That Solo Life: The Solo PR Pro Podcast

Language, Landmines And The Peril Now Facing PR Pros

That Solo Life, Episode 244: Language, Landmines And The Peril Now Facing PR Pros

That Solo Life, a podcast dedicated to PR professionals, marketers, and individuals who work for themselves. 

In this episode hosts, Karen Swim of Solo PR Pro, and Michelle Kane from Voice Matters delve into the topic of avoiding generation gaps and cultural miscommunications.

In our discussion, we highlight how the emergence of a multigenerational workforce and multicultural society has made communication more complex. Together, we explore examples of misunderstood terminology, redefined norms, and quickly shifting cultural contexts. All of which could potentially influence the reception of our messages and client communications.

We also bring to the table the reality that not everyone has the same bank of references or base of knowledge. The universality of business references, iconic books, or even pop culture references is no longer a given. We navigate this landscape by encouraging PR professionals to provide context, or use universally understood language, thus facilitating clear and effective communication.

We also examine political influences, shedding light on how political parties or global events can assign new meanings to well-known terms, creating potential pitfalls for those unaware. We encourage communicators to be savvy, removing barriers, biases, and assumptions to truly connect with diverse audiences.

Closing the conversation, we impress upon our audience that everything communicates – the things we say and do (or don't do), often carry a message. PR professionals and communicators need to be involved in all sectors of an organization, as their insights could safeguard against reputation damage.

Episode Highlights:

• The modern communicator’s conundrum.  We can never assume that words have a universal meaning. It is important to check everything.
• Multi-generations and the mix-ups that can happen.Each generation has shaped language in their own way. PR Pros have to be careful to ensure that they are saying what they mean to say across all generations.
• The predicament of politics. How politics has influenced the way we communicate.
• Why PR needs a seat at the table. Why PR should never be siloed in companies.

More on this topic:

• Managing Across Generations 
• Talking About My Generation

Call to Action:
Looking for more insights into the PR world? Head over to Solo PR Pro and become part of our community. Don't forget to sign up for our newsletter for the latest tips and trends.
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What They Think We Do, What We Really Do And How To Bridge The Gap

That Solo Life, Episode 243: What They Think We Do, What We Really Do And How To Bridge The Gap

Welcome to the latest episode of "That Solo Life", the podcast passionately crafted for PR professionals by PR professionals. In this conversation, your hosts Michelle Kane and Karen Swim take you through the frustrations and challenges of people not understanding the role of public relations and the overlooked intricacies of articulating and demonstrating the value of public relations to clients and the public.

In this episode, you'll discover:

• The Perception Dilemma: Why the general public and even clients may have a skewed understanding of what public relations truly involves.
• Beyond Media Relations: How PR is much more than just press releases and media engagement; it's about vital strategic thinking and communication.
• Showcase Success: Why PR pros need to embrace measurement and demonstrating impact.
• Join the Conversation: An invitation to become a part of the growing Solo PR Pro community, where you'll find camaraderie and support from fellow professionals.

Key Takeaways:

• Recognizing the misunderstanding around the value of PR.
• Reflecting on the role of PR in shaping their own perceived value.
• Practical advice for PR pros to better communicate the wide array of services they offer.
• Effective strategies for PR pros to articulate their true value with confidence and clarity.

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Connect and Discuss:

Don't miss the opportunity to join the insightful discussions in the Solo PR Pro community. Connect with industry experts, exchange ideas, and get support from your colleagues.

Listen, engage, and grow with "That Solo Life." Happy listening!

Media, Mayhem and What Happens in a Small Town

Show Notes for That Solo Life: Episode 242

In this episode: That Solo Life co-hosts, Karen Swim, APR and Michelle Kane talk about some of the insights from the "Muckrack 2024 State of Journalism" and discuss the emerging trends shaping media relations today.

Episode Highlights:

• Discussing the Muckrack 2024 State of Journalism Report. We dig into the latest findings and what they mean for the future of journalism. What are the new challenges and opportunities for those in media relations? Check out the full report here: Muckrack 2024 State of Journalism
• The Art of Storytelling .Why storytelling remains the heart of compelling communication and how it's evolving with the times.
• Beyond Earned Media. How can PR professionals leverage their creativity and expertise beyond traditional media? We explore strategies to amplify your message and engage your audience.

Resources Mentioned:

• Muckrack 2024 State of Journalism: Read the report
  
  

Call to Action:
Looking for more insights into the PR world? Head over to Solo PR Pro and become part of our community. Don't forget to sign up for our newsletter for the latest tips and trends.
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Enjoyed the episode? Give us a rating and share the episode with a colleague. Your support helps us keep bringing you insightful content every week. Thank you for tuning in!

Navigating the New Terrain of Labor Laws for Solo PR Pros

In This Episode:

Join us as we dissect the implications of the Department of Labor's recent rule changes and what it means for solo PR professionals. We welcome Nathan Gibson, an authority in Employment Law and Independent Contractor Compliance, who is the Senior Director at MBO Partners. Nathan provides in-depth insights on staying compliant and the potential impacts on solo public relations businesses.

Episode Highlights:

• Understanding the Rule Change: Explore the specifics of the Department of Labor's new guidelines with our expert guest.
• Impacts on Solo PR Pros: Learn what solo PR professionals need to do differently to stay aligned with the new rules.
• Strategies for Compliance: Discover actionable strategies to maintain compliance without compromising on flexibility and freedom as an independent professional.

Featured Guest:

Nathan Gibson, an expert in:

• Employment Law
• Independent Contractor Compliance

Current Position:

• Senior Director, Risk Management at MBO Partners

Connect with Nathan on LinkedIn for more insights and personalized advisory.

Resources Mentioned:

• Join the Solo PR Pro Community: Solo PR Pro Premium Membership Signup
  • MBO Partners: For additional tools and expertise to manage your solo PR business, visit MBO Partners.
  • Free Resources: Stay informed with the latest solo PR trends and tips by signing up for our newsletter at http://eepurl.com/deC06f.

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  Be sure to subscribe to our podcast for more episodes packed with expert advice and the latest updates affecting solo PR professionals. Share your thoughts on this episode using #SoloPR and stay connected with us on our social media channels.

  Thank you for tuning in, and keep thriving in your solo PR career!

  Note: This podcast episode is not intended to serve as legal advice. For specific legal concerns related to the topics discussed, please consult a qualified attorney.

The Hangover Episode: Oscar, Kate, and the Lost Hour

If you’re still feeling the effects of springing forward into daylight savings time, recovering from St. Patrick’s Day or are still wondering what is going on with the royals, in this episode we talk about it and how there’s a PR lesson in everything.

 

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Transcript

Michelle Kane (00:03):

Thank you for joining us for this episode of That Solo Life, the podcast for PR pros and marketers who work for themselves, people like me, Michelle Kane with VoiceMatters, and Karen Swim of Solo PR Pro. Hey, Karen, how are you today?

Karen Swim, APR (00:17):

Hey, Michelle. How are you? I am, I wasn't drinking last night, but I was partying with my family. We threw my sister a big birthday bash, and so I have a party hangover.

Michelle Kane (00:31):

There we go.

Karen Swim, APR (00:32):

I'm not sure if you're seeing straight. I'm tired, but so happy. My voice just came back like an hour ago.

Michelle Kane (00:39):

Well, that was good. That was it. And for our listeners, this will hit March 18th, but we are recording this March 11, which is the day, also the day after the Oscar. So since that's my Super Bowl, I have an Oscar hangover. Not to mention, we all lost an hour this weekend to daylight savings, so we're all just kind of coming into this day going like, what? But we're here, so we're going to keep it a little light. We're dubbing this The Hangover Episode since, hey, not for nothing. It's going to be airing the day after St. Patrick's Day. So if you all do your due diligence, you'll be feeling like us when you hear this so,

Karen Swim, APR (01:19):

So true.

Michelle Kane (01:20):

We'll try and keep it a little quiet.

Karen Swim, APR (01:21):

Okay.

Michelle Kane (01:24):

But yeah, it was an interesting weekend, I have to say. And we're just really going to riff on some things that we have seen. Of course, the Oscars usually give you a lot of things to chew on. And during the Oscars as I was too, screening the event as I do, this weird thing came up with, in the UK it was Mother's Day, Mothering Sunday, and this weird thing came up with a photo that the Princess of Wales had posted with her kids, and four major – AP, Getty -- agencies issued a kill order for this photo, which apparently is not done very often. And due to it not being what they called a true photo, apparently there was some manipulation that caused concern. Now, I'm not going to wear a tinfoil hat today and get into the weeds of all the conspiracies of Catherine. Where is she? I mean, look, this is not Scientology and Shelly Miscavige. No, but it's just like you're already watching a major event and you're scrolling. What? Huh? And people are pointing out some Photoshop issues. And although to say AP is saying, look, we expect things like if you do some burning, you do some tone changes. Those are okay as if you're a comms pro. But I don't know, it was just weird. Another weird blip in our lives of where every day is like, huh?

Karen Swim, APR (02:54):

Yeah. What's interesting to me about the recall. And then she had to apologize. And so I think as communications professionals, we all know that we hire photographers for clients, for events, for headshots, and we edit the photos. I believe that we are all safely in the zone of what passes as ethical and truthful editing. Correct? Correct. You're editing out flaws, you're editing for a better resolution, but you're not changing the narrative or presenting something that may have been a previous photo as brand new. And we're starting, I feel like this leads into this whole new era where we are with AI being able to create things and to change things so easily. There's an AI tool for absolutely everything these days. And it's interesting to me that, especially in the UK, that the news agencies recall the photo when they, in my opinion, very routinely cross ethical boundaries when it comes to reporting on the royal family. So they don't cover things that are truthful. They have these backhand deals with the royal family, and the way that they operate is so far outside of what I would consider to be ethical. But you have a problem with a photo that was manipulated. Yeah.

(04:30):

Really, how ironic.

Michelle Kane (04:32):

That certainly adds to the weirdness of it all. But as you say, it does open us up to the broader concept of how AI is. I'll use the negative connotation of infiltrating. I mean, we've already had an AI-created robocall, allegedly from President Biden, to influence primary voters in certain states in a negative way. So we know to be on the lookout, but people who aren't in this field of work, they're not expecting it as much as we are. And it's really going to be, I'll say a bumpy ride, but we really all need to be vigilant about what we consume. Even silly stuff like Royal news.

Karen Swim, APR (05:25):

Yeah. Honestly, we are seeing more and more AI generated content, and it's not necessarily coming from our traditional news outlets where they're adhering to a standard of journalistic integrity. This is coming from other outlets and they're flat out taking articles from other outlets and just rewriting them in ai. And we're going to try to discuss this topic in depth and with some seriousness at a later time. But it's worth calling it out at this time that, again, as you, not it, Michelle, and this is really important to us as communicators. As communicators, while we can, we have a trained eye and we're looking for these things, and we understand how to tell human generated content from AI content that's not always clear to consumers of information. And it makes our jobs a lot harder because at one point, I think we were all battling the battle against social issues and political issues and fighting against mal and disinformation. He also knew that it could come for our clients. But today, it's easier than ever, as I said, with AI bots taking articles and resending them out. And that means your client's quotes could get manipulated. Information about your client can be used in a malicious way. It's very concerning. And I think, if I'm being honest, for myself personally, you feel like you're fighting it and it almost feels like playing a game of whack-a-mole that you're never going to win.

Michelle Kane (07:14):

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it really amps up the reputation management portion of our work, whereas it's like, okay, keep my eye on Google reviews and things that people say and alerts, and now it's like, oh, okay. It's just a whole new sphere of potential influence that can harm clients. And again, I think vigilance is the word of the day is vigilance and just needing to try and stay ahead of this, but knowing that it is happening more and more is a definite good first step to that.

Karen Swim, APR (07:56):

True.

Michelle Kane (07:56):

So that's that. I'll be watching that silly story the rest of the day. I have a feeling it's just in case of, I dunno, they're tripping over themselves. I'm like, whatever.

Karen Swim, APR (08:05):

Well, we've had the photo things called out in the United States as well. There've been incidents with the Kardashians and their bad photo editing and fans have called it out on social media. Yeah, that's not your hand. That's not, and so photos, I would say, listen, the woman had surgery, apparently. Basically, she probably is not looking yet in her best self in a way that she wants to present to the public, but obviously we as PR people know, so just post a collage of old photos or post little from the past. There's so many ways that she could have managed this. She could have posted a photo to say, one of my favorite Mother's Day photos and post something that is not how you look right now in this moment and pretend that it's this year's Mother's Day photo. That was just dumb.

Michelle Kane (09:02):

That was dumb. There's so many different ways to play this. Take a picture of the pretty flowers that William should have bought. You

Karen Swim, APR (09:09):

Just photograph the

Michelle Kane (09:11):

That's true. Yeah.

Karen Swim, APR (09:12):

These are my loves. I mean, come on. There's just a million different ways to have handled that that would've been smarter than getting called out and then letting people spit out. Because even though I don't follow the royal family, I unfortunately cannot escape it when I'm reading news. And so I see these headlines about her being spotted and grainy photos, and I'm like, oh, for Pete's sake, it feels like she is a criminal. It's creepy.

Michelle Kane (09:46):

Well, one thing I did see, which I thought that's like a recipe for a hot mess this morning, saying that, and I guess I knew this on one level, again, it doesn't affect my day to day, but that each house, so to speak, has their own comms team independent of one another. So there really is no united fronts. So you've got the king and the, I can't say queen, the king and his wife have their press, and there's allegedly no uniform coordination. Yes.

Karen Swim, APR (10:21):

I think I had heard that in the

Michelle Kane (10:25):

They need to fix that. They need to fix that.

Karen Swim, APR (10:28):

Does that not speak to a lot of what happens in corporate America as well? There's no unified messaging or teams that people are disjointed. And when you have everyone operating on their own agenda, chaos rains. And so here's a lesson for brands out there, and I know that our solos have to work against these circumstances. In many instances, when you can't speak with a unified voice, you are going to have a problem at some point. And how it shows up can't, we can tell you some examples of how it shows up, but you will have a problem, not you might. You will for sure. Definitely. So it's a good lesson. You can't have that. You can't have everyone operating independently. And it's funny because now you also have the rise, or I should say it's firmly in our culture to have a personal brand. When you're an executive or when you're a rising manager and even just an employee of the company, people have their personal brands.

(11:32):

And sometimes when your brand has elevated enough, you have your own PR person or publicist. You might be writing a book and then you're pursuing your own interests, but you're leveraging your position in your company here too. There should be coordination because if you are a CEO of a company and you have your own PR team for your personal interests, you are still being seen as a representative of your company. So you need to loop in your company's PR team, and you all need to walk in a single step to ensure that you, in promoting your own brand, are not doing damage to the company brand.

Michelle Kane (12:14):

Yes. And so often the pushback that you get or the reaction that you receive is that, oh, you're just trying to control everything. It's like, well, yes and no. Yes. Within reason, because your paycheck is still signed by this entity that you are using, for lack of a better word, to raise your own profile. And yeah, we just need to know, I always say, I don't need to know everything, but I need to know everything. It doesn't mean I'm going to get into micromanage, but absolutely the united front, because that's something that certainly communicates. It could certainly harm your brand if your brand has to scurry after you. And even if it isn't a big mess to clean up, it just doesn't look, it makes the brand look like it doesn't know what it's doing, and that would instill doubt in their product or their service, and nobody wants that.

Karen Swim, APR (13:11):

I agree. Well, Michelle, you watched the Oscars.

Michelle Kane (13:16):

I did. It's my Super Bowl. And it's so funny that the infamous incident, I was sitting there watching this and that thing that happened last year, I thought, wow, was that just last year? It feels like 10 years ago.

Karen Swim, APR (13:30):

It does.

Michelle Kane (13:32):

So nothing like that happened. I don't think anything too crazy happened. At least it didn't register on my radar. It was a pretty mundane night. They ended relatively on time. There were some neat elements of the Hollywood community gathering, and I'm sure much of which were predetermined bits. It was fun to see interesting pairings like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito recreating their twins duo, and both of them having been Batman villains, calling out Michael Keaton in the audience for killing them both.

Karen Swim, APR (14:12):

That's fun.

Michelle Kane (14:12):

And they were going to have a talk at the after party, but the one thing that I really loved was the way they had the presentation of the four major acting awards. They pulled in five previous winners to do the presentation. And so each past winner got a nominee to speak to, and it was really neat. Sometimes there were some connections, and I thought, oh, you're making everyone cry before they even get up there. So that was kind of cool. Then of course, John Cena recreating the streak episode that David Nivan handled with such a plum in the seventies, but that was definitely a bit Jimmy Kimmel had coordinated. He was pretty good at coordinating some bits. So I would say it was relatively uneventful. Of course, I don't know. Anyone who knows me on social media knows that. I think I'm just Ken as an absolute banger of a song, and I get why the Nice song won. But Ryan Gosling brought it's, they did an incredible production number of, I am Just Complete with Mark Ronson, who was a co-writer slash from Roses, and of course Wolfgang Van Halen who was on the recording. So yeah, if you love movies, it was a good night. If you're a nerd like me that loves the history of it all, and oh, that's meaningful because X, Y, Z, it was a good night for you too. I hope so. That was fun.

Karen Swim, APR (15:40):

Well, I saw a couple pictures here and there, and of course I saw the fashion pictures, but you know what was interesting, the Essence Awards, which does not get far,

Michelle Kane (15:51):

No, it doesn't.

Karen Swim, APR (15:51):

Media attention was just a few days ago as well,

Michelle Kane (15:55):

Hit me up.

Karen Swim, APR (15:56):

These ladies brought the looks. They served looks that were incredible and fierce, and what an empowering time for women to come together to celebrate women. It was just, I wish that it got a lot more attention than it does, because this is not just a black woman event. It's just something that everyone can enjoy that you bring together this great talent and hearing from people who were in that room, just how it uplifts them and how everyone leaves feeling more creative and ready to achieve their dreams and fulfilled. And I will say, I don't know, I can't speak for men, but I know for women, period, when we get together and we celebrate one another, there is truly something special about that that leaves you on a high for a long time. We need more of

Michelle Kane (16:51):

That. That is so true. That is so true. And yeah, I don't like that. I have to trip over something like the essence of awards. Well, going through the remote, I love all of it. And what you said is so true because it's funny, I was messaging with a friend who is quite ensconced in her world right now, and she's like, oh, I'm not going to watch, and she's a creative, and I said, I think you really should watch, because people will slag off on award shows. Oh, it's just blah, blah, blah, and they just talk about themselves. I'm like, no, it's inspiring. It's soul food because these people, they share some of their story, many of them as they accept, and it's just a real touch point of Yeah, you're right. That's why we tell stories. That's why we do this. It's not just what are you wearing and who did what with who. It's important because so many of our films and our media are reflections of where we are, who we are, who we want to be, where we want to go. It has value within. Yeah,

Karen Swim, APR (17:56):

I totally appreciate that viewpoint. I've got a really good friend who is a writer and producer, and during the covid time, she encouraged people, even though everything was shut down to continue to write and create, because she saw it as their duty to chronicle history. And it's really such a beautiful thing, whether you're a comedian, whatever you do creatively, you are portraying the times. And even now we look back, we look at old films, we look at old paintings and sculptures, anything that was created in past times, and it gives us into a window, into the culture, into what was happening, the political scene, I'm sure that we'll look back. We look back at previous Oscars and we see the creatives that were unified around causes, we've seen them take stands about social justice and different things. This year, it was the war in Israel, and we see them take a stand, and I do think that you're right. It is important to sometimes, I know we PR people, we live in our world, we live in our industry, we live in the businesses of our clients. We live in the business world, but we should remember that the creative endeavors hold an important place as well, and they really do portray our history right now. So it's important to participate in that and to acknowledge that.

Michelle Kane (19:28):

Yeah, no, could not have said it any better myself. That is so true. So well, we hope this was a bit of a light touch for you today, and we thank you so much for taking the time to listen. If you did get value, please share it around, and of course, please check in with us@soloprpro.com. Check out what that amazing group of people has to offer and what Karen cooks up for us every week with new blog posts, new offerings. So make sure you sign up for the newsletter@soloprpro.com, and until next time, thanks for listening to That Solo Life.

 

Creative PR Strategies in the New Media Landscape

It’s no secret the media landscape is changing and it’s only intensifying the effect on how PR pros do media relations. In this episode we talk about taking the time to evaluate our tactics and get creative  to reach our client’s audiences.

 

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Lettuce is teaming up with Solo PR Pro to offer you a free, game-changing Business Assessment Program. Be one of the first 1,000 savvy PR pros to join.

 

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Join our email list.

 

Transcript

Speaker 1:           Thank you for joining us for this episode of That Solo Life, the podcast for PR pros and marketers who work for themselves, people like me, Michelle Kane, with VoiceMatters and my wonderful co-host, Karen Swim of Solo PR Pro. Hi Karen, how are you doing today?

Speaker 2:           Hello, Michelle. I'm doing good. We are currently in the month of March. I had a client that was asking me for Q1 stuff this week and I'm like, yeah, I'm going to give it to you when Q one's over. And they were like, it's still March. And I'm like, it barely started so that many people are feeling exactly like my client.

Speaker 1:           Yes, yes. I've had to remind myself what month, wait. Oh, okay.

Speaker 2:           It seems to be running over us. It's not that it seems like it's later in the month, it just feels like it's running over us and then backing up in reverse and doing it again.

Speaker 1:           Yeah. Yeah. I wonder if it's that we're just so eager to maybe get through this calendar year for many reasons or maybe just afraid of falling behind. I don't know. There are a lot of factors at work, I think. Yeah, stuff's been a lot. It's been a lot. And to add to that, I mean we talk about this often about how our job is as the storytellers for our clients to really sing their news and their praises and their efforts and how the media landscape has changed. And it's really even changed that I've seen on the hyper-local level that what used to be the extremely low hanging fruit of Yay you gave so-and-so a something, lemme send a picture and it would be an easy get. And it's not so much anymore, which in a way it's been kind of fun to pull back and think, alright, challenge time, how do we get more creative about telling our story to the people we want to see and hear it? So we thought we'd riff about that a little bit because I'm sure many of you out there are experiencing that on a number of levels

Speaker 2:           To say the least. Media relations has undergone a significant shift and a lot of that is really due to the shrinking number of outlets and the lack of money with publications. So in addition to layoffs, there's just fewer publications altogether. And then publications that even used to be free are now charging. So you can get in there if you for a fee, but then that really harms organizations like nonprofits and smaller companies that had a fair shot at doing some of those things. And those publications targeted their audience. I mean, I think the other thing, Michelle, and I'm sure that you're seeing this, is we really do have to take a step back and say, where's our audience at these days? Because it used to be pretty clear cut, but I feel like that is changing so much. And it's because coupled with the shrinking media outlets is that consumers do not trust institutions. They don't trust employers, they don't trust companies, they don't trust media outlets. And so where are people really going for their information,

Speaker 1:           Right? Because we also know that while some may give social media as the easy answer, that's not the complete picture either. There are people that you might think, oh, I bet you're on Facebook who don't have Facebook accounts, or are you doing TikTok? Are you not doing TikTok? So you really do. It's not as simple as it was not too long ago.

Speaker 1:           And I think in many ways, perhaps the answer is in hyper targeting your digital advertising efforts, but that's a whole other conversation for a whole other day. But perhaps even doing that to an extent with your information. I mean one perhaps snooze worthy example is just the small thing of, okay, you have a client that yes, they still want to grow their Facebook page, that's great. But I have found over the last couple of years it's far more effective if I use interesting, informative content than the blah like my page ad. People don't they want. So people want to interact with your information. It's like you say, it's finding them and making sure that we are in front of them and keeping in mind that any given client's audience is in a multitude of different segments at any given time. You've got the casual people, the ready to make a move. People, I don't even know who you are people.

Speaker 2:           And I think it's also important because of all the challenges, more important than ever, this has always been true for PR pros to really take a step back and force their clients to answer the right set of questions. What's my goal with this? I have announcement, and we all know that clients think every announcement is news. A product announcement is not news. That's not something that reporters will be interested in. Product announcement will be interesting if it helps the people who buy your products and services. Yes, they will be interested in new features and new things or people that were looking at you. So potential customers, so who can use that information, your sales team, your customer's teams, and then any outreach that you have to your audience. The media is not always the answer. And PR pros really, I get it. Our clients always see this as this is the thing that's going to change our life. And that's never been true, but it's definitely not true today. I feel like in this day and age, we cannot assume that everybody's on social media. They are not.

Speaker 1:           Right?

Speaker 2:           They really are not including younger generations. This is funny, yesterday I caught 10 minutes of the news. I wanted to see the weather and they were talking about a local trial here and the jury questions and they questioned a juror that was younger and she had not heard about the trial because she doesn't watch or read the news and she's not on social media at all. And they were like, yes, she's not on social media. And they were like the anchor people were shocked.

Speaker 1:           But you know what?

Speaker 2:           Don't think that just because someone is in a demographic that they're on a social media site. Exactly. Facebook too. Facebook usage, I'm sure the daily usage has declined greatly. And if you're targeting people that are making decisions about your product, Facebook is probably not your answer today. It was 10 years ago, but in 2024, it's not the answer. If you already have a nice community there and they do engage with you, definitely you want to nurture that, but you really need to rethink these strategies. The one thing that has consistently over the years been effective and is I believe and underutilized tool is email.

Speaker 1:           I was just thinking that email and even I'm going to say it, direct mail depending where you're, but yeah, I mean your email database, that's your gold mine. Truly, these are the people that I don't care if they want to engage with you, if they hear from you once a year for a special offer depending on what your type of business is or these are the people that have said, yes, I want to hear from you and you own that land, so to speak, and you can really be effective. And

Speaker 2:           Yes, and I mean that means investing in email marketing software. We're not talking about sending emails from your company email account, whether or not a lot of companies still do. We actually want to go to the process because you need to be smart about sending emails. So you don't want to send out an email every day. That's just because people will feel like they're being spammed. You really want to use the analytics, you want to segment your audience types you want to target specifically because you want to really personalize it and tailor it for the members of your audience. So there will people that will gobble up more. There will people that maybe just want to hear from you for certain things. You need to give them options about what they receive. Email marketing software allows you to do that. But when you build a healthy list, you really have such a golden opportunity to really nurture those relationships and really build your audience and you can build community with an email.

Speaker 2:           It's funny because a lot of journalists have turned to Substack and other communities like Substack for that exact same reason. It's very focused, it's very targeted around content and a very specific type of content. It's not the noise of social groups. You really have to opt into this information to receive it and all the content is not free. So keep in mind that there are still ways to reach people today, but you really do need to think about maybe walking away from some of the broader, throw it all on the wall and see what stick strategy and getting down into more niched communities and really refining those processes that still work. And I love email for marketing. I love it. I think we're all missing out on leveraging it for the powerful tool that it remains in 2024.

Speaker 1:           Yeah, I couldn't agree more. And just remembering too, the broader integrated picture of, I forget what the number is these days. Is it 14? 27? How many times does someone have to see something to engage with it, even when asked, oh, so what made you actually contact us? Oh, I saw a billboard. It's like, well, no, we didn't do a billboard, but okay, fair enough. You saw something. So keeping that in mind too. But yeah, I mean these are certainly challenging times and you definitely need to step back and take a look and say, okay, what am I doing? What's working, what isn't? And I would hazard to guess that many of us have clients that are underusing their email marketing tools and they could be using them more to do deeper dives to engage on a deeper level with their base and grow it from there. Because how easy is it to then say, oh my goodness, I got this great piece of information from you, I'm going to forward that to a friend. Boom.

Speaker 2:           Yeah, I see this. The challenges really are an opportunity for PR posts to be more strategic, to really demonstrate the value that they have beyond media relations. And I'm not saying that media relations is dead, it is not. It just different today. And I know lots of public relations consultants who have completely left the profession because media relations and they said it's just too hard. Many of those are not, of course, our members who are well-rounded and very strategic, but I say this for anybody who's out there who really has been just pushing that lever hard because you came out of the traditional agency world and that's what you did. You got hits that it's really time to leverage your full skillset. We believe you have the skills. We know that you do. We know that you know more and you're going to have to really start to counsel your clients a bit differently and really start to make sure that you are forcing them to answer the right questions so that you can develop a strategy that's more robust than just hit, hit, hit, hit, hit.

Speaker 1:           Exactly.

Speaker 2:           That does not.

Speaker 1:           And you know what? The good news that doing this makes us all better at what we do makes the profession better. It will help our clients get better results. And we want to hear from you. What are you thinking these days? What are you experiencing? Tell us@solopro.com and maybe we'll talk about it on a future episode. We'd love to hear some feedback because it's just our brains at the moment. But we do. We so appreciate your time, we appreciate you giving us your ears every week. And please do sign up for the newsletter@soloprpro.com so you know all the goodness that is happening there. And until next time, thanks for listening to that solo life.

 

 

It's Now Time To Give Solo PR Pros Their Respect

Today we’re talking about the challenges we face as self-employed professionals in a world where certain sectors of the business world and governmental policies just don’t get us, favoring traditional employment over independent work. From pricing of tools and products to respecting the value solos bring to the table, it’s time to give solo PR pros our respect.

 

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Transcript

Michelle Kane (00:02):

Thank you for joining us for this episode of That Solo Life, the podcast for PR pros and marketers who work for themselves, people like me, Michelle Kane of VoiceMatters. And my ever steady co-host, Karen Swim with Solo PR Pro. Hey Karen, how are you today?

Karen Swim, APR (00:19):

Hey, Michelle. I forgot how to turn on the recording and use my mic and all those things and it hasn't been that long. Just my brain's all over the place today. Other than that, I'm great. How are you?

Michelle Kane (00:32):

Yeah, if I'm going to be honest, it's a little bit of a discombobulating day. I don't know. I didn't, some days are just like that, right? You make sure you read the email two or three times before you send, just to make sure

Karen Swim, APR (00:46):

I'm telling you. I mean, February is the shortest month, but it is really like it's gotten Napoleon syndrome this year. It's like, yes, I'm short, but I'm the big guy around here. I mean, it's really been shoving us around and showing us who's boss.

Michelle Kane (01:03):

I'm going to show you what's up. You're going to rue the day you talked crap about me.

Karen Swim, APR (01:09):

Yeah, call me the shortest month.

Michelle Kane (01:12):

Yeah, I'll show you. I'm going to stick around for a while. Oh my goodness. Yeah, for real, for real. And I think everyone is feeling it. It's always one of the most difficult months to just get through.

Karen Swim, APR (01:26):

Yeah, and it's short, but boy has it been jam packed and

Michelle Kane (01:31):

Yes, it's a lot.

Karen Swim, APR (01:36):

Yes, I'm ready for a spring break or something. Yeah,

Michelle Kane (01:40):

Well, and of course it has to be rude and be a leap year this year, so it's like I'm even going to add a day. Yeah, take that.

Karen Swim, APR (01:49):

Well,

Michelle Kane (01:52):

How can I flip this? Speaking of Napoleon complexes? No,

(01:56):

No. Maybe a little David and Goliath. Anyway, what we're going to talk about today or attempt to is just how, I don't think economy's the right word, but how our business world is set up really to favor the employed as opposed to the self-employed. We saw that with the pandemic where for the first time ever self-employed people, even though if you're a corporation of someone who is self-employed, you still pay unemployment tax. And yet what for the first time, oh, we could file for unemployment. Oh, well, gee, thank you very much. We too contribute to the economy, whatever. But we see it a lot as solos in the tools we use, and we've talked about that, touched on that before of course, but just how, oh, the enterprise version of this is only $12,000 a month. Well, thanks.

Karen Swim, APR (02:57):

Yeah. So it feels like this is one of the areas of discrimination that we never ever talk about, and it really is discriminatory because it's not just in the pricing, it's really the recognition and respect that many of us choose to be self-employed, and we're going to tackle that whole issue with the Department of Labor very, very soon with an expert. But to put it into context of where we're going with this is from the government. The US government does not like people that are self-employed. They don't understand people who are self-employed. When you say independent contractor, which is a big broad category and definition, the government thinks about Uber drivers and now technicians and other people, they do not think about strategic consultants like us who have really chosen to build a business of one who are very happy working on our own until we aren't, because some people go back and forth, and that is okay too.

(04:07):

So they don't understand, I'm going to say the flavors of independent work, and there's no good definition that takes into account the people who are truly independent and want to be, and the people who might be forced into being contractors because we know that there are a lot of companies out there that quite frankly just don't want to pay people as employees. Nail technicians are a great example, and they're one of the industries that is under target because your nail technicians show up at the same place every day. They have work hours, they're not working for other people, they're not marketing themselves to other people, and yet they are considered contractors. Construction workers is another category, and we could argue about Uber and Lyft because these are people that work on a platform, but even in that category, there are people that truly want to be independent. What you can't do though is say, I want to be an independent contractor. I don't want to work for a company, but I do want benefits and I want to unionize because now you're mixing. So again, the United States has a very murky view of this.

Michelle Kane (05:23):

Yes.

Karen Swim, APR (05:24):

The disrespect continues with how we're treated by companies just all around organizations, when they do content for public relations people, it's largely geared towards people that are employed traditionally, not people like us.

Michelle Kane (05:43):

Right. That's so true. And it's interesting, even as you talk to people who are in larger corporations, well, what do you do? I'm like, well, I run a public relations and marketing agency. Well, what do you mean? I'm like, well, what do you mean? What do I mean? Do I need to have 30 people standing behind me? And what I like to say is, I mean, to be honest, I've done the same job in essence my whole career. And whether that was in an ad agency or leading comms in a nonprofit, whether I'm running up the old metal staircase to my art department in my agency days, or I'm emailing someone saying, Hey, can you jo that over and make the logo bigger? Tell me the difference of what I'm doing. And I did that in varying degrees a little bit as employee, now I run my own company. And it's just interesting just the mental shift, not just amongst perhaps colleagues and acquaintances, but yeah, the government, although they seem to understand it at tax time very well, how you're organized. It's amazing to me.

Karen Swim, APR (06:52):

Technically, it's always a little bit frustrating, for example, when even you go to take some industry surveys and it's all skewed for people who have an employer, and it's like, what about the rest of us who have valid opinions and have experiences? You're not taking into account that we work a little bit differently. And then people automatically looking at us as though we're not businesses. We are, we're entrepreneurs. We founded a company, and it doesn't matter if your company has zero employees, it's still a company, and we don't always get treated that way, but things are not sized for us. So conferences are not sized for us and content is not sized for us. And definitely the price of technological tools are not size for us because these companies forget about a big segment of the public relations and marketing industry by only targeting people that are in these corporations and those big fat dollars.

(08:04):

But sometimes, and we've seen this in Solo PR Pro, which is why we don't do special offers anymore with new companies. We're very, very, very, very, very, very strict about it these days because too many companies have built their company on the back of solos, and so they give you a great price that's priced for us, and then as soon as they get on the map, they raise those prices and forget that we ever existed. I just won't allow that anymore. I just don't go for it. No, thank you. I'm not interested in giving you access to our audience, only for you to snatch the rug from up under us a year from now.

Michelle Kane (08:42):

Yeah, in many ways, I mean, I don't want to sound too pompous here, but in a lot of ways, solos, we experience whatever the next wave is going to be. We experience it first. We're like the college radio of the marketing and PR industry, or Bob, I'm going to stay in our industry silo because I liken it to, Hey, I love my radio station, WXPN in Philadelphia, and I will hear a song on there, songs on there. Next thing you know, oh, suddenly, maybe eight months later I'm hearing this song on satellite or commercial radio and everyone's saying, oh, did you hear that new song? I'm like, WXPN has been playing this for a while. So I see the solos that way, and it's not to be all full of ourselves, but it's because we are the ones, whether we have people working under us or not, we're the ones who experience this stuff first, whether it's something new in social media or just a new way that you have to operate your business. We literally feel the pain or the pleasure of the certain things, whatever the thing is. And so we have that much more experience at running the business because face it, a lot of larger businesses kind of run themselves in many ways,

Karen Swim, APR (10:05):

And the responsibilities are decentralized that everyone doesn't get the perspective of the whole. Whereas as solos, we really do, and we get that insight into organizations as well. And I think that that's a valuable contribution for people to seek out our viewpoint because we do get exposed to more, and it's no slam on people that work in companies. You guys are doing great work, and we respect you as colleagues. Our jobs often though, require us to learn things and to upskill a little bit faster because there isn't anybody that's telling us that we can't. Whereas in corporate America, your career track is often defined by the position you're in, the department you're in, and you're doing that in collaboration with your employer. As a solo, though, we are often the ones that adopt in demand scales very quickly because we have to. We don't have a backup, we don't have a department behind us. It's us. We're a very, very small team. So yeah, again, and with that, sometimes I have attended educational opportunities and the stuff that is being taught is not at our level. And then I think, and I know that that doesn't just pertain to solos, but you want to say, well, what about the seasoned public relations professionals among us employed and self-employed? Are we always only going to scratch the surface at the beginner and mid level and not go above that? And I understand they need to learn as well, but then we want to keep learning and growing as well. And often that's just not taken into account.

Michelle Kane (12:02):

Yeah, excuse me. That's so very true. I mean, even back to what you said about surveys. I can't tell you how many times I've started a survey and I get four or five questions in and I'm like, eh, you're not really talking to me, but I am still, yeah, but I'm still a segment of your audience. So what's up with that?

Karen Swim, APR (12:23):

Right? We want to be sane and we want to be heard. We want to be included. And I think we're past time, and let's be realistic. It is 2024. If the pandemic taught us nothing, it's that people in this country know how to start a business and there are a number of people that want to be in business for themselves. Can we not in this year in age, acknowledge that we exist, that we're economic engines, that we actually create jobs, that we have money, that we spend it, and that we're valuable sometimes being self-employed and then being a woman of a certain age too. I just feel like I'm completely invisible to the world. It seems like no one cares. No one cares about you, girl, you don't matter because you're not our target demographic. I don't care that they don't treat me that way. I'm going to insert myself in the conversation or I'm going to start a whole new conversation anyway, but we solo should not have to build that. I'll also say though, this is exactly one of the reasons why Solo PR Pro exists, because we do see

Michelle Kane (13:31):

You.

Karen Swim, APR (13:33):

This is why we can't create all the technological tools that you need, but we can fight for you

Michelle Kane (13:39):

And validate your experience, validate the idea that you had. If not for Solo PR Pro, I probably wouldn't have been brave enough to take a step forward. It is you and I'll name check her. Gloria Bell, I don't know if you're out there, but I saw her speak on a panel and she had her company at the time, and I thought, oh, she's doing it. And I was at a place where I knew I could see the bottom starting to fall out, where I was the safe space where I was getting paid. And that's another thing that whole experience taught me. Yes. Is it scary being on your own and having your own company sometimes? Heck yeah, but you know what? That direct deposit isn't the a hundred percent surety that you think. But yeah, those two things. And I went, oh, oh, okay. So I'm not a weirdo for having this instinctive notion that maybe this is a possibility. So if you are hearing this, you are not alone. And it does bogle my mind that in a country where we pride ourselves on our whole bootstraps thing and forging out on your own and being an American went really, because in some ways it's like, oh, how is it? Oh, we're not like that. Well, too bad because we're here doing it

Karen Swim, APR (14:59):

Enterprising Americans, but we don't really want you to do enterprising. We want you to be employed because it feels like America's just like an old school rusty model of work in so

Michelle Kane (15:13):

Many control freak ways.

Karen Swim, APR (15:15):

Yeah,

Michelle Kane (15:15):

It's a control freak.

Karen Swim, APR (15:17):

We built this whole tax system, and it's really designed for you to work for a company and just stay there and retire from there and get your gold watch. And I know we don't do pensions anymore, but we need it to be this way. This is how our system works, and we don't want to build a new one, but I say time to build a new one America.

Michelle Kane (15:39):

Wouldn't that be nice? Well, hey, we hope we've inspired you, even made you giggle a little bit because goodness knows we need that. But please do go to Solo PR Pro, check out the ongoing offer from lettuce even though we don't do special offers. There is this opportunity through lettuce. And just get on the mailing list too, because there is good information that will come your way. And please do share us around. And until next time, thanks for listening to That Solo Life.

 

Conflict, Criticism and the Modern Solo PR Pro

On this episode we're chatting about how different generations handle criticism, especially after some Super Bowl ad backlash. We dive into why tough love is key in PR and how it's essential for solo PR pros to get real with clients. Plus, we tackle the big question: How do we teach the next gen these crucial soft skills? Tune in for an honest, straight-talk session on the art of handling the hard stuff in PR.

 

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Transcript

Michelle Kane (00:02):

Thank you for joining us for this episode of That Solo Life, the podcast for PR pros and marketers who work for themselves, people like me, Michelle Kane, with VoiceMatters, and my wonderful co-host, Karen Swim with Solo PR Pro. Hi Karen. It's another week, another beautiful podcast time, not our goodness.

Karen Swim, APR (00:22):

Hi Michelle. I'm doing so well and just glad to be here and been in this time with you and our listeners. How are you doing?

Michelle Kane (00:34):

I'm doing well too. Yes, we're making it through February, which is fantastic. I was just talking to a client and we were both marveling at how it is flying by.

Karen Swim, APR (00:45):

It really is. I cannot believe that next week is the end of February. It's the last week in the month that went so quickly.

Michelle Kane (00:54):

Even with the extra day in it, it's just seems to be just going poof, which is fine.

Karen Swim, APR (00:58):

Yeah.

Michelle Kane (00:59):

It means more daylight for us to soak in and that's good. We've made it through the darkness of the season, so congratulations to all of us. And speaking of how darkness can have an impact, we're going to talk today actually about constructive criticism and how we're kind of sensing a little bit, we're feeling our generation a little bit in light of, I think, Karen, you brought up some comments over on LinkedIn about some Super Bowl ads and just some of the pushback that would you say, is it Gen Z mainly? What were you finding?

Karen Swim, APR (01:43):

Yeah, it's interesting. So there was some criticism of Super Bowl ads and for a certain generation of us it's like, okay, that's normal, right? Come in the marketing industry, push back at the criticism saying, let's all be kind. These people work so hard and it's the biggest stage, blah, blah, blah. And then another person of a different generation, older, not maybe a millennial, stepped up and said something completely different. Basically like Boohoo, get over yourself. And I thought that her point was well taken and I immediately saw that these were generational differences. So all of the people that were team know criticism were younger and all of the people that brought up the point of criticism is beneficial.

Michelle Kane (02:42):

Yeah, absolutely. Were older

Karen Swim, APR (02:44):

And it made me think about how this plays out in the PR profession, what it means to our clients and what it means to this new generation of practitioners.

Michelle Kane (02:57):

Yeah, that's very true because I mean, let's be honest, part of our job as PR practitioners is to be that voice of honesty, to bring the stark realism in, even if it's just to prepare people for the landscape they may face. I always borrow, I borrow a line from Billy Bragg and say, I am that little black cloud in a dress. That's my job. I'm not saying that I'm not coming at you to be negative or to put a downer on our efforts, but just this is the component that we need to keep in mind in everything we do that might happen. Yeah, it's

Karen Swim, APR (03:36):

Important. I love that line. That is such a perfect line, and I know it seems a little morose, but it cannot be more true for us as communicators that we have to deal in reality and we have to tactfully deliver news and we have to be honest with our clients because that trust is sacred. And as strategic advisors, we're not looking at just the now, we're looking ahead. We're looking at all of the around every corner where people may not think to look. And I think that this failure to understand that criticism is valuable, criticism sharpens, you can take insights for criticism, but we have generation of kids that grew up being shielded. So you talk about bad things, everybody got participation trophies and everybody's nice, and I'm all for being kind. So we're not talking about trolls and hatred. What we're talking about is criticism that's necessary.

(04:53):

When you put anything out into the world, it will be judged. That's part of the creative process. It really is. And so as a company, would you want to produce a product or service, have no one say anything about it that's negative, but then have it bomb and you have no idea why? Because no one spoke up. Well, I'm seeing this generation that just cannot confront the hard thing. So we see this play out in our business development landscape for PR professionals. I hear this all the time about clients ghosting you or potential clients ghosting. You have a meeting, maybe you have a couple of meetings, you talk through their needs. You put together what you discussed on paper in the form of a proposal, and then crickets forever.

(05:46):

Often it's because they can't afford the budget, but they're afraid to say that. So they just don't say anything and they just don't talk to you. Well, and it also deprives that PR professional of the courtesy of understanding what the market landscape really is. If somebody presents something to you for a particular price, you've deprived them of the opportunity to walk you through it, the opportunity to examine their own services and how they're presented and whether or not their pricing makes sense for the marketplace. And it also deprives you of the opportunity for them to do a scope of work that actually fits your needs a little bit better. So you have just decided to look at one component and then walk away because it's too hard to talk about.

Michelle Kane (06:41):

Yeah, and there's so much value in talking about it because, okay, well, tell me why you think this is too much and how can we still achieve results for you perhaps at a different price point or taking a different tactic. There are always usually, unless the budget is just ridiculously low ways to be of service, and it's a shame both sides are missing out on that.

Karen Swim, APR (07:07):

It is really sad. And managing conflict is such a fundamental tool for human beings, period. Life is not all rainbows and sprinkles. It is not. And you cannot simply say nothing all of the time. It does not work. It does not serve you and it does not serve others. And I wish that we would take this communication void seriously within the PR profession. And those of us who are more experienced and companies need to recognize this too, you need to be, begin to teach the soft skill sets to your next generation of workers. Do not assume that they have these skill sets. They do not. They cannot write business emails. They do not know these things. Does that mean that they're not smart? Of course not. They're brilliant, but they just don't have these soft skills. And so I think it's on us to ensure that we train them and that we as an older generation teach them how to tackle the difficult things and the difficult conversations. I am sure we've all had experiences, I've had this with the younger workers who are so eager to say that they can do things, that you ask questions and they say they can do it, and they don't have a clue because they're afraid to say, I don't know how to do that, so that you can actually teach them and walk them through it. We've got to get past this because it is going to be disastrous for the workforce if we don't address this issue.

Michelle Kane (08:45):

That is so incredibly true, and I love what you said about setting projects up to fail, especially something as massive and as high budget and high spend as a Super Bowl spot. I mean, those are high, high stakes. And to spend all that time and energy on something that whether you don't realize is going to just bomb out or you know it, but I can't say it. Oh my goodness, that's not going to end well for anyone. It's going to be so demoralizing to you. And also please, as you are going about practicing the craft to public relations, we've got to keep our industry in mind. How does that present as our profession of what we do? I mean, we especially need to have the capability to have those hard conversations. And it doesn't have to be, it's like they say, oh, it took me five seconds to do that task. I've been putting off for five months because I thought it would take five hours. It's kind of like that a lot of time. Those hard conversations that's going to earn you more respect with your clients. They may be relieved that you brought it up. And the point is, it is coming from your caring about the work, your caring about how the client is going to look. So even though it may feel like a negative thing, it may feel like the most uncomfortable, the thing you've ever done. It really is going to lead to a positivity of better work, more progress.

Karen Swim, APR (10:39):

I will tell you that clients absolutely will respect you for standing up for what is right and looking out for the reputation. Not every client is going to like it. Not every client is going to accept your advice. And so there's having the heart conversation, but then also learning how to navigate the solution. So you have to understand how to pick your battles, but you can't understand that if you're never addressing tough things. This is just part of the job and you become better and better at it. So clients will push back, they will tell you, no, I want this, and you can give them your professional counsel and then you have to make some decisions. How important is this? Is this like a fundamental no-No, that we absolutely will not do it. We cannot do it. I'll give you an example. If your client wants to quote someone in print, but they want it to be anonymous, we already know that's not going to fly with reporters unless you're talking in the political arena, deep Russian secrets, murder investigation. But in the business realm, that's not going to fly. You can't have somebody that's an anonymous or a made up name. I've confronted all of these issues over my career once had someone that said, oh, this person is willing to be quoted, but can we just use a fake name? No, we cannot. No.

(12:04):

So let's not quote that. So that was an absolute no, no, I am not doing that. If a client wants you to break the law or do something unethical, obviously you're not going to do that. But you're not going to go to the math over a semicolon or over a headline. That is not the greatest. But it doesn't break any rules. There are just some battles you have to choose because this is the negotiation of a client relationship. But again, have those conversations and I think people, they misunderstand difficult conversations with fighting. You're not fighting. Exactly. It's not ugly. It doesn't even have to be, we're not talking raised voices. We're talking being a professional and understanding that in this role, you're not always going to get agreement. And the more that you advance in your career and as you begin to lead people, whether you're in an official leadership role or not, I promise you, because this is something else.

(13:15):

I've seen this trend of the younger generation, not aspiring to be managers, but please understand that leaders are not always leaders by title. You can be leaders by virtue of the way that people listen and respect you, your experience in the field. And so as you advance in your career, whether you have an official leadership title or not, you will be a leader. And these are still issues that you'll have to learn to navigate. You can't just go through your career in your life just going along to please and never saying anything that conflicts with someone else's opinion.

Michelle Kane (13:51):

Yeah. In fact, that could lead to some disrespect to be completely honest.

Karen Swim, APR (13:55):

Most definitely. And if you are a woman in the workforce or any other ethnicity,

Michelle Kane (14:04):

Yes, yes, exactly.

Karen Swim, APR (14:06):

This is something you don't want to do. And I know that women who stand up for themselves and speak their opinions are often regarded negatively. But I will tell you this, I would rather be respected than popular

Michelle Kane (14:21):

Any day.

Karen Swim, APR (14:21):

This is not a popularity contest. I love my clients. I am committed to them. I will not work with someone if I do not respect them, the individual, the people that I will be working with in addition to the organization. So I'm going to fight for you. I'm going to fight to make sure that we are excellent, that we are buttoned up, and that we do everything that we can to safeguard the trust that your customers put into you. And so that means I'm looking out for you, and if I give you counsel, it's coming from a place of me as a strategic advisor, understanding something that you may not, this is my area of expertise and that's why you hired me. So realize that too. Your employer, your clients, they hired you, not so that you could just say yes to everything or be nice. Oh, okay, I'm going to do that. They hired you to do your freaking job.

Michelle Kane (15:18):

It's hard, Karen. It's hard. And you know what? It's hard some days.

Karen Swim, APR (15:22):

Some days

Michelle Kane (15:24):

You have, but you have to stand your ground and stand up for the right way to move forward. Not that you're always going to be battling something that's unethical, but just if you've made it to the point where you are working as a professional in public relations or communications, you have what you've had, what it takes to get you to that point. So trust that, trust that instinct. And I know it can be very difficult in a world where increasingly sometimes it feels like our profession is not regarded as a profession on par with other professions that have designations. And even though there is a designation in public relations, but hopefully my point's coming across so I get it, but we are every bit the professionals. We know our world, and even though other people dabble in our world that does not make them expert and trust, there are things they haven't thought of and are things they would never even have considered. That to us comes firsthand. So try it. We're going to challenge. If you're in that generation, we're going to challenge you to try it. It'll feel good, it'll be scary, but you know what? I call those a good scared. Take a step into the good scared. And if you're looking for a community that will help guide you, shameless self-promotion, plug segue,

(16:53):

Sign up for the newsletters@soloprpro.com, join the community because that is where I call it the ultimate staff meeting. It is a safe space where we can ask what we might feel is a dumb question or we can say, Hey, I'm facing this situation. I'm really unsure how to handle it. I'm not comfortable. Have you ever experienced this? What did you do? You'll get such wise and supportive counsel, it will blow your socks off.

Karen Swim, APR (17:24):

Agreed. It is a really spectacular community of peers that are not just takers, but givers. And there is a wide range of experiences. And so it really is unique in that you don't have people that are confined to just certain industries. There's wide ranging areas of expertise. Us and I could not ask for a greater group of people to hang out with. And so yes, please. I of course selfishly would love for you to join solo pr, but we also would love it if you told people about this podcast that is geared to communication professionals. We've been doing this for what, Michelle? 300 episodes or so?

Michelle Kane (18:12):

We're getting there. This might be 237. Yeah,

Karen Swim, APR (18:14):

So this is not a fly by night operation. We are committed, we are passionate, and we have been consistent in broadcasting week after week after week. And we still love it today as much as we did on episode one, and we hope that you do too. We're always open to topics that you want to see covered, guests that you may want to have appear. I would say stay tuned in March. We have, oh my God, I'm so excited about guests that we have in March and the things that are going on talk about March Madness. It is just going to be a huge celebration. So please, please share it your episodes. We put them out on social media as well. So if you could follow us on social and share, we would so appreciate it.

Michelle Kane (19:03):

We absolutely would. And we thank you and we value the time you give us each week. So until next time, thanks for listening to That Solo Life.

 

Trend Chasing, Taylor Swift and Why Everyone Needs to Calm Down

In this episode, Karen and Michelle discuss the pitfalls of blindly following trends in the PR and marketing world. It’s important to keep strategies aligned with a brand's core values and mission. “Going viral” is not a meaningful goal if it doesn’t translate into meaningful engagement or revenue.  

 

Special Offer:

Lettuce is teaming up with Solo PR Pro to offer you a free, game-changing Business Assessment Program. Be one of the first 1,000 savvy PR pros to join.

 

Transcript

Michelle Kane (00:17):

Thank you for joining us for this episode of That Solo Life, the podcast for PR pros and marketers who work for themselves. People like me, Michelle Kane, with VoiceMatters, and as ever, my wonderful co-host, the Karen Swim of Solo PR Pro. Hi Karen, how are you today?

Karen Swim,, APR (00:35):

Hi, Michelle. I'm nice and dry, which I understand is not the case with many across the country.

Michelle Kane (00:41):

So true. This is true.

Karen Swim,, APR (00:43):

How are you?

Michelle Kane (00:44):

I'm well. I'm well. By the time this airs though, this will have been at least a week or so ago, but we're in the midst of February, which shouldn't be a surprise that you get a big dump of snow, but it was definitely one of those storms that was supposed to be a nothing that turned into a something which always shakes up the day. I am spinning this for myself in that the cover of snow is making this rare sunshine that much brighter. So I'm soaking all that in.

Karen Swim,, APR (01:09):

Yeah, and the sunshine has definitely been rarer. This year I went ahead and invested in a happy light for myself because I was being affected by January where we had endless days of gray, dreary dark zero sunshine.

Michelle Kane (01:26):

Yes, yes. That is a wise investment. I had one of those and it broke, and I've yet to replace it, but given that I have a dark sense of humor, I'd make myself chuckle that even my sad lamp broke. I love that you call it a Happy Lamp. What do you do when sad lamp breaks.

Karen Swim,, APR (01:46):

Well, you replace it.

Michelle Kane (01:51):

Oh my goodness. So yes, being that, oh goodness, we're at that wonderful time in winter where we're smack between the Super Bowl and the Oscars.

Karen Swim,, APR (02:03):

Yes.

Michelle Kane (02:03):

Which for some is our own Super Bowl, but that's a topic for another day. But it brings to mind trends. Clients will see something that has hit the pop culture psyche in a way that everyone's talking about it, and next thing you know, we want to do something like that too. How can we take advantage of this? And I said that in that particular tone because it's not always appropriate, is it?

Karen Swim,, APR (02:31):

That's so true. And of course we have all had those clients that maybe saw something go viral and they want you to do something for them that will make them go viral. Of course, we all know as communication professionals, just as we can never guarantee media placement unless it's a paid opportunity, paid ethical opportunity that we can't guarantee whether something will go viral or not. No one knows what will go viral. That's sort of the surprise and the fun of it all is that you never know what's going to grab hold. And by the way, going viral doesn't always necessarily translate into revenue. It can translate into a fun moment. So I do think that for professional communications people as well as marketers, it's important to sort of have a framework that you can share with clients like a decision tree. And we talked about this before as it relates to social justice issues and things that are happening in the external world, you have a series of questions that you can work through, so that helps the client to become a little bit logical about whether or not this is something that they should tap into.

Michelle Kane (03:49):

I love that. I love that it brings to mind, I had the pleasure and good fortune a few years ago to sit through a nonprofit board training as far as creating your vision, your mission, and the most important of all was just bringing home the point of viewing everything through that lens. Because whether it's a nonprofit or a corporation and you're trying to think of marketing ideas, if it doesn't pass the muster of passing through that lens of let's say in this situation, what are your goals for your public relations? Then even if it's the best idea in the world, that might be fun. If it's not going to solve for one of your distinct goals, you may want to say, yeah, it would be great if we put time and energy into this, but is it really going to be the best use of our resources? Is it going to really provide what we're looking for?

Karen Swim,, APR (04:44):

I love that. That is such smart advice, and it's interesting because we as PR pros, we love tapping into trends and we love spinning analogies and we'll take a metaphor and we will metaphor it to death and it's fun. I mean, that kind of stuff is really fun. We've even done it at Solo PR Pro, but for your brands, again, when it's business, and really you have to really first of all look at your audience. So if you're tapping into, we just were off the Super Bowl and it's all about Taylor Swift, unfortunately because Swift was not one of the players. I'm just saying, so you saw millions, she's not so many articles on Taylor Swift and the Taylor showed Craft and Taylor Swift, this and Taylor Swift that and Taylor, Taylor, Taylor Taylor. But if your brand is a investment firm, is that going to really matter to their audience? And so I think that it's always important to take a step back and to think about who you are as a brand and help your clients to own who they are because that's step one of all of your communications. It's really having mission, vision and values and being true to that, even if that means ignoring trends because trends are trends and people are entertained, but we're seeking to do more than entertain. We're seeking to actually engage people and we're actually seeking to move the needle where people do business with us.

It’s a different lens that we're viewing it from. Have fun and yes, it's fun. You can go on TikTok and your CEO can dance, but are people going to trust them with their investments just because you dance? Will they love it? Will they share it? Maybe.

Michelle Kane (06:36):

Because let's face it, if it's not received well or if you kind of bomb, then that's a whole new problem. I will say one thing I'm seeing in the past week or so, and again, those that are jumping on it are doing it well and it's timely and it makes sense. I don't know if you're seeing these, but the series of Valentine cards that are arranged themed according to the brand. So the Philadelphia Orchestra did a series and it's like based around the kiddie Valentines, simple things. And it's like “You are on my Listz” using composers, or the best one today I sell is from the National Park Service. Something like, you give me a kick and it's a figure of a buffalo hoisting someone into the air. I mean, they're funny, they're timely, they align with the brand, they give you a chuckle. Something like that I think as far as I've seen, has been pretty successful. Now do you need to do those? No. Am I going to run out and make my client do these? No, because first of all, it's too late. And second of all, we have other things to do that will, like you say, move the needle.

Karen Swim,, APR (07:45):

So I love some of the customizable trends that I think that those, like what you just described, it's clearly it's a holiday here in the United States. And if your brand is somebody that recognizes holidays, tapping into some of those thematic trends that can be customized to your brand are perfectly okay. So that should go on your decision framework. Is this a seasonal or some observance that is recognized by our entire audience? And if so, are we just doing it to have a little fun with that particular observance or to bring awareness to that observance? Then those things are yes. And again, it's all about setting expectations. And your client is using this as a moment to either inform, educate, or entertain your intended audience in a way that's on brand. Then maybe it is something that you tap into. I will say we have all of these things that happened in the start of the year. We also, it's still February and I believe this will still air in February. It's a black history month.

Michelle Kane (08:53):

Yes.

Karen Swim,, APR (08:53):

This is one of those trends that you don't want to just ride the coattails up and start all of a sudden sharing Martin Luther King quotes, particularly if your organization is not diverse, knows nothing about diversity, is not doing anything to move the needle on diversity, please just opt out. And I can say that this is one of those months that you can isolate rather than be inclusive. Maybe this month it's better for you to learn and to be silent. I would honestly rather you be silent than to screw it up. Same with any of Women's history month. If your entire company is all men and you're not doing anything to advance, women probably want to stay out of the public facing promotions, actually fix the problem. I would love it if you all would do that. The problem

Michelle Kane (09:50):

That's so perfect though, because it really brings to the forefront of mind. If you don't have something to contribute in a positive way, black history month fun trend, then just don't. That's okay. But please just don't do it because you feel like you have to be in the room of conversation about things. If you truly have nothing to contribute and you're just doing it to be a face value contribution, it's again, your time and energy is better spent elsewhere, including yes, learning and becoming more diverse.

 

Karen Swim,, APR (10:31):

And I know that some people, some leaders and some organizations are critical of what they refer to as the easily offended era. So they feel like there's so many landmines. We can't say that anymore. We can't do this anymore. But I want to put that in context as well. And here's how you can help your clients navigate these potential landmines. You are right. Many more landmines exist today, seemingly, although there's always been an etiquette that we all followed in communications and in behavior throughout our entire history. There's always been rules, there's always been cultural things. But today the awareness is particularly heightened because we have so many ways of sharing information and you're exposed to so many more people. When we didn't have the internet, our day-to-Day interactions were really limited to in-person interactions. So you office and whatever makeup of your office, that's what you were exposed to.

(11:34):

You didn't have a lot of outside opinions. All of your customers could not get on a social media platform and do a video about your product. And so you don't hate those things. You love it. I'm sure the pink stuff loved it when they had been making products forever and suddenly this little clean influencer, not for money just said, I love this. And she was talking about it and it went completely viral. Did they say that? Gosh darn internet, it put us on the map and we've been doing this forever. No. So you can't rage against the machine that give it because that same machine will take it. And these landmines are opportunities for us to become better educated about how to be better at speaking with our audiences, but also not isolating groups of people as we have done in the past. So I don't think that this is a bad thing.

(12:28):

I think that this is all a great thing and it's just awareness, right? And I think at the core of what we're talking about today, we know this as communicators, it's all about encouraging your clients to be true to their brand, to be true to who they really are. Authenticity, that big word that we throw around a lot really brains here. If you're authentic, you don't have to observe a single holiday, but if the content that you produce on any communication channel is truly you, it's representative and it's seeking to add value to your audience, you really can't go wrong. Will you possibly make someone mad? You will. No. Getting around that in 2024, someone will be mad, even if it's the greatest thing in the world. People are mad at Elma,

Michelle Kane (13:20):

Right? Yeah, exactly. There are people who just love to be contrary as a hobby. So we always used to say, if that happened with anything we did, well, we've done our job. We've made them happy by allowing them to express their misery.

Karen Swim,, APR (13:35):

Yes, I love that.

Michelle Kane (13:39):

But it's so true. So I think self-awareness goes a long way for your brand. And like you say, knowing who you are, how you want to present yourselves, you do not have to be everything to everyone because not everyone is into your brand. And that goes, if you're a popular soda brand or even the bigs, not everybody's for you. And that's all right, but

Karen Swim,, APR (14:06):

Just I think we all have to get back to the idea that why is everybody wanting to be famous? There's a downside to fame. And so that's really not our business proposition. I'm going to make you famous. No, you only need to be known by the people that matter to your purpose, your mission, your organization, period. No one else has to know your name. You don't have to be famous. You don't have to be a viral sensation to matter in this world. And if we could sort of dial it down from that and back up and say, what are we really trying to do here? What are we trying to accomplish? It really would make the work of communication professionals a lot easier. So that little message is for anyone who may not be in the comms business, please don't put these expectations on your communication professionals that are just trying to do their job and do the right thing and have plans that make sense and be strategic on your behalf. We know what to do if you'll let us do it.

Michelle Kane (15:11):

Right. And it all comes down to vanity metrics. I mean, how many times I like to think these days are over, but probably not. But the clients that are saying, oh, look at all the Facebook likes this account has, I was like, yeah, okay. How many of them are bought? How many of them actually do business with them? I don't care if they have 12,000 likes, if only 1000 of those are actually potential customers. It's just numbers. Yeah. And let's face it, most of the time going viral, like that example you gave is total serendipity. And how did that happen? Because that company was leading with who they are and how they help people, and that is what caught fire.

Karen Swim,, APR (16:02):

So

Michelle Kane (16:03):

I mean, there it is.

Karen Swim,, APR (16:04):

An influencer from the UK did not get on the internet and say, my mission in life is to become famous and to put pink stuff on the map. She just liked to clean. And people found that deeply satisfying to watch someone cleaning, and she was sharing what she was using and it took off. I mean, I think the folding lady, I love the folding lady. The folding lady is my stress reliever. I don't think that she started folding. Let me learn how to become an expert in folding so that I can be completely famous. She just shared something that she genuinely loved to do with people on the internet because we can do that these days. And so yeah, I do a lot of stuff that I love and that I'm happy to do and pass on information. And I've never been a viral sensation, and that's okay. I'm okay with that.

Michelle Kane (16:58):

Exactly. No, no one wants to be a virus these days anyway,

Karen Swim,, APR (17:01):

Yes,

Michelle Kane (17:02):

I might have to check out the folding lady because if I ever conquer a fitted sheet, it will be a miracle.

Karen Swim,, APR (17:11):

She folds fitted sheet as beautifully as my mother did, and that is something amazing compliment that I can possibly give her.

Michelle Kane (17:18):

That’s a gift.

Karen Swim,, APR (17:19):

So beautiful. Everything she folds is so beautiful, and I love her. And whenever I pull out my own folding board, I think Thank you folding lady.

Michelle Kane (17:29):

I love it. Well, Karen, do you have anything to tell our listeners about what's happening at Solo PR Pro?

Karen Swim,, APR (17:35):

I do. I'm so happy to be able to share some news because it feels like forever, since we've had news and we're doing something very special with the lettuce and it's lettuce.co, we will have the address in the show notes where they have made a special offer where the first 1000 solopreneurs to sign up for this will get a free business audit. So Lettuce is a company that will help you to manage your business finances in a way that makes sense to all of us and it's app base. No privacy concerns here, but hop over to the link in the show notes and register for your freebie because it's free, but they're only taking a thousand people. But we also, they've also agreed to do a little workshop for us on escorts and how to go from a solo proprietorship to an S corp, which is great, whether you've been in business for a long time and you started as an LLC or you're thinking of starting your business, or you just started your business because they're going to walk us through some of the benefits and what it means to be become an S corp. And there are tons of benefits to it that many people may not be aware of. So please follow us, subscribe to our channel, sign up for our newsletter, and we'll have this information in the show notes for you. And we hope to just continue to bring you things that are meaningful to you in your business.

Michelle Kane (19:02):

I love that. And Karen and I, we love chatting like this all the time, but ultimately we want this to be helpful for you. So let us know at solopro.com. If you do find these episodes valuable, please share us around your socials. We're not asking you to make us viral, although we won't complain, but we would love that if you would share us around. And until next time, thanks for listening to That Solo Life.

 

 

Small Budget PR

The whole point of operating as a solo PR pro or small agency is the ability to build the business that is right for you. But let's face it, there are many people out there who are only going to be comfortable with a certain budget level. In this episode, we want to help you to think creatively about when someone comes your way and they maybe don't have the budget that you desire.

 

Bonus: information about the exciting Solo PR Pro offer courtesy of Lettuce.

 

Transcript

Michelle Kane (00:03):

Thank you for joining us for this episode of That Solo Life, the podcast for PR pros and marketers who work for themselves, people like me, Michelle Kane, with The VoiceMatters and my ever wonderful co-host, Karen Swim of Solo PR Pro. Hello, Karen. We're here. It's another wonderful episode.

Karen Swim, APR (00:22):

We are here in the dead of winter, but thankfully here, the sun is shining today. How are you doing, Michelle?

Michelle Kane (00:31):

I'm doing well. Sun is shining here as well in southeastern Pennsylvania, thank goodness. And what are we, I forget what the name of it is, but we're technically at the halfway point, so spring is on its way. I believe the Phillies equipment truck is leaving for Clearwater today for spring training.

Karen Swim, APR (00:53):

That’s nice.

Michelle Kane (00:54):

We had Phil doing his thing a couple weeks ago and that's all well and good. He predicted in early spring. But the true mark for us, Philly people is when the truck leaves baseball's on its way,

Karen Swim, APR (01:08):

Baseball is on its way. And you know what? That is good news for all of us because we look forward to spring the new season with hopefully some milder weather and longer days. So that's good. Yay. Baseball.

Michelle Kane (01:23):

That’s good. It's good.

Karen Swim, APR (01:25):

Right. The start of our baseball season is typically a bit nippy, sometimes snowy, but it's okay because we know that when baseball starts up, spring is on the way.

Michelle Kane (01:37):

Yes, and we'll be complaining about the heat soon enough. But when I think of spring, I think of opportunity and that's a bit of what we're going to talk about today because sometimes you're presented with client work, a client who has, it sounds like it's going to be a great project to work on. You really want to help them because if PR people, most of us, we love to just help people, but we also need to make money and sometimes the budget's not the best fit. So we're just going to chat about how you maneuver that, how you might make that work for you, or how you just might say maybe next time.

I know we have often had those situations where, and I know it's crossed my path as well, where you'll be presented with a budget that's just like, it's just a no, it's a non-starter. You'll have those $500 tire kickers who say, well, my budget's very small. I either don’t know what it's, or well, last time we had $500. And you think, no, first of all, we recommend, unless God forbid, unless you have an electric bill that's overdue, don't do that to yourself. And secondly, my point of view with that is always I can't do the job you need for that low of a budget. So you're better off.

Karen Swim, APR (03:08):

And I think one of the things that we want to make sure that we do on this show is we want to always be upbeat, positive and support you in having the business that you want to have. And so I want to be clear that we are never about hustle culture or you have to want to be a millionaire. That is not us at all because we want you to be happy and that definition of happiness is different for all of us, but we also want you to value the work you do and the expertise that you bring to the table. But let's face it, there are many people out there who are only going to be comfortable with a certain budget level. So we want to help you to think creatively about when someone comes your way and they maybe don't have the budget that you desire.

Are there creative things that you can do without selling yourself short? So perfect example, $500 of course, please don't be out there running PR campaigns for $500, but can you consult with the client? Can you do an hour long conversation and provide some recommendations? That doesn't mean that those recommendations are then followed by some big PowerPoint or big report. They would have to pay for that. But is that something that you can offer them for a $500 budget? If somebody has a couple thousand dollars, can you write a press release for them and say, listen, I can't really pitch for this amount, but here's something that I can do. So it's okay. I don't want anyone to feel bad when you are just wanting to take projects that might be easy for you to do, but do it within. The one thing that we always preach in Solo PR Pro is that you should never negotiate your rate.

Whatever your minimum rates are, don't negotiate those, but you can negotiate a scope of work. So yes, even within a very small budget, sometimes there are things that you can do. Now, these are individual decisions. What I highly recommend is that you have your own rate sheet, and it doesn't have to even be shared publicly, but putting something in writing, having a typed rate sheet, maybe you post it in your office somewhere or have it on your computer of your minimum project budget, of your minimum hourly. What is your hourly rate? Knowing that and having it written down and designing your business around those things. User rate calculators, solo PR pro has resources. There are lots of rate calculators out on the web. MBO partners has one that you can utilize so that you're factoring in your overhead expenses. We forget about that. Remember, you've got to pay taxes, you've got to buy business insurance, you have to take care of your entity, you need to have savings for your business, you need to pay yourself all of those things.

Sometimes people are not charging enough to really allow them to live. You are putting yourself in a hole. So having what you need to live and what you need to pay your bills and take care of your business written down, gives you those boundaries. And then you can make decisions smartly when people come to you with a lower budget about, okay, what can I really do for that? If anything? And if you cannot help them, that's okay too. It's okay to say no, but we wanted to address this because again, we talk a lot about upping your budget and how to sell yourself into those bigger accounts, but we don't often talk about is there something that you really can do with small budgets and small projects? And yes, the answer is absolutely.

Michelle Kane (07:15):

Yeah. And you might choose to engage for a number of reasons and it could be this person that's contacting you has business relationships with other people you'd like to know you. That could be it. And I'm a massive fan of scaling to the budget. It's like, okay, well we can scale it to this and it'll still be effective for you. Anything beyond that? No. But if I can be of help to you and I still receive payment for my value, that's absolutely true. And I loved what you said about have a rate sheet, even if it's not something you publish or want to make known publicly, that's a promise to yourself. And it's a reminder in these times where you might look, because look, days are busy, we have distractions, we have deadlines. We might just get stuck and think, oh no, I really want to, and now I have to think about it.

And energy drain, energy drain, energy drain. Do you have that rate sheet that you can pull up and go, no, this is what I do and this is how much I will do it for. If we can make this work great if not, and that's okay. And I know we've been talking lately about, it's interesting. I personally have been finding a power in saying no, that no longer interests me having to twist myself into a pretzel to accommodate something that may not serve me entirely. I'm going to take a pass on that and that's fine. You never know what that is going to free you up for around the corner.

Karen Swim, APR (08:55):

Yeah, I will say it's that leaning into the power of no and really looking out for yourself is something that we don't all start off in business with, right? Because we feel some people, you're new when you're a new entrepreneur and you almost feel like you're at the mercy of others. But really learning to take care of yourself and your business just as everybody else takes care of themselves and their business is truly empowering. I also want to make sure that we caution you that whatever budget levels you're working at, it is so crucial to have a very defined scope of work. And if a client comes to you with a small budget and you decide that you have a scope of work that can fit that, don't be afraid. First of all to say that is below what I normally do for PR work.

I can do this for you, but I cannot do these things for you. If you want these things, I'm happy to do them, but they cost X and quote them your rate so that they understand. It's also important to not only set the client's expectations but your own. Do not ever take on a small tiny project that's below your minimum rates, devaluing yourself doing a bunch of work by saying, well, I can grow the account 90% of the time. That's not true when somebody hires you for cheap and trust me, they know that it's a budget rate because people are not stupid as to what PR costs. Not all the time. There's too many other people out there and they may have gotten to other people and gotten quotes and then they happen upon you kind sold who's willing to give it to them on the cheap, cheap.

People don't pay more money. They just don't. That's almost like telling somebody who shops religiously at the dollar store, you know what? I want you now to go and pay retail prices. They're not going to do it because they're cheap. And let's face it, there are clients out there who are just cheap and they're price conscious and they are never going to pay you more money. So you will be stuck in this cycle of somebody who constantly wants to pay you on the cheap. So set your own expectations. If you take on something, fix the scope of work, stick to it, put it in writing, set the expectations about what you can actually do for that budget and don't move off of that. And if they ask you to do more, then charge them more and let them know it'll cost more.

Michelle Kane (11:39):

Sorry, go ahead.

Karen Swim, APR (11:41):

No, I mean that's important.

Michelle Kane (11:44):

Yeah. There's another factor to this too. Maintaining parity within our industry. When we start lowering our prices just to meet a specific need, that's a detriment to all of us across the board, especially in this world where I'm sure many of you out there have had this have where people think, oh, I post to social media. I have ai, I can do your job, we can all this is a profession. And if you don't have your a PR and if you work more in integrated comms, no, we're not licensed like teachers. We don't have a doctor in front of our name. But it is a valuable skill laden experience season requiring profession. And one way to combat against reducing that or minimizing that is to charge what we as industry peers are worth charge what the work is worth.

Karen Swim, APR (12:54):

Yes. And I mean, here's the thing I love, love, love what you just shared because that is a good consideration. And many of us advocate for pay parity, for gender pay parity

Also, which is, our industry is overwhelmingly female. Think about as a whole what you do when you devalue yourself, you bring down the entire profession, as you said, we have to stop letting people believe that somehow when you hire a smaller agency that you're getting budget rates, budget pop, budget, Betty, we are not that also you said it, you hit it on the nose, people are not paying you for the task. Stop making yourselves tacticians. They are paying you for the depth and breadth of experience that you bring for the value that you offer, which is not just an hourly rate. And if I were honest over the years, I've talked to far many small business owners, n PR and out, who basically would make more money if they went to go work for Burger King because when you look at what they're doing per hour, their hourly rates, you would be better off.

Listen, you can go get a job at Target these days for $25 an hour. You would make more money, you would take home more pay, but you don't even realize it because you're not doing that calculation for yourself and you're undercutting yourself. You're doing so much. There are people out there, I'm just going to throw out a number, charging $2,000 a month for pr. They're doing media relations, they're writing press releases, they're writing bylines, they're managing social media, and they're meeting with the client for an hour. I want to tell you that I'm not trying to make you guys feel bad, and I'm not trying to value you, and I'm not saying that I don't want you to feel bad about the budget, but you're doing too much work for that budget. And so again, if that's, Hey, listen, if you want to charge $3,000 a month, but do you in a way that respects the value that you bring to the table, and that means the scope of work needs to fit that budget and adjust your scope of work. You're not giving them the world. And if you ever hope to grow your business and scale up and be able to have fewer clients to make more money, then you really have to think about your rate structure.

Michelle Kane (15:42):

Yeah. Yeah. And I think we're at a point in the economy right now where it's a good time to take a look at that. Really, they keep dangling the carrot of interest rates going down. And I was just on a call with a client who they perceive it's going to be a good spring. So now's the perfect time. We're coming the pandemic's farther in the rear view mirror, thank goodness. And it's just an ideal time. As we do, we look out the window and the sun is shining and it's feeling a little warmer. It does give you that energy, and we just encourage you to take a look at how your prices are structured, what kind of work you're either looking for or taking on, and just make sure that you are getting the best that is due to you. And if you've appreciated this time together, please tell other people. Check out solo pr pro.com. Is the membership door still open, Karen?

Karen Swim, APR (16:43):

The membership door is still open. And also I have kind of a sneak preview announcement today. So we are partnering up with lettuce, L-E-T-T-U-C e.co. We will have links in the show notes for a special promotional offer for our Solo PR Pro family. And we're also, stay tuned. If you're not on our email list, hop over to our site and join our email list. Keep listening to the show because we'll promote it here as well. But we are doing a special workshop with them all on S Corp. So whether you're going to start your business this year, you're at the start of your business, or you've been in business and you've been in business a million years ago and you never went the S Corp route because there's too many steps, this workshop is definitely for you. And the promotional offer is fantastic. So our partnership with them, they're doing something special for our family. So visit that landing page, we'll drop it in the show notes, and we're so excited about this and I'm happy this is the first time that I've talked about it out loud. So hey, hot off the presses.

Michelle Kane (17:52):

Fantastic. That's wonderful. Well, hey, see, it's worth blah, blah. I can't even talk right now. I'm so excited. It's always worthwhile checking in with us here at That Solo Life. And until next time, thanks for joining us.