I think about Steve Jobs a lot.

Steve Jobs was a product person, and Steve Jobs was an entrepreneur. In fact, those two things go together a lot. Entrepreneurs tend to be product people. They have a great idea for a solution to a problem, and they know how roughly speaking they can sell it at a profit. That’s what makes them entrepreneurs. That’s also what leads them into business. And so as it turns out, a lot of small business owners are product people. But there’s a step between creating the product and getting it in the hands of customers. And that step goes by the name of marketing.

Hi, I’m Joel Miller, Chief Product Officer here at Full Focus, and today on the Business Accelerator Podcast, we are talking about that step, marketing. But we’re going to talk about it from the perspective of the small business owner, and we’re going to do some revisions to some of the maybe classical or received understanding of marketing. Along with that, we’re going to talk about marketing’s underappreciated sibling, publicity. First, we’re going to talk with Courtney Baker, our Chief Revenue Officer here at Full Focus, and then we’re going to talk with Susie Moore. She’s an Entrepreneur and a Podcast Host, but she is also an expert on getting publicity, and this is something a lot of small businesses overlook and maybe one great avenue to get your product into the hands of more of your customers.

So first, we have a conversation with Courtney Baker. As I mentioned, she’s our Chief Revenue Officer here at Full Focus, and we’re going to be talking about the four Ps of marketing, but not the four Ps that you possibly are thinking of. All right, Courtney Baker, I don’t think that I need to probably clue you in to these four, but you know the four Ps of marketing, product, price, promotion, place. Are you hep to the four Ps of marketing?

I am. I feel like in Marketing 101 at the Union University, that was basically the syllabus for that class.

That was it.

Mm-hmm.

I think, however, I’ve heard you say that these four Ps, they’re a little old, possibly a little dusty. It’s time for people to kind of rethink how they think about marketing and let’s do that now. Can we revise these four Ps?

I would love to. I think that’s a great idea. Obviously a lot has changed. I don’t know when the four Ps came around.

Right.

But in my mind, was Garfield a President around that time?

He was in fact a President. I don’t know if he was President at the time that the four Ps were ascendant, but yeah, he was the thing. He was a person.

Yeah, I feel like that’s generally my sensibility of how long this has been around. I know for sure the internet was not around.

Mm-hmm.

And so I think a modern approach to the four Ps is helpful. And I like it because especially if you’re not someone that’s in the marketing space on a daily basis, maybe you’re a business owner, you’ve got a somebody that does this, you’ve got an agency. It’s a really helpful tool and framework to guide some of your thinking. But how do we make it applicable to today?

Well, and the internet itself does disrupt what those four Ps were and how they operated, and give us new avenues to pursue aspects of them. So let’s go ahead and say, “Yes, we are agreed.” We must revisit the four Ps of marketing and we’re going to do it now. Product, price, promotion and place or placement. Product, I think that’s got to stay, but it’s not really the first thing any longer. I think if we were to look at this again, you would say that, “Number one, it’s people.” Tell me what you think about people?

There is one way that you could do this. You could say, “You know what? I’ve got this brilliant contraption that I’ve created.”

This new and improved mousetrap.

New and improved mousetrap. And just send it out to the world and wait to see who the audience is, who the people are that are interested in that product. That is certainly one way to do it. But probably the more effective way to do it is to get really clear on who the people this mousetrap is going to be for. And really specific, especially if you have existing products, really examining who you think this is going to be for, getting really clear on that, really specific, and having that in place before you get too far into the next P.

So we’re talking here about identifying what that group of people is, that potential customer base is, what potentially their pain points are, what their problems are that you are solving with this mousetrap? Presumably it’s a lot of mice, but assuming it’s not a mousetrap, it’s some other thing, you have a clear sense of the problem that you’re solving for these people, that requires a lot of familiarity with them.

That’s right. Yeah, that’s absolutely true. And if you’ve got existing customers, and let’s say you’re us, you have a coaching program for business owners. If we just started with, okay, we’re going to send this out to business owners, we want all business owners in our program. Ultimately, if that’s our approach, we’re not probably going to be very successful, because what Mark Zuckerberg is going to need as a business owner and what my friend down the street that just launched her new business is going to need are dramatically different. And the likelihood that we would have a product that serves both of them would be extremely rare.

And so what you want to think is just use your best sense of who you think this product might work for. Might be wise to get some other people to give their input. And then start interviewing the people that you think your product is going to work well for. Listen to what their pain points are, what are their challenges, what are the things that they need to solve? And is your product going to do that for that group? And again, the more specific that you can get, the better. Again, that doesn’t mean that’s the only people that you’re going to serve as you get specific, you’re just really looking for who is my ideal customer here? Who are the people that I’m ultimately have in mind when I’m thinking of this product?

And that will ultimately drive the development of this product also because you’re going to be customizing it to their needs.

Exactly. We start again, to use ourselves as an example, if we’re thinking of small business owners, maybe even a certain income level, we know what small business owners struggle with at different levels of business growth. And so the content that we’re thinking of, the way that we would help them solve problems is going to be unique to those people. It doesn’t mean that people outside of those ranges, a few outliers might find it successful, but it’s incredibly helpful as you’re creating your product.

Okay, so you’ve identified the people that you’re serving and that identification, that ability to get close to their pain point, has helped illuminate what your product can or can’t do for them. You’ve even optimized your product. We’re now significantly down the road into the second of the Ps, which is the first of the traditional Ps, the product. Tell us more about how we should be thinking about our product vis-a-vis marketing.

Well, I think it really is going to come down to the problem that you’re solving for people. What is that? And this is what’s so interesting about this. It really doesn’t have to be complex here. Joel, you and I have been working diligently for a couple years on a really exciting product.

Mm-hmm.

And I remember in the early stages of working on this product, we had a one sentence, this is what this product is going to do. And we got really clear on what the problem it was going to solve, what it was going to do for the people that we were trying to serve with this product. And that I think is incredibly helpful for everybody on the marketing side down to the development of the product, that type of clarity on what you’re going after. There’s a tendency to just be like, “Oh, we could do this and this other thing.” And keep adding on and adding on, and all of a sudden at the end you’re like, “No, no, no, this isn’t a product the people, the audience that we’re going after even wants anymore.” Yes, lots of good ideas, but really easy to morph into something totally outside of what you originally were trying to solve for customers.

In the old model of the four Ps, price was the second. But price is really, if you think about it, that’s part of the product. And when you think about the tiers that you have to offer, tier one, tier two, tier three sorts of offerings, price is always a part of that. Tell me how small business owners should be thinking about what we would call the marketing ascension model.

Well, with the marketing ascension model, the concept is the framework is to really help you think about or really opportunities that you’re leaving on the table.

Right.

And as we’re talking about these four Ps, we’re kind of talking about it in the sense of going into the market with a new tool. But another thing small business owners should be looking at is, if I have an existing product, how do I have add-on products or higher level products that I can move customers into?

Essentially a journey.

Yeah, essentially a journey. I hear all the time, especially in the service based or product lines, that maybe it’s a little harder to see a path to like, “Oh no, it’s what it is we offer, this is what it is. It’s always what it is.” When really there are some really creative ways that you can look at actually moving your customers up a level in average order value, lifetime value, and maybe that they get higher access or special features that really can help grow your business. But ultimately you have customers that are willing to pay you more. And what that marketing ascension model helps you think through is what products can you bring to market to those customers to increase, again, their lifetime value or their average order value and spend more money with you to get more access, exclusivity, all those good things?

I find when I talk with business owners that price is tricky for a lot of them because, and this again relates directly back to the product. They fear charging too much and they ultimately end up undervaluing their own product. And I sat across a table the other day from someone who mentioned that they just doubled their rate and their schedule was still totally full. They were still not getting any no’s. And I thought you should raise it again, you’re not quite high enough yet if that’s the case. Because what’s happening is you are selling your services too cheaply and your schedule’s full, but at the same time, people would clearly be willing to pay you more.

Yeah, absolutely. I think about this all the time. It’s like when you put your house on the market and it sells within a day, you’re like, “Dang.”

Dang it.

That was too fast. You want to press the envelope on again, if you’re at max capacity, and there’s all different realms that you can apply this to, playing with price, I agree, it’s something that makes people a little uneasy. But something that you should be looking at both with your product and going into our next P of positioning.

We’ve covered people, we’ve covered product, price, kind of straddles both product and positioning. Tell us more about what you mean by positioning.

When you think about the original four Ps of marketing, you would use place and it would be all about channels and really actually it was really about what store is going to carry your product? But today we have so many different options of channels there. You’ve got everything from your direct to consumer e-commerce platforms. You have channels like Amazon, you can even sell directly from social now. You obviously still have the brick and mortars of the world and there’s just a vast array. I mean, even just think about online courses now and the way that different mediums position a product. I mean, just think, Joel for a second, it used to be when you had a big idea that you wanted to share with other people, a concept, a methodology, you would go and usually probably put it in the form of a book.

Mm-hmm.

Which is nowadays, let’s just give it a $24.99 price tag.

Yup.

But when you look at position, that is one position and one price. Another way to position it would be, I’m going to take that same idea, that same methodology, I’m going to turn it into an online course and a workbook, all that good stuff, and my price is going to be $249.

Mm-hmm.

That’s a different channel, different distribution, different positioning, different pricing, and there’s a lots of different forms. I mean, even if you take our Full Focus planner, that is really two methodologies that we have created an actual practical tool. That’s just a different price and position for those thoughts that you could just put it in a book and distribute it one way.

Sure. Yeah.

I mean this is where you really can get creative of thinking of ideas and how you want to go to market with how to position it and how to price it, ultimately so that you’re most successful and more people are impacted by what you are doing in your business.

Price is also related to positioning in that people position themselves in the marketplace relative to price. There are some things that people will value too cheaply if the price is too low, and they will, as a customer, self-select in and out of markets based on price.

Absolutely. And we have a natural inclination to see things that are more expensive as more valuable, and it is almost shocking. All the time I will get a really nice shirt and then be walking the aisles of Target and be like, “Really? How different are these two items actually?” Probably not much, probably definitely not the $100 difference that I paid for it.

Mm-hmm.

Our producer, Nick is making all kinds of hand motions. I really don’t spend that much money on clothes. That is a lie. I don’t know why I’m saying it out loud.

No one’s judging, Courtney. So we got people, product, positioning, those are the three new Ps. And then plan, that’s the fourth of the new four Ps. What do we mean when we say plan?

Well, in the original you would’ve had promotion, and I think that is helpful in some ways. You certainly do need to figure out how you’re going to go to market with your product. But I feel like so many times people fall into the fallacy of just thinking about how do you get it out of the door? What’s your go-to-market strategy with a product? But ultimately you need a bigger plan that accounts for yes, go-to-market, but also what is the lifecycle? How are we going to steward these customers? What are the mechanisms that are going to keep them coming back to us? Is there a subscription component? All the different pieces that again, are going to look at a really clear plan for how we meet our goals, whether those are revenue or profit, whatever that looks like for your business.

I really hear by the way you advocate for our customers in that way, Courtney. And I know that that is larger than a marketing concern. It’s a customer experience concern, it’s a product concern also. It’s all of those, but if those things are not working together, that customer will likely find another place to get their needs met.

Yeah, absolutely. And I’m so grateful. Product and marketing, we need to work really closely together. Joel, I was going to say, I’m thankful for you because you and I all the time, I wouldn’t say we always agree necessarily.

Not always.

Not always, but you want your team that is working on these four Ps on the product side and on the marketing side to be working really collectively together, because either side of that equation, if one side fails it all fails. So you want to be winning together and losing together.

I think what’s essential about that insight is ultimately it does go back to the people, the first P. If you’re not actually serving those clients, then you’re not going to be winning. They’re not going to be winning, therefore you’re not going to be winning. And that’s why it’s the first of this new list and why product and marketing and customer experience need to be working so closely together is to ensure that those people are taken care of.

Yeah, as you’re thinking about this, and again, we’ve kind of framed it up a little bit about marketing, but these four Ps, everyone in your organization needs to be crystal clear on what these are. How you’re approaching them, and can really respond when you ask questions about, “Hey, what’s the plan for this? Or what is the positioning? Who are the people especially need to be able to share that information back with you?”

Courtney Baker, thank you so much for being here.

Yes, sir. Thanks, Joel Miller.

So we talked about people, product, positioning, and plan. That was all marketing, but let’s add a fifth P. Let’s talk about publicity. And to do that, we’re going to talk with Susie Moore. She’s the Author of the book, Let It Be Easy. But as a Publicity Expert, she’s also been featured in over 300 media publications, including oprah.com, Marie Claire, Business Insider, Forbes and others. And she’s going to talk to us about how small business owners can break into media on their own.

Up next we have Susie Moore. I talked about her before the break, but she’s an Entrepreneur, a Podcast Host, Life Coach, and by her own admission, she is obsessed with helping entrepreneurs and small business owners make their lives easier in part through publicity. Her new book is called Let It Be Easy, Simple Ways to Stop Stressing and Start Living. Let’s jump in. All right, Susie, tell me about publicity. When I think about publicity, I come from the world of book publishing.

Yes.

And when you launch a book, the publicity tour is the way you get it off the ground.

Yes.

But that’s really the extent of my thinking about publicity. And I know you think about publicity so much more broadly, so much more universally. For small business owners, what is the point of publicity?

The way that I look at publicity, Joel, is something that’s not even optional. The way that I look at what it really does to a small business is it just allows people to discover you. That’s really all it is. I mean, I think it pains me so much when I think about all of the talented creators, people, coaches, consultants, et cetera, who are out there, they’re spinning gold, they have so much to offer, but simply not enough people know about them. And so as someone who is creating, as someone who’s selling products and services, it’s our obligation, right? It’s our duty to allow people to know about us so that we can help them. If we’re brilliant and invisible, it’s not going to be really that useful. So I always think about publicity in this sense simply, if you create social media or have your own content, and I do too, that’s wonderful, right?

Maybe you have a blog, maybe you have a podcast, YouTube channel, et cetera. That’s great. But often we have to build those things from scratch, right?

Mm-hmm.

And it takes time. It takes a lot of energy. I almost imagine it, I picture it in my mind as like a child who opens up a lemonade stand on their quiet street, right? You’ll have a couple people passing by maybe more with time, and that’s great, that’s a great place to start. But when you enter into the media realm, it’s as if you set up your stand in a busy sports field on a sunny Saturday when everyone’s thirsty for lemonade. And so instead of building gradually from nothing, you can enter already a place that exists with a lot of hunger, a lot of thirst, and you just insert your message into a very busy marketplace. And that’s what happens when you show up in places like Business Insider or Forbes or Cosmopolitan or Good Morning America. They need content from regular people just like you and me every day. So we can create on our own too. Wonderful. But why not also give yourself a huge advantage and just go where the people are, go where the eyeballs are, go where all of the thirst is.

What I love about that approach is it helps the business owner realize that they are fundamentally there to serve people.

Yes.

And if you are talking about going where the people are, that’s the fastest route to awareness for what you’re doing.

Yes.

And I was talking with Courtney Baker just a little bit ago about what we’re calling kind of the updated four Ps of marketing, the new four Ps of marketing. And it starts with people. It goes from there to product, positioning, and plan. And I thought maybe we could kind of work through those same four and just talk about how publicity intersects with each one of these four. So let’s talk a little bit more about people. When we’re talking about reaching people through publicity, how are we doing that? What’s the approach?

Well, the magic is, and this is what I just love about being someone who gets to create content and who gets to pitch myself is, there are unlimited ways to reach people. Even if you pitched yourself every single day for the rest of your life, you would not put a dent into the audiences that exist that need your message.

Mm-hmm.

It is unlimited way you can appear. One way that I like to think about people when it comes to targeting them with the right type of media content is really two ways. I do love a good volume play. So I mentioned Business Insider before. They have 150 million uniques per month.

That’s a lot.

I mean, that’s a lot. And if I killed myself working, trying to build a site for the rest of my life, I wouldn’t get 150 million plus uniques, right? But Business Insider, they’ve already done it.

They’ve got that audience, it’s locked in. So I think who are their audience? Are they entrepreneurs? Are they employees? What do they need? And I think about going onto the site, clicking around, seeing what type of content is really connecting, and gaining an understanding of their audience by just doing a few minutes of research. And then secondly, so volume’s always great because it is the top of funnel. You get a lot of people into your world, a lot of people discovering you. Imagine being in Business Insider with a viral piece where there was a link at your book or a link to an Evergreen link somehow that clicks through to maybe, I don’t know, a webinar or something that’s highlighting an event that you have coming up. It’s like a advertorial for you without you paying anything. The only thing that’s required is your content.

And so volume I love naturally. But then secondly, I find that there’s really great returns with niche media. And this is what we see a lot. Often, say for example, a breath work expert, they might appear on more kind of spiritual platforms that don’t have 150 million uniques, but they have maybe 750,000, but they are all obsessed with breathwork. So I like to do both. I like to think where are the people who need me in maybe even niche, trade press?

And then also where can I just capture large audiences and experiment and see what happens? But I think the research piece, understanding who’s consuming your content, what they care about, what each media outlets, what their audience profile is, it allows you to not only pitch more successfully because you’re speaking directly to a specific audience, but you are familiar with who it is that’s going to be greeting you when they consume your content. So I always think when it comes to people, I want as many as possible, and I also want the people who are most specifically aligned with what I care about.

Yeah.

And the best news is it’s unlimited on both sides.

That’s great. What about product? I mean, you’re going to be pitching something in this content. Not only are you pitching the outlet-

Yes.

… which you got to get through that gatekeeper. But then of course if you’re going to convert, it’s got to be something that’s attractive to those people that you’ve identified. Talk to us a little bit about product and how you should think about that?

Yes. This is actually one mistake that I see. So when people aren’t getting their pictures accepted or if their content is published and it lands a bit flat, it’s because we speak too overtly about our products, right? So no one’s waking up in the morning. They can’t wait to open their newsletters from the day from places like Refinery 29 or Marie Claire or Men’s Health. They’re not dying to hear about your fashion line, right? Or they’re not dying to hear about how to get a second date using your specific app, right? They have problems, they have questions, they have curiosity. So for example, say a product based business selling leggings, right? Leggings heading into the fall season. I wouldn’t talk about my product in my pitch or my content, but I would talk about fall trends. Or if I were a dating coach or matchmaker, I would talk about maybe the most common mistakes I see women or men make when it comes to online dating.

And so I would give so much value. So someone’s just thrilled they spent five minutes consuming my stuff. And then, it’s called a shirttail in media speak, your two line bio at the end of your piece shares, “I am someone who helps people X and Y. You can check out my full line here, or you can download my PDF for other dating mistakes.” And that’s how you just welcome people into your world. The product is implicit. It’s a natural next step that a certain percentage of people follow, but we lead with the value. No matter what, someone gets value if they take the next step with us or not, but then your product then just flows so beautifully for the people who are hooked and who want to know more.

It’s not a hard sell.

No.

Yeah, you’re presenting the value of the product.

Yes.

Whether directly or indirectly, but ultimately they’re going to have to take the next step with you. It’s not something that they’re going to get directly in the piece.

Exactly. And so for example, I am a creator for oprah.com and Oprah Magazine. And so if I’m talking about, say it’s a book that I’m selling or a new confidence program, I will talk about seven questions that we should be asking ourselves if we feel a bit stuck. And then I’ll just give some really helpful, insightful questions that work with me, work with my community.

And then it’ll say, “Susie Moore is the author of, name book, link here.” So the right people, and this is another thing too, once you are in some of your favorite media outlets, Joel, to the reader, you are Oprah Magazine, you are Cosmopolitan, you are the brand that often they’ve loved, subscribe to, been loyal to for years. So that whole no trust, all that legwork that we do to really build connections with people, it’s taken care of in an instant because that’s who you are. You a Oprah Magazine. And I mean, we don’t question that, right? It’s just the authority. So you show up generously in the right places where your people are, and then you can just see how it becomes easier to get those conversions.

All right. So we’ve talked about two of these new four Ps now, people and product. Let’s talk about positioning. How do you identify what outlets to go to?

Oh, this is such a good question. So the good news is I have yet to find someone who has an idea to share or a message to share, a story to share, where there haven’t been multiple outlets as a possibility. So for example, just say maybe you help the parents of newborns fall asleep, right? That could be certainly in parenting magazines, it could be in pregnancy magazines, it could be in even mummy blogs if you wanted to go super niche, even kind of one-on-one. You could also be in the Washington Post with that. That could also be in the Huffington Post. I mean, that’s a big audience of people, right? There are a lot of new parents all the time. And often news outlets have parenting sections or relationship sections or tech sections. So when it comes to understanding where to go, the good news is you’ve got many, many, many options.

I love to create a sizzle list for someone who’s new of 25 media outlets that intuitively, often our intuition is just right, intuitively feel like a good match. Do you want to be in a specific niche like parenting? Do you care more about general, broad news and information? Is there a spiritual aspect to this? Is it more of a medical? Is your background more medical? Is it going into more science press? So it’s unlimited where you can appear. Often to, each media outlet, whenever you go to about us or contact, they often give you a media kit because they think that you’re an advertiser or someone like Toyota or American Express. And so their media kit is downloadable, and in that media kit, they share male, female percentage, household income, average. All these audience profile check boxes that really help you understand are my people here.

Sometimes we don’t know until we do a little bit more research. But I love to think broadly, not just narrow my market to the most obvious fits. And also Joel think bigger. Sometimes we think we have to work our way up with some really small media wins, and then we can work towards maybe more top tier media, which is defined differently by different people, but typically the more well-known brands. And you don’t even have to wait. The media don’t care if you have a big social media following or if you have any even fancy credentials. So long as your experience is unique, and so long as you can communicate value, you can entertain, you can inform, just show up for their audience in a way that’s going to be interesting. That’s really enough. So I like to think, gosh, if I really went for it, what would my sizzle list be?

And of course, have some obvious ones on there, maybe some scary, I’m scared to go big with these. And then do some simple research. Whenever you look up a media outlet, often other media outlets, even just suggested by Google. So there is just a fountain of inspiration. And also, sometimes I just love to type into Google the headlines that I would come up with on my own. A simple way to get hours back in your week. Say I Googled that. I would love to see just naturally what came up and then see what type of media outlets support that content, want that type of content. And it gives you a lot of ideas.

That’s a great tip. Okay, so let’s get practical. That tip was very practical. Let’s transition into a whole period here of practical application. We’ve talked about people, product, positioning, now plan. How do people go create and then implement a plan to do this?

Well, I would think about what frequency do you want with the media? The good news is you can be as consistent as you like, or you can be as selective as you like. I often say it’s great to send if you’re really up for it, if you want a season of pitching, if you want to grow your email list, get new customers. I recommend spending one to two hours a week if you’re willing, if this is a priority to identify the places that you’d like to appear, identify the right editor or producer to contact, formulate your pitch, and then send follow-ups, right? I always say that success is volume. If you do this enough and you do it with enough care, then there will be a win, right? Often we just kind of give up too soon or we don’t really play the volume card.

We send one or two pitches and maybe don’t hear anything, and we are disheartened. So when it comes to planning, I always spend an hour pitching a week, which is researching and then formulating what it is that I’m going to say in my reach out, and then put an hour aside to create content for when I get a yes. So an editor writes back saying, “Yes, I would like that. We want this story. Can I have it by this date? This many words, please.” Sometimes you’re often paid for this too. It takes me an hour or less to create content because I actually follow the same formula with all of my articles. I can share the formula with you now. It’s very, very simple.

Please do.

Editors love it. Readers love it. So for example, just say that you wanted to create a piece called Speaking About Productivity, how I got 10 hours back in my week, right?

So this simple hack helped me get 10 hours back in my week. I say that’s the headline. I would start with a story. So just a hook and a simple story. It doesn’t have to be impressive or dramatic, but say it says, productivity piece, how you get 10 hours back. I would say something like I was sitting at a bar waiting for my friend who’s chronically late, and instead of just putting up with it as usual, I decided to tell her that I’m not willing to put up with her lateness anymore. I don’t know. Simple story. So then I would then make 0.1 in my article, advocate for yourself. If your time’s being wasted, be aware of it and don’t be afraid to speak up. And then I’d say number two, maybe you need to say no more to things. Number three, how much time are you really spending watching TV?

The average American watches 36 hours a week according to Nielsen.

Yeah.

Is that you? Be honest. Number four, maybe something about social media. Number five, et cetera, et cetera. And then I’d leave with just a wrap up takeaway. I’d say, “Everyone has 24 hours in a day. How you spend your hours it’s attitudinal, not situational. You’re in control of your time.” So start with a story. Lead that story into your first, say teaching point, follow up with your additional teaching points, and then end with a wrap up takeaway. It’s really easy to consume. People love it. And the takeaway often leads so beautifully to the next way that someone can work with you.

Which is your shirt tale.

Yes, yes, that’s right.

Yeah.

And it can be a downloadable PDF. I’d love to link to Evergreen webinars. It can just be subscribe to your email list. It could be check out your podcast, whatever it is that you are almost selling or pushing the most in that moment. My shirt tales are completely inconsistent, I always change them up based on what my priority is at the time.

In terms of building a plan. Then walk us through that. So you’re going to spend about an hour a week say, doing this. I imagine a business owner may task someone on their team with this. Yes. How would they delegate this in a way to make sure that they got a good return for their effort?

You could say to your team member, “Look, could you research where my audiences could be online?” We probably would guess that they’re probably here. They’re probably there. Often the type of media that you consume is what your audience are also consuming.

Yeah, that makes sense.

They’re often interested in the same things. So probably the first five to 10 come to mind instantly. And then someone on the team could do some research. I also love this resource, BuzzSumo, B-U-Z-Z S-U-M-O.com. If you type in just say two to three words that you really care about. So if you were, I don’t know, a dog trainer, it’d be like pet training New York or something like that. It would then show you the most popular articles right now that include those words. So that’s also where you get a lot of ideas as to what type of media outlets support the type of content that you care about.

So you get this fresh supply of ideas. So someone else could certainly do that for you. And then you could think, okay, so I’ve got my outlets, I’ve got my sizzle list ready. I’d think I’d spend a couple of minutes maybe researching each one, seeing their tone, seeing what they care about. And then I would think, what do I have to say? So you know where your people are, you found some great outlets. And then what do you want to say? What’s your point of view? What’s your message? What’s your advice? What’s your bold perspective on something? Maybe you disagree on some common wisdom, whatever it is. And then you share in your pitch why you? Why you’re the person to talk about this. And someone may be extremely credentialed. They maybe have 25 years as a psychotherapist, for example, or they’re a dermatologist. Awesome. But you don’t actually need anything formal in order to make this real, because audiences too, they need the human element.

I see this happen a lot actually, where women, for example, speak about their fertility journeys. There’s always going to be a place for a doctor, right? An expert giving advice on next steps. But women want to hear from other women who’ve had their experiences. So I would just think, what is it I have to say? So I want to identify where my people are, get my hit list really nice and dialed in. Then think, what is it I want to say? How can I be generous? What is it that I have to offer that people will be happy to receive, blessed to receive, they’ll be better off having consumed this content versus having not consumed it.

Right.

And then you want to just explain in your pitch and be clear on why you are the person to share this. And often it’s just your own experience.

Maybe you’re a little bit further ahead than someone else, or maybe you learned something the hard way and you’re making it available to others. So I formulate my plan, welcome a team member on it if that resource is available. Identify the list, brainstorm what it is you want to say, and then be able to convey why you and why now?

Right.

That’s actually an additional final tip. The media loves anything timely, anything specifically relevant or on trend. All of my content, Joel is Evergreen, but I’ll always tag it to a news peg if I can.

Yeah.

What celebrity’s doing what? What’s happening with the Oscars? If there’s ever a way to tie in something to a trend right now, then you’re also far more likely to succeed quickly.

What is just a single way that a business owner might do this fabulously wrong?

Mm. Oh, interestingly, Joel, I find the people who are most experienced and skilled in their day-to-day business sometimes struggle with this the most, because they have so much to offer. And there are so many ideas to present. And there are so many ways that you can present your pitch ideas. And there are so many outlets that exist for you that sometimes we can almost say too much. A great pitch is simply, why this audience? What you want to share? And then why you? And often we can make the mistake of rambling a bit, giving too much background. A pitch is two to three paragraphs.

So keep it tight.

Essentially. Yes, keep it simple and then think. Because sometimes we almost have this, “I’ve got to get all of my ideas out there right now, and they need to know all the things.” Well, instead of saying 17 things in one pitch or sharing 17 ideas up front, you have 17 pieces of content to share with the media.

Yeah.

So less is more actually when it comes to what it is that you want to share. You can always expand from there. But often when someone’s got a lot of experience, the enthusiasm and all of the many things that they can contribute, it can just be a little bit overwhelming at first. And we can share too much. But the good news is it’s actually easier to say and offer less.

Susie Moore, thank you so much for being here.

Oh, thank you, Joel.

And that’s it for another episode of the Business Accelerator Podcast. Remember how Susie Moore talked about shirt tales? Here’s one. If you want to learn more about becoming your own publicist, then check out Susie’s Overnight Rockstar training at getrockstarpr.com. That’s getrockstarpr.com. If you’re a small business owner and you’re interested in learning more about our Business Accelerator coaching program, go to businessaccelerator.com/coach. That’s businessaccelerator.com/coach. We help busy, but growth-minded small business owners just like you scale yourself and your business so you can win at work and succeed at life. It’s what we call the double win. And if you want to experience more of that for yourself, go to businessaccelerator.com/coach. That’s it. We’ll be back next week with more conversations to help you accelerate your business.