236: Power of Publicity with Rachel Spencer
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Summary:
What does publicity mean in 2021 and beyond? Why should I pay attention to it? Rachel Spencer has been working in media for over 20 years and currently runs, Publicity for Pet Businesses. She shares her experiences of what journalists are looking for in a story and how to overcome the fears of imposter syndrome so you can start sharing your stories. We cover the difference between marketing and publicity, and how you can raise your profile through engaging in the media and being seen as an expert.
Topics on this episode:
Power of publicity
Making your pitch
Making the most of the coverage
Brainstorming ideas
Doing it yourself
Main take away: If you don't tell people about you, how will they know? Publicity is about raising your profile by sharing the awesome work you do and the knowledge you have.
About our guest:
I’ve been working in the media since 1999, writing stories for local, regional and national newspapers and magazines. Supporting small businesses and entrepreneurs like you to raise their profiles, reach more clients and make more sales. Approaching the media can be scary but with me by your side, holding your hand through the process, you’ll soon feel like a PR pro. Hundreds of pet business owners have had media coverage through my book, Publicity Tips for Pet Businesses, my free online Publicity Challenge and 1-1 and group coaching programmes. There’s no need to spend lots of money on a fancy PR company to get your business in the press. Instead, use my straight talking advice so you understand what journalists want and how to deliver it.
Links:
Learn more about Rachel: publicityforpetbusinesses.co.uk
Facebook Group: facebook.com/groups/publicitytipsforpetbusinesses/
Free Press Release Template: publicityforpetbusinesses.mykajabi.com/Press-Release
Her Book: https://amzn.to/3G5GKKW
Podcast: publicityforpetbusinesses.co.uk/podcast/
Give us a call! (636) 364-8260
Follow us on: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter
Subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, Google, Stitcher, & TuneIn
Email us at: feedback@petsitterconfessional.com
A VERY ROUGH TRANSCRIPT OF THE EPISODE
Provided by otter.ai
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
people, publicity, journalists, pet, dog trainer, business, magazine, talking, pitch, dog, newspaper, publications, social media, story, brilliant, expert, clients, press coverage, share, write
SPEAKERS
Collin, Rachel
Collin 00:17
Hi, I'm Meghan. I'm Collin. And this is Pet Sitter confessional an open and honest discussion about life as a pet sitter brought to you by time to pet and pet perennials. What does publicity mean in 2021? Why is it so important to a business? And how do I, as a pet sitter, as a dog walker, leverage it to raise my profile in the industry, and then the clients that I'm trying to get? Today, we're really excited to have Rachel Spencer, owner of publicity for pet businesses on the show to talk all about how to do that, the ins and outs of it and how to pitch yourself to media outlets. Let's get started.
Rachel 00:57
Oh, thank you so much for having me. Collin. I am really chuffed to be on the show. So yeah, really, really appreciate you, you asking me on. So I'm Rachel and I am based in UK. And I have been a journalist for a long time for like 20 years. And I write stories for national newspapers and magazines over here in the UK. And when I got a dog myself, I ended up going into the niche of writing about pets. And then I found I started a pet blog. This is a really shorthand version of my life. I started a pet blog in 2017. Because I loved had all these dog stories and had all these pet stories and WhatsApp, my own platform, I could share them. And then what happened when I started the pet blog, I found that pet businesses got in touch, and they would be interested in the blog, but then they'd be really interested in getting publicity as in getting press coverage. So although I could help them by having publicity on my little blog, in my corner of the internet, when they learned that I was a journalist, and I've worked with newspapers, they were like, you know, what about that. So I decided I'd write a book or a book in 2018, very quickly. And then I, because of the book, I set up a Facebook group and a community for people who'd read the book, so they could come and get more tips and advice. And then it kind of snowballed into a business. And it's all been and honestly, it's all been a a very happy accident. But it has all been an accident. And I now work with pet business owners who wants to get press coverage. So that's me in a nutshell.
Collin 02:27
Well, after after 20 years in business and 20 years in the journalism industry, thinking about publicity? How is how has publicity changed and the impact that it has? And what does it mean today to get quote, unquote,
Rachel 02:40
publicity? Oh, my gosh, I have this conversation a lot. And when I do if I go and do guest experts and things like that, I talk about it. And I talk about what publicity was when I started in journalism in like 1999, where we only had one computer that had the internet. And it was just like, online was literally the kind of the last thing that that that we did, we'd get the paper out. And then as the junior reporter, the lowest paid person in the office, I was in charge of online, and I would literally put five stories on the Internet. And that'd be it. That was what it was like in 1999. We didn't have social media, we didn't have you know, we just didn't people didn't have websites we did not have online. If you wanted publicity, then it will be newspapers, magazines, radio, TV. Now, it's amazing because I say this, and I know, I know you you feel the same because I listened to your podcast and see the work that you do. But isn't it amazing what we've got now when it comes to getting our businesses out there?
Collin 03:41
Yeah, yeah. It's It's shocking. It's shocking the number of avenues and I think, also the how the bar is a lot lower and accessible for the average business owner that they might not realize.
Rachel 03:53
Oh, my gosh, totally. So yeah, so I think publicity now is, you know, publicity is people. I actually asked this question in my Facebook group, and people came back and said, Some people said, newspapers and magazines, but the majority talked about social media, websites, going into communities. So being a guest expert, or being you know, talking about your, your, your product or service or area of expertise in a community, like a Facebook group or on somebody's podcast. And it's so, so vast, and it's amazing because it's just brilliant as a business owner, because rather than in 1999, when you'd have to take out another in a newspaper, if you wanted to reach people in your community. You can now set up a Facebook group or go on a podcast or you know, have your own Instagram page or or whatever it is that you want to do. You can reach people in your community and you can also have printed media a lot easier now as well. Like the cost of print has gone down a lot. I know when we chatted when you came on my podcast, but just going back in November this year. Yeah, we were talking about printed media and giving out flyers and that kind of thing. And years ago, we couldn't do that we'd have to hire people to do that for us. But now we can go on Canva. And we can make amazing flyers and print them out at home. And, and that's media as well. That's publicity. So so many different things you can go up. And also different things work for different people. And you find what works for you. Like I know we chatted about having a podcast, yeah. And what you've done with your, your podcasts in your community. And it's just amazing what what you have what you have now, what's at your fingertips. It's a really, really great time, I think, to have a business.
Collin 05:33
Yeah, and I think a lot of that, too, requires us to kind of maybe think outside the box of what traditional publicity is mean. I know, when I think of publicity, I think of things like newspaper, radio, TV, I tend to forget that being, you know, having a website presence or having a Facebook group or having these other avenues are also publicity that we can take advantage of.
Rachel 05:57
Absolutely, yeah. Particularly with, particularly with communities as well. So if, let's say for I've just been on a call with a lady who's a dog trainer, and she specializes in working with parents. And she just, she basically, she works with, you know, new parents who might have small children, and the bringing a dog into, or new parents who've got a dog and bringing a baby home, or parents who have small children, and they're going to bring a puppy into the house and they want to get it right. So for her while it might be really grateful to be in you know dogster magazine or on the website, or you know, something really big like that, it'd be really amazing for her would be to go and do a talk in a mums or parenting Facebook group in the community where she is. Because there she's got, you know, 1000s of people who are who are her ideal client, and who can actually go and book her. So it is about, like you say, thinking outside the box and thinking about all these different things that we can do.
Collin 06:51
I think that also too, is that balance are trying to understand, Okay, do I need to start the Facebook group? Or do I need to go and find existing Facebook groups to go share my expertise. And
Rachel 07:01
that's interesting, isn't it, because I've got a Facebook group, you've got Facebook group, we know how having a Facebook group is brilliant, but it's also a big commitment and a lot of work. And it's, I mean, I love my Facebook group. But it's a lot of work. And I think if you were starting out, I think the idea of going into Facebook started with podcasting as well, isn't it, if you starting out and you're thinking I want to be I want to I'm thinking about this podcast is a really good idea to go in other on other people's podcasts, and then think about doing your own because you get a flavor of the work that's involved. Same with Facebook groups, if you want to build your build yourself up, it's a good idea to go in Facebook groups, and then when you're ready, you can think about
Collin 07:43
it, we'll be talking about a lot of different options to gain to gain publicity. And I think, you know, what comes to my mind is trying to understand the difference between maybe publicity and advertising? And how do i What's the relationship between them? But also how are they different from my business?
Rachel 08:03
Okay, so if I look at this from a loader, right, I'm going to what I'm going to do is I'm going to try to keep this, I'm going to keep in my lane, and we're going to talk about press coverage, because that's my main thing, isn't it. So we're going to talk about the difference between press coverage and advertising, because I think that probably be the most useful way for me to look at this. So if, if, if I'm talking about you, let's say you want to be in a newspaper, or you want to be in a magazine, when it comes to getting publicity, when it comes to getting publicity, or PR, as some people might call it, I I still look at it as publicity. You There are a couple of ways into it. You can if you are if what I train people to do is think about what do people who are reading that magazine or newspaper or listen to that radio show? What is going to be of interest to them? Because then you're going to the journalists with a story. And rather than saying, I want you to advertise my business, and you know, say, you know, isn't Rachel stop walking business? Brilliant. You're saying I'm Rachel from Rachel's dog walking. And I wondered if your readers might be interested in you know, how to keep your dog healthy in the winter, when you can't walk them as much. That's publicity. And I'd get an article in the paper. Whereas if I went to them and said, Hi, I'm Rachel from Rachel, stop walking, and I want you to write about my business, they would say, take out an advert. So what I teach people to do is to be creative, to come up with those angles, and to get free publicity, to free articles in newspapers, magazines, TV, radio, rather than have to take our adverts which is Yeah, I mean, really expensive content. And then I guess for like, from, from like, you know, from our social media, if we look at it from social media, you know, we can pay to get an advert in front of loads of people, or we can be really creative with our content and hope that it's going to get lots of engagement, lots of shares and reactions and that kind of thing. And then that will reach more people as well. So I guess it I guess the advice applies the same but in similar for each scenario, isn't it?
Collin 09:59
Yeah, it And I think I think what it's doing is it's going okay, advertising is I'm paying for my presence to be out there. And in the publicity, the press coverage is actually, in lieu of paying dollars for that I'm actually giving advice, giving expertise of myself and sharing my information so that other people can share that.
Rachel 10:19
Yeah. Yeah, definitely. And it can be, you can get publicity around, you know, sharing, you know, sharing winter dog walking advice, or you could that publicity around winning an award for being the best pet sitter in your town. There's loads of different things that you can do to get publicity as long as it's something newsworthy and interesting. And then there's a good chance that if you go to the media, whatever kind of outlet it is, you know, they'll pick up on that, and, and you'll get, you know, you don't have to pay him, which is brilliant, isn't it?
Collin 10:49
Yeah, I think I think that that's kind of foreign to many of us these days to get quote, unquote, free press coverage. But what it is, is putting ourselves out there, taking the story to them, because as a journalist, you're looking for stories about your community and sharing these things. And I think, from our side of not being a journalist, many of us think the journalists just go out there, and they find all the stories, but it sounds like it's a lot more common for people to bring stories to them, and see if they're interested in sharing them.
Rachel 11:16
Oh, my gosh, definitely. Especially now, because there's been so many cuts in journalism, over the last battle over the last 20 years. years ago, when I worked on local paper, we had, you know, seven reporters for photographers, and huge staff, and now have like three reporters and one photographer for, you know, several towns. So if you can go to journalists with a story, that's, that's great. And often, you know, with my clients, I try, you know, they're trying to literally write a press release as a PR or journalists would, you know, sometimes they literally get copied and pasted and put into put onto a page. So, other times, you know, you'll be interviewed, but if you can go to the journalists with something that they're gonna think, actually, yeah, this is this is interesting. Our readers would like to hear about this. And then there's, yeah, it's, it's a really great time because they are looking for people to go to them. Because they, you know, they just don't get out as much really, which is a shame. But that's, that's the state of journalism today.
Collin 12:16
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12:22
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Collin 12:46
ones. If you are looking for new petsitting software, you have time to better try, listeners of our show can save 50% off your first three months by visiting time to pet.com/confessional. If I'm if I'm interested in possibly being either interviewed by a journalist or for more publicity, or sharing my story, start writing my press release for have them copy and paste it in there. What are some of the steps that I need to go through to help me set up to be really successful with that?
Rachel 13:16
Okay, so if you're, if you're thinking, right, I want to get some one, let's say, you know, between now and the beginning of next year, you on your goals, you're like, right, I really want to be in this magazine. And I want to give them a story about this. Or, you know, I want to be in a magazine or newspaper in my local area. And this is the kind of thing I want to talk about. What I would do is I would that, oh, no, this is really old fashioned. But I would go and buy the magazines or the newspapers if you can get your hands on them, and sit down with them and really go through them with a fine tooth comb. With I know, we spoke about this when we chatted a while back, but with the magazines. I know for you guys as pet sitters, often you'll go in the houses won't need to go and see the pets or care for what the dogs or go look after the animals. And you might see these free magazines on the doorstep or on the doormat as you go around. So you can actually get the magazines while you're out and about working. But go and get the publications and have a really good look through them. I've looked at the kind of things they're interested in and think, okay, where could my business fit in here. So let's say if you were looking at a local magazine, and every month, they've got a feature, which is a day in the life of you could do a day in the life of a cat sitter or a pet sitter or a dog walker. And you could put yourself forward for that column. If they have like a parenting section where they talk about you know, things to do with your children, you could pitch about you know how to, you know how to train your how to you know how to get your children involved with training your puppy, you could pitch something around that. So what you do is you go and get your list of publications, have a really good look through them. Come up with some ideas, have a little brainstorm, and then you would find the names of the people who write the articles. Now sometimes you'll find their email addresses in there. If you don't like let's say you read a magazine, and there's somebody called Rachel Spencer who writes in it, and it's the Chicago Bears that or something, just go online, go to Google put in Rachel Spencer Chicago is that email address, and you'll find my email address by by searching for it that way. And then you literally put together a pitch. And I can, what I can do is I can send a couple of links to you, that you can put in this episode if you want, which around what the difference is between a pitch and a press release. So it just explains it in more detail. But basically, what you can do is send a pitch and explain what is your story I DeRose. And it literally is as simple as this is like, Hi, name and reporter, I'm just getting in touch to see if you would be interested in the story about and then what your story is about. I'm Pollard and I'm a pet sitter and wherever your pet sitter. And I think this might be of interest, because you know, my idea about puppy training might be of interest, because, you know, 70% of families in our area have welcomed a new puppy into the home. And my you know, I can give advice on how to help your puppy, not not poo all over the house, how to have a nice look with the puppy, you know what I mean? You see how you put it all together. So rather than you say, Hi, I'm calling I really want you to write about my pets soon and probably walk in business, you're saying, Hi, I've got this really great idea that it's gonna be really helpful for your readers. And they're gonna think, Oh, this is God, who doesn't love a story about puppies? And ideally, they're gonna say, yep, tell us a bit more or Yeah, can we have a chat on the phone? Or can you answer some questions via email, then fingers crossed, you know, off you go, you've got some nice coverage. But I must say that I know you've had press coverage, because we've already chatted about it. But it is, it is not that hard. It really, you might get a few nose, you might get ignored. But if it's something that you really want to do, try to keep going try and chip away at it. In my Facebook group, I, I share stuff quite a lot. And I do challenges. So free publicity challenge every few months. And every, you know, every few weeks, I'll get messages from people who've just taken the advice and they've done it and they've gotten the local paper or they've got into like, really big dog magazine, or we've I've had people on like, radio four, which is a huge radio station in the UK. It's one of the biggest radio stations here. And it's just from literally doing what I've just said. So it does work. But sometimes you will get a lot of you might get a few not like sometimes people have sent off an email. And they're like straight in at one lady who's a cat sitter. And we work together on a press release. And she sent it off. And it was it was online, like within 24 hours. And it was brilliant. But then sometimes I'll work with somebody and they'll be like, Oh, I've tried really hard and I'm not getting anywhere. And I'll be like, Oh, this is so hard. But you just keep going and it'll happen.
Collin 17:44
The hardest part for me I know is the just doing it is kind of building that gumption to write that email and to put myself out there because that can be that's really scary. Like we know it's going to be beneficial to our business. We have a really amazing idea or information to share. But at the but then in the back of my mind, I got that little voice going. Who'd want to talk to you, right? Like, what are you? What are you doing with this? Like, you're just you're just a pet sitter, you're just a business? How do we overcome that hurdle to doing this? Oh, you
Rachel 18:17
know, this is listening to you. And I'm thinking, Okay, I've got to come out with some brilliant answer to this to call it this podcast. But the fact is, right, we all feel like that, don't we? We all feel Yeah, imposter syndrome. And, you know, I'm here talking about my area that which I know, I know, I'm an expert at and I know, I've helped loads of people, I've got all the proof and everything. But I'm like, oh, you know, who am I to say I'm an expert at this. But the fact is, you know, like, I think when it comes, right? Ultimately, when it comes to pet professionals, I think it's a really important thing to consider that if if you don't tell people about what you do, and how you can help them. How are they meant to know how to how you can help them. Also, if you are really struggling with this, think about and I know this might sound a bit dramatic, but think about what the other what the outcome could be if people don't find you. And don't book your services. Let's say I'm being a bit dramatic. But let's say you've got let's say your view, you're an expert, and you help people whose puppies go around us. Children have been bitten by puppies. If you're not telling people that you're not that you're there to help them with their puppy who's getting their child. What do they do? They get rid of the puppy, the child gets bitten more what you know, we have to think about when we're feeling oh my gosh, I can't do this. I can't send the email or I can't put that social media posts out or I can't do this thing to put myself out there. And we all feel it because we think oh god, what if our friends take the mick out of us? Or what if people think oh, she doesn't know what she's talking about and all these horrible, crappy voices that we have in our heads. You know who's going to miss out on I know it sounds cheesy, but we have to think about like, are you know our dream clients or people we've really loved working with and the transformations that we've achieved for them, and what would have happened if, if that hadn't been there. And I think when we're getting in our own way, and stopping ourselves or feeling like, oh, we can't send this email, that's what we have to do, we really do have to do ourselves up and have that gumption. And it is hard. And I'm, you know, I'm talking with loads of experience of this because I couldn't do it for years, I held myself back. And I thought, I can't say this and can't say that, and I can't put myself out there in any other way. Other than saying, I'm a journalist, bring me if you want me to help write a story. That's all I did. And just, you know, it was, I just held myself back. So something we've all experienced, but ultimately, no, the worst that can happen is that you get ignored. Or they say, oh, it's not of interest. And then at least you've had a response and they know who you are. But the best thing that can happen is that you go and get some, you know, whatever it is whatever opportunity as it comes up, and it's really great for your business.
Collin 20:56
Yeah, what you were talking about there is focusing a on the information that you have to share and then be the people that it's going to help a getting beyond ourselves. And recognizing, hey, I have this information. I know it can help people and have that be our motivating factor to hit send. Because I've done it too. I've written out an email and you know, a request or something, and I've hovered my mouse right on the Send button just had cold sweats, drenched as I'm like, I don't know, maybe I'll be embarrassed, you know, what if they, you know, what, if they find out that I'm, I'm just me and because but but but but ultimately, what helps me press in is the No, this will be really good for somebody, this can help somebody else. And I think looking beyond ourselves to help motivate us to sin is is I mean, one of the purest forms of of helping and knowing that what I'm doing with this publicity, yes, it's, it's to ultimately help my business. But also, it's to help other people, which is what I want.
Rachel 21:51
Oh my god, definitely like I, I've got this client called Karen. And she's a pug trainer over in Wales. And she's brilliant. She's really, really good. And she's really good at getting press coverage. And she's done really well with pitching and had a lot of success. But one of the one of the story ideas that she had was that she trained something like 230 properties in lockdown. And she had this idea about being Wales's most popular dog trainer, and she, she did that nothing you've just described, where you hover over the send button or the mouse button, and she was literally like, she had her hand over eyes. And she's like, Oh, my God, I can't send those. But she hit the send button, and she got this brilliant publicity. But again, it is about thinking about the people like who you can help and what information you've got to share and what the outcome is if if they don't get that information. And I know the puppy biting thing was a bit dramatic, but it's true, isn't it? That's, you know, I, I had a really bad experience with my first software, we went to see an aversive dog trainer who had methods that would now seem really, really old fashioned, and I didn't have a dog and never didn't use a dog trainer for all the time I had her. Because I couldn't bear to use these methods. But if I'd have known about the force free dog trainers and what they offer, it would have been a completely different story. So I share that story quite a lot. Because it does help people think actually, no people need to know about, I've got to put my feelings to one side and tell people how can help them and our relationship with our animals is so, so precious, and it's so emotional and stuff. And we just want them to have happy, healthy lives and enjoy life in the time that we have with them. And that's what we've got to think about when we're when we're chatting, we know when we feel these things holding us back.
Collin 23:29
Well, that's a really good point of noting that pet parents these days are really looking for information dispensed by people they connect with. And and the voice and the personality and the the the stories that you tell, you are going to connect with people. And and people are looking for that pet parents are looking for information, and they're looking for trusted resources. And if you can get you know, just think of the difference it would make if you got connected with 10 people with 20 people that you weren't connected previously. What if they difference that would make in their life?
Rachel 24:04
Definitely, I was listening to a podcast yesterday actually about. And it was about social media. And it was about how people worry about if they don't get enough, you know, you got an Instagram post out there. And not many people like it, or 20 people like it. And this Instagram expert was saying, Can you imagine if 20 people came up to you in the street and said, I really like that thing that you wrote, maybe even be completely blown away? Wouldn't you be like, Oh my gosh, all these people. What I've said has had an impact on all that you would, it would absolutely blow your mind, wouldn't it? And yet we can be we can worry because we don't get the reaction that we think we should do is just crazy, isn't it? So it's such an interesting way of looking at things. Yeah, if you do get press coverage, just go and kind of go back to the numbers thing. You know, depending on where you get press coverage, it could be reaching, you know, millions of people it could be, but even if you weren't in a fairly small local paper, you're likely to be reaching 10s of 1000s people People who would pick up that paper by, you know, like my local paper where I used to live, and they sell around 35,000 copies, and then they've got obviously online, which reaches a lot more people. But if you think about 35,000, people seeing you, or reading about your business has massive, isn't it?
Collin 25:19
Yeah, it's impactful. It's really impactful. And it you know, when we, we had a, we were featured in our local paper about being a family dog walking pet sitting company, and they detail this out, it was very, very nice and well done. And the response that we got from clients from that, who we never would have been able to connect with. But when they saw us in the paper with a third party, it's kind of like this third party vouching for us, like, hey, these people are cool. Look at their information, listen to their story. We got we got a lot of people from that, that either a just reached out and said, Hey, I like your story. Sounds like you're doing a great wish you all the best. And then other people were like, hey, I need a dog walker. And I saw you in the paper. It was we were we were shocked by the by the response because like, I don't, I don't know how this is gonna go. And we were just just totally, totally excited by that. Oh, that's
Rachel 26:08
brilliant to hear, though. And also, like the third party, the third party validation thing, that is what it's all about, it's, you know, we can all say how brilliant we are, we can, you know, we can all write on social media about our products or services. But when that third party, that journalist says how brilliant we are, then that's different. It has impacts because they're not paid to do it. Well, they're not paid by us to do it. But you paid to write for the publication, but no one's paying them to do it. They're just writing about you, or using you as an expert, to inform their readers. And that is, as you say, it has impact. And I'd love to love hearing what you said about the people who you couldn't, you wouldn't normally have reached. So like my mom, she's my mom's like, she'll be 70 next year. And I know if she went and got another dog, she would be looking at and she wanted a dog walker, she would, she'd probably ask her friends who are all of similar age. And then, you know, she, she'd look in our local magazines, and she'd have a look and probably have a look in the phone book and shouldn't be on social media because she doesn't use Facebook or the Internet permission. She does use the internet, but not very much. So actually, she picked up a local paper and read a story about a dog walker and doing you know, great things with the dogs should be. That's the one I want for my, my Charlie or whoever. That's how she did. That's how she'd work. So
Collin 27:28
it was a very key moment. And for us, when we were driving through these neighborhoods, we were like, Who Who are you people, we I don't see you on social media. I don't see you following me on Instagram. But as we drove around, on the weekdays, it was every single one of them had a newspaper sitting on their door. I know that's not common in play more and more places these days. But they may have an online subscription, they may have access to other resources, and it's finding different avenues to get your information out there to get in touch with people and share your story and and share your expertise.
Rachel 27:58
Definitely. And I think I love the idea. Like whenever I see people buying newspapers, I think it's exciting because how blurry that is, you know, it's it's not as common as it used to be. And you know, I'm in my 40s. Now, I grew up with newspapers, and I love them. But I know the younger generation, they don't really buy newspapers, but you do have the online offering as well. So every newspaper will publish the print stories online as well. So you do have two bites of the cherry, really, because you have the printed benefit and the online which can sit on the internet forever, which is brilliant.
Collin 28:30
Now I know for us just using us as an example, you know, we have the story that went online. And then we didn't really know what to do with it after that. So let's say we've gone through this process, and we've got our story out there. We've got a little bit of publicity, they ran our piece of advice. What's the best way for me to repurpose that
Rachel 28:50
and share it? Oh, okay. Well, I think it's, I like to keep it pretty simple with this. So first of all, like the the the week or the day that you go into the paper, let's get excited about the fact that you've gotten the paper because your your followers on social media who might not see the paper but will be buzzing to you. Because you've got in the paper like one of my clients, Suzanne, she's just won an award and she shared on her Facebook profile. I've been in the Edinburgh news, I've just won this award. And everyone's like over the moon that oh my gosh, is brilliant people and really buzzing for. So first of all, share it on your own social media platforms. always send a message to the reporter who's written about you and say, Thanks for writing about me. And if you ever need any more, any more expert advice on these are my topics, you know, cats eating, dog grooming, whatever it is that you do, go and, you know, let them know that you're there for them in future. Share it on your social media, like if it's dependent on the platform. You can tag the publication so they see it and their followers might see it. So if let's say you're on Twitter, and you tag quarries and guardian, they might retweet it. Share it, share it on all your social media platforms. Get excited. about it and don't feel like the whole Oh, no, I can't say anything about this, I've got to be all humble. Go and chat about it because you will, you will put a certain amount of work into into getting that and it will create a little, you know, people will get excited for you, people will be happy for you unless they're really miserable. And people will, you know, it just gives you that kind of it does give you that star quality, that kind of X factor because not all pet sitters or dog walkers will get press coverage most, most don't, because they don't think of doing that. And if you do, then that really elevates you above the competition. Other things you can do when you are when you're thinking about you know, kind of maximizing the exposure, exposure exposure that you've have, you can put it in your email signature, as seen in you know, Dogstar or the whatever your local paper is, or local magazine, you can put it on your website. So you could have like the masthead or the logo on a page on your website has like a nice Press page. And you can repurpose it if that topic comes in the news again. So if you were talking about like, let's say we're talking about dogs being anxious around fireworks, you could repurpose that New Year or you could repurpose it the following year. You can keep keep sharing it. There's all kinds of different things you can do with it. Like one lady who's who I know she's made a banner to go across her LinkedIn with as CNN and all these different publications, that if you're like, let's say, if you're, let's say you have a puppy biting expert that I made up before, you might want to have that on your, on your LinkedIn or on one of your social media banners. Because if you've been in loads of really prestigious publications around puppy biting, that's going to look really great. And so all kinds of different ways to to share that. And also like if you pitch into another publication, let's see if you've been in dogster. You've been on Dogstar, you might and you were pitching to like the Huffington Post, you might want to say I've written about this, I've written about x y Zed for Dogstar. And you can see the article here. So you can use it when you're pitching to other people, because people will like journalists will like to see if you know if you're pitching us an authority on something that you've already been featured elsewhere as well. So lots of different things you can do. And yeah, and you know, the other thing is you just yeah, just don't hold back on talking about it. Because you know, if it's radio or TV as well, you can maybe get a sound bite or a little audio file and share that as well.
Collin 32:25
I was wondering if it's okay to ask for some sort of copy, you know, of the article or of the release?
Rachel 32:32
Well, you have, so you have to check with a different publications, what I would do is, if you've depending on what it is, if it's a magazine or a newspaper, some of them are behind paywalls, aren't they in the States, so it can be a little bit tricky. What I would do is I'd ask the journalist, if you can use an extract from it, or what the other thing you could do if it was print is that say if there was a picture that they'd used, you could, you could use the photo on your Instagram. And then you could say, you know, to find out more, find out more about the story, go to the link in my bio, and then go and read the whole story. Have to be a bit careful with screenshots. Because sometimes it can. Sometimes it can be a bit of a copyright issue. So I would go back and check if it's only going in print kept with the journalists that you're okay to use on social media. If it's gone online, and you can copy the link you can link literally, you know, you would say you know, I've just been featured in such and such newspaper, you know, click on the link below to find out more. So, you can share it that way. But yeah, if you if you're in any doubt, ask the journalists will generally want you to, you know, they'll generally be pleased that you're pleased with the story and you want to shout about it. So you'll be okay. But if you're in any doubt, then do check, always
Collin 33:49
ask and I will say that as a follow up, at least here in the States. When we had our article published in a newspaper, we had a third party company contacted us and their whole shtick was, we'll send you a framed copy of your article from the newspaper. And they wanted some obscene amount of money. And we said no, but it was very, very it was it was so weird. So there will, there may be things like that, that come up. I was so weird for us. I was like, Who are you? And what are you talking about? And he's like, Oh, your new your article that came out? We'll send you a framed copy of it. I was like, are you with the newspaper? And he was like, No, I was like, Okay, thanks. Bye.
Rachel 34:27
Yeah, don't pay for anything like that. Yeah. Don't pay for any. Yeah, don't if anyone if you get any strange calls, don't pay for things. And also like, you might get people, you know, you might send off an idea and you might get the advertising department say we won't do sorry, but you can take out an offer. And if you don't want to do that, don't think you know, the what I teach is how to get the publicity for free not how to take an advert. So if you send a story off to somebody and they say no, you've got to take out an advert or just move on to the next publication and try and place it and then
Collin 34:58
backing up just a little bit. When we're talking about sharing how to how to repurpose, you mentioned a couple times of putting it in your, in your email signature or making a new banner of as seen in, I think part of that, is this raising your profile as a business owner. So what what does that mean? And why should we be interested in
Rachel 35:19
that? Okay, so again, it winterizing your profile, it's very, I guess, it's going back to what we were talking about at the beginning. And it's it is, the simple the simple thing is, the more people who know the more people who know about what it is that we do, and who we help, and what we offer what our product or services, the more people can refer us recommenders and become clients or customers. And when you raise your profile in the media, you're reaching so many more people in one go, you can do that. So you raise the profile on a different scale, social media is amazing. You know, I absolutely love social media. But the numbers are completely different when you look at media coverage. So raising your profile works in lots of benefits you in lots of different ways. So more people find out about you and what you do, I'm sorry, I just need to let patch out. Yeah, more people need to more people learn about you. And what you do, you can, you know, position yourself as an expert, you can, you know, educate people around a certain topic, you can raise awareness about a different causes all kinds of different things that all kinds of different benefits from raising your profile. But ultimately, it's about you know, more people knowing about what you do. But the other thing that I was going to say about raising your profile, and I just lost my notes that the other thing I was going to say about raising your profile is, the great thing is that it can cause you that star quality, that little bit of an X factor, and it helps position you above the competition, because you know, you're the dog walker, you know, you're the dog trainer, or dog walker, who's got a regular column in on the local radio show, or you've got a, you know, you've been featured in an amount in American Kennel Club magazine. So it's really elevating you above, you know, above the competition. The other thing I've found from working with people is having that, having that increased profile, particularly if it's in a really big magazine, or, you know, on a really big radio station, it really helps with their feeling of self worth. And if when we were talking before about thinking, Oh, I don't know if I'm an expert, or can I say this? And I might Is it really okay for me to say this or do this, if you've been on a big radio show, or you've been featured in a really lovely magazine, and you've been talking about that, but your topic, but not really, that helps you overcome those feelings of self doubt improves your feeling of self worth. And ultimately, you know, what the lady was mentioned, I mentioned earlier, Suzanne, the dog train from Edinburgh, she was asking her about, about publicity and private equity in relation to privacy and a few weeks ago, and she said, she said about the raising your, you know, your feeling of self worth. But she also said, you know, because of that I've been able to raise my prices. She's very surprised as a few, I think it was three times in a year. So yeah, lots of different things can come with it. Because the fact is, if you are the kind of superstar dog trainer, or cat groomer, or whatever your profession is in your area, then that does give that feeling of exclusivity around what it is that you do.
Collin 38:24
Yeah, that was the word I was thinking of, while you were talking about was that word exclusivity. Because you were seeing in these publications, you're seeing these either online magazines or in print, you're kind of seeing everywhere and you do cardio, one thing I will add is you become familiar to people, there's a very familiar, there's a very real familiarity that people have with you that they get connected with you that starts growing in this trust. And this, this understanding of who you are, that's one thing that we have. And I think recognizing that as a business that's going into people's homes, when they're not there. Trust is a major issue. And all of us recognize that. And we are always thinking of ways to elevate the trust and build more trust one way that's through the services that we offer. And the second is to be putting ourselves out there. And being in raising our profile to be an expert in some topic that we are interested or passionate about.
Rachel 39:15
Definitely, and also, I would say to, to people listening for, like I was thinking about this earlier, particularly with people who've just started out, even if you've only just started and you've only just come out of dog training college or cat grooming college or you know the area that you you specialize in, don't worry, because what you have to offer will always be so much you will have so much to offer to the regular dog or cat owner or man or man or woman on the street. So don't doubt yourself because you will always know a lot more than the journalists and their readers. So even if you're starting right at the beginning, you don't have that feeling of oh, I can't do you know who am I to say this because you will have a lot to offer.
Collin 39:55
We have the thoughts of Well, everybody knows this. Well, a no because you're kind of in a little bubble of pet experts in whatever field you're in. But be there's always new pet parents out there. There's this quote that I forget where I heard it. But you know, everyday someone's born that's never seen the Flintstones. I don't know why the Flintstones or whatever. But, but basically just to say, um, every day, there's a new person who's needing to find information that you've probably said 100 times. So say it 101 More times or in put yourself out there and this way to get to these new people who are trying to find that information.
Rachel 40:31
Yeah, so interesting, isn't it? Because I used to worry about repetition. And I used to worry about it in my classes, or if I was to, you know, writing blogs from a website or social media be like, Oh, my gosh, can't say this girl have already said that. Uh, now I was doing a presentation for my group earlier on today. And I was thinking, Oh, I'm using this example. But for to use it somewhere else and couldn't think of where to use it. Like, no, I do need to repeat this example. Because it's important, isn't it?
Collin 40:55
Yeah, it is. It is a because we learn best through repetition. You can give the same presentation and give the same information to the person to the same person multiple times, and they'll know more and learn more each time and then you'll be new audience around you each time you're talking and presenting it. So that information does need to get out there. And it's, we forget that we forget because I said that yesterday, I can't say today. Well, you don't. There's new people today, so say it again. Pet perennials makes it easy as 123 to send a heartfelt condolence gift directly to someone with a broken heart. They have this awesome direct client gifts service that takes the effort off of us and ensures a thoughtful, personalized, simply gift reaches our client for employee. All gift packages include a handwritten card, colorful gift wrap and shipping fees across the US and Canada. They also offer an array of milestone gifts and greeting cards that can be sent to celebrate birthdays, extend, get well wishes and welcome new add rescued pets. Additionally, there are gift choices in case you need to send a sympathy gift in memory or a special human client or celebrate a pregnancy engagement or wedding of a pet lover. If you're interested register for a free business account to unlock the all inclusive discounted package prices. Since the service is used on an as needed basis, there are no monthly or annual obligations or minimum purchases, learn more and register by going to pet perennials.com/pages/gps and enter the referral code PSC at registration. You'll get a unique coupon code and save $2 off any packages that you send in your first 90 days. Well in on on the topics you know that that is a big we've talked about overcoming the stumbling block to pressing send. I know another big stumbling block is Where do I come up with that topic list of things that I'll discuss it how do I brainstorm ideas? You know, if someone's listening to this and they're like, I don't even know what I would talk about what are some methods that they can use to discover something that they that that they are passionate about and would love to talk about?
Rachel 42:55
So by recording this podcast in November, sorry in October 2021, aren't we so so for me and talking to my clients at the moment and the people in my community about bonfires over here in the UK we've got the Guy Fawkes Night on the fifth of November. And that's always a topic hot topic for dog trainers walkers, Cat Cat behaviorists, cat sitters, because the dog the all the animals are frightened around fireworks night, same for New Year. And then we've also got Christmas or in the States as you know, the holidays, the festive season, that can be a topic these are all ideas that can be turned into news into news ideas, new stories and angles for you as a professional then in the spring we've got you know, we've got Easter hazards, we've got the change in the weather, we have you know, we've got them we've got you know, a holiday like holiday season so people going on vacation in May, June. And in the summer, we've got the change in the weather, it's really hard to have to protect animals in the heat how to make sure that dogs dogs and cats don't get too hot. And throughout the year, there are things that happen that that can generate story ideas. So that's just things in the calendar then we've got the brilliant Awareness Day so let you know about them Don't you like you know, national pet obesity Day, National Black Dog Day or dress up the pet day. All these brilliant days they can be angles. So if you've got like a let's say if you've got a pet boutique, national dress at the pet days in January Cartman the exact date but it is in January. So you could you could invite someone from your local magazine or newspaper to come and have a pet personal shopping experience. You can come up with angles like that. But the other thing you can do is look at what's in the news. And look at what people are talking about. You know, if you specialize in dog bites again so for keep using this example, it's quite an easy one to do. Because I specialize in dog bites and something's come out in the news about a report into an increase in dog bites. You can pitch you can put yourself forward to share advice on that and share opinion and expertise. And the other thing to think about as well is that what are your followers and your clients and your people in your world talking about what are they concerned about? Because that could be, that could be an angle for an idea. And then other things to think about as well, as you know, have you had a social media post that's really resonated, because that can actually turn into an idea as well, or a blog post, or an email that you sent out, that's really kind of struck a chord with people. So they're all they're all kind of prompts that could turn into, could turn into ideas to fish for the media, I think if something goes really, something really takes off on social media, it gets a lot of engagement that shows that people are interested in that topic. So if people are interested on social media, chances are it's going to be of interest to a journalist and their readers as well. That's normally a good kind of indicator. What's What's the story?
Collin 45:48
Well, as you're talking, I'm going oh, like these are all ideas that we tend to think about when we're trying to come up with a social media post or a blog post or write in an email. And I think what, what what you're saying here is like, a lot of those same ideas, you can either instead of writing a blog post, pitch it as an article in a newspaper, or write the blog post, and then pitch it as it you know, something in in a magazine or something online, it's, we have a lot of things to do in our business. And we're very time constrained in the tasks that we have to do. And people may be listening to this going, Oh, this is one more thing that I have to do in my business. Now I'm going to be talking to journalists. Okay, cool. But going, Okay, if you're already, you know, if you're already having these ideas, and you're doing these things, and they go, well shoot that over to a local newspaper or at a local online or an online publication, or some someone else, share it that way and say, Hey, I've got this, would you be interested in carrying it as well, so that you're not having to duplicate a triplicate, the kind of work that you're doing already?
Rachel 46:49
Definitely. And I would say as well, because I have this conversation with people, when you were saying about, oh, my gosh, we've got so much work to do, anyway, not not more stuff to do, I think is with with pitching to the media is like a pitch will only take you 10 minutes, while it might take a bit longer, but it won't take you long to write your send me email, because you've done it, haven't you. So you can understand the send the email, they might bring you back, and you'll have a chat with them on the phone for 20 minutes, half an hour. Or you might email some more questions or email some responses. And then that's it, it goes in and it's done. So it's not like you have to go out and going to schedule four hours a week to write my major stuff. It's like, it's just really quick and easy. And then sometimes, like Karen, the dog trainer from Wales, she's just got this thing now where the journalists will email and say, Oh, can you write about such and such a thing this month, and she's already written about it. So she'll just write it in their style, send it off, and then it's still? Yeah,
Collin 47:45
as I say, as soon as you get that connection with them, and you start building that relationship with that, that outlet, you know, they may start reaching out to you. And so it's interesting to hear that that does happen, where they're like, oh, I need a story. Here's the expert that I know and you know, and you can continue to have it so you're not having to send a new pitch, every time that sometimes they're going to continue to reach back out to you.
Rachel 48:05
Oh my gosh, definitely. That is like particularly for like local service providers. That is the dream really, to be the go to person in their area to talk about dog grooming or dog training or, or cat behavior. Whatever it is, that's that that's a really good goal to have if you want to be doing more and raise your profile more parents are really good example of that. I've got a few of the like Susanna for another breath. She's at the same and there's another dog trainer Claire who works for barking dogs. She's had the same thing. And you know, Dominic Hodgson, as well now has been on the podcasts. Yeah. Yeah, he's done the site. He's over his we live fairly near. He's up in Sunderland. And he regularly goes into the Sunderland backhoe. And he's been on BBC Radio, because he's done that he's done the, you know, building the relationships. And then whenever they've got a puppy story, or they want, you know, they want to talk about a particular topic. They go to him because he's really friendly and personable he gives them whatever they want. That's great.
Collin 49:03
Yeah, I know, for me, anytime I see a story, and they kind of about a topic, I generally know, look, the expert they're gonna go to, and some and I've always wondered like, Why do they always talk to this person? How did that person get in this position to always be interviewed about this topic? And what I'm learning about from talking with you, Rachel, is that person more than likely sent a pitch 10 years ago, and put themselves out there and fostered that relationship? why did why are they in that position? Because they put themselves in that position and worked hard to get there. And now they are the go to on this topic. How do we become experts how we become the go to and something we have to tell people about it? Which gets back exactly back to what you were saying is if you don't tell people about you, how will they know about you? And how will they know that you're an expert unless you put yourself out there
Rachel 49:53
as the expert? Oh my gosh, definitely. And also, what I would say like you know, if you say because I've got a lady In my Facebook group, and she's had that she's had like a local paper where they've always used the same doctor, you know, and she chipped away and chipped away. And then eventually she's, she's had some publicity, which has been really great. But don't be just don't feel that because your local radio station always has such and such a person on there or your local magazine, always go to this person just that doesn't mean to say that, they won't use you. Because the other thing is, and I still work as a journalist. So you know, I know how things work. They don't want to use the same expert all the time, they don't want to have the same name. It's great. If you've got somebody who, you know, you can pick up the phone to, and they're going to give you whatever they want straightaway. But actually, you do want to have different names in there. And it's all about you know, what happens if your expert retires, you need somebody to take over. So don't be disheartened or put off. If you feel that, oh, they're never going to listen to me. Because I've always they always use such and such a person. Because they will be just tougher, you might just have to, you know, chip away for a little while.
Collin 50:59
Yeah, and not being afraid, again, to put yourself out there to trust that the information that you have is good. And that it may take a little while, as you said chip away till eventually they're like, Okay, I actually, you know, this is a topic I can have you speak on, or maybe we'll have both experts on this time, or however it's gonna pay it out. You know, we don't always know the needs of time. But unless we make ourselves available, we'll never be able to take advantage of those opportunities when they come along.
Rachel 51:22
Yeah, and you the other thing is, like you were saying you have to keep telling people, and it's so weird to say like, we've both got podcasts. So I see your podcast posts on social media, and you'll see mine and it's like, telling people about our podcast, or what they can listen to this week, or we're saying this is the offer that we've got. And I put something on LinkedIn today. And I thought I've not told people what to do for ages. So I was like, right, this is what how you can work with me. And I was cringing and thinking, Oh, no, people are gonna think I'm so awful, that if I don't tell people, how do they know, it's really hard isn't that
Collin 51:54
it is it is really hard to get to work down to that and go, Okay, this is the information I have to share. And this is how we can work together. It's that it's tying those both in and and letting people know about it. Because again, you know, there are new people people forget, people don't always need you at that moment, they don't always recognize the need or purpose, or they, a lot of times what I've recognized is people haven't encountered the problem yet that you can solve. And then all of a sudden, like for us, you know, we were put putting an article out there about pet care, when you don't have a friend or family to like that's one need that pet care can feel. Because when you don't have a friend or family member that can take care of them. If people always have a friend or family member to take care of their pet, they're never going to look for you and know that you can solve that problem for them until they have a friend or family member that can't to do that. And then all of a sudden, they're going well, I don't know what to do. But I saw that article about this, or I saw this posting about this, I can go in I can talk to them. So you have to give it some time to to get traction.
Rachel 52:57
Definitely. And also people get people like you were saying, if people's circumstances change, and they go to Google and put in what you do, then they're gonna find you that way as well, aren't they?
Collin 53:07
I wanted to focus a little bit more about our time and focusing our time because again, this, this can sound a little a lot, and there are a lot of different avenues. Talking about print, we've talked about online, we're talking about social media, we've talked about radio and TV, how do I know where to focus my time? And how do I make sure I'm using it? Well, when I'm writing these pitches, and I'm putting myself out there?
Rachel 53:29
Okay, so I would think about, okay, so it's quite hard actually to think about where to focus your time, all I would say is the whole pitching process is not like, it isn't. It isn't the it's not like the social not like when you're on social media and that kind of thing where it takes up loads and loads of time. What I would, what I think you would, what I would suggest that you do when it comes to time is to come up with a list of places that you really want to reach. And I would make that make sure that that list is relevant by maybe asking the people or maybe looking to a little bit of research. I know again, this still sounds time consuming. But once you've done it once, I think it's you know, you've done you've done the bulk of the work, haven't you? Yeah. And you know, maybe, I don't know how, how, if you have any way of tracking and how people find out about you, but if if you know that being in, let's say if you know that being in your local on your local radio station led to 20 inquiries, and then being in your local magazine led to several inquiries, and then being in your local newspaper led to 15 inquiries, then, you know, and then but then being on a local podcast led to 40 inquiries. You'd know that focusing, you'd know where to focus your time or what like to how to prioritize and the other thing you can do as well is ask, you know, do a bit of research and ask your audience, if you can, but again, we've got the people who aren't on social media. You can try and engage Yeah, like where their eyes and ears are. And if you want to get more of people who were like then then focus focus there. And all I would do then is I would put together it. So you've got your kind of, you've got your feel for the places where you want to appear. And then you put together a list of the people who can contact them on those based on those publications in new ad keep this, I have to say I'm not very techy, but there's all kinds of different ways you can store those that information, keep all the information in one place. And then every time you get an idea, you write your pitch takes you 20 minutes, because you've gotten to the point you've got into the swing of writing them, and it's nice and easy. And then work your way down the list. So you'd go Okay, send it off to the person at the radio station, if they don't come back, send it off to the person or magazine, they don't come back, send it off to the person. And it isn't going to be a massive time suck. And it is about getting, getting all the you know, having a nice system in place where you can have your idea and then just click into your system. and off you go.
Collin 55:57
Yeah, I'm envisioning lots of Excel spreadsheets, it's getting me really excited to track all this is yeah, you do need as a business eight, you do need to make sure that you are tracking where you get where you get your clients. I know that tends to be something that falls off our radar of how did you find out about me, but it may ask well, why would I do that? Well, this is one of those reasons why it's so powerful to know where they heard about you for the first time, because then you can be investing your efforts there. So like you said, if you have a magazine, one person found you from that? Well, it's not that I'm going to discount them entirely. But I'm going to try and probably send more pitches over here to this local group or this local media online media group that I got 40 from like, it just helps you figure out where your time goes. And one thing that I love Rachel's it the whole time we've talked about this, you have not once talked about hiring like a PR company, or having somebody else do this for you, you make it really manageable for people to do. So why don't we need a PR company to do all of this stuff for us these
Rachel 56:59
days. I think as a small business owner, I think, small business owners years ago, we just wouldn't have thought that this was doable, that you could go and connect with journalists and speak to them and give them story ideas, you would have always thought you'd need to hire somebody, a consultant or a PR company to do it for you. But I think with social media, and online, people are more approachable. And also the online, the fact that we've got online now and there's such a demand for content. They you know, the volume of content that news outlets and online publications need is massive. So as you were saying earlier, the barrier to entry is a lot lower. And I think if you've got, if you have got like a huge pet sitting business, like over here, there's a company called Bruce's daycare. And they're massive. They're all across London, they're huge. And I know they've got a PR company because I get the press releases. And I see the stuff that they do. And it's brilliant because they're huge, and they've got the budget. And if you've got the budget to hire someone to do all that for you, then absolutely go for it. But if you're you know, a one man or woman business, or you've got a small team, and you haven't got a lot of money to spend on a PR company, you know, the message is that you can go and do it yourself, if you've got the budget to do it great. And I would also say if you are kind of thinking about getting a PR company, I definitely go and learn how to do it yourself first, because that will mean that you'll get so much more from working with a PR company. So I'm not anti PR at all. What my thing is, is I the way I position myself, I think is I think I try his eye, I aim to work with small businesses who don't have the budget to hire a PR company. But who wants to get press coverage, or who were thinking of hiring a PR company and wants to understand how to do it themselves. So that's where I fit in. There are people who come to me and they will want to do all kinds of things. And I will say to them, Go and work with this PR lady because they haven't got the time to do it. And I've got a few really trusted PR. So do I recommend people to because if you don't have the time to do it, there are people out there who can help you. But if you can do learn to do this yourself, it's going to put you in a really good position for when you do you know get to the point where you can you can outsource it. So much you can do yourself. Definitely yeah, I
Collin 59:22
think that's really empowering to know that the bar, the barrier to entry is really low, that it doesn't take a lot of time. And spending a little bit of effort is really it's going to get a lot of payback on us. It's going to it's going to come back to us very quickly. Now as you said, like if we've got a lot more aspirations or things that may be outside of our scope or our time budget, then there are other avenues. But for most of us it sounds like this is inevitably doable on our own time.
Rachel 59:50
Definitely. Yeah, yeah, you can't. It doesn't have to be a massive time stealer.
Collin 59:55
Yeah. That's right, Rachel. I have really enjoyed talking with you today about publicity about managing our time about coming up with ideas about overcoming the barriers of self doubt, and wondering whether we're good enough to do this. I know that you have a lot, you've got a Facebook group, you've got a podcast, got a book, you have all sorts of stuff. How can people get in touch with you and start following along with your work?
Rachel 1:00:22
Oh, thanks so much for having me. Colin's been really good chatting to you. And I love that you've experienced getting press coverage as well. I think that's really, really helpful. But yeah, it's been really brilliant been here, if people want to find out more, my website is publicity for pet businesses.co.uk. So on there, you can find all my podcasts, episodes, and loads of other kind of blogs and resources. I've got some nice freebies like press release templates, podcast, pitching guides, all kinds of things like that. I've also got my Facebook group, which is public publicity for pet businesses community. If you search for it on Facebook, you'll find it. And if you want to follow me on social media at Rachel Spencer, UK on all platforms, and it's just Al and Rachel. But yeah, I'm quite easy to find. So if you just Google me, you'll find me
Collin 1:01:11
getting Rachel, this has been a real pleasure. Thank you so much. Well, thank
Rachel 1:01:14
you so much for having me on the show, Colin,
Collin 1:01:16
if you don't tell somebody about you? How will they know who else will. Publicity is all about us putting stories out that we want people to know whether it's directly related to us as a business or just more informative. That's the part that raises our profile, we begin to be viewed as experts around a particular topic or from a particular industry. And the only way that that happens, is by putting ourselves out there. We have to overcome those fears and anxieties of imposter syndrome and realize that we actually know things, we have something worthy to share, and have people hear it and benefit from that. So whether that's a trick that you've learned or an experience that you've had in your business, or whether those are frequently asked questions that you get, or maybe it's just a story that you want told, reaching out to other people and having that posted online for people to read, listen to watch and benefit from is huge, not just for you as a business owner, but also from helping make pet parents more aware of things that they need to know. We want to thank our sponsors for this week, show time to pet and pet perennials. And we really want to thank you for listening and tuning in every single week. We are so thankful that you view this podcast as a resource where you can come and get information. If there's ever anything that you would want to get feedback on or input or suggestions on. Please send those to feedback at petsitter confessional.com. We'd love to hear from you and what you're up to these days. We hope you have a wonderful rest of your week. We'll be back again soon.
