Maggie Patterson

You’re ready for the BIG time. You’ve got the website. The packages. The dream. The guts. The glory.

You are out there rock n’ rolling. Blogging. Tweeting. Hell, you’ve even thrown some PR into the mix.

But your growth isn’t happening as fast as you’d like. So you are anxious, edgy and maybe even feeling borderline desperate.

There’s a million reasons WHY things are they way they are in your business, but a big one likely is the fact that somewhere along the way your expectations went seriously off track.

I could throw around some blame here that would land firmly on the shoulders of the live your dream, make millions BS crowd. Or make your first $100k in five easy steps. You know the drill.

Do I believe this is possible? Yes. Do I believe this is possible for most of us and in the way that we’re sold? No. Make that a hell no. It’s utterly ridiculous. But it puts butts in online seats and leaves the rest of us going after the dream.

Call me the dream killer. Call me harsh reality. But no PR or marketing can fix your broken ass expectations, market research or subpar product. No program has the magical solution to get you to a cool 1 million.

That’s why when someone shows up on my door with the expectation that I can fix this, I run. I’m damn good at what I do, but I’m not the Olivia Pope of online business.

[Tweet “Don’t chase a fix with PR. Focus on your body of work says @magspatterson”]

How This PR Thing Really Works

Every so often, I regret my career choice. As much as going into communications was a total no-brainer for me, I sometimes wish I’d gone into a field where I could give my clients more definitive answers.

PR, publicity, marketing is an art. It’s not science where I can say with 100% certainty that if we do X, Y will happen. The best we can do is take the information we have, apply knowledge and experience and go from there. Results may vary.

That’s why, as much as I know that if you guest post or do interviews, the results will come. They just don’t come in the same way every single time. Or in the same form. One person may get 100 email sign ups and 3 sales from a guest post, while one may get 20 sign signups and that’s it. Sometimes you get lucky because you are in the right place at the right time. Other times you will need infinite patience and a whole lot of faith.

The act of promoting your business, consistently month over month  is where the real magic happens. Little things add up to big things and you start to build momentum. Smaller opportunities turn into bigger ones. That’s a practical PR approach to getting things done.

That’s my friend is how it’s done.

[Tweet “The real PR magic happens when you focus on turning the little things into big ones”]

If you are going to play the PR and publicity game, you need to stop seeking a quick fix and focus on how this contributes as part of a bigger push to meet your business goals and your body of work.

All of your efforts from interviews to speaking engagements to guest posts come together to build into a body of work that establishes you a thought leader. That’s what helps you sell out programs, book your calendar for months to come and helps get you to the BIG time, or at least on the road to where you want to go.

 

It’s one thing to be quoted or have a guest post in your industry’s top publication, but it is entirely another to appear in a glossy magazine or top newspaper. There’s something beyond exciting about mainstream media cover that you can brag to your grandma about and post a picture of on your personal Facebook feed.

Is this about vanity? Possibly.

As long as you are crystal clear on what your goal is with mainstream media, I’m all for it. Too many times people have this notion that they will magically get an influx of interest because they were on the Today show for 4 minutes.

[Tweet “Avoid getting sucked into the vanity PR trap with this post from @magspatterson.”]

For your average service-based business, mainstream media is not all it is cracked up to be. Sure, if you are selling a retail product like a piece of clothing or organic body lotion, the rules change dramatically. But let’s face it, 95% of my readers are service providers like consultants, coaches, speakers and authors so that’s what I’m going to talk about.

Have Your Eyes Wide Open with Mainstream Media

If you want to go mainstream and focus on glossy magazines and national TV appearance, you need to be wise to how it really works, so here’s a few things for you to consider.

1. It Takes Time

The bigger the name, the more hustle and patience required. Back in the “day” when I was heavily focused on pitching mainstream media, it took a lot of creativity. And patience. Occasionally it would happen with a bit of luck and we’d have an interview with no lag, but usually it took the producer or the reporter getting to know the company and come to trust us as a source of information.

2. Authority is Required

You know the saying there’s no such thing as an overnight success story? While it may appear that someone was freshly discovered with that big story in the Wall Street Journal, there’s likely years of sweat equity behind the scenes.

To be a credible source, you need authority. If you are a new business, you need a backstory. Expecting them to trust you as an expert is a long-shot if you’ve never even guest posted before. Start where you are to build your authority over time and don’t waste time chasing something that won’t likely yield results.

3. Results May Vary

While visions of fame and fortune dance in your head, you need to clearly understand that mainstream media may not deliver the results you expect. That big moment commenting on a breaking news story on CNN as exposure very likely will not make the phone ring or the orders flow in. What it will do is give you more credibility which can help with more media or speaking gigs.

The real magic is in the boost of confidence that it gives people when they come to your website and want to work with you. Never underestimate the power of social proof via media appearances. Think of it as your body of work vs. the one hit wonder.

Ready for Some Mainstream Media Love?

There’s lots of places you can start, so figure out your goal before you do anything else. Get clear on how this is going to help you in your business and what you want out of it.

From there, work out what targets to focus on to help you meet that goal. Is it a BIG website? A quote in your fave glossy women’s monthly magazine? National TV? Local lunch time show?

Be intentional and get focused on the target so you can tailor your story and not waste your time going in circles after all of it. You know, that whole failure to plan is a plan to fail thing. No plan = #hotmess.

With the plan, you can develop your strategy and tactics so you can actually get results. You may choose to learn the ropes yourself or hire a pro, but no matter what you do, be smart about mainstream media and don’t get seduced by your ego’s drive to have something to tell your grandma about.

[Tweet “Don’t let your ego run the show. Get wise about mainstream media with @magspatterson”]

Let’s face it. When you are on the case looking for PR opportunities it’s like drinking from a fire hose. There’s a gajillion targets and it’s hard to know who is actually looking for stories or sources.

That’s why I’m such a fan of the Help a Reporter Out (HARO) service. If you aren’t familiar with it, it’s a free service that connects sources (that’s you!) with reporters that are working on stories. It lands in your inbox three times per day, Monday to Friday with a list of opportunities that need sources.

Here’s the cool thing about HARO, when done right, it can land you in publications that you may not otherwise be pitching. Take for instance, my buddy Rebecca Tracey. A HARO pitch landed her in this piece on Entrepreneur.com.

Many of my clients have secured mainstream coverage to being included in books to being quoted in their ideal niche publication. HARO includes publications and websites from business to lifestyle to travel. There are endless possibilities if you are willing to work HARO.

[Tweet “Work @helpareporter to boost your PR with these tips”]

Making HARO Work – The Golden Window

Are you thinking, but Maggie, I’ve never had HARO work for me? It’s generally held that one of the keys to success on HARO is responding as soon as humanly possible. I’ve heard more than once from reporters that within 20-30 minutes of opportunities going out by email that they are flooded with sources.

You are busy. I get it. But if you can, read the emails when they arrive in your inbox and see if there’s anything that’s a fit. Give it a quick scan and then respond if there’s anything that works for you. Do not overthink it. Opportunities that are a fit will jump out at you and make you think “yes, please” I want to be quoted there.

If you have a VA, assign this task to them to help you ensure that nothing gets missed. (Or if you are my client, you have my eyeballs on the case picking them out for you!)

Creating the Best HARO Response Ever

If you are a reporter who is literally drowning in responses, you are going to look for people who take the time to craft a smart and insightful response. And you my friend, if you are taking the time to respond want to make the cut.

Here’s some tips on how to create the best HARO responses EVER:

• Follow exactly what they are asking for in their request. If they want two sentences provide only two sentences. If they say no agencies and you are an agency, don’t respond.
• Provide your contact information including your phone number so they can follow-up if need be.
• Sell yourself. Why are you uniquely qualified to act as a source on this topic? Two sentences should be enough.
• Include a link to your website and another other relevant background.
• Use a catchy headline in your response’s subject line to get noticed.

As you get started with HARO, keep in mind that not every response will not yield a reply, but stay on the case. Pitching opportunities that are already in play definitely beats trying to to convince a reporter at a big website that they must write a story on X and include you.

Next week  – more on practical PR coming up!

[Tweet “Meet the media where they are. Score coverage. Win-Win with @helpareporter. New blog post.”]

Has HARO worked for you? Are you going to get started? Share your HARO stories and thoughts below.

I’m starting a new series today on the blog called Practical PR with a goal of giving you some actionable ideas for promoting you and your business.

I thought I’d start off with talking about one of my least favorite PR tools, the press release and why press releases suck. (At least in my not so humble opinion.)

My relationship with the press release started in 1996 when I was in college taking PR. I learned all the ins and outs of everything press release related. Since then I’ve probably written and sent out thousands of them, if not tens of thousands.

Now, think back to 1996. Email was barely a thing and blogging was just a glimmer amongst a small community on the Internet. Social networking wasn’t even born yet and Mark Zuckerberg was only 12 years old.

Back then, press releases made sense as a structured way to package and share news about your company. Fast forward 18 years later and press releases quite frankly are pretty retro. Sort of like the Macarena, the #1 song of 1996.

[Tweet “What press releases and the Macarena have in common. So retro.”]

The Time and Place for Press Releases

Working with corporate clients, press releases are a standard tactic, and in many cases are required for stock market disclosure or things that have zilch to do with PR.

Many times, when people think about PR, a press release is one thing they are familiar with, so they jump to that as the way to “get their news” out there. But as a coach, consultant, or author, you aren’t bound by the rules of the SEC and you can tell your story using a much more social approach and skipping the press release.

Not convinced? Think you can just write your press release, pay a service to distribute and you’ll be golden?

Not so fast.

Press releases do not make the media magically call you. Spending $700 to have your story distributed by a big name service does not automatically beget coverage. And real bonafide coverage is not having the press release reposted to the Wall Street Journal. Oh look you, talking about you. Not so credible is it?

The idea of publicity in the first place is to get other people to share your story and thereby boost your cred in the process. It’s called third party credibility, which you don’t simply get by your press release being published verbatim on some random website.

What Really Boosts Your Cred

The good news is that there are so many ways to share your news or story, that you can pick the most appropriate way to get it out there.  For the love of the PR gods, please just don’t do a press release because someone tells you that you “should”.  Shoulds are for suckers.

Here’s just a few ideas:

• Blog about your story or news
• Share via social media
• Pitch reporters directly with your story
• Act as an expert source
• Create video content
• Write a guest post about it on a high profile site

Creating “buzz” and getting attention for your story can be done in many different ways. The key is tapping into the avenues that are most appropriate. A highly visual story may be ideal for video or photos, while thoughts on an industry trend may make for the perfect guest post.

Try not to fall into the trap of getting so stuck on your story that you lose sight of the fact that the story should serve to educate, entertain or inform. Focusing on “hey, here’s my new business” or “my new product is here” will not get you very far, the real story is how that fills a need or fits into a bigger industry trend.

Well done publicity, is not a one and done project. It takes time, pressure and lots of patience. But the rewards can be immense when you start having customers coming to you because they read about you in your local paper or or when you are invited to speak because of your last guest post.

As my mom always said, good things come to those who wait. The real question is, can you be patient enough?

What has your experience with press releases been? Do you have a press release #fail you can share. Comment below. 

[Tweet “Skip the press release. Tell your story socially. New blog post via @magspatterson.”]

Are You a Well Kept Secret?

Stop Being Out Shined by People Who Suck.

I’m starting a free three class series on July 23rd at 1:00 p.m. Totally free, no sales pitch – just straight up learning.  We’ll be talking about publicity basics, why your arch nemesis is getting attention and you aren’t and much more.