Ep. 106 - Why Your Business Is Invisible: The Truth About PR Most Entrepreneurs Miss

🎙️ Ever wonder how some entrepreneurs seem to be EVERYWHERE in the media while you're grinding away in silence?

Meet Heather Holmes, the badass founder who scaled Publicity For Good to 45 employees while living in an Airstream (with 3 kids under 3!) and disrupted the PR industry with a $750 solution. She's calling BS on expensive PR retainers and revealing exactly how small businesses can get massive media attention without breaking the bank.

In this no-holds-barred conversation, we dive into:

• The REAL reason most businesses stay invisible (hint: it's not what you think)
• How to turn ONE piece of media coverage into 30 pieces of content
• Why your competitors are stealing your spotlight (and how to take it back)
• The exact steps to get featured in major media outlets

Plus, Heather drops a BOMB 💣 - a FREE MONTH of their PR software for our listeners!

Don't miss this episode if you're ready to stop being the best-kept secret in your industry.

🔗 Connect with Heather: Website: https://publicityforgood.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvlmKR3oC_renlqVKGoV2tA LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heatherdesantis/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heatherdesantis/

#BusinessGrowth #PR #MediaCoverage #Entrepreneurship #NoBS #PublicityForGood #MarketingTips #BusinessSuccess #StartupLife #BusinessStrategy

As always we ask you to comment, DM, whatever it takes to have a conversation to help you take the next step in your journey, reach out on any platform!

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DISCLOSURE: Awards and rankings by third parties are not indicative of future performance or client investment success. Past performance does not guarantee future results. All investment strategies carry profit/loss potential and cannot eliminate investment risks. Information discussed may not reflect current positions/recommendations. While believed accurate, Black Mammoth does not guarantee information accuracy. This broadcast is not a solicitation for securities transactions or personalized investment advice. Tax/estate planning information is general - consult professionals for specific situations. Full disclosures at www.blackmammoth.com.

Chapters

• 0:34 Meet Heather Holmes: Founder of Publicity for Good
• 2:11 The Importance of PR for Businesses
• 8:08 Building a Team and Scaling Up
• 12:24 Getting Started with Media and PR
• 19:48 Disrupting the PR Industry with Signal Raptor
• 26:36 Final Thoughts and Takeaways

Transcript

Stoy Hall: 0:07

Welcome back to another episode of No BS Wealth. Today, we're going to chat through is PR good? Is PR bad? No, but we have the founder and CEO of Publicity for Good, Heather Holmes here. And not only are we going to talk about PR, but like how she ran a business, just traveling around the country in an RV, something that you need to listen to. So without further ado, Heather, why don't you give us your background a little bit, a little about your company, and then let's dive into some of these amazing stories of yours.

Heather Holmes: 0:34

Yeah, so I'm Heather and I'm the founder of Publicity for Good and we work with purpose driven brands and people to get your story out into the media. We believe that, the more voices sharing their story is better than just one. And there's so many people that want to make a difference with their community and their business. So that's really what we focus on. I've been a publicist for almost 13 years. Started publicity for good eight and a half years ago. Our first million dollar a year as a team, as a company was the year of the pandemic. We did live full time in an Airstream. We scaled the business from an Airstream. Now we're a full time team of 45 employees, amazing team members working on the greater good of our clients. And I'm also a mom and it's weird to say you're a mom. I don't know. I feel like. Once you turn 30, you forget how old you are and that I am 35 and I'm like, wait, I'm like, when did I become 30 and I have kids, but I'm a two year old, a one year old and a two month old and we are in scaling mode. Like, we have big dreams, like, we want to be the best PR agency. We create a PR software to make PR more accessible. So, like. Our conversations as a family is like, how do we provide more value to our clients? And like, how do we start a family office and how do we create wealth for lasting generations and like really intentional conversations? Like what are our family values and mission and tenant? So like, to us, we're building something that matters and is really amplifying and helping so many people feel their business, reach more people and tell their story.

Stoy Hall: 2:11

Absolutely. What, what made you get into the publicist side of things?

Heather Holmes: 2:15

Yeah. So I first, when I went to college, I wanted to be an art therapist and I wanted to work with adults and kids that like had a physical or a cognitive disability. And then I went to the fund for American studies at Georgetown, it was a summer intensive and it was all on conscious capitalism and how businesses can really make a difference thinking about wealth and Andrew Carnegie. And like, you really can make a difference as a business owner. If you make a lot of money, you can feed a lot of people. So. My heart was always that way, like in high school I sold the most amount of Girl Scout cookies, but I think it was the path of Georgetown and studying conscious capitalism that I knew I wanted to make a difference. I graduated with a communication major because if I would have done art therapy, there weren't many jobs. I would have had to do a couple other years. So I decided on communications, but I always at the root of what I did got people excited about a mission or a cause or buying a product that had good ingredients. And. I realized that I could literally spend all my time volunteering, which is incredible or giving financially, which I believe in and we're doing. But I realized that I was so good at getting people on the media that I could spend 10 minutes of my time, book someone on one show and reach millions of people. So I realized the fastest way for me to give back and help is to Get more companies in the media, grow their business so they can grow their impact and ensure that more people are out there speaking their truth and sharing their story as well.

Stoy Hall: 3:50

Yeah. And let's, let's dive into that part of it. Right. Brand awareness, marketing, all the fancy terms you want to know, all businesses usually are always behind the eight ball when it comes to. Overview PR, right? From either they, they think it costs too much. They have no idea how it is truthfully or they're so focused on either their social media or local. Talk us through really what you do for companies and what these smaller businesses that are starting off, what they should be thinking about getting to.

Heather Holmes: 4:24

Yeah. So when I think about different brands and startups to brands that have an exit, I would say the first. The reason you're wanting to get in the media is because, people want to know the heart and your brand story. So if you're not getting in the media, your competitor is. So I think now you really have to talk about your story, your why and your mission. So that's really the first thing that I would say for people who are in a small market, the fastest way to grow your business is a step into being a thought leader, meaning that so often small businesses are Running the operations and they forget the why of their business. And I've seen so many business owners start getting in the media and their businesses scale because they're just at a different level, they're reconnected to their why, and now people view you as someone that's credible and someone that's an expert instead of someone just pushing a product. And I would say two people are really tired of just. Us promoting ourselves on social media. So when you can get on a podcast, when you can get on someone's TV show, now you have someone else endorsing you saying, this person is credible, you should listen to him. So there's so much value to it. And as well, it's to me, it's your social currency. I've been in the media 700 plus times, business insider, Fox news, the New York post, like all this incredible media it's been ongoing for seven years. I didn't just. It didn't just happen overnight, but now when people Google my name, it's like my legacy. So it's growing my business. When people Google my name, they're seeing all these stories. And it's just, I would say it's a compound effect, right? Like people who are the most successful do the most amount of interviews and they're practicing now for, where they want to be. Like if Good Morning America called you right now, like, is your message totally dialed in? To be on Good Morning America, and is your story ready for Good Morning America? You have to put in the reps and practice now before you get to Good Morning America.

Stoy Hall: 6:29

I think that's a genuine answer that you have there is this whole thing is a process. It's, it's a journey, right? We're never really going to be at the end of that journey until, oh crap, it's the end of this journey. And so yes, to be on podcasts, being guests, writing articles, being involved is something that every business owner, in my opinion, Should be doing what level, what scale you do it at. Obviously you got to fit that into your own perspective, but if you're not doing it, then yes, your editors are, or ultimately people just can't find you. Right. We're not all going to have that really awesome social media post that goes viral and then millions of people see it and then you get some built up cred there. We're going to have to do the grassroots. You're going to have to take the time. And yeah, it might take seven years. It might take 10 years. But if you're continuously doing it, now you have that hold back

Heather Holmes: 7:22

for sure. And even too, like every podcast interview that you do should give you probably like 30 pieces of content. Oh, so it's not only you reaching new audiences is that you're literally getting content that you can utilize from a marketing perspective. So instead of feeling the pressure of, well, I have to record content to talk about the value of PR, you can literally go on podcasts, be asked the questions, and then utilize that content. To nurture your leads, to educate your leads along the way. And there's so many people that aren't on social media. I've seen so many people get clients from being on TV being on podcasts. Like there's so much more to it than just the media podcasts or interview itself.

Stoy Hall: 8:08

So you decided to start your own business. Now, one, being a female business owner is badass, but two, being a business owner has a lot of bumps and bruises and things that you have to do. I tell all my clients, we've got to create a team, right? And so at Black McGinth at my firm, we are a modern family office. We help hire that, that team around you. When you first got started, what did your team like was it just you, was it a husband? What did that team look like then? And now obviously you said you had 45 staff. Now what does it look like?

Heather Holmes: 8:42

So, gosh, so when I just started the company, we were probably doing a couple of thousand dollars a month. I had a VA and then probably two years later hired on like Fiber and Upwork and And then made a switch to full time team members and employees because we only wanted people dedicated to our clients. We didn't want a lot of people to have all these extra side hustles. And I think side hustles are great. But if someone is working on all these things outside of your company, they're not as focused on the mission. So now we're fully at full time people contractors and employees working for our clients. Now, we have departments, we have lead gen, we have sales and marketing, we have someone running sales. We have some people that have more experience than me, like, now it's like we're a department, I'm not doing everything, things are happening and I'm not in every component of it. Austin, my husband helped me scale the business to a million. He came back to the business because I was struggling without him. And now we're like scaling beyond word, scaling to 2 million, scaling to 5 million, all those things, because I started the business kind of, if you think about like Michael Gerber and Emit. And I'm a technician. I'm the best technician. I'm the best publicist. I want to be a world class publicist. I am not good at hiring. I am not good at casting the vision for the business. I'm not good at finances. And when I stepped into realizing that and realized, like, someone else is better than me, Austin, and I can focus on getting better at what I'm at, then things got way better.

Stoy Hall: 10:25

How long did it take you to get to that realization?

Heather Holmes: 10:28

Eight and a half years.

Stoy Hall: 10:30

And, and when people talk about success and clients are always overwhelmed and see it all, all the time in the media or social media and people are just upset it is. You figured out who you were and what you wanted as the owner, which is fine. You want to know your role. You figured out your role. It took you eight years, the sooner we can understand who we are as people, let alone the business owner, and then find where we want to be in that business. The sooner you're able to scale at a degree, which you want. Because you're not wearing all the hats. You're not trying to push all the buttons and do things you're not really good at. And I, I applaud you for doing so. And now you're seeing the fruits of that labor. Although probably wasn't easy. It probably wasn't easy to understand that and figure that out over that time. But it's, it's great to see.

Heather Holmes: 11:17

Yeah. But I also say to our clients, they're even friends. Like, I mean, on our end, we have the big dreams. Like we want to acquire their company is like, we want to build a hundred million dollar company, like all of those things. That path is not easy and it's going to be, I mean, we're only eight and a half years in. And of course, if you had Facebook ads and like all those things, like you can exponentially scale, but like, it's just a consistency piece, right? I think for people who are listening, like having clarity on where you want to go. That running a six figure company where it was just a couple people, like, it was like, like freedom. Now it's like the reps every single day. Knowing where we want to go, and we just got to do the reps.

Stoy Hall: 12:03

Yeah, and with three kids under three, no big deal, right? It's very simple.

Heather Holmes: 12:08

It's simple

Stoy Hall: 12:08

life.

Heather Holmes: 12:09

Yeah.

Stoy Hall: 12:11

So as someone is listening, and they're going, Well, she did it. I can do it. Y'all seems like a great thing. Maybe I should, dive into it. How does one get started in that? Where the hell do we go?

Heather Holmes: 12:24

Yeah, so for business owners who are wanting to get in the media there's a couple different options. If you have media in your market, I always recommend first doing local media, TV, radio, build that relationship because local media wants to feature local experts. So that's the first thing. The second thing is you have to bridge the gap between your message and what's happening in the news and or timing. So November is National Entrepreneurship Month, provides a great opportunity. To get in the media the new year, right? Going on and talking about tips for entrepreneurs, right? Like. You have to bridge the gap between your message and news relevancy because media members get hundreds and hundreds of emails a day. So, you really have to make yourself stand out. Podcasts are great to podcasts are really just more based on your expertise. And not connected to a news either as well. There's also places that you can write for, like medium. com, or even LinkedIn, like you can start publishing articles. Like, there's really no excuse for you to not put content out there because there's ChatGPT, there's AI, like, something is better than nothing, like, you need to edit what you put on ChatGPT, but there's so many resources for you to position yourself as an expert. Right? Like, there are podcasts, there's TV, there's radio, there's articles, and it's just really stepping into, but I'd say you have to be willing to do the reps, and that the most successful people, the compound effect, like, the longer you're with it, I think, I think easier, business is easier. Not easier, but I'm saying, People recognize or remember what you do and maybe they don't work with you now, but they come back to you. But just like PR, PR is cumulative. That you're going to want to build a brand where you're in the media all the time.

Stoy Hall: 14:16

What do you say to those of your clients that have never really been in the media? They don't really do public speaking, right? They just have a product or a widget and they, it's really good and it's badass. But like, how do you, or what do you do to help them take that first step of that uncomfortable step of being. Interviewed or article written about or something like that.

Heather Holmes: 14:39

So when we work with you, we create a strategic plan. We figure out where you want to go. We figure out your expertise from there. We typically do media training media coaching and help you through that. But it really is repetition and just showing up. And I tell people that it's not about you. It's about who's on the other end of the story or the message or that are going to be inspired by that message. I really tell people that, like it's not going to be perfect if you wait until the right moment, it's going to be too late. So you just have to show up and do the best you can and keep moving forward and realize that the message that you give is the best that you've had in that moment. And then again, whoever hears this message, it's, it's for them. It's not for me.

Stoy Hall: 15:31

And ultimately you really can't, whatever you're saying, as long as it's authentic and real. No matter how you say it, it's gonna get through and someone's gonna be listening, right? You can't really mess that up too much unless you go full on political full on attacking people Which obviously if you're coached correctly, you're not going to do but Honestly, if you're just real about you, your story, there was millions of people that are going to relate to it and they're going to follow you. You're going to follow your career, no matter where you are, what you're doing. And you just won't know it. You just do not know who's listening at any point in time. And so the more you do it, like you keep reiterating is the more you do it. Yes. You'll get better at it, but also the more opportunities these people that are out there can hear it. And you might hope that one person do something great and they might come knocking on your door one day and you never know where that goes.

Heather Holmes: 16:21

Totally. But then the flip side too, sometimes people may get stressed of like, well, how many people are hearing this podcast? But there's so much more than that. And that I've seen people have clients be on the fence. So when they start sharing their articles and podcasts in their e news, Hey, it was just on this podcast. I thought you would get value of it. Such a great way to nurture leads.

Stoy Hall: 16:44

Yes. Oh, yeah, absolutely. Right. I was just talking to my marketing team today about this, literally today. And it was always about the messaging and all that. And ultimately in my service, being a family office, we are only able to get clients when they are ready. That actually is for most every product and service out there. But more so when you're talking about people's money, they typically hold it more to the chest. And ultimately what we were talking about is you just need to keep putting things out there, educational, realism, everything out there, because you need to be front of mind when they are ready in that time, that mind frame. And that's that flip side.

Heather Holmes: 17:23

It's all about building that community.

Stoy Hall: 17:26

Yes.

Heather Holmes: 17:26

The community is great,

Stoy Hall: 17:27

right? Ultimately, the community is great for all of us because now we can interact and connect. And I think that's another thing from a media perspective that I want you to hit upon. I'm sure at this point, I, I probably couldn't even count how many connections you have with media personnel. But how important is it for a business owner who may be trying to do it themselves or even if they're not to have some type of relationship or connection with. Media personnel.

Heather Holmes: 17:55

So it's all about relationships. That's the first thing because media members, even in your hometown in Iowa, like they're probably getting a hundred emails a day. So you either have to have the relationship or you have to hire like a publicist, like me to just speed up the process for you. A lot of times you'll see a business owners pitch themselves, but it's just like about the, their product. And that feels like too promotional. So what a pitch needs to do is talk about, a story or your hero's journey or provide advice or some of those things, right? It can't just be about pushing the product. And what do you

Stoy Hall: 18:37

We, how do I, how do I ask this the way I want to ask this? Most business owners are always going to be, it's always going to be cost, right? So there's going to be expenses and costs. How does someone say, Hey, I'm going to go hire ER, a publicist to help me with the situation, or is it better for me to just go out and pitch myself? How do you, how do you overcome that conversation?

Heather Holmes: 19:00

Yeah. So from like being a publicist for almost 13 years. Working with over 300 plus companies and brands, like, I've created a proven process and formula that works. The truth of the matter, most people don't have 5, a month to invest in PR services. That's typically the retainer per month to hire an agency. That's the truth of the matter. And that's typically just to have them on retainer. The thing with pitching is example, we're dealing with all the devastation right now, so there could be like, a week or 2 that the media is not even interested in covering a feel good story for an entrepreneur because. It's just not the right time they're not working on a story, right? Because we saw that not every entrepreneur has that type of money. We're really focused on disrupting the industry. And we created like, I like, I like, we want everyone to be like, well, why are you paying 5k a month for PR services? So we, part of our full team is a full time development team. So we created a raptor. If you go to signal raptor. com it's PR service with a software. Okay. Where we're pitching you every week to the media. We're writing a news release. We're getting some content out there and there's a mastermind community where we bring in experts. It's a subscription model. And that's 750 a month. So, for people who are wanting to get in the media, not spend thousands of dollars, and want to get access to a community, it's really the best of both worlds. The thing is, if you're going to pitch yourself, you need to probably spend 5 hours a week doing it, if not more. But then, oh, by the way, you have to write the pitch, you have to find the email addresses, you have to follow up, like, There's so much to it. So if you have the funds and that's within your budget, I recommend hiring it out. Like, even for us, like, we have someone that's going to be running our Facebook ads, right? Like, it's about speed of execution and the speed of execution. Is what you would get when you would have, when you would hire a service or a team to help you.

Stoy Hall: 21:09

I love that. And I love disrupting. That's what I'm doing with my company too. And going against the grain and it's smart from a business perspective for your own one. Retainer models are usually the best, the most profitable for a business because people pay every month and they're getting some value as opposed to project based. But also by doing that, you're bringing in the majority of the business owners out there. Right. You're not pigeonholing yourself to the top 10%. Like you really have opened the doors to everyone. And that's, that's simply amazing. And I believe that disruptors like that are truly what caused the growth in the, in our industries, right. And in the business sector, because we're able to change everyone's thinking of how things should work. And I love that. So, yes, if you're listening, 750 a month for PR is, a godsend, a steal. I don't even know the words for it. I've been through two PR companies in my, in my career. And yes, they were in that four to 8, 000 a month. So I get it. And that is phenomenal for you to think like through that and think ahead of the times.

Heather Holmes: 22:14

I think too, though, PR increases the perceived value of your company. It's definitely a positioning person. It's a positioning. Perspective, I think you also have to think on where you want to go. That if you're going to be having an exit, if you're raising funds, you have to be in the media. Right? Like, and if you're not doing it, your competitor is doing it. And the 1 thing that's different between you and your competitor is your story. That's really where the power comes in is your hero's story and the heart behind your brand.

Stoy Hall: 22:49

Yeah, and let's, I mean, there's, there's really two different types of businesses, right? We've got our product side and our service side. Obviously on the product side, I would hope that everyone's exit at some point is to get their brand bought or grown to be, the next Heinz or something like that, right? On the service side, it's a different, little different spin. Because you're usually not building unless it's in tech or something like that, just to be bought and sold. You're trying to build up a company like you're doing exactly, creating a different culture, bringing on and providing jobs for 100, 200 people. How do you is there a different way of attacking the media from those two perspectives from a product base and a service base?

Heather Holmes: 23:33

Yeah, I love that because at Publicity for Good, half of our clients are product based brands. You find out Whole Foods and the other half is really successful coaches and influencers that are selling their services. So, there's 2 different things personalities or experts that have services. I've seen an example a business coach photographer. Go on our local NBC market, regional market, got all the content and our Instagram engagement increased by 60%. From getting that content and creating a reel. It's getting logos and updating your bio to where you've been featured on. It's on your landing page where you're driving people to your offer. It's adding all the publicity. If in anyone who is doing paid traffic, integrating your publicity into your paid traffic should lower the cost of acquiring a customer. Say you're on TV, you take the clip, you retarget it, right? Like that's how you scale a brand to the next level. To have you stand out because unfortunately coaches are a dime a dozen. There's no certification. Anyone can become a business coach tomorrow. So like that publicity is really helping people scale. It's helping them grow their community and really stand out. And for people who want to write a book, want to be on stages, publicity really is that first vertical. And I can tell you so many people when they go to get a book or want a book deal, They want to know where you've been featured, so it helps you with your book deal. So that's really on the, on the personality side. On the brand side, it's really just ensuring your brand is in all the top listicles. You tell your founder story, where to buy it, buy it at this local retailer, buy on Amazon, buy online. A very different strategy.

Stoy Hall: 25:23

And your product has to be good. Like, ultimately, you have to do something good. You can't just sell crap.

Heather Holmes: 25:31

And I would say to your, you need to have a strong offer and website. And if they're sending all this traffic to your website and it's not converting, that's a conversion Shopify issue, right? The other thing too is publicity will drive referral traffic to your website. So articles will drive traffic to your website. We're pitching 100 people this week to interview you. More people checking out your website as well.

Stoy Hall: 25:58

Yes, yes, being in articles, podcasts, you name it in the media is going to drive SEO to your website. There's no way around it and it's one of the best ways of doing so. Then you better have a really good website because we all do it. We hope. We're going to look at your website first and if it's like, Ooh I, I can't trust it. Like it makes you feel weird. You're just not going to buy it or go there or whatever it is. So yeah. Those two are very much in line and I've seen a huge spike. I've been focusing on articles this year and you can see it a natural spike and it's always there and your SEO just keep driving higher. So definitely, definitely get involved from that perspective. So as we go towards the end of this episode, I always ask this question, all the guests, right? Are you ready for this? And that is what is one thing that our listeners can take home today to help them take that next step in their

Heather Holmes: 26:51

journey? Yeah, I would say it's a couple of things. It'll be writing down the places that you want to get featured on. That's the first thing. And the second thing is if it's okay with you, you guys can go to SignalRaptor. com and for your listeners, we can give a free month of Raptor. So we can bless your community with a free month of Raptor. You just have to use the link in the show notes and say who brought. You are way,

Stoy Hall: 27:32

that's amazing. Yes. And we'll, we'll throw it everywhere. We're gonna blast the hell out of this. And for, obviously we'll talk about that off screen, but I love that. One, just the offer in itself, but to figuring out where you want to be and who you want to be in front of. Is ultimately the you have to start there. Otherwise, you're just aiming.

Heather Holmes: 27:54

Yeah, you have to know where you want to go And then once we can help you but if you don't know where you want to go Then we could end up at the end of the road and you're not happy.

Stoy Hall: 28:04

Correct. Well Heather, I appreciate you your time Time away from your loved ones and and now you have to go travel But as always, everyone listening, reach out to us. We, we want to help you. I only bring guests on that actually truly want to help. So engage with us, comment. I'm not doing it for the algorithm purposes. Literally engage with us because we want to help as much as possible. So if you ever have questions, you want to connect with Heather. She'll be obviously all over our website. publicityforgood. com as well and hit her up as well. So again, Heather, thank you for your.

Heather Holmes: 28:40

Yeah. Thank you.

Black Mammoth: 28:45

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