Michelle Songy With Press Hook

Intro: [00:00:04] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX Studios in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for Atlanta Business Radio. Brought to you by on pay. Atlanta’s New standard in payroll. Now, here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:25] Lee Kantor here another episode of Atlanta Business Radio, and this is going to be a good one. But before we get started, it’s important to recognize our sponsor, Onpay. Without them, we couldn’t be sharing these important stories. Today on Atlanta Business Radio, we have Michelle Songy with Press Hook. Welcome, Michelle.

Michelle Songy: [00:00:43] Hi there. Thank you for having me on.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:45] I’m so excited to learn what you’re up to. Tell us about Press Hook. How are you serving folks?

Michelle Songy: [00:00:50] Sure. So Press Hook is a media relations network that directly connects brands and journalists to create newsworthy stories.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:58] So what’s your backstory? How did you get into this line of work?

Michelle Songy: [00:01:02] I actually created a mobile payment app company before I was based in London, and while we were in the matter of selling that, we actually sold it to American Express. I was trying to figure out on my own how to do PR on my own. We didn’t have an agency anymore, but I had no experience and I figured it was. And then I found out it was very time consuming, expensive, and I just really didn’t have the network built out. And the more I learned, I tried to figure out and hack ways and figuring out if there’s any solutions out there to help me generate and connect with journalists and get media coverage for my business. And I just didn’t see anything out there.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:39] So what did you end up doing?

Michelle Songy: [00:01:41] So after our business was acquired and this was in about 20 early 2020, I had actually just taken a trip to Indonesia. I went somewhere really far away, remote, and I read about it in Culture Trip and I got there and the guy said, How, you know, how did you end up here? And I said, Well, I’ve been I read about this three years ago on Culture Trip, and I always wanted to come here. And he said, Well, that’s how we get, you know, a crazy most of our business just comes from that one article. We have no idea how to recreate that and get more earned media coverage. And so while I was there, kind of connected, if we could build something essentially similar, like a marketplace like Airbnb, we could connect more small businesses and people around the world to top journalists that are writing stories.

Lee Kantor: [00:02:25] So when you’re coming up with the concept, okay, I have journalists who need stories and I have businesses that want their story told. How did you come up with a marketplace that made sense financially for each side of the market?

Michelle Songy: [00:02:38] Yeah. So building a marketplace, we started off being pretty bootstrapped. We had two sides of it. So one side was the businesses and the brands, and the other side was the media. So and we also started building this in February of 2020. So you could imagine what was about to happen a month into us developing the platform. But we really actually started just adding brands and their profiles and trying to figure out how journalists and what they would need and how they would connect to them and how they would use the platform to search for products or brands or experts for their stories. So we let the platform. It was free for about six months and then we started charging after. And then so it was a SaaS subscription where brands could pay a monthly platform, but it’s always been free for media.

Lee Kantor: [00:03:22] So the journalist puts, I guess, their contact information out or what stories they’re looking for and they get.

Michelle Songy: [00:03:28] Yeah, they search it just like Google. So they put in a key term they’re looking for. So they’re looking for sustainability or if they’re looking for AI based businesses or an expert they can speak to, they put in that key term. And now we actually do use a lot of AI throughout the experience. So they can put in a full source request for something specifically they’re looking for and it will generate and provide them recommendations of products or brands or people, experts to speak to for their stories.

Lee Kantor: [00:03:57] Now, has the platform changed in the evolution of journalists now where so many of them, for example, will be journalists, but they’ll have their whole business on a substack or a newsletter or blog is that journalists, who is also their own product, who needs sponsors to keep their lights on, as well as stories to keep their audience happy.

Michelle Songy: [00:04:25] Yep. So you’ve nailed it. So a lot of freelance journalists especially have become their own media empire. Say they have they can run podcasts. They have substacks. Of course. They have their social media channels, and then they can freelance across a number of different publications in. And that is really how they’re starting to learn how to monetize themselves is through these substacks So they could be paid or free newsletters that they run, they can do sponsorships, they come on our platform and are looking for guests potentially for their next podcast, and they’re really looking for new innovative businesses and people to speak to that can help develop their stories for them or with them.

Lee Kantor: [00:05:06] So are they using the platform primarily as a way to just get guests or are they using the platform as a way to get sponsors or both?

Michelle Songy: [00:05:14] Not yet sponsors. We’re 100% right now earned media, so we don’t have influencers and we don’t have paid opportunities yet on the platform. Everything has been earned so far.

Lee Kantor: [00:05:25] So the only so the brands that are paying, they’re paying something and they know that they’re going to get an earned media story in exchange for whatever they’re paying you to be part of the platform.

Michelle Songy: [00:05:38] Exactly, Yes. So we have a lot of small businesses and startups. That’s actually how we started, was primarily targeting them because we were a new and cost efficient way of them doing PR without having to hire an agency that is usually really expensive for them, especially in their early years, or them just not knowing how to do it themselves. So we started off really generating a lot of interest around the small businesses and startups we were supporting. However, you know, a couple years later we do have a lot bigger brands on the platform. We have over 70 PR agencies that have added their clients to it because, you know, with the speed of content, how quickly it’s being written and all the changes that have happened in the media industry, it’s hard to keep up. It’s hard to it’s impossible to know what any person, any internal journalist or freelancer could be writing at any given moment. So it now is a much bigger platform that we provide services not just to small businesses, but larger companies and their agencies as well.

Lee Kantor: [00:06:42] Now, do you mind explaining to the listener who is that small business owner that maybe have dabbled in advertising or pay per click or something like that, but hasn’t really taken the plunge to PR because PR is a different animal. It’s not. A lot of times you’re paying and hoping that you get coverage somewhere, but there’s no guarantees in. Pr Can you explain how it works for somebody who’s never done it before and also how your platform helps them kind of maybe be more efficient and effective?

Michelle Songy: [00:07:14] Sure. So the way to go about it is a small business. And I agree it can be expensive or time consuming to do, but we built it. As you know, you first create a press kit and that really shows a journalist who your brand is and what it’s about. What’s who’s part of it, you know, who are the founders, their background, what are the products or services you’re offering? So we also have a template that helps brands create a press kit on the site. The next is you need to find what what media and what journalists and publications are are target for your audience. Like what are your consumers reading? We also just developed a tool. It’s also a. Based where when a business signs up, it automatically recommends them a list of media that are relevant to their business. And why? Because a lot of times businesses had a hard time saying, you know what? Publications or what writers are really the target and having to do a lot of that homework and then also having to figure out what’s you how do we get in touch with them, how do we email them, how do we pitch them? So we’ve also built a suite of new tools and features for them as well. We have an AI driven pitch generator. We have a press release generator where they can put in some inputs and it comes out with a press release for them and then helps them to figure out who exactly they should be pitching to. So, you know, whether they’re doing it on their own or with press or somehow different, you still have to always develop and know like, who is your. Who’s your target media publications? Who are the people you should be building relationships with? Who would want to talk? Tell your story or tell your new news. So it’s really a form of figuring out what content, what is newsworthy and who is it newsworthy for.

Lee Kantor: [00:08:57] And then any surprises when you decided I mean, this is a different venture than you did previously. I guess it has some of the same bones, but is this market different than the market you encountered in your first startup?

Michelle Songy: [00:09:11] Completely different. I was in the mobile payment industry before and I started it right after the whole Uber launch and people were moving more and thinking about different mobile payment applications. I obviously had some a lot of big, bigger players with deeper pockets around me and we were, you know, a small woman owned, you know, company living abroad in London doing this. And I had actually moved I was working with Coca-Cola in Atlanta. They had moved me to London for my job. And I actually then after that decided to start this company, that mobile payment company, on my own over there. But I was in a really crowded industry. There was a lot of competition, but PR and media, media, tech industry just really caught my eye because it was an open space. There was not really lacked technology. It lacked efficiency across the board. There’s been a few of the same players that kind of re rebuild themselves as in new forms of companies. But there was always two different platforms. There was platforms built for journalists or platforms built for PR professionals, but there was no two sided marketplace that connected both sides.

Lee Kantor: [00:10:24] So what do you need more of? How can we help you?

Michelle Songy: [00:10:29] We’re always looking for new businesses, new innovative brands, new services, new features, new products out there, and seeing what people are building and helping them get exposure for that. So I welcome anyone to come on to our site. It’s press hook.com fill out. You know, you can sign up, you can learn more about it, you can book a strategy session, you can book a demo just to learn more. And we just like to help also give people, you know, the resources and the knowledge that that that they need, whether they’re doing it themselves or they start deciding to use a resource like us. But we’re constantly looking for new content, new ideas, new experts, new thought leaders to speak to. So we welcome all sorts of people like that.

Lee Kantor: [00:11:13] So walk me through what it’s like. Say hypothetically, I’m a maybe a franchise and I’d like more press for all of my people around the country. How would I go about the franchise or how would I go about, you know, squeezing the most juice out of press hook?

Michelle Songy: [00:11:31] Sure. So let’s say I’m just thinking of franchise, I don’t know, a Dairy Queen or something, but you could come on to the site. You would create a press kit, which is a profile of your business and putting in that important key information that journalist needs to know about it and overview, you know, your links to your socials, links to your sites and image gallery. So all of your PR assets, we really get in place first. And once that’s set, then we can read the data and the content and your profile and help make suggestions. So let’s say you want to put out a new press release for a new store launch or a new product launch, we could help you generate a pitch or a press release and then also help you figure out who is the most relevant and targeted media outlets that you should be reaching out to. So we really help in every step of that way of getting you, helping you find, locate, pitch and get and get even feedback on on the pitches that you’re doing. So it really gets you in front of the right journalists at the right time and in reverse. Just by you having that profile on the site, media can immediately come to you. They can discover you when they’re looking for certain content or people or people within the industry of the franchise you’re in. Or maybe they’re looking for someone really that’s an expert and someone that can talk about the food and beverage industry and how they’re affected by SVB or I or any new topic coming out in, in in the media. So it really allows two ways. One way you can push news out to the media and the other way you can receive press inquiries live as they are.

Lee Kantor: [00:13:09] But is it the is it similar in that PR there’s no guarantee. Like you pay for something and you’re hoping that there’s coverage. We’re advertising, you pay for something and you’re going to get, you know, whatever that ad is going to run wherever you paid for it.

Michelle Songy: [00:13:25] Well, same with this. Like with advertising, you are paying for impressions that doesn’t always lead and generate to sales. So it’s the same here. We’re not charging for the impressions and the you know, we’re charging you a flat monthly fee to exposure to quality media to be at the right place right time. You know, sometimes if a product isn’t ready yet and there’s other reasons it might not get picked up yet. But, you know, sometimes these things take take some time. You know, it’s it’s like sales. You keep doing it and seeing what works. And I think it’s really about finding your your niche and your really your relevant journalists and a relevant publication for your news and understanding who that is. But we believe that the more you work on it, it definitely can happen no matter what. But you’re right that it’s it’s not something that you can guarantee, but there is a structure and a process to it.

Lee Kantor: [00:14:18] Now, is there any kind of success story you can share that maybe somebody put themselves out there, got on the platform and then was able to get the coverage that they had hoped for?

Michelle Songy: [00:14:27] Yes. So a few we have some media or we had one brand that since started they started using press hook. They said that sales boosted 30% in the first six months. They received 49 press hits and 37 product sample requests in the first year, leading to more than 1 billion impressions in top tier media.

Lee Kantor: [00:14:52] Now, does it work better for B2C or B2B or does it really matter?

Michelle Songy: [00:14:58] So we actually started at B2C. We started with really like CPG and DTC Ecom based brands. However, we have been expanding and we’re adding now standalone experts. So it could be like a dentist or doctor lawyer. Et cetera. Or interior designer. And we are now, you know, expanding into B2B.

Lee Kantor: [00:15:18] And also.

Michelle Songy: [00:15:20] Hospitality.

Lee Kantor: [00:15:21] Okay. So that’s the niches. Like, is there niches specifically that you have a sweet spot where there’s been a lot of activity around?

Michelle Songy: [00:15:29] Definitely B2C. I think there’s just more opportunities. There’s a lot of lifestyle publications. There’s the growth of e-comm that has really boomed lately. A lot of media publications have an e-commerce section where they’re reviewing products. There’s a big pull of, you know, the affiliate commissions that they’re getting in those sections. So that is definitely been one of the the spaces that gets probably the most traction I’ve seen.

Lee Kantor: [00:15:58] Now, a couple of times you use the phrase digital or use the phrase press kit. I think that’s what you called it. Can you explain kind of some of the must haves and things you’d rather not see in a press kit?

Michelle Songy: [00:16:12] Sure. So you definitely need that about section. They call it a boilerplate in the PR industry. So really that quick, you know, 3 to 4 sentence that explains your company. A founding story is really important. People want to learn, just like you asked me, like, why did you start this? What is the reason? What is the impact? So that really makes the connection between a journalist and the media and the brand. So we really think the founding story is impactful. Another thing is just listing any of your websites, social handles, of course, so they can quickly find and locate some of your social channels quickly. Also listing your media friendly people, too. So it could be a founder. It could be an executive. It could be someone, an expert who can talk on behalf of your brand. So really listing out people that are important assets in your company to shout out. Another is we list actually the core products or services or features of a company. And next, sometimes people list if it’s a CPG company, they might list what retailers or affiliates they’re on, where they’re sold. And then last but not least, is very important these days is your assets. So it’s your branding, it’s your logo. It might be product shots, it might be lifestyle images they can use. So, you know, images are very important these days, from a digital publication to a print publication to newsletter to them sharing it on their social. So really making sure they have easy access to high resolution and various types of images and assets as well.

Lee Kantor: [00:17:45] And you mentioned you work with agencies. Can you talk about how that works? Like if you’re a PR agency, you might have, you know, 20, 50 or 100 clients. Is this something you just dump all your clients into?

Michelle Songy: [00:17:56] Yes. So an agency can create one account and within that they can list multiple different profiles for their clients. So each client will have their own press kit located in one account, but they can assign a different press contact for each. So whoever is in charge of managing that client’s media relations will be the one interacting and messaging the media on the site back and forth and editing the profile, uploading press releases. We even have a really cool dashboard. You can see who’s viewed your profile more analytics on on the back end right there. And I think that agencies just find that it’s it’s very it’s efficient and helps them keep track of, you know, incoming media requests, maybe product samples they’ve sent out. And in the same way in the journalist side, it really is a very structured inbox for them. So they can put in they can put in one story idea they’re working on and see all the pitches and save products or people to that story. So I think on both sides, we’re really just trying to make a more efficient organized structure for how everybody does their jobs these days.

Lee Kantor: [00:19:06] So is that an area that you’re focusing in on just building more relationships with agencies, or is it better for you to go directly to the brands?

Michelle Songy: [00:19:15] You know, we’re really open for either. I think it depends what what stage a brand is in. There’s some that there’s some brands that it’s a founder that is on our platform and they’re they’re managing on on their own until they grow and they might hire a CMO. And then after that it might be the marketing manager who oversees this profile, and then they might grow even bigger and hire an agency or they decide they want to, you know, create an internal communications and PR team, so then they’ll come back that way. So we really do have all sorts of roles on the platform right now from anything from the founder, CEO down to marketing executives level marketing roles.

Lee Kantor: [00:19:54] Good stuff. Well, congratulations on the momentum and the success thus far.

Michelle Songy: [00:20:00] Thank you so much. I’m glad to be here. And I love move back to Atlanta a year ago and I’m excited to build up the company here.

Lee Kantor: [00:20:06] So if somebody wants to connect with you or somebody on your team, what’s the website again?

Michelle Songy: [00:20:11] Sure, it’s pressbook.com. That’s p r e s s h o o k.com.

Lee Kantor: [00:20:19] Well, Michelle, thank you so much again for sharing your story, doing such important work. And we appreciate you.

Michelle Songy: [00:20:25] Thank you. Thanks. Good talking to you and hope to see some of you guys soon.

Lee Kantor: [00:20:29] All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you all next time on Atlanta Business Radio.