1831 – The Power of Authenticity and Purpose with Kayley Hamilton

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2:14With us right now, Kaylee Hamilton. Kaylee, you are the founder of Uplevel Agency. Your website is Uplevel Agency. No, I'm not sure trying to say phonetically. So it's basically like up-level agency with a lot of the vowels taken out. It's UPLVLAgency.com. We haven't listened to our friend. Let's listen to our conversation right now. Here's what you want to do in your podcast app. You're going to want to follow along. You're going to love Kaylee, but click in the show notes or click around in your podcast app. Find the link that has a link directly to Kaylee's website so that you can join us there.

2:48Kaylee, thank you so much for joining us. Josh, thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate it. Also, you are based in Denver and in Colorado, which is a state we love to go visit. It's where my daughter lives. But Kaylee, I'm so excited to learn a little bit more about your work with Up Level Agency, who you work with and what you do. Yeah, definitely. So my background is actually not in PR public relations, which is what Up Level Agency is. My background is in entertainment news journalism. So I was a celebrity red carpet reporter for seven plus years. and then COVID happened and red carpet shut down and things changed in my life.

3:28And I kind of, after, you know, all those years interviewing incredible people and connecting with them, and I was really very much in the Hollywood bubble. And then during COVID, when things changed, I realized that there were so many incredible founders, entrepreneurs, thought leaders outside of Hollywood, who honestly, I felt like showed up for me during a personally darker time when I needed their messages and I needed their expertise and just their views on life and their inspiration. And they showed up for me by making themselves visible on things like podcasts and in articles and on TV.

4:02And I was just opened up to this whole other world that was not Hollywood. And that's when I kind of had an epiphany and wanted to switch. And those types of people, those founders and entrepreneurs became my new celebrities. And so with my background in media, I was like, gosh, I want to work with these people. These people need to reach their audiences. They need to, you know, share their message and their stories of inspiration. So I'm going to use my background in media to help them do that and help them reach the people they need to help just like me. So I started my agency. It's been three years now, and we've worked with dozens and dozens of entrepreneurs and founders to help them reach the audiences who need to hear their message through the power of the media.

4:47Yeah. Kaylee, I just want to throw this little factoid about you. You are a two-time Emmy winner. Tell me more about that. Yes. Oh my gosh. Thank you. Yes. I worked at Entertainment Tonight for a handful of years interviewing celebrities and I worked in multiple different departments. But yeah, Entertainment Tonight, when I was working with them, we won Emmys two years in a row and they continue to win Emmys in the Department of Entertainment News shows. And I actually grew up watching Entertainment Tonight. So it was a total like full circle moment and dream come true when I ended up working there.

5:25You and me both, by the way, my mom was, that's her go-to. So I'm sure she has seen your work. So Kaylee, I want to get to this. And that is, I'm so eager to get your perspective on what is working well in PR today and what maybe may have worked in the past, but you're maybe not as big a fan of in PR, but yet may still be practiced. Right. I mean, with my background in journalism, I was just always on the receiving end of endless PR pitches. And I just always saw all of the flaws in that. And a lot of the flaws were just these PR pros really focusing on what they were promoting, whatever the product was, what was the ultimate promotion, as opposed to who the person was, either behind the company or who the celebrity brand partner was.

6:22And I understand both sides working on both sides. It's like the journalists, they need the juicy story. They need the headline. They need the clicks and the audience and their intrigue. Meanwhile, the PR pros, I understand that side as well because they need that promotion. That's why they're hired. That's what their job is, is to get that promotion for that company, for that brand or product service, whatever it is. But I feel like that's what gives us our edge is just having that personal background, being the journalist and reporter and knowing exactly what the media is interested in. So just really honing in on stories and angles that will intrigue the media first and foremost, but also doing it through the lens of making sure that we are promoting exactly what needs to be out there, whatever our founders, our client's mission is when it comes to getting PR.

7:16So there's a delicate it balance between the two, but ultimately what wins, definitely what I've seen with PR and getting those powerful placements is that storytelling. You know, that's really interesting because I think some people, when I asked that question, they may have expected you to talk a little bit more about outreach tactics. And it's interesting from an outsider's perspective, because having worked and folks on this podcast may know that's kind of PR is my background. I don't do that work anymore, but I'm very passionate about it. You answered that question talking about the importance of story.

7:51And so for someone's like, no, no, it's just tactics, right? It's blasting out press releases. And you got to have that insider database of journalist contacts, and that's how you win in PR. But you went for the story. Tell me more about that. I know. Thank you for pointing that out. I know. I feel like the press releases and having the context. Obviously, relationships are always good and helpful and powerful, but that really is second to what the story is, what the powerful angle is. If it's tied to a news story that's making headlines, if you're a multifaceted founder and you have a really interesting backstory to you personally that ties back to your business or mission, just something really interesting and intriguing that's different or maybe you have something in your industry that is happening behind the scenes but isn't being talked about yet in the media and you're like why isn't this being talked about you can be the one to own that story and to own that topic or maybe you have a differing opinion about something that's happening in your industry just anything that makes you unique makes you stand out whether it's who you are what your background is what you've overcome or what your expertise is, what your opinions are, and really making it interesting.

9:15Because at the end of the day, as PR pros, I mean, our job is to definitely curate the most impactful media lists and media contacts to reach out to. That's just PR 101 to not reach out to podcast hosts or journalists who don't cover or write about your clients' topics. And so that's just kind of a given. but also even if you have relationships, it's like, just because, you know, if when I was a journalist at Entertainment Tonight or Us Weekly, just because my friend who was in PR, just because we were friends didn't mean that I could always feature their client. It had to be aligned with the media outlet and it had to be something intriguing and unique and had to have that juicy story.

9:59So that's why it always comes back to the storytelling of it all. Yeah, yeah. Listen, your lips to God's ears. And I truly mean that. And I hope that someone that is looking for more publicity really thinks about like it's about right fit. Like, and, you know, back in the day, it was, you know, we used what's his name's term? Newsjacking, right? Where you're just like, you want to pay attention to what are people already talking about? How can you insert yourself into the conversation, but maintain relevancy to what's important for audiences today? Far too often, I think a lot of us might get ideas, especially those who are business founders that, you know, what we do is newsworthy.

10:36it maybe, but probably not. Right. But somehow you got to make it so, right? You have to make it newsworthy. And there are some tips I use and share with my clients. And a few of those steps, the first is something I like to call the name drop. And so it's something kind of, and it's hard when you're so zoomed into your business, your life, you really have to zoom out and think, okay, first of all, what's that name drop that's attached to me and my story? Maybe it's something that you, you know, tell people, new acquaintances when you're speaking to them and you happen to list off a few impressive things.

11:15And the name drop is the thing that makes people kind of do a double take and lean in. And maybe you even feel a little cringy when you say it. It's kind of like a humble brag, but I always say like, you have to own your humble brag. So think about what your name drop is. Like, for example, mine is interviewing celebrities or maybe it's the having won two Emmy Awards, you know, something that's unique and a name droppy type thing. So think about what yours is. That can be helpful. Your successes and achievements, definitely anything. It can be in your professional expertise. It can be personal.

11:49Those can be really powerful to add to your story. Challenges and anything that you've overcome. And honestly, be as transparent as you feel comfortable being. The more transparent, the more powerful, I think. And then the last thing is just getting really clear on your mission and how it's unique and what that unique kind of selling proposition is. Like what makes you and what you do really stand out from your competitors, from others in your industry. It does have to be really unique and different. and it is hard because, you know, founders will think, oh, I have a new product launched or we just celebrated one year, something that's a little bit more vanilla and it needs to definitely like you have to be able to picture it in a headline.

12:38Yeah. Yeah. Right. Right. Yeah. It's interesting. Like, by the way, press releases, we joke about that, right? It's especially like if you're relying on like a press release distribution system. Yeah. Not very valuable in our experience. I mean, unless you really, really, really have a great, you know, well thought out story that truly is. But yeah, most of the press releases I see, it's celebrating our third year anniversary. Now, sorry, that's not, you know, that's generally not valid enough. Hey, Kaylee, I want to ask you about like, you know, again, examples of like, who, well, let me ask it this way.

13:13Who should be reaching out to you? And what does that engagement typically look like when you're working with a client? Oh, great question. So we work with founders in the more wellness, self-development, business space, tech as well, marketing. It kind of runs the gamut because I really hone in on those multifaceted founders. So ones that maybe are entrepreneurs have a couple of different businesses or the ones that maybe host a podcast or they are credentialed in a couple of different things, or they have a social media following, nothing too giant and crazy, but there's something consistent online on their socials.

13:54That's really helpful. And definitely someone who has a unique and powerful story of kind of what got them to where they are today, that's either inspirational or something that people can connect with on like a deeper human level that they're open to telling on a deep level, say in a podcast interview, just people who are, and also who have a mission to help others. Like I always say, I work with purpose-driven heart-centered founders because it's just so much fun. Like someone who has a really strong mission and wants to uplift people. It's really fun being a part of helping them do that and having that purpose.

14:41So that's kind of, yeah, the type of founders that we work with. And so when somebody goes to your website and your website, again, it's linked in our podcast show notes here, uplevelagency.com. When they go there, what would you recommend they do? So right now, maybe they're just, they're just getting to know you. Maybe they've seen something about you. Now they've spent some time with us here. Where do they go from here? What would you recommend they do next? Yeah, thank you so much. They can definitely check out the website. And if you do feel inclined, I call them visibility campaigns instead of PR campaigns because it's complete visibility on earned media platforms.

15:18So podcasts, articles, TV, and you can go to our contact page and fill out a quick little form and then I'll start reaching out to you from there to see if we are a good fit. Beyond that, you can visit our Instagram at uplevelagency underscore UPLVL, no E's in uplevel. And there you can see some of our recent client wins and get kind of a taste of what type of articles and podcasts and TV segments that we're getting our clients on. Yeah. Kaylee Hamilton, again, founder and CEO, uplevelagency, uplevelagency.com. Kaylee, thank you so much for joining us. Thank you so much, Josh. It was such a pleasure.

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