How to Grow Beyond Your Audience and Get More Exposure with Lisa Simone Richards

Lisa has a fascinating story of how she got started in the PR space! It began with writing a letter to the editor of Teen People Magazine back in the day, and having her letter printed in the magazine 3-4 months later. It was the first thing that got her into media.

In 2002, when Sex & the City was huge, she was completely on board with that life and knew PR would be her thing. She had a lot of communications roles in university, where she learned a lot about the industry. She would skip school for weeks at a time to volunteer during fashion week, and even interned at a fashion magazine - living that Devil Wears Prada life and working with beauty companies. Eventually she moved into agency work, where she worked with huge names like Staples, Virgin Mobile, and Crayola.
What brought her into her own was working for a women’s-only bootcamp. Over the course of 4 years, she handled both local and national PR for this brand and they went from 30 locations in Ontario, Canada to over 100 locations across Canada. They went from making $400K/year to over $4M/year!

In 2015 she began seeing online entrepreneurs (like health coaches) start walking away from their 9-5 jobs to do something they were passionate about. Although they were fantastic at what they did, they didn’t know how to market themselves and get the word out there. It crushes her to see people who are amazing at what they do but don’t know how to get the word out and their businesses don’t survive. She wanted to create an opportunity to bring skills reserved for multi-million dollar brands that the little guy doesn’t think he has access to, and share it with them so they can learn how to get free exposure, too!

If you’re just starting out and enrolling your first clients, don’t tell yourself you can’t talk about it or put your name out there! You’re actually in the perfect phase because you have a fresh perspective. You just entered this field so you know the latest stories, technology, and cutting edge theories you can put into practice.

Whether you’re just beginning or a seasoned expert, there’s a reason for you to get visibility. Lisa launched her own business and course in 2016 called Make Media Friends. She gave her entire tax return to a brand marketing specialist who created a beautiful website, course design, branding, and everything… and guess who bought it when Lisa launched it? Absolutely nobody, because she wasn’t getting it in front of buyers! You need to get exposure to the right clients. They need to know who you are in order to buy from you.

If you’re wondering where to start, Lisa’s core philosophy is to leverage other people’s platforms. Who is someone out there who has a group of your ideal clients hanging out, and who is the gate-keeper or the person who has access to that platform? How can you come in and add value? There are a lot of different ways to do this, but she sums it up in what she calls The Ladder of Publicity. No matter where you’re starting out - whether you’re shy or a total extrovert, she encourages her clients to have a “Healthy Media Mix.”

There are typically 3 ways people consume their content:

If you’re someone trying to get those higher levels (like podcasting and visual events), one strategy Lisa teaches in her free workshop is “Success Leaves Clues.” It doesn’t mean copy other successful people, but to draw inspiration from them. Find someone 3-5 steps ahead of you in your industry who you’d love to emulate. Where are they showing up? On what podcasts? Think about how you can approach their topic differently, and think about how to stand out and position yourself with a slightly different angle.

If you want tips for pitching yourself, Lisa uses a tool with her clients called a “not-so-humble” brag sheet. We often forget our own accomplishments, and we’re taught to be modest. She wants everyone to grab a piece of paper and go ham about how awesome you are. What are the results you’ve created for yourself? What have you created for your clients? Go ahead and fill up 2-3 pages listing everything you’ve done! Not only will it help you figure out what helps you stand out in the industry but it will build your sense of self confidence!
 

Key things to keep in mind when you’re invited onto a podcast:

Go in with intention. Decide: what do you want people to leave with? (You can’t leave wrong that way.) In today’s episode of Social Selling Simplified, she wanted people to know how to get visible. Anyone listening to this episode can leave a little richer from listening to it today! Other ways to be a good guest are to clearly lay out the takeaways, so the host knows what they’re in for. Then afterward, share the episode! This person is helping you get in front of another audience, so help them out as well! Share it on your social media and do the follow up!

Key Takeaways From This Episode:

WHERE WE CAN CONNECT: