PR Success For Your Business: Mastering Effective Pitching Strategy! with Renee Warren

You can find Renee Warren at:
Website: https://www.wewildwomen.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/renee_warren/

Renee Warren Podcast Transcription

[00:00:00] Kris Ward: Hey everyone. Welcome to another episode of Win the Hour, Win The Day, and I am your host. And today we have Renee Warren in the house.

[00:00:07] She’s a PR expert and she is gonna set us straight and we’re gonna have fun doing it. Welcome to the show, Renee.

[00:00:14] Renee Warren: Kris, thank you so much for having me.

[00:00:16] Kris Ward: Okay, so let’s start off the bat right away. This was a misconception I had for years, and I’m sure some of our listeners may still be at this sticking point where you think PR is something like, oh, once I arrive or once I have some sort of accolades or something to be, profoundly proud of, then I should be looking at PR.

[00:00:34] But PR is what’s going to get you that attention. It’s not something, I think we get it confused with celebrities who have PR. It’s oh, when I get to that, yeah. Brad Pitt has a PR agent. And then so you think it’s not for the entrepreneur or their lack of better terms regular business person.

[00:00:52] Renee Warren: Yeah. Yeah, that’s wrong. Yeah, it’s right in the sense that famous people have publicists. They do, they need to mitigate the fires and just help them with their schedules and look at opportunities. But the way I see it is that PR, so public relations is actually the mother of all marketing. And why that is?

[00:01:11] Because the whole idea is that you’re building relationships. That’s it. You’re building relationships, so whether or not you’re just starting out or if you’ve been in business for five years, 10 years, 20 years, whatever stage your business is at, there’s always an opportunity to have PR as a part of your marketing strategy.

[00:01:30] Kris Ward: Yeah, a hundred percent. Okay, where do we start? Because that sounds like a big to-do list. Like where do we even begin with that and when and why do we begin? Is there such a time as oh, I couldn’t, maybe I’m not ready yet. Or like you said, there’s always a pla we can always get to the next plateau

[00:01:45] Renee Warren: So I No, you’re always ready to start the process. I was actually talking to a woman Jennifer, on Instagram because she was interested in my VIP day, and I, she’s am I too early? And I said, you’re too early for this, because she was just doing a beta for her new SAS based company. And she goes, I don’t even have that many users yet.

[00:02:04] And I go you know what your focus is, but here’s where if you have some leverage in your timer team is you gotta start building out that media list, because that is a time intensive thing to do and we could talk about that later. But for the most part, if you’ve been in business for a few years, five years, you still have an opportunity.

[00:02:22] Now you have a product or a service that you’re selling, people are buying. Cuz you’re still in business. By the way, congratulations. If you made it to five years, not too many businesses do.

[00:02:31] Kris Ward: You know. You’re right. We don’t talk, we don’t celebrate that enough. We just put our head down. Hey. All right. I’m still here.

[00:02:36] Renee Warren: Exactly.

[00:02:37] Kris Ward: You’ve warned me now to warn me down, but you’re right. Congratulate yourself. Yes. Good point. Yes.

[00:02:41] Renee Warren: Pat on your back. Yeah. And you’re still going and hopefully you’re still growing. And so most businesses, they get to these points where especially with the work that you do is that people can, I know you don’t talk about delegation, but people can create more capacity.

[00:02:54] Founders, CEOs, executives, top people on the team can create more capacity in their days, in their weeks. And one thing that founders of companies should not be doing is their own PR.

[00:03:06] Kris Ward: Okay, so when I say no delegate, I just wanna clarify. It’s a lateral move. The work comes through you. So reassigning work to other people..

[00:03:12] Renee Warren: A hundred percent.

[00:03:13] Kris Ward: And having your WIN team, that’s for sure. I do believe in getting work off your desk. So you’re saying I shouldn’t be in charge of my own PR, do you mean somebody on my team should be doing it? Or I should always be hooked up with a PR agent type?

[00:03:23] Renee Warren: No, so it’s okay. Also depends on the dynamic of your team. So with my VIP day, for example, is I create your world class strategy and I work directly with the founders. By way of their EEAs VAs are second in command. Okay. So they’re part of the strategic component of developing the strategy, but I actually train the second in command on how to execute and integrate the plan.

[00:03:48] Kris Ward: Okay. Okay

[00:03:49] Renee Warren: And so where you know, a small team, 10 to 20 people comes in, and the founder’s there to make those final decisions, or the CEO in signing off on the strategy to understand how this works. They’re not doing the work. And you shouldn’t be doing the work if you have somebody else that can do this work.

[00:04:06] Kris Ward: Right. So now we’re looking, we’re speaking to people that might have no team or two people on their team. And so then where do they start with, assigning it or still not doing themselves or where do we even start with PR, like blogs. Where does it where does the beginning look like? What does it look like?

[00:04:25] Renee Warren: So the beginning looks and this might make people yawn, they always yawn when I say this. Is who is your ideal customer?

[00:04:33] Kris Ward: Okay.

[00:04:34] Renee Warren: Define that person, because here’s what you wanna learn is I get, part of my process is I ask people for their podcast or media wishlist, where do you want to be in the media?

[00:04:44] They’re like, the cover of Entrepreneur and Forbes and Business Insider. I go, that’s great. And I don’t know that it’ll break the bank for you, but sometimes industry publications will garner you more clients than being put into Forbes. And there’s so many opportunities for podcast tv newsletters.

[00:05:03] Monthly, weekly. Oh, there’s so much out there. But when you identify where your ideal customer is hanging out, what books they’re reading, what podcasts they’re listening to, what magazines they’re subscribed to. If you know exactly where they’re getting their content, that’s rele relevant to you. That’s where you need to show up.

[00:05:23] Kris Ward: I think you’re pointing out where people get misguided. Again, there’s that celebrity factor where you might say, oh my gosh, it’ll be fascinating to be on the Today Show. Great. My audience is not watching the, my people are not watching The Today Show. But then you think there’s some celebrity clout there and that may just look good on your page, but it’s not gonna bring you business cuz you are.

[00:05:41] Renee Warren: It doesn’t yet. It doesn’t. It doesn’t. So let’s just say like you’re, you are in the business to make horse saddles. That’s a random thing. Oh, people that are gonna buy horse saddles might not be watching the Today Show. Okay. But they will probably be reading the equestrian magazines. And now, if you did get on the Today Show, it’s not to say you won’t get customers, what happens there is you’re building a credibility and authority. And this all of a sudden becomes like a notch on your belt. It’s great for your CV because you can use that as fodder. No pun intended to actually pitch the media because, oh, here’s my segment on the Today Show. That’s huge. That’s like getting your like Harvard MBA and all of a sudden

[00:06:22] Kris Ward: And showing that you can have a conversation and do clips.

[00:06:25] Renee Warren: Exactly.

[00:06:26] Kris Ward: So I agree a hundred percent with that is there, it’s wonderful. But so many people would see that as the end goal, not using it for clout for other things. Okay, I’m done.

[00:06:34] I’ve arrived. Then, and again, we’re talking big sweeping examples here. Let’s start with baby examples. What would, if you’re working with us and we’re starting off in the infancy stage, what would be our accolades and excitement about where we are and where we’re going?

[00:06:48] Renee Warren: Just talk. So believe in your product and service so much that when you talk about it, you just shine bright and people lean in.

[00:06:56] Okay, so what’s that story? Talk about the narrative. You’re like, when before we press record, you’re like, Hey, Renee, quick download. Here’s my story. I’m like, thank you. Because to me that sets the context of your story, but also the people that are listening. And so when we go back to okay, Renee, I’m a small shop, what do I do?

[00:07:13] As of today? What’s working really is going on podcast tours. I do it for my clients and I do it for myself. And let me tell you, I’ve been a guest on a handful of podcasts in the last year, and we’re really ramping this up for me now. This is an example. Almost every single show that I’m on, I will get a handful of new followers.

[00:07:34] Prospects. I’ve had $10,000 clients show up with a hardly a sales call because they heard me talk on the show and they’re like, I love your story. I love how you show up your energy. The way you talk is exactly the person I’m looking for. And it was a one hour of my time to go on that person’s show to share the show.

[00:07:52] Kris Ward: Yeah, I call it almost like having the fifth date. Like not only when I’m, I do a lot of guest spots as well, and not only do I get to audience to hear me, but that conversation that I have with the host like you’re having with me now, whenever would we get to dive this deep into what you do for 20 minutes?

[00:08:09] So it’s a beautiful infomercial, and then we’re chatting me for the show. I was like, oh my gosh, we found out what we have in common. So now we have a real relationship and we’ve sped it up to five dates of, get to know you. Instead of this whole, you reach out on LinkedIn and somebody says, Hey, let’s see if we can sport and collab and what?

[00:08:25] I don’t have time. What? Collab. Let’s collaborate. What does that mean? What does that mean? Yeah, no, tell me what does that mean? I hate that. So you’re right. I do think. And I also think more so than anything else, I think it’s a lot of fun compared to writing blogs or other chores we’ve had in the past. I just find it really dynamic. I really enjoy it.

[00:08:42] Renee Warren: You can’t beat the connection as showing up. Yeah. And whether it’s tv, radio’s, okay. But doing podcasts because Yeah. Here’s what happens before and after the show is you develop this relationship. Why I always ask at the end, how can I help you?

[00:08:57] What can I do for you? And people, sometimes it’s like, it could be a lazy question, but also it’s but what can I do for you? And you’ve already said it. Here’s Renee. One thing I really love from you at the end of the show is can you just go write me a review? Awesome. Yes. I’m gonna go listen to more episodes.

[00:09:14] I’m gonna write that review. That’s not hard for me to do. And you’ve asked it so politely and like for you, that’s gonna help grow your podcast. And like when you build those relationships and it’s like tenfold, I’ve made connections on my show where I’ve had guests come in. I’ve had one guest Christina, another guest, oh gosh Virginia.

[00:09:33] They’re in the same industry. The work that they do compliments each other. And I said, ladies, I don’t know how this is gonna work out, but for some reason, God is telling me you need to be connected. And I know both of you. Guess what happened. Now they’re collaborating cuz the one woman runs a subscription-based party planning company.

[00:09:52] Super cool called Party Tricks. And the other woman runs a company called Make Bake, where you create edible stickers for all of your baked goods. It’s like it was a perfect collaboration. So for me, I made that introduction. Guess what’s gonna happen? For them. Great. They’re gonna remember me and if there’s anything I ever need, Hey Virginia, I had this idea for sure she’d make the intro for sure.

[00:10:14] She’d answer that email because that’s what business is about, is we’re supporting each other. But and that is PR, so PR seeps into all these quote silos of business where it’s another example is applying the method of public relations to getting your favorite wholesaler.

[00:10:30] I’ve had a client who got a full page, actually a two page spread in Canadian living. Props to us Canadians from coast to coast, and on top of that, she applied the method to pitching wholesalers. I’m not in a product-based business. I don’t understand how it works, but apparently that was a big deal.

[00:10:47] Kris Ward: Okay. I think you’re shining a light in something that I have not thought about before and I, it took me a long time because I do realize in, when back in the early years of my business, you put your head down, grinded out. That’s the mentality. And what I realized when I started doing podcasts again, is I was rotating relationships instead of maintaining them because you get all connected to someone, you follow them on the feed, and then all of a sudden the next person bumps them out of your feed and you’re losing contact.

[00:11:13] So I did what you do as well, and I have actually a little spreadsheet called my networking sheet. So after we do our interview, you’ll go on there. I’ll make some notes about that. And then when somebody’s asking me, Hey, do you know a PR person to be on my show? I’m like, oh my gosh, you gotta talk to Renee.

[00:11:26] And you’re right, people, when I and I do a little video intro to the two people, and then everyone’s Kris you’re the best. And it’s oh my gosh. So I am cementing myself and really connecting and staying connected to these people by just even just introductions. And I never saw that as PR, but you’re right, that’s public relations.

[00:11:44] Renee Warren: Okay, let me put my finger on this because this is huge. What you just said in terms of building relationships with journalists is the way. Is when you wanna build a relationship with a journalist, it’s not you just cold pitch them when you need them. It’s actually supporting them where they’re at. So that could be liking their stuff, sharing their stuff, commenting on blog posts.

[00:12:06] If they have a query for something that is completely irrelevant to what you do, but you know somebody, you make that introduction.

[00:12:12] Kris Ward: Where do I find these journalists though? I always find that overwhelming.

[00:12:15] Renee Warren: Oh my gosh. Tell me about it. And the space is changing for one thing, right? Is a lot of these really big publications like Meredith Dash, Buzz Buzzfeed, Insider, they’ve laid off hundreds, if not at this point, thousands of writers.

[00:12:31] So staff writers are being laid off and now these incredible people are going as freelance. And they’re just out there in the universe and they’re like particles flying around. You’re like, how do you find these people? And so the industry has evolved. Now, that being said there are some softwares out there that are pretty expensive, like Muck Rack and Crowley.

[00:12:51] There’s ways to find these things. The first thing to do though, is to look at maybe two or three publications that your customer is reading, and you find out who the writers are. It’s as simple as that. It’s oh, look it, Kris Ward wrote a an up or a blog post about the best saddles for ponies.

[00:13:11] Kris Ward: Yeah.

[00:13:11] Renee Warren: Maybe she’d be interested in hearing about the saddles that I’m making. And then you find her contact information and you build that way.

[00:13:17] Kris Ward: Okay. Let me back up for a second because I’m just gonna give you the truth. So the pushback is gonna be, and I’m not being negative Nelly, cuz I’m pretty positive. In this day and age where we’ve got so many things online, it can be even overwhelming to find magazines cuz you get like, all of a sudden you’re an hour in the internet and now you’re all, I don’t know, you’re looking at earrings, right?

[00:13:34] You’re like, I don’t know how I end up here. I’m buying something on Amazon. And I would say with my clients, because a lot of them look good on paper and they’re running around working too many hours for where they are at this point in their journey. I don’t think that they’re actually reading a lot of magazines.

[00:13:50] I think they’re, they can get shiny objects in here and be like, oh, this nude software maybe can automate it and do it faster. Cuz they’re smart people. They’re just thinking once they get past this next thing, da dah, duh, things would be different. Which it’s not. So if I am though, looking at still, like you said, being notable like on the Today Show or if I’m looking at bigger, whatever entrepreneur magazines or different like that, can I still be finding those journalists supporting them, making that connection? Cause I don’t know where those connections will take me.

[00:14:19] Renee Warren: Yeah.

[00:14:19] Kris Ward: And then also maybe my exact client isn’t reading that, but it’s gonna get me to the next thing that they’re seeing or promoting or just still social proof.

[00:14:29] Renee Warren: Yeah, so I actually have a lot of great free resources on my website.

[00:14:33] Kris Ward: Okay.

[00:14:33] Renee Warren: That can answer this question too.

[00:14:35] Kris Ward: Gotcha.

[00:14:36] Renee Warren: But really, because you said it’s overwhelming, it’s still overwhelming to me as well, because there’s so many writers out there. There are so many publications. But start small. If your goal is I’m gonna find 10 journalists, or 10 writers, freelance writers, or whatever this week that talk about, so let’s just say like this too, is.

[00:14:56] A journalist’s beat, and what that is, is a journalist’s beat is the content they typically write about. And I always say this example, if you’re a breast pump manufacturer, you are not gonna be pitching the dude that talks about refurbishing trucks on Autotrader. He does not want to write about your breast pump, his beat writing about trucks, right?

[00:15:18] Journalist beat is the theme, the type of content they typically write about. So you might get a lifestyle blogger, you might get a foodie, you might get a fashion person.

[00:15:27] Kris Ward: Okay.

[00:15:27] Renee Warren: So you, the beat is what they write about. So if you’re reading these publications and you’re like, you find this person who’s talked or wrote a similar article about your industry, chances are that’s their beat.

[00:15:40] Kris Ward: Okay. Because all of us, they’re going to do what they’re good at and they’re gonna stay in their lane.

[00:15:44] Renee Warren: And that’s the thing, and is they have to be known for one thing. They can’t just go and write about breast pumps and trucks and travel in Malaysia and then your favorite shoe. It’s just, it’s too overwhelming for them.

[00:15:55] Kris Ward: You know what? You I, these are the things where I say, you know what? I knew that, but I forgot I knew that. That makes sense for the rest of us in any career that we have, we know that we have to be within a certain niche. Like what? Whatever you are, a doctor, a hairstylist, you’re like, I don’t.

[00:16:08] You don’t wanna go to the hairstylist that does beards, babies, and then your wedding day. That’s not what you want.

[00:16:14] Renee Warren: And then your dog.

[00:16:14] Kris Ward: But you just, yeah. But then you don’t think of that when it comes to journalists because it seems like it’s this big football field of them running around like the old movies over there and how do we even get to that field?

[00:16:24] Renee Warren: And like even the same with podcasts is podcasts are they’re specific. You might get some that are parenting mum focused, but really their content is all about the birthing process. Like pre doula is very specific content. So if your kids are 15 years old and you’re out of this stage and your product is irrelevant to that podcast content, then you don’t pitch them.

[00:16:50] Kris Ward: Okay. This is very simple, but profound. And I, when I say simple, I don’t mean to minimize what you’re giving us. I think the best advice in the world in your life is always simple, right? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. My gosh. All right. Continue with your wise wisdom.

[00:17:04] Renee Warren: So in terms of finding the publications, like I said, go back to the ideal customer. So where are they online? What are they reading? Even knowing what Facebook groups they’re in, jump in, see what conversations they’re having. Look at the questions that they’re asking because A – you might actually have the answer to the question for them, or your product or service might solve that.

[00:17:24] But then you’ll see the links of people, Hey, you should read this blog article or listen to this podcast. Then it’s oh, there’s these people that exist. And let me tell you, we live in such a little siloed world with our industry. We don’t realize how expansive it is. There’s what, like 8 billion people on the planet.

[00:17:41] And you think about, it’s like you, if what you’re offering gets like a tiny Donny, tiny piece of that, you’ve made it.

[00:17:47] Kris Ward: Right.

[00:17:48] Renee Warren: And so realizing the opportunity there for all of us to do and execute on when it comes to finding journalists, the best way to do it is you Google industry publications for like puppy or dog dogs and cat industry publications.

[00:18:04] Kris Ward: Okay.

[00:18:05] Renee Warren: The top dog magazines in North America. The top cat blogs in North America and there’s gonna be so much that shows up and you’re gonna be like, wow, okay. My clients are probably reading these. And and then you can go down that rabbit hole. And there’s always about, for most publications these days, for a larger publication, there’s probably anywhere from 50 to a hundred freelance writers that write for those publications.

[00:18:32] So they’re not staff writers anymore for the most part. And all you gotta do is you see the byline. It’s like you see this article and it’s written by Kris Ward. Awesome. Click on her is it linked to an Instagram or Twitter, or does it a website? If you can’t find that information, plop it into a platform called Rocket Reach. You get a couple free searches, I guess a month. And guess what shows up is their email address.

[00:18:54] Kris Ward: Right? Okay.

[00:18:56] Renee Warren: So now you have the person, you have the contact information. You’re like, okay, Renee, what do I do? What do I do once I find out who I need to reach and the process of creating the pitch. How to do the pitch, when to follow up is it’s pretty a hefty and we probably don’t have enough time for that.

[00:19:15] Kris Ward: Okay.

[00:19:15] Renee Warren: But there is there is a rhythm, there is a system you have to follow that allows you to be more successful. I’ll give you a quick one right now.

[00:19:25] Kris Ward: Okay.

[00:19:25] Renee Warren: Podcasting. There is a really cool Google extension called mailtrack.io, so if you use Gmail, I think it’s Google Chrome extension mailtrack.io, you can get a free version, which is limited or paid for version, which is five or six bucks a month.

[00:19:45] It allows you to track when an email’s been opened, how many times it’s been opened, or if it hasn’t been opened at all.

[00:19:53] Kris Ward: Okay.

[00:19:54] Renee Warren: So install that. That’s one thing. Put that on the sh.. On the shelf for a minute. When you’re pitching a podcast, really the way it goes is you have your beautiful pitch with your incredible subject line, which takes, believe me, weeks to figure out.

[00:20:07] And you pitch the person. If they don’t reply, you follow up two weeks later. With a follow up email, it doesn’t say, Hey, just following up for my last email, actually… provide more information.

[00:20:17] Kris Ward: Yeah.

[00:20:17] Renee Warren: And then if you don’t hear anything back after two weeks, a quick nudge four weeks later is good. And then after that it’s probably they’re not interested.

[00:20:25] But if you have mail track installed and oh geez, Kris opened up my email yesterday. Oh, she opened it twice. It means that, she’s really thinking about this. So she’s probably interested and if I leave this too long, she’s gonna forget. So if you see that an email’s been opened multiple times, follow up with them within 48 to 72 hours.

[00:20:47] Kris Ward: Okay.

[00:20:49] Renee Warren: And let me tell you that follow up email boom. Especially if they’ve opened the email, they’d be like, yes, I actually want on a show, I want him on my show. Send me the details.

[00:20:59] Kris Ward: I really like this cuz as we’re about systems and processes and our super toolkits and all this other stuff and putting things in play and what I think is really neat.

[00:21:07] We’ve had other PR people on the show before and each one of them were excellent in their own right, but there are times where you’re talking to a PR person, they’re like, it’s all about building relationships, and I get that, but what is the strategy for that?

[00:21:20] Renee Warren: Yeah.

[00:21:20] Kris Ward: How do you build the relationship, but what, where, what’s the where, when, and how? And just, and it’s such a vague directive that is not helpful. It’s like saying, be likable, wonderful. You know the best.

[00:21:32] Renee Warren: The best is oh, grow your email list. That’s a great strategy.

[00:21:35] Kris Ward: Yes.

[00:21:35] Renee Warren: How do I do that?

[00:21:37] Kris Ward: Yes.

[00:21:37] Renee Warren: What do I write? How often do I send the emails? Do I use a template? How many words in the email? Is it three times a week? Is it once?

[00:21:43] Kris Ward: Yeah.

[00:21:44] Renee Warren: And then how many lead magnets do I have? Yes, they leave out too much information.

[00:21:49] Kris Ward: Okay, so this is helpful. And I also really like that industry publications for, we all know Google’s there, the answers are only as good as the question.

[00:21:56] So you’re right. I would get lost in King, are you looking for outsourcing? Are you looking for burnout? All these things. But here’s the industry publications for …. That’s now we’re starting at a bigger sphere and we can narrow it down. So that’s helpful too.

[00:22:10] Renee Warren: Let me level up for you.

[00:22:11] Kris Ward: Okay.

[00:22:12] Renee Warren: Unlock another level. Do you talk much about AI and chatGPT on this show?

[00:22:18] Kris Ward: We do. Everybody does now.

[00:22:20] Renee Warren: Use that chatGPT to put in a search query that’s make me a list of the top 20 current blogs about.

[00:22:33] Kris Ward: Yeah.

[00:22:34] Renee Warren: Horses.

[00:22:35] Kris Ward: Yeah. Yeah.

[00:22:36] Renee Warren: And then guess what happens? Create a list and it’s just cut and paste into your media list and then start searching for writers that talk about your topic.

[00:22:45] Kris Ward: You’re still right, you, I keep, I’ve got an amazing team and I keep forgetting all the things you can do with chat and somebody on my team who’s spearheading it. One of the things she asked chat was give me the, she asked chatGPT to give her the best commands for chatGPT.

[00:22:59] Renee Warren: Yeah. Yeah.

[00:22:59] Kris Ward: And they provided it really good ones. And I was like, okay. That’s an obvious question I wouldn’t have thought of.

[00:23:05] Renee Warren: Pretty awesome.

[00:23:06] Kris Ward: Oh my gosh. Yeah. Yeah. Okay.

[00:23:07] Renee Warren: It does help with PR too especially with, oh my gosh, we could talk forever, but for me, I use it for creating our episode title names.

[00:23:16] Kris Ward: Yeah, for sure. Oh my gosh, okay. Oh, time is flying with you. This could be like a six part Netflix series. Serious. Renee. Renee. Maybe we have to have I don’t know, our monthly session with Renee. Seriously, because I have become a quick fan and I do not throw compliments out. I like to be very positive, but I never say things they don’t mean. So somebody shows me an unattractive child. I say, look at his motor skills, picking up that ball.

[00:23:40] Renee Warren: Okay, good. Good to know if you meet my children.

[00:23:44] Kris Ward: Yeah. So I never say things I don’t mean. Okay. We just have a few minutes left. Oh my gosh. You just dropped so many value bombs. What is one more thing that you just don’t wanna part without us

[00:23:53] knowing?

[00:23:54] Renee Warren: Oh, this one is that PR is a marathon, not a sprint.

[00:23:58] Kris Ward: That’s a good thing

[00:23:59] Renee Warren: when you figure out the system, you start pitching and you’re like, I didn’t, no one’s replying. And you’re just like I’m done throwing it out. Here is what I’m gonna ask of you. If anyone is going to jump on this PR wagon, and maybe you see some stuff that I have online that’s free content, or if you even wanna work with me, just know you have to promise yourself a hundred days.

[00:24:20] Give yourself a hundred days of trying this out. Create the pitch, tweak the pitch, find the context, do the pitch, do the follow up for a hundred days consistently. I’m not saying pitch on the weekends. And then if you don’t see results, there’s probably a couple issues, but you’ll get something you’ll start to understand the cadence and the fluidity and how this works with PR.

[00:24:42] And it’s just it’s like anything. It’s like working out and dieting or losing weight or getting more muscle. You have to give yourself that time and that patience. It’s not gonna happen overnight.

[00:24:50] Kris Ward: Yeah.

[00:24:50] Renee Warren: It’s not like ads. And we talked about this before recording. You don’t just build your ads and turn it on and all of a sudden you can see that you’re getting emails for five bucks per email. That doesn’t work with PR.

[00:24:59] Kris Ward: Yeah. No, I think too not having done the PR aspect of it, but being on podcasts, a lot of podcasts, and I guess this would translate as well to working, working on your PR is that I find by just meeting people or talking to them or being on shows, that it does help with my messaging by the virtue of either who replies, who doesn’t reply, or the questions they ask, or the things that they lean into oh, that seems to be of interest to them.

[00:25:24] And so I always tell people, even if you never got one client out of all your podcast guests, you do come out so much better on the end because you’re just finessing your messaging and you’re learning so much ra rather than you just being in your office what you think works in your head.

[00:25:38] So it really does help. And I think from what you’re saying too, if you stuck to that a hundred days, you’d really get better and tighter at the pitches and working the system.

[00:25:47] Renee Warren: Yeah, if you work the system as I explain for a hundred days, you’ll start to get momentum to the point that it becomes addicting cuz you’re like, oh, this works.

[00:25:57] And we have a system in our team who this person does the pitching and she reports to so and and now we just have this flow and it’s all a part of our marketing process and it’s beautiful.

[00:26:07] Kris Ward: I do like it. And I’ll tell you another secret, that networking sheet that I have, which helps me just keep people in mind and top of mind.

[00:26:14] And we even put their little picture there cuz sometimes you remember somebody’s face and not their name and all kinds of stuff. And then there’s people where I really feel like, oh, we gelled right at the beginning. And so we added a column BFF like, could I call this person anytime and pick up the conversation like we did the first day?

[00:26:28] I can’t imagine a half hour ago I didn’t know you. So to me it was like, oh. Now Renee is gonna be in the BFF column and that sounds ridiculous, but it really also sets the tone of, if I don’t get to connect with that person in a while, I know what, what the connection we had. And I do really find, I can see now I’m super excited where I have that in play by the systems and the super toolkits that we have in play that really we have a good framework for PR that we just weren’t using.

[00:26:55] Renee Warren: I call those people my cheer squad.

[00:26:58] Kris Ward: Yeah. Yeah.

[00:26:59] Renee Warren: Because these are people that I know will cheerlead from me I know will share a post, Hey, I’m watching my planner dunno what I’m doing. Would you just mind sharing this wherever you feel comfortable, because my cheer squad will be like, absolutely I’m gonna do this.

[00:27:12] Yeah. And it’s so important to have those people and have a lot of those people. As many as you can have. Yeah. But here’s the thing about having those people is you have to do the same, you have to reciprocate. Yeah. Just as much. Yeah. Maybe it’s not now. Maybe it’s not right away, but eventually, and so it’s that reciprocity that helps you just expand and grow.

[00:27:32] So it’s like rolling a snowball, right? Starts small. It gets bigger. The more you roll it, the more you give, the more you serve, the better it gets for you, the more it comes back to you.

[00:27:42] Kris Ward: Renee, I’m a fan. I am so a fan. I’m so excited. Okay.

[00:27:46] Renee Warren: I love it.

[00:27:47] Kris Ward: You’re eloquent, you’re informative. I think that PR can sometimes be evasive and vague and it’s just something we should do.

[00:27:54] Be healthy. That’s great, but what does that look like? Yeah, exactly. So I really think that there is a lot of subtext and great structure in here. And everyone share this with a business buddy, please. Just one person. They will thank you. Oh my gosh, Renee, where can people find more of your brilliance?

[00:28:10] Renee Warren: Oh my gosh. First of all, thank you for having me. You’re a great hostess.

[00:28:14] Kris Ward: Flattery will you everywhere, Renee.

[00:28:17] Renee Warren: Right? I know. I’m learning that when you’re in the PR industry, so they can find me at wewildwomen.com or renee_warren on Instagram.

[00:28:28] Kris Ward: Okay. We will be checking you out. Oh my gosh. Everyone else until the next episode. Ugh. Just this is all kinds of fun. Renee, thank you so much and we’ll see you all in the next episode.