How to Get Event Publicity with Nicole Rodrigues of NRPR Group – Podcast Transcript

Episode 72: How to Get Event Publicity with Nicole Rodrigues of NRPR Group

SPEAKERS

Nicole Rodrigues, Lexie Smith

Lexie Smith 

Now, Nicole, I don’t know if you’re gonna remember this or not. But we have actually met back when I was a publicist working for a boutique PR agency in LA Melrose PR. I do not. I do not expect you to remember that. And I went in person. Yeah. Way back way back. Oh, my gosh, that was years ago. Yes. So I saw your name come through one of your team members pitched you for the show. And I was like, Oh my gosh, this is such a full circle moment. I have to have her on. So I just had to share that. Before we dive into the meat and potatoes of today. I’d like to always start with a few appetizers, which is where in the world are you located? And what do you like to do outside of work for fun?

 

Nicole Rodrigues 

Love it. So thank you. Thank you for that, that memory share. So I am in Beverly Hills, California. This is where we’re headquartered. But my company we have a couple of other locations. So sometimes you’ll see me flying out to New York, our team there we have some people in Las Vegas, Northern California, Utah, as well. So anyway, and then what I like to do outside of work is I like going to the gym. I’m a big orange theory personal shout out to anyone who also goes to orange theory I’m, I’m like addicted. I love it. And then I love to golf. It’s like the sport that I can compete against myself in and constantly sort of work to get better. Like I think my mycompany competitive nature. It’s good for me because I can be like, Okay, I’m going to be better than myself this next day. So I absolutely love to golf. And yeah, and to work out.

 

Lexie Smith 

Amazing. My husband’s a golfer My dad’s a golfer my mom now in retirement is a golfer everyone’s telling me I should be a golfer but maybe one day, maybe one day, I have to ask to Are you familiar with the 60 Hotel in Beverly Hills?

 

Nicole Rodrigues 

Of course, I’d like not quite walking distance I can walk. It’s like a 15 minute walk up Wilshire. But I love the 60 Hotel.

 

Lexie Smith 

Yes, I was their director of PR and marketing for a few years. So I’m also wondering if I had my 40th birthday party. They’re even like brushed brushed past each other at one point. I mean, my office was literally on the rooftop. So I was there all the days.

 

Nicole Rodrigues  

So I had my birthday my 40s A couple of years ago.

 

Lexie Smith 

Shout out wonderful if you’re ever in the mood for a great cocktail with 360 panoramic views. Check out the 60s in Beverly Hills highly suggest actually don’t know what they’ve done post pandemic it’s been a few years but I’m missing. I mean, it’s still pretty.

 

Nicole Rodrigues 

Oh, it’s still gorgeous. They did a few little renovations, nothing too crazy, but still very, very pretty. And that that pool roof top, you really can’t beat it. It’s so awesome. It’s pretty, it’s pretty phenomenal. So lots of little crossovers already.

 

Lexie Smith 

Okay, so let’s talk through your career high level up until today. Got it.

 

Nicole Rodrigues 

So you want me to start from the beginning and just kind of

 

Lexie Smith 

start back from wherever you want to jump in, and then we’ll walk up to today.

 

Nicole Rodrigues 

 Awesome. So my favorite place to start is actually junior high. And the reason I say that is because people are like, Oh, you’ve been doing PR since you were 12? When I tell them my age, and I’m like, yeah, actually, professionally, I’ve 22 years. But if you actually add in where I realized PR was my thing I just didn’t know it was called PR. So I used to when I was 12. I was really big on student government. And of course, with student government, you have to plan campaigns, you have to write speeches, you have to make sure that you are communicating with your publics, if you will, right? The groups it’s like, you got the jocks, you got the mathletes, you’ve got the emo kids, you got the you know, you have to think about all of your groups and your publics. And my brain used to always think that way, right? Like, okay, well, how do I make sure that people feel like I’m approachable? And that I would be a leader that represents them? And how do I work with the newspaper to make sure that I’m visible? Or how do I get involved in clubs so that people see me and then when they think about voting, they’re gonna think about me? Well, that started when I was like, 12-13 years old, literally, like, that’s just how my brain works. And then finally, in high school, I used to think, well, I love journalism, I love marketing, I love leadership. Those are my first like, those are an English, those are my favorite classes in high school. So people say find your passion, and then figure out a way to get paid for it. Well, then I went to San Jose State where it was like, at that time, the number one public relations programs specifically in California, and I don’t know about the rest of the country, but I definitely know in California, and I thought public relations, my journalism professor requested, he’s like, take PR 101 Before you decide broadcast journalism is going to be your thing, because that’s originally what I thought I wanted to do. I took a PR class. And that was it. So I literally just found what I loved and was good at, and found a way to make that my major and profession and then from there, went on to intern at some tech companies in Silicon Valley. Then I moved over to the Oakland Raiders at the time, and thought I would challenge myself completely and do PR for football, which is a big passion. Play for me as well. I’m a huge Raider fan. And it was just such an awesome experience. And then I went back into tech, found myself in LA got got recruited to work at Demand Media, which now is the leaf group. What a blessing that has been because now I’ve been in LA for 12 years. And this is home and built a strong network started and RPR, eight and a half years ago, and we’re still growing, growing strong. So that’s that’s how I started.

 

Lexie Smith 

And I love that story. And actually, we have some parallels first, I have never connected the dots. I did ASP as well through all of school and college and high school and all that stuff. I’ve never thought of it that way. That is brilliant.

 

Lexie Smith 

Totally like that’s must be an early indicator for someone is kind of destined for PR I went into college originally wanting to do broadcast journalism until I got a taste of PR.

 

Lexie Smith 

Yeah, I’m like city. Girl. I get you. I love it. I see you guys I see you so Okay, today you have your own firm. Tell us a little bit more about what types of services you offer and the type of clientele you service.

 

Nicole Rodrigues 

Yeah. Great, great question. So I like to say that our niche is just forward thinking disruptors, right? And that can fall into a lot of categories of course Tech because disruption is happening in tech. Tech is disrupting a lot of traditional industries from fashion to banking to real estate to you know, entertainment, you name it. So I love working with visionaries who want to disrupt in a positive way right to bring things to the forefront make it better utilizing technology for that. Also consumer products, right? Absolutely love being able to talk about things that I would personally use from a day to day a lot of the good for you foods. We have a good reputation in the good for you foods category. I don’t care how much Coca Cola would pay me I would not represent a bad for you food brand. Right? I’m also a mom and someone who does believe in longevity and you know, sort of doing what you can for your body. And I do think that nutrition is a big, big part of that. So, with consumer products, a lot of that does fall into the foods side of things. And then events, things like red carpets, we’re in LA, right movie premieres, especially working with independent directors. My daughter is a film major at NYU. So naturally, she kind of learned about the industry and things like that from that type of exposure. that and LA ComicCon so big on like, nerd geek, nostalgic culture, we’ve been la Comic Cons, agency of record. Now, I think this is going on five years, and I just love them. And I love the con space. So events are really, really big for us as well.

 

Lexie Smith 

So this isn’t a video podcast, but and no one can see this. But how do you have a daughter in NYU? It’s not.

 

Nicole Rodrigues 

Here. Yeah, she’s a senior.

 

Lexie Smith 

I mean, it’s an alignment with you. Putting such a high value on on health. It’s clear, you radiate? Seriously. Everyone goes Docker Instagram. Just kidding. You’re so no, we’re really I’m shocked. That’s, that’s incredible. And perfect segway for today. There’s a few things I want to touch on. But the first I really want to dive into with you, and we haven’t talked about on the show is event publicity. Because to your point, it’s one of your services. So my question, my first question, if you have a client hosting an event, how do you go about creating a strategic PR plan? What are the high level steps or components involved?

 

Nicole Rodrigues 

Yeah, that is a really solid question. So first, we’ll back up so that you know that when it comes to events, there’s a very specific formula that always works. So all of you get out your pen and paper, write, check, we got it. Three boxes, three lanes, you have pre publicity, getting people excited to either buy their tickets, save the date, do all of that. So you have curtain raiser type publicity, that gets people juiced about what’s to come, then you have the, you’re inviting media, you want them to physically be present. So then you have to create an experience for the media that gets them to talk in that timeframe. Whether it’s a week long event, a week end event you want on the floor type of coverage, where they experience it, they go back to their computer in the media room at the event and they type type type, and they’re telling people about it in real time. Then there’s the post, right? You do the post mortem, how many people attended? Who were all of the guests that came? What did they say when they were on the panels, so that people get excited to think about next year’s event? If this is like, we had 500,000 people that came this year, which is a 60% growth rate from last year, right? Thinking about the data. That’s the post PR experience, if you can nail those three buckets, you’ve got PR, not just in one, right? Not just how do we get it here, you’ve got PR going on for weeks, and sometimes months. And that is really how to nail event PR and do it super, super well. So how do you plan and get a strategic sort of plan together? You think about what people can expect when they’re there. And you start working backwards? Who are some of the main guests? Who are some of the big speakers? Who are some of the panelists, right, so thinking about LA Comicon, for example, most young boys had a big ol crush on the pink power ranger didn’t them. They just loved her, right. So knowing that largely male audience members are going to come they’re like, oh my god, the pink power ranger had such a crush, making sure that when tickets go on sale, and that contract is signed, and we know that she’s coming, that’s in that press release. We’re telling media a couple of weeks ahead of time under embargo, we’re gonna announce ticket sales. And in that announcement, we’re going to talk about Steve from Blue’s Clues because everybody loves Steve. Right? And the pink power ranger she’s coming, right? All of these big people, you put that in announcement one, then announcement two, it’s like the guests are stacking up or here’s the other things and we just opened up this side of the room. Again, getting people amped and ready. So you think about strategically how you can use the what from the event and plant that as seeds to get people amped and then you think about okay, when an event happens.

 

Nicole Rodrigues 

What are the things that we’re going to be able to capture, sound bites all of that stuff. So thinking about people who are going to be there, and how you plan for being there, when they say whatever are capturing those moments, because then that is then going to help you create that final post event PR. But that’s really how to do it, how to nail it. And la ComiCon had run through a dozen plus PR firms before we started working with them. And we have the lifetime contract now just basically because it’s like, it works. And they’ve been able to grow publicity wise, tremendously, and it’s been an honor to be able to help them do that.

 

Lexie Smith 

Well listen to you. No wonder you want the contracts. Like the way you just broke that down was so simple and clear and smart and strategic. So seriously, guys, whether you’re a PR pro listening to this, or someone who’s looking to get their own PR for their event, your business owner tap back, she just made that as simple and clear yet as brilliant as you can break down event publicity. So well, don’t you, I want to narrow in on that kind of second bucket getting media to your event. Let’s say you’re not a Comic Con, let’s say you aren’t yet you know, 21 years in the industry. And you know, a lot of the key players and maybe it’s more of a cold outreach like this is your first big event as a company you’re hosting, you know, your first big conference tips you have advice you have on how to get media to show up?

 

Nicole Rodrigues 

Yes, that’s a really, really great question. The first thing is time. As silly as that sounds, media are busy, if you’re not giving them enough time, even if they want to go, if you’re not giving them two, three weeks in advance, maybe even a month, if there’s something really special that you want them to capture, give them time to put it in their calendars. So before even thinking about the outreach time, always of the essence when it comes to events. The next part is guests, media come because they want to interview people, they want to have an experience, they want to feel touch, see and then share with their audience. If there isn’t a great sort of spokesperson, a draw for them, even one celebrity or one thought leader or one speaker, author somebody that they’re going to have access to that they otherwise wouldn’t media come for the who and the experience. Right? So thinking about that, if you’re a brand new event, how can you get someone that’s worth a draw, because then at that point, in the pitch to the media, it’s not just a pitch about the event, it’s a pitch about what they’re going to get that they otherwise wouldn’t get from anything else, I am going to be able to sit you one on one with so and so right JLo is coming and she’s agreed to only do five interviews, we’d like for you to be one of them.

 

Nicole Rodrigues 

So thinking about the who they’re going to be exposed to, and what they would get there that they couldn’t otherwise. That’s how you have to think strategically to get them to be motivated to come. It’s like trying to get your best friend to come to something. They’re like, Oh, don’t go they might even be your friend but they’re like, What am I gonna get out of it? Like I’ve already been there? I’ve been to that restaurant, nothing new for me. What can you draw them with? So that’s usually what works with

 

Lexie Smith 

love, love, love, I have to share too. You mentioned you know, the who are creating an experience and since we were talking about the 60 earlier, this made me think of an event series I did We did quite a few event series on that roof. It’s again guys like check it out. If you’re in LA it’s gorgeous. But we did a movie night up top under the stars and I remember trying to get media to come and what we had to do is create this really because there’s no celebrity coming in this was a public event. We had to create a kind of VIP experience that honestly just anyone would would be silly to say no to right like we’re gonna give you your own cabana we’re gonna give you all these cocktails. We’re gonna cater youYou were going to do this and that. And so we had to create an experience for them that was separate from the other attendees coming to your point. So if you don’t have a who is going to be there, what’s the what are what’s the experience that you can draw them in with?

 

Nicole Rodrigues 

Absolutely. And when you roll out the red carpet for the media, who are used to, you know, interviewing people on a red carpet, when they feel that high touch, I am being cared about by the PR team, they are so appreciative. Because at the end of the day, they are people who have professions who are trying to get their work done. And they’re trying to report things to their audience. And if they feel like someone sees them, like I see you, and I know that you cover X type of content, not only do I want you to come, but I want you to kick up your feet, have a free drink, sit at the Cabana, enjoy the movie. And know that we we see you We care about you. And we hope you have a great time, you know, basically covering this.

 

Lexie Smith 

Yeah, exactly. So I think those are great, you can pull a lot out of everything that Nicole just shared, depending on your type of event. I’m gonna segway a little bit into a new topic when I was exploring your website, which by the way, guys, Her website is packed full of educational resources, which is a girl after my own heart. One of the things I saw is, what someone can do when choosing a top PR firm is to see if a top PR firm has a quote, understanding of what is and isn’t news in the eyes of editorial decision makers. So I want to dig into that a bit more. So first break down for me what is and is not newsworthy? In the eyes of the media?

 

Nicole Rodrigues 

Yep, that is a great, great question. Because you are going to have, think about it. Your clients are not trained PR people. They’re not trained media people, they will read the media stories, they will watch the TV shows, they don’t know how the magic actually happens and how decisions are made. So they’re gonna come and just be like, well just do the thing. Well, we just won an award. So that’s great. Yeah. They always think they’re newsworthy, it’s newsworthy to them. Right, right. It’s like, well, it’s Newstart. Sure, it might be news internally to your internal team, you definitely want them to know if you’ve won an award or been recognized for something. But think about this. Fast Company, Inc. These guys will recognize people and award them with like the fast 500, or the inks, best places to work or whatever.

 

Nicole Rodrigues 

That is an actual media outlet recognizing you for an award.What other competitive media outlet is going to want to cover that as news. Yeah, none. Oh, so my competitor gave you a freaking award and you expect me to write a story about it. Absolutely not happening. So being very clear with clients, you can write a press release so that the world knows you won the award, and you put it in your timeline, do not expect any media to care, you know which media cared the media outlet that gave you the award. Those are the only ones that are going to care. You want to do this because it’s like a pin in your timeline. Oh, remember that year that we won the inks best places to work? Great. It’s known, it’s visible, it’s not getting covered. It’s definitely not getting covered. Right. So explaining to media that when a competing media source recognizes you for something like, Hey, we were just covered in Forbes, should we call other people and tell them we got a story that’s important. Who is writing a story that like XYZ company gets a headline in Forbes 00 media care, that to say you got covered, you getting coverage is not newsworthy? It’s just great that you get it right. You want to share that in amplified on social media. What’s also not newsworthy, we’ve updated our website. It is not 1999.Everybody has a website. And the expectation is you are going to give it a facelift every once in a while for your brand. So unless like Elon Musk personally stops everything he’s doing in his life, to put together a brand new website for you. Jeff Bezos shuts down Amazon for two seconds to build your E marketplace. No one cares that you have a new website. Right? So really thinking about media are looking for data. What’s fresh and new data that like they wouldn’t have otherwise known unless you shared it with them?

 

Nicole Rodrigues 

Did you raise money? How did you do it? What are you going to spend that money on? Did you buy a company? You acquired something? Did you just redevelop part of your technology and Disney or a big name is decided to use it. Those things are newsworthy because it affects more than you. Yep. That’s it. That’s the thing. Is it something that impacts more than you?

 

Lexie Smith 

Impact. Big one. Impact. Who does it impact? Why care? Always I always have my clients ask themselves, but why? Who cares? Why why should they care? Why does this impact their life?

 

Lexie Smith 

So that’s a good threshold to consistently ask yourself, yes, two sides of a coin to this question. Because I think it’s helpful for both the business owner but also potentially someone who is an agency owner, what is a question a business owner could ask in the vetting process to get an idea if a firm understands this principle? And I’ll point out real quick why it’s helpful for a firm to listen to what Nicole was about to say, because you should be prepared to get this question, too. So what are some of the questions in the vetting process that you can ask maybe to help gauge if a given firm or publicist won’t have you has an understanding of this?

 

Nicole Rodrigues 

Yeah, one of the toughest questions that I would hope a client would ask, right. And this also keeps PR people on their toes and sort of in that next level phase of thinking, if I’m a startup, my question to you is, how are you going to work with me to describe who I am in what I do to the world? And how are you going to build storylines and narratives around that? You have got to have a clear answer for the how that’s going to happen. Because oftentimes, what happens is, a CEO is going to hire you and say, Okay, start pitching me.

 

Nicole Rodrigues 

Well, what the heck am I going to talk about 90% of the time you go to their website, it’s outdated messaging. The narrative is not clear. It’s in marketing speak, not media speak. It is convoluted and doesn’t make sense. It has industry jargon, and doesn’t speak human.

 

Nicole Rodrigues 

So the question that the CEO should ask is, how are you going to work with me to make sure that my stories are clearly told? And how are you going to help me develop that narrative? Because the answer should be, I’m actually not going to pitch you until I do.

 

Nicole Rodrigues 

I am not going to pick up the phone and pick up anyone until you verify that I not only understand you, but I understand the stories that you are trying to tell. And we can do that it doesn’t take a long time, the right trained PR person can sit with an executive for an hour maybe to gather that information, dissect it, take it to the drawing board, spit it back to them and say, This is who I think you are, this is what the storyline can be. This is what I think that they’re going to care about. And then from there, you’ve got their buy in. So you should be prepared to develop those storylines in the messaging. And if you’re not, you’re going to be guessing, and you’re going to be tossing things out and media are going to be like, huh, who are they? And if you can’t answer that, as well, as one of the executives, you shouldn’t be pitching them.

 

Lexie Smith 

Yeah. Something I want to pull out of. I mean, you said a lot of great things right there. But this is one I come across a lot. And I have to try to explain this to founders because that’s who I’m working with in a coaching capacity is the difference between marketing speak and media speak. And the fact that there is a difference? Holy moly, I know this is a big one. But like, could you give me your opinion of a breakdown? How would you, you know, discern a separate the two?

 

Nicole Rodrigues 

Absolutely. You think about media speak in terms of like advertising. Oftentimes, when you advertise, because you’re buying that space, and you know exactly where it’s going. It’s going to like minded people who probably understand all your acronyms and jargon. They read it, they understand your language, right? Media are trained to sort of like, be able to peel back one or two of the onion layers. But because they’re there, I would say they have like diffused attention. They have to have attention on multiple things. They are not going to be able to deep dive with you. And know so if you’re thinking in marketing speak, great. Put your advertisements together your funny one lines and we are the best at AI and blah, blah, blah to JFK, this lalala and all of the acronyms that you want. But that’s not human speak. That’s not everyday speak. And that doesn’t give you a story that doesn’t explain a why a who or what and how that this is happening. That is how media absorb to be able to then regurgitate your story. So you have to break down the acronyms. break down what you do in human. So saying, We are the world’s largest on demand gaming platform for esports, b2b play, blah, blah, blah, okay?

 

Nicole Rodrigues 

You can put that in maybe a gaming rag, or a gaming outlet that like you can own that with. But if I’m going to go to a media person, I’m going to explain you know who you are. You are a platform that makes it easy for people to wager against each other. If you’re a casual gamer, and just wants to bet against a friend.

 

Nicole Rodrigues 

Yeah. That’s what you are, right? Versus on demand platform for Lella. So how do you break it down to where I can go human to human to a journalist and say, here’s what they are. Here’s why this story is important. Here’s why your readers need to understand it, do you want to talk to them? And then also explained in human so that there’s also no, what’s it called facts that get diluted? And like, that’s not what I said? Yes, you can English.

 

Nicole Rodrigues 

And they’ll Yeah, and then they’ll understand you?

 

Lexie Smith 

Yeah, I think that’s great. Another one I point out too, oftentimes, as marketing can be more over the top and make certain claims that not not always are founded. For example, let’s say my restaurant ago, I have the world’s best burrito. That might be a little bit more marketing speak, where PR, what facts, what data? Do we have to back that? How can it not be sensationalized so much? That’s a big one I see too, is people making these big claims? And when you ask them to back those claims, they go, Oh, well, I think so when we’re talking about the media, they need something more to stand on than you think so.

 

Nicole Rodrigues 

Absolutely. It’s like that’s like your mom, your mom is gonna say you make the world’s best burrito or coffee, but who have like an intelligent or verified or validated source has said, you specifically have this. And if you want to say we’re a war award winning burrito, and your burrito actually has won FOOD AWARDS, great. That’s real. That’s facts. You can point it back to it. And then there’s proof.

 

Lexie Smith 

Or Gordon Ramsay said, we had the world’s best, you know, there’s ways around it. But, but to the point where we’re both making here, right? It’s there has to be something, something more behind it that that it can stand on. Speaking of burritos, and foods pivot so we talked a lot about pitching. As we come towards the end of the show. We have to talk about what we can find you sipping so I know it’s not Coca Cola. But what is your favorite beverage? alcoholic or non alcoholic? Either or?

 

Nicole Rodrigues 

Great so water. I would say the number one default, but when I’m not drinking water, I enjoy a good chamomile tea with honey and milk. That’s like my soothing end of the day drink. When I’m out what I’m sipping is my specific drink. I haven’t named it yet. I need to do that. But it is casamigos specifically. Okay, I know apple and orange juice. Has casamigos Tequila.

 

Lexie Smith 

Yeah, no, I’m like Sorry, go into into like, what can I relate it to kind of like a margarita? Kinda, but not like without?

 

Nicole Rodrigues 

I don’t know, I guess no, like, I think it’s sort of like a I think was like a sunset mark or something like that it had but it’s it’s just I love pineapple juice. I love it. And mixed with that sort of like perfect. white tequila is chill. And then that splash of orange just is like that sugar type of rush. I don’t know I tried it one time. I was like, let me just I kind of just made it up and now everywhere I go that’s like that’s your drink. I know we’re gonna have to come up with the funding I don’t have a name for it.

 

Lexie Smith 

I My  sleep deprived Mom Brain doesn’t have anything clever right now. But if I think of something I will get back to you on that. Anything that’s a simple enough one I can ask for my husband to to treat me to this weekend. So casamigos, pineapple juice and a splash of orange juice. Yes. Okay, cool. So my last question is if people want to connect with you, if they want to work with you, they want to get in touch with your firm. Where can they go? Where should they had to?

 

Nicole Rodrigues 

Yeah, the easiest is honestly and I don’t mind you guys have my email Nicole at an RPR group.com Shoot me an email. I’m constantly online.Look, being a business owner. It’s just what you do. Or if you want to connect with us, the company at NRP our group across all social channels or at Nicole our PR across all social channels for me specifically. Perfection.

 

Lexie Smith 

Well, thank you so much for coming on the show today you shared such clear, smart, actionable advice. I hope everyone had their pens and papers out. I know I did. And this was fun for me too. I felt like a blast from the past again, I don’t know where but I know we did meet once upon a time. So this is fun.

 

Nicole Rodrigues 

Ya know, I am so glad that that you invited me here. So thank you. I’m honored and keep up your great podcast. Thank you guys. Until next time, cheers.