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Powerful PR: Cultivating Know, Like, and Trust in Your Business
Episode 1725th July 2023 • The ReLaunch Podcast • Hilary DeCesare
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Join Hilary and renowned public relations (PR) expert, Renée Warren, as share their collective wisdom and practical tips to help you navigate the intricate world of public relations. Uncover the secrets to gaining credibility, building a strong brand reputation, and establishing trust, and explore effective strategies for crafting your origin story and impactful soundbites that leave a lasting impression. Whether you're an aspiring entrepreneur, a seasoned business owner, or looking to elevate your personal brand, this conversation is packed with valuable insights to take your PR game to the next level.

About our Guest:

Renée Warren is an author, speaker, mom of two, coffee drinker, Leo and fellow entrepreneur. When she's not crafting the perfect PR pitch or podcasting, you can find her doing Crossfit, rocking out on drums, and spending time with my family. 

Clients have called Renée a motivator, personal cheerleader and the real deal — all traits she has used to help other women push past their fears and create the life & business of their dreams. Enter: We Wild Women.

https://www.wewildwomen.com/

Join our private Facebook community for BONUS content to ignite your own Relaunch: https://www.facebook.com/groups/232280334811612/

 

Interested in being a guest on the ReLaunch Podcast or booking Hilary as a guest? Email us at hello@therelaunchco.com

 

The ReLaunch Your Magic Retreat is the ultimate event that will guide you in manifesting a heightened level of success even if your entrepreneurial spirit has fizzled out. Register now at: https://www.therelaunchcocourses.com/ReLaunch-Your-Magic

Transcripts

Hilary DeCesare:

Hey everyone, and welcome back to the ReLaunch Live. And I have somebody that I actually if you remember way back, I actually had this person on, probably when I first started even the podcast and I thought, You know what, there are a few people that I love to connect with. And she is one of them. And she's got updates galore. As for us, we've got so much to talk about. And who am I talking about? I feel like I need a drumroll. Here it is Renée Warren. She is an award winning entrepreneur, inspirational speaker, author, founder of WWE wild women, a platform that helps women lead business, businesses actually gain the media exposure that they deserve. She's also the host of the celebrated podcast into the wild, a program that features curated interviews with women entrepreneurs and provides actionable advice to women who are launching or growing their own dream businesses. Again, are you kind of figuring this out why I am so excited to have Renée here. She firmly believes that the best advice comes from someone who has successfully done it before. Her approach in coaching comes from over like me, I love this 23 years of experience, and I'm sure she's going to tell us so many things that have changed, evolved, because we know when I'm 23 years ago, I started it was called consulting. Now it is coaching. She is absolutely an incredible, incredible gal and I follow her. I know what's going on in her life. But now it's time for you to get to know Renée a little bit more.

Hilary DeCesare:

You're listening to the relaunch podcast and I'm your host Hillary de Cesar, best selling author, speaker and transformational coach widely recognized in the worlds of neuro psychology and business launches, which cultivated the one and only three HQ method, helping midlife women. Yep, that's me to rebuild a life of purpose, possibility and inspiring business ventures. Each week, we'll be diving into the stories that brought upon the most inspirational relaunches while sharing the methods and the secrets that they learned along the way, so that you too, can have not just an ordinary relaunch, but an extraordinary relaunch.

Hilary DeCesare:

Renée, welcome to the show.

Renée Warren:

Hilary. Thanks so much for having me. It's kind of funny, because I've been doing this for 23 years. But I mean, if I'm 25 years old, then

Hilary DeCesare:

it's not the truth. I mean, come on. I love the fact that there are a few people that I've actually had on the show twice. And you are one of my favorites. I love following you. And I would love I don't like to go back and re say everything we talked about last time I like to start fresh. But at the same time, I want to talk about like you know who you are, and why I thought it was critical to get you on again. So I'm going to pass it over to you your your massive relaunch the things that are going on, and let's change the listeners world right now, with this conversation.

Renée Warren:

Okay, talk about a relaunch. When we last spoke, I was coaching women in business. And long story short, I used to run a PR agency, and I had a team and we had clients from South Africa to San Diego. I fell out of love with it very quickly. Well over the course of seven years, because in the same year that I launched it ahead both my babies. So my boys are 11 months apart. So it's like new mom to running a growing business. And I burnt out, got into coaching, but realized this whole time that I loved PR and I loved their creativity in the fast pace of the industry. And so I jumped back into it. It was after a Tony Robbins event only probably five months ago.

Hilary DeCesare:

Oh no way. So this truly Yeah, I mean, this is now happening. It is like going down right now. I love it's like breaking news. Breaking news on

Renée Warren:

maybe it was more than five months ago, but I can tell you the date was December 8. Yeah. 2022 And as that date with destiny in Florida and And I was finally like just shedding all these layers. And I said, screw this. And Tony really forces you to kind of lean up against all of these things that are stopping you from doing what you want to do. And so when I looked at those, like, those walls, I was like, I'm gonna push you down, because I want to do the thing that's on the other side of this. And the only thing that's stopping myself was me. So finally, when I did it, and I was so like, I was so afraid to go out there, I was ashamed. I was worried that, oh, I've built this identity about being a coach and all this stuff. So I jumped back into it. And I started creating content around it, the messages I got, were like, wow, Renee, this is really who you are. It can really see you shining brighter thanks for shining your light. It's so beautiful to watch this journey unfold. And so

Hilary DeCesare:

great like, and, by the way for it by that way that date with destiny, I did it probably well, a couple years before COVID. It was so incredible. I thought I mean, I can still see my face, because somebody took a picture. And I didn't know it. And I was just, I was lit up. And it truly changed the course of my business, although it just it allowed me to be very focused on who I really wanted to impact. It just laser focused me in that day. And I met some of the most incredible people that further developed like it was the collaborations have been incredible. I am so glad that you share that. And here's another thing. I believe that once you are a coach, right, once you've been doing what we've been doing for as long as we have, you're still coaching no matter what you're doing, you're coaching now with like a PR twist your I'm so excited to hear about the changes because you you were in it, then you weren't in it directly, right. And the changes that came from everything that's gone down in the last few years around PR and around how everybody, you know, everyone needs that light to be just the spotlight on them. So, so cool. I'm so glad that that that's a cool relaunch. So at this point, you're now you're now getting back into it. You're just like jumping right in. And PR today. Can you can you help us understand exactly what it looks like? Because things have changed?

Renée Warren:

Oh, well. So first of all, the industry was flipped upside down. I was told that every 10 ish years, the the journalism industry changes. COVID definitely complimented that. And there were a ton of staff writers that were laid off. I think at this point now it's in the 1000s MEREDITH dotdash, Business Insider BuzzFeed, you name it. And so now all of a sudden, we have these quote, connections, a publicist was hired because of their connections. Now, all of a sudden, it's like kind of like when you smash an anthill, and all sudden the ants kind of just go dispersed everywhere. Yeah, that's exactly what happened. So now we're like, Well, my journalist friend is still writing, they no longer have relationships with the editors, because the editors are also moving around. Yeah, so all this stuff was happening in the industry. And this is only as of late in the last a couple years, there's a big a big shift. But whenever there's a change, there's an opportunity. And well, some people are on the sidelines thinking AI took my job, that's it or something happened. I look at it as what's the opportunity here? If you're not using AI in your business, then you're losing out? You really are,

Hilary DeCesare:

how old are they? And that's interesting, because what you're saying is so many people and I did a workshop yesterday that people are still sitting on the sidelines trying to figure out a I trying to figure out you know, what's next? And you can't do that. You can't you have to take that one small step, even if it's today just going in and it's a free, you know, element chat. GPT just just asked him a question. Say hello, say hello. And I'm interested in finding more about this. How can I leverage this in my business and

Renée Warren:

should actually be to use like, one component of AI. And there are so many actual tools out there. Now you can buy like a $17 spreadsheet that has all these AI commands you can use for chat GBT, which is like, an example would be Hey, write me a five page lead magnet about PR for tech startups in 2023. And maybe you add a couple more commands and it just like pumps it out. Now it's nice. I will say I use this for pure however, that's only the foundation. You take it and then you actually build upon it because cut and paste. No, no, no.

Hilary DeCesare:

No. And the real reason is it doesn't sound like anybody it sounds like gets automated sounds like a robot. It doesn't sound like there's any warm and fuzzy, but it sure does a good job with an outline.

Renée Warren:

It is it expedites our work. So that's, that's how I see it is it brings the process, it narrows the process down, you're saving time 100%. And it gives you ideas. And it's like, oh, you're inspired by this. And I come up with like podcast topic ideas and Blog Topic Ideas and things to teach about. Yeah. But the changing landscape of PR is now like, so think about that picture of these ants going everywhere. Now you have to go find where these ads are, and recreate those relationships, but support these people at the same time. So the way that I look at PR is that it's the mother of all marketing. And because the foundation of it, it's about relationship building. And those people do business with those who know like and trust. So whatever you got to do in your business, to put yourself out there to be known to be liked and trusted is expedites the business at the speed of business. It's the same with relationships, it's the same with marketing the whole what you're trying to do is just make yourself known, liked and trusted.

Hilary DeCesare:

Okay, so you're starting a business? At what point? Do you recommend bringing in a PR person?

Renée Warren:

I don't recommend bringing in a PR person from the beginning, I do recommend starting the process from the beginning. And what does that look like? So the process looks like I always say so I'm actually right after this recording, I'm going to give a workshop, it's the first part of is getting your ducks in a row. So what does that mean? It means what exactly are you about? What's your story? What are you pitching? Is that a product or service? Like understanding that can take time, all while you're building out your media list? Because the one question I get is, where do I find these people? Who are these people? And that's the long process I have a person on my team heard sole job for 20 hours a week is updating and building our media list. That's all she does.

Hilary DeCesare:

Which means she's reaching out trying to find all those connections, making sure that you know the stories, you know what's happening, you know what, like, you're you have the finger on the pulse. Right?

Renée Warren:

Well, and like here would be a perfect example. And this is arguably the most time consuming component is we look at like a podcast to her. And maybe Hillary doesn't take guests. But maybe she talks about other people's books and frameworks and things. How can I get her to mention my book? So hey, Hillary, we just launched his new book, it's in line with some of the content you talk about, is that something I can send you. So you can read and maybe you can mention on your show, because you don't take guests. So there's that layer that you have to dig deep? When it comes to looking at every opportunity? Podcasts alone, there's over 3 million of them in the world. I think there's only like, yes, there's 500,000 of them. They're active and active. It's considered an episode a month or something like that. There's a lot of opportunity. And so when you look at all these, like opportunities with contacts, and journalists and podcasts and publications, TV shows radio, you're like, where do you begin?

Hilary DeCesare:

So you began to shun? That's a great question right there. Because even when you said a few of those things, um, recently, I've started to do a lot more around TV. And people are like, is TV still a thing? And I'm like, actually, it is still a thing. But then there's others that are like, Oh, TV. Wow, that's so cool. And I just want to say that, I'd love to get your perspective, because there are those that are starting out there those that are and I help women go from six to seven, eight figures. There's a time and a place. You can't you can't do it all just like you can't be on every single social media platform. Right? There's a point I'd love to get your perspective on. When do you add in a little bit more of the PR when do you

Renée Warren:

renew your business goals? So here's here's one way of looking at it. There's there's different ways because so many variables, but what are your business objectives in the coming year? Right, and you work backwards from there. What are the things you know, in your marketing toolkit that actually works? What can be amplified? For me, it's like, Instagram works. That's how I got to be on the show again, because I just message you I'm like congrats on the podcast. And so for me, if I'm not in my Instagram DMS that I'm losing out on sales. So that I know works for me. But I also know it works for me is being on other people's shows and having specific guests on my show. Because we develop a relationship. And if I'm doing anything else other than those two things that I'm losing out on a lot of opportunity. So you're so focused, yeah, yeah. But as soon as you start creating a repeatable, scalable system for those different things, When you get capacity back and you're see what's working, is when you can actually start considering other options. And who knows, maybe starting with PR will work for you. But PR is all about, you have to have something juicy for people who want to talk about, you have to have a story, a product or service that is solving problems. That is amazing. Everybody has a story. Okay,

Hilary DeCesare:

so let's talk about everybody has a story. And we call it you know, we like to say it's your origin story, and why are you doing what you're doing? Right, then I've now been on hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of podcast shows. You name it. And you have to be able to say and have the story. And I have to say at the beginning, I messed this up, I would say, you know, well, I thought it was one story I was telling that was really critical and impactful. But it didn't necessarily tie into what I was doing on how I transform people and their businesses. It was a great story. And one that I love telling but it wasn't relevant. So how do you help somebody, as they're listening to this start to go down the path of crafting the right origin story that is interesting, newsworthy and is directly tied to what they're doing

Renée Warren:

a lot of digging. I can't tell you how many biographies I have re formatted, tweaked and jig rejigged because they were just boring. Like, people want to know what you do. But I also know one of the exciting things. And when I read his bio, I'm like, Oh, this is good. So it's it all comes down to like, why are you doing this? But really why? Like, it's always beyond the mind. But really, why are you doing this? Who are you serving? Because who you're serving who your customer is you got to know where they're hanging out. They're hanging out online? Are they listening to podcasts, watching shows today show they're reading magazines, that is really important for the type of story that you're crafting too. Perfect example is, I reached out to the editor in chief of a publication in Canada called bcbusiness. It's our provinces business magazine. And I was like, oh, what's the angle for this guy? And I came up with a story that was soon as I moved to where we live now in Kelowna, British Columbia. Two and a half, almost three years ago. Gosh, we celebrated our two year anniversary in our house yesterday. I missed that. But

Hilary DeCesare:

we've been here exactly two years right now as well.

Renée Warren:

Since Love it, love it. So we, when I first when I moved to the city across the country, I was like, What's the quickest way for me to meet all the entrepreneurs locally, I became an entrepreneur in residence at our local tech accelerator, it became a mentor for this organization called Kelowna women in business. And I just started like laying down roots and meeting the people and just understanding the ecosystem here. What I realized was that quickly turned around to me knowing a lot of people and having them invite me to come speak at events and offer services. And so when I was looking at this guy named Nathan, who's the editor in chief of BC business, I'm like, Oh, here's the juicy bet. And this just kind of like a flash of creative genius over coffee one morning is I had a really cool subject line for my email. And I pitched him saying, I have this really cool angle idea of an untold story, moving to Kelowna, integrated in this business, and I said, What a great story to inspire other entrepreneurs to become more community focused. So the story I'd be like, how I integrated into the community and what it did for the ecosystem of small businesses in the tech space, and how to inspire other entrepreneurs that are successful in the area to do the same thing. And he's like, Oh, I love it. And so he's like, we're busy right now. But we're gonna come back to this. So for me, it's like, I'm not talking about PR, right? It's not about what I do, but it's about how I'm giving back. That's the angle. So now all of a sudden, you know, if I get into online or for getting to the magazine, people are going to know of me and my bio is going to be there. And then they're going to recognize me more because of that. So it's like, the angle, the story, the pitch, has a lot to do with who you're pitching the publication they're writing for, or if it's TV or radio. So it's like every pitch is really specific to that person. That's why it's like, PR is intimidating. I have a rule that if you work with me, you have to guarantee 90 days of active work, or else it won't work for you. Because people will pitch for two or three weeks, and then they give up overnight. It's not working. And like yeah, it's not working right this second. I agree. That is important. You want to lose 40 pounds, you're not going to lose in the first week. You know, and that

Hilary DeCesare:

goes back to coaching again, right there Holdaway is that I will not even take anybody for less than three months and really, it's like six months because if you really want to have math So if things happen to you, if you want to have, like those incredible transformation, the I can't believe this, that's a miracle. Then you got to you got to you got to go backwards to go forwards ourselves. No, you have to take the steps to really have the success. And I don't want people to have the one off. Hey, that was really great. Like, you know, flash in the pan, boom, did it. I want them to be able to take forward into their lives, no matter what. And I think that's why people keep coming back and they're like, I need to work with you again, I need to work with you. And I'm hearing that same thing. You did mention something that I do want to bring up because I think it's funny. And I think we do get caught on thinking that we want something and then you get you know, kind of like, oh, do I really want that I when I first came back after COVID I was really getting back out there. Right? There was a time where we just weren't nobody was doing really anything. And I was asked this question, Hillary, if you can, if you could be anywhere like your ultimate dream of PR what would you want? And I said I want to co host on The Today Show with Hoda. I love her. I swear to God, I think if I ever met her we'd be best friends. Like already in my mind. We already are. We're already like hanging out having dinners, you know, doing a fun stuff, talking about her relaunches. I mean, I got it, it's all in my mind. And then I was asked, well, is that where your target audience is? Are they? are they hanging out there? I'm like, don't tell me. No, I don't want to hear that. But you've got to be honest with yourself. My audience right now is not tuning in to the today's show in the morning. And hanging out and watching it as much as I would love to do that. That would be a high for me. I had to reevaluate and reassess, I had to look at it. Honestly, from a each and every time I do something with PR, how is this really going to help my business? Or is it ego, ego, hey, this would be the coolest thing now. If you can get me on the Today Show, I'm all in.

Renée Warren:

But here's the thing. Let's go back to that. Because I do believe that there's something to be said about that credibility builder of you being on the show, with someone that you that inspires you what it's going to do for business in terms of dollar bills, maybe it'll have a little boost, who knows, it probably will. But the reality is that any sort of media, when which it could be a link to your website, radio interview, whatever it is, it's still a win, and that it's kind of feeding extra eyeballs towards you. And in the online space. They call it Google juice anytime it highly notable website links back to your website. If you know anything about SEO, it increases your website's authority. And so

Hilary DeCesare:

that's good. So I have to take out the I want to be a co host permanently with her and just say, I just want to be on once.

Renée Warren:

You didn't say permanently. I didn't know this was like a career search for you.

Hilary DeCesare:

I'm still laughing about this, because literally like that is in my head. But no, now I'm willing to just say, hey, here's my book, let's talk about it.

Renée Warren:

Well, the thing is like, there are different ways of approaching PR, some people want to just get out there to build their credibility and authority. And there's other people that are looking at what's the revenue coming in from this, right? Because there's some people that understand PR as a way to just be relevant, and people and recognize and that's fine. But there's other people that look at it, like I want to make money, I need to make money from this. So how do I do that? Then the work becomes Well, I wouldn't say more complicated. It's just you have to be more diligent and intentional about where you're putting yourself online. If it's podcast, radio, print, whatever it is, so that when you do get yeses, that the people that are listening, tuning in reading are actually people that want to buy from you.

Hilary DeCesare:

So Renée, are you primarily working? I mean, what are you finding when people you know, connect with you? Are they wanting to have like, Hey, I just need exposure, or are they saying, hey, I want PR to lead to opportunities?

Renée Warren:

They want both? Yeah, I would say one by one. I want that. Yeah, they want both. I think they kind of feed into each other. And but here's the thing about it is there are PR campaigns where you go out on a blitz, maybe it's a month or two and they're doing like launches or whatever. If you're launching a new product service. And then there's PR that's just the consistent stuff. It's about always maintaining your relevancy. And so like for me, I was kind of on the shelf for a little while because I was doing the coaching super not aligned with what I wanted to do. But now I'm like, I know what I'm doing. I know who I'm serving. I know what I'm selling. Get me in front of the people that need me. It's like I need to provide them the value I need to help them because if they don't have me then they can't succeed. And so where are these women,

Hilary DeCesare:

and you can help them succeed faster. 100%. And that's I think, you know, there's something and I do want to talk about the idea that there is a point and I do believe this, that there is a point in your business, you know, you have to have revenue coming in, you have to be able to afford services like this to enhance it and, and have products that you can, you know, capitalize on if that's the monetization part of it. And so, when people are starting to look at this, are you saying, if you're a high five figure, if you're in your six figure seven figure, what would you say people are just out there right now listening to you? You know, I know Hey, sometimes you start by just planting the seeds. That's all good starting small. But if you have a podcast, a book, programs and all that, what you know, what, what time in your business, and I call it your the gates that you're going through, right? It's your five to six figure gate, it's the 250 500 1,000,002 point 5 million 10 million, those are all gates that you get through? Where do you really see that entry point where it's like, this is when it's gonna matter.

Renée Warren:

It matters all the time. But I will say this, though, those gates with the bigger monetary figures on the other side of it, and I hate saying this, but there's some level of credibility that's a little bit bigger than the person that was on the other side of the gate to begin with. So like your first 100,000? I don't know, did you build $100,000 business in three months? That's impressive, right? So that's the story. But the person who's built a $10 million, your business and does all these other things, there's a little bit more juice to that.

Hilary DeCesare:

Totally. Okay, we do have to take a quick break. And when we come back, I am going to specifically ask those things that you want to avoid to make sure that you don't have PR disasters. So everyone stay tuned, we will be right back. This episode is brought to you by my very own labor of love my most recent book relaunch. This book is a collection of my stories, other stories and is a motivational guide to living a new three h q lifestyle, sparking your heart to ignite your life. It's available for purchase via Amazon, get ready to try on the three HQ method that I've been using for years, throughout my entire life. Reaching the next level in all areas, both professionally and personally. Get your copy today at www dot the relaunch book.com Hey, everyone, and welcome back. I have Rene Warren. And she is telling us all things P R. And here's the thing what she did, which I loved. At the beginning, if you didn't hear the beginning, go back, listen to it. If she was sharing with us, she was out of alignment. She was not in her three HQ, her head, her heart, her Higher Self, she was doing something that she was doing it because truly this woman could do anything really well. But she was doing it and it was not connecting. It was not lighting her up. And pr pr lights her up. And so we were talking about coming up with your origin story, making sure you're interesting making sure that you are are identifying where are your clients? Where are you going to be the most successful in sharing that genuine story? And right before we took a break, I said all right. You know, it's the do's and the don'ts, what you should avoid how you can how you can make sure that you aren't wasting your time, your money and your energy. So Rene so excited for this segment, because I think this is going to be so impactful for people to really understand the what works and what doesn't.

Renée Warren:

Yes, what works. Oh my gosh, it's probably one of the hardest things to answer when it comes to PR and let me tell

Hilary DeCesare:

you why I'm challenging you.

Renée Warren:

You're making me scratch my head, I want to come back to a really great success story that we had, during my agency days. Hire a company out of the states called renter's warehouse, which is one of America's largest rental property management companies hired us to help them with content marketing, social media, and PR. So we hired we did all their social media. We wrote all their articles, and I'm talking for the founder on LinkedIn on behalf of the founder for Business Insider, why are Forbes and entrepreneur, a lot of content writing and their blog and creating their infographics all this? It was a big account, the big that's a big job, and we were also pitching the media. But what happens like this company taught us what the PR engine is. And I always talk about the PR engine, how it kind of cycles and works and feeds each other. And that is when content marketing, social media and traditional PR play together, because they play very nicely together. So as we were writing all this content, and he was getting more followers on LinkedIn, and more comments and content, is there was one article that we wrote about how he essentially retired at the age of 27. And then it got syndicated to Yahoo Finance. And back in the day, that was a big deal. Yep, they got picked up by Fox News. And then all of a sudden, all this traffic to their website, broke their website, they got it back up and running, we attributed to almost half a million dollars with the sales within the first 48 hours of that thing going live, which was like the angle we needed to pitch the Steve Harvey Show. And just like that, you got a full segment on the Steve Harvey Show. And, you know, Bob's your uncle after that. So like when you kind of get those big hits, like just things Spiral out. But it took a couple years to get there.

Hilary DeCesare:

I want everyone to hear that took a look a couple years, you know, we always compare ourselves to somebody else. And you think they're doing so? Well. They've been doing it for 10 years, you know, you just have to really realize that that that is such an impactful comment you just said.

Renée Warren:

And there's people that, you know, we look at our competitors that may have been in the industry longer than us, and they have a little bit more authority and credibility in this space. And we always like but our products better. Why are they always getting the media when they're getting it is because they've been doing it longer. And they're probably consistent with it. They've also been if they're the first to market are one of the first two markets are building those relationships with the journalists well before you. And so now you're coming in not only with your product that could very well be better than that person. But you have to prove that you're better. And he has to also prove how you're different. Because really, at the end of the day, when you open up your medicine cabinet, you see all these skin creams, they're almost all the same. Right?

Hilary DeCesare:

Aren't they? I know, my husband says that all the time. I still think I'm still a junkie on, you know, beauty products. But I agree. Really,

Renée Warren:

we don't we don't want to just say one long enough to know if it's actually gonna prove you the results. So at the end of the day, what are we choose off that shelf, we choose the products that are maybe made in Canada, because I'm Canadian. Maybe they're made just organic, or they're not tested on animals. There's a story about why we're choosing these products over the millions of others. It's like, oh, they have a really cool Instagram account. And they're funny, and that's why I like them. Hmm. So when you find your thing, that's like your story. You go with it. You try your pitch, you pitch your pitch. And if you start getting a lot of yeses, you're like, Okay, this is it. I have a client, Amber, her book comes out in like four days. And we started pitching in January, for mostly for podcast. And you know, some things some yeses, were coming in as a cake note, switch the pitch cake completely throw that one out, start over again, I drafted 15 different types of drafts. And finally, one day I pitched three podcasts to have her as a guest on the show. And they all said yes, with the new pitch. I'm like, oh, we need to have something here. We figured she goes, they have to say and we figured it out. And then ever since then we used it versions of that pitch. And now we get way more yeses are way more like Not right now, but definitely in the future. So it takes iteration it takes practice, it takes just jumping in and being wrong. And that's okay and screwing up and having the wrong persons name, the email address or sending it to the wrong person. We do this we're human. But it's showing up and keeping on doing it again and again and iterating and testing things out and finding new contacts. That's what PR is all about.

Hilary DeCesare:

You know what and what you're speaking about is fundamentals of business. It's like the foundation, right? We we switched our launch, and decided to focus on an entirely like different area business, still part of our six month fired up entrepreneur course but a different area. And the first launch, it was not like our normal launches crickets like, you know, hello, hello. And then we went back and did that, you know, at 20 we kind of massage the 20% that really you know, let's not try to throw everything out, right you just because then you have no idea. And then the more confidence you start to get as you deliver it more and you're like, oh, that doesn't even sound good to me. I find and this is something that I have to constantly be asking myself. Is this interesting to me because If it's boring to you, it is certainly being conveyed from an energetic level that is boring to everyone else. So I am constantly is this interesting, as you said with you know, your origin story, is it interesting?

Renée Warren:

Yeah. And so people miss out on the opportunity to is in the follow up. And most people default to like, we'll just do an example as an email pitch to be a guest on a podcast is you send the pitch, generally, the cadence to follow up is two weeks later, and most people will follow up. Hey, Hillary, just checking in to see if we receive my email, but having so so as a guest on your show. Wha wha, right? I reside or I didn't, and obviously, it was crap. So that's why I haven't responded.

Hilary DeCesare:

And they're not gonna respond, because who wants to respond to someone that like, oh, did I not think was interesting two weeks ago, I really don't think it's interesting now.

Renée Warren:

So the follow up email is something juicy, like for Amber or my client whose book comes out, the follow up email was, it was hey, Hillary, just jumping in. See, if you did receive an email, I wanted to add something that was I thought was really cool, is Ammar, raised four sons that were all part of the musical school of rock. And they traveled all over the US. And this is where she learned a lot of the methods and techniques that she highlights in the book that I've told you about. And that's just your

Hilary DeCesare:

another. That's kind of cool. Another tidbit, I like it,

Renée Warren:

right? You're, you're adding the thing. And so that's like, because before maybe they were on the fence, and it just wasn't good enough. They just didn't do anything. But now you're giving them a little extra. And they're like, Okay, this woman's cool that That's badass. Yeah, I want her on my show.

Hilary DeCesare:

So there's that old adage that is that a dash a dash? I think it's the old adage that says, you know, good PR, bad PR. All PR is good, ultimately, is. You don't know who said I don't know. Have you ever heard that? Any PR is good? Let's just stick with that. Who the heck cares? It who said it? Or was it said but is any PR?

Renée Warren:

I guess maybe I mean, you can look at people like Andrew Tate. Right? He's on the internet. Now. You love him or hate him? Quite frankly, I even know what he did. And I probably should know. So don't shame me. I think there's probably a story around why all PR is good. I don't agree with it. It really depends on the reputation you want to build for yourself, too.

Hilary DeCesare:

Yeah. And that you know what that goes to another point, which I do want to hit on. And during the Johnny Depp trial, I was contacted to be on Court TV, to talk about domestic violence. And I had to sit with this and think, you know, I work through a lot of limiting beliefs, trauma based around limiting beliefs and stories. But I didn't feel that the RE launch Bran and myself would have enough knowledge enough like, hey, I really couldn't be talking about this. So I passed on it. And within two days, another opportunity on Dr. Phil came up. And it was about road rage on and how people go from zero to 60. And that one I might I can talk to because I understand what happens energetically to people, the more they go down that rabbit hole of, of emotions and have you know, things that build up. And then finally you blow. But I have to tell you, I was then approached and they said you should have done core TV. I thought it didn't. It wasn't in alignment with me it didn't feel right. And so as somebody is being given something as you start, you know, when do you say no, I'm going to pass? And when do you say alright, I need to because I don't have enough that I really have to have to have people look at it and say, yeah, she's got she's got street cred.

Renée Warren:

I say when you're first starting out, say yes to every opportunity unless it's completely misaligned. But say yes, they asked to speak on the stage. Just say yes, you'll figure it out. Now that I agree, because you just got to, you just got to start talking the talk. Yeah. And that the more you do it, the easier it gets. And you're like, Oh, that's my angle. That's my story. I can talk about PR forever. You can just say Renee, by the way. Stage there are 20,000 people in the audience. Can you go teach them a thing or two about PR for 30 minutes? Not and No preparation? Yes. Yeah, I can go up there. No problem. So the more you do it, the better you get at it, however, like those opportunities is what is this going to do for my reputation? Am I going to be misunderstood? Actually from current customers, or the people that follow me why like why why Doing this, there doesn't seem to be some sort of connection between what you're doing, and this opportunity. And so I just want to make sure that there's no disconnect when those opportunities come up.

Hilary DeCesare:

Yeah. And I think that you, you have to feel right about it. Right. And if you're sitting there, and it's totally a reach, like, whoa, like me on Court TV, I mean, and then that there were gonna be other panel members that were lawyers. And I'm like, Oh, I could have gone I could have gotten lambasted I could have been like, okay, so you really do have to be very honest. But I also really like what you said, the more you deliver these things, the more confident you get, the more you go back and listen to yourself. In some of the stories, you're gonna be like, ooh, that worked. That fell short. That was good, that I'm not even sure what I said there. That a lot of times you get in the zone? How do you work with your clients to perfect what their sound bites are going to be? what their story is going to be? What what does that look like, from a process perspective working with you?

Renée Warren:

It's a constant process of iteration. Like there's, there's no just oh, here's the definitive thing. And this is perfect. Let's go with this. When we first started working together, I always interview my client as though like in a position like this, as though I was somebody who may be on TV or radio, asking questions. And there's just a whole framework that we follow to get that content out of them. I have a program called my VIP day, which is the authority booster intensive, where we go through this together. And I teach them the process. It's like, there's something you're not sharing that she knows relevant. Jarrett, let's put it out on paper. Let's massage this, like, what does this look like? Because people people want to connect. I know, Rachel Hollis, a few years ago, unfortunately, we're talking about bad PR and good PR, she said something about how she didn't want to be relevant to her audience. Something happened, I can't remember the story. But somebody, she shared something and somebody posted a comment saying, Oh, you're so irrelevant to me. And she's like, I don't care about being relevant. And I said, that was a big PR No, no, yeah, you're in your entire entirety of of starting your business and putting yourself out there has to be relevant to the people that you're serving. And so you just got to you got to find that story that's relevant. So you think there's probably four or five things you can extract them angles and like juicy nuggets, what are they write them out on paper, write them out on a Google Doc and just start writing and writing and reading, as people want to talk about that. And the story doesn't have to be I call this the halo effect, right? The Bullseye is like, that is a really good angle about everything that you offer. But there's rings around that Bullseye that are still relevant. And so for instance, coming back to the example of that BC, business news editor, and I said, Hey, like, here's a story about me integrating into the ecosystem of small business in BC, but had nothing to do with PR. Right? It still mattered. Because if he says yes, now I will have myself in his publication. So you have to think and and sometimes he's,

Hilary DeCesare:

you're spinning it that which is so great, that sometimes you got to look for, you know, what is that backdoor approach to get in there? Because once you get in, and, you know, great example is I was on wakeup with Marcy. Okay, I was a guest. And now, I'm going back as a co host. Well, I took an opportunity. And I'm like, oh, let's do this. And now something else has come, you got to take that opportunity and see how you can spin it. Another thing I wanted to mention, as you said that writing it down, writing it down? And do you when you're starting to work with someone? Do you have a process for getting people comfortable? You know, one of the biggest fears out there is being on a stage. And yet, PR is about bringing your your client on two stages, different stages. How do you work with people? And what do you do to get them to be their best version of themselves on any of the stages that you provide?

Renée Warren:

It's all preparation. It's all preparation. And one example would be if we're doing like a podcast tour, is we start with, and I hate calling it the low hanging fruit. But these are podcasts that might not have as many downloads are not as popular. Right? So because just by knowing that you show up a little bit better because you're less intimidated.

Hilary DeCesare:

So we start on your first time. Oh, great.

Renée Warren:

And then as we listen to those recordings, like my client Amber's an example. And I say that because we're really hot on her book launch. Her last recording was so good I go, this is finally it this right here. And it took us 30 recordings to get to this point. And now we figured it out. And we go and like massage the questions that the host asked all these things so that we can now make sure the conversations focused around getting to these specific nuggets and core methods from her book.

Hilary DeCesare:

That is such a great piece right there. I'm gonna go back on that one. Because I hadn't really thought about that, that, you know, there are some podcasts that at the beginning, I'm like, I want to be on this podcast, like, Let's go for that. But thankfully, those are now happening now, after I have done 100 different podcasts, and I have been able to work my stories. So now I have. And there's a huge difference if you go back and listen to yourself when you're telling your story at the beginning one or two times. And after you've done it 20 3040 times. So sometimes, you know, those those small, little, you know, helping, you know, with the with the smaller ones. And those smaller ones, sometimes they have a better kind of intimate connection with their audience than some of the big ones that it's just I mean, these people will do anything for those for those hosts. I mean, they say, Hey, go check this out. My God, they all go check you out. Yeah, it's, it's an incredible process. It really is. So let me ask you, as I am asking you about PR. And as you're getting really back into it, and you're kind of like diving headfirst into this gigantic pool. What are you from a PR perspective? What type of client? Are you really looking for? You?

Renée Warren:

So Well, I mean, if that your listeners know you so you my ideal customer, her name is Jackie. And I know this because she's a real person in my life. She's a friend and I have the Jackie to. Okay, Jackie's Yes, she's awesome. And so the way I describe her is she actually went through a relaunch as well, which is so beautiful and fascinating to watch, from where she was in her life and her business to where she is now it's kind of like it's just a lotus leaf unfolding. But the way I describe it is I want to be the person that goes that helps Jackie 1.0 get to check you 2.0 to Jackie, three pence, awesome. How can I bridge that gap. And now she's in a position where she can afford my services. So there's no hesitation there. But she understands the value of PR. So there's no having to teach her that. And the process is very clear. So Jackie is a female entrepreneur. She has a family. And she's growing her business, your marketing for the first million dollars.

Hilary DeCesare:

Yeah. And so you have a Jackie, I've got a Jackie Jackie's are incredible. And what's great is that as you're saying that with your avatar, and you're really defining it, and you're really looking for it, and you're really like narrowing down when you do that, are you especially because there's people out there starting businesses, and sometimes you want to take client just to take a client just to have a client just to pay the bill just to say, Hey, I had success. How do you feel about if someone were to come to you right now and saying, You know what? It's what's the show that says it's a pass Shark Tank, right? It's okay. I'm not doing it. So how do you handle situations like that? Rejection for me? No rejection that you don't you shouldn't be taking that client in alignment with what you

Renée Warren:

will. Here's the thing is, there's the variables are I have to pay the bills. Sometimes you got to just get scrappy for a while. When I ran my agency, we had all these different clients. Finally we decided it's tech startups. Finally, it was tech startups that raised a Series A, it was very specific. And then we started to get even more specific. Sometimes most of the time, you don't know until you start working with all the people. And then you start figuring out I want to serve funded technology startups that are located on the west coast of the United States. That's specific, but I wouldn't know that until I was either working in one or I had other people that I was supporting. So for me, it's like, I still work with men. I have male clients now. It's not to say that because Jackie's my ideal customer, I'm not going to track these people. But when you find them, it's just it's so much easier. to serve the people that you want to see succeed, whatever it is that you do,

Hilary DeCesare:

you know, when what you said, that's great, because you're saying, Hey, I, my target is female. But you also help men too. I do the same. I have one on one clients that are guys. They don't they don't want group programs. But I do I do serve them. Now, as we're wrapping up. I want to ask you, if somebody is listening, what are the questions that they should be thinking about? If they are now kind of like, hey, this could be an opportunity for me right now? What should? What should they be thinking? And then what more importantly, should they be asking somebody like you before they sign up?

Renée Warren:

Okay, so to work with me or to work with someone in PR is? The first thing you should ask is success stories? What are some case studies to show me? How long did it take the process? What does your process look like? Because I operate differently than most if not all, PR agencies and publicists out there, I know this because I have a ton that are friends, how I'm different. My communication is world class. My reporting is world class. But when it comes to like media list and contacts is you actually see everything. Most PR people, they they protect those contacts, because they spent all of these years building up those relationships. Well, at the end of the day, somebody can easily just go find that information. And so I just give you everything. There's no question about Renée doing the work. What's happening, because you see the pitches, you see the angles, you see when I'm pitching, who I'm pitching, what's happening. So, winds process, and then anything else that your heart desires in terms of asking when it comes to PR. But also, here's I have to say this, too. I think it's the American Public Relations Society stipulates that you are not it's actually against the rules to guarantee results.

Hilary DeCesare:

And everyone should hear that in all across a business like everything. Yeah. Never, never know, and then get you in trouble.

Unknown:

Well, yeah, we like coaching, especially because the coaching, the onus is on the person being coached to do the work. So you can never guarantee results. And here's why there's so many variables, because there are as the journalist who has to say yes or no, and then they have to pitch the editor. So there's so many people. An example is Lindsey, who is a connection of mine. She's an incredible journalist. She, I'm subscribed to her substack. And she said, Well, my Times article just came out. And I wrote this thing nearly a year ago. So can you imagine if your client was like, sign up for six month agreement, and they're like, You promise me this time article? Where is it? Like, there it is. So the the measurement of PR, I say it's the quality of the quantity.

Hilary DeCesare:

I love that. So now we got it. We got to unfortunately wrap this up. Where can people find more about you?

Renée Warren:

Yes, they can go to wewildwomen.co m or on Instagram at Renee, two E's FB N underscore Warren. (@renee_warren)

Hilary DeCesare:

And if any of you have additional questions, DM you heard her say, she is all over Instagram. So check her out. Thank you so much for being here. We are going to be back next week with another relaunch story with more juicy insights into business into what you should be thinking about as you relaunch your business towards that six, seven or eight figure number. And again, as I always like to say relaunch is not about doing it and waiting. It's about relaunching now and making that detail the decision to do it today. So everyone, we look forward to seeing you back here next week. And Renée, thank you so much for giving us all that insight.

Renée Warren:

Thanks for having me.

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