On this week's episode of On Cam Ready.
We represent a variety of political pundits and
commentators. And so, yeah, like Twitter is
where it's at, you know, and we've seen with a lot of our
clients who have a big following, you know, and and
engage and then get a lot of retweets, you know, and there's
their stuff kind of starts to go viral that helps us to get
earned media. Earned media is the coverage
provided to your brand or business through organic means.
Our guest on this episode is Annie Scranton, founder and
president of Pace Public Relations, a global PR firm.
She's author of the new book Let Me Pull It Up for you.
For those looking on YouTube, The guide to earned media, how
to use PR strategies to enhance your brand.
In this conversation you will learn the importance of crafting
your origin story, building on that storytelling with media
training and perfecting the elevator pitch, creating thought
leadership to attract the press organically pitching the media
and securing speaking engagements, all of what we
discussed you can learn more about and Annie's new book, so
let's get to it. Here's part of our conversation
here with us now is Annie Scranton.
Annie, you know, I'm really glad that you could join us.
I have read through your book and I think it's great.
There's a lot of things that you point out that I guess I just
never really gave as much thought being a television
producer. So I really appreciated the
value that you poured into this book.
And I'm sure other P, you know, PR professionals are also
thinking the same. Before we get into the book, I
just wanted you to share a little bit about your journey.
Like, I know we talked off camera about how you put, you
know, all your energy into this book.
But for those that might be thinking about writing a book,
you know, what did it take? It took a lot.
I mean, I'm not going to sugarcoat it.
Writing a book is really hard and challenging, especially if
you're in a similar situation to me where a young child running a
business of 20 employees and just kind of dealing with life,
it's hard to find the time. To actually sit down and focus
and dedicate to writing because, you know, this book I think was
like 70,000 words. I mean, that's a lot of words to
to write. So yeah, when for me, this book
really is a representation of all of the.
So the work and the career that I've built over the past 20
something years and a lot of the tips and tactics in here are
things that I do on a daily basis.
So the challenging part was not actually.
Writing the challenging part was really finding the time to
actually sit down and focus and be thoughtful.
So that would be my. My words of advice is make sure
you can find time to focus on writing.
If you are endeavoring to publish a book, you know.
It's the same thing with podcasting, video podcasting.
Having a side business, finding the time is hard.
Like just for this we had to reschedule.
You know, we're moms. We have her husband, by the way,
also owns his own business. You know, there's a lot that
goes into putting yourself out there and being on Cam ready is
what it takes. And her book definitely helps
you start strategizing what you need to really take advantage of
every opportunity that potentially comes your way.
And So what I wanted to bring up was the fact that I worked at
Fox News Channel. You worked at Fox News Channel,
and I couldn't remember if we were there at the same time.
When did you leave? I left in 2005, okay, so I was
2011. So, you know, she also comes to
this conversation having been in television.
So I love that. And I really wanted us to start
off with some of the the points that and tips that you would
advise people who right now they're professionals and
they're putting themselves on on social media and they're really
trying to figure out how best to connect with their audience,
their potential consumers and the press.
Does it all come down to their origin story?
I think that's a good place to start, kind of like a necessary
place to start because consumers are smarter than they've ever
been. Consumers, your followers, your
customers, your clients, whatever you want to call it.
We're, we're getting smarter and we can kind of see through BSI
think a bit more than we used to be able to.
And so I think that those consumers really want to feel a
connection. To somebody that they're
following or that they're thinking about following and et
cetera, et cetera and leaning into your origin story, just
sort of how you got to where you are today?
Is important. You know, you may be watching
this and thinking, well, I I don't.
Who cares about my origin story? Well, that's not true.
You know, all of us have an origin story that led us to
them, the place that we're at right now.
So for your own self, when it comes to thinking about your own
personal branding and your career, thinking about the
origin story and how you got to where you are, the steps you
took, what makes you who you are, what you're good at, what
you're not good at. All of those aspects that I talk
about in the book are actually really important when you're
thinking about your career and the next steps you're going to
take in your career. In the context of PR, when
you're representing a client, you want to really intimately
understand the origin story. How was the company founded?
What where did the founder start at?
At what led her him to this point in their career?
Because when you're pitching the media.
There are a lot of journalists and media outlets that are
really interested in like sort of how somebody became
successful, you know, what led them over to overcome trials and
tribulations. You know, I'm getting to where
they are in their career. And so understanding that just
gives publicist another aspect for pitching, you know, telling
that really important, found it founder story or origin story.
And if for anyone listening, they should also really be
thinking about their elevator pitch.
True as well, Correct? Yeah.
Yeah, I mean, you only get one first impression when you meet
somebody and it really does matter.
And I think it matters even more today.
For a couple of reasons. One, we're all just so busy and
we have a hard time focusing and you know, so, so getting getting
that sort of first impression right off the bat is more
meaningful. I think it could be more helpful
in one's career or achieving your goals than ever before.
The second reason is that for, you know, our our younger
colleagues and friends and family.
You know, you add COVID, you add the phone, you add, you know,
the the fact that people are on social media and not really
communicating in the same way that they ever have been before.
It's important to be able to represent yourself with
confidence and with eloquence, because that's really going to
be hugely helpful when you're. You're interviewing for a job or
you're you're reaching out to someone in your world because
you want to pivot in your career.
You know, I teach at NYU and my students every semester have to
stand up in front of the the classroom and give their
elevator pitch about who they are and they literally dread it.
Like they can't stand it. They don't want to stand up.
They don't want to talk, They don't want to talk about
themselves. And, you know, these are just
things we have to get comfortable with no matter what
industry you're in. Yeah, I find that interesting.
You know, with social media, I would think that the younger
generations would be more inclined to share than the older
generations. I think they're more inclined to
share like in the with with the shield of sort of the computer
or the phone there but standing up and talking even like
yesterday I had to teach my class over zoom.
We're normally in person and. It it was, it was difficult.
It was like pulling teeth but you know they just don't want to
talk, you know. And and and Mike, my husband who
you know shared this like super interesting fact that when
you're communicating over Zoom or how we are right now at the
computer, the the the connections actually deplete 30%
of our energy. That we would normally have in
person. So when I'm talking to my my
students about interviewing and a lot of them are doing zoom
interviews, you got to really get that energy up there and and
that's all part of like sort of the the performance aspect if
you will of you know of of representing yourself but having
your elevator pitch is going to serve you well no matter what
stage of career you're in or what industry you're in.
Would you say the elevator pitch is what really, truly helps
someone secure earned media by having that easy thing that they
constantly can say or that hook that they can put in an e-mail
or that really just sells who they are is what helps them?
I think it really helps when you are in person or you're calling
up a journalist or producer, absolutely.
Because when you're talking to somebody, you're not.
Talking the same way you write out an e-mail, right?
And so it's like it's about connecting and it's about also
being able to not Only Connect, but within the 1st 10 seconds.
Why should I care? Like, you know, I'm here
listening to you, why should I care?
Tell me why I should care. And getting down to the essence
of that can actually be really challenging when you have maybe
not the sexiest client or a complicated client in you know a
more like sort of. Boring industry, you want to be
able to communicate very quickly and clearly what is the selling
point, like what is the return on investment?
For me, listening to this conversation right now, I think
that for most publicist, we're doing a lot of our pitching over
e-mail as well. And so it the same kind of
theory holds true. Like you need to get right to
it, you know, right right up front in your e-mail pitch.
But there are other elements when you're pitching A producer
or journalist over e-mail that you know you need to include as
well. And as she's talking about the
relevance, like for those listening or watching, you know,
the relevance of this conversation is if you're a
professional and you want to be seen and you want to earn media,
this is the conversation to be listening to.
So the conversation that I want to have, really, I want it to be
all about providing people with tons of tips because your book
is filled with them. And you know, any tips we give,
they can still go to your book and grab a lot more.
I was so amazed with how much knowledge you poured into it.
So maybe what we could do is just kind of tick through a few
of the points that I think people could benefit from.
Like we already talked about the importance of the origin story,
the elevator pitch. So what about thought
leadership? You know, I've talked to
businesses and brands and I've said, you know, you don't really
want your thought leadership to always be about what your
business is doing. You know, you also want to be
weighing in on maybe the news and how your brand or business
feels about it so that they are a part of the conversation.
What are your thoughts and your take on guiding people with
thought leadership? Yeah, I think you're exactly
right. Like thought leadership,
actually. Probably shouldn't even be
specifically about your business or about a launch that your
company is having of a new product or something like that.
Thought leadership is where you or your founder or CEO who
you're working with start to think of yourself as a a subject
matter expert for that thought leader within the greater
industry. So I work in PR, so I could
weigh in on, you know how I think.
Taylor Swiss PR, PR machine is being handled with Travis Kelsey
and and all of that you know I could write a piece opining on
well was it the right thing she did to go to the game or not and
that's just like 11 industry but whatever industry you're in it's
it's really important that the. Thought leader follows industry
news. So what's happening within the
industry? So if I work in banking, Okay.
Well, talk to me, you know today about why stocks are down and
how that feeds into the greater economy.
You know, you can apply it to whatever industry you're in, but
by doing so you will elevate yourself and sort of be seen by
the people that matter in your world, all the various
stakeholders. As somebody who pays attention
to industry news, industry trends and has something smart
and useful to say on it, that will hopefully.
Help the reader for the viewer or the listener at home.
And what? When it's really useful for
publicist is when there's maybe like a slower period where there
isn't that company news. There isn't something really
exciting to be like pitching at this particular moment.
You could always lean into thought leadership and have your
client write an opinion piece, write a contributed article,
post on LinkedIn. You know, find.
Podcasts that are going to lean into this and what we do with
thought leadership too is not only thinking about the specific
industry that you're in but if you're a woman and you've say
you've raised money, well OK, that's a whole sub genre you
know of that you can speak to with authority that.
They're going to be consumers who are interested in hearing
that you know, Or if there were moments in your career that were
challenging or difficult or you overcame something, that's
that's something you can also, you know, lean into and put out
there in the world that I think a lot of consumers find helpful
as there may be embarking on a similar journey.
And this thought leadership can take place anywhere.
She's saying, you know, on your Instagram account, your TikTok,
your Twitter, most journalists are looking at Twitter, you
know, for ideas. So as ATV producer, I was there
all the time trying to see who's weighing in on certain topics.
So you also want want to be aware of where people are
looking and be present with that thought leadership too.
Absolutely. It really depends like your
particular space that you're in, like we represent.
A variety of political pundits and commentators.
And so, yeah, like Twitter is where it's at, you know, and
we've seen with a lot of our clients who have a big
following, you know, and and engage and then get a lot of
retweets, you know, and there's their stuff kind of starts to go
viral. That helps us to get earned
media, you know, with the producers, because everybody's
just trying to get more viewers, more eyeballs, you know, more
people to TuneIn and Annie. Are we calling it Twitter or XI?
Don't I mean. I guess I don't even know
anymore. But I'll I'm in a college
Twitter, we keep talking about earned media, and I mentioned it
briefly off the top. But because we keep saying
earned media, and there may be some people listening right now
that don't know what it means, do you mind just explaining a
little bit more about what earned media is?
Absolutely. So there's earned media, there's
owned media and there's paid media, so.
Owned media is what you own yourself your your social media,
your website, your blog, your own podcast, anything that you
own and operate. That's owned media.
And that's always a great place for thought leadership, right?
A great starting place for thought leadership tactics.
Paid media is when you're dealing with a media outlet and
you're actually paying for an article to appear, for a social
media post to appear, for, you know, to get on some kind of TV
show. Earned media is when you earn it
yourself. The only reason that you or your
company or your thoughts are appearing in the publication is
because the journalist and her or his editor or executive
producer. Feels like it's a good fit for
what their coverage area is. So earned media requires you to
pitch and have a relationship with the journalist or the
producer that you're going after.
It requires you understanding what they are covering, what
news is falls into their wheelhouse, and then it's
incumbent upon you or your PR team to figure out how to best
weave you into that coverage area.
So you're sounding really smart and informed.
When you're going out to the journalist but earned media, the
real benefit of earned media, besides getting in an outlet
that has millions of viewers or, you know, a lot of a lot of
reads at home, is that it elevates your credibility and
your legitimacy within your own industry.
And I'm just going to weigh in on that because I keep saying it
like social media is great and you can have 100,000 followers,
but when you get that moment on NBC or ABC where they're
highlighting you or something you've done that really does add
the legitimacy to whatever you're trying to do.
So if you're like a style expert on on TikTok, you start getting
showcased on traditional TV. There's still this value to
that. As much as people say they're
not watching linear, to have a big network mention you does
raise you the stock in who you are and it makes you more
compelling as a guest to others. I mean, and that's really the
points that we're hearing now from Annie. 100% And you have to
remember too, if you go on the Today show like they have their
own social media, they're going to be reposting it, They're
going to be sharing it and that link, that clip lives forever,
you know? So then you can take your SCO
team, your social media team, and share it in the ways that
are going to be most beneficial to your particular audience.
I love that you mentioned SEO because I've been using an SEO
team with the YouTube channel and I have seen a huge increase
in listeners and viewers thanks to SEO.
So whoever's listening if you're struggling and you're like,
wait, I've tried this, I've tried that.
I've had a YouTube channel. It doesn't work.
Look at SEO before you stop and decide to give up.
OK, just let's because I have so many topics I want to get
through, let's get to pitching. Now we talked about the elevator
pitch and how you know the e-mail pitch is different than
the in person pitch. But when you are pitching, do
you When anyone's pitching really, do you find that there's
a window of opportunity as to when to pitch?
Yes, for sure. If you're pitching TV, you want
to be mindful of when that show is actually live on the air.
And don't send a pitch then, you know, I would, I would send a
pitch probably like maybe an hour after the show ends.
So that way you're not dealing with the producers craziness of
getting the show ready for the day when it comes to.
Print, digital, you know, radio producers, podcast producers
where there's not a time sensitive show, you know,
they're just filing stories all the time.
We've typically found that pitching in the morning is a
little bit better. You know, I think people are
just kind of more receptive at that time.
But you want to always make sure that you're timely, so to speak.
So you if you have a client who is an expert on a story that is
breaking news today, you don't want to.
Pitch that three days from now you want to you want to go in as
soon as you can. So that way you are being
helpful in a resource to the media that you're pitching and
saying, hey, I've got this great expert I you're if you're
covering this story today, here's somebody who has
something really interesting to stay say on it.
And also, you know, know who you're pitching, right?
I mean. I had someone I was at, I was,
you know, working on a hard news show.
It was breaking news most of the week.
And then I got a pitch for, you know, a hot dog eating contest
and it's like, hi, chances are I'm not going to book that guest
on the show. You know, like, I don't even
reply. I didn't reply.
So, I mean, maybe I should have, but it also just says you really
need to know who you're pitching and and why.
I mean if there's like any take away from anybody watching or
listening. If you're pitching the media, do
your due diligence and research who you are pitching.
Everybody is on Instagram, everybody is on LinkedIn.
You can very quickly type in their name and the outlet they
write for and read their stories.
If you're not informed, then you're going to be pitching
something that makes no sense or is not relevant or you know, and
then and you're not going to have a very good reputation, you
know, for that journalist. So take the time.
It actually really doesn't take that long to look into a
reporter. Real quick, just a reminder.
We're talking to Annie Scranton. Here's her book, The Guide to
Earned Media. You know, in it you talk about
the different types of websites that people can actually use to
figure out what journalists are writing about what, like Haro?
Help a reporter out. I may be saying it wrong, but
but what are some of the tools that you suggest people try to
do? Try to use on their own.
Yeah, So Hero is a good run to help a reporter out.
There are a lot of requests that come in every single day for
journalists looking for story ideas or expert sources, to
quote. So that's one on Twitter, you
can do hashtag journal requests, like journalist journal request
or hashtag PR request. And there's a lot that are on
there as well. As part of an agency we have, we
pay for scission and Muckrack, which is another platform where
we can find out what journalists are doing.
So those would be the the main ones.
But honestly, if you just zero in and say, OK, really want to
get to know these five reporters, start following them
on all the social media platforms that there are.
Set a reminder in your calendar to read their stories and look
and see if they have something new every single day that that
kind of stuff honestly will do will be as beneficial as
anything else. And before I focus on some
social media questions, why don't you tell us a little bit
about what the difference is going to APR firm like yours
versus trying to do it on your own.
I think the biggest difference is 2 things.
Number one, it's automatically going to elevate you like if you
have an agency or a firm pitching you instead of like
pitching yourself like hi TV producer, can you put me on your
show today? It just kind of puts you in a
different sort of category, I believe.
And 2nd is presumably you have a day job and your day job is not
to pitch the media all day and you're not an expert in it.
So that's why we're here, you know, Asians and folks like
myself. And then also we just have the
understanding, as you mentioned, I was ATV news producer, I was a
print journalist. I have worked in newsrooms for
more than 10 years. We know what how it works and
what we're doing. And just having that
institutional knowledge is very helpful when you're dealing with
reporters. You know, I've been focusing on
how people are branding themselves online and there are
many people, let's just focus on Instagram that are talking
about, you know, their their story constantly and their why.
And then you have people providing motivational tips and
tricks in these beautiful put together reels.
And I, you know, I think they're great, but it also sets the bar
really high. On what people need to be doing
on social to attract and I was just wondering if you had any
like thing, any tips that you provide people on how to be
present without so much production.
Yeah, I think it really comes down to always what are your
goals, what are you trying to achieve on social media, you
know or within your company, what works for somebody, It may
not work for you, it may not be relevant whatsoever.
You may not need fancy production and putting together
this whole video, etcetera, etcetera, if it's not actually
connecting, you know, with your potential audience.
So I would say most important is to remember your goals, be
authentic and genuine and true to who you are and your own
voice. It's not going to probably work
if you try to copy what someone else is doing.
And I think also you don't need to jump on every trend or every
new platform or be on every single platform if that's not
who you are, you know. So I think it's really that
exploration part. The stuff you do before you get
online or on social is what really matters.
I had a guest say, you know, you really get to test out what
you're going to do on TV, on social, and that it's really
good to put yourself out on social so that you're ready for
those traditional media opportunities.
Do you think it's good for people to kind of talk to the
camera and just share their opinions?
You know in an Instagram format and maybe do some print comments
on Twitter like to start or how do you?
I guess I'm just looking for maybe a basic tip that might
help someone listening. Yeah, I think first and
foremost, do you want to make sure you know who you are, You
know what your messaging is, and you know what your goals are and
what you're trying to communicate?
And to always make sure you're leading with that, LinkedIn I
think is a great place to start writing just because you can
write 100 words, 200 words, 500 words and you can just get
yourself out there in a way that is on a platform rather that
that's what people are doing. So it's sort of like well
received Twitter, I think like you have to be a little careful,
right, Because it can get hot, You can get engaged in a
dialogue with somebody and maybe that's not what you're all
about. So I would say LinkedIn is
probably a better place to start.
I think if you're thinking about TV, you need to practice.
You need to get yourself ready before you go on camera 100%.
You don't. You can do that behind the
scenes. You know, you don't have to
necessarily put that out on social.
But if you're feeling good, if you're feeling confident, if you
feel like your messaging is on point and you have something
really relevant and meaningful to say, then yes, I do think
putting out video is it is. It is always a good idea.
I love it. Any final thoughts that you want
to share about the book? And what people can gain from it
or earned media really just meant to help those in the PR
industry and those not in the PR industry.
If getting in the media PR is something that your boss said he
wants you to be more involved in or that you want to do more of
on your own accord, this book is meant to be a manual for how to
do that and so it's, you know, it's written I I I hope pretty
clearly and like and easily. So yeah, I think it's a good
starting place if that's something that you're interested
in but happy to also connect with anybody who's listening or
watching and wants to just learn more.
Pick My brain would be happy to talk all those things through.
And you know, what's great about this manual is so many people
maybe wanting to switch jobs. And having something like this
is excellent, especially if you've been in media or you're
in media right now and you're looking for a change or just,
you know, trying to figure out what might be next and you're in
that career transition. So again, the book is the Guide
to Earned Media. Thank you so much.
Annie. I really appreciate you joining
us. Thank you, Jamie.
Thanks so much for watching. This is on Cam ready with Jamie
Maglieta, and today we had Annie Scranton on.
Be sure to check out her book, and if you're interested in
learning how to develop your own podcast, reach out.
I have APDF and I'm also going to be offering courses on how
you can develop your podcast idea into a shell and the
benefits of building a shell on YouTube, how the community can
actually help you grow an audience.
So if you're interested in building, reach out.
We will have a course coming your way.
Thanks for watching.