From the course: Entrepreneurship Foundations

Personal branding and public relations

From the course: Entrepreneurship Foundations

Personal branding and public relations

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- You are always the best person to tell your own story. I should know. In the eight years since starting my company, I went through not one, not two, not three, but four PR companies before finally realizing that if it came straight from me packed a much bigger punch. Whether you're trying to get PR mentions for your company or land your product on retail shelves, here are three tips to pitch you and your ideas. Number one, start small and work your way up. I live by this rule and no one has demonstrated it more clearly than my friend and fellow female founder, Helaine Knapp at CITYROW. When building her boutique fitness business, she had a big vision that included multiple locations, tech, and lots of innovation, but she started small. She opened her first rowing studio in 2014 in New York City. The first location was a hit, so she built a second and soon after, just four years after starting, she has now expanded beyond New York City. She's franchised the business and she's launched an at-home version of her rower. The big wins didn't come overnight. They took four years of starting small and working up. The best part of starting small is you can build off your smaller wins to leverage the big ones. This strategy works really well for PR. I often have founders reaching out to me asking how to get on the Forbes 30 under 30 list. My immediate response is for them to show me what other awards or honors they've won. Often times, it's not many. They're so focused on the big one that they forgot to start small. Look for awards and honors in your hometown. From your high school, from your college, even from your state. Go after these so that when you do go after bigger awards, you can say, "I've won alumni of the year from my school. "I was awarded best new business leader for my state, "and now I'm coming for the Forbes list." However, don't fall prey to the more is better mentality. Hone in on what's going to move the needle for your business. Sometimes, we start to get stars in our eyes when it comes to opportunities or our ego lets us get away with ourselves and tells us to go for things like another accolade for our list. However, it's important to always focus on what's going to be best for the business. Ask yourself questions like is my product really going to be better off if a smaller, less prestigious retail chain picks it up? Or will this award really lead to more sales for my business? If the answer is no, steer clear, and remember, pitch yourself thoughtfully and often. Set reminders in your calendar for when contests or award submissions are opening up and keep track of what your past wins were so you have a quick go-to list of them. The big fish are out there for the taking, but it's much easier to catch them when you've become a master at catching the small ones first.

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