Maximizing Business Growth: Exploring Organic Channels vs. Advertising Strategies Advertising… one of the most beneficial…
No Basic Pitching Feed Drop Podcast Transcript
No Basic Pitching Feed Drop Podcast Transcript
Speakers:
Lexie Smith and Emily Merrell
Emily Merrell
Welcome to the Sixth Degree Podcast, the podcast where we grill our guests about the things that make them tick and find out how human connection plays a role in their life. I’m your host, Emily Merrill. Hello, and welcome back to the sixth degree with Emily Merrill, the podcast where we grill our guests about the things that make them tick and find out how human connection plays a role in their life. I’m your host, Emily, and today I am so freakin excited to have my dear friend Lexie Smith, founder of the PR bar as our guest. Lexie, welcome to the show.
Lexie Smith
Hello. I’m so excited to be here.
Emily Merrell
I think first and foremost, just because we’re technically at a bar, the PR bar should be for ourselves a
Lexie Smith
As you know, I’m always game.
Emily Merrell
So what are we drinking today?
Lexie Smith
What can we pretend it’s five o’clock because we are currently drinking kombucha but not yet. Give me four hours and I will be pouring myself a nice glass of Pinot Noir actually spirit horse Pinot Noir. They just got a bottle.
Emily Merrell
Oh, I love it. I will pour myself a glass of Cabernet Franc from spirit horse and oh, shoot, we need to have Heather on this podcast. That’s a good reminder. I’ll reach out to her during it, but I’ve been telling him Greg, we’re going through spirit horse way too quickly. For like the cost of the wine. We’re drinking it like it’s Capri Sun or something.
Lexie Smith
It’s because it’s that good. But it is a nicer wine. So we should drink it on special occasions. But it’s just so damn good.
Emily Merrell
And everyday is now a special occasion in my life. I’m like, you know, saving for special moments. Is that worth it? Yeah, today it’s Wednesday. It’s a special moment.
Lexie Smith
It’s a one day guy love
Emily Merrell
So Lexie, tell us we know that it isn’t an actual bar, disappointingly, but can you tell us what the PR bar is? And where we can pull up a chair?
Lexie Smith
We’ll see. Just kidding. I don’t have any brick and mortar plans. I don’t want to get everyone excited about that. Yeah, so the PR bar Inc is an online brand really. And the short of it is I teach entrepreneurs how to do their own PR through a couple different programs. So that’s a super short elevator pitch.
Emily Merrell
Wait and I love that your program continues playing with the theme of bar i’m a i’m such like a guilty pleasure for puns and like spin off of names. So can you tell us what that program is?
Lexie Smith
Of course I can. So my main program is called pop fizz clink because I also agree and celebrate all of life’s wins no matter how small it doesn’t matter.
Emily Merrell
You can be sober and you can still do her.
Lexie Smith
You can drink some Martin Ellie’s. It does not need to be alcoholic. So I love it.
Emily Merrell
So PR is one of those things where when I first started as an entrepreneur, and as other peer entrepreneurs, people surrounded me, we people took different approaches. Some people put all of their eggs in the PR basket, and were like, Oh my gosh, I need to get PR. The only way to make my business successful. I now have this domain, I need to get a publicist. And then there are other people that did more marketing like newsletters focused more on Instagram building their following. What is your feeling? Like if you’re just starting out as an entrepreneur or a business owner? Should people go all in and invest in PR and hire a publicist?
Lexie Smith
So the first thing to understand is what is PR? And I think there’s a huge misconception there of what it is, is it always the smartest thing to do to immediately pour all your cash into an outsourced agency? No, I don’t believe it , can that make sense? Yes. But to kind of back up, the first thing to address is, what is PR, right. And we typically think of PR as magazines and TV shows or you think high level corporate crisis communications, that’s nine times out of 10 what people think PR is, but really, it’s so much more than that. And it’s an umbrella of organic marketing. So I am a pro at starting to grow your brand in organic channels until you understand what works and then we can add some money to them right to accelerate. So that’s the quick, the quick answer. Where do you want to dive into? any part of that?
Emily Merrell
Yeah, so I think Can you define the difference between like what PR is and marketing because when I think of it, I used to work in marketing. Back in the olden days, I used to work in marketing and people would always lump us as PR like, oh, you’re going to do the PR marketing. I was like I don’t I don’t know how to do the PR. We have a whole PR team for that. So can you kind of differentiate it and break it down for us what the difference Between the two entities is.
Lexie Smith
Yeah and PR and marketing are best friends that you can often get confused with, right? They’re like twin sisters, they have different personalities, they have differences, but from the outside looking in, people often mix up their names. So use that that’s a new one for me.
Emily Merrell
It’s like us looking at here like super blonde, super brunette.
Lexie Smith
Yeah, exactly. So here’s like a really, really quick definition of PR, and then I’ll tell you how that’s different from marketing. So PR is the art of cultivating opportunities through strategic relationship building and maintenance. Okay, that’s just hold on to that for a second. That can mean a lot of different things. Marketing, for visuals, think of marketing as an umbrella, and I’m holding up my arms as an umbrella, which no one else can see. But that’s what Emily gets to see right now. Pr is a panel on that umbrella. So because of the hierarchy, there are some differences. For example, marketing’s 100% proactive. So we’re going to launch a campaign to get email subscribers, where PR can be both proactive and reactive. So proactive, because we are, you know, maybe pitching for coverage reactive, if something happens, we have to go into crisis communications mode. So that’s one quick difference. We also look at different metrics. So marketers might be looking at the click through rate of an email, where a publicist might be looking at the Share of Voice. So how much is your name showing up on Google? over your competitors? Another difference is this, I think is the biggest, who we’re talking to. So in marketing, you’re talking to the buyer pretty much. That’s it, the consumer, the buyer, and PR, there’s actually six different audiences that you might be trying to communicate to. And it all comes back to the word relations. Public Relations is about relationships, it’s tactics that help us increase our brand awareness and really strengthen relationships. So I’m going to pause.
Emily Merrell
great, No, I haven’t like, sign us up for the PhD level of pr, pr 101 and 102. With Lexie Smith. So first and foremost, I think back to the visual, it’s important to like to think of the PR characters that we know and love on television. Like I think of the Samantha Jones of Sex in the City, I think of like Olivia Pope’s, that’s where the crisis management, you’re like fixing it. And then there’s actually this is the only PR person I can think of on TV.
Lexie Smith
But the main ones, yeah.
Emily Merrell
Marketing, I don’t know any marketing people on television. So that’s it. That’s your visual for PR, we’ll leave it there. So, you know, before you started in the PR bar, you were a very successful publicist doing public relations, public relations relationships, as I call them, to companies, to tech companies. Now you’re teaching PR, why are you teaching it versus doing it for you?
Lexie Smith
Yeah, so to take you a step further back to give you context, I started in agencies, I then went in house. And then obviously now I’m a business owner. And throughout those experiences, I noticed a few things. One, I loved to call it coach because that’s the buzzword these days, actually, whether that be the team I was managing, whether that be the entrepreneur that I was working for the CEO whose company I represented, there was an element where I had to teach them about PR, and I loved that. So that’s one that’s one category. The other is I felt like there’s 1,000,001 now. I felt like there are 1,000,001 different agencies out there that can do it for you. There wasn’t at the time of me launching a lot of the other options. I really strongly believe and know that you can do PR yourself. And actually, I think you’re going to be a lot better off if you understand how PR works before you outsource because then you can lead from a place of informed strategy. So long story short, I mirrored my passion of teaching with a need I really saw on the market that wasn’t being met and what the PRBAR
Emily Merrell
here we are. And I love that I love the fact that you’re teaching a man how to fish versus fishing for them, like you’re gonna leave them a lot more full and satisfied at the end. So in terms of starting to do your own PR what are some tools and resources that you recommend people kind of keep in their back pocket before they hire someone like a Lexie Smith or the PR bar to teach them how to do it?
Lexie Smith
Well, the first is just the first step in their journey. Well, first off, I can say you can google your way into a PhD in anything, do some research and understand what your market options are. But if you’ve decided, Okay, I’m going to do this myself, the first thing you need to do is get your assets in order.
Emily Merrell
So tell us what you mean by that.
Lexie Smith
So your PR assets, so you want photos and specific types of photos, you want different links of BIOS. And by lines, you probably want a media kit, you should have a website if you’re looking to get digital press. So it’s kind of like when you first start a business. And there’s some checks and balances, you have to do like registering with the state and all that fun stuff like that same thing goes for press in order to really be ready to, at least to the press side of pr, pr is more than just press, there are a core set of assets that you should have together.
Emily Merrell
Oh, and then what do you do with sed? What do you do with them once you have them?
Lexie Smith
Okay, so step one, like the physical assets, step two goes into, and I guess this would be where I should explain because I keep hinting at these other parts of PR, right? So there are six relations of PR. There’s public relations, so your relationship with the public community relations, your relationship with communities, either physical where you live, or great online communities like six degrees, then there’s,
Emily Merrell
yeah, there’s your five bucks,
Lexie Smith
industry relations, so relate your relationship as a brand with others in your industry, then there’s customer relations, media relations, and then Investor Relations. So your next step is to start with your objective. So are you a product based business? Are you a coach? Are you a brick and mortar? What’s your goal, and decide which of those six relations you need to focus on to reach your goal? Because this actually goes back to your first question. That’s how you’re going to know if you need to immediately focus on media or maybe Actually, the better place to start is in groups like six Degrees, and working on your community relations. So to summarize that step two is outline your objective and understand which relationships you’re going to need to focus on to achieve those.
Emily Merrell
I love that. And then, you know, I’ve played around with, I’ve worked with a publicist, before, I’ve worked with a PR agency before I’ve worked, I’ve done my own PR before. But I’ve found that the common denominator with all of those things have been the relationships that I’ve had with the writers, and getting in front and nurturing those writers. So if I chose to continue doing the pure on my own, what is your biggest recommendation for people? I think there’s this, like, huge intimidation factor of like, I’m not going to pitch the editor of cosmopolitan, like, I’m a nobody who am I? Do you recommend that these people make big pitches for themselves? Or in those cases, should they bring on a solo publicist, or like a PR agency even for a day or two to feel more professional? Or Lastly, the last option, should they create like pr at six degrees society calm as an email and like, Yolanda is pitching for them? But Yolanda is actually you?
Lexie Smith
Yeah, good question. I get asked this one a lot. And I will say not everyone listening to this, that’s a publicist will agree with me, meaning there’s, there’s not one right or wrong answer here. What I have found is actually, people can be a lot more receptive to founders, even than publicists. It just depends. And I hate saying that, because I know it’s not a clear answer. But it really depends on the writer, and what’s more important than the email address, because really, they’re not going to stop and look and like, go, okay, what’s this email address? Did they hire a PR firm? Or is this an assistant, right? They’re gonna care what’s in the body of the email. And more often than not founders, the person who is the most passionate about it, and that’s easier to read. I’m not saying PR firms are bad, but it’s not what I am saying is it’s not bad as a founder to reach out, just do so with intention and make sure you’re getting the news angle behind it. And you have an understanding of PR, your PR educated before you do so.
Emily Merrell
Oh, that reminds me of another question. Should individuals or founders or solopreneurs be pitching their founder story? Or should they be pitching their business?
Lexie Smith
Both depend on what they’re trying to achieve. So what is your business? Are you a product based business or your service based business? It’s going to depend and what are you hoping to achieve with the press? Is it sales? Is it thought leadership status? Is it credibility? Based on the answer, there’s going to be a different answer, right? But usually it’s a combination of both. a founder’s story can be one of the easiest ways to get news about your company. But you can also get news about your company. It’s just kind of working, working all the angles.
Emily Merrell
Yeah, I think that’s a great, great thing for people to do. So to recap, it’s important to really, really hone in and focus on what your objective is, and your goal is and then kind of look at the drawing board and see what road you want to go through.
Lexie Smith
Exactly, because I asked this to people all the time, you know, when I get on calls, and they come to me they’re like, I want to be on Oprah. I want to be on this site. Why? Why do you want to be on Oprah? Well, is it because you want more sales? Or is it because you want to be on Oprah? It’s fine, there’s no right or wrong answer. But if you want sales, actually Oprah might not be the right answer for you; another outlet might get you more sales. So it’s really important to understand what you’re hoping to achieve with landing press. And if it’s just for the credibility and the cool factor of it, that’s totally fine. But understand that you’re probably not going to get a lot of sales or traffic if you’re thinking of it that way.
Emily Merrell
I think there is so much an ego behind PR where it’s like I need to have that that stamp of approval even if it’s a small stamp but you’ve been featured in Forbes or been on Oprah or whatnot and then you can leverage sounds like you can then leverage that stamp into your marketing and into hopefully then converting to do sales. But exactly you know, who knows if you’re on Oprah unless you’re like Tory Burch and I think everyone bought the sweaters or the cardigans or the shoes like the second she said it was one of her favorite things for the most part like it’s a blip in your day it’s not you know if you’re in US Weekly like I’m not going to remember that specific Us Weekly posting or if God hadn’t read Us Weekly in such a long time.
Lexie Smith
Weekly truly thinks it’s still a thing, okay.
Emily Merrell
But if you know if you read that, like I feel like you’re not going to, to read it and then just go out and buy it unless like you that solves a particular problem that you were hoping to find a solution for me, you happen to pick up but Us Weekly.
Lexie Smith
right? You put on a or you mentioned a good point. And I love talking about Forbes because in the entrepreneurial community that’s like the name that comes to me most that everyone wants and here’s what I tell people. Eight times out of 10 I’ll say eight out of 10 not nine out of 10 landing a mention or coverage in Forbes will not immediately drive you revenue. What’s important is what you do with that word. It’s exactly what you pointed out. It’s integrating it into your sales copy into your marketing and using the credibility that comes with Forbes to leverage your business because that article likely probably won’t be doing amazing things for you at that moment.
Emily Merrell
Yeah, just legitimize you Yeah,
Lexie Smith
Exactly.
Emily Merrell
as like oh my gosh, she’s made it she’s been in Forbes it’s kind of To me it’s funny PR reminds me a lot of like getting married, where people are really celebrate Tori if like when you’ve been in a particular milestone, or if you’ve been featured in a place and you’re celebrated for it even though like you don’t really do anything that unique or special. Like I feel like it’s a shame that we’re celebrating forgetting I love that I mean, mind you, thank you everyone who gave me gifts at our wedding. But like being celebrated for having someone ask you to marry them is so lauded in our life, and it’s such a milestone. And in a way I think there’s bigger business milestones that should be celebrated, celebrated and versus like how I’ve posted I’ve been in a publication before and people were like Wow, that’s amazing. Like you didn’t even read the publication it was one line or whatever it is. So there’s like this cool factor full factor there’s like a cool factor thing and I feel like we’re missing a mark on what we’re still celebrating about certain things in our life at times.
Lexie Smith
Such a good point. I strongly agree with that from a human perspective. However, it’s kind of like what I consider with social media. That’s one of those I guess necessary evils for lack of a better word. This is just kind of how it is right at the moment and being informed is gonna get you some high fives and likes on LinkedIn. Whether or not it should, that’s you know, where I Yeah, I agree with you.
Emily Merrell
Like, well, maybe it should be like I sold a million dollars in revenue. That’s where high fives and stuff should really be coming in. Oh, yeah. And also how cool would it be when you start a business? You can hold a baby shower type thing for your business, like Hi, I’m looking for a microphone for my podcast and a computer that doesn’t die on me and an office chair, all those things.
Lexie Smith
Can that be a thing? Why is that not a thing?
Emily Merrell
I don’t know. Maybe this is our Next company that we start
Lexie Smith
oh my god Emily What is your mark?
Emily Merrell
Yeah business business business showers basically are
Lexie Smith
Nobody else take that
Emily Merrell
30 trademark right now
Lexie Smith
We’re doing so much right
Emily Merrell
like I think there’s just such a lack of celebration of like new business people starting and you know there’s some people that maybe will never get married or choose not to get married and or choose not to have babies and we’re not giving them the same celebration.
Lexie Smith
When they’re doing they have a different type of baby that they’re working on. Yeah, so true. So true.
Emily Merrell
But anyways, back to PR. I digress
Lexie Smith
Clearly I’m on board with all of that.
Emily Merrell
My Gemini personality is like shiny shiny objects very back there’s food okay, but back to PR so I’ve been listening to this podcast all about britney spears and britney spears and her like war with all the tabloids when you know she got pregnant or like people sell her pictures. And then remember the crazy Britney Spears days when she shaved her head and took it. Oh, yes. Yeah, you know, I took an umbrella to a media person’s car. Can we talk about bad PR? Like, is there such a thing as there? you hear it? No, PR is bad PR. But is there bad PR?
Lexie Smith
I think there’s for sure bad PR. And here’s an I got to go back to that word. What’s your objective? If your goal is just to be an influencer, and have your name show up, everywhere in anywhere, and you don’t care what people are actually saying, then sure, there’s no such thing as bad PR. But if you actually have a goal with PR, then there’s PR that is counterproductive or hurtful to your true goal. You know, if you are a clothing company, and you’re trying to sell clothes, and an article gets released, that your clothes suck. That’s not great.
Emily Merrell
Or when Zahra had it released that like there were workers for passing notes. Like help me I’m captive in like, the labels? That’s not cool. Yeah,
Lexie Smith
I mean, and again, maybe there’s some people with the influencer mindset. Well, at least people are talking about them. Right? But are they talking about it in a way that’s driving the action that the company wants? Probably not.
Emily Merrell
So then those types of moments when you do have PR and I feel like this year was a great example of challenging PR management like we had black lives matter and we had we had the election or have still had the election, and how there was a lot of canceled culture out there. Like I feel like everyone in their mom if they didn’t do the right thing if they didn’t post on Instagram on blackout Tuesday, they were canceled if they did they were canceled. Like it was like a damned if you do damned if you don’t for a lot of things. There’s a lot of fear. And Marie Forleo and Jenna Kutcher and God I feel like 19 other people were like everyone was slammed or canceled. How do you bounce back from things like that? And do you have any strategies when dealing with something like this is putting your Olivia Pope hat on how would you write crisis management these things?
Lexie Smith
Yes so that is crisis communications folks they’re absolutely textbook things you can do. I will say the most important thing above all also is mindset right like you can yes I can talk about should you be releasing a statement should you be doing this there are things that by the textbook are correct, you’re still gonna have people mad even if you do everything perfectly. Like that’s the reality of it. So what becomes more important is how you mentally deal with it and understand that you could do everything perfectly and still people are going to be mad at you. I’ve seen it so many times I’ve experienced it, probably every single one of my clients are like I don’t. I’m so annoyed like I did everything right I’m still getting hate you’re not alone hear me people you’re not alone.
Emily Merrell
I mean actually a perfect example of that is the gap . I don’t know if you saw the press this week what the gap was. It’s still election week. Just know it’s Friday, it’s the Friday after the election so nothing’s happened. Essentially we’re still waiting till I get that Yeah. Who our president is um, but Gap released an ad and it was a hoodie. And it was I don’t know if you heard this Lexie, but it was like blue on one side and red on the other side. And it was like whatever happens like let’s be united and people freaked out when they saw this hoodie, they said they freaked out because they wanted they were like this is just so tone deaf with what’s happening. Like that’s not the that’s not what their people want right now. And they ended up deleting Instagram and Twitter and I think kind of just went silent for a little bit. Do you think in those types of moments people should like to get ahead of it? Or any thoughts on a better way they could have handled the controversy?
Lexie Smith
Yeah, I think you can always do your best to prepare things and you should be monitoring. First off, it depends on who your audience is, right? I think that’s important, because the gap is speaking to a very broad audience. So they need to be aware of the general cultural tone. And that’s going on like they are pigeon holed into just one segment of people they need to speak to so to say. So they need to be actively monitoring the news. They need to be actively monitoring conversations. That’s what a lot of crisis comms do they need to as a company get on the same page, you need to if you’re going to post something that’s at all political, already predict that there’s going to be backlash, and you can start to figure out how you want to handle that. So if we’re going to put something out politically, we’re going to make someone mad, alright, do we, as a company, want to take a stand? Or are we going to retract and I didn’t hear about this that what you were saying it’s got to me, it sounds like they were like retweet, retweet, retweet, like someone didn’t file in, file in. So it does sound like from the outside looking in, they didn’t prepare accordingly. And if you as a company, you decide to stick by what you posted, that’s, that’s a choice. That’s like, there’s not one right or wrong way. To do anything really, like I will argue there’s some things that make a good human move to do. But someone else will disagree with me, right? There’s no like, one size fits all manuals to this thing we call the human experience. So
Emily Merrell
Speaking of the human experience, and shifting gears a little bit, how has community played a role in your human experience and building the PR bar, specifically?
Lexie Smith
hugely. So as I mentioned earlier, right community relations is one of the pillars of PR that I focus on. And for me, it’s what I consider both important and low hanging fruit in the sense that it doesn’t cost a lot of capital, and more just requires time. And I would say probably one of the top three tactics I’ve used to grow my companies is through community and networking. And that’s why Emily, I had you on my podcast to talk about that because that is PR like that is relationship building. And that there is nothing there’s not one business out there that cannot benefit from relationship building. So it’s played a large role.
Emily Merrell
That’s a great thing to note here to the power of partnerships, like community is like partnerships, it’s having the same outcome and goal in mind. And both people putting their heads together and being like, how can I, how can we do something together, that’s gonna both scratch my back and scratch your back. And you did a great job earlier this year. God, it feels like 97 years ago, truthfully, Lex like Lexie hosted a bomb calm, I realized to say that still I don’t even know if that’s an amazing presentation on just pure one on one and like giving tips and tricks and doing it for yourself. And I think one of the things that makes you really unique as a human is you’re such a giver. And you’re really good at putting deposits into people’s banks bank accounts, into their personal bank accounts. And then when that time comes, like you need an introduction to a founder, or someone out there, you do a great job tactically, like reaching out to the person and cashing in.
Lexie Smith
Well, thank you. I mean, that’s probably why PR is, you know, it does come to me, PR is part of my personality in a way, when you just strip it back to once again, relationships, and you said the word partnership. It’s funny, because I do all these community events. And I often have to explain to people what I do. There’s like this very negative condensation. They either think PR is glitz and glam or they don’t want to be categorized. So people in the partnership space or the collaboration space or whatever, like I’m not PR like that’s a form of PR. Yeah, like that if you are collectively raising your brand awareness that fits in PR. You don’t have to call yourself that but I’m just letting you know that’s PR.
Emily Merrell
you know how many people I’ve had PR people reach out to me and be like, Hey, can we give you samples to put in your gift bag when you write your clipping experience? Or, Hey, can we do an event with this founder and have her be in front of your audience? And can you do a blog post on her and contribute on your podcast and I’m like, that’s a partnership to me. That’s like a You made me. You scratch my back. You made my day. bags look cooler than they are. I scratched your bag back because then I was able to, like deliver something cool to people without paying for it. And yeah, it’s like mutually agreeable problem solving.
Lexie Smith
It’s so partnerships are a tactic of PR. So it is one way that we cultivate opportunities through strategic relationship building, right? So it’s Yes, it’s a strategy under the umbrella so it gets muddy when you start to try to put definitions around PR working partnerships. They’re married, they’re in other it’s like
Emily Merrell
Sister Wives. We’re all Sister Wives and all of it. I love it. Okay, well, so, Lexie, where can people find out more about you? I know you mentioned your new podcast. Tell us a little bit more about that. Tell us tell us more about your programs like how can people get more Lexie in their life?
Lexie Smith
Sure. So first, go to the pitching and sippin podcast episode two to hear Miss Emily Merrill talk about all things community relations, but yeah, no, I have a podcast it’s called pitchin. And sippin it’s I interview members of the media founders who rocket PR and other PR pros. So that’s number one. Number two, Instagram is where I most mostly hang out social media wise, I’m at the PR underscore Inc. And if you want to work with me, I think the best thing to do is just take me up on my FREE Mini PR strategy session and I can give you free PR advice and B kind of see if you’re a fit for one of my programs such as pop fizz clink,
Emily Merrell
I love it. I wish in a way I think your podcast should be called bitchin and sippin
Lexie Smith
it’s a play on that though. Oh yeah, play it’s pitching and sipping. It’s a play on bitchin and sippin Hmm Okay,
Emily Merrell
Well, sorry, I read what I said earlier, I love puns, and here I am. It’s pitching your whole podcast is bitchin. It is amazing. She is extraordinary.
Emily Merrell
Thank you so much for sharing your tips and tricks and again, if you want more Lexi in your life, definitely check her out. She is a wealth of information. She was always giving away information that I’m like, Oh my God, why have I not done that yet? And check out my episode on pitchin and seven, not pitching in sippin and, and also your blog post. I think we had a blog post earlier in the year a PR, I think was 4000 years ago in the dog years that we’re in right now. And if you liked today’s episode, please give us a like, share it with your friends and write a review. That’s all for now and have a wonderful weekend Lexie.