A week in PR:Can I actually PR myself?

Here's what's new in a week of PR.

Last week I did something I hadn’t done in ages-I decided to PR myself! It was a relatively quiet week as one of the clients who had planned to start in Feb pushed things back to March, so I had a little more time. Despite doing PR for others, I am not great at proactively PR-ing myself (sorry!) mainly because I always seem to put other people forward instead. But, I know I need to be making time to do more of it (it’s wildly hypocritical not to!) so I started by writing a piece for B Daily on 5 things to do this week to get your business in the media for Q1.

I had a really good response when I shared this on social media-even though it’s probably tips I’ve already shared on there before. Don’t be afraid to repurpose when it comes to PR-you can’t write the same article for more than one publication but you can definitely rework things like Instagram captions and blog posts.

I then shared something a little different; this article I’d written for Happiful magazine on looking after your mental health as a parent to a child with additional needs. I’m not always great at talking about the personal side of my life, but the truth is that my son who is autistic is a big driving force in building my business the way I have.

After this, I decided I did want to talk about this more, so I pitched Happiful again to write more about our journey and the school system ~(which was tricky to navigate in September) as well as an article on passive income, which pretty much kept my business going when we had a really tough start to school and were considering homeschooling.

They said yes to both, and the reason why is something I talked about on my Facebook live last week in my Facebook group: I get much better results when I pitch something I have lived experience in and something that is niche. Always ask yourself: why am I the best person to write this?

If you’d like to learn more about this and how to turn your lived experiences into being paid as a writer (so you get paid for PR!) there are some tickets left for TONIGHT’S workshop which will teach you how to get paid to write! Can’t make it live? You’ll get full access to the recording too.

Finally, I chatted with photographer Amanda Hutchinson last week about how to take amazing photographs for your brand. The episode has just gone live on PR in your Pocket, the podcast.

PITCH IT:  One from journalist Kirsty Ketley: “Just putting feelers out for any amazing lifestyle, real life/first person for The Mirror, that you might have, and anything for the Bodies section of Fabulous.”

Ideally no press before, great pics, etc. Email Kirsty at hello@kirstyketley.com 

DO IT: Can you spend five minutes following up on journalist pitches today? As long as you’re polite, I suggest you follow up in 3-7 days (unless it’s urgent). Here are 3 of my favorite simple follow-up scripts.

Hi, just following up as I think this could be a great fit? Do let me know if you need more info…

Hi, just wanted to check if this story could work for you?

Hi, just wanted to check in to see if you’d like to try a sample? Let me know the best address?

Hi just seeing if you’d like more info on this? Happy to chat via email or phone!

PR SUCCESS:

 Well done to Laura Turner from the Momentum Media Club, for her first byline for Happiful

And finally, One thing that made my business easier last week: I had a great chat with business strategist Emma Hine this week. I’m lucky enough to have these each month as part of a mastermind I’m in-we mapped out all the different things I’m going to be doing over the next few months and helped me figure out my Instagram strategy too. Emma is doing a free challenge next week on creating an irresistible offer that sells. I’ve just signed up and you can do so here too!