𝐁𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡! - The Value of Media Exposure for Your Business with Dr. Pam Perry

September Smith: 0:00

Welcome to the She's All That video podcast. This season of the podcast is all about the BREAK THROUGH with MEDIA virtual summit that we're holding and all about the amazing industry experts that are speaking at the summit who will give entrepreneurs, authors and thought leaders, people just like you, a powerful alternative to the fast-deteriorating tool of social media for your marketing and visibility. The next big opportunity that you need to rapidly uplevel your positioning and your reach is media exposure, TV, podcast, radio news, speaking opportunities, publicity, PR and more. The free BREAK THROUGH with MEDIA Summit provides you with a constellation of experts information and strategy to give you the big picture of how you can get started. Our guest today is a key piece in that puzzle. Today I'm talking with Dr. Pam Perry. Pam Perry is an award winning communications professional, a publicist, and she's the publisher of speaker magazine. She works with entrepreneurs and speakers to help them build a platform and attract major media and clients. After working with Pam her clients have featured on CNN TBN, NBC, Oprah Magazine, Steve Harvey Show, Essence, Ebony, Black Enterprise, PBS, and many other major media outlets. Her clients had been offered major publishing contracts created successful for full time careers as entrepreneurs earning six figures. Pam has been featured in many major publications, including several covers, and on more than 100 radio and TV programs. Publishers Weekly has called Pam, a PR guru. And Pam that's why I knew that you were the person to kick off the breakthrough with Media Summit who could speak to the subject of the value of media exposure for your business. Welcome and thank you for being with me today

Pam: 1:51

are playing with Nobrow caster.

September Smith: 1:55

So what I didn't mention in that intro because it would have gone on for days and days is on top of all that kind of stuff. You have your own podcast, you have a weekly clubhouse show and other clubhouse rooms. You have created and run black speaker, the black speaker bureau.

Pam: 2:15

Well, actually, it's a speaker's magazine, which were the official magazine of Black Speakers network.

September Smith: 2:20

Okay. And so your magazines, peer publicity, podcast, you're everywhere. What was the journey? That's all you getting into all these aspects of media and PR and publicity? Where did this all get started?

Pam: 2:37

Get started really I'm a child of the 60s I grew up in Motown, Barry Gordy is a legend right? In Detroit, and really seeing the whole, I guess you would say taking a dream and making it so big, you know, Jackson Five was here, Diana Ross, all of that. So these are people that basically we saw grow up and saw them on the media. So when we heard them on the radio, it just it just made me excited. I saw them on television made me excited saw them in the grocery store down the street. Like that's the same person I heard on the radio saw on television, read about in the magazine and ebony or jet or whatever. And that was something that always attracted me about the star power that media brains to celebrities, I guess you would say that is that's part of it. And so growing up seeing that was natural that, you know, obviously throughout my whole school career, I've majored in journalism. So I was working with magazines, I was working with newspapers, and journalism was my major. So it was, it was almost like inevitable and it wasn't so much entertainment that I was really enamored with. It was the media that spotlight the entertainers. And so eventually, what I really really love was really reading about authors and authors at that point were celebrities to me because I love books, I love books, I love books. And so for me really just reading about how the media promotes authors was always just intriguing to me way before Oprah book club, I always saw that this was something that was like oh, okay, spec, best form of advertising is word of mouth. And that's really what PR media is all about about word of mouth. And so when people were saying well, what's the book are you reading they will say well, I read about this book and such and such in such and such magazine or newspaper are saw the author on television and I realized the power of media that can really build a brand is so so important, because it's that third party endorsement. So that's where it really started it just that the whole media gamut, you know, broadcasts and print I'm just really really just still excited about it.

September Smith: 4:45

But you started as a journalist you as a journalist or contributing to somebody else's broadcast media or or their enterprise. You still need you stepped into your own you you weren't just contributing years later, I'm starting my own. How did that happen?

Pam: 5:03

It's more or less like. So there's a type of journalist said is a hard news journalists, you know, have a nose for news, which I do. But then there's also features. So I remember one time being involved in a radio station and I had to deliver the Heart News, not interested at all for me it was not but when I had to interview people about their stories, that's when I became really, really enamored who I really liked this or writing for the Detroit Free Press, you know, I would write feature stories on for the classified section on people's jobs. So obviously, there's the classified section, I'm dating myself, it's a classified section of the newspaper, but the front of it, were features on whatever that career we were spotlighting, whether it was a county, or it was someone who was a teacher or someone who was a nurse, I would write the feature stories on that particular person on their story. And they weren't famous. But I pulled their stories out of them and wrote the story, did the pictures and all that kind of thing. But that's what I did for many years. So I love feature writing. That was my main thing. And even in high school, I started a newspaper. And it was really on featuring the people who were in our particular club. So it was always a spotlight people. I didn't realize that someone asked me that a while ago to September and I was like, I really do like spotlighting people about what they're doing. I think it's

September Smith: 6:20

Yeah, yeah. Yes. Traveling with the world like, Hey, she's all that.

Pam: 6:24

Yes, exactly. I love that. And that's where the magazine came from. I've just really doing speakers magazine is spotlighting different speakers that are in here. And that's really all it is, is it's really the combination of my career of spotlighting people that are doing great things in the world, not necessarily artists and things like that, like singers or dancers, you know, not entertainment, but those that are really like subject matter experts.

September Smith: 6:50

And or I've noticed from some of the content of yours, that I've listened to people who are making a change in the world that we should all know about. That's the whole point. So again, spotlighting them is one thing, but then knowing how to get that plays to get them out there and have it picked up by other people. You're stepping into the PR and the publicity. How did that happen?

Pam: 7:13

Well, that was happened from the standpoint that I'm really good at promoting, right. So even when I worked at the newspaper, and they will say, Hey, you're you work for this section, I like to get into this section. So I was always connecting people together to the right beat, I guess you'd say they call it or the right reporters that were write their story. So I was always doing that naturally. And then eventually, my major was advertising and PR in the journalism school. So I was like, I don't know which one I like. So I worked in the advertising in a row copy that was somewhat exciting. And then I actually started doing PR, PR was almost like an inverted journalist, meaning that you still have to write a story, but you're pitching it to another person's media outlet. And so I found that to be a little bit better, because I can now control the story in terms of when I write it. And then when I pitch it, I'm selling it. So of course, advertising is about sales, PR is about promotion. And the journalism is the writing. So I use all of them at the same time. So I found my sweet spot, going through the different iterations of different jobs was when I was really the PR director of The Salvation Army. And that I told stories, I raised money, which was sales, I helped with sponsorships, I did events. So you did PR that catch all of doing everything. But it was all about connecting in the community, and doing good work. And so I really felt like oh my god, this is like what I'm here for. It's like seven years, I was there at that organization really doing good work, you know, sharing is caring during the Red Kettle campaigns and all of that. And then when I got married and had a daughter, I didn't want to go back to work right away. And I really started doing my own thing. At the time. They call it Moonlighting, or on the side or whatever they call it back in the 90s. And I said, You know what, I really can make a living doing this. I don't have to go and have a job never dawned on me really like that's like, I'm starting my own PR firm. But my company really started doing work for churches, ministries and Christian authors. And that's where it started. And so then I ended up doing work for PR for a lot of the large Christian publishing houses Zondervan, Thomas Nelson, Random House, Simon and Schuster, all of the all the and then I dealt with the African American market. And so I would work with like TD Jakes or Dr. Cindy trim Myles Munroe, any of the large what they call gospel celebrities, so to speak. They were authors and I was promoting their books. And that's where I really felt the sweet spot but it was the evolution in time of life where I really found my niche. What I really really love to do so authors because I love books and I love inspirational books. Obviously authors or speakers, so I'm promoting them, they're really easy to promote, because they can speak. And really the whole point of really putting them on different platforms, whether it's an old magazine, or Steve Harvey or you know, whether they're going in somebody's magazines Avenir essence, that was really the part that was the sales part, so to speak. So the advertising part, you're selling their story to that outlet. So I use all my skills to really build the business, like the advertising, the journalism, that PR, the marketing all of them. So that was, that's how it all came to be.

September Smith: 10:35

And you just dropped a word in there. short while ago, the evolution, the word evolution and evolve came to me when I was actually getting ready for this podcast and listening to some episodes that you had given elsewhere. You are just an exemplar of the need to evolve, you have to stay current, and not not just for the sake of something trendy, but because things change. Technology is changing, like, crazy pace, and we can't be doing the same things that we did not just even a decade, we can't be doing the same things we did even two years ago. Yeah, Google what? Yeah. Oh, right. That was a thing. Yeah, things just happened so quickly. I love that you are just with your clients. And with what you do yourself. It's like, we have to keep up, we have to keep on what is going to be serving us best now.

Pam: 11:33

So one of the things that was really important for me to do for my clients, so authors and speakers, they have to get out there, they've got to get known. And so eventually, you know, we're doing radio, TV and print and we're pitching them, but then this thing came along, like called Facebook, in the 90s. In this like, you've kind of get on Facebook, they've like Facebook, so yeah, and and MySpace, MySpace, of course, it's gone. And it was like I said, Yes. Because you need to connect with your readers. That was like, so new to them, like connect directly with the readers. Yes, you not just, you know, and so really helping them understand and navigate that as well as traditional media and new media. They had to do both. And it was a new skill set, they had to learn some learned it and really went on and did well, some resistance, and then they they just, they just were stagnant. And so I tell people, you need to change or you're going to die.

September Smith: 12:30

And I see that, you know, refusing to change and becoming stagnant happening with some people who are stuck in like, oh, yeah, no, my business is on Facebook. Theories, my, whatever my sources are calling.

Pam: 12:42

Yeah, what if, what if meta, whatever it's called Now, besides that, you know, close down and say, you know, I'm taking my chips, I'm gonna go home. I mean, then your business has gone to I mean, it is a free platform

September Smith: 12:53

and your reach. Yeah, and your reach is just ridiculously diminished from what it was even just pre pandemic. Yeah, it's not the platform, it was, you gotta you have to evolve. And as far as I'm concerned, let's up your game, start getting some, you know, if you haven't already real forays into real media. Yeah. So when a client comes to you, I'm assuming what would it be people that are already kind of tried and tried to see what they could do with media or different forms of media and speaking? Or are you having people that are brand new coming to you?

Pam: 13:28

So the ones that I that I have as private clients, they are the ones that probably a little bit more savvy, because now I don't have to build up their platform, I don't have to really explain what media is I don't have to, like, quote, unquote, manage expectations of what what is, you know, someone like a TD Jakes obviously, they know what media is. So we write the press release, we pitch it, and we tell it, or Juanita Rasmus, you know, we write the press release, she shows up, we pitch them. And, you know, those are the kinds of clients but then there are other clients that are at the very beginning. And they may say, I want to be a New York Times bestseller, and I want to be on Super Soul Sunday. And they haven't been in their local newspaper. They don't even they've never even been on a podcast. And it's just like, the expectations of that. It's like, really, do you have a website, you know? And so a lot of the times, if they have a website, it's like, okay, we've got to start at the very beginning. There's just ways of sequencing things where you will see someone may be on the air, and you supply can do that, but you don't know all the steps it took for them to get there. And so the people that I know who have made the steps, I have a questionnaire that I really it's about 30 questions, and it's a yes, no, yes, no, if they score below 15 that means they're beginning if they score above 15 Obviously, they're they're somewhat savvy. And so I asked just like direct questions, you know, do you have a book you know, have you ever guessed blog? Do you have an SEO website? I mean, it's certain things if they say no to a lot of them, that means that they don't even they're not ready for PR you have to be ready for PR you have to certain basic things in place. And you know, just having a photo and a bio is not enough really to be ready for PR. So you have some other things that you need in place, and really just clarity in their brand. Because I talked to someone today and they said that, I just really want to get more mediums like, okay, so what does the media going to do for you? Do you have an offer? And they say, Well, I do, but I really don't want to offer that. But why do you want the media? You know, so people, I have to talk through with a lot of newbies about what PR can do for your business. And if you don't have those foundational things, because it'll drive traffic, it's a lead generation, basically. So lead generation, and people will be Googling your name. What will they find what they'll find, like, a Twitter account that you haven't tweeted on in three years, I mean, what will they find when they see your website is your website a different name than what you your name is, is your name even on your website. So a lot of SEO things I have to know before they really get PR, because the media is on social media, even though they are traditionally they're gonna Google you. And you have to have at least the first 10 spots really to be about you and your brain. And that's where a lot of people start.

September Smith: 16:12

So one of the things that you said there about, like lead generation, that that is, you know, when we talk about the value of media to your business, you know, there's the credibility, there's the authority, there's the visibility, but underpinning it all, it's lead generation, because if it wasn't about lead generation, why would you be doing it? Unless you're totally egomaniac? Right? So like, it's all about building your business and lead generation. So what can what kind of results can somebody get with media? If they do it, right? Like what you do with your clients from going from, say, an unknown author or business? Like what sort of expectations could people have?

Pam: 16:51

Yeah, depending on what it is that they really want. So I had a client at one point that was a owner operator of a McDonald's and he really wanted to be a speaker and author, and how do you make the jump from McDonald's owner operator, he on three was doing very well, to being a speaker and an author. He was very motivating. So we helped him write the book, from welfare to faring well, because he had a rags to riches story. And then Ken was, you know, actually did his own events. He did the book tour, he got front pages of very local newspapers again, Ebony Magazine, he got on, he actually the National Enquirer. I mean, there were a lot of things where the media attention was coming. He was still owning the McDonald's. But he was getting a lot of media attention about being a speaker and author of the book that well, people were asking him to speak. Eventually, he then became a full time speaker and author, his consulting firm, he sold us McDonald's. And that's all he's been doing now for the last 1015 years. And that only became because of media, really giving him not the credibility of like, Oh, I'm an owner operator of McDonald's. But I am a legitimate author and a speaker. And this is what I speak on. So that's one of it. Another one could be someone who has a career that they quote, unquote, are retired from, and they really want to start something new. So between Dr. Geneva and even just Liana Lloyd, they wrote a book signature book. And then from that book, it really gave them that pivot. And so then they were written up in different magazines, they are asked to speak on different stages, it really gave them like the vision of one person was a nonprofit executive for many years. Another was a judge. Okay, so they don't want to do that anymore. They retired. So gave them the pivot to actually be featured in local magazines heard on podcast to win awards contest, Dr. Geneva won a contest, it was a fabulous over 50 or something like that. And it really gave her a whole pivot of that. And so the AARP invited her to speak, you know, because once you win a contest or an award, then the obviously you put out a press release, and you get more media attention, the media attention than other people find you. And that's where they're on a trail to a whole nother a whole nother life, like a whole nother way of, of being seen. And that's really what the media can do, it gives you that, that whole way of positioning. And so before they had these careers that were that now they have the book, and they pivot and now they're doing these other things. And this is so many ways where that happens for a lot of people even if someone is working, quote, unquote, a regular job and they're not retired, but they do want some media exposure so that they can eventually leave their job. And they they write a book or they are speaking at certain events or they're in a contest where they win awards, but the media gives them a different positioning so that whoever finds them could then say hey, you know, I think I like them to Kim Brooks was like, she was so excited one time she says such and such magazine wants me to write for them a regular column, such and such wants me to speak on their cruise on one of their their cruises sounds like what you're gonna get paid and go on a cruise at the same time. She says yes, because they read about me in the magazine that I was doing this particular column it was because she wrote the book and the p&l. So in all bills, not one, people want that one big hit, like, I just need to be in the New York Times. But it builds, it's not just one time going out to a major media, but it's all the smaller media outlets along the way. So people are hearing your brand consistently, in different formats.

September Smith: 20:32

Yeah. And you're not going to get discovered like that, you know, somebody who just read that magazine spread by posting in Facebook or your IG feed or whatever. Yeah, there's a, there's a, you're elevated to this whole other level of legitimacy when you are found, as you say, repeatedly, not just one hit in media.

Pam: 20:53

Yeah. One word he was just gonna say one of the things that made me different from other publicists is that when I pitched business, and I was pitching, obviously, publishers and things like that, Thomas Nelson, and though it's so many of them, you know, the different publishing companies, Simon Random House, you know, Faith words, what they would find when they Google me was the Publishers Weekly. And so Publishers Weekly did call me a PR guru. And that made a difference in terms of them deciding whether to hire me or not, it wasn't that I call myself a PR guru. They said, I was a PR guru. And it was like, oh, that's publishing weekly, which is their trade publication has been around for over 100 years. And and that's one of the things that media can do for you. It can, if everything is equal, what will happen sometimes is that if what someone wants to hire you is, is based on if the media if you have media mentions, oh, yeah, that will make a difference of whether someone hires us in that versus like, okay, there's everything being equal. I think I'll go with this person, because they were seen in their trade publication, or they were had a radio show, and I heard that the interview or they were on such and such, you know, outlet that makes a difference, because now it's like it's verifiable. It's it gives you that whole different level of credibility if all things equal,

September Smith: 22:16

and it's that third party endorsement again, this this entity, this institution, this this show, chose them for their expertise. Yeah.

Pam: 22:23

Yeah. And what they said about it.

September Smith: 22:24

Mm hmm, exactly. I could just talk to you about this all day long. But I want to just wrap up by telling people that Pam is going to be, as we said, a speaker at the breakthrough with Media Summit. And she is getting into the value of media exposure for your business going even deeper, how you should be doing it things, maybe you should be avoiding tips, strategies and action steps that are going to make this a powerful part of how you break through with media this year. So before that time, Pam, where can people find you,

Pam: 22:56

they can go to Pam period pr.com. And they can find the podcasts, the magazine, all resources there are free so they can go to pamper apr.com. If they want to contact me, they can contact me through the website as well.

September Smith: 23:10

Okay. And I will have that link down below in the show notes. And if you want to learn more about how you can use what we're talking about, there's so many things Pam was talking about to get media exposure, speaking engagements, PR publicity, and how this can all help your business. Make sure you register for the free three day breakthrough with Media Summit, June 14 to 16th. And come be with Pam and me an exciting array of other industry experts that are going to help you learn how you and your business can really have that big breakthrough that you need. The link is down below in the show notes for that registration. You won't want to miss this. Dr. Pam Perry, thank you so much for being with me today.

Pam: 23:49

Thank you. Thank you so much September I really enjoyed talking with you can't wait. It's gonna be fun.

September Smith: 23:55

And that was just one of the amazing guests that we have at the BREAK THROUGH with MEDIA Summit, a three day live virtual event happening June 14 to the 16th to give entrepreneurs authors and thought leaders a panoramic overview of the opportunities, the skills required and the services and tools that you can be using media exposure, speaking opportunities, PR publicity and more to have the major breakthrough that you are looking for 20 industry experts three days all available right from wherever you are and it's free. Register at the link below in the show notes. You will not want to miss this!