1700 – Blended Line with Pace Public Relations’ Annie Pace Scranton

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0:59with us right now it's annie scranton annie you are the founder and ceo of pace public relations you're found on the web at pace public relations.com and you're the author of the new book the guide to earned media how to use pr strategies to enhance your brand annie thank you so much for joining us. Thank you for having me. All right. Well, listen, I'm excited to have you on. In my former life, I was a media consultant and PR advisor and so forth. So I love that we can have this conversation. Certainly, you've written a book on it. So it's so great to have you here. Give us a quick overview of the work you do and certainly who you typically work with with Pace and the impact you have?

1:45Sure. So our company, Pace Public Relations, is a media relations agency. So what we do day in and day out is help our clients to get featured prominently and favorably in the media. So we're kind of like the go-between, between a CEO or founder, a product, a brand, a company, and getting a great feature on the Today Show or in the Wall Street Journal or on podcasts or any kind of form of traditional media. We work with all different sorts of clients. We're agnostic when it comes to industry. So we work with tech companies, commercial real estate organizations, but then we also represent political pundits.

2:30We represent lifestyle products and brands. So we have a few different divisions that we work with, but the common denominator is the media. Yeah. And so what do you, So if someone were just to say, I guess if you were to give a state of the union for where we are when it comes to earned media today, thinking about, you know, where we've come from, where we are today, what would you say kind of the current state of the union is for earned media today here in 2023? The state of earned media is that it's changing rapidly and the change is nowhere near over. Um, you know, the media has taken a hit in the past couple of years, but even more so recently in 2023, um, a lot of layoffs, a lot of layoffs, um, a lot of publications closing, verticals closing, um, TV news, not getting the same ratings that they used to.

3:30So it's kind of undergoing a massive change right now. And we're seeing a lot more in terms of like streaming networks popping up, paid opportunities becoming much more mainstream. But earned media will always still be here. It's never going to go away. And the credibility and legitimacy that getting featured in a TV news program or a respected journal or publication is always going to hold weight. And it's always going to be more meaningful, in my opinion, than any ad campaign or marketing campaign. But right now, we're really seeing a rise of those kind of blended lines when it comes to paid and sponsored opportunities.

4:19So right now, I think earned media strategists are really developing a comprehensive plan that incorporates sort of traditional organic earned media pitching alongside marketing and paid opportunities. Yeah. And for someone who maybe hasn't really considered earned media, can you talk a little bit more about the value, particularly if someone says, well, I don't get it. Why would I invest all of that effort to be in front of a, what may actually be a relatively small TV audience or print reading audience, for example? Well, even if it's a small audience, If the audience is the right audience, then it's going to really help you.

5:06But it depends on what your goals are for the company. So a lot of companies come to us when they're about to raise a round or go out and ask for funding. So if we're able to secure them a feature in, say, the Wall Street Journal or an interview on CNBC, when they go and ask for money from future investors, all they have to do is show them that clip or that interview, and those investors are going to automatically understand, oh, okay, this company was vetted by a real journalist, a respected publication. This automatically puts them ahead of the pack in terms of their credibility and the likelihood that this company is going to be a good one for them to invest in.

5:50For smaller clients and brands who are maybe just looking to increase their customer base and drive traffic to the website, what we really implement is in a lot of cases is digital placements where actually we can track back specifically how many new leads are coming into their website from that digital placement because there's a hyperlink in there. So you can track it. It's a way to just expand your audience and expand your footprint that goes beyond just, you know, your own social media or your own marketing efforts. Yeah. Tell me more about that. What do you mean by digital placement? Just if any news site that you read or a lifestyle site that you read, think of insider.com or politico.com, marieclare.com, any of those big websites, if they're featuring your company in there and then they have the hyperlink back to your website or to a specific landing page, you're going to be able to track exactly how many people clicked on that article.

6:54and then clicked on that site and then landed on your website, which is hopefully going to result in conversions, you know, in sales or new leads for you. And what we found also is that those digital placements are very useful when our clients of ours want to long tail them and use them for SEO, search engine optimization. We have clients all the time that tell us that, you know, they get new customers, new patients, new clients that find them from interviews that they maybe even did several years ago, but because they're optimized in such and such a way, this is what, you know, their prospective customers are saying.

7:34Yeah. Very high domain authority. Google and other search engines absolutely favor those high domain authority websites. And so if you're quoted, you've got links back or even mentions in that, that is huge reputation builder, but you're absolutely right. I agree with you. So kind of that long-term ROI is absolutely there. So what are some other ways, especially I think sometimes, especially in the past, I think that you would maybe have a lot of clients or potential clients, my background here for anyone who's not familiar. So my last company, Savings Angel, I became a media personality. And that's all I did to grow that company into a seven-figure company.

8:24Didn't spend a dime on advertising. I just served audiences in the media. And it was a great way to do that. And then we kind of evolved into becoming media consultant, PR. I don't do that work anymore. So that's why I'm so thrilled to have you here today. But it absolutely works. And one thing that we would hear quite often, I'm sure you've heard this too, is this idea, oh, good, I'm going to get my name in lights. And then immediately overnight, I'm going to become a sensation because I'm going to get all this business because of this new visibility. When in fact, there's actually more work that probably should be done after you secure the placement and get your hit, right?

9:06Yeah. I mean, this is not, you know, we're not miracle workers. You don't, you don't just change all of a sudden from having like a hundred followers to a million followers overnight. It is a process, but when you go, say, say you get a big national TV interview, immediately, you're going to have on any national network, a million people at least that are watching you. And that's amazing. But how many people live in this country? A lot more than 1 million people. So there's a big opportunity to take that clip, to take that interview, and then put it out there, so to speak, in a way that is going to attract a larger audience.

9:47So what I mean by that is taking that clip and investing in SEO, taking that clip and chopping it up to build out a content calendar for your social media, taking that clip and putting it front and center on your website, taking that clip. And when you do your e-newsletter, promoting that to your big customer base, say, I'll watch this. We were just on CNN or the Today Show or what have you. It's all of those different tactics that are going to really increase your likelihood of achieving your goals. Like the one interview is amazing, but there's a huge opportunity to take after that. Yeah. Tell me about the work that you do, or maybe like a case study or someone that you've had the opportunity to work with.

10:34I guess just what they were coming in, what were they hoping to create and what were you able to kind of manufacture together? Wow. I mean, yeah, there's a lot of, a lot of cases for that, but you know, one client that we're working with right now is Andrew Yang and the Forward Party. And they're a really, a really forward thinking organization, political organization that's working to evolve the country's collective way of thinking about our political party system and how we likely have the need for more than two parties when we're doing presidential, state, and local elections. They're very involved in rank choice voting efforts as well to really democratize the process and have it feel more fair and equal across the board.

11:30So through our work with him, we're able to book him on myriad TV networks from MSNBC to CNN to Fox News, et cetera. And he's on there talking about day of political news, but then is able to weave in the efforts and the sort of emphasis that Forward Party is having in those conversations. And through those interviews, they're really just raising the awareness of the Forward Party and getting more people to sign up for, you know, on their website and to just kind of be involved in that conversation. Yeah. Your book, The Guide to Earned Media, How to Use PR Strategies to Enhance Your Brand, which it's on Amazon right now.

12:17Who should be reading this book? And is this going to be enough in terms of, I guess, ideas or strategies that somebody can use to get, I guess, get some great visibility, get some traction, help impact change in the world that they're looking to create? Yeah, so this book really is meant for certainly students and PR communications professionals, absolutely. But there's also just kind of a growing need for, I would say like mid-level executives where the company that they work at maybe is realizing or recognizing that they have a need for PR, but they don't have a dedicated PR professional or external agency.

13:06And so it's meant for folks who are maybe mid-career who recognize that if they learn these skill sets, it's going to be an asset for them in their career and for the companies that they work at. So it really is laid out and written as a guide for how to go about securing media placements for yourself, for the founder or CEO of your company, or for the product or brand that you represent. Um, it is, I think, um, a fairly thorough, but the thing about pitching the media and getting earned media placements is that you have to keep doing it. It's not something where you can write one pitch, send out one pitch and get all the press you ever wanted.

13:49And in two days you're done. This is a process. Um, and there's a lot of, you know, skills and tactics that the average person just wouldn't know. And so that's kind of what I try to impart there to them, specifically when it comes to working with journalists and producers and kind of like how they operate. Because I was fortunate enough for the first 10 years of my career to work as a TV news producer and print journalist. So, you know, I'm able to give some of that, you know, internal thought process. Yeah. So any major like if you were to say, listen, you know, in my world, this is what I do every day.

14:27I've done this for a long, long period of time. Listen, I can tell you, you know, here are like the one, two or three biggest things that if, you know, and I want to talk maybe specifically to a founder, if there's lessons that they could possibly learn from you of things that they could probably do to make themselves a little bit more both media friendly and media accessible. Well, media accessible is just that, be accessible. When there is a producer calls or a journalist emails you, if it's the right opportunity, don't delay because chances are they probably have five other emails out to different folks that they could quote or interview.

15:06So you don't want to delay. You want to get on that opportunity right away. In terms of being friendly to the media, we certainly recommend media training and figuring out how you're going to give the best interview on camera if it's a television interview, because there is the performative aspect to it. And in addition to the messaging that you're putting across. So every executive wants to be able to talk about their company, you know, and tell and sort of share their talking points, their selling points. But you have to do so in a way that's not going to be overly promotional. Oh, yeah. Journalists do not like that.

15:47I don't like that because audiences don't like that. Oh, you know, you have to think of the viewer at home or the reader at home. They're, they're reading this article or watching this TV interview so they could gain something from it. So they could have a takeaway. So you need to think, um, that's why we sort of train our CEOs and our founders to think in terms of like trends within the industry. Um, and then to think of themselves as that thought leader, as that subject matter expert in sort of elevating themselves to give expert opinion on the industry as a whole, as opposed to their specific individual product or company.

16:24And then, of course, with LinkedIn and all the other social media platforms, there's an opportunity for CEOs and founders to really engage in writing video thought leadership tactics on their own platforms that is going to just speak to the audience that they've developed. Yeah. Annie, who would make a really great client introduction for you at Pace Public Relations? Well, as I mentioned, we are industry agnostic, but some of the industries that we've done really, really well in is commercial real estate and financial firms. Um, we're, you know, I used to work at CNBC and Fox and we're able to really get a lot of these financial, um, financial analysts on to talk about the markets or their favorite stock picks, et cetera.

17:17However, all the way on the other side of our company, we have a very robust lifestyle division. So we work and do really well with, um, products in addition to thought leaders in the space, like sort of think fitness experts or medical and health experts. But when it comes to product pitching, like if you have a new fitness product or you have a food and beverage that you're pushing, we do a lot in terms of affiliate marketing. And so that's really how it is now when you're pitching products. And so by combining both thought leadership and the affiliate marketing tactics, we're able to be really successful for lifestyle clients as well.

18:00Yeah. PacePublicRelations.com. And of course, Annie, your book is on Amazon right now and other booksellers, The Guide to Earned Media, How to Use PR Strategies to Enhance Your Brand. Anything else that you'd recommend for someone in terms of like next steps or kind of takeaway after this conversation here? Well, you know, I'm very happy to talk to anybody. If you're interested in learning more about PR, the communications field, so you can find me very easily on LinkedIn, Annie Scranton. But I would just say as a takeaway, if you're starting out pitching earned reporters, earned producers, just to remember that you have to meet them where they're at.

18:43So do your research. See what they have been reporting on previously. Watch the show of the producer that you're pitching. You have to take the time to research the people you're pitching properly in order to increase your chances of success. Yeah. I should also point out that you have a podcast. It's called the PR Pace Podcast. And again, to our friend that's listening, listen, you're already in a podcast player. Just search for the PR Pace Podcast. You'll find it. Annie, you're the host of that. So Annie Pace-Scranton, again, thank you so much for joining us. Your website, Pace Public Relations, your book, The Guide to Earned Media, How to Use PR Strategies to Enhance Your Brand.

19:27Annie, thank you so much for joining us. Thank you so much for having me.

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