How To Get PR For Your Small Business! With Lisa Simone Richards

You can find Lisa Simone Richards at:
Website: https://www.lisasimonerichards.com/
Perfect Podcast Pitch: https://www.theperfectpodcastpitch.com/podcast-pitch
Email: lisasimone.richards@gmail.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisasimonerichards/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/buildyourauthorityonline
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lisasimonerichards/

Win The Hour Win The Day
https://winthehourwintheday.com

Lisa Simone Richards Podcast Transcription

[00:12:01]Kris Ward: Hey, everyone. Welcome to another episode of Win The Hour, Win The Day. And I am your lucky host Kris Ward, because today we have Lisa Simone Richards in the house and she is a dynamic PR and visibility strategist that is going to enlighten us on so many opportunities that we are missing as we speak.

[00:12:21] So let’s get right to it because time is valuable with you, Lisa. Cause you’ve got so much content to bestow upon us. So where do we start? Let’s talk about, well, first of all, welcome to the show. 

[00:12:31]Lisa Simone Richards: Thanks Kris. I’m so excited to be here. This is going to be a very long conversation today. 

[00:12:36]Kris Ward: I believe it will be. So let’s talk about 10 ways to get free exposure that position us as the expert in authority. That sounds like something I want to do. Where do we  start?

[00:12:47]Lisa Simone Richards: So, what I love to tell people is number one, start with having a healthy media mix. We need to remember that our ideal client, that we are dying to get in front of the person that we want to reach by leveraging other people’s platforms.

[00:13:00] They have their preferred way of consuming content. Tell you a story about my husband and I behind the scenes. We love to play in the kitchen together and cook. And one of our favorite recipes to make is this delicious Thai Red Curry. So we watched the video on YouTube. I’m more of like a watch, pause, do, watch, pause, do kind of person.

[00:13:19] We’ve seen this video so many times now that he’s like, Lisa, is there a blog post for this? I do not want to hear this lady talk about her Curry anymore. So we want to get to the same destination at the end of the day, but we have different preferred ways of getting there. And so does your ideal client. So I recommend when you’re trying to reach your ideal clients, think about getting in front of them by way of written content, audio content, and visual content.

[00:13:42] So no matter how they like to consume information, you are getting to one, getting to them in one of those three ways also totally helps for the Google ability that you’re showing up on three different platforms that aren’t your own. So when it comes to having 10 different ways of getting seen, let’s break that down.

[00:13:59] So climbing what I call the Ladder of Publicity because as we move up and we’re getting seen in a more intimate way, we’re building our confidence with putting ourselves out there. When it comes to written media, a few different ways, you know, rather than writing content on your own blog, for example, why not do a guest blog post on somebody else’s site?

[00:14:17] You could write an article for another website. Easy way to get started with that go on Google type in, write for us. W R I T E for us and whatever your industry is, 

[00:14:29]Kris Ward: Let me pause you here. Cause you’re just doing all kinds of excellence. Yeah. I love it. So one is you do bring up a good point because we tend to run like camps, like, oh my gosh.

[00:14:40] Okay. Video is big and it is big and we should be doing video. But that doesn’t mean that’s the only way. Right. So we do all know that. So you’re right. I think that I would do things when they tell me that this is the thing to do and get out there and do it, do it. Cause I was told to do it, but you are right.

[00:14:55] I’m thinking about things that I consume sometimes. Oh, I already watched the video now I want the written instructions cause I have my step-by-step by, you know, so even the same content, I guess I was thinking in my head, sometimes I’m putting out different content. Oh, I’ll do this in a video. And then I’ll tell a different story when I have to, when I’m forced to write

[00:15:12] copy.But no, they can be the same thing. Right? Of course. And then it’s repurposing, which we’re all about efficiency here. So that’s a really good point. Okay. So then we talk about the ladder and then I’m sorry, go into, cause you were about to tell something very powerful instead of HARO, which I’ve heard, lots of it was right for us.

[00:15:30]Lisa Simone Richards: Yeah. Okay. Number one, the graduated version of HARO like, okay, we know HARO, consider freedomwithwriting.com. That’s a site that even pays you to write articles. My client wrote an article for reader’s digest UK and got paid for that content. So we’re talking about the Uplevel on this show. So freedom with writing is kind of like the university versus the high school of HARO opportunities.

[00:15:52] Okay, cool. So yes, I was sharing that one tip, you can go onto Google and type in, write for us, plus your industry, right? For us relationships, right. For us money, business coaching. And you’re going to come up with a lot of sites that are looking for contributions from experts like yourself. So again, you’re already writing this content anywhere, any way.

Sorry, why not disseminate it on another platform that likely gets more traffic than your own site does? 

[00:16:20]Kris Ward: Excellent. Okay. Really good point because I hear all the time. Oh, guest blog, plus guest blog. And I’m like, I don’t know where these imaginary blogs are, cause it sounds like I’m supposed to know this other company and then wander over and say, Kai, would you like to have me?

[00:16:32] If you know, like I just never understood the relationship because they made it seem like it was lateral, not a PR thing. So you brought clarity to really what guest blogging is really like. Speaking, I’m not going to somebody lateral and same business say, can I speak to their team? I want to be on a stage. So this is putting me on a stage and writing. 

[00:16:50]Lisa Simone Richards: Can I tell you a fun story, but guess what that created and opened up for anybody who may not be familiar with going down this path. So I think this is going to be one of those podcasts episodes. You’re going to want to go back and rewind. This drives my mom

[00:17:02] crazy fast. So you might maybe want to play it at half speed. So back in 2016, when I was just getting started in online business and really looking to get my name out there in front of my ideal clients, I did something that a lot of us are taught to do: join the Facebook groups that your ideal client is hanging out in.

[00:17:21] So that’s kind of rookie. Most of us are doing that. Hopefully most of us are not making mistake of posting our links and spamming inside of the group. What I did was listen. And so I joined a group called marketing for health coaches. Cause at the time I was focusing on PR and visibility for health, fitness and wellness industry professionals.

[00:17:39] So I was in this marketing for health coaches group. And the thing that I saw over and over again is people feeling frustrated that they couldn’t get exposure. They didn’t know how to get visibility. I saw this in post after post. So what I did is I scrolled over to the about tab to see who is the host of the group.

[00:17:55] It was a woman named Kathleen Liquorice and I sent her a DM totally cold. Hey, Kathleen, my name’s Lisa Simone Richards. I’m a PR and a visibility strategist. And I’m a member of your group. I have seen the health coaches in here have been saying over and over again that they’re struggling with visibility.

[00:18:11] Would it be helpful if I wrote a guest blog post for you on five different ways to get visibility as a health coach? Let me know. I’d be happy to write something up. So we didn’t go posting, spamming in someone’s group. We went straight to the source and Kathleen said, you know what? That would be fantastic.

[00:18:25] Thank you so much. So here’s a strategy that I did that you can go ahead and copy. I did that guest post of a top five list on Kathleen’s blog and at the bottom of that entry, typically it’s going to have that byline, the purse. What’s the story of the person who wrote it? Lisa Simone Richards is a PR and visibility strategist, blah, blah, blah.

[00:18:44] And what most people might do is write the link to their website there. But instead I said, for five more tips on getting visibility click here. So I didn’t just say, come check out my website, the person who’s already read this content and is interested in and got to the bottom. They probably value another 5 free tips.

[00:19:02] So now I had them hop over to my blog to read those five tips. And what did I have embedded in those remaining tips on the site? I had a content upgrade, a lead magnet on, I can’t remember what it was right now, but something that was relevant to the topic. So now we’ve taken people who are I’m number one, I‘m being endorsed by Kathleen.

[00:19:21] Hey guys, we had Lisa come and write this blog post for us. So we took them from her blog to my blog. So now if I have a pixel on my site, it’s tracking them. And then I also had them go from warm to hot leads because they read through and then they could opt into my email list. All of this was done in a

[00:19:37] super respectful way. And I’m going to finish one more thing before I have you pop in press. So from doing this gig guest blog posts on Kathleen site, we developed a relationship with one another. I have been on her podcast two or three times now I have gone live in her group with her at least two or three times now.

[00:19:54] And when I go to San Diego, we will catch up and have lunch with one another. So how powerful is it that one opportunity actually led to those other two platforms and the media mix that I was talking about. We did a guest blog post for written content. I’ve been on her podcast twice. And then I’ve also been seen in her group on facebook.

[00:20:12]Kris Ward: Yeah, I wasn’t going to pop in. I was sitting here like a child with a really good teacher nodding, and you know what? I will tell you the truth right now. I’ll hold this up. And it says, see that, that note I made to myself, what I was showing Lisa for you listeners is I made a note to myself to re-listen to this show.

[00:20:31] We’re five minutes in. So when I have some of our most spectacular guests, I’m like, oh, we, we call that turning it into action items. So people. You know, you guys tell me all the time that I’m a great interviewer. Really what it is is, if I’m great at anything, it’s being a student and picking spectacular guests.

[00:20:47] So I’m here learning just with you. God, just like you guys. I’m like, oh man, these are good tips. I got to make sure that these are implemented, not just listing people. So we talk about that in our business, implementing super toolkits and putting things into action. Learning is useless unless you have some way to transcribe that into action items.

[00:21:04] So, okay. Keep going, Lisa, my friend, you did just give me some great clarity. That has been something that has constantly baffled me. In case you haven’t all figured out, I’m not drunk. I have a cold, I’ve always been baffled by the guest blogging thing. He just sounded some mysterious thing out there that I didn’t know how to reach so fabulous.

[00:21:28] Okay. Keep, yeah, let me get out of your way. You just go. Okay, cool. So again, we’re talking about moving up that ladder of publicity, what are 10 ways we’re moving up to getting exposure. So we talked about written content. Again, it could be guest blog posting. It could be writing an article for another site using that Google tip I shared with you with right for us, it could be signing up for HARO or freedom with writing.

[00:21:49] So right there, you’ve already got three ideas. Now as you start writing for various sites, you’re building your confidence. You’re getting clarity in your messaging. You’re seeing your name on platforms that aren’t your own, if you haven’t already. And my hope is that as that’s happening, what’s happening on camera right now is I’m sitting up taller.

[00:22:05] I’m holding my shoulders straight or up. My confidence is growing and my belief in myself is growing. So we can move up to the next level of that ladder. And this is audio media. This is having a conversation. I know everybody who’s listening right now has had a conversation successfully in their lives.

[00:22:20] So the good news is you have evidence that you can do this already. So when it comes to audio content that could look like being on a podcast, just like this one. Thank you so much, Kris, for having me here, because now I’ve come in as a warm lead by extension of the fact that you have hosted me on this show.

[00:22:37] Your listeners already trust you. They trust that you’re not just bringing a nobody who doesn’t know what they’re talking about in here. So rather than showing up as a cold lead on Facebook, trying to be like, Hey, come to my webinar or whatever it might be. Now there’s a level of trust. That’s been extended to me by being a guest on this show.

[00:22:52] So thank you, Kris. So getting on a podcast is one example. Maybe that’s going on Clubhouse and hosting or moderating a room with somebody else. That’s another way you can be heard. This may not be the sexiest one guys, but especially if anyone has a local bricks and mortar business, local radio is a great way to get heard as well.

[00:23:10] Many larger cities especially will have a news network that does traffic on the ones, whether on the twos and they repeat those stories over and over and over, across again, throughout the day, I’ve had clients who did a radio segment that repeated over and over and over again, and because of their, a local bricks and mortar studio that brought people into their

[00:23:28] clinic. And then an editor from a magazine heard that, and that became an article in a magazine, a producer from a TV station heard that, and it turned into a morning segment on the news. So how cool that one opportunity can snowball into so many from there really naturally one of the things I tell my clients when it comes to getting exposure and visibility, number one, it’s really not as hard as you think.

[00:23:50] It’s just a matter of knowing how, and also getting that first hit, getting that first hit of exposure can be the hardest one, but once the wheel starts turning things, it just kind of flows from there as you’ve heard from two examples so far. So those are some examples of how we can be heard. 

[00:24:08]Kris Ward: Yeah, I have nothing to say. I’m nodding. Usually I like to chime in and unpack your brilliance, but I think you’re just like, I’m here with pylons guiding the plane in landing the plane, land the plane. No, it’s spectacular. We’ve had some really phenomenal PR experts on the show before. And they do always bring, you know, their own twist on and it really enlightened us.

[00:24:29] And PR sometimes is this big, you know, we confuse it with big television opportunities for so long. We didn’t realize as small business owners and entrepreneurs that’s within our reach, but I think really. You’re taking something like, you know, back to the cooking show where you say, Hey, let’s take this apple and it can be a snack and it can be apple pie and it could be for breakfast.

[00:24:50] And so you’re really slicing and dicing and showing us that you can get a lot of mileage out of this one piece and not under the umbrella of repurposing under the umbrella of like you say going up that ladder and the growth and the opportunities and the networking where it’s breathe, breathe a life of its own. 

[00:25:06]Lisa Simone Richards: 100%. And I also love the ease to food analogy because food is the way to my heart. My husband had food delivered at the altar while he was saving his spouse so I can eat a snack. So any food analogy always gets me. So shall I move it up to the third tier, which I’m sure everybody has guessed. So at the top of the ladder of publicity, we now have been seen, and this is the one that puts you on the spot.

[00:25:29] So, great thing. We’ve been building our confidence along the way to know that we can do this. And just like you were saying before, being seen isn’t limited to television. When I think about what the media landscape looked like when I got started 20 years ago, I was telling this story this morning, we had a client who got featured on a parenting website and they were like.

[00:25:49] That’s cute, but we really want it to be in the magazine. You know, the magazine sits in the dentist office and gets passed around all over the place. And now if things have flipped so much. Nobody wants a print magazine anymore. I’m a publicist. I’ve spent $8 on a shiny piece of paper in years. We want that digital tracking.

[00:26:06] So it’s really cool to see that principles that we’ve been using for 20 years are still completely relevant today. And the reason I’m bringing this up is because you talked about television before and again, I’m a publicist and I don’t even have cable. But for some people maybe getting on local television is a great way to be seen.

[00:26:25] I can take people and get them on TV. Who’ve never been on before and have them on in less than two weeks. It’s not as mystifying as people think. It’s just a matter of knowing how, but let’s talk about some other ways of getting seen beyond the traditional television that we often think of. What about doing a live in somebody else’s Facebook group rather than your own?

[00:26:43] What about going live on somebody else’s Instagram profile on their LinkedIn live account? What about doing a guest training in somebody else’s mastermind, speaking at a live or a virtual conference? There are so many different ways that we can be seen. And honestly, it’s as simple as taking the message.

[00:26:59] We’re already sharing the message we’re already disseminating on our own channels and changing the platform. A quote that I always want to attribute to Lisa Sasevich is don’t change your talk, change the audience. So you relay the same message and just put it in front of new faces. And the honest truth is I tell my clients all the time.

[00:27:17] I want you to get bored of listening to yourself speak. I want you to be so tired or telling the same stories on repeat, because you know what, you’re creating consistency in your messaging. And when you’re getting in front of new people and they’re starting to binge your content, now they’re familiar with what you’re talking about.

[00:27:33] When my clients have people come to their sales calls, they’re repeating their methodologies and processes back to them. So again, you’re busy running a business. You don’t want to come up with 20 pitches and, you know, make it difficult on yourself and be creative and new. Come up with a really clear, consistent message that you can lather, rinse, and repeat over and over again.

And you can use it on all those different platforms that we talked about. And I’m pretty sure we went beyond 10.

[00:27:56]Kris Ward: Yeah, no, that’s fantastic. And you know, you bring up a really good point where I got confused in the beginning when I started doing speaking engagements or was more out there. And I did think that I had to tell different stories or give different examples.

[00:28:07] Like as if, you know, first of all,  from my mentors, when I have somebody really, that I learned a lot from you hear them at different levels of your journey. So sometimes, ah, I thought I got that, but now I really got that. But more important. You’re not being followed as succinctly as you think you are.

[00:28:23] So there’s that. And then, you know, somebody pointed out to me once, you know, when the rolling stones comes on stage to play their music or whoever you desire, I’m just picking a classic one that everyone knows I’m not dating myself here. You don’t say, oh, they’re playing their greatest hits again. I already know that song.

[00:28:38] Like that’s not how it goes. So that’s a great reminder, Lisa. Fantastic. Okay. Alright, men let’s keep going. We’re having fun. I’m barely keeping up. How am I going to go ahead? Yeah. 

[00:28:52]Lisa Simone Richards: That was a great analogy. I love that with the rolling stones and the idea of, yeah. When bands play new music, I want to hear the songs that I love.

[00:28:59] So what I have that all the time, I’m on podcasts on the regular, and I’m like, I’m telling the same story. Again, someone is going to be so tired of hearing about my subscription to teen people magazine and getting my first letter to the editor in there. But you know what, they’re going to forget.

[00:29:13] People are busy doing other things. I think a really great quote that I got from the marketing director of a company that I work with is she always reminds me that or reminds all of us that you’re not just competing against other people in your industry. You’re competing for attention against Kim Kardashians latest relationship, a cute puppy, a recipe.

[00:29:32] So it’s so important to remember that people are distracted. They’re paying attention to other things. Having that consistency actually really is going to work in your favor. 

[00:29:39]Kris Ward: Yeah, you are so right. Okay. So what are some of the biggest mistakes that you see people making when it comes to PR or more specifically maybe even when asking to get exposure?

[00:29:50]Lisa Simone Richards: Okay. I have two things that I want to hammer in on here. I have a number one mistake, and then a little bit of income truancy. So if you can bring me back on track to congruency just in case. I forget it for me. Thank you so much for your support with that. Okay.

[00:30:05] So number one mistake that I see people make when they want to get exposure, they make it all about them. Hi, my name’s Lisa Simon Richards. I’m a PR and visibility strategist. I have a six month program. Can I come on your podcast and talk about it? Yeah, kind of give you a free advertisement.

[00:30:21]Kris Ward: I get those all day long. Well, worse than that, I went from rags to riches and my village burnt down. And, but now I’m a billionaire and you know, your audience would love to hear that. I’m like, would they? I don’t know. Well, you told me like the beginning, it’s like a bad trailer for a movie. I know the journey. I don’t, I don’t get it.

Right. So it’s not like they’re not here. You guys don’t get it. If we don’t listen to it, it’s just not interesting. It’s not about what they’re bringing to the table. 

[00:30:35]Lisa Simone Richards: Yeah. I always remember in my first week of PR school, not my first week, one of my first few months of PR school, one of our teachers Kayleen Morgan, amazing writing teacher.

[00:30:53] She said to us, nobody cares about your brand or business as much as you do. And I remember just feeling like, Ooh, like we just paid a lot of money to be here before that was rude, but that’s like the line that has served me the best. If you can come from an angle of adding value, think about what is valuable to the audience

[00:31:10] who’s paying attention to this platform and you can lead with value and you can share, these are what the takeaways are going to be for the audience at the end of a podcast interview at the end of this article, if you can make this so outwardly facing that, it’s not about you talking about yourself, it’s your audience leaving richer than they came.

[00:31:27] That’s the thing that’s going to be able to get you through the door when you meet with the gatekeeper, the person who has access to that podcast, that TV show, that website, and you say to them, Hey, this is the audience that you have in front of you. And I know that their goals are to A, B and C. Here’s how I can contribute to your platform to ensure that they hit their goals.

[00:31:46] Would that be relevant for you? Such a more powerful way or such a powerful way of positioning yourself versus, Hey, I’d love to come talk about myself for half an hour. Is that cool? 

[00:31:57]Kris Ward: Yeah, but also I’m writing down that exact sentence. I know when I pitched me another podcast, I will often, you know, do my research, listen to the show and then tell them what I like about the show and say, you know, as I listened to the show, I also thought.

[00:32:09] I think you and I could have a meaty conversation, that’d be of great value to your audience. And I lean in and say, I think it’s going to really lean into your bigger message of X, Y, Z. But I really like your sentence where this, you know, the audience that you have in front of you. I know they want blah, blah, blah.

[00:32:23] That’s even like, you know, I could be talking to a podcast. It’s all about marketing. Listen, I know, you know, the audience you’re speaking to one more time to do marketing, like that, just drills it down tighter than what I was doing. So the phraseology there, I think, is pretty powerful. 

[00:32:39]Lisa Simone Richards: It’s really fun to have those opportunities to Uplevel from an eight to an eight plus is what I always say to my clients.

I was on a call with someone earlier this week and I was like, oh, look at my awesome podcast kits. I got such great feedback on it. And he took one look at it and cut it to bits in a second. And I was like, oh, that’s amazing because now I can make it even better. Thank you for seeing opportunities in there for me.

[00:33:02]Kris Ward: I don’t know. I think you could be plummeting from the top of Mount Everest in a snowstorm. You’d say, well, isn’t the view, beautiful Kris people, people tell me I’m positive and I really do choose to find the happy in any. I just don’t like being unhappy. It’s uncomfortable. And I mean, I’m not putting a sticker on when the gas tank is empty.

[00:33:20] I’m not one of these people that are like, oh yeah, But I do think even in any moment, there’s always something to be positive about, but I think you might out shine me. Maybe it’s the cold, but I think you might outshine me. Okay. So fantastic. All right. So congruences you wanted me to bring that back?

[00:33:35]Lisa Simone Richards: Okay. Thank you for bringing me back. Cause I was already on another track and completely forgot about that. So we were talking about mistakes that people make when they’re looking to get visibility and exposure. So this is where I talk into what I call the ABCs of visibility. What is the intention of being seen?

[00:33:52] We’re busy running businesses. Chances are, we’re not doing it just because we want to be seen. So this comes down to, are you looking to build A – awareness. B – buzz or C – credibility. And I’ll break those down and give you an example of what I’ve seen when it comes to not being clear with the intention and having that congruency. A stands for awareness.

[00:34:14] You want visibility, so you can get in front of your ideal client so that they know that you exist. This is the person who has the power to take out their credit card and hire you. If you’re the best kept secret people simply can’t work with you. B stands for buzz. And I like to think about this as when you have a product launch, con product launch coming up, or like when a movie is coming out, you don’t just hear about the movie

[00:34:37] once the actors are all over the place they’re on podcasts or a new relationships or on entertainment tonight, the Hollywood. Whatever recorder, access Hollywood. Those are those shows. Same thing. If you have a book coming out, a product launching, people can’t just hear about it once, maybe the month before you want to go on a podcast tour and a bender and hit 30 different shows.

[00:34:56] You want to be doing Facebook lives and different people’s groups. So that’s a time when you go really intense to build that buzz. C stands for credibility. This means you’re not necessarily getting in front of your ideal clients or the people who could hire you. You want to establish your thought leadership.

[00:35:11] You want to establish your expert authority. So this is where you’re seeking to get featured in the places as the people whose courses you’ve bought. Who’s conferences that you’ve attended. You want to collect those as seen on logos that are really going to tell people exactly who you are and you are not just any other online coach or service business.

[00:35:30] Service business provider. So here’s a little story that explains of congruency. For a long time like I mentioned earlier, I worked specifically with health, fitness and wellness entrepreneurs. I would have personal trainers come to me all the time and say, Lisa, I want to get featured in oxygen, in strong, in muscle and fitness.

[00:35:48] And I work with women who are going to the gym for the first time and I have to share with them. Okay. It’s cool to have those logos on your site. It’s going to build credibility for you, but that’s not going to drive you clients. If you’re looking for a woman who’s going to the gym for the first time, she is not reading bodybuilding magazines.

[00:36:04] Maybe she’s probably reading cosmos, self PopSugar, something that’s softer. I also worked with, or talked to a copywriter who was saying to me, Lisa, I want to be featured on like book copy chat, or, you know, whatever. Like the holy grail of copywriting podcasts is where all of her mentors work. And I’m like the people listening to that show

[00:36:23] aren’t getting started in online business for the first time. Like the client you want to get in front of, let’s focus on positioning you on online business shows. So instead of you being one of a bunch of copywriters, you can be the copywriter who gets highlighted on that show. So being clear on that intention is really going to make it really have an impact on what your publicity decisions are.

[00:36:45]Kris Ward: I think what you’re pointing out too, is that we get hungry for, this is the star, the rocket I need to be on. And this is where I’m going to be like, you know, back in the day, it’s like, okay, I want to be an Eleanor Oprah. It’s like, well, if you wrote a book Ellen’s not known for promoting books.

[00:37:00] So just because you think that’s the hot ticket at the time, it may not be for the hot ticket for your audience at that point in the journey. And we all just go, oh, this, this is the top pinnacle I need to be there. Great. Well, you’re right. Somebody’s thinking. How am I going to fit into a dress I have to get into for Christmas. Isn’t going to be reading oxygen. Right? 

[00:37:20]Lisa Simone Richards: The thing that I would always get the most, I want to be in Forbes. I want to be on Oprah. And there was one other one that I would get as well. Oh, goop. When I was in health, everyone wants to be an undo. 

[00:37:31]Kris Ward: Yeah, it kind of reminds me of solid commercial. I forget what it’s called. It’s a TV show where there’s two doctors and they fixed shocking body parts that, or something happened to them and some, and he said, somebody said, oh, like, I don’t know what I want my lips to look like Angelina Jolie’s. And he said, of course you do. Nobody comes in and says, you know, I want to go from here.

I had this car accident, my face, his name too. Like Angelina Jolie. Why don’t we take that main face? Find you somewhere halfway, right? 

[00:37:57]Lisa Simone Richards: Oh my gosh. I think I remember the show you were talking about and even to highlight something for, you know, I think earlier I mentioned the identical twin doctor chiropractors who went from radio to magazine to a television show and …

[00:38:10] Here’s an important story that highlights that the sexiest isn’t, the sale’siest. So these identical twin chiropractors think bed is like the property brothers, but of chiropractics. And they have a facility called sports specialist rehab center here in Toronto. They actually have two locations now thanks to being seen, they were able to grow.

[00:38:28] So for a few segments, they were featured on a national television show. Like one of the biggest daytime shows that airs across all of Canada. And it was so cool in terms of credibility building, because they were getting seen on one of the biggest shows. However, when they went to kind of like the local volunteer run, You know, student coordinated TV show that low aired in their local community.

[00:38:52] That’s when they had more foot traffic coming into their business, it was all well and good that somebody across the country saw their segments and liked what they were doing, but that person didn’t have the power to pay them. So it was great credibility building, but actually doing the less sexy stuff is what made the money.

[00:39:07]Kris Ward: Very good point. Right. We just get so lured into the big, shiny star. Okay. Fabulous point. Do we have time to talk about how to start getting media opportunities landing in our inbox? 

[00:39:22]Lisa Simone Richards: Oh, yeah. Well, we’ve covered some of those already because we talked about HARO, which I know your listeners are familiar with.

We also talked about freedom with writing. So we’re freedom with writing. It’s different. HARO sends you three emails a day, morning, afternoon, and evening. And I’m just a little pro tip. I always recommend you’d be the two things that my mother always asks me not to be, fast and easy do not say that your query come up with something really quick.

[00:39:50] The first person to respond is going to be the person who probably gets featured. It’s not the best person. If you wait too long in your answer, number 20 in the queue, you’re more than likely getting a delete so fast and easy is the way to play that game. 

[00:40:02]Kris Ward: Okay. Hold on. Hold on. Stop. Oh, thank you, Google. Oh my gosh. Hold on. That backed the truck up, you know what I was thinking, I was doing this all wrong.

 I was minding the deadline, making sure I got it in by the deadline because they give a deadline. But I was thinking because they’re writers, I was proofreading and leaving it and proofreading it. Cause I thought, oh my gosh, this has to be so well-written because, you know, I’m whatever.

[00:40:28] Cause whatever, I don’t know what a sticky, so you’re right. Get it in fast. You’re right. I can make that make sense. You’re not going to be. Look for 50, they’re going to go with the first one that’s suitable. Okay. I’ve been doing that wrong for years. Okay. 

[00:40:39]Lisa Simone Richards: Yeah, one thing I always recommend, so number one, fast and easy and write something that they could copy and paste and put in their article, not a novel, not a whole background story. Like if they can copy and paste it, that’s the easy part of that. And I always say at the end of the pitch, if you have more questions, email me here or text me here, whatever it might be.

[00:40:56] And they can come to me if they want more, but I just want to make their job as copy and paste as possible because that makes it the easiest for them. They’ll remember me and they’ll want to work with me again. That’s how I always have a story for everything. That’s how one of my clients, Jennifer got her first feature on pop sugar, which is one of the biggest sites when it comes to health and fitness for

[00:41:15] millennials. She responded to a hair query fast and easy developed a good relationship with the editor, which led to, I think, eight pieces on the site. And then she was asked if she would like to do an Instagram live workout on their platform, which at the time was just under a million followers. And guess what?

Jennifer doesn’t have a million followers on her Instagram account. So how cool is it that that HARO opportunity led to that invitation? 

[00:41:40]Kris Ward: Wow. Okay. You also said something else that I want to pluck out there. So I never thought of that. There is any, but I know how many emails we all get. So I’m sure that when they get, when asking for submissions, it’s out of control.

[00:41:52] So I never thought of putting my phone number in there cause everything, my whole business is run by appointments just it’s not on the radar anymore. So yeah. Somebody that’s got questions or a follow-up and I’m the one that’s going to benefit from this relationship. They can text me. Hello. I sound like I’m a hundred years old. I never thought that.

[00:42:10]Lisa Simone Richards: There’s an urgency there on you may not have the pleasure of waiting for, you know, like personally, I don’t have email notifications on, on my phone. I will never know when someone sends me an email. All I know are texts. So it’s texts I’m gonna see. 

[00:42:22]Kris Ward: Yeah, I don’t have email notifications either, but the texting thing, I guess, because my business is I’m dealing with other high end professionals and we’re all very scheduled.

They don’t even have my phone number. We just don’t operate like that. But I am not trying to get on their platform. I’m not trying to ask them if they’ve got follow up questions so that I can be published. So it just never occurred to me. Like, I guess, cause I’m associating texting with my family and friends.

[00:42:44] Right. Okay. Big tip. All right. My heavens, we could turn you into a six week Netflix series documentary here. Yes, yes. Okay. Excuse me. All right. Tell us one last thing you feel like we should know before we wrap up. Oh, we’ve just having so much fun. Everybody relistening to the show. Cause you can’t possibly, this is one of these shows you can’t even keep pulling over when you’re driving, going.

[00:43:08] Okay. I got that. No, no, no. You got to listen to me. Listen to the whole show again. All right. Our final thing is we wrap up. What do you feel would be a miss if we were not paying attention to it? 

[00:43:17]Lisa Simone Richards: You know what, here’s a way that I can make it really easy for people, pay attention to what’s already in front of you.

[00:43:23] Don’t recreate the wheel. Start off with deciding where would I like to be featured, once you’re clear on that, whether it’s a magazine, a TV show, a podcast, look at the structure of the titles that they use, like the headline of a magazine, that title of a segment on a TV show, the title of a podcast episode.

[00:43:39] And now look at that title and see how you can swap in two or three words that makes it your own. ’cause now you’re working with a headline formula that they already use. You have proof of that, and now you’re not reinventing the wheel. You’re just fitting into their formula. And that makes you way more likely to get a yes. And you didn’t have to do a ton of thinking about it. 

[00:43:58]Kris Ward: Lisa, you have been a spectacular treat. I cannot thank you enough. You are a bright, brilliant, and source of information for us all, where can people find more of your excellence and brilliance?

[00:44:10]Lisa Simone Richards: Oh, I love for people to, okay. Well, one thing I’d love to be able to share is, a compliment that I get frequently that I’m going to pat myself on the back for humbly is that people tell me that I write a good pitch when I’m reaching out to be in, when I’m reaching out to make the request to be interviewed on a show.

[00:44:26] So if anybody wants to see behind the scenes, what my podcast pitch looks like, and you want to have a fill in the blank template that you can copy and create for yourself, head over to www.theperfectpodcastpitch.com and you can download my framework and then make a version of your own. And then otherwise, if you want to create me and hang out on social media, feel free to follow me on Instagram at Lisa Simone Richards.

[00:44:50]Kris Ward: They see you’ve been a pure treat. Everyone else, we will see you in the next episode and everything all the things that Lisa just spoke about will be in the show notes, because you’ll want to grab those and make notes while you’re relistening to it. Everyone else. Thank you so much. We’ll see you in the next show. [00:45:07]END