PR Strategies for Diverse Entrepreneurial Impact! with Jennifer Singh

You can Jennifer Singh at
Website: https://www.instagram.com/shesnewsworthy/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shesnewsworthy/
Website: https://www.shesnewsworthy.com/

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#diversevoicesinPR
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Jennifer Singh Podcast Transcription

Hey, everyone. Welcome to another episode of Win The Hour Win The Day, and I am your host, Kris Ward. And today in the house, we have Jennifer Singh, and she’s going to talk to us about PR. She is a PR strategist and a media consultant. Oh, my gosh. We’re going to have so much fun. We’re going to dive into it right away. Welcome to the show, Jennifer.

Jennifer Singh00:04:18 – 00:04:20

Thank you so much for having me. I’m so glad to be here. It’s exciting.

Kris Ward00:04:20 – 00:04:41

Okay, well, I’m excited that you’re excited because I fumbled at the top of the show, and I. One line, I just thought I start over because all the. All of you who listen to me know I fumble all the time. No big deal. This is just a conversation. It is what it is, so that’s fine. But then Jennifer said, hey, are you nervous? And I thought, no, I never get nervous. It’s just a chat.

Kris Ward00:04:41 – 00:05:05

Although I then realized, huh, I’m talking to somebody who has a background in professional broadcasting. If I had enough sense, I would be nervous. So I was like, oh, I never thought about that, Jennifer. All right, Jennifer, so let’s talk about PR. What do we need to know? Why do we need to know it? You know, give us a little bit about, hey, what is it you don’t know? You don’t know? What don’t we know?

Jennifer Singh00:05:06 – 00:05:39

And you actually did one of the basic things that I always recommend is when you make a mistake or make a flub, just keep on going. Right? So that’s actually the best ways that you don’t trip yourself up. When we think of PR and public relations, what that really means, it’s just another marketing strategy. That’s really how I look at it. It is another way to get your business and your brand out there, get exposure, but also to really lean into your expertise. Everyone has an expertise and a unique perspective. So let’s say, for example, there are 100 business coaches.

Jennifer Singh00:05:39 – 00:05:55

Everyone’s going to approach business and their clients differently. But maybe your expertise is working with a particular diverse community. Media is then a vehicle for you to be able to lean into that thought leadership on a mass platform.

Kris Ward00:05:56 – 00:06:20

Okay, that’s fantastic. And I think what you’re tapping into is something that’s really important is this whole idea. First of all, PR is not something that we get once we arrived and we are of the influencer status. Like we could all have it. And then we do all offer something unique and to a very specific audience. And please, we all know by now we’re big boys and girls. We’ve been in business for a while. We know that we don’t serve anybody.

Kris Ward00:06:20 – 00:06:38

Anybody, everybody. Because even for me, we tend to serve best entrepreneurs that have been in business five to ten years, and they’re just working too many hours for where they are at this point in their journey. But they look good on paper. I don’t work with new businesses.

Kris Ward00:06:38 – 00:06:38

Right.

Kris Ward00:06:38 – 00:06:56

So you really want to tap into that. And I think that’s a big thing too, is what, the conversations I’ve had with you is learning that zoning into that is what’s going to make us interesting to whatever publication or whatever audience we’re trying to get in front of with prior.

Jennifer Singh00:06:56 – 00:07:35

Yes. And one of the things that you had touched on briefly is the idea that you feel, some people feel like you have to get to a certain point in their business in order to exemplify their thought leadership. When that’s not the case, maybe they think they have to have a major social media following. You have to have your podcast done. You have to have your first book written. For sure, those are amazing other marketing tools that can play into your pr strategy. But the thing that I see holding business owners back is that they don’t feel like they’ve reached whatever milestone that they need to reach to. And when you peel back the layers, Kris, what it actually is, it has nothing to do with the milestone.

Jennifer Singh00:07:35 – 00:08:39

It really has more to do with about how they see themselves, their mindset, thinking that they’re not ready to put themselves out there and they cancel themselves even before anyone else gets to cancel them. Right. Like, nobody has the opportunity to cancel them. And that, for me, is probably the biggest defining factor is if you are going to succeed in your media journey, and it is really like you want to really position yourself as the hero in, in this story, setting up a framework that is really simple, that can be used in any marketing, whether you’re doing a LinkedIn post, Instagram post or a media pitch, you’re really starting everything with a hook, something to grab the media’s attention. This is giving them the idea of why they need to pay attention to this now, giving them a little bit of a background, and then you swoop in as the hero. This is your thought leadership. So the three suggestions that you have to improve the situation or what needs to be done, this could be, let’s use women entrepreneurs as an example. Let’s say a lot of women entrepreneurs in the pandemic started new businesses.

Jennifer Singh00:08:39 – 00:09:21

A lot of them didn’t survive, went back to corporate, right? So if that is the case, if that is, if that is the case, then maybe myself, or yourself even, because you work with a lot of entrepreneurs, could do a media interview talking about what else needs to be done to support women entrepreneurs. Maybe it’s a situation of having more co working spaces that accommodate daycares, for maybe working moms. Maybe it’s making the grant process by the government easier to access. Maybe it’s coaching. Maybe it’s actually understanding you need to invest in a coach. Right? You are the hero of the story. Media sees that. They see value.

Jennifer Singh00:09:21 – 00:09:33

They see value because you’re actually giving expert tips on how you should be solving this problem. That is a problem across Canada. At the end of the day, it impacts our economy or the world.

Kris Ward00:09:33 – 00:09:50

Across the world, yes. Also, too, I want to unpack a couple of things that you said because they’re really powerful is, you know, what that moving target of. Oh, you think you need a book, right? And then I was like, I remember when before I wrote my book, someone said, like, why don’t you write this book? And I thought, oh, you know, I have to be a couple million dollars.

Kris Ward00:09:50 – 00:09:51

Before I write this book.

Kris Ward00:09:51 – 00:10:20

And they’re like, no, write the book. And I’m like, okay, so then I wrote the book. And then you think, well, that’s great, I wrote a book. But then I think, oh, but it’s not a bestseller, right? I mean, not. It was a bestseller in my category on Amazon, but it’s like, not, not some worldwide New York Times bestseller, right? So there’s always this thing of, oh, once I get there. But to your point, when you said these other things, whether you do or do not have a book or a podcast, they are tools. They’re not accreditations. They are marketing tools.

Kris Ward00:10:20 – 00:10:27

And I think that’s a real game changer for me. When I heard that, that word that’s so much more empowering.

Jennifer Singh00:10:27 – 00:10:59

And you know what? And actually again, I’m going to have to go back to the mindset piece because I do openly say that. I do openly say that the media is not going to define you. They’re not going to be the person to give you. Yes, it’s just a marketing tool. Don’t feel that once you make it on the media, if you’re writing all of your presence and your credibility on a media interview, then you have some inner work to do. It’s not that be all and the end all. Yeah. And I know that’s ironic because this is what I do.

Jennifer Singh00:10:59 – 00:11:30

I teach it, but I teach it as a marketing tool that’s going to integrate with your other strategies. So whether you were trying to show that you’re the expert and you’re trying to show that you’re the expert so that you can maybe position yourself to do more corporate workshops, for example, maybe a larger organization is going to take you more seriously or you going to end up at the front of the pile because they know that you’ve been talking about the expertise in the media on a regular basis, which means that you’re up and up on what’s happening in your industry. Yeah.

Kris Ward00:11:30 – 00:12:15

And what I want to jump in here and say, which I often forget, and what you’re driving this point home really well, is I tend to in the past thought, well, then I need, so let’s say we help entrepreneurs with their tools or time and their tools. Time and, oh my gosh, team tools and time and calendar and things like that. Apparently I don’t know what I do, but that’s okay. Right. So what happens is then I would be thinking that I need to be answering the call when somebody specifically wants to talk about that. But one of the things that we talk about when we’re building the team is that we veer away from the corporate model, which is very parentified. And so our set up through the academy with my private clients is really about a totally different way of communicating with your team. Right.

Kris Ward00:12:15 – 00:12:56

And understanding that team is a philosophy out a number. And there’s a whole, we have this whole leadership program. So what that means though is I could then be interviewed about why this is so important and in the not even just speaking to entrepreneurs. But to your point, I could be speaking to the corporate world of this is what you’re doing wrong with leadership and we all know that and no one’s talking about it. Whereas I always saw in the past, I have to, it sort of has to be a direct question and answer, but you can be in front of audience, like you said, talking about coaches for women, hey, your business failed because you didn’t have a coach, and now I’m the expert. But it doesn’t have to be the direct calling of the exact product I sell today. I just have to be an expert in that field 100%.

Jennifer Singh00:12:56 – 00:13:37

Everybody’s trying to make a direct correlation and connection. But when you think about it, tv, especially tv, is not how it was 20 years ago, 30 years ago, where everybody is sitting and watching a show at seven or seven in the morning or even 06:00 p.m.. Newscast. Your clip is on. Your interview is on, on times that, people, people are in transit. People are some people don’t even have cable, right? So the strategy is, yes, you can land media interview, but then you have to push it out to your social channels, push it out to your newsletter, push it out to your proposals, push it into, out to your biographies. All of those other places is what showcases your marketing experience and abilities.

Kris Ward00:13:37 – 00:14:04

And then showcasing that, no, then I might be deciding, okay, now I’m in front of, and it doesn’t even matter if I only put that in front of my entrepreneur audience, that they spoke to me about the flawed program of leadership in the corporate model. Be like, oh, yeah, Kris talks about that all the time when she’s working with us, building our team. So even though by virtue, I’m not speaking directly to my clients about the problem I solve with them, in theory, it lends itself to me being the authority there.

Jennifer Singh00:14:04 – 00:14:24

100%. You want to position yourself as the authority. That is the key. So being able to, and a lot of people that are entrepreneurs create blocks and think, oh, I’m not the expert. I don’t know it enough. But think about it. You’re actually doing this work every single day with your clients. And I think the client perspective is understanding what are they having challenges with.

Jennifer Singh00:14:24 – 00:15:09

So we have a finance expert on our team right now who we’re helping land PR, and she’s done a lot of interviews, and I sent to her, I’m like, when you’re brainstorming for the next three to six months, let’s talk about what the struggles are that your clients are facing. Is it home ownership? Is it understanding investments? What is it about the day to day struggles? Because guess what? She’s going to be able to talk about it like that. She knows the ins and the outs, and surety has all the solutions. Yeah, because even, like, some of the blocks that come up for people, when it comes to pr, is, what if I say the wrong thing? What if I don’t know how to answer the question? Again, just goes back to mindset. You’re the expert. You know things better than anybody else. And the media is not out to get you. At the end of the day, they really are not.

Jennifer Singh00:15:09 – 00:15:16

You’re not Donald Trump, where they’re trying to, you know, interrogate you. Thank God, right?

Kris Ward00:15:16 – 00:15:18

You can’t even mention that man’s name without emotion.

Kris Ward00:15:18 – 00:15:23

Right? I know. It’s. I’m not afraid even to say, like.

Kris Ward00:15:23 – 00:16:05

The word even, like, oh, I trumped your idea. Now I’m like, oh, that. Is that a verb now? I don’t even want to use that. Okay, so also, as you’re talking, I’m seeing this in a whole different thing. So I could then be promoting, like, whatever PR thing of, hey, how do you deal with summers when your family’s home? If you work from home and you’re an entrepreneur, how do you get back into the groove? How do you have summer hours or school hours when you have a family on school break? That’s the whole goal of having this freedom lifestyle. So, again, that’s not a product I sell directly. I do get you back your team, your time, and, you know, your toolkits. But I could be talking to those broader conversations that do tie back to my authority.

Jennifer Singh00:16:05 – 00:16:06

100. Okay.

Kris Ward00:16:06 – 00:16:06

Okay.

Jennifer Singh00:16:06 – 00:16:07

You’re a quick learner. You’re a quick learner.

Kris Ward00:16:08 – 00:16:08

I’m trying.

Jennifer Singh00:16:08 – 00:16:39

I love it. No, because it does, it does take a while for some people to understand that it doesn’t have to be specifically you speaking about your program. You’re literally talking about all the issues and thinking about who the audience of the media is. Audience. Audience is going to be a more generic, wider audience. Right. So that is, those stories are great story ideas. Right? Like figuring out entrepreneurship in the summer, especially if you’re a busy entrepreneur, maybe you are traveling to a different time zone and you are going to be working in a different time zone.

Jennifer Singh00:16:39 – 00:16:50

How do you juggle that? Right? How do you juggle the kids and the sleep routines and all of those things? Those are definitely stories that are relevant and that the media would pick up on in the summertime, for sure.

Kris Ward00:16:50 – 00:17:00

Oh, my gosh. Okay, so you talk about what it is you do. How do you help others? How do you help others that’s different or unique and why is it important?

Jennifer Singh00:17:01 – 00:17:11

So my approach to pr really comes from my journalism experience. So I worked in newsrooms across the country, and I say across the country, because I lived in the Maritimes. Loved the Maritimes. Okay.

Kris Ward00:17:11 – 00:17:19

To the people around the world, Italy, the US, England, that listen to the show, you have no idea what we’re talking about. But that would be the eastern side.

Jennifer Singh00:17:19 – 00:17:38

East coast of Canada. I feel like. I mean, I have a. I have a story that we could talk about. I’m pretty sure everybody knows when swiss air went down, right, because it was east coast of Canada. Right. So anybody worldwide would have known that that was on the east coast. So in terms of geography, just getting goosebumps remembering all of that.

Jennifer Singh00:17:38 – 00:18:13

But my perspective came from doing hard news and doing stories. I didn’t cover that particular story, but being in the thick of it, community stories, lifestyle stories, entertainment stories, and noticing that a lot of the people that I was interviewing, I was part of the problem were men. That’s literally what it was. So they’re the ones in the database. They’re the ones with the media contacts. They’re the ones with the confidence. They’re the ones not questioning whether or not they have value to offer. And once they are in the media, they become the go to, because they speak well, they know how to work the system.

Jennifer Singh00:18:13 – 00:19:11

And when I left the media officially in 2017 after being laid off three times, my purpose was, okay, let’s amplify more diverse voices. So what does that look like? Yes, we do zone in on women, those who run service based businesses, but we also have worked on a lot of stories from diverse communities, from the black community, from the asian community, from the trans community, many different areas. And the purpose is really just to diversify the way that we think about the world and the way that we think about issues and having a fresh perspective is going to help us get to that next level and help us understand each other. Other each other better. And because that has been my. My niche, it has been my secret sauce, because the media is now getting new story ideas, new perspectives on the exact same story they’ve been covering. But the angle is different. The angle is a bit adjusted.

Jennifer Singh00:19:11 – 00:19:51

So because of that, they can cover. You know, we can go back to your. Your. Your parent, your summer idea for summer stories. I had a parenting expert who said, okay, well, we have to. One of my tips is going to be, parents should be spending 15 times a golden hour with their child in the morning as well as in the afternoon. And I said, well, what if the parents are night shift workers? What if they work weekends? What if, so even diversifying the perspective and being more inclusive about other members of the community. Like, there’s not just people living with a two parent household in a white picket, like, with a house that.

Jennifer Singh00:19:51 – 00:20:17

Yeah, yeah, yeah, right. That’s when I even say the diversity and the inclusivity has to include all of us. It doesn’t have to just be a specific narrative. And that’s how a lot of the news is told. And frankly, that’s pretty much because the leadership is not diverse. Even way back in journalism school and even now, the journalism teachers are not diverse and don’t have necessarily as diverse a perspective as they could have.

Kris Ward00:20:17 – 00:20:55

Okay, so here’s what I’m hearing. Because originally, when you hear that, it’s like, okay, I’m caucasian. What diversity do I have? I am so vanilla, it’s boring. And then I’m thinking, well, you know, so then I’m part of the problem. What do I can do? But your story about you leaning into diversity and, you know, your experience is about you as the expert tapping into your ideal client and the way you can make your message unique. So if looking at you as a professional and hearing you talk about PR, I’m thinking, oh, I should be doing more of this, and I don’t know how to do it. But you’re saying no, and not. You’re not saying no, but you’re saying, hey, this is my focus, and this is what I bring.

Kris Ward00:20:55 – 00:20:58

Unique as a PR person. Am I understanding that correctly?

Jennifer Singh00:20:58 – 00:21:15

So, yeah, let me address the identity thing, right? So I definitely have a lot of clients who identify as white. And really, it doesn’t matter what color you are. It’s. Are you telling this. That story, that that example that I just gave was somebody who was white, right. So she. I was saying, you know, we can. And that’s the thing.

Jennifer Singh00:21:15 – 00:21:36

As a PR person, I also want to protect your brand and your image. And I say, hey, what about this perspective? Because not all parents are going to be, you know, nine to fiverrs, right? So the goal for you, doesn’t matter how you identify, is to just bring a fresh perspective. Right? So 

that’s more key, and that’s what’s going to get you booked faster than anything else. Right?

Kris Ward00:21:36 – 00:22:04

Okay. So, Nishan, let me jump in. So, in fact, I would have thought going broad, when you’re on some sort of PR whatever, it’s news magazine whatever, that being broad is your friend, but you’re saying niching down. So let’s say I even talked about entrepreneurs who are divorced. And here, now you’re juggling a divorce schedule that’s new to you. In addition to the business. So that taking that one step further actually aids to this being something different than what’s been on the show or whatever the press before.

Jennifer Singh00:22:04 – 00:22:26

I love that story idea. I’ve never heard that before. That’s newsworthy. That’s definitely. Because it’s definitely not an angle that we cover. We covered a lot of diverse divorce stories during the pandemic, actually, because a lot of people were not making it through and separating and things like that. And the people that we talked to or that did the interviews were mental health experts. So they were saying, like, the statistics and.

Jennifer Singh00:22:26 – 00:22:34

And what that looks like and what that does to, you know, the family unit, especially when you’re told to, like, stay inside and stay with everybody and not.

Kris Ward00:22:34 – 00:22:37

And I loved you when I saw a lot less of you.

Jennifer Singh00:22:37 – 00:22:58

Yeah. Right. So we’ve done it from the mental health angle, but, you know, I’ve never really heard about it from. And actually, the business story that you. That you have, the story that we have heard over and over again is like the working mom who also is running a business. But what about the working mom or the working dad who’s divorced and running a business? Right. Like, that’s different, for sure.

Kris Ward00:22:58 – 00:23:02

Oh, my gosh. Okay, so we’re getting this. All right. So it’s really about.

Kris Ward00:23:02 – 00:23:03

It’s. It’s.

Kris Ward00:23:03 – 00:23:11

This is a. We know the niche down in business, but we can even know that’s not my niche. I don’t. I don’t specialize in working with women that are divorced at all.

Jennifer Singh00:23:11 – 00:23:12

Yeah.

Kris Ward00:23:12 – 00:23:14

That makes for a more interesting story.

Jennifer Singh00:23:14 – 00:23:36

For sure. For sure. And the other key that you have to do is connect it to the media’s news cycle. So let’s say there was a new statistic that came out with a study because you can’t just throw out divorced entrepreneurs without having a reason for the media to cover it. Right now. That is what makes things newsworthy. Newsworthy is literally saying, this needs to be done now. This is of importance.

Jennifer Singh00:23:36 – 00:23:42

This is why it needs to be told in this moment right now. Right.

Kris Ward00:23:42 – 00:23:50

Head’s exploding. Okay, so then how do we with. Because we have jobs and we are busy. So how would I do? I look at trending topics.

Jennifer Singh00:23:50 – 00:24:15

So there’s a different coupling. Yes. Okay. So understanding how the media’s news cycle works is, number one. So everybody should be consuming some sort of news, maybe the platforms or the outlets that you are interested in being appearing in, taking a look to see what types of stories they cover. That’s actually the best inspiration. And it’s not to deter you and say, oh, they already have an expert in this or an expert in that. It’s like, oh, this story’s here.

Jennifer Singh00:24:15 – 00:24:39

So they do cover these topics, but you know what angle they’re missing. Divorced entrepreneurs, for example. Right. And that’s your cue to then pitch a story around that. The other place, which used to be really great, which unfortunately is very spammy now, is X, formally known as Twitter. Right. Because that’s also a really good place. You could do some simple searches like type in and the name of the city.

Jennifer Singh00:24:39 – 00:25:15

Let’s say we’re in Italy, Milan, and see what reporters come up that are covering local news in that area, going through their feed, seeing what type of content they cover. You’re not going to pitch a business story to a health reporter unless there’s business angle. So kind of understanding the strategy. And it’s so funny because you’re asking me and like, intuitively I just know that you just figure it out. Like you just can investigate. Right? Like you really, you really, I was talking with one of my other friends who’s a journalist, and she says we are like the CIA. Like literally figure out who it is. It’s, oh, here’s another perfect example.

Jennifer Singh00:25:15 – 00:25:45

It’s like applying for a job. If you’re applying for a job and you’re nine to fiverr applying for a job, which all of us have, unless you were born an entrepreneur, you are going to tailor your resume and the interview to the experience that you have. Right. So you’re not going to, if you have an athletic background, you’re obviously maybe going to pitch, Adidas or Nike or something like that. Maybe head office because you understand sports. Maybe you do physiotherapy. It’s all connected. They’re more likely to be interested in you then if you are a former journalist trying to pitch.

Jennifer Singh00:25:45 – 00:25:46

You know what I mean?

Kris Ward00:25:46 – 00:26:07

Like, yeah, yeah, yeah. So, but I would have thought, like to your point when, if I went into whatever wired magazine on business and they talked about whatever this month, entrepreneurs working from home or something, I would have thought, oh, okay, they covered that. I would have, like, that’s my thing. When you said go to and see what they’re writing about. Okay, they are. On that topic, I would have thought, it’s done. I missed the boat.

Jennifer Singh00:26:07 – 00:26:43

So it depends. So if they’re obviously writing, let’s say they do a full spread on International Women’s month in March, then you have missed the boat. Right. But that’s still the opportunity to pitch early the, for the following year, somewhere like magazine, usually you want to pitch two to four months in advance. We do mostly tv, which is a much quicker turnaround, which is usually two weeks. And some, some print in Canada. We do some print here, which is a turnaround about a month. So understanding the new cycle and how fast they turn information and news around is also very, going to be very key for you.

Kris Ward00:26:43 – 00:27:01

That’s a good point, because I’m no expert at all in this topic, but clearly, I know television changes with whatever’s happening in the world. What was news yesterday is not today, vice versa. And it’s very different than magazine, which, by the way, television, of course, is so much easier because you can just get on and talk. As far as I think it’s easier.

Jennifer Singh00:27:01 – 00:27:03

But I think so.

Kris Ward00:27:03 – 00:27:16

Yeah. So, okay. That’s a good point of whatever’s coming up in the news. The divorce rate went up. Yeah. Okay, let’s talk about being divorced and now running your business when you lost your, your part time support. Oh, my gosh. Okay.

Kris Ward00:27:16 – 00:27:16

All right.

Kris Ward00:27:16 – 00:27:17

Whoo.

Kris Ward00:27:17 – 00:27:18

My head’s exploding.

Kris Ward00:27:18 – 00:27:21

Okay. What I.

Kris Ward00:27:21 – 00:27:23

Where do we go next? I don’t even know.

Kris Ward00:27:23 – 00:27:23

What?

Kris Ward00:27:23 – 00:27:28

I don’t know. Oh, did we freeze?

Jennifer Singh00:27:28 – 00:27:57

No, we’re good.She was thinking I mean, okay, at the end of the day, the, like, we started off saying it is a marketing tool. It is really a marketing tool. And understanding that marketing tool, we were talking about LinkedIn as well. It’s a marketing tool. It’s another way of thinking it, not to overthink. Understand that you have value in what you have to like to say and what you have to offer. And any block that you’re having, guaranteed it’s going to be about your mindset and how you view yourself and, you know, how you view your business.

Jennifer Singh00:27:57 – 00:27:59

Guaranteed. Guaranteed.

Kris Ward00:27:59 – 00:28:33

So really just play with it. And also, I think, too, we’re so, what we do is we give clients back 25 hours a week within the first month of working with us because they’re just so, you know, rushing around. I call myself a recovering rushaholic. We’ve got this quiz that tells you which personality you are. So I encourage you to take. It’s in the show notes, but it’s so easy to be so focused on the work and the busy work. And then this does take a little bit of, you have to lift your head up and play with it a little bit and hop into whatever it is you’re looking at, see what’s going on so that you can join that conversation.

Jennifer Singh00:28:34 – 00:29:09

Yeah. And I think the other thing is, when you’re thinking about that is, is how much time does it take to land media? People get overwhelmed even what, like you said, you don’t know what you don’t know. And the strategy that you want to use is really about building media relationships. We actually don’t send pitches to the media on behalf of our clients. We let the clients make their own relationships so that we’re not the gatekeeper for that. And what ends up happening is when clients get booked, they get booked maybe once or twice, then they have that relationship. And sending another idea is very quick. It’s not writing an entire pitch, which is also not that long.

Jennifer Singh00:29:09 – 00:29:44

It’s about 300, 350 words. It’s, hey, I have this idea coming up for RRSP season, or I have this idea coming up for maternal mental health month or the summer. Here are a couple of my ideas. And the process should get faster and faster. So you spend less time pitching and more time on air. And I think people also think that there is that assumption that you have to be on all the time. I think for any entrepreneur doing six interviews in a year, a calendar year is more than enough. When you are able to do those interviews and then leverage those interviews to drive traffic back to your business

Kris Ward00:29:44 – 00:30:13

With Tv, I know that after the lockdowns and stuff, it must also, and the world we live in must be much more virtual. That seems like such a beast. Like, I guess back in the day I used to do local tv, but where do we even start with tv? Can we, do we still pitch it the same and not worry about the sort of, I mean, obviously we’re not going to go from this conversation to the Today show, but do we still not get cancel ourselves and just start pitching and get experience and start pitching higher and higher levels of opportunities? What’s your suggestion there?

Jennifer Singh00:30:13 – 00:31:12

I mean, you pitch where you’re going to get the exposure. So we pitch in Canada to all the major networks that get exposure for a, across the country. So even if you’ve never been on tv, you feel like, you don’t have, enough experience. Media is really looking for your story and your expertise. Like, we really need to have that ingrained in what we think and how we position ourselves. But yeah, definitely, I would personally start with a reputable agency, something that you can tell has, and not to say that some of the smaller outlets are not reputable, but let’s say, for example, you wanted to pitch to the local paper and you open up and there’s like tons of spelling mistakes, that’s going to be your brand and that’s going to be how it’s going to be represented. So the professionalism of the outlet is also important because whatever you align yourself to is going to be a reflection of your business and your brand. Just like anything or any referrals or any brand partnerships, it’s all the same.

Kris Ward00:31:12 – 00:31:27

And do we, is it under the understanding. So if I would ever pitched a television show that is like, there’s no local where I am, I’m in a remote area, so it is not like they’re not going to come back. Like, oh my gosh, the expectation isn’t that you are local.

Jennifer Singh00:31:28 – 00:31:54

No, not anymore. I mean, I’m in region, I would say. But you would still be able to do virtual media interviews. Sometimes they will see if they can have you. And it’s so funny because I used to work in newsrooms back in like 2009 when virtual was a really big thing. We would have somebody like Zoom in, but Zoom wasn’t a thing. We would do Skype. Everybody was skyping in and it was very rare and, you know, we would not, that would not be the preference.

Jennifer Singh00:31:54 – 00:32:10

And that’s, again, part of the whole inclusivity thing. Right. So during the pandemic, we have lots of, you know, yourself living in a rural area, lots of people in my part of the country that live in rural areas that had the opportunity to have their thought leadership, you know, amplified because the media was more inclusive, they were more open.

Jennifer Singh00:32:11 – 00:32:12

They had no choice.

Jennifer Singh00:32:12 – 00:32:40

They had no choice. So now that they’ve gone back to in person, it is sometimes an option for people. Right. And understanding, like, if I say, you know, something that I would never have said before, and not that this is the case right now because the kids are in school and we have childcare taken care of, but if I was like, you know what? It’s going to be really tight for me to do pickup or whatever. Can I do this interview virtually? I would never before ten years ago been comfortable saying that. Right? Like, people don’t get it. They’ll be like, oh, okay, she’s not reliable.

Kris Ward00:32:40 – 00:32:42

You’re not even going to bother to come in.

Jennifer Singh00:32:42 – 00:33:01

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Exactly. Right. So now I think I want to encourage people to be more. I know there’s been so much pushback after the pandemic with large corporations wanting people to go in person, but don’t count yourself out. If you are not in person and you’re doing virtual interviews, don’t count yourself out.

Kris Ward00:33:01 – 00:33:09

Oh, my gosh, Jennifer, we could talk to you all day. All right. Where can people find more of your brilliance?

Jennifer Singh00:33:09 – 00:33:21

So you can follow me on social media. I’m most active on Instagram. @She’snewsworthy. If you ever have any questions, hop into the DM’s. I love leaving voices, notes. And I’m also on LinkedIn. And my website is she’s newsworthy.com.

Kris Ward00:33:22 – 00:33:39

Oh, we’ll have that in the show notes, for sure. People share this show with a business friend. Oh, my gosh. Don’t have them banging around by themselves, struggling. There’s lots of content here. Share it with at least one business buddy. And thank you, Jennifer, for joining us. We so appreciate you, and we will see you all in the next episode