Transcript

Dominique:
You’re listening to the Sigrun Show, episode number 426. This is Dominique, Sigrun’s content manager. Sigrun’s sick today, but she’s prepared another great interview for you. Are you wondering how you can get more media coverage and become the go-to expert in your field? In this conversation, Sigrun and Selena Soo will be right down your alley. Sigrun and Selena speak about how to get featured in Forbes in 2021. Each week, Sigrun goes live to share with you inspiring case studies and interviews to help you achieve your dreams and turn your passion into profits. Thank you for tuning in today. Building an online business takes time. Sigrun shares proven strategies to help you get there faster. You’ll also learn how to master your mindset, up-level your marketing, and succeed with masterminds.
Today’s episode is an interview with Selena Soo, a PR expert and the absolute go-to person when it comes to landing publicity for your business. Selena helped Sigrun get featured in Forbes last year, which helped Sigrun position herself as an expert internationally and increase her visibility and brand awareness. Today, they’re speaking about how you can get featured in Forbes in 2021. The doors to Selena’s program, Impacting Millions are now open, but only until April 6th. If you want to start being seen as an expert, gain more visibility and understand how to catch the media’s interest, this program helps you get there. When you sign up for Impacting Millions using Sigrun’s link, you’ll also get Sigrun’s own amazing bonuses worth over $5,000. Go to the show notes at sigrun.com/426, where you’ll find a special link to Selena’s program, plus information on Sigrun’s bonuses.
Sigrun:
Selena Soo, thank you for coming on here live today and sharing how you and I and everybody else who is watching, listening can get into Forbes.
Selena Soo:
Yeah. No, I’m excited to talk about that because it is actually the number one request. I mean, of course, people want to be interviewed by Oprah, but people also know that that’s quite a stretch, right? Or as getting into publications like Forbes is within reach, but you need to know how to pitch them, what to say and all of that. So we can totally dive into it for sure.
Sigrun:
Absolutely. So let’s start about that, Oprah. I remember writing a vision down like where do we want to be in 10 years? I would drive down, “Oh, Oprah is calling me on stage and I’m sharing what I’m doing.” Then on the other hand, it’s like it’s such a far away dream. Very few of us will ever achieve that, but there are multiple other ways to get publicity and maybe one day with a lucky chance, Oprah will find out, but she’ll only find out if we actually do other publicity first.
Selena Soo:
Yeah, absolutely. I have a few things that are coming to mind, Sigrun. So first of all, I think we need to ask ourselves who is the Oprah of our industry, because that’s not the perfect media opportunity for everyone. Maybe if you’re selling certain kinds of business services or targeting entrepreneurs, I mean, obviously being interviewed by Oprah is a huge honor, but it might not be the most targeted media opportunities. So who represents the Oprah of our industry? What kinds of opportunities?
Sigrun:
It could be Richard Branson, or Gary Vaynerchuk, or Melinda Gates. Yeah?
Selena Soo:
Exactly.
Sigrun:
So what would be the first steps when someone says, “Okay, I want to appear in Forbes, but obviously there are multiple other things you might do first before you get all the way over there?”
Selena Soo:
Yes, absolutely. So I think the first thing is to get clear on what general topic would you pitch on, right? As entrepreneurs, we have things that we want to be seen as an expert in. There’s two different types of expert topics. There’s mainstream topics, and then there’s niche topics. So for example, I have two main topics. My number one topic is publicity. That’s a little bit more of a niche topic just because the average person isn’t looking for publicity, but if you’re an entrepreneur, you want it. Whereas my topic of networking, that’s mainstream, you could be a high school student, you could be a stay at home mom and benefit from building a network, right? Topics can go very niche, from webinar, funnels and pixels and this and this and this. The thing is the more niche you get, the harder it is to get into mainstream media.
So I would consider Forbes to be mainstream media. I mean, yes, we’re targeting entrepreneurs. So we’re targeting certain more specific people, but it’s still mainstream. They want lots of people to be reading their articles. So I would say like a podcast, like your podcast, Sigrun is more niche because people are specifically interested in online business and marketing, but with bigger publications, they tend to be a little bit more broad. It’s not to say that you can never get your niche topic, but it’s sometimes a little bit harder. So I just want to stop there just to make sure that that makes sense to everyone.
Sigrun:
Yeah. Yeah. That makes sense. So I also realized, because I’ve been interviewed in media and then also I go on podcasts, you cannot talk about launching or scaling. There are certain words that you exclude and you keep it broad that everyone understands.
Selena Soo:
Exactly. So let’s talk about some mainstream topics that relate to business, right? So a mainstream business topic, and especially when you think about the masses, the millions of people that are consuming media, for entrepreneur, there a whole segment people that are brand new entrepreneurs. A mainstream topic could be about side hustles, getting your first client. Then to all kinds of audiences that are reading entrepreneur, also advanced business owners topics like creativity, productivity, innovation, success, motivation. Maybe it’s also like team and things like that, right? But these are more general. But when we think about things very specific in our own business, it can become very niche and that can be perfect for niche platforms like certain podcasts. But if you want to increase the chances that you’re in a mainstream publication, you do want to go a little broader.
Sigrun:
Yeah. Well, I was in Forbes last year, and that was a very timely topic, talking about recession proofing your business.
Selena Soo:
Yes.
Sigrun:
So that is also angle. Is that something where it’s easier to get featured if you have a timely topic?
Selena Soo:
Yeah, absolutely. So we first talked about getting clear on what your overall topic is, and then you want to go into the story idea. Right? I mean, your story idea was very timely. When I’m helping people think about story ideas, I really want them to focus on three things. Ideally, they have as many as possible, but at least one or two of these. So one is that it should be a timely story if at all possible, because there’s a million stories in the world. Why is the media going to choose to tell your story right now? And a lot of these publications and media outlets, they’ve been told from the top that you need to report on COVID and recession or things like that, right? Things that everyone is Googling and searching right now, because that’s going to help the website get more traffic.
If everyone’s talking about something, tie into that. Or maybe it’s the star of the new year, right? Maybe it’s something like 21 bucks to help entrepreneurs start their own business in 2021, or it’s 10 predictions for the new year, right? Because in December and January, people are mapping out the new year. They’re making predictions. So, that’s a way to make it timely. So that’s one, and to respond to what’s happening in the media and in the world right now. Number two, and this is essential is you want to make sure your story idea that you’re pitching is valuable. I think sometimes we can come from the standpoint of, “I’ve got a product and I want people to buy my products. So I want the media to cover my product or my program or whatever it is.” They could talk about it in some way, but the lead of the story idea has to be well, how is this going to add value to other people? If they’re going to publish an article and interview, how is reading the article going to make someone’s life better, help them grow their business and so forth?
Your story idea wants to be focused on value that a lot of people can access. I relate to that. That’s why people also in the media, they like things that are tangible. Sometimes people will share ideas that are a little bit abstract, but for the person that’s reading a 500-word article, at the end of the article, do they know what to do? Is there a small step that they can take right now that’s valuable? Right? Then the last thing is a story idea that has some emotional charge. Maybe it’s something that’s really surprising or shocking or, “Oh my gosh, I can’t believe that happened.” Or maybe it’s a warning. We need to know about this thing right now. So those are the three elements that can make a really great story idea. You don’t need all of them, but you should try to have at least one or two in order for it to be a successful idea.
Sigrun:
How do people find the story ideas? Do they just sit down and write it or is there any type of process to figure out the story ideas?
Selena Soo:
Yeah, absolutely. So when you’re thinking about the work that you do, I think it’s helpful to ask yourself, “What are the questions that people are asking me over and over again?” Maybe you work with clients one-on-one or in group programs and there’s certain questions that are posed in the Facebook group or on group calls. Or maybe you’re noticing that people get stuck at certain points and you’re like, “Okay. These things that people are really looking for and needing support around, these can be turned into story ideas.” Like how-to. How to overcome this challenge or how to achieve this goal, how to double your business, double your results and so forth. So I would say that’s really key. If you’re someone that already has, let’s say an online course evenings and know what some of your people do, it’s like, well, think about the components of your online course, right?
What would be a story idea that you could pull from there? The other thing to understand is when people are consuming an article. So we’re talking about Forbes, right? They’re going to read an article, say a 500 or 900-word article, they want to be able ideally to be able to take some action afterwards. So are there quick tips, stats, shortcuts? Maybe it’s the number one thing you need to know about your area of expertise or the biggest mistakes people make around the area of expertise or three ways to get started with your area of expertise. The media also really likes numbers, because it’s something that’s very digestible and tangible and that sparks curiosity. “What are the three things I have to know?”
Sigrun:
Yeah. Okay. We find these story ideas and we’re like, “Oh, we’re all excited.” Maybe there’s even a light bulb moment like, “I know I have a story.” What is the next step?
Selena Soo:
Yeah. So the next step, so you have your expert topic and then you have your story idea and then you have to pitch someone. At Forbes, there are staff writers and there is contributors. For a lot of us, were going to be better pitching a contributor. For staff writers, they tend to be covering big national stories, maybe bigger brands like Apple and so forth. But there are contributors who at Forbes, I believe for most of them have to publish at least five articles a month. Now, one thing to understand about contributors is they’re not getting paid a ton of money, and a lot of them have their own businesses. So as someone who’s going to pitch to them, they’re going to want to see you present the idea on a silver platter and make it as easy as possible for them. Right?
So they want to know, “Is this person an expert at what they do? Is this person a good writer? Are they going to make it easy?” You want to put together a thoughtful pitch. One of the first things that you can do is think about what’s the subject line of my pitch? Even over the subject line, you could even think about if you wanted to the from line. When someone looks at their email, the first thing is, “Oh, who is it from?” Of course, we don’t expect you to know the people that you’re pitching in the media, but if something is an opportunity that you’re really excited about and really want to increase your chances, why not take a quick second to look them up on Instagram or Twitter? Maybe reshare something.
Leave a comment, get to know them so that your name is perhaps a little bit familiar. That’s an extra gold star, if you want to go there and it can help. I know for podcasts, for example, Sigrun, if someone were to leave a five-star review on iTunes and show up in different ways and be that supporter and cheerleader, you would definitely notice them, and when you see their name in the inbox, there’s automatic a nice feeling about them.
Sigrun:
Yeah. But how do you find the contributors? You would probably have to first, read some articles and find the one that fits to your topic?
Selena Soo:
It’s going to take some time. I wish there was a master list of contributors that we could just download and that doesn’t exist. I mean, I’ve even tried Googling on LinkedIn and I think the best thing is honestly, to go on the Forbes website and know if someone is a contributor. But just click on the articles that are related to your areas of expertise and then see who is writing these articles. So maybe it’s carving out 30 minutes to dig around or maybe it’s having assistant or team member doing that research for you and then getting those names. Or if you have friends that have been featured in places like Forbes, who are the people that are covering them? Because maybe they would be interested in covering you. So identifying who the contributor is and finding their email. It Is a bit of a slew thing, because it might not always be a Forbes email, but oftentimes you can find people’s emails somehow online. Especially if they’ve got a website, usually the email is their first name @ their website.com.
Then with the subject line, it could be something like, “Hi,” plus timely story idea for your Forbes column, or maybe you’re even putting the headline of the story idea that you want to pitch, because they might be like, “Ooh, that’s a great… Click on it.” Then when you pitch, there’s a few components. So first you want to start off on a warm and friendly note for a Forbes column showing that you understand their column, that you’ve maybe read their column, that you’ve enjoyed a particular article. Maybe you were saying, “Oh, I saw that you recently interviewed someone about this topic.” I think complimentary to offer that, to continue that conversation. But just putting a little bit of effort, so it doesn’t feel like a 100% copy and paste.
So then the next step would be to briefly explain who you are. This is not your hero’s journey. This is not your about page. This is two, three sentences about who you are and a little bit about your credibility. You don’t want to just say, “I’m a small business expert or I’m a marketing expert.” Can you be a little bit more specific about how you help people? And maybe if you can say that you’ve been doing this for… Everyone’s credibility markers will be different. So some ideas could be, “I’ve been doing this for a certain number of years.” Or maybe it’s like, “I’ve helped X number of clients, or my clients have gone to results like this or that.” Or maybe you’ve been featured in the media before and you’ve been speaking on this topic, there’s a lot of different things that you can just weave in, in one or two, three sentences max, to just show that you are an expert. Then you would go into your story ideas. I would say, I mean, it depends.
Sometimes you can just pitch one story idea. Other times you might want to pitch, let’s say three in case maybe the one idea is not a hit for them. When you’re sharing your idea, I like to share it in the format of a headline. So they see, “Ooh, I want to click on that.” Okay. We talked about how can we make it as easy as possible because these contributors are really busy. So even coming up with a headline for the article. Then if maybe let’s say your a story idea is three things that every entrepreneur must know about, I don’t know productivity. Right? Then you also want to include a couple of sentences describing what you would share with them. Because if you’re like, “Three things everyone must know. Or the number one thing…” They might be like, “Okay, well that’s great. But I still don’t know what she’s going to talk about. What are these three things? What’s this one thing? Is that something they’ve already covered or is that something new and different and exciting?”
So you just want to share a little bit. When you explain the story idea, you’re also again, showcasing your writing for them. Then the other thing that I would do to wrap it up is even… Well, you could share any writing samples because they’re going to be authoring the piece, they will want you to do the heavy lifting. You are the expert, you have the tips. Sometimes I’ll get on the phone and talk to you. But other times that I just want to go back and forth over email to develop the article. So if you can show your writing, then they know, “Oh, this person’s a good writer. They’re going to be easy to work with.” Then I also like to say, “I’m also flexible. I’m a happy to write about or suggest or ideas around these other topics,” just so that you’re not closing the door. So those are some of the key elements of what would go into a pitch.
Sigrun:
So you basically haven’t written the article. At the end of the day, the contributor writes it, but you are still contributing the meat of it?
Selena Soo:
Yeah, absolutely. Now more and more contributors want it to be as easy as possible. So sometimes they’ll actually have you write the article essentially, but they’ll write the intro and turn it over to you for your tips. But it will be authored by them, not you, even if you do a lot of the writing because it’s their column.
Sigrun:
Yeah. You wouldn’t send a fully finished article?
Selena Soo:
You could. Yeah, you absolutely could. But the thing is you just don’t know about story idea they have. So you could even say, “I would be happy to send over a fully developed article or whatever makes it easiest for you.” So you can offer that.
Sigrun:
You can offer that. When is the time right to go for this? It feels like you see a lot of people get featured and then you also ask yourself there’s probably gazillion more that want to get featured and they are just maybe going for it too soon. At what point should you be in your business to even try this method versus pitching maybe podcasts or something that is closer to where you are in business?
Selena Soo:
Yeah. So a couple of things, and these are more like generalizations. I know there’s always exceptions, but I believe when we’re getting started with media, we should think about the low hanging fruit. We’re not going to go for our biggest dream opportunity on day one. So what I like to do is make a list of the low hanging fruit. What I mean by that is more easily accessible opportunities. Maybe your friend has a new podcast and there could be an opportunity for you to be there. Or maybe there is a blog that a lot of your colleagues contribute to. I think it’s helpful actually to do writing first, like guest posting and really get into the practice of distilling your idea, sharing your story through the written word, then after that, graduating to podcasts and having these extended conversations. That being said, some people are like, “I’m not a writer and podcasts are my medium.”
Maybe do what feels good and natural. So a part of it is knowing yourself, but also, working up to things. I mean, I’ll tell you the first video interview or podcast interview I did is not nearly as good as the one that I’m doing three years later. Right? So we get better over time. That being said, if you know someone that can hook you up for a great opportunity with Forbes or has a contact there, don’t wait forever. I would jump on the opportunity that’s right there in front of you. But I also wouldn’t put the pressure on yourself to feel like you need to go after the biggest opportunities for yourself on day one.
Sigrun:
But you can use similar strategies to what you just described to get pitched any kind of a medium.
Selena Soo:
Yeah, exactly. I mean, it’s all about at the beginning, starting on that warm and friendly note and showing that you’ve done research and understand that outlet. I mean, that’s essential, and then establishing yourself as the expert, introducing yourself upfront, because it’s not just about the topic. It’s like, “Who is the person, right?” So sharing a bit about you and then really presenting some story ideas on a silver platter, and then sharing a sample of your work if you have something to share. If you’re pitching yourself for TV, it’s going to be hard to get on TV if you’re not going to send them a little video clip of you ideally being interviewed, because TV is such a visual medium. Or if you’re saying, “I’d love to write,” it does help if you can show, “I’m a good writer.”
Sigrun:
So what if the person says yes, the contributor says yes, and they start an interaction.
Selena Soo:
[inaudible 00:21:36] Celebrate.
Sigrun:
You celebrate. How long does it typically take that it gets published?
Selena Soo:
Yeah. So it depends. Some people will batch their content and get a lot of things ready and then release it later and so forth. But let’s say like one of my friends, she pitched an article to Forbes about how breast cancer made me a better business woman. She pitched it in September for October, because October is breast cancer awareness month. So of course, they’re going to want to get it in time to run in October. But there are some things that are more evergreen. It doesn’t matter as much. It can really vary. I mean, sometimes people get an article and it’s completed and they’re like, “You know what? I can get this published the next day.” Some people might be like, “You know what? I’ve got a lot of articles coming in and I need to organize it, and it might not be until a month or two.” So it really depends on the contributor you’re working with.
Sigrun:
Then once it’s published, what should someone do that… This is where things can break down. Right? Your article is published, but if you don’t do anything with it, it’s like a TEDx Talk. Right?
Selena Soo:
Yeah. No, I’m really glad this is the perfect question that you asked me. So since we’re talking about Forbes, something important to know is with Forbes. If an article on their website gets a lot of clicks and hits and shares, then the algorithm is going to say, “Oh my gosh, this is a popular article. We need to be pushing it out there and making it more prominent.” So yes, I mean, people will find your article, but if you can drive more traffic to it, then Forbes makes it more prominent and then there’s the snowball effect with more and more people seeing it. So I’ve seen articles that have gotten a hundred thousand views and a big part of it was there was a promotional strategy where people were emailing their audience or emailing friends and colleagues and events saying, “Hey, next week I’m going to be dropping this article, and I’m coming to you to ask for your support because this is a big opportunity. It’s a huge dream of mine.
I want as many eyeballs on this as possible. Would you agree to sharing this article? And giving them some social media copy that they can use to share it. I’ve even seen people say, “Hey, if you share your article and send me a screenshot, you could be entered to win a free spot in this course I have or so forth.” So there’s so many things that you can do to gamify it. Obviously, you can’t do this with every single media opportunity because that’s a lot of work. But I think for all of us, there’ll be some key opportunities where this is really special and we’ll want to ask the people around us to help us amplify the article, so as many people as possible see it.
Dominique:
Go to the show notes at sigrun.com/426, where you will find a link to Selena’s program plus information on Sigrun’s special bonuses. Thank you for listening to the Sigrun Show. If you enjoyed this episode, let Sigrun know that you listened by tagging her on your Instastory or your Instagram post, using her handle, @sigruncom and the #sigrunshow. See you in the next episode.