How to Sell PR and Leverage PR when Selling with PR Pro Candice D’Angelo of The Agency East – Podcast Transcript

 

Lexie Smith  

Candice D’Angelo is the founder of the agency East a PR agency dedicated to amplifying the voices of female business owners on a mission to evolve the status quo. And the selling lab is sales training agency where online and offline businesses alike come to level up their sales skills and build custom trainings. A corporate drop out with 12 years more than 12 years actually, I’ve experienced Candice first discovered her passion for helping others amplify their visibility and grow their business an undergrad while pursuing a degree in sociology and communications at Florida State University. Her first big break came when she landed a job with an advertising agency prior to graduating, she was quickly promoted from an intern to a paid account manager where she wrote ad placements for big names like visit Florida, and pitched agencies such as the Department of Transportation. So, guys, I have had the absolute freaking privilege of getting to know Candace, very well over the past six months, and you would be very hard pressed to find a more hardworking, dedicated, smart, driven, aspiring human and entrepreneur, basically huge fan. So with all that said, Candace, welcome officially to the show.

 

Candice D’Angelo  

 I am like blushing. I am fangirling. Over here. That was an amazing introduction. Thank you. 

 

Lexie Smith  

Oh, of course. So I know these answers, but share with everyone else. Where is home base? First off, and then what do you like to do outside of work for fun? 

 

Candice D’Angelo  

Absolutely. home bases, sunny, South Florida. I am born and raised here. I am a native and for outside fun. We like to go on vacation. We like to get in the car and travel down to the Florida Keys, where we stay for a few days by the pool and watch the kids jump in the pool and just really relax and have a good time. And you are a mom of

 

Lexie Smith  

three very active boys. Wild and what are the age ranges again? 

 

Candice D’Angelo  

Absolutely. So Alexandre is nine, Dylan is six and Fisher is three. 

 

Lexie Smith  

So three boys in the most active ages of life to businesses. I mean, you’re literally literally Wonder Woman, you impress me every single freaking day. And I just wanted to give you all the shout outs. I appreciate that. I’m in good company. It takes one to know one right? Thank you, lady. So I did share a bit about your background. But I want to dive in specifically about talk me through your journey into PR. What made you go from okay, I’m in sales to I’m really interested in learning more about the world of PR.

 

Candice D’Angelo  

 I came into the world of PR in a very unconventional way. I was really doing this already in with my sales agency. I have learned a lot about myself. I am very much a big picture thinker, innovator, I think outside the box, What haven’t we done? What are you do have the courage to do this. Let’s do this. Let’s try this. And we swim against the grain, which is how we value everything that we do in our initiatives. And I was doing this already in my sales career. And I honestly I’ve been following you for a really long time. And I decided it’s now or never, I wanted to have something for my kids to be able to be heirs to the throne outside of what their father does. That’s a really big life goal for me is to be able to pass down the business to one of my kids and PR has always been circling around what I’ve been doing. So it was just time to really dive in and own it. 

 

Lexie Smith  

And now today you have your own PR agency. So please share with everyone. What is your agency? What do you guys do and who do you service? 

 

Candice D’Angelo  

Thank you. So we’re the agency East. We are a female lead agency. We literally are the platform for women all own health and wellness professionals who want to evolve the status quo. And we live by that. And it’s just one of the must haves to be able to work together and be successful together because you have to want to change the set the status quo. Now, do we only have health and wellness professionals know some people get it, and they can see past the niche. And they’re like, I want to work with this group of women. And we have been successful in that niche so far, because it’s, it’s really the language that I know from my sales career. 

 

Lexie Smith  

Yeah, and just for everyone listening, I’ve had a insider look, as Candice has built this business. So I got to see and experience and work with you as you found your niche. But I’d love to kind of hear you articulate how you went about as a newer agency, identifying what type of clientele or what industries you wanted to work with.

 

Candice D’Angelo  

I,I miss the everyday success in wins of my sales career, I’m at home now I have a remote working space. But I missed that networking. And I missed that, that connection. And I learned a lot about the medical industry from terminology to coding, everything surgery, surgical procedures, protocols. And I feel like that is a gift that I was given. And shame on me for putting that to waste. So I decided to open up the hatchet and release everything that I learned and bring it back into my life. And that’s why we work with health and wellness professionals. But more importantly, post COVID We are seeing a exponential amount of physical illnesses as well and as well as mental health issues, that we need to be the platform to support those that are on a mission to spread that message that message.

 

Lexie Smith  

And just to kind of recap, you really mirrored your past experience with something that you’re really passionate about. And the more you’ve talked through this and discovered this process, it became so so clear to me that this was your calling. I want to talk a little bit about your back your back experience and kind of bring it full circle into PR today. So just a quick recap, guys, outside of PR Candace is also a sales expert. In fact, I for my second company actually brought her in as a sales expert to to teach my cohort at ReadySet. Coach all about sales. So if you want to know about sales and sales, psychology, Candice Angelou is your gap. That being said, I want to look at how PR aids or the role that PR plays in the sales process. Now, this podcast is consumed by three main audiences, we have members of the media who listen, we have other publicists and we have entrepreneurs. So PR, there’s this question of how to sell PR. But the first question I want to go into is, how can the PR you get the results you get in PR, so press press coverage, for example, be utilized or leveraged within the sales process for whatever industry you’re in?

 

Candice D’Angelo  

It’s a really great question. And the way in which we leverage the press any press securement whether it’s podcasts, whether it’s media, whatever it is, that’s just furthering the retention. So everybody thinks the sales process ends when the conversion happens and they become the client. But and this is where most businesses fail is they forget to add that retention piece to the sales process. So it really helps with retention and building loyal customers, but also in the very beginning, where somebody’s in that decision making process, and maybe you’re up against somebody else. And I mean, I’ll ask you, if you’re choosing between two people, one person has media coverage and is supported with a logo that they can leverage versus somebody who has not pretty sure I’m willing to bet all the money in my bank account you’re gonna go with the person that has that media coverage or has secured some sort of press. So it works in to two places of the sales process. 

 

Lexie Smith  

Totally agree and credibility is key to sales right? I always the three words, I always go back to our know like and trust. Help people get to know about you. You have to show up to make them like you but the trust part those logos and third party credibility are so so key to the sales process. And that’s something I feel like it’s a missed opportunity for a lot of businesses is maybe they’ve been through featured an extra, maybe they’ve been featured in why it could even it could have even been years ago. But they’re forgetting that that still becomes a tool that can be leveraged and attached to sales. So what are some other ways that we can leverage or that you advise your clients to leverage press placements. 

 

Candice D’Angelo  

So repurposing is a really big one, because it just going back to the beginning of this episode, where nobody can take that away from you. So not only should you remember that you should also use that so people will often just put it up once and then okay, let me get a different one and another one and another one that keep chasing the placement. But really, you can repurpose all of your current placements, your securement and use them sparingly. So every quarter or every, you know, every three quarters, repurpose this one, but repurpose it to your website or repurpose it in an eblast or various ways to leverage your securement. Just repurpose, repurpose, repurpose. 

 

Lexie Smith  

Totally, totally agree. So another question I had for you, we kind of were talking to entrepreneurs and some things for them to consider about where and when to leverage PR in the sales process and how to leverage it beyond the sales process. Maybe in your marketing, you’ve also been very successful for a new agency at selling PR. And I’d love to just have a conversation on on challenges you’ve seen in this journey, things you’ve seen successful, what have you noticed in the process of selling PR, my coach said it best PR gets bad PR?

 

Candice D’Angelo  

 I think that there is a lack of education on the business owners side of when to invest in PR or when you are qualified as a business owner to be able to leverage PR for for more success. But also like, what is that more success? You know, the challenge that we face right now is that education piece we’re getting, you know, some green, you know, they they’ve not had PR they’ve done things but didn’t realize that it was in the world of PR and then you have people that really know what they’re talking about and value PR, so we really do get a mix of the two. Alright, I’m gonna give you some secrets. So we right now do a lot of cold email pitching. And we’ve had success with cold email pitching. And just the way in which I’ve learned how to cold pitch for my sales days, we’ve incorporated that into selling PR, and really being able to showcase who is looking for someone like them. So we do often will put screenshots of some of the things that come across our desk. So whether it’s Parents Magazine, what they’re looking for, and it fits the description, we do go into detail, and we look at their posts on their social posts. And if there’s something that does resonate with us, we put that in the email because it is personal. And this is not just a transaction, this is a relationship that we’re going to have for a length of time. So we want to make sure that we put our best foot forward. So selling PR, within our niche, getting that attention is not been difficult, what’s been difficult is the value because of lack of education. So we’ve had to re strategize some of our content, our emails, our emails, things like that just to be more educational. But also, selling PR is very much like selling a product in that it works best face to face. And we had definitely have some conferences on the lineup for next year, we’re planning to go to pinnacle, which is a big medical a female medical conference next year, and just help leverage the platform that we’re building for female medical professionals. 

 

Lexie Smith  

Okay, so I’m going to break apart a few things you just said there. First, this is something that I give you all the kudos for. Because I have never done this I have never cold pitch or cold when I try to get cold leads in the PR process. So the fact not only that, you’ve done that, but you’ve done that successfully, I think is worth highlighting. So first question on that. So are you essentially identifying how do you identify an ideal client you want to work with? Let’s start there. 

 

Candice D’Angelo  

So Instagram is our number one platform. We we have a mix of we have a variety of popularity profiles from really, really big to hundreds of 1000s of followers to people that just have hundreds. So we don’t we are, we’re equal in how we view them.

 

Candice D’Angelo  

We do know that the ones that have more following are probably going to be a little bit more prone to understanding public relations and how the value of relating to the public is because they have such a large following.

 

Candice D’Angelo  

So, we have a system, anything that I see on my Instagram, I will shoot that over to my lead generation specialist. And we’ll put that on a lead tracker, and we’ll stick around for a while, well, we’ll make sure that it could possibly be a good fit, we’ll see where they could leverage PR. And once we find that out, we send that cold email, we do have a template because it just needs to be standardized in some way. But there is personalization. So honestly, we, we shoot our best shot, and we’ve had a lot we have had a lot of attention.

 

Candice D’Angelo  

But you know, just like anything else, it’s just if they have the budget, or if they have the value, it’ll be it’ll be a great relationship. But if not, we’ll circle back in six months. 

 

Lexie Smith  

So you’re finding you’re finding these potential ideal clients on Instagram? Are you sending this this message via their DMS? Are you somehow locating their email? 

 

Candice D’Angelo  

Yep, we find their email, it’s so medical professionals will typically have contact information within their profiles. 

 

Candice D’Angelo  

So you’ll click on contact, and most of the time, they will put their phone number because they do want you to call but we don’t use that that’s too much that I just that’s wrong. The email, we will, we will use.

 

Candice D’Angelo  

I have done a couple of DMS where like if we’ve exchanged conversation, or if I’ve found something that I’m like, wow, this person, I feel passionate about what they’re doing base just as a mother or a female, then I just almost I’m like fangirling a little bit and I’m like, how can we work together because I feel like with our powers combined, we can totally like make some impact for a lot of people. And I mean that and very genuine about it. I don’t, I wouldn’t want to work with somebody that I don’t feel genuine about. 

 

Lexie Smith  

You know that I send out a community newsletter roundup every Tuesday, chocked full of resources, free media kit, downloads, event invites, journalists, contacts, visibility opportunities. Basically, if you’re not on the list, hit pause and sign up. It’s super simple. Go to the PR bar inc.com/newsworthy. That link is in the show notes. Okay, back to the show.

 

Lexie Smith  

Something else I heard you bring up that I think is really unique is I heard you say you provide examples of maybe potential PR opportunities that they would be a good fit for? Is that something like a quoted placement or what what do you mean by that? 

 

Candice D’Angelo  

Yes. So when we saw will source HARO, and CT quoted multiple times a day, and if we do see something that fits the description to a tee, for a lead, we’ll capture that. And we’ll we’ll keep it. Because those things come around all the time. It even if it expires, we’ll see another one looking for that type of doctor or therapist, maybe with just a different spin or a different angle. So we know that the consistency of what the writers are asking for is there. It’s just a matter of meeting deadlines like, you know, meeting those deadlines and like being sure that it’s perfect. Yeah. 

 

Lexie Smith  

Okay, so super, super smart. So you, you get their interest there on the call. And then you come across which if anyone owns an agency is listening, they are very familiar with the common objections that we are faced with in PR, which our pricing I’d say value are usually the top two. And maybe the other one, too, is not really just understanding how quickly things do or don’t happen is what I want to do is tap a little bit more into your sales psychology genius. From the consumer side, someone’s coming onto a call and they’re not necessarily fairly familiar with public relations. Is there something from a general sales psychology that we can tap into to help us understand how to maybe maneuver those objections? 

 

Candice D’Angelo  

Yeah, absolutely. I’ll use some exact examples, a last call that we had that she decided not to move forward. She was very green knew the importance of it. I think more from like a media perspective. Like, I think that’s the usual, she was a DPC doctor, and she was alone. So she didn’t have like five or seven other doctors that could fill in on her calendar. So her biggest objection was time and being able to commit to essentially what really needs to be committed to for public relations. Because you can’t just be in your office all day if you want to get paid speaking opportunities, right. Like if you have an interview with a journalist like that, there has to be some flexibility there. So that was The that was the big objection next to price. And just kind of like thinking back. These are things that definitely should be on a pre call questionnaire. You know, like, what’s your time sketch art? Maybe not asking what your time schedule is like, but do you have somebody else in your office, like how many people work with you and your office? Because then we can get around that objection of time by saying, Well, if you have an administrative assistant, we could offer some training support there with certain things. So there would, there would have been some more opportunities to qualify, but I wouldn’t say that that was qualified. And so that’s where we could do a better job as PR agencies and agents and publicist is qualifying our candidates before the sales call. 

 

Lexie Smith  

Okay, so that’s a, that’s a great strategy. Pre qualifying, whether that be for by a form or attached to a Calendly link, I think that’s really great.

 

Lexie Smith  

What makes people buy, what are the primary psychology factors that would make someone buy the start, they’re generally or PR, generally, okay. Um,

 

Candice D’Angelo  

they have to like you. And this is where if we’re talking about social, social media with particularly, this is why you do have to show up, and I don’t think it matters what you talk about. And I think adding a little bit of personality and being consistent, they have to like you, before they want to get to know you. And they have to know you before they can actually say they trust you. So I, I reversed the acronym i to like, know and trust. So that’s where we go with it. And if they like you, that’s the first place to start. And I think that’s really what makes people buy and not be so objective to things is that they actually like you, that same thing can also get you in trouble where they just like you so much, they just, they just like you so much that they don’t have their they don’t see their own signs. And then you get into this working relationship, and it’s just not a fit. 

 

Lexie Smith  

Okay, so let’s take the acronym and maybe it’s no like, no more trust you exist, then they have to like you to want to know more to then trust you. What are some ways that publicists or PR firms can start to get potential clients? And this is also transferable guys, if you’re an entrepreneur and you’re not a publicist, but what are different ways that you can build that like factor? If that’s such a big? First step?

 

Candice D’Angelo  

Where can you is it just you got it or you don’t got it? Yeah, I, we were having this conversation just yesterday, and I just really feel like that it heavily relies on your willingness to put yourself out there. And really let people get to know you, like, like you, you have your daughter on your reels. And you know, that’s your choice, and you’re letting your letting people get to know you and like you. So you have to that’s an invitation. So you have to invite them to be able to do that first. So whether you want to showcase your children, or whether you want to talk about personal issues, I talk about anxiety and depression a lot.

 

Candice D’Angelo  

It’s definitely something that needs to be open for all of us to talk about, and not hidden. So I That’s my personal invitation. And if you like that, you’re gonna want to know more about me, and you’re gonna want to know more about what my personal life is like, those things really do have to happen. So I would say just like invite people to get to know you. 

 

Lexie Smith  

And I think that points itself back to another thing PR can help, right, ironically, with is we can build relationships on platforms like social media podcasts are also a really great opportunity for us to speak in longer form to get people to both know and like us, right? All these tools are something not only for you to think about in the selling process, but to then tell if you’re on the PR side listening to this, to use in your sales process to help educate your clients on what PR can do for them. It’s PR can provide a vehicle for people to get to know and like you and trust you, right? Oh, yes, all the things so they’re super, super related. Um, before we kind of wrap up, the last question I wanted to circle back on is you have been fully immersed in the world of PR over the past six, eight months. Yeah. And you have come I mean, your knowledge level and my perspective has come. You are excellent at what you do. Is there anything any General piece of advice that you’d have for someone looking to get into PR or begin to work with someone in PR that comes to mind?

 

Candice D’Angelo  

That’s a big question too, I fully understand, free to edit this out. But I would totally tell them to hire you No kidding.

 

Candice D’Angelo  

Hire somebody that has been in it, and like immersed in it and entrenched in it, and then transition to this to a coaching position, that would be my first recommendation. And my second recommendation would be like, this is learning PR and starting your own business and PR is a full time job. And the biggest obstacle that you’re going to come across in the very beginning is talking about yourself, that what I would say that was the hardest part for me to get over like, people think because I’m in sales, I’m very extroverted. And I could just yap yap yap, and don’t get me wrong, I can. But I had a really hard time like talking about myself and naming all of these credentials and accomplishments, because we’ve been just so trained not to do that. So those that are thinking about getting into the PR world, it’s a full time job, hire yourself a coach that’s been in the business and has also done a coaching business for themselves, and then get comfortable about talking about yourself.

 

Lexie Smith  

And then on the customer side, if someone is considering pursuing PR themselves or Hiring a firm, do you have any advice for them?

 

Candice D’Angelo  

This is a long game. There are short campaigns if you’ve if you have the business credentials to have a short campaign. So let’s say you’re opening up a second location. But this is a long game we’re talking about, we even dubbed ourselves this the know like and trust managers like where your know, like and trust managers. And if you think about it in that way, that’s a lot. That’s life. You know, that’s a long time. This is not a three month agreement. This isn’t a form of agreement. We’re talking about cultivating you and decorating you and putting you in the right places at the right time to be able to develop into that ultimate goal that you’re hiring us for. So it’s a long game. The reason why it costs so much is because we don’t stop. We are constantly sourcing and building relationships, whether it’s with people we know and people we don’t know. We don’t stop thinking about it. I can’t tell you how many times I woke up in the room. I was like, Oh, that’s a great idea. We should do that.

 

Lexie Smith  

I’m amazing. And then I I agree with all the things PR is absolutely a long game. So if you’re considering going in, going to hire someone, do it yourself. Go into it knowing that yes, you can see quick wins, but it’s going to take more than I think one of the biggest mistakes or someone who’s green doesn’t know prs. They go and on a sales call. They’re like, I want to be informed tomorrow. It didn’t just happen that way. I mean, unless you want to pay for an advertorial and work out a pretty penny. It’s that’s our works.

 

Lexie Smith  

So Candace, amongst having three boys, you probably have to stay hydrated. Here’s a really poorly done transition. So basically, I want to ask, What can we find you sipping? I don’t know. What is your favorite beverage alcoholic or non alcoholic? 

 

Candice D’Angelo  

I, so I’ve got two but I’m gonna settle on one. It is a pair martini and I make them. Yeah, I make them at home. And so we put triple sec around the top of the martini glass and we like slosh it around and sugar. And then it’s vodka, pear flavored vodka, triple sack, lemon, and pear puree. Wow. It’s dangerous. 

 

Lexie Smith  

Yummy. There’s been a theme this season about martinis. And actually this show the show the show that I host and people on this show have been the reason why I did try my first Martini. I think it was about two months ago. Now. That to me sounds like a martini but also like a cocktail. Like there’s more than the vodka coming through. So it sounds cool. 

 

Candice D’Angelo  

Here’s the tip to the board lemon you put in it, the less of the bite you taste because you know how Martini sometimes they’re just like, not pleasant. Yeah, the more they’re really that’s why I never drink them. And I made them myself. I was like, Oh, I can handle this one. But the more lemon you put in it, the less of a bite it has. So it’s a good thing and a bad thing too. So be very careful. 

 

Lexie Smith  

Right then it can become kind of dangerous. I hear you on that one. So if people want to learn more about how to connect with you and how to work with the agency east, where can they go? Where should they go? 

 

Candice D’Angelo  

Absolutely.So there’s two places you can come to the agencies on Instagram. Give us a follow send me a DM. Let’s talk, I just want to chat. And then you can head over to the website. agencies.co No m.co And check us out over there. We’re just starting to add some blogs on the website. So very interesting reads coming up. 

 

Lexie Smith  

Awesome. I’m super excited. Today was so fun. I’m so glad you had an opportunity to come on the show or you gave me the opportunity excuse me to come on the show. And I know we will continue to pitch in sit for a long time together.

 

Lexie Smith  

Go and follow Candace on all the places and thank you for tuning in. Until next time on the pigeon and sipping podcast Cheers. Bye.

 

Lexie Smith  

Hey guys, if you are enjoying the pigeon and sipping podcast, please do me a huge favor and leave a review wherever you are listening. If you want to connect with me to learn more about the PR Inc. You can do so on Instagram Act, the PR bar underscore Inc. Or you can check out my website at the PR bar inc.com Cheers