Mini-MasterClass with Gloria Chou: How to Hack Your PR!

 You're listening to the radcast.
 If it's radical, we cover it.
 Here's your host, Ryan Alford.
 Hey guys, what's up?
 It's Ryan Alford.
 Welcome to the latest edition of the radcast.
 We're here live from the, well, live for us at least.
 This could be any day anywhere for you, but we're in the radcast studios at the home of
 Radical here in the lovely Greenville, South Carolina.
 And I'm joined today, you know, by someone in a field that I've been given more prop
 too lately than I've ever said at the letters P and R have been coming out of my mouth.
 More than I ever thought, imaginal Gloria, good to have you on the show.
 So awesome to be here.
 The Gloria Chow founder of Gloria Chow PR, PR bad ass, can I call you a PR bad ass?
 Why not?
 Well, let's use more customers throughout this whole area.
 Hey, look, you're on the radcast, baby, that's why I'm here.
 So let's talk about Gloria and PR.
 So I'd be talking, you know, you've listened to any of our episodes.
 I literally said two episodes ago, it was talking to a good friend of mine, Michael Valor,
 who does a lot of PR and personal branding and influencer stuff.
 And I'm getting to this point where I'm like, you know, I'm not so sure you don't start
 with PR like when you've got a brand or something.
 It's like, and maybe that's like all the PR experts are going, oh, shit, I told you that.
 We've been telling you that for however long, but no, I'm serious.
 Like the power of PR with all of the channels that are today and everything that is media,
 it's such a powerful thing and I don't know that people are leveraging it enough.
 100%, I'll tell you something else.
 In the day and age where we're all at home, we're not going to fancy,
 schmancy, snoozing events with publicists.
 Your chance of getting featured is just as fair as the other one, right?
 So now is the time.
 You know, I've never had anyone tell me, oh, you know, like learning how to pitch
 on and get on a podcast, what a drag.
 Like this is a skill that people want to learn.
 But I think fundamentally humans are afraid of rejection.
 And so the reason why people don't do PR, even though they're just like I,
 like you said, badass as visionaries is because it's so much rather handed off to someone else.
 So hopefully in this, in this episode, I'm going to kind of break that down a little bit
 and share with you a technique that's worked so that you don't have to get rejected as much.
 And you know exactly how to pitch.
 I love it. I can't wait to get into it.
 We're going to hack your PR folks.
 But let's talk a little bit about Gloria and, you know, the foundation of what's kind of gotten you
 here, what's gotten you coaching and sharing all these insights.
 We're going to talk about the CPR pitching method, all of those things.
 But let's tell everybody a little about that background.
 I know you were a producer or a diplomat PR badass now.
 Like let's, let's give everybody a little of the background.
 So I always say my, my life is kind of like building a bus while that while I'm writing in the bus.
 So I never know where it's going to go.
 I mean, people are like, what, like just pick a career dammit.
 But luckily we're in an age now where it's a little bit more acceptable.
 But I'll bring it down to this is I just love to see people win.
 And like nothing makes me happier than helping people be more seen, more heard and valued, right?
 So obviously, you know, I started off as a TV producer where I was literally googling
 to try to get interviews with A-list stars.
 So all of us still are like Nobel Prize winners.
 This is for Chinese TV documentary.
 So we were staying in motels.
 We had no money.
 And my job was to basically get these A-list people onto the show.
 And I think that's really what helped me perfect my cold calling, my cold outreach methods.
 You know there's more than anyone, right?
 Like that is so pivotal to someone's success is just being able to get out there and get rejected.
 So it did a lot of that and then kind of got sick of, you know, being a documentary producer
 and not really having that much income coming in.
 And my mom was like, you need to get a real job.
 So then I was like, all right.
 And I was like, okay, I love foreign relations.
 I love public affairs.
 I'm multilingual.
 Let's give this a shot.
 So I went three.
 I want 180 degrees in the other direction.
 It became a government bureaucrat.
 I had a security clearance.
 It was sworn in by then Secretary of State John Kerry.
 And I was on the diplomatic track.
 I had 25 years ahead of me, pension, all of that.
 But I was deeply miserable because I was in a golden cage.
 And I at age 30, I would like to say, you know, kind of at age 30.
 Is it like the life crisis?
 Move back home, gave up my pension, gave up my diplomatic security.
 And by the way, every time I'm in an airport,
 I'm reminded that out of that.
 Because now I can no longer go through the diplomatic line.
 But hey, we all make choices, right?
 And I got home, got back on unemployment,
 and kind of rebuilt my career.
 And I wanted to work in PR because I just love pitching.
 And I knew that that was something I could do.
 I probably apply for over 1,000 jobs.
 Okay, people putting in references for me.
 And I just could not get a single one.
 Because everybody, every agency wanted very specific experience.
 They wanted agency experience.
 And I did not have an agency experience.
 So I said, all right, universe, what you got for me?
 So I just went and I was like, this is a test.
 I'm going to just go for it.
 I started doing PR for very, very, very tiny startups.
 I'm talking to founders and an engineer.
 They didn't even have a product.
 And they said, sure, I'll have PR.
 Who doesn't want to be, you know, have PR?
 You know what, we'll pay you 500 bucks to get you to get me featured
 on like a CNBC or something like that.
 And 250 for, you know, publications.
 I ended up co-calling and getting them onto FT Reuters,
 AP Yahoo Finance.
 Wall Street Journal, New York Times, NBC.
 So you name and I did it.
 And I was like, all right, maybe I could do this.
 And so now I just teach the methods that I learned
 from thousands of rejections and co-calls.
 And I teach founders around the world how they can do their own PR.
 I think I'd have a hard time giving up that security clearance.
 Let me tell you.
 Flying commercial.
 It sucks.
 You know, going through got a little better.
 You know, and one of the terror, you know,
 not that we would give up or, you know,
 have COVID to deal with lighter your port traffic.
 But that might have made it
 temporarily better until I went to Las Vegas a couple of weeks
 to be able to podcast and get grief.
 It's like I was reminded.
 I was a lot of time.
 I'm giving that up.
 Right back with the peasants, yeah.
 But I love it.
 I think now it's like finally,
 I feel like I'm making an impact in a way
 that I'm really supposed to make an impact.
 And I mean, just getting messages from founders,
 all my LinkedIn, they say,
 Gloria, I watched your master class.
 And I got my, you know, like bed sheet company,
 like something super boring into like Canadian Vogue
 and I'm on Buzzfeed and I was like, all right.
 So now I have a pair of bed sheets that he gifted me.
 So I love that.
 We had the founder and CEO of Sheets and Giggles
 on a month ago.
 And I am now sleeping on a bed of their eucalyptus sheets.
 And let me just tell you they're amazing.
 But Colin, what was Colin's last thing, really?
 Yeah, Magintosh, Colin McIntosh, cool dude.
 Anyway, the sidebar, talk to me about this.
 I think there's this fine line where we get into some of your methods.
 Like this fine line of
 Advatorial PR paid.
 We're getting into this messy middle sometimes
 of what's earned media, what's paid media.
 What's your perspective on all of that?
 And how do you delineate the two?
 Oh, that is such a good question.
 Because I, you know, it's so funny every day,
 I get targeted with these ads as well.
 That's like, well, get you featured on boom, boom, boom.
 And I'm like, do you even know what I do?
 Because, well, so, so, yes, I get it.
 But yeah, they're targeting.
 Was it very good?
 Yeah, exactly 100%.
 I'm like, so it is such a complex and nuanced landscape, right?
 Because what you have now is a lot of people
 and a lot of these channels
 who will accept advertising money
 and they will be able to give you and return like a placement.
 But it's going to stay on their advertising content.
 And this is 2021.
 We have a smart generation of consumers.
 So once you read that,
 you're not even going to continue to read the rest of the story.
 So, you know, consumers are smart
 and they understand the difference between something that's paid
 and something that's truly earned.
 And that's why PR agencies are getting away
 with charging 10, 20, 30, 40 grand, right?
 And so my whole mission is to make it accessible
 and pull that the current and say,
 you know what, it is daunting to go and pitch to a journalist,
 but it doesn't have to be that hard.
 You need to have a pitch that's not super marketing speak
 because they don't want to be your free advertising vehicles.
 And as long as you can transform your product
 or your service into a relevant newsworthy story,
 then there's no limit to the amount of articles, right?
 I always say there is no such thing
 as a newsworthy company
 because I've written pitches for candles for bath salts.
 But there is such a thing as a newsworthy angle.
 Love it, love it, love it.
 No different than branding on some levels.
 Like we say those same things sometimes.
 It's like you got to make your brand memorable.
 You got to make your story memorable.
 So all of that relates.
 So talk to me about like,
 what's in developing your system for coaching
 and methods and things like that?
 I imagine it's from the trial and error
 for how many every years and learning,
 you know, and experiencing doing this for others, right?
 100%.
 You know, so I never had any journalism.
 So I didn't study journalism.
 I don't have a single journalist trend.
 I studied politics.
 And I never worked at an agency.
 So I came into it cold calling Google, right?
 And I didn't have anybody, you know,
 relying on their relationships.
 So that's how I started.
 And I took all the different commonalities
 from the times that I pitched,
 whether it's email or cold call.
 And at this point, it's thousands of them.
 And I started to notice patterns
 of when an editor would actually respond
 and when it kind of just went into the trash.
 And so after years of doing this,
 I mean, now I've gained over one billion organic views
 for like all of my clients,
 most of whom are super early stage,
 some of them don't even have a website.
 I noticed that there were some key elements
 to a pitch that usually gets noticed.
 And so that is how I came up with my CPR method.
 That is kind of the tangible part of it.
 But I think a bigger part of it is the mindset part.
 And I think, you know, in a saturated market,
 we know that traffic alone is not enough, right?
 So if I see an ad like whatever.
 But if I'm debating between, let's say, you know,
 two companies and I see that you've lent your expertise
 to a podcast or to an entrepreneur,
 I'm probably gonna go with you even if it's more expensive.
 And marketing just doesn't get you there, right?
 You know that because you're in branding.
 So PR is the only way to both get authority and traffic.
 So that's kind of what I'm talking about here
 is that earned media.
 And so how do you have a conversation
 with a journalist who you've never met
 and you probably never will
 and get them to feel like your pitch is value-driven enough
 that they wanna share it with their audience?
 Huge.
 I'm gonna circle one word there
 that is kind of the crux of it, especially.
 Whether it's a brand, a business,
 or the founders, or the people personal authority,
 that is the key with PR that people don't understand
 that you can't build authority with advertising alone.
 It's not that it has zero impact on authority
 because you can buy your way to some of it,
 but 80, 90% of it has to be built
 through more authentic, more earned, more other people
 building you up and talking about you
 or writing about you or whatever that medium is,
 having that influence that elevates you.
 I say to people all the time,
 sometimes you can't always lift yourself up.
 Sometimes others have to do it.
 And that's authority is such a crucial ingredient
 these days with having that authenticity
 and having leverage.
 100% and I read somewhere that it takes 25 touch points
 or more for when someone encounters your brand
 to when they buy, right?
 So think of PR and that authority
 reducing 25 touch points to two touch points
 because especially if you're in B2B,
 you really need that authority, right?
 And in terms of marketing and PR,
 the analogy I always love to give is
 imagine a man and a woman are on a date, right?
 So the man's telling the woman that he's smart,
 he has a great family and he graduated from this school.
 That's marketing, right?
 He's seeing the right things, the right people.
 Now, imagine the woman's going home
 and her most trusted friend from childhood
 calls her up and says,
 you know that guy you're on a date with?
 He has such a good reputation.
 I see him volunteering at the Cancer Hospital every Saturday.
 He has such a gem you really have to play your cards right.
 You see how that's different?
 That is the power of PR.
 100% social proof, baby.
 It's like, that's what we call it at the time.
 Like everybody wants to sell their stuff.
 Like we already commerce brands.
 They have no reputation.
 They're like, why aren't we selling stuff?
 We built an e-commerce store and I'm like,
 there's no social proof.
 You know, we can do that with PR.
 But you got to do that with reviews.
 You got to do that through social media.
 I mean, it's all of those things,
 but it's credible, you know,
 author authority and then credibility.
 You know, all of those things kind of go hand in hand
 and that's what PR can do for you that others can't.
 So what are some other parts of the CPR method?
 What is, I'm sure that's an acronym for something.
 So let's get into it.
 Yeah.
 Whoever's listening and multitasking come back to us
 because this is the most important part.
 So Ryan, I found throughout thousands of call calls,
 thousands of times people have slammed phones in my face.
 I started to pick up on when I could get that person
 to stay on the phone a little bit longer, right?
 And I boiled it down to my CPR method.
 So your pitch needs to have these three things,
 the C, which is credibility.
 One sentence on why you are giving this pitch.
 A lot of founders go crazy here
 and they over stuff it with their autobiography
 and all kinds of stuff that journalists don't care about.
 So the credibility is literally one line.
 I am a founder, boom, right?
 And then the P stands for point of view.
 Why? Because experts have point of view.
 Remember, you're not positioning yourself as a seller.
 You're positioning yourself as a thought leader.
 That means you need to have insight
 on where the industry is headed.
 For example, if you are in e-commerce, right?
 And you make a stuff for moms, right?
 I don't care what industry or what product you are in.
 2020 has changed the landscape for all of us.
 So what are the three ways people are using products differently?
 How has that influence family dynamics, right?
 Could be three ways to use technology to homeschool
 your ADHD child, like whatever it is.
 I want three bullet points.
 That is your point of view, positions you as an expert.
 The R stands for relevance.
 This is super important and probably the most important part.
 This tells the editor your pitch needs to be answered to right now
 and then not three years ago or three years from now, right?
 So think about what are the seasonalities?
 If you are in a heavily regulated industry,
 like therapy or finance, it might be something
 to do with the new laws that were coming out, right?
 SBA loans, like whatever it is.
 If you are in e-commerce or retail,
 it could be about a Black Friday.
 It could be about shopping trends around the holidays, right?
 If you are a career coach,
 it could be something about graduation day
 and the three most important sought-after skills, right?
 So that's exactly what I'm talking about here.
 And you need to make sure your pitch has the credibility,
 the point of view and the relevance.
 Love it, I love it.
 Credibility point of view, relevance.
 And you can see we're all three of those are so key
 because I think you nailed it on the credibility part.
 You know, I think founders,
 and I've been guilty of this, not intentionally,
 I know what you just said.
 And it's like, I've got to, like, really should.
 I've got to tell the, you know,
 they're not going to write a two-page story
 on your, you know, your background.
 You know, you got to condense it down
 to what are those so-you points that truly,
 you know, build Jews that authority
 for why they want your point of view
 and then, of course, making it relevant.
 But the, that's the biggest thing I see.
 It's like, it's no different than like a brand
 and we're building a website doing something else.
 Less is more, baby.
 Yeah, because it's not about you, right?
 It's about what's the value for the audience.
 And look, your story is important.
 Every single person that's found in a company has a story.
 But the point of the pitch is just to get the journalist
 on the phone.
 It's not a whole life autobiography can burn style, right?
 It's just, what is the shortest way
 for me to convey like three value points
 that they can turn to a headline?
 And here's two things I think anyone listening
 you should do right now to start to train your mind
 to think like that is I want you to install a Google News Alert.
 So if you type in Google News Alert,
 Google will ping you with all the different publications,
 anything that's written online about your industry.
 So if you're an AI, if you're in fitness, whatever,
 you're going to start to understand
 what are the actual subject lines
 that people are talking about.
 Another thing you can do is if you've ever heard of horror,
 which stands for help or reporter out, right?
 It's kind of like a journalist inquiry.
 It can get really crazy because there's
 hundreds of them journalists asking to be interviewed
 for whatever, like they're like, oh, I'm
 looking for the person who has expertise on this.
 So those are two very grassroots ways.
 You can start to figure out like how
 to connect with journalists and what they're looking for.
 I love the Google Alerts.
 I get, I think I've got to like trim my back
 because I've started to get too many.
 But I load them up on if you have that problem.
 I'm like, load them up on my, I'm not even following
 that topic anymore or whatever.
 But it is super powerful because it will give you,
 I've got my own name in there.
 And there's several Ryan Offers and it will show up.
 And I was like, you know, I did a joke on Instagram story.
 Like some guy wanted golf tournament with my exact name.
 And I was like, I like, I did this whole school feels right
 around like April, full day.
 And I was like, you know, I won this tournament.
 I had like three people DM me.
 Man, I didn't even know you played the song.
 That is amazing.
 That's glorious.
 That is a great thing.
 But I do love Google Alerts.
 Huge.
 Yeah.
 So those are two things.
 And if you go on my website, glurichowpr.com,
 I have a template, which is a podcast template.
 You can fill in the blinks.
 And you can start to see where, how I write the C
 and the P and the R in my CPR method.
 And so that's kind of your way.
 If you've ever wanted to get on a podcast,
 you can start there.
 And obviously I have my master class where I actually
 revealed the pitch that I wrote for a founder who is not funded.
 And I show you the email pitch that I wrote.
 And how it got on to Fast Company with a link
 to the eventual article.
 We're talking value here, folks.
 Real world examples for how to do this.
 So get after it.
 But I do, it's funny.
 I believe this.
 And I tell clients, this is where some PR and advertising
 and marketing are definitely synergized, which is everyone's
 favorite radio station is WIFM.
 What's in it for me?
 And it's no different when you're writing the pitch
 to the reporter or the journalist.
 What's in it for them?
 Like you got everyone's favorite station.
 Yeah.
 And you know one thing is, as you get past the,
 OK, I'm not going to put three, four lines about my credibility.
 And they're actually writing the pitch using my method.
 Another stumbling block is that they want to appeal to everyone.
 And you know this more than anyone.
 When you speak to everyone, you speak to no one.
 So if your pitch is super fluffy and it's like how
 we are living in 2021, like that doesn't give me a lot, right?
 So I want you to be specific.
 Does your product or service target a certain demographic, right?
 If you can cross compare two different sectors, that's even better.
 Like, for example, I worked with a career coach.
 So talk about market saturation, right?
 And what I came up with him was, you know what?
 You should run a survey.
 So he literally did a survey.
 I'm talking like 399 Google Forms, OK?
 Not a data scientist.
 He got a Google Forms.
 He went on to LinkedIn and said, hey, I'm doing a survey $5 Starbucks
 card.
 If you graduated in 2008, which is the recession, or in 2020,
 let me know.
 I would love your thoughts.
 He cross compared their survey answers
 on how they felt their college degree was worth it, whether or not,
 they felt optimistic about it.
 He basically took that as proprietary data.
 And he was able to start conversations with New York Times Forbes,
 you know, Fast Company.
 He ended up getting featured on Forbes Inc.
 The Tennessee and I think I think one more.
 I think Entrepreneur.
 So it works because journalists are not
 going to be able to do that kind of work.
 You don't need a big sample size.
 You don't need to interview 5,000 people, right?
 It could be like 20 and 20.
 I love that.
 I love that a lot.
 We've talked about that very tactic of surveys and other things.
 And because people want data, you know,
 and that's back to that proof, you know, like the points
 and all those things in building the story
 and having credibility around it, all those things.
 Yeah, you could say it and you've got experience in all that.
 But when you've got, you know, 33% of this and 4% of that,
 and you've got credible data points that back it up.
 I've always been coached before that that's like the journalist,
 the journalist love that stuff.
 100%.
 If you can just do like 1% or 10% a little bit more work,
 automatically you're going to be the one to be interviewed, right?
 It just shows that you're willing to go out there.
 And here's another thing about pitching is that I think
 it shows that you are so confident in your fidget spinner
 and you're whatever it is, right?
 That you are able to actually put yourself out there
 and pitch, and that gives me confidence as a consumer.
 So a lot of times, you know, like you're saying,
 oh, I just make a product like why do I need PR for,
 or what is my angle?
 So if you don't know how you're making an impact
 beyond just your product, then maybe you shouldn't get featured.
 But I would dare to say that every single founder is here
 to make an impact in a way that's just more
 than their immediate product.
 So let's channel that energy.
 Yeah, and that brings me to another point
 that's like the struggle with some companies now,
 like it's hard for the founders to be behind the curtains.
 You know, like it's just,
 we're just in such a day and age,
 people want to know the people they're doing business with,
 they want to know their values,
 they want to get to know them.
 PR allows those angles and it's such a struggle
 and don't give me wrong.
 I guess if you're fortunate enough to develop,
 build a category defining product,
 maybe you can hide behind the product,
 but short of that, it's just so important for people
 that want to know and understand the person,
 the background, the perspective of the people
 they're doing business with.
 Well, exactly, especially now with our values, right?
 Whether it's political, environmental,
 people want to know.
 And so what better way to communicate?
 Exactly where you stand than being on a podcast
 and being interviewed and, you know,
 and it's not just about being interviewed.
 It's like getting to know these people
 and speaking on conferences,
 it's going to be able to help you
 with every future endeavor that you have, right?
 It's about networking.
 So yes, if you want to stay behind the curtain,
 that's fine, but you know,
 I've never heard anyone complain about being invited
 to more tables.
 No, those are the right tables.
 We get to the image table or the golden globes.
 Oh, yeah.
 I have a face.
 I'm, yeah.
 I know.
 Well, where could everybody keep up with everything?
 Gloria Chow?
 Now you mentioned your website.
 Let's mention it again.
 Any of your social channels, all of those things
 where can they keep up with you?
 I have, like I said,
 I have the podcast template that's gotten me
 onto at least 30 podcasts that's on my website.
 And I have a thriving Facebook community now
 of small business owners who are probably
 on the same journey as your listeners,
 maybe feeling a little overwhelmed,
 feeling like PR is an expensive luxury item.
 And I actually made that community
 full of founders who are supportive
 and I go live in it every Friday
 with how I got featured.
 So every Friday interview,
 a small business owner who got featured.
 And I actually have a lot of podcasters on there.
 So you might be able to get onto a podcast as well.
 You can find that and join our community
 at getfeaturenow.com.
 I love it.
 I love it.
 And I want to stay in touch because I want to,
 I want to leverage some of these secrets
 and maybe any of the other things you got up your sleeve
 that you keep for special people
 that have you on their podcast.
 I'm 100%.
 I'm 100%.
 And one more thing is on my masterclass
 that I do every three months,
 I'm doing one coming up.
 I actually revealed the exact pitch
 that I talked to you about.
 The one that she got onto fast company.
 So I do a screen share of exactly how I wrote it.
 So if you want to come to my upcoming masterclass,
 you can go to blotichlpr.com slash masterclass.
 Love it.
 Get on people.
 PR is the key.
 Especially in 2021.
 It might have been always the key.
 And maybe I'm just coming around to it 20 years
 in my career.
 I don't know which it is.
 It's probably a combination of both.
 But Gloria knows her stuff.
 You know where to find her.
 She just told you, you know where to find us.
 Theradcast.com.
 All of this content, all the highlights from this episode
 and others will be there.
 Just search for PR.
 All the angles, all the stuff is there.
 Search for anything.
 You know where to find me on Instagram.
 At Ryanofford on tic-tac-at-Ryan.offord.
 I am verified there.
 You can DM me there.
 Anything you want to do.
 We'll see you next time on the radcast.
 Yo guys, what's up, Ryanofford here.
 Thanks so much for listening.
 Really appreciated it.
 Do us a favor.
 If you've been enjoying the radcast,
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 We'd really appreciate it.
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 Do us a solid.
 Tell more people, leave us some reviews.
 And hey, here's the best news of all.
 If you want to work with me directly,
 you want to get your business kicking ass.
 And if you want radical or myself involved,
 you can text me directly at 864-729-3680.
 Don't wait another minute.
 Let's get your business going.
 864-729-3680.
 We'll see you next time.