If you ever wondered what I do all day, I’m going to tell you a little bit about it in this video. If podcasts are more your thing, click here to download the podcast episode.
More specifically what it’s like to work in public relations. I don’t say I work in public relations. I actually don’t like that term. Public Relations. If we’re going to get super specific, I do more media relations than public relations, but I’m going to tell you what a day in the life is like.
And if you want to earn media exposure without spending any money on ads, then make sure you subscribe to this channel. I post videos just like this one every Thursday.
Hello, my name is Christina Nicholson and I help small business owners all over the world earn media exposure without spending a dime on advertising and if you want to learn more about how I do that, then stay tuned because I’m going to tell you what it’s like for somebody who works in PR and really what the heck we do all day.
That includes getting clients local and national coverage. So if you’re interested in that, pay attention. If you prefer podcasts to videos, check this out.
I don’t check my email
The first thing that I don’t do is check my email because I did a lot of emails. I get like a hundred emails a day and right off the bat if I’m picking up my phone and I’m checking my emails, I’m already going to be stressed. I’m going to feel like my list of things to do has just been added to like crazy so I don’t let my inbox dictate my day.
I’m actually very crazy about my Google calendar and I have in there when I checked my email. I only check my email two or three times a day.
My calendar tells me what to do
I’m not saving any lives. I don’t think there’s an emergency that’s like that pressing, so I’m not going to check my email first thing in the morning. I’m going to wait. I am going to wait and see what my calendar tells me to do. My calendar is booked out weeks in advance.
I actually schedule my days to do certain things, so like right now I am recording this video on a Thursday. It will post on YouTube on a Thursday because Thursdays are my YouTube days.
So it really helps me stay on track. It helps me know what I’m doing day to day. And let me tell you like my calendar is like my Bible. What it says is what happens and it helps me get so much stuff done with less stress.
Check-in with my team
And I’m always talking to my project managers. So I have a Media Mentoring Program where I help super small business owners or Solopreneurs learn how to do PR themselves. But my main bread and butter is my PR agency and I have a project manager who helps me run the PR agency.
So I’m talking to her and I’m like, “Okay, so what’s going on? How’s the team? Are we all happy? Are the clients getting their goals hit? Is the team putting all of their goals and all of their media hits and all of their efforts in the Google Doc so we can keep track.”
So I’m really just following up with my project manager and my team to make sure all is kosher, everything is going well, the clients are happy, the team is happy and we can move forward with our day.
And I’m kind of curious why you’re watching this video. So let me know in the comments. Are you thinking about getting in the PR industry and that’s why you want to know what my day looks like or are you thinking of hiring a PR agency or hiring somebody to help you get more media exposure? Like what side of the fence are you on getting in the industry or working with the industry? Let me know below in the comment section now let me break down what the actual media pitching looks like.
1. The client’s goals
So internally, I have a goal, my team has a goal of earning each client at least for media hits a month. Now, this is above average. When I talked to a lot of other publicists and people who own PR agencies, they think for a month is a lot. And it is. But I like to over deliver and I want to be like the best agency.
I live for a referral. I live for the acknowledgment of doing a great job.
At the recording of this video, it is the second day of the month and already one of my clients have five media hits on the second day of the month. Very impressive. Love my team. They’re amazing.
Anywho, four media hits a month. That is the goal. It doesn’t matter if it’s all local, it doesn’t matter if it’s all national. It depends on the client’s goals. If they want local coverage, national coverage, if they’re a national brand, if they’re a local brand, so everything is very tailored to the client and their goals and this is how we make it happen.
We work with the client’s goals. Where do they want to be? Who do they want to be in front of? How would media coverage in this outlet or that outlet lead to ROI? Are we getting in front of the right people with the right content? What is the calendar saying?
If you’ve watched a previous video on how to pitch the media, (I’ll link to that below,) you know that you have to be timely.
2. Look at the calendar
Look at the calendar. Why should this story be done right now?
Look at the news cycle. Is there anything happening in the news cycle right now that is relevant to our client that we can kind of jump on?
And number three – what are our media contacts covering? Many times we’re being reactive to what journalists are covering. They already have their story, they know what they’re doing, they just need a source.
My team recently got a client in Forbes because this writer was doing a roundup on Cinco de Mayo festivities. So we said, hey, we got a Mexican restaurant. Let’s go ask them what they’re doing. Let’s go ask them for a drink recipe for Cinco de Mayo and we’ll send it your way.
So a lot of times you’re not just pitching the story, but you’re giving the journalist what they want when they want it to increase chances of coverage. So it’s all about having those relationships with people in the media.
3. Pitching, Tweaking, Following Up
And then to sum all of that up, it’s pitching, it’s tweaking, and it’s following up like let me tell you, most of what you’re going to get is going to be on the followup.
Journalists receive hundreds if not thousands, if not tens of thousands of emails a day. So that follow up is very important, and after following up three or four times, your pitch is no longer timely, you need to go back to the drawing board and let me tell you, if you want to know what it’s like working in PR, that’s what it is.
It’s pitching, it’s tweaking, and it’s following up. Wash, rinse and repeat.
And that is just a tiny look into the day of a publicist and I want to know why you are watching this video, again, let me know why in the comments.
But if you’re watching this video because you want to earn exposure and you’re wondering how to do it, then why are you not in Pitch Publicity, Profit?! This is a free three-day media class where I tell you how to pitch the media.
I share an exact pitch that led to coverage on day one. So jump on that to get publicity and then what to do to turn that publicity into profit.
So make sure you get in there at pitchpublicityprofit.com and if you have not already, please subscribe to my YouTube channel like it. Give it a thumbs up because I post videos just like this one to help you every Thursday.