Building Trust, Shaping Perception: A PR Masterclass

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for High Velocity Radio.

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here, another episode of High Velocity Radio, and this is going to be a good one. So excited to introduce our guest today. 25 plus year Veteran of Public Relations Jill Lublin. Welcome.

Jill Lublin: Thank you so much, Lee. Glad to be here.

Lee Kantor: Well, I am so excited to learn about what you’re up to. Before we get too far into things for folks who aren’t maybe crystal clear about PR and public relations, can you kind of define some terms? Because there has been a blurring of the lines between advertising, marketing, digital public relations. Can you, you know, maybe define some terms for us?

Jill Lublin: You got it. So the real definition I have of public relations is that it happens from the minute you walk out your door. What do I mean by that? Listen, it’s all public relations now. What I’m talking about specifically is getting in radio, on TV, in blogs, on podcasts, on magazines, newspapers, like traditional media, but also you controlling your media, like doing your own LinkedIn lives and Facebook lives and Instagram lives, etc.. Tiktok. When you control your publicity. But what I am going to also tell you is it’s not social media and it’s not advertising because you don’t pay for it. It’s free and that’s super great about media.

Lee Kantor: So are you finding what have you seen kind of trend wise as you’ve gone throughout your 25 plus year career? 25 years ago, it was pretty clear there were kind of lines of delineation. And now there to me, there is kind of a more of a ambiguous ambiguity around what’s going on.

Jill Lublin: So in terms of, you know, what I tell you is the clarity about public relations. Is it earned media? It elevates your expertise. It creates that visibility factor and credibility and frankly, builds trust in the marketplace because you’re the expert that they are interviewing. That’s powerful.

Lee Kantor: And then when people are working with you, what does that kind of relationship look like? What are the some of the things you’re helping them do more and do better?

Jill Lublin: So one of the things that I’m big on is get a great message, because what the media cares about is your message and how it applies to their listeners, readers and viewers. So you have to be clear with the message and make it stand out. You know, make it interesting and important.

Lee Kantor: So getting clarity around kind of the message and the why behind what you do.

Jill Lublin: Exactly, exactly that kind of stuff. Exactly.

Lee Kantor: Now what types of clients do you typically work with? Are you kind of industry agnostic or do you have specialty?

Jill Lublin: I love industry agnostic. That’s fun. But I will tell you, my general specialty is what I call small business owners. And that could be people, you know, in multiple fields. They could be in real estate or chiropractors. But I’ve also been brought into bigger firms to help manage the message and create one that works. Mostly, though, I work with entrepreneurs and small business owners.

Lee Kantor: Now, in part of your work, you’re trying to give them some authority and position them as an expert.

Jill Lublin: Exactly what I’m trying to do, not only trying to do, but we do it. So the question is, you know, what are you an expert in? And then creating a zoomed in focus, so to speak, like, okay, that’s what works. And then giving them an opportunity to pitch the media in a way that, you know, the media says yes to you. That’s important. And that’s the type of things that I’m doing now.

Lee Kantor: When you’re working with somebody, maybe in a business that maybe they themselves don’t feel like kind of as sexy, maybe you’re working with a CPA or, um, a consultant or somebody in professional services. How do you kind of help them, uh, create a level of expertise or specialty around what they’re doing?

Jill Lublin: So part of it is I want to look at what is it, um, frankly, that you get paid for, right. How do you earn your revenue? And then we want to focus the message on, uh, creating a campaign that focuses on what’s the problem today? I always like to zoom in on that first. Like, what’s the problem out there that this expert solves? So I was just on the line with a psychologist, and we were talking about stress in today’s chaotic world. And she is a solution for that. And that’s what I’m talking about. Um, made a big difference for how she’s going out there, even though she has a very specific specialty. We broaden in her case, broaden the expertise. And again, it just made a big difference.

Lee Kantor: Should you be an expert in kind of one targeted thing, or can you be an expert and then bring in kind of, uh, an explanation on how your expertise helps in that case of, say, stress or, or whatever the issue of the day is?

Jill Lublin: Well, I think it is good to start out with one main focus, I’ll call it what’s the main focus? And, and then, uh, your specialty, we can dive deeper. And then if that doesn’t work, I have, I have one other, uh, shall we say go to and that that’s to use everything you’ve got. So, for instance, I have a business consultant, and, uh, she does a lot around communication and how to speak better and communicate better in business. Of course. And guess what? Um, we’re getting great PR, and because she’s a black woman, we shifted for Black History Month. Her her actual approach, which is how to be a powerful black woman and communicate well in today’s times. Now, that still has to do with what she does, right? But it’s a little bit different. And so I just want people to hear that sometimes we do a I’d like to call it use everything you’ve got story and um, all parts of who you are. And sometimes we use expertise and, and we want to see what, what’s working and of course do what works and do more of it.

Lee Kantor: Now do you sometimes after talking with your client for a period of time, you uncover maybe a secret sauce that they didn’t realize that they had?

Jill Lublin: Yes, I’m really good at that. And I love kind of digging in there and and finding out about people’s stories like the story is really what the media loves. You know what’s in it for them? Why should they care? Um, and how does it help their listeners, readers and viewers? Does that make sense?

Lee Kantor: Right. So it sounds like you’re really trying to be empathetic around what are the needs of the media, because that’s the person you’re kind of courting.

Jill Lublin: Exactly. You got it.

Lee Kantor: Now, when you’re working with your clients, do you help them kind of develop this dream list of ideal media outlets or, um, is there kind of a list and you just kind of blast them with. This is the press release I developed, like like how how much of this is kind of mass marketing and how much is it? Is it as really targeted?

Jill Lublin: Well, I like to target generally like my question is based on what you do, what what are your clients reading, watching and listening to. And that’s where we’ll focus, you know. So if they’re reading USA today, if they’re reading and they’re listening to particular podcasts, if they have special interests, if they’re reading, you know, Forbes and Inc., I mean, an entrepreneur magazine, we want to know what are they reading or watching and listening to.

Lee Kantor: And then how do you figure that out?

Jill Lublin: Well, part of it is let’s see if you’re serving, uh, like this psychologist I just told you about. She does actually serve mostly women, mostly in a certain age range. So. Okay, great. We’re going to go after women’s magazines. We’re going to focus on International Women’s Day, you see. So now we can start drilling down based on what. And you know what I like to say. Why should people care now?

Lee Kantor: How do you kind of, um, leverage all of these kind of, uh, the, the owned media that you kind of alluded to earlier where anybody can be the media nowadays. How do you kind of, uh, get your people involved in the conversation in all of the kind of influencers out there doing all this great stuff in a variety of places like Instagram, TikTok and YouTube and things like that?

Jill Lublin: Well, again, I want to just repeat social media is not publicity. I mean, it’s kind of sometimes a one hit wonder. I’m not opposed to it. I think it’s important as an overall part of your brand. I just don’t want people to rely on social media. Publicity is free. It’s it’s the things you pick up. It has a probability factor that lasts forever, frankly, versus sort of, uh, did somebody see your post today? That’s why I don’t love social media. I think integrated is important. You integrate it. Great. Um, but don’t rely on it. So what I love about the power of publicity is that is it’s going to last you a long, much longer time. And, you know, that’s good news. Uh, and that’s therein lies some of the difference.

Lee Kantor: So then your focus is in more of the traditional media outlets, like you mentioned, magazines, uh, you know, newspapers and radio, TV, things like that.

Jill Lublin: Um, so, yes, radio, TV podcasts are really good.

Lee Kantor: So, okay, so you’ve added podcasts to the list of more traditional, even though that’s relatively new in that.

Jill Lublin: Exactly.

Lee Kantor: And then, um, the strategy when you’re working in that area, so you’re targeting the ones that are appropriate for your clients, and then you’re helping them craft a message that resonates with, uh, those platforms in order to help them be included in whatever the those platforms are working on.

Jill Lublin: Exactly. That’s it. It’s focusing in on what’s going to best serve? What’s going to drive people to you now?

Lee Kantor: Um, so but it isn’t you’re not eliminating social media altogether, but you’re just not emphasizing it as much as some people are.

Jill Lublin: Exactly, exactly. And the truth is, everything we do, you can actually use in social media around the message, right? And I think that that makes a big difference.

Lee Kantor: Now because the the media platforms you’re working on are earned. Um, how do you kind of manage the expectations of the client? Because obviously all you could do is present the, um, client to these platforms, but there’s no guarantee that they’ll appear there. So how do you kind of manage what is possible and what’s realistic and what is actually happening?

Jill Lublin: So, you know, part of it is absolutely managing expectations. You know, again, it’s a little bit I call why should people care and making it so that people are connected, um, to your message and appreciate your message. And so that that makes a big difference. Um, and so what we want to do is, is zoom in on the most should I maybe call it easiest message that we can quickly get to people and that people will say yes to.

Lee Kantor: And but a deliverable back to your client could be like, uh, an article somewhere. And then there’s a quote from your client.

Jill Lublin: Yes. Not only a quote, but really hopefully more of an interview.

Lee Kantor: So the the ideal is an interview, but I mean, there’s quotes from experts in articles regularly that seems like a more likely scenario.

Jill Lublin: Yes. It tends to be a good scenario with, um, the quotes. But also, you know, depends if the, the piece is all about them. I mean, obviously if they’re in a podcast or a radio show, the segment is all about them and they’re not usually long segments. It’s short segments. And, you know, most media interviews, you’re talking 4 to 6 minute interviews, um, you know, in terms of just how that tends to work.

Lee Kantor: And then when, uh, okay, let’s talk about podcasting a little. So do you help kind of prepare them for the podcast? You do role play. You kind of get them prepped.

Jill Lublin: Uh, we role play, we focus on practicing the message. I, you know, watch everything from voice tone to how do they look on camera. So yes, it’s all around helping them get, you know, well, um, well qualified and feel confident because confidence makes a big difference.

Lee Kantor: And a great way to feel confident is kind of practicing it and not just showing up and hoping you’ll figure it out on the fly.

Jill Lublin: Yes, exactly.

Lee Kantor: Now, how important, um, is it for your client to be able to share kind of anecdotes or stories of success?

Jill Lublin: Um, I think it’s important. I think you want to tell people some great stories about what has happened with your clients and, you know, really, um, brag in a nice way. I’m not talking ego. I’m talking about sharing your success. And that’s a good thing.

Lee Kantor: And especially if you can share your success in a way that either you’re giving advice or you’re sharing how you solved a problem.

Jill Lublin: Exactly.

Lee Kantor: And and those are kind of subtle distinctions. But, I mean, I interview people all the time, and some people are, you know, there’s different levels of how well they can handle that.

Jill Lublin: Exactly. You got it.

Lee Kantor: And so but that’s, that’s why I see the value of working with some expert like you, where you can help prepare these people for the moments so that they are well prepared and well practiced at having kind of these conversations and discussions that elevate and illuminate what they do in an elegant manner, rather than a kind of pitchy or clumsy manner.

Jill Lublin: Exactly what we’re doing. You got it.

Lee Kantor: So now, is there a story you can share about how you were able to work with somebody and kind of, um, solve their problem, give them the exposure they needed to get to a new level.

Jill Lublin: Yes. I actually had a wonderful client. Ryan and Ryan had seen me speak, and I’m like, he’s like, I want to work with you. I’m like, great, Ryan, what do you do? He told me that he, uh, is an instructional designer. And I have to tell you, I didn’t know what that was. I said, no offense. Once he told me, uh, it’s not going to work from a PR perspective. Tell me something interesting about you. Then he told me his story about, uh, his pregnant wife with their third child on the way. He told me he just bought a big house in Northern California. Oh my gosh. You know, can you imagine? Now he’s got a big mortgage, he’s got a pregnant wife, and he’d just been fired from his job. I’m like Ryan, oh my gosh, what did you do? He said, well, I started my own business and literally online. He had eight employees at once, you know, doing instructional design. I thought, well, now that’s interesting. That’s interesting. Uh, and with that, he ended up, well, getting an entrepreneur magazine using everything he’s got, like I told you about before because he’s Asian American. We got we translated an article, put him into the Chinese Times. He got $7,000 worth of business from one article in the Chinese Times, his web. His business actually grew by 45%. Using the power of publicity. And he got featured in Entrepreneur magazine, in Mac Home Journal, in lots of media publications that were huge, that really supported him to grow his business, to fill his pipeline, and frankly, to have a very successful consulting business now. And I’m going to tell you, when he came to me, he had no clients. He had just been, like I said, fired from his job. Well, actually downsized now, you know, that’s scary stuff. Using the power of publicity literally grew his business from zero to a very thriving consulting business.

Lee Kantor: Now, you mentioned the everything you’ve got strategy. Can you share a little bit about, um, some of the places to look for everything you got?

Jill Lublin: Yeah. Um, well, first of all, start with your ethnicity, your religion. Start with being a man or a woman because there’s International Women’s Day, for example. There’s Father’s Day if you’re a father or Mother’s Day if you’re a mother. Um, I have a business consultant who has a son who’s autistic. And we use National Autism Day, for example, to focus in and use everything she’s got.

Lee Kantor: Now, what about around, uh, um, kind of their specialty. Can you describe some of the, uh, questions you asked them in order to kind of, uh, dig layers deep to find all that they offer that maybe they’re taking for granted.

Jill Lublin: Uh, well, a couple things. Um, I think, you know, sometimes it’s so interesting that we forget the obvious things about who we are. You know, could be religion. I have a woman who’s a Christian woman. Now we have three opportunities to go into press, which is Christian Women’s press, women’s press. Right. And Christian press. That’s three media opportunities. She had never thought about using her religion before. My Jewish clients may go into Jewish publications that exist all around the the world, basically. What more can you be using that perhaps you’ve never thought of before? Could be your personal story. And again, you know, sometimes the obvious, um, like I remember in my media mastering intensive, I was looking across the screen at a woman. I said, May I ask you your ethnicity? And she said, I’m Filipino. I said, great, would you be willing to use that? She goes, absolutely, absolutely. I’ll use everything I’ve got. And, uh, by using her Filipino heritage, we were able to get her into the Filipino, uh, Business Journal for top 30 under 30 digital marketing agencies, which is what she was growing, which is why she wanted publicity. Guess what? That publicity grew. Her digital marketing agency got her leads, prospects and clients and actually got her a major speaking engagement with Les Brown. That was one of her dreams. She wanted to do that because she sent him the publicity and he was like, whoa, you must be good, right?

Lee Kantor: And when it comes to kind of, um, media attention, it’s not a bad idea to start small, right? And kind of work your way up the ladder and just start accumulating a portfolio of media appearances that then you can send to the Les Browns of the world so they can see a pile of, of, uh, media rather than one single thing.

Jill Lublin: Um, yes. And you just start wherever you start, whatever you get first. It’s a good thing. Put it out there, let people know about it and start publicizing your publicity is what I call it. Everything. Everything is important.

Lee Kantor: But you want it to build, right? Like it’s a compounding effect?

Jill Lublin: Yes, it is, but I’m just saying you start wherever you start, and it’s a great thing.

Lee Kantor: And, um, how do you kind of deliver some of the services? Is it just people hire you to get media attention, or do you coach people? Do you have, um, workshops? Like, I know you have books. Uh, how do people kind of receive your different services?

Jill Lublin: Yeah. Well, what you can do is start with, I’ve created a free gift for all of your listeners, and it’s a publicity action guide with great more publicity tips. Plus, guess what? A live, interactive class on zoom with me, where you get to ask all of your publicity questions and check it out. It’s Jill.

Lee Kantor: Uh, and then they can go there, they can get the information and, and, uh, participate in that, uh, live event.

Jill Lublin: Yeah, exactly. You got it.

Lee Kantor: Well, Jill, that’s very generous. Thank you for doing that.

Jill Lublin: You’re so welcome.

Lee Kantor: And is that the best way to, um, just kind of learn more about you if even if they don’t want. The guide is Jill Lublin the place to go? Just to learn more about what you got going on.

Jill Lublin: You got it. Jill Lublin. Com.

Lee Kantor: Well, Jill, thank you so much for sharing your story today. You’re doing such important work and we appreciate you.

Jill Lublin: Thank you for having me, Lee.

Lee Kantor: All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you all next time on High Velocity Radio.