Your PR Questions Answered!

Thanks to all of the female business owners who sent in PR and Publicity questions for this week’s newsletter. If you’re reading this after the fact, remember to sign up below so you don’t miss the next one! The Newsletter by ADPR is released every second Wednesday.

Let’s get started!

Q1. Imposter syndrome is real!! And I think disproportionately so for female owned businesses. What would you recommend to boost your business confidence (or at least the public facing side of said confidence)? Tips? Tools?

This is a problem for many female entrepreneurs so it’s important to know you are not alone! I suffer from this myself but thankfully my confidence has built in recent months due to a few factors I’ve outlined below.

Mindset

A business plan, financial backing, and a website are all important tools in maintaining your brand, but we often forget that confidence is an essential building block to success. For those of us who have trouble with the confidence part, changing your mindset is key.

Our thoughts can actually help shape our reality. Affirmations, a gratitude journal, or meditation can all help with mindset. By writing things down or saying them out loud, it makes our thoughts more real and establishes our goals and desires. 

I started my own gratitude journal on Jan 1. I’ve missed days but my intention is to always write down three things I’m grateful for and one wish every day. I swear it has helped make things happen for me, both personally and professionally. It has also kept me accountable for what I write down. Here are some simple affirmations I particularly like and a great meditation from my friend Sonia. 

The Algorithm

If you’re on social media, you’re probably seeing a lot of similar brands in your feed. You may even be thinking, What do I have to offer? How can I compete with these other services? Well, the algorithm is putting these in your head. You have competitors of course, but the algorithm makes it seem like there’s a million. Take this with a giant grain of salt. What you’re seeing is an onslaught of brands served to you by the social media puppeteers named Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Stop comparing yourself and know that you have something special to offer. 

Advertise where you are and be proud of that

As women we always fear that we’re not enough or we shouldn’t do something if we haven’t mastered it. It’s ok to offer services and still be learning at the same time. People need educators at different stages to help them. A jewelry or fashion designer at the beginning of their career does not need Neil Lane or Anna Wintour as a mentor. Being upfront with where you are actually shows confidence. If you own the fact that you’re still learning, it makes you more approachable. Being more approachable makes you more trustworthy. And being trustworthy makes people want to work with you. 

Q2. How do I manage personal backlash from media coverage?
Sometimes in telling your story and your truth, it can make others look bad. That can be hard if you care about these people. So what do you do? Although every situation is different, there are general steps I would recommend if you’re worried about backlash in your personal life.

1. Fact Check
   Be real with yourself. Are you exaggerating details? As humans, we want to tell a good story and it’s natural to embellish here and there. In this type of situation, you should be sure you’re sticking to the facts. 

2. Does the story need to get personal?
   Can you tell your story without getting into any personal details that may hurt someone else? If not, can you change names or places and still be authentic?

3. Weigh the pros and cons
   Consider writing a list of pros and cons and weigh out the good vs. the bad. In my experience, paper and pen don’t lie and physically writing things down can give you an accurate gut feeling. Ask yourself, will this story help your business? Think about it carefully because you can’t go back.

4. Have a plan
   Think about the different outcomes and have a plan. Do you need to prepare a statement and have it ready? Do you have someone who can back up your story? Do you need resources for your team?

5. Advance notice

   f your story is affecting people you care about, you should give them advance notice. It’s the kind thing to do, but it’s also the professional way to conduct business.

6. You can’t control others
   Remember that you can only control your actions. Prepare yourself for what may come and don’t expect to control anyone else’s response to your story. In the end, you have to trust that you made the right call for yourself and your brand.

Q3. What does a Holiday Gift Guide deadline look like?

Holiday Gift Guides are a great way to promote your product or service. You see these in newsletters, magazines, blogs, and on TV shows. You can find gift guides for everything from beauty to eco-friendly products and for themes like Gifts for Her/Him/Grandma, etc.

In terms of timelines, it really depends on the type of media outlet. If you’re looking to be published in a print magazine, you need to be ready months ahead. If you’re looking at a blog, then those are a faster turnaround. 

For print outlets, start at the beginning of September. Make sure you have product ready to send to editors for their review. These publications work months in advance. Depending on your brand, you should reach out to a specific section editor (beauty, fashion, pets, food, etc) and also check if the publication has a Holiday Gift Guide point person. 

For digital outlets or TV shows, start in October. If you’re targeting social media influencers, send them DMs to see if they are working on any gift guides themselves.

Also, I cannot stress this enough...check each individual outlet’s deadline. For print outlets, if you want to be safe, reach out in the summer and ask. There are also media database services like Cision or MuckRack that have a lot of this information (they are expensive but very useful). Media kits also offer outlet deadlines and can sometimes be found on their website.