Sips of Wisdom: The 6 Keys to My Success in PR – Podcast Transcript

Lexie Smith 

Today I am recording the season finale for season five of the pitching and sipping podcast and I’m not gonna lie, I’ve been procrastinating, this recording, because inevitably, it’s so much more fun and easy for me to interview other people than it is for me to sit down on this mic in front of this camera and speak to you just as me, Lexie Smith. But here I am. And today’s topic, today’s season. Wrap is one that I’ve gone back and forth and back and forth on. But here’s where I landed. And I really, really hope that all of you find something valuable in today’s show. So I want to talk about how I’ve air quotes, made it in PR, and specifically how to lay in press, and also how to make it in the PR industry. Now if you’re not trying to get a PR job. Don’t worry, this episode is still for you. Because a lot of what I’m going to talk about today is transferable to any career. And it’s all transferable into how to land press. Ok. So first, I need to give you a quick bit of cliff note context. If you’re a longtime listener, you might know my background, but I am going to give you a quick recap of what my career has looked like on paper. So I started my career in undergrad in house in a PR agency, sand Mark strategies. I then went to another agency Melrose PR which was based in Los Angeles. If you google them, they’ve completely changed the vertical since I was there, started there as an account coordinator left there as a senior account director. From there I went in house and I became the in house director of PR and marketing for a Hospitality Group across Los Angeles. I then went into Summerland winery as their director of marketing and PR before my last corporate stint at geo links, which is a telecommunications company. And I started there as a director of PR and did their as a VP of PR marketing and business development. And actually jailings is now my agency client today. Today I have the PR Inc, which is a coaching brand for PR and the PR agency, which is an agency. Let me take a breather, basically, guys, what this means is I’ve been an agency in house, I’ve been an executive, I have my own PR company, I teach PR, I do PR I love PR, brief pr, pr pr pr. Okay, so I do know a thing or two about this industry. And when I think about how I’ve gotten to where I’ve gotten to, there are six things that I think have been really, really key to my success.

Lexie Smith 

And when I talk about them, I think they’re completely applicable to success in business and to if you’re trying to get press placements or any sort of positive PR momentum for yourself or clients. So here we go. The number one thing that I’ve done, and I think it’s really, really key is to hustle mindfully. So people have a lot of feelings around hustle culture. Some people on both sides, right? Like there’s some extreme thoughts on hustle culture for and against. I’m gonna throw in my opinion to the mix. I believe that success does require hustle. That being said, I think you can do it mindfully and intentionally so that you don’t burn out. And that’s really, really keep. I didn’t hustle mindfully, in 2019 when I landed myself in the hospital, which is part of the reason I transitioned into entrepreneurship, so I’ve done hustle culture wrong. I like to think now, I’ve learned to do it right. And hustling mindfully can look like a few different things. It means you can still work your ass off, but you have boundaries. You can still work really, really hard. aren’t in grind, but you’re doing so with intention, and with strategy behind it, right. So here are a few tips that I have for hustling mindfully. Number one, you have to know your own energy levels. This is something that I learned later in life, if you already know, great, if you’ve never heard this concept before, listen up, you and your energy levels and how you work is very, very different than anyone else on this planet. Right? I am different than my husband, who is different than my business partner who is different than my daughter. Now, you might find friends where you guys are on a similar wavelength. But please treat yourself as an individual. And basically, what I’m saying is you have to know how you work best. For me, I am not a wake up at 4am or, and I’m not a late nighter, I’m someone who needs 30 minutes post a podcast recording or call to recoup. I’m someone who can’t do six back to back social engagements, right? Though doing too much and too much to my social calendar or too much to my day, quickly depletes my energy and leads to burnout. So that’s how I work. And that has enabled me to hustle within the bounds of my energy level. So I know that between the hours of 7:30am and 4:30pm, it’s go time my brain is on mostly with the help of coffee, and I’m able to get stuff done. I know by the evening time and this is a boundary I’ve set that I need to unplug. And then it’s really, really important for me to do that. So that I can show up again the next day and be efficient if you’re someone who has depleting energy, and it’s not to your benefit to work 16 hour days, because your brain is not going to operate optimally for that entire time. Okay, so sometimes something I knew incorporator and I’m sure many of you heard is there’s almost a competition of whoever works the most hours is working the hardest and deserve success, I don’t believe that I believe you have to be really mindful and understanding your own personal capacity and work within those bounds. So again, tip number one there for hustling mindfully is to be mindful of your energy levels and work your hustle around it, also have boundaries, set them from the get go and hold them. So this is also another mistake I made early on in my career. But I learned to correct it before I left corporate the first day on a job the first day with a new client set expectations of when you are and you are not available, and how you work. So if you are starting a new job, and all you want to do is impress them. So you start responding to emails, 24 hours a day and at midnight, and you’re setting the precedent for your boss or your client to expect that. That right there is a very quick way to lead to burnout. And it’s actually not to their benefit, right. In order for them to get what they’re paying for. They need 100% of you, in order for them to get 100% of you, you need to protect your cup because you cannot pour from an empty cup. So know your energy levels and have boundaries.

Lexie Smith 

Okay? So that’s number one, hustle mindfully. So yes, you still have to work hard, but you can do so in a way that’s thoughtful and you can do so in a way that’s still protecting your health. Okay? Number two, you have to if you want to make it in PR, make it in PR career wise or make it in PR meaning get PR

Lexie Smith 

network and build relationships. Some people this comes naturally to some people thrive off of this. Other people. It’s like grinding teeth and they hate it. I’m somewhere in the middle. I think I call myself an extroverted introvert, meaning I can turn it on. But I really really need my alone time too. So that comes back again to knowing your energy levels. But I have to say that quote of your net worth is your network is so so true in this industry. couple examples. The LA PR firm job that I landed, largely was, besides my hustle solidified by my past PR boss going to bat for me. He went to bat for me because I maintained that relationship. When I started this podcast, I tapped into more than 10 years of long standing relationships that I had built with the media to secure my first lineup of guests before anyone knew who this podcast was. Right. So yeah, So be mindful of creating relationships with journalists. But also don’t lose touch with colleagues. Don’t lose touch with professors with past bosses, really try not to burn bridges. You know, sometimes bridges are meant to be burnt, meaning that you’re not going to run across every single person that deserves to be in your life for the long haul. But be kind be nice and know that that network is going to be a key key key for you in more ways than one. Number three, is to keep learning and evolving your media IQ.

Lexie Smith 

So I talked about the value of continuously continuously learning before, but what I want to highlight here is developing your media IQ, guys, the media is changing. I did not learn, for example about affiliate links in undergrad, point blank. And if I had just taken what I learned in school, and I rested on that, I would not be wearing that today. It is so important, especially in the digital landscape that we’re living in, with media changing so so quickly, that you are always learning you are always upping your skill sets. It’s something that employers are going to look for, it’s something that clients are going to look for. It’s something that you’re gonna need in order to learn press. If you aren’t up to date on the latest and greatest skills needed to perform your job, then you’re not going to make it in this industry. Point blank. So something I like to do is I continuously subscribe to industry newsletters, I make a point and I time block myself attending New webinars and I sign up for certain journalists subsets, I like to attend their workshops, but learning is something that is a non negotiable for my career. Number four, kind of piggybacking on evolving your skill sets the biggest skill set, I find imperative imperative to a successful PR practitioner, both this has been key in my career, but I’ve also hired a lot of PR people is writing. If you want to make it in this industry, you need to become a good writer, doubly a good storyteller, okay. Don’t just rely on chat, GPT or Bard, okay, there’s a place and a purpose for that, right, and we’ll see how they will continue to evolve. But foundationally writing is such a key skill set for PR practitioners. So understand grammar, learn the basics of news, writing, and storytelling. Learn what makes a great story, learn what is newsworthy, right, work on developing a point of view, learn to write a press release a pitch, learn to write a press bio, even if you think some of those things are outdated. These are key skill sets that both will help you get hired. They will also help you land press because believe it or not. Journalists know how to write and they’re sitting at the other end of your pitches. So if you spell things wrong and have poor grammar, or don’t understand the foundations, then likely you’re not going to land what you’re looking for. Okay, moving on number five, keep a portfolio and build a brand. So quick hack here. If you’re 18 and you’re listening to this podcast, fantastic open a Google doc right now. And title it my portfolio and every single stinking thing that you do and you work on that has a metric attached to it. Record it. If you were part of your you’re an intern, and you are part of your agency, social media campaign that you know, grew brands engagement by 500%. And you can you know there’s metrics to it, write it down, because something that will make you stand out as others and something make you stand out over others and something that becomes more and more important as you title and salary climb. It’s not what you did, but what came of what you did. Right outcomes, metrics. And this is something that a lot of people don’t think about until they’re sitting down to apply for a job or it’s something that gets asked about in an interview. And if you haven’t been mindfully docking, documenting this along your career, unless you have a photographic memory, it’s very, very easy to forget. Set second to that. It is to your benefit in today’s age, to be working on building your own personal brand. Even if you’re working for someone else. It’s worth you to build a personal brand As a founder, even if you want to have your business’s brand name, take center stage, there is value now an opportunity that lies within having a personal brand. It quadruples your opportunity. For example, let’s talk about the client side, let’s say I am a and I’m on YouTube. So I’m gonna use a prop, the founder of this candle company, and I just want I just want people to buy my, my candle by not only going after Kindle based press by allowing myself to have a personal brand, as a founder, I’m going to have that many more opportunities to talk about my Kindle brand. From an employee standpoint, if you have a personal brand, you also have a lot more value attached to you, which can translate into leverage into getting a higher salary or base. Okay, the last point I want to make today is number six, which is to take the time. This has been key in me making it in my career and me, the ending press and everything that I’ve done is I take the time, I take the time to research, I take the time to not just hit submit, with a resume, I take the time to customize that resume, I take the time to write the cover letter, I take the time to pay attention to details, I take the time to send the Thank You card, I take the time to read the writers full portfolio, I take the time to customize my outreach on LinkedIn, I take the time in a world where I can easily say hey, I’m a mom, I have two businesses, I’m away from a partner and my friend, I got all the things go and I don’t have the time, I consistently choose to make the time time becomes a choice. how you spend your time is how you prioritize your time. And something time and time again, that has helped me get to where I’m at today is I’ve taken the time to go the extra mile to slow down to not spray and pray. But to be really, really intentional in the actions that I take. So there you have it.

Lexie Smith 

Those are six of the things that when I sat down to today to record that I wanted to talk about because these truly are why I feel that I’ve been able to get to where I’m at today, I’ve been able to as a quick reminder, hustle mindfully. I’ve really really minded and taken time to build my network. I’ve consistently worked on evolving My Media IQ.

Lexie Smith 

I can write, it’s something that I’ve spent a lot of time and worked at throughout my entire career. I have always kept a portfolio, which has been really key and leveraging getting my next job. And I have more recently learned the importance of building a brand. And I consistently take the time. I do want to acknowledge also, I am privileged and have a lot of opportunity opportunities in this life that many others don’t. And there has been some Right Place Right Time moments, I absolutely want to be mindful of that. But also, that’s not there’s other things that have gone into my success beyond those things. So thank you guys so much for those of you who have been along for the ride from the beginning. For those of you who happen to just click on this episode, and this is the first one you’re tuning into. This is actually not the tone of this entire podcast. There’s so many great episodes for you to listen to that talk to different members of the media, PR pros and founders. That will be season six. So stay tuned. If you would like to apply to be on the show. Listen to Episode 100 I tell you exactly how to do that. If you are a longtime listener and there’s a topic that you want to hear on Season Six please let me know guys, there’s only so many things I can think of on my own. I need input from you all I want input from you all this show is for you. It’s for us is for us to keep evolving in this crazy world that we’re living in. So until next time on the pitching and sipping podcast. Cheers Hey guys, if you are enjoying the pitching 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 bar 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