Influencer Entrepreneurs: Marketing Tips to Make You More Visible
Surviving in the entrepreneur world is not an easy task. Jenny teaches you how to build a stronger business with blogging and social media tips that are up to date and proven. No more trading time for money! She teaches content and email marketing strategies that helped her build her audience and sell her lifestyle blog for over six figures in 2019. As a former inner city school district teacher she understands the importance of breaking strategies into bite size pieces of information all with the master plan of giving you homework so that you can implement the strategies in your business immediately. Get ready to be able to put her strategies into practice after just one listen!
Influencer Entrepreneurs: Marketing Tips to Make You More Visible
How to Get Media Coverage with Mickie Kennedy
Media coverage might be the missing ingredient in your marketing strategy, and it's more accessible than you think. Mickey Kennedy, founder of eReleases with 26 years of experience helping entrepreneurs get media attention, breaks down the crucial difference between press release syndication and valuable earned media coverage.
The startling reality? Only 3% of press releases actually generate meaningful media coverage. Mickey reveals exactly what separates successful pitches from the forgettable ones, emphasizing that journalists aren't looking for product features—they're searching for compelling stories they can share with their audiences. Whether you're launching a product, hosting an event, or celebrating a business milestone, your pitch needs storytelling elements that create emotional connection.
Most entrepreneurs make the critical mistake of crafting me-centered pitches without providing journalists the building blocks for an engaging narrative. Mickey explains how to transform your announcements by including customer use cases, data points that establish stakes, and powerful quotes that journalists will want to include verbatim. He also reveals why taking a thoughtful contrarian position can sometimes be your ticket to consistent media coverage when everyone else is saying the same thing.
For those intimidated by media outreach, Mickey offers practical, approachable advice on building relationships with local journalists and timing your pitches for maximum impact. His strategies work for businesses at any stage—from Etsy sellers to established brands—proving that media coverage isn't about fancy websites or professional photography, but about having something genuinely interesting to share.
Ready to join the 3% of businesses whose press releases actually get picked up? Grab Mickey's free Media Coverage Masterclass at eReleases.com/plan to discover the specific types of press releases that consistently generate coverage and position you as a thought leader in your industry.
This is the Influencer Entrepreneur's Podcast with Jenny Monroe, where I strategize with business owners on how to grow and scale their businesses to hit their income goals. This is episode 445 of the Influencer Entrepreneurs Podcast with Jenny Melrose. Today we're going to be talking about how to get media coverage with Mickey Kennedy. Before you pop off and don't listen, I'm telling you that if you have a product, a service or you host an event, you are going to want to listen in. There are so many ways that you can be utilizing media coverage that we're not thinking of. So if you have a course, if you have a program, if you are hosting an in-person event like a summit or a conference, you're going to wanna listen to the end and make sure that you grab Mickey's Media Coverage Masterclass so that you can really continue to take strides to get more media for your products. Hi, mickey, welcome to the podcast.
Speaker 2:Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1:I am so excited to have this conversation about how to get media coverage, but before we jump into that, will you actually introduce yourself and your business to my audience?
Speaker 2:Sure, my name is Mickey Kennedy and I run eReleases. Press release distribution started almost 26 years ago and I help entrepreneurs and authors and all different types of companies get media attention using press releases that we send out to the media.
Speaker 1:Okay, excellent. That is definitely something that my listeners are absolutely interested in, because the more coverage they can get, the more backlinks, all those great things. So let's talk a little bit about why media coverage is important for small businesses and entrepreneurs.
Speaker 2:I think the biggest thing is the credibility that you get from earned media. That's what we call it when a journalist writes about you. There's a lot of syndication that happens where when a press release goes out, it gets replicated on a few websites, and there's businesses that that's. Their goal is to get you to a bunch of places and they say you can use these logos on your website. But our real goal is to get earned media and that's to have a journalist take that press release and actually write an article about you. And so this is like major press, like Wall Street Journal, new York Times, but also you know your local paper, trade publications, you know industry blogs and all different types of places like that that cover your industry and people who write about your industry, and the goal is to get them to write, take that press release and turn it into an article.
Speaker 1:Okay, excellent. So what foundational elements should be in place before reaching out to the media?
Speaker 2:I think having a website is, you know, very useful, especially if that's where you take orders. But, that being said, there's exceptions. Media is really looking for a good story and so they can forgive a lot if you don't have a website and you're just a presence on Etsy. But you have a good story and I've had a lot of people on Etsy, for example, do really well and I think that they do well because you get to include two photos or images with your press release and when you're creating something, you have a very evocative image and the media know that if they write an article about you, that image, if they post it with the article, is going to engage their audience even more and give some payoff there. So there are a lot of variables, but having a good story is, you know, the biggest element and when you send out an announcement, make sure you have the elements for a journalist to turn it into a story.
Speaker 2:We get a lot of product launch press releases and there's not a lot of information to build a story into it. It's here's our product and here's, like many bullets or features that it has, and here's a page to buy it or learn more. And, from a journalist standpoint, there's not a lot to work with, but the first thing you can do to help them build a story into your product or service is have a use case study into your product or services. Have a use case study Someone who had a big pain point. They used this product or service and they saw a very beneficial outcome and you can even include a quote from them talking about their favorable experience using your product or service.
Speaker 1:Okay. So when you're saying that they should have a story that goes along with it, it doesn't have to be like their founding story of why they created it or why they put it together, but you're talking about user and it doesn't even have to be a finished story.
Speaker 2:It just has to be the building blocks that a journalist can work with. And if a journalist is only working with, here's a new product and here's a list of features not a lot of elements that they can turn into a story. So you know what are the things that you can add in there that would allow a journalist to put it together and create a story arc. You know, a use case study is one that's really good Sometimes, putting elements of your story in there. You know there's a reason that everybody that appears on Shark Tank doesn't really lead with their numbers. They lead with what it was that caused them to start this business or this product or solution, and often they're sharing a vulnerability.
Speaker 2:I was laid off and I didn't know what I was going to do, and I remember me and my dad used to make this thing and I was like I wonder if I could take it to the next level and turn that into an actual product, and so I took my retirement and savings and liquidate it. Next thing you know I'm doing, you know talking with factories in China and we've launched and, and the reason they do that is it cuts through everything and it gives you an emotional response to them. As you know, humans, human interest element that's the most important thing, because people like to respond to emotions and humanity more than you know products and numbers and things like that. So you know, sharing you're celebrating your 10th anniversary and sharing the fact that you know your biggest cheerleader was your mother and she said I always settled for being a housewife because I felt like there was nothing more for me. And she said I always settled for being a housewife because I felt like there was nothing more for me and I didn't want that for my daughters and something like that. You don't think about it. But it said in a really beautiful way and put there really gets you to go wow, you know, I'm really rooting for this female entrepreneur. She's got 10 years Dang. I'm going to keep her in mind when I need a product or software or solution that this person has.
Speaker 2:And so you know, do not discount some of those elements for your founding and stuff like that. But you know, even if it's, you're talking about milestones in your business, what are additional elements that you could add to it that would make it more likely for a journalist to want to craft it into a story or story arc. You know, sometimes having publicly available data points and incorporating them into your press release can give you an edge. Like you have a logistic software solution, and it really helps people write better invoices and avoid costly mistakes. And you know why is that important. 63% of new transportation companies fail in their first five years because they never achieve profitability and all of a sudden, the stakes are there. We know why your software or solution is really important, and so you know, just don't discount adding more elements to your original pitch, because people often pitch greedy and they're like this is all about me, I want to sell a lot of this product, so I'm only going to go me, me, me, me, me. And a journalist is a gatekeeper and they have to decide is this a story that's going to either educate or entertain or, ideally, both their audience? And when you write it from a very selfish standpoint me, me, me a lot of times you've forgotten how a journalist needs to craft that into something that would be appealing to their audience. And so, you know, do consider other elements, certain things that you can add to it, like your story or data points that would be useful to show the stakes of why your software or product or solution or whatever it is that you do is really important.
Speaker 2:And you know, in quotes quotes are so meaningful in a press release and often the quotes that we get look like they've been written by committee, they're safe, there's nothing of substance really said and a lot of times you can take the quote out and the press release and the article that would have been written.
Speaker 2:There's no loss. And so generally, how I know it's a good quote is if a journalist included that quote and then decided to just take it out and paraphrase what you said, there would be an ache or loss of saying, oh, I missed that quote. It said it so perfectly or it said it with such strength and conviction or it said it so creatively and beautifully that they're missing something. So really spend a long time with a quote. Because if a journalist is looking at two press releases that are similar newsworthiness but one has an amazing quote, they know that article is going to stand up stronger and be more appealing because when they finish the article, that quote's going to be there and it's going to be really powerful where, if it's just a you know, not a great quote. The journalist can write the best article there is, but if they include that quote it's still going to seem a little flat or deflated.
Speaker 1:Okay, yes, I love that you're talking about really tying in that piece of storytelling, because I think that this is what we're hearing more and more in 2025. That, in order to stand out, in order to be told, the difference between AI and you has to be that story. The difference between AI and you has to be that story piece that you are telling so that people really do see the vulnerability in you and your business and can create that connection with you. So, knowing that this can be a piece of your pitch, of what you are doing, I think it's just so important for us to keep in mind because it's a piece of us, it's what we're already doing. It's why we talk about personal branding so much. It allows us to create a quicker connection with our audience than if we weren't telling the stories that go along with it and showing that vulnerability.
Speaker 1:What would you say makes a great media pitch stand out? Obviously, you've said quotes are a great thing. Adding in that storytelling, is there anything that you feel like this is like the golden ticket, the line that journalists need to hear or see. Is there anything that kind of stands out to you?
Speaker 2:Sometimes being creative and thinking about outside the box A lot of people and thinking about outside the box a lot of people. There's a concept years ago that came out called newsjacking, where if something is popular in the news, you sort of ride the coattails with it and it doesn't really work anymore. Because you know, target had a credit card breach years ago and within 30 days there was 1,400 press releases by security consultants and agencies talking about what they should do to avoid that. And so I always say you know what could you say that completely distinguishes yourself from everybody else who's just joining the fray. The easiest way is if you have a contrarian viewpoint. You know you're saying something like hey, worried about the credit card breach, don't worry about it. You know this is. You're not a big, giant target, you're small potatoes, you're a laundromat, you're a chain of dry cleaners. You have nothing to worry about. You know what you should do even more is worry about the passwords to your banking account. You know where you store your checks. You know those type of security that would like cut through a lot, and I think that that would be so refreshing when everybody else is just joining the fray that that could do well, but you know also, maybe slice and dice it and talk about a particular segment. You know like, hey, you're a Shopify seller, do you have to worry about this? And I was like, you know, just explain that. You know, yeah, even though you're taking credit cards and using a merchant account, you're using their software and all of this. So you can just break it down for people like that, so you can speak to just particular niches and audiences and you probably have a better outcome than just joining the fray with everybody else and speaking to the contrarian viewpoint.
Speaker 2:One of the things to keep in mind is that journalists like to be fair and balanced on all issues and a lot of times they go to press only covering one side.
Speaker 2:And so if you're the one person comfortable enough and I say comfortable enough because you never want to offend your existing customer base or potential customers but if you feel comfortable having a contrarian viewpoint, you stand the likelihood that you could be plugged into every article that talks about an issue.
Speaker 2:You know everybody seems to talk favorably about electric cars and the movement to electric cars. But if you had a contrarian viewpoint that said, hey, you know, we haven't solved how we get these minerals out of the earth in an environmentally responsible way. We haven't solved what we're going to do with these batteries at the end of their life. We haven't solved the fact that, when electric cars catch on fire, sometimes it takes eight to 12 fire trucks to put it out, and so maybe, rather than embrace it as quickly as we have, we should set back and scale this a little bit more until we've addressed a lot of these issues. You come across as responsible, but you're also putting a contrarian viewpoint that's saying, hey, maybe we shouldn't embrace this very quickly. And every time someone talks about the benefits of electric cars and everything you could be, you could get plugged into those articles by just a journalist doing their duty and being fair and balanced, and and finding you out there as that contrarian with your hand raised.
Speaker 1:So smart. I love that, and it's just that way of trying to think outside of the box, different than others, and actually tilting the conversation a bit more to the other side, for sure. So what are some mistakes people make when pitching the media?
Speaker 2:They look at what their competitors are sending out and say, oh, we could do that. And so, the fact is, 97% of press releases that are out there do not generate earned media, and so if you look at what your competitors are sending out, it's very likely they're not getting earned media from it, so don't bother replicating that. You know they did a product launch press release, so you do your product launch press release. What you should do is look and say, hey, we're doing a product launch press release. What's a use case study we could put in here? That would really strengthen it and give a journalist more to work with. What are some publicly available data points we could put in there to showcase the importance or the need for our product or software or solution? What are great images that we could include? And the good news is, people engage best with more candid shots, so you don't feel you have to get a professional photograph of your product on blue velvet or anything like that. A candid shot of your product out in the field is going to engage people much better on a website. So that's really cool that that's become more democratized, and a photo from your iPhone or Android or whatever it is that you use is fine in most cases for these things.
Speaker 2:Other things that you could do that would make you stand out is just being aware of what it is that you're doing that's different than everybody else. I mean, one of the reasons that startups who we work with we work with a lot of people who appear in Shark Tank they do really well is because they know in one sentence what distinguishes their company from everybody else in that industry. And so I find small businesses in particular and entrepreneurs have a very difficult time getting to that. What it is that they're doing that is really unique and different from everybody else, and to say it succinctly in a single sentence. So make sure you're approaching your press release and you're getting that across very early on what it is that you do in the marketplace and why you are different than everybody else. And so that's something that I feel people really need to practice is their elevator pitch of one sentence, or at most two sentences, of what it is that they do is different than everybody else in the marketplace.
Speaker 1:Yes, oh, we talked about that. So much For sure.
Speaker 3:Hey there guys. My name is Melanie from Mostly Under Control, and I am a member of Jenny's Influencer Entrepreneurs Insiders membership. I've been a part of it since 2017, and over these six years, I've taken full advantage of the weekly trainings that Jenny offers and the monthly group coaching. The group coaching is probably my favorite part of the membership. Jenny has taught me so many things for my business. She helped me niche down and write and teach about what I wanted so that I wouldn't burn out. In addition to what she teaches, the networking I've done with other members has been invaluable. I recommend her membership to all of my online business owner friends because it is worth every single penny.
Speaker 1:So should entrepreneurs focus on local media first or aim for bigger outlets right away?
Speaker 2:So it really depends on where their market is, and so we work with a lot of companies that are online. They're e-commerce businesses. They sell nationally. I feel like there's no need to differentiate. You know, just get your press releases out there and take the media that comes.
Speaker 2:Now, that being said, if you only do business locally, yeah, then you really should focus on local media, and for that you don't need a service like eReleases. It's something that you can do yourself, and you don't even need to write press releases. You just need to write a pitch of a few sentences and communicate it to local media. That seems daunting. You may want to hire somebody, but really you're best equipped at doing that yourself. If you think about it, there's probably less than 10 people in your market that would ever write about you or cover you, and I'm even including radio and TV here. So your job is to look at your paper and figure out who generally covers your industry and you know and then get their email address and send them a pitch, and it's as easy as looking online. If you can't find the email address, call and ask. A lot of people say you can just do that, and I'm like, yeah, these aren't celebrities, they're members of your community, they're media, so they are supposed to be accessible. And if you call and say you know, they'll say what do you need the email address for? You say I'm a local business and I'd like to pitch this person. From time to time, as I have newsworthy stories, they might just patch you into them. On the phone you can say the same thing. You know, a couple of my clients have been pressed. Well, pitch me right now and just say well, I could, but I'm just a really shy English major. Could I just communicate this in a few sentences and shoot it over to you? I could follow up later today. If you have questions and they're like, most of the time they're OK. So it's not really difficult to get this, and it's one of those things.
Speaker 2:Once you have it, you have it and you look if you have business magazines or business newspapers in your area. Are there consumer magazines? That would be appropriate. Some products and services are suited for that, Some are not spotlight local businesses or interview local businesses. If so, you would contact them and ask for the producer or booker of that particular segment.
Speaker 2:Same thing with TV. You know, a lot of times they'll do wellness weeks on local news and stuff like that, and they'll bring chiropractors in there cracking people and stuff like that. So, you know, just be attuned to opportunities that are out there and then just ask them, say, hey, I noticed that you pitched the wellness thing. When you're looking for next year or the next time you do it, I'd love to be considered. And, you know, pitch it with visuals in mind. If it's TV, it's like this is what I do and this is. I think it would look really well on TV doing X, Y and Z. So just keep that in mind.
Speaker 2:And again, when you pitch these people, feel free to include a quote Because, like I said, a really great quote. A journalist knows they can build an article around it, and so if you have an amazing quote as well as your pitch of a few sentences, a journalist would be like, ah, I find this interesting. Now, they're not always going to be receptive. So I tell people to pitch at least quarterly. Or if you have more ideas that come more quickly, you can do it at a faster pace.
Speaker 2:But after a while, even a year, of getting no feedback, you would be surprised that sometimes they'll reach out to you and they'll say, hey, this is Bob. You've been pitching me over the past year and it's never really hit me right. But I'm working on a story and I'm looking to plug in a local business and I thought of you, does this apply? And you know, always try to be like, yeah, it applies, even if you have to stretch it a little. But you know, and just be very responsive to things like that, and once they know you're a good source to lean on, you'd be surprised the number of times that they'll be coming back to you as equally as you're pitching them. And so when it comes to local media, it sounds daunting and I know people want to outsource it, but this is something anybody can do. It doesn't take a great deal of time just building that Rolodex initially and just making sure that these places still have that rider, that rider still covering that industry.
Speaker 1:So if you host or have a in-person event that you're wanting to get media coverage for, especially if you're local I'm thinking of a handful of clients right now that are planning summits or doing in-person workshops or retreats Is there a launchpad of time that you should leave in order to get the coverage for that event? So say, the event was in June. Is there a time that you should start pitching so that you give it plenty of time as like a launchpad towards that?
Speaker 2:I usually try to warm them up six to eight weeks out and then send reminders as it gets closer, because sometimes people say, oh yeah, that's interesting and they don't do anything with it until there's a little bit of urgency.
Speaker 2:And don't be afraid to follow up a couple of weeks before the event by phone as well as email, even if you're just leaving a voicemail letting them know because and maybe mention a keyword that would be really useful for them to do a search, because sometimes journalists' inbox look a bit cluttered.
Speaker 2:So if you say, hey, I sent you this email, if you're looking for it, just search for my name. If you have a very distinct name or a company name, and spell it on the phone when you leave a voicemail and then maybe they'll be able to pull it up and reach out and maybe be able to be part of it. Things to also keep in mind for events like that is you know anything that you can say that would make it really visually appealing, so that maybe they'd want to make sure they get. Bring along a photographer or themselves capture it. Feeling like this could be a good visual thing that we could add, because a lot of people who are posting articles online realize that there's a big visual component now and that people engage with images, and so it's not just a story, it's also things that could accompany the story, like photos and multimedia and things like that.
Speaker 1:I love it. Yeah, and I'm also thinking, too, like I was initially, that question was meant for those that host conferences or summits or retreats, but this also could be for, like a book launch in person that you're doing, and it's kind of two for one, because if they were to get the coverage for the book launch and it's an event, you're also then, of course, going to get the coverage for the book, which would be an added bonus.
Speaker 2:Right, and you know, and also when it comes to those things also, a lot of newspapers have calendar events, so don't think that the journalist is always going to coordinate with that. They often don't. So make sure you also are putting notice there when you're doing book signings, book readings, things like that, so that it's part of the community calendar as well.
Speaker 1:Okay, such a good thing to keep in mind, for sure. So tell me about your video masterclass and how to create a winning PR strategy based on the PR campaigns of your most successful clients.
Speaker 2:Right. So I have put together a video masterclass and I've shortened it to less than an hour long because I know people don't have the patience that they used to. So and it was about seven hours and I bought a course and I realized I never finished it because it was like 13 hours. I was like Mickey, you need to go and make that quicker and really get to the points. And so it's an hour long and it's really good for anybody at any stage, especially beginners, and it goes through the 3% of press releases that generally get picked up.
Speaker 2:97% of press releases generally don't get earned media. So here's the 3% that do, and a lot of them are things that any business can do and implement. And so if you build a PR campaign of six to eight releases and you're focusing on these, you're going to have a few successes. And it really only takes one success to really like catapult you and to really go gangbusters, and so we're trying to make that more readily available to people and that's at eReleasescom slash plan P-L-A-N completely free. Dot com slash plan P-L-A-N completely free. And it goes through the types of releases that we see getting picked up again and again and how you can sort of implement these for your business as well, and it goes through lots of different types of releases that people don't generally think of.
Speaker 2:And I have one press release that any business can implement and it generally always gets earned media and people don't think about it, but yet it's a way to really stand out in any industry and it catapults you as a thought leader in your industry and you don't have to have a feeling of imposter syndrome when you do it either. It's just the fact that you're doing this and implementing it, and it's not a lot of imposter syndrome when you do it either. It's just the fact that you're doing this and implementing it, and it's not a lot of work. But it is a way that most of my clients who implement it see anywhere from four to 12 articles written by journalists original earned media every time they do a press release on that subject.
Speaker 1:We are going to link to that in the show notes so we can make sure that they are all able to take that. Mickey, I appreciate you so much for taking the time to just share your knowledge with my audience, and if you're a podcast listener, you have to go to YouTube and check Mickey's background, his background. That was the first thing I said right out of the gate. I'm like I absolutely love your fireplace and it just everything's gorgeous, just looks so good. Thank you, of course. Thank you so much again, mickey.
Speaker 2:Oh, you're very welcome.
Speaker 1:All right, I told you you absolutely needed to listen all the way to the end. There are so many different ways that you can start getting media coverage, and it can give you that level of expertise that you need to have in order to stand out in a crowded marketplace. So make sure that, if you haven't already grabbed the video masterclass that Mickey is offering that, you pop into the show notes and grab that so that you can continue to move forward. As always, I appreciate you all for listening in and I will see you all next time.
