Why We Created Our Online Public Relations Course - Pitch, Please!
There are many public relations courses online, but there is nothing out there that compares to Pitch, Please. That’s because it is the only public relations course that that was co-created by a journalist and publicist. No one can tell you how to impress a writer better than a writer and no one knows how to strategize for traditional and new media better than a seasoned publicist.
Side note: The information in this post is perfect for business owners and influencers looking to dip their toe in the water of public relations. If you're ready to skip to the good stuff, click here to learn more about our online public relations course, Pitch, Please!
Every business needs PR
All businesses need publicity whether they are in a pre-launch stage or they’ve been established for years. Any small business owner, solopreneur, coach, real estate agent, author, expert, etc can easily get publicity for themselves if they know how to pitch and can devote approximately 20 minutes a day to doing this. Of course you can spend more time, but 20 minutes a day is a good minimum.
Before we get into why we created Pitch Please, let’s make one thing clear. We still think publicists are necessary. After all, why would a publicist want to put herself out of business? That would’t be very smart. Larger organizations certainly need full-time publicists.
There are also many entrepreneurs and with large budgets who can afford $2-$10k+ per month to keep a publicist on retainer. But we firmly believe that budget should never preclude any business from getting featured in the media…
The benefits of publicity
While having an article written about you or your business will always feel good, there are so many other benefits to getting featured in the media that you may not know about or realize.
PR powers up your SEO game
Headlines have more power than keywords. Having your name and URL linked on authoritative websites and even blogs can be a big boost for your SEO.
Even if your page is optimized, there’s nothing that can change the game quite like a link can. Whether it’s a big feature profile or a short, interesting quote, those links are all good as gold! Just one can move your website up an entire page in Google Search results.
Not convinced yet?
Do you ever make it past the first or second page of Google search results when searching for anything? Have you bothered to see what’s on the third page? All the way on the fifth page? Might as well be Antarctica!
Publicity also gives you an effortless funnel of new business and boosts sales
How did you learn about that great moisturizer, funny podcast, or Marie Kondo? You probably read about it on the Internet.
A lot of people found out about Molly Borman Heymont’s book The Instagram Iceberg in the New York Post. But the real story is how she ended up getting that opportunity for herself.
Molly is a savvy entrepreneur. So, she didn’t hire an expensive publicist to pitch her book. Instead, she took the Pitch, Please course, and learned how to pitch herself.
However, her initial pitch to the New York Post was rejected because it turned out the editors weren’t interested in writing a review of the book. Instead, they asked her to write an entire op-ed! She got even more than she asked for! Not only was her article on NYPost.com, but it was also featured in print!
Speaking of Instagram...
Getting publicity also improves engagement on Instagram and other social media platforms. This is because while not everyone who reads about you online will buy your product (we can all wish, though), there will be more people searching for you, following and engaging with your profiles. Hello, algorithmic advantage!
Getting publicity also makes you a stronger authority. Whether it’s a major or minor decision, we’re all more likely to choose the option that we have the most information about. Are you going to eat at a restaurant that’s been reviewed on Eater and a local paper or a random one with three Yelp reviews? Are you going to work with a coach that's been featured in Inc and Fast Company or someone who hasn't? The same rule applies.
It doesn’t matter who writes a pitch
As a writer for Forbes, A Sweat Life, Reader’s Digest, The Balance, and several other publications, I receive up to 100 pitches a day (I’m not exaggerating here) from all types of businesses from solopreneurs with Kickstarter campaigns to public companies. I love to write about businesses and products that I find interesting, innovative or strike me in some way.
It doesn’t matter if the business is a month old or 100 years old. There are a lot of factors that go into whether or not I write about something that’s pitched to me, especially when it comes to cold pitches. But who sends me that pitch isn’t one of them. For the most part, I have no idea who is writing it until I get down to the signature (if I even read that far). This aspect of PR, forming relationships, in particular, is covered in-depth in our online public relations course, Pitch, Please!
How Pitch Please is democratizing public relations
Running a business isn’t easy, especially a new business. And entrepreneurs shouldn’t be intimated by the pitching process or believe that they need to spend a lot of money hiring a publicist. Writers love being pitched and they want to be impressed. That’s just part of the reason why we created this course.
Where the idea for Pitch Please came from
Let me take this opportunity to make a little confession. Before coming up with the idea for the course, I started to screenshot lots of the bad pitches that went through my inbox. I would send them to my friends who are writers and influencers but obviously I’d redact any personal information.
I know it was kind of mean, but these bad pitches really started to annoy me. Supposedly seasoned public relations professionals and entrepreneurs with advanced, sometimes even Ivy League degrees had great products and brands, but their pitches were nowhere near up to snuff. Sometimes, I didn’t even respond to these emails. When I did, I started to let publicists know what they were doing wrong.
But then I realized I should be paid for my work. So, I created an in-person workshop where I taught publicists how to better pitch and form relationships with writers, editors, and influencers.
Then COVID shut everything down. I realized that small businesses and entrepreneurs would benefit greatly from having this information. Then I teamed up with Jennifer so we could create a more comprehensive online public relations course that would offer multiple perspectives on the process.
Pitch, Please not only goes in-depth about pitching print and online publications but also the process of forming relationships, making press kids, getting on podcasts, and working with influencers.
Here is a list of the modules.
Lesson 1 : The Power Of Media Exposure
Lesson 2 : Your Resource Guide
Lesson 3 : Cold Pitch Strategies
Lesson 4 : Making A Cold Pitch Hot & Sexy
Lesson 5 : The Art of The Follow Up
Lesson 6 : How to Leverage Social Media
Lesson 7 : Curating Your Press Kit
Lesson 8 : Podcast Pitching
Ready for a PR training that will help you explode your visibility and authority? Click below to watch the masterclass: How To Get Major Media Placement With 20 Minutes A Day.