2020 pandemic living was all about setting goals – at least for me. Get in shape, read some great books, learn to cook new recipes.
But it also motivated me to set some business goals for the company. One of the goals was launching a public relations podcast, something I had talked about for years but never had the get-up-and-go to actually put it together … until last fall.
I wanted to make sure I could look back on 2020 with some tangible, quantifiable metrics for new ways I grew the business. In terms of client base and revenue and overall profit – we were thankfully up over the previous year already. But in business, it’s all about finding new ways to grow, innovating, and finding new revenue streams and ways to keep building one’s overall brand awareness.
Enter “The PR Pace Podcast.” The first episode was late last year, 2020, and it’s been quite a ride since then! I put out one new episode per week; each show has two guest interviews, typically a client of PPR’s and a member of the media. The goal is to pull back the curtain a bit for our listeners on what working in the media is really like.
Immediately, I noticed several benefits from the podcast. First and foremost, it’s made our clients we’ve interviewed happy. It’s another media forum to tell their story. Plus, it’s been a really refreshing way, for me, to recap the work we’ve been doing. It’s also totally spurred on new pitch ideas and angles that have come out of the great conversations we’ve had.
Two, it’s strengthened my relationship with the journalists and members of the media I’ve interviewed. When you’re pitching the media, it’s a craft, a practice – and honing that craft is something I still work at every single day.
Third, it’s opened up new doors for me! I’ve had publicists pitching me to have their clients on the show, something I honestly didn’t think would happen. By posting each episode on social media, people I haven’t talked to in a long time reached out, telling me they listened and enjoyed the episode.
Lastly, it’s motivated me! Having something new and exciting to work on each week has felt like a way to add value to the agency continually. It certainly takes discipline, but the reward is fantastic.
– Annie Scranton