select the best options for, you know, options from our clients in each of our pitches. So it takes this honing of your pitching skills to land more press features. And, um, you know, even if your clients are very similar, there is a way to position them so that they both could be considered for the story, which is awesome. So obviously I mentioned to Christine, um, if you are, uh, interested in learning how to kind of hone your skills, um, and tailor your pitches, that's what we cover in the pitch lab. Um, I'm gonna just put this in here again in case somebody didn't catch that last one. Also let me know who else is here.
So I can say hi. Um, uh, okay. Photo of Serena. Oh, very nice. Nelson. Thank you guys. How cute. That's so awesome. We're connecting people all over the world. It's like the best thing ever we have on my website generation academy.com at my husband's suggestion, which I think is such a great idea, a big map. And it shows a couple, some of the countries that we have represented, we currently have at least 27 countries represented in our paid programs. It, the thought of that is so amazing to me, cuz it's like, how are people all over the world finding us? You know, like Christine found through the podcast, some people come through YouTube, Facebook ads, but then they're staying in our community and we're having calls and talking to people all over the world. And to me that is just the best, best, happy, like surprise part of what we've built here because I just love connecting with people all over the world.
It's awesome. So, and check out that picture. That's so great that they met up in person and did some work together. Um, okay. So we got a tip from Angela Hathaway in our community, in the profitable PR pros. And she said to create a gift or a product guide that will include all of your clients. We love this idea. So what Angela will do is actually create a gift guide specific to her agency's client each year, clients each year for holiday gift guide pitching and other holiday gifting seasons like mother's day or father's day, all of those like gifting, you know, Valentine's day gifting holidays. And she will feature all of her, um, you know, CPG clients in a gift guide. And then in addition to that, in her pitches to outlets for those gift guides, she'll call out two or three specific items or clients that she wants, the publication or that journalist to focus on.
And then she'll link out to the rest of the gift guide in the closing. And that's been really effective for her because sometimes editors are working on different, you know, multiple gift guides and may use that attached guide to pull clients unrelated to the original pitch topic, which is really great. Um, keywords really help too in your pitch because then they can search certain keywords, you know, uh, like let's say you're pitching something for beauty and then you have a luggage client and you, you know, have it in the gift guide and you mention it in the pitch. They can search that term luggage. If that's something that they're looking for or they remember, oh yeah, I saw this really good pitch come through for some cool different luggage. Let me find it. And they type it in and that's a keyword in your pitch.
So we have heard from our contacts that they keep your emails and they want to be able to search them for very specific things that they're considering. And it helps to have keywords in there. So keep that in mind. Um, and then we recommend this is something, you know, ethical best practice, always inform your clients about potential conflicts of interest. You know, we don't want to hide the eight ball. We don't wanna feel like we're trying to pull a fast one over clients. They don't wanna feel duped. So communication is always this golden rule when you're working with clients, but in these scenarios is especially important. Um, you know, you always wanna inform your clients of any close conflict of interests. They might not have any clue that their competitors would be interested in hiring you because there's so many choices out there, but it's, uh, it's always interesting when, you know, like when the breast pump company that I represent is really small with a pretty limited budget, but they're wonderful.
And then they're big fish. Like whale, competitor wants to hire us. We actually told them, we told, I told, um, the potential client that it was a conflict and we couldn't pursue it, but I told our existing client just wanted to let you know that they're knocking on our door. You know, don't worry. But if it was kind of related, I would have informed my existing client and then pursued the opportunity, like only with their blessing and sign off. Um, if they're reasonable, sometimes clients are like, you can't work with anyone in our space. And I had a client, baby and kids I'm like I have at the time, 7, 8, 9 years expertise in this space, you're claiming that every single baby brand is a competitor and you're selling blankets. Why can't, they were just like, kind of like, you know, controlling, like we own you.
And I hated that feeling. I finally, one day I was like, actually, no, they're not a competitor. Um, we're gonna pursue that. And you know, that was not a reason, a reasonable client, most clients are reasonable and they will see that sometimes opportunities from other clients will benefit them as well. So you'll start to pitch a brand that's really cool. Really awesome. Media will come to you and they'll say, what else do you have or other clients that align with this opportunity? So it sometimes is to their advantage to have a company in the same niche, not a direct competitor, but, you know, we would inform our clients. Um, uh, we also realize that our clients are putting a ton of trust in us and they share a lot of confidential information, potential, um, launches down the road strategy, all of these things that they don't really want our potential clients to have that benefit of knowing what they're doing.
And you sort of have to be careful with that confidential information. So it's about professional respect and courtesy. And if they're a direct competitor, it's hard to pitch them, but it's also really, uh, an awkward position to be in when you have strategy internal confidential information for an existing client that how do you like compartmentalize that when you're talking to another client? Um, so if you notice that one of your competi, your client's competitors is trying to work with you, it's a good idea to talk to your original existing client. And, um, if it's not a complete overlap direct competitor, talk with your current client about the types of services that you're gonna be providing this new potential client. Um, and if you have a client that really objects, they have a problem with you working with other similar clients, then consider exclusivity for a price.
So if your client is adamant that they want to be the only company in their very specific niche that you, you work with, you can offer them an exclusivity package. And that's where you agree to only work with their company in that particular industry, but they have to pay for that exclusivity. Because if you think of it like this, you agree to do, um, business only with them and not do business with their eager competitor, with a good budget. And you continued to work just with them. You're losing revenue from a client that you can't work with. That was potential revenue based on your expertise, your industry contacts. That's what a niche helps you to do is draw in more clients. That'll be able to leverage that expertise, their industry knowledge, your media contacts. So if you have a client that's like, no, you know, we're not comfortable with that.
Then they have to pay for exclusivity. Let me know on here in the comments, um, any of you Nelson, um, you know, Jasmine, maybe Christine or Serena, if you've ever had to include an exclusivity, um, package or an exclusivity clause and what you charged for that. And it should be a monthly addition to their fee because you're missing out on monthly revenue, monthly retainer revenue. So if you charge an extra fee, then at least you're getting some kind of extra revenue out of it. And you're covering a bit of that lost revenue that you'd have from you would've made from having another client. And if your client doesn't wanna pay for that exclusivity, they'll have to come to terms with you working with other clients in their industry who are interested in your fantastic work, because you're the perfect fit for them, your, your contacts, your knowhow is gonna benefit them.
Um, it depends. I mean, for me, Nelson is asking you mean in the same category, I would get more specific. Like if we had ma a makeup brand, let's say, um, one of the makeup brands would be focused on makeup artists themselves over the top. It's, uh, like premium brand and they have a lot of tools. Um, and then we get another makeup company inquiring that one is more of a mass market brand. They color range is much more limited. They're very natural and they're focused on, um, real women versus professional artists, different price point, different focus. So an editor considering products for a feature may potentially consider both, or would only be a fit for one, but they're not gonna compete for that same one spot in some sort of a Roundup or a list because they're different. And if I've spent all these years cultivating relationships and really establishing my expertise in the beauty and cosmetic space, I should be able to leverage that and support as many brands as possible without directly competing.
So while it's both makeup brands, I would say that's category. Um, the price point, the types of products, maybe one's like clean beauty, and one is mass market. One is focused on tools. Another one is focused on, let's say like prepping the skin versus makeup brushes, right? So they're, they're sort of like what makes them unique is, is different. The customer, the price point, the distribution, all of it is different. I would tell my existing client, and then I would comfortably represent the other if they chose us. And we would pitch them in the same email, if we felt there were products that both brands could lend themselves to the story, but they didn't, it's not like one lipstick versus another lipstick. And we're pitching both. We would choose products that compliment each other for the pitch. Um, Nelson saying I've had three or four different mining companies that are public companies all retain me at the same time.
Never had a problem with that. Um, yeah, I mean, that's such a specific niche that there's not probably a lot of like mining PR. Maybe there are, I don't know. It's just not anything I know a lot about or anything about. Um, so there, do they ever, um, do you ever have to choose one company over the other, um, for a feature like you're competing for one, to be part of the feature and by you pitching one or pitching all three and they choose one, those other two are outta luck on that. Like, is there ever that situation where you have to choose which one you submit and it can't be all three. That's what I want you guys to avoid, but if you're pitching multiple clients to the same publication, what we, what we recommend is like what Angela Hathaway does. And she puts together a gift guide, pulling specific products, um, and she'll have it all in one spot with all the different recommendations.
I think it's very cool. It's probably pretty fun for an editor to look at that and sort of pick and choose what fits, what they're working on. And then you can throw your other client's product, like another client's products in there so that they can consider potentially for a future story. Um, and they'll say, oh yeah, I've seen that before. Let me search my email and look for it. Um, so it's, you know, it all comes down to leveraging your niche expertise, to support clients in the same niche industry, but they don't directly compete and that's up to you to decide. So now, since it's no, it's not a problem because I make sure that I pitch all of them to different publications so that I never have them compete against each other. So there must be a lot of opportunity to be able to do that. Um, so yeah, it's up to you. It's at, at your discretion, Nelson, do you tell all of them, I also represent X, Y, Z, and they are, you know, they're direct competitors. You, you obviously disclose, Hey Kelly loving the new hair.
Congrats on a little me time. No. So you don't disclose it. So tell me, clarify Nelson. You don't disclose it or they don't have a problem when you disclose it. Clarify for me. And there's obviously no exclusivity in your contract. Um, I would just say that if you have a C client, that's like, I'm not comfortable with this, have that discussion. Oh, you don't disclose it. Hmm. Interesting. So you, so when you say I've never had a problem with that, um, I'm talking about problems that existing clients may have with your representing. So if they don't know, then they don't know, but me personally, um, I tell my clients when something comes up, you know, I wanna be a partner to them. And not that you, you know, that you don't, but it's, it's just a little, maybe different because, um, very rarely these days are we dealing with public publicly traded companies, but we're connecting with like CEO owners, typically they're women.
The brands I represent are typically female owned. Um, so we know we're partners to them and we just wanna give it to them straight. Like this is, yeah. Um, this is really great info. I always disclose. And if the client on retainer has an issue with it, then I don't take the other one on, I present a plan. I don't wanna be known as that person. Yeah. I, I know I kind of feel that way too. Um, Nelson, that's a decision that it's obviously worked out very well for you and you're leveraging your very specific niche expertise. Um, I feel like in my industry it would become, it would get out, you know, it's, it's known like who represents the different companies. Like I'll have companies come to us and say, I, I see what you're doing with this company. Do that for us. You know, we want that too.
Like I specifically have had companies come and mention the work we've done with other brands. And if they're a competitor, I have to say like, I, I can't know, it's a conflict. You know, like if it's exactly the similar price point, similar customer, similar distribution, similar kinds of products, I don't feel comfortable with that. But also I would tell my existing clients because I want them to know, like, here's what your competitors are up to. And it's one of the reasons too. Um, I strongly recommend you all subscribe to Bryce Gruber's subs stack. Um, she has a free version, which is great. All of the paid content is amazing. I think it's like 60 bucks a year, totally worth it. If you represent brands and you wanna understand how media is considering brands right now for features. And one of the things that she'll do is pull some, um, commission insight.
So as a publisher, she gets to see what brands are offering, what commissions to feature their product through their affiliate links. So I just disclosed to my client that there are competitors that seem to get a lot more media attention than they do with a different price point. My clients are like top of the market premium price point though. Competitor's product is way less expensive to manufacture because it's not as, um, it's those L E D face masks. It doesn't have as large of a range of infrared and, and near infrared L E D lights. There's not as many lights, they're way less expensive to produce because they're kind of like, like a lower range. They're not as effective. It doesn't go into the cells like this other range of, you know, near infrared and infrared light does. So they're offering really high commissions, like 15% commission per device.
It's a lower price point, but they have, um, they have, uh, Nelson is saying I have on occasion disclosed and it was not a problem. That's great. That's great. Um, you know, your clients love you and trust you. And so they're, they're realizing that your expertise is valuable and you need to be able to pay the pills by leveraging it and supporting others in that same industry. Um, so I told my client what probably five of their top competitors were giving the media in terms of affiliate revenue. Some was like 5%. Some was 15, there was one that was 23 or so percent, and they're doing a click through bounty. So every time someone clicks that link, even if they don't purchase, they cuz they can now cookie that person, right. So they can follow them around the internet and continue to retarget ads to them.
There's value in that some of them are giving over a dollar click through bounty and that's really appealing to an influencer. This is the first time I had ever heard of this. I was like click through brown Downey, are you kidding me? But for an influencer, if they have people that are following along and clicking through to their recommendations, um, but they decide not to buy, but they're driving a ton of traffic like that. Click through bounty very, very high. Um, that's really appealing to them so they can potentially get click through bounty plus the affiliate revenue and knowing what your competitors are doing and what their, you know, their rates are also really helps you, uh, to share with your clients so that they can play ball. You know, they need to be able to compete. And if you're like, why are they always mentioned?
And we're not ch you know, see what the rate is. And, um, Bryce came into our community and taught in a lunch and learn, um, for the pitch lab. And she did say, if you guys wanna know, let me know, email me and I'll pull it for you. Like, I think it's really important to know where you rank. Um, so I just shared that with a client and they were like, this is amazing Intel, extremely valuable. It really makes a lot of sense. We can compete at that rate because our products are way more expensive to, uh, uh, Jasmine, is it a form of pay to play, not directly, but kind of, um, there is the consideration of how much revenue the publication will make from readers clicking through and buying that product on that link, whether it goes directly to the client's website and they're using share sale and skim links, or if they're on Amazon and they feature that product, cuz it has tons of great reviews.
So the brand itself, unless it's their website, um, through share sale, the brand itself is not necessarily paying. We do at this point, Jasmine disclose, um, we don't hide it anymore. It used to be like, we're on Amazon, we're on target, you know, so they could go, oh, okay. I can link to it. And there's affiliate revenue. Now we address it head on and we'll talk about like how well the product perform in last holiday season. Um, so that they can say, huh, there's really good sell through here. Or we'll say, you know, if you want to discuss a custom commission, um, let us know. We're happy to, you know, like they'll sometimes send you to their commerce or their shopping editors. And they'll say, what can you do? Like we've had, um, heritage titles, like digital versions of those longstanding major publications specifically say to us, um, thanks for the pitch.
I've connected. I've CCD our commerce director. And they'll say we will only feature companies that will give 25% commission. You know, so now, um, it's not like they'll send you an invoice and you know, it just comes through the, the affiliate platform. But if they know you've set up a custom commission for them, the revenue opportunity is very high for them. They need to at least cover the cost of producing that feature. Their goal is to generate like $2,000 in sales that first week in revenue from the affiliate links, um, we're working on a special program. Good. Okay, good. I'm so glad you got it. Um, we're working. We want you to really understand this because not you Jasmine, but like our community, because I really think this is the next, I mean it's here, but it could be a service for us as PR professionals.
Um, if you're really struggling with earned media, if you're in your client's business and you are setting up their affiliate program, you can go in and custom select commissions for certain publications or influencers create custom links that they can track all of that. Um, brands don't really know how to do that. And if we learn how to do it and do it really well, you can get a monthly fee. In addition to your retainer revenue on, on earned media outreach, the earned media side will benefit from the value for the publications that you're creating by setting up these programs. So your Pitchess will convert better. Um, and it makes sense for one agency to do it all because you'll know what's happening on the affiliate side and how to leverage that on the earned media side. Um, you can charge a retainer and a percentage of the commission that they're making.
Um, okay, I'm gonna read Kelly's comment here. Uh, Jen, I had an experience this past past month where news media like TV and newspaper and a major market for my casino client flat out told me that their corporate entities have told them that so many product based companies are making money off of affiliate sales. So they're telling reporters to tell publicists that they'll take stories only if they put an ad placement to let me understand that. Um, so unethical, but I've worked in this for so long that I started in the ad sales and newsroom are two separate entities. Totally never the two shall cross that's where I started two. It was like complete separation of editorial, you know, church and state. Right. Um, but isn't that way it isn't that way anymore. It felt super icky when they told me this, I didn't do it, but Jasmine's questions about pay to play made me think of it.
I wonder if this is where PR is moving in the future. Um huh. Interesting. That it's totally sleazy. Jasmine's saying I actually use the pitch lab lab for marketing. Now tell me what that means. What kind of marketing and how are you using it? I love this, uh, people are using our execution plans and our training for all kinds of different things. They're using 'em in Strat, you know, building strategies for clients in sales calls, building out proposals. It's so awesome. Um, if you get those execution plans, you're like flipping through them and you're like dropping bombs. Like you're totally in the know you're media insider. You can just fire off publication's names and what they're working on each month. It's it's awesome. Um, but I'm curious Jasmine to hear a little bit more about how you're using the pitch lab for marketing now. Um, but uh, Kelly, I haven't had that happen.
Our team hasn't had that happen yet. Um, I know that that was a major market that you were pitching. Um, yeah, I know, I know which market too. Um, I don't, I don't know. I mean, we are also doing, uh, earned or pardon of me paid media packages with a specific publication. So if a client's niche is really specific and one publication, their readership is just like dead on targeted. We will sometimes explore a paid opportunity and we'll negotiate a package. Um, and sometimes there will also be an affiliate component and there will be an advertising component. And then there's like sponsored posts, sponsored articles, and we get to write that content because we're paying. So there's a lot more control. Um, Christina's saying it's interesting because I started in the gaming space and this was a practice, but it wasn't a must or codependent relationship.
It was just partnership and sales teams connecting with their editorial teams to collaborate when their editors are writing content. And that was more than eight years ago. Um, interesting. That's how I remember it too. But I started 17 years ago and it was like completely, you know, then they started to send your contact along. If he pitched an editor, they would send the contact along to their advertising team always. And you're just like, Ugh, come on. Uh, and we never wanted to pitch our clients on paid media cuz we thought, well, they're gonna say, well, I'm paying you. Why would I pay them? I could just go to them. But now it's part of our overall calm strategy is some paid opportunities. Um, and Jasmine saying I brand financial advisors and insurance agents so that they generate leads that will wanna work with them. And you're trending monthly topics are great for pitching my advisors for speaking engagements, you deliver pain points and everything.
I love that feedback. That's awesome. Thank you for sharing that. Oh my God. That's so great. I love all the innovative ways people are using our content. It just is the gift that keeps on giving. So, um, that's kind of what we have for you today. You know, if you, if your client doesn't wanna pay for exclusivity, they have to come to terms with you working with other clients in their industry who want your services. That is your expertise, your contacts, all of that, that you build should benefit your business. So that over time you attract bigger clients, larger retainers and that's your expertise. And you're known for that. There is so much value in that if a client is gonna come to you and say, do not work with anyone else in our overall category, that's exclusivity that they have to pay for. You know, if there isn't an affiliate component that you can offer media, uh, uh, oh, what else can we do besides storytelling to get past the article placements?
What should we add to our strategy? You need to talk to your client about it and see what they're willing to do in terms of setting up something on their own website. We will not, at this point, Christine, take a client cuz we do only brands. If they don't have an opportunity for generating affiliate revenue in, you know, in, in any way, like it just isn't gonna convert and our team's gonna spin their wheels. And it is a major factor in product PR. Now you need to let them know this is no longer a nice to have. It is a must have, you know, I'm sorry to like break that news. Um, you, you need to break the news to your client and it's not fair to you to be spinning your wheels. Knowing that this major piece of the puzzle is not there. Holiday gift guides are gonna be 95% affiliate links.
So to break through that with just a cool oh good Jasmine. I'm so great. And she said loved this session. Oh good. Um, if there isn't an affiliate opportunity there you are gonna spend your wheels. I felt like I was wasting our client's money after our team was like pitching nonstop and really not getting anywhere. I told my client, I will let you out of your contract. So we ended it. Well, I, I told her she could end it two months early. She wanted another month. And so I said, okay. And I told her, I don't know that anything's gonna happen. And she's like, just push hard and see what you can do. Nothing great came of it. I just knew that was a, you know, we kind of told them in the beginning, this is a factor, but Amazon, the way that Amazon corporate is and behaves was counter to her corporate values, you know, treating employees extremely well.
They don't really do that. Um, you know, environmental like carbon neutral, Amazon is not that, um, you know, it's just, uh, the big, you know, the big fish kind of swallowing up the small fish in that big pond. She didn't want any part of it. And ultimately when it came to media earned media features, it had an impact. So, um, now we are really advising our clients. You better have an affiliate program and if they don't, when we talk to them, um, then we kind of say like, get that in place. And then we'll, you know, then let's play ball. Um, Christina saying, would you say it's the same for high end products and fashion and beauty as well? Um, luxury for sure. Beauty. Um, thinking about high end fashion, if it's like designer, um, I think there's an opportunity to link through. I don't know like how like Gucci or Louis Vutton or those companies would set up affiliate.
I don't know cuz I've never pursued that, but they're sold at Nordstrom. They're sold at other retailers that do have affiliate programs that they can go through. So they're gonna earn commissions promoting those luxury products. I don't know the process through the luxury brand itself. I would imagine they have like a really rigorous ambassador application process. And they're looking at the quality of your content. Um, they're looking at the frequency, the engagement, and they're looking for like the right fit. Um, but those products can still get featured on, you know, Nordstrom's other sites where there is the opportunity for affiliate revenue. And the good thing is that higher ticket products earn more commission because they're you get a percentage of the transaction on Amazon, you get the entire cart value. So if they put a $20 item in their cart and they have a bunch of stuff sitting there and they finally check out, then you get the whole cart transaction, you get all of that commission. So, um, you know, I don't know specifically about high end fashion, but if they can link out to these other retailers where these products are sold, they'll get that commission and it's appealing because an expensive product would have a high, you know, revenue opportunity. So it's interesting. What kind of clients are you representing there?
Um, yeah. Uh, Jasmine, I'm so glad that you liked this session today and Christine I'm so grateful you found us through the podcast. Um, like sometimes I forget that there's a podcast cause sometimes my team, oh, jewelry. Oh, I just got my, my little pave heart. Isn't it cute? um, there's uh, yeah, I sometimes forget because the team will take these Facebook lives if I'm not able to record specifically for the podcast, which I haven't been lately with kids home during the summer, it's really hard to have a quiet house to record content so they'll just repurpose. Um, but the last one that you listened to was repurpose from a Facebook live. Um, and so I'm so grateful that you found it. Um, yeah, that's what I have for you guys today. If you have any questions about any of our programs or any content, we have so much free content, we've done hundreds of videos.
I have a YouTube channel. Um, thank you. Successful jewelry brand in Southeast Asia, looking to expand here in the us, they have to get on some commission platform, um, somehow through their own website and that's enticing because if they can do a decent direct to consumer commission, so they're not struggling with the lower, um, profit because they're selling to a retailer. So if they're selling direct to consumer on their website, there's a higher profit margin. So they can offer a nice commission. As long as they're not breaking a contract with retailers saying that they can't offer commissions on their own website. Sometimes, you know, retailers will demand that because they don't want you directing traffic to yourself. They want you using PR to push people to their site to buy. But, um, that would be very appealing because jewelry high, high ticket. And you know, if there's a decent commission, they'll mention it all day long.
And we have seen just finalized this point about affiliate commission. We had a product run on the daily beast. Um, they reviewed it. It was a standalone feature for this product. And the feature was really complimentary the person posted before and after pictures, obviously very compelling when people do that. Um, and they talked about how much they loved the product and it was the best compared to the others on the market. We were like, oh my God, this is amazing. And they linked out to some place with good affiliate revenue. Well that article earned so much commission for the publication. They have rerun it two more times with different headlines. They'll slightly update it. So it jumps up in search as a new article, but it's pretty much the same content with a more compelling headline. First it's like the device that, um, you know, that I added to my beauty routine.
Then the next time it's like, like this device will change your skin care routine forever. Um, and then the third time, it's way more compelling. Like this is the device that, you know, will transform your skin overnight and you'll wonder how you ever lived without it. And you're like, I gotta get this thing. Well, they see that it converts and they're gonna happily write about it over and over again. It's a wonderful joy when that happens. Um, sometimes that's the content that gets syndicated to like Yahoo or, um, AOL. I don't know, not so much anymore Buzzfeed when that con or MSN with huge audiences, millions hundred hundreds of millions. So when that happens, it's like an explosion and that's the type of content that gets syndicated because the reach is so good and the conversion is really good for them. So that's what we love is when that happens. It's like the gift that keeps on giving. So consider that Christine, good luck with your jewelry brand launching here in the us. That's very exciting. Um, send me a link so I can check it out who doesn't love a little bling and, um, that's what I have for you guys today. I'll stay on for a minute so I can answer any questions you have and, um, we are gonna be kicking off in, um, let me tell you, gimme one second.
Uh, why can I never find anything in slack? I'm so bad at this. Okay. Um, our first call for a group coaching experience that we're doing beyond running your agency. This is like work life integration. This is high performance coaching. I am a certified high performance coach and we are doing a beta program of group coaching that is going to kick off the first day is August 30th. Um, if you're looking for how to get more out of your life, how everything works together, more influence Kelly, yes. More influence, more, um, you know, better, deeper relationships with your family and your friends, better physiology, better, you know, improve your psychology. Like we'll focus on what it is for you that are your focal points. And we'll go through a 12 week process together. That is the certified high performance method that is backed by science. All of the like top CEOs in the co in the country are following this exact approach.
Like I said, I'm certified in it. So, um, we are kicking off August 30th, we're taking a very small cohort through the program and it's gonna be the beta group is 50% off what the program is normally gonna be. Um, you know, we wanna iron out the kinks. Usually it's people like Kelly that would come in who know me and would be forgiving and, you know, know that like we always strive for top notch. And if it's like a little, a little messy at first there's total forgiveness and understanding, which is, you know, and we know each other a bit, like I, I see that kind of happening here. Um, but we have an amazing group that's interested. We are still taking, um, we are still, uh, open and taking people. Um, like I said, it's gonna be 50% off what it's going to be when the program like is out of beta and officially launches.
So the first cohort's gonna be awesome. If you're interested, DM me, Kelly, please send us a DM or an email. You have my email. Um, and we'll let you know about it, but it's awesome. And it has like transformed my connection with my kids. Like the quality of the time we're spending together and my patience and understanding with them and my relationship with my husband and just the piece that we feel around here. My husband is going through it too with me. Um, he's loving it. He's working on ways to deepen the connection with the kids. That's both of our focal point. And so it's been awesome. Reach out to my team, Christine, I would love to support you further. Um, Miranda on my team is support at generation oops, academy.com.
Um, you can reach out to her and we'll tell you a bit more about it. There's gonna be an application. We're gonna take a small group and kick it off. And I'm so excited. I'm so, so, so excited. I'm like, let's go. So, uh, August, um, 30th is gonna be the first call and, um, I'm pumped. If you're interested at all, please reach out to that email. I just posted here. It's gonna be great. And it's just, the community is like so incredibly awesome. And there's so much we learn from others experiencing similar challenges. And even if somebody else is like going through something and they're in the hot seat and we're working through, you still learn by listening. And there's also so much value in being a part of a community where you're like other people are experiencing this too. That's what's so great about this community is that we're so targeted.
We're all working towards the same goal. Everyone here is open and sharing and giving, but there's this shared understanding. So any challenges with clients, anything you're facing, you don't have to go it alone. And there's so much value in that. I mean, that did not exist for the first 15 years. I ran my business. Like I was just like, I wonder how other people are. So am I the only one just like Christine was like, did I lose my touch? This is how, how we learn what other people are experiencing, how it, you know, relates to us and our businesses. So that is a value being in a group, coaching people call it container. I don't like that term container, but the, you know, cohort that will go through it also not a great word, but you get what I'm saying. Um, they're gonna be awesome hand picked .
So if you're interested in going through that at a 50% off, let me know and go reach out to Miranda support at generation academy and we will talk you through what it takes, what, what it's involved in, all that. So, um, that's what I have for you all today. Thank you so much for being here. I appreciate the positive feedback that you all shared. And so grateful if you found us through YouTube or the podcast or an ad or whatever, like we're trying so hard to grow this community with the right people. And the fact that you found us is just so awesome. I'm really grateful for that. So enjoy the rest of your week. I'll be here again next week. Um, and I will see you guys then have another great topic for you. So take care and have a great week. All right, guys,
