A Personal Note from Orion

If you are an entrepreneur or a business owner, how do you let the world know about you without putting people off? It’s a subtle art in gaining exposure to the masses, and a lot of it involves your personal story, your personality, just you showing up in the world with a positive energy that will capture audiences and allow them to connect with you on a deeper level.

We all have unique stories to share, and even though there are thousands of coaches out there, thousands of business owners doing the same thing you are, there is still something unique about you, your journey and the energy that you put into your business which makes all the difference in setting you apart.

My guest today helps business owners find their unique narratives and helps embed that into their marketing so that they stand out from the crowd. After more than a decade in the New York City public relations world, Amanda Berlin knows all about PR and how you can go from being a hidden industry gem to becoming a recognizable, trusted expert.

 

 

About Today’s Show

Hello and welcome to Stellar Life Podcast. After more than a decade in the New York City public relations world, Amanda Berlin uses her pitch power for good. She helps entrepreneurs step into their presence, create a story that inspires others, and spread their message in the media. Amanda and her clients have been featured in all types of media from Business Insider to Fox 5. She’s also the host of Empowered Publicity Podcast. Amanda is near and dear to my heart. We met in person and I also got some coaching sessions with her. She is just fantastic. I highly recommend you to listen to her pearls of wisdom. In this episode, she’s going to teach how to do your own PR and how you can go from being a hidden industry gem to becoming a recognizable, trusted expert. And now, without further ado, on to the show. Hey Amanda, welcome to Stellar Life Podcast.

Orion, thank you so much for having me. I’m thrilled to be here.

I’m more thrilled. I’m so happy you’re here.

Thank you. I’m so happy to be here.

We met at BizChix LIVE. Then, you offered a session. I bought a session with you. It was the best session ever. We really connected and I really appreciate you as an expert and as a person.

Thank you so much. I have to tell everyone listening that Orion has the most generous spirit and pure heart. Because when I asked her to set an intention for our conversation during our session, she had a very clear intention around what she wanted to get out of me, expertise wise. Then, she said, “I just want us to be friends.”

You’re so sweet. You’re from New York. I used to live in New York a long time ago. I just like your spirit. You’re very genuine. I don’t know, I felt connected to you.

Thank you. The feeling is mutual.

Offer your expertise in exchange for coverage. That’s public relations. Share on X

For the people who don’t know you yet, why don’t you share a little bit about who you are and what you do.

Absolutely. For anyone who doesn’t know me yet, I am a former corporate publicity strategist who now uses my powers for good instead of evil. I never felt like I was evil, but I was working in a corporate machine – a corporate PR agency. I was helping the largest companies in the world to be louder than their competition. I realized that I had something bigger, something more conscious in mind for myself, something that would enable me to make a positive impact.

The short version of my professional journey is that I got let go from my corporate job in 2012. I spent about a year wandering, not really sure what I was going to do to have a more positive impact that I had envisioned. Then I got pregnant in 2013, a year or so after I got let go. Having been the breadwinner for our family, I realized I really need to figure things out. I reached out to an organization that I believed in and asked them if they needed someone like me who could do some communications work and who could help them; maybe – rebrand. They had a horrible website. I knew I could help them but I was still in this phase of – I don’t know if I can actually do good or have a positive impact doing this work that had been drilled into me for so long in the context of this corporate structure. Once I started brainstorming for this organization, I had this epiphany moment that I could transform this skill set and create a business helping people and organizations, who I really believed in, to widen their impact, get in front of more people, and reuse the PR skills that I cultivated to enhance their own visibility. For people who can’t afford to engage with a PR firm, that costs tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars a month or a year, I teach them how to do their own PR, their own media outreach, book interviews, get featured to grow their know-, like-, and trust- factor, and get in front of the people who need them. For select clients, I and a team will actually do some media outreach on their behalf. We have a couple of different ways of working with people depending on where they are. In terms of my personal journey, do you want me to go there?

Yes, please go there.

Over the course of my journey into entrepreneurship, I also was on a personal journey of releasing a marriage that I had been married for about the same amount of time that my business has been alive, which is interesting. I think owning your business is this massive personal growth exercise that forces you to evolve at a very quick pace. I just was evolving and I wasn’t evolving with my partner. I realized that I needed to shed that relationship as well. I did have a daughter throughout the course of that relationship, which is such a blessing, but it was a matter of showing up in my life as the person who I really wanted her to know and not someone who just wanders through life in a miserable and confused state.

Wow, that’s so beautiful. Sometimes, we achieve more when we do things for others. When we do things for ourselves, sometimes it’s not a great motivation, but you wanted the success for your daughter, you wanted her to model success, you wanted her to see her mother in a leadership role, and that was your driving force. What a blessing it is, right? It’s such a blessing.

Thank you for putting it that way because I don’t often think of it as something that I did for her, though I know that she will get a better version of me as we move forward in life together.

Because kids don’t learn from what you tell them, they learn from what they model. They learn from what they see. What’s your definition of PR?

Such a good question. PR, in very short, almost jargony terms—I’ll explain what this means—is earned media, earned coverage. What I mean by earned, which I think is such an important point for anyone who owns a business to understand, is that you’re not paying for it. You may be paying someone like me who consults with you on how to get media, or you may be paying a publicist to pitch for you, but you’re not paying the media outlet to give you coverage, because you are offering them content. You’re offering them ideas. You’re offering them an interview opportunity. You’re offering them something that’s worthwhile for their audience in exchange for that exposure. So, you have earned that coverage because you’re offering your expertise in exchange for the coverage. It’s public relations. You’re giving something to the public in exchange for their allegiance in some cases, or their belief in you, or in exchange really just for your existence in their field of vision. You’re giving them something as a gesture of goodwill that they will think favorably upon you.

What are some great ways to position yourself as an expert?

When we’re talking about positioning yourself as an expert, you first need to actually believe that you have something worth calling yourself an expert in. I think that the word believe is operative here, because I know that one we all have something that is worth getting out there and raising our voices to tell, or to enlighten, or to improve someone else’s life. By sharing our stories, we really do provide a service to anyone who’s listening because I love the expression, “Your story may be the key to unlock someone else’s prison.” It’s a good one, I’m not sure who said that. I did not make that up, but I love it. I think that sharing our stories is such a courageous act, but it’s also an act of generosity because we really are letting people out there know who may be suffering in silence that we understand what they’re going through and that they’re not alone. Simply by the fact that they’re hearing themselves reflected in our story. That’s number one.

That’s a great way to position yourself as an expert is by telling your story. I’m going to go back to this point about believing you have something worthwhile to say. There’s a huge confidence piece that comes with being visible. You need to remember that simply by having lived a life or part of the life, you have something valuable to contribute and you’ve cultivated either expertise or a journey that will provide value to someone. It’s like the point you were saying. It takes a lot of courage, a lot of vulnerability, and a lot of effort to put yourself out there, but if you can think about it in terms of providing value to someone else, that your courage will benefit someone else, then that might be a motivating factor as well. It’s like what you were saying about doing things for others, this sometimes a bigger motivation than doing them for ourselves.

That’s true very much though with the visibility because it may seem like navel-gazing, or self-centered, or egotistical that you’re putting yourself out there, but if you remember that you’re doing it in service of others, then it provides a layer of incentive for you. I would say sharing your story is a great way to position yourself. Summoning the confidence that this is worthwhile, that you have something important to say is a great way to position yourself. Being the purveyor of ideas and being a resource for the media is a great way to position yourself as an expert. Remember that the media actually has a job to do in providing content to their audiences and that you as an expert can help them do that job is a great way to position yourself as an expert. It’s important to position yourself as a resource.

Sharing stories is a huge act of generosity. We are letting people out there know that they’re not alone in whatever they’re going through. Share on X

Telling my story was one of the hardest things that I was challenged to do. For me, it was not only healing for others but it was also healing for me because the more I said that, the less I was attached to it. It became my story. It’s a story and that’s it. No attachment.

You take ownership of it.

My friend Anil Gupta, when I was scared to share my message, he took me aside and had a little coaching session with me. He looked in my eyes and he said, “Well if you’re not going to share what you have to share, somebody else is going to die.” I was in a place where I was open to hear what he had to say. It hit home and it was almost like an “aha” moment. It’s not about me. My story is about others. It is about me being famous, wealthy, and all that. It’s about me but it’s driving force is that it’s about others. It’s about fulfilling my destiny and my mission here on earth to touch the hearts of millions of women and make them feel more secure in themselves, have more confidence, have more self-love, and attract more love. I’ve done so much work on myself and I’ve been helped by others. Now, it’s my turn. I need to help others myself.

That’s so inspiring.

He said, “Tell your story and whoever is listening, telling your story might be difficult, but it might save a life.”

Absolutely. It’s not about you. Actually, I think there is an order of sharing your story. It really is something that you have to have processed before you go out and share it with the world. You need to be in the space of owning all parts of that story and creating a story that doesn’t leave you feeling exposed and vulnerable in an unhealthy way.

Thank you so much for sharing that. You said being a resource for the media. How do we do that? How do we go about it?

Whenever you’re reaching out to the media, you want to make sure that you’re approaching them with ideas. It’s really about offering ideas that are relevant to the person who is making the decision and to the audience that they’re serving. On top of that then, I think it’s a two-pronged approach. You need to always be offering ideas, but then you also need to be cultivating relationships so that you are reaching out to people who get to know you as the resource that you can be. They come back to you in perpetuity because you are a contributor of value and because you deliver what you promised.

I’m starting to doubt the uniqueness of my ideas. I have two things that I run with. One is awakening your inner goddess and one is unleashing your inner superhero. Yesterday, my husband showed two Facebook feeds where two of my friends on Facebook all of a sudden came up with this brand ‘unleashing your inner superhero.’ I’m like, “Wow, everybody’s talking about that.” Now, I’m doubting myself. I’m not unique enough, but I do love these topics. When we had a coaching session, we talked about integrating the two. Then, he said, “Yeah, it sounds like two sides of the same coin.” I was screaming out loud because I was like, “That’s exactly what I would say, it’s both.” People talk about finding your big idea and sometimes I get caught up with the word ‘big.’ What if my idea is not big enough? What if other people are using my language? How do you find the balance?

That’s a great question. I really believe that the deeper you go and the more specific you get in your story and translating that into your idea, the more irreplicable, uncopyable and original it becomes. There are people out there that say there are no new ideas. I would venture to say that is probably true. I think there are new ideas, but they are so few and far between. The fact of the matter is that, what you’re offering, if it is of you and tailored by you to speak to something unique that you experienced, that you know someone else is experiencing that could be somewhat of a universal struggle but coming from a place of extreme specificity, then it becomes completely original. Does that make sense?

 

It sounds good, but how do you do it? It sounds wonderful. Then, I’m like, “But how?” By the way listeners, Amanda is a genius. If you’re struggling with your stuff, you should totally contact her. Please continue.

Thanks, Orion for that endorsement. It’s actually something that I love doing with my clients because we really do—this could probably be a takeaway—a deep dive into your entire life, professional and personal journey and experiences. Because I had those 12 years, much more than 10,000 hours of experience finding the story for my corporate clients, this is something that I have become good at. It’s pinpointing, “Well, you journeyed through this, this, and this. Here’s the spin on that that’s really going to create a connection between you and your audience.” I would say, for someone who is listening to the podcast right now, before you talk to me, if you want to dive into this work, look at your entire journey and think about what has made you perfect to be doing the work that you’re doing today.

Beautiful. Give me some examples of clients you worked with and how you helped them find their message.

Absolutely. This is actually a client of mine from way back, a long time ago, but she always sticks in my mind. She was a coach who was starting her third act in life. She was 68. She had just finished coaching school and coaching certification. She wanted to start her business as a coach but she wasn’t sure which audience she wanted to serve, This was how she arrived at me. We looked at her journey and we realized that—this is a great example of finding the through line that makes you perfect to be doing what you’re doing. She was a former Communications Director for a big mental health non-profit organization in Long Island, New York. She had that background. She had the background of being a mom, she had two grown children. Now, she has this coaching certification. As she and I connected, I had just become a mom at that point, that she could really focus her coaching around new moms and serving new moms. The fact that she had this mental health background was a huge credibility booster. The fact that she was a mom, a seasoned mom who was seeking to help new moms, was another credibility booster. Because as a new mom, there are things that you might talk to your mom about if you have that kind of relationship. But there are also things that you don’t want to talk to your mom about. But another mom, that’s not your mom, might be a great resource. Particularly, one with a coaching certification. That was how we found her brand positioning. We just grew it from there. That was someone that I worked with early in my business evolution.

More recently, I’ve worked with clients that were illuminating for them. I’m thinking of one client, in particular, who owns a brick and mortar and a product-based business. We worked closely together on her communication. Whether it’s with the media and taking advantage of opportunities that come her way, or even just communication around how to say ‘no’ to people that are asking her for free stuff or something like that. Communication speaks about your brand in every facet through which you communicate with people, even if it’s just an email that’s telling them your policy is for giving away free product or something like that. We worked on the external communications, getting her featured in local media. Since she is a brick and mortar business, she is location dependent, so she needs to be featured in local media locally so that local people will know about her business. Also, she needs to maintain her reputation and be able to say ‘no’ in a kind and productive way.

A great way to position yourself as an expert is by telling your story. Share on X

There are a lot of people that give themselves titles like, The Dog Whisperer, or The Love Doctor, or The Queen of blah, blah, blah. People give themselves titles. Is that a good thing to do? Will that help one’s business?

I am in favor. If you want to give yourself a title, I think that’s fine, but you also have to be able to describe what you do in a way that’s immediately obvious to people. I guess we know the movie The Horse Whisperer, so we knew what The Dog Whisperer meant. Some titles that I’ve seen people give themselves are not obvious and they leave people guessing, which is confusing and sometimes offputting to a prospective client if they don’t know what it is you’re talking about because it doesn’t facilitate a connection. You want to be able to describe what you do in a way that allows your prospective client see what you do that can help them.

You teach people how to become their own PR person. What are some of the first steps you have people take as their own PR person?

I’ll speak the first three steps. What we were talking about before, cultivating your story, is a huge first step. A lot of the pitches that you’re going to send are going to be a combination of your story and what you can teach to an audience. Creating your story and figuring out what your big viewpoint is, what makes you unique in the way that you approach your work, or the way that you’ve come to the work that you do, that’s going to be the first thing that you are going to want to do. Then you can ask yourself for every media that you are interested in pitching, “What can I teach to this audience?” and that’s going to help you figure out your story hooks, your story angles for your outgoing pitches, for your proactive media outreach. So, what is my story? How can I connect with the audience by showcasing my journey? And then, what can I teach to this audience? The last thing to start to do is really start to cultivate a list of places that you want to be seen. You can do that by looking at your own media habits. What do you love to read? What do you like to listen to? Are you a fan of the Stellar Life Podcast?

Figure out what you love, where you love to get your information, and then look at the people who you admire and look at where they’ve been featured. Start to make a list of media outlets. If you’re a super gold-star student, make a list along with each media outlet of who the decision maker is, whether it’s the podcast host or the writer who writes about the particular topic that you want to talk about, or the editor of a particular section of the magazine or newspaper. Find your contacts.

How big should you dream? Should you try and, let’s say pitch small TV stations or should you start with The Today Show?

There is definitely an order of difficulty when it comes to media appearances. There’s always a possibility, there’s always that anomaly of someone who gets plucked from obscurity and is given a massive platform like an appearance on The Today Show, but odds are, you’ve done a lot of leg work and cultivating your skill of being on camera before you’re going to be on The Today Show. For instance, I don’t know if you know the story of how Rachael Ray had her first TV appearance. She was working at a supermarket in Rochester. She’s from way far up in Upstate New York and doing local cable access television segments of cooking. On The Today Show, they had a random segment that they needed to fill and they reached out to her. She drove from Rochester to Manhattan, which is probably like eight hours, something crazy, in a snowstorm to fill this gap that they had, but she had been on camera on her local television station for however long she had. She had cultivated that skill. Even though it seems like people are all of a sudden in the public eye, a lot of times, they’ve been working on building their clips and their portfolio of media appearances for a really long time. I do advocate that you start locally and cut your teeth. The other thing is, what if you do end up on The Today Show and you’re a barrel of nerves, and you’ve never done a TV appearance. Even though that sounds like an amazing opportunity, it is make or break situation. It could be overwhelming. It’s good to have some practice.

It can be really stressful. I did only a few TV appearances on smaller TV stations. You definitely want the experience, because the moment the camera is on, it’s only 3–5 minutes and they go like this. It is so quick. You want to make sure that you’re on. You want to make sure you’re dressed properly. You want to make sure you are totally prepared, you’re scripted. You want to make sure that you know what you’re doing and you have practice.

Absolutely. The other thing about it is it’s not just about your own preparedness. It’s also about how willing the television station is to take a chance on someone who has no television experience. That’s why cultivating a real experience on television is important because you can then offer them some proof that you can deliver what you’re promising, because you can show them like, “I’ve been on TV here, here, and here.”

Right. How would you approach TV producers? Would you call the station at [4:00] AM and ask to talk to them? What would you do to get their attention?

We used to call at [4:00] AM to get the morning show producers. We would sometimes do that, but I think you can call the station if, let’s say you’re a business owner like my client who I was referring to, owns her business in Easton, Pennsylvania. Let’s say that her media market is in Wilkes-Barre, PA. I’m not sure if that’s true or not. Wherever you are, you have a local news market, a media market. You could call the local station and ask for the name of the talent booker, ask for the name of the morning show producer, and you can even ask for their email address, and they will give it to you. The assignment desk will give you that information because they are always looking for guests, pitch ideas, and news tips. That’s what they’re there for. That’s why they’re sitting at that desk. You could call and get the contact information. Then I would send an email. Once you get the contact information, I would send an email, but make sure you’re familiar with the format of the show, and the content that they produce, so that you can tailor your idea, your segment idea accordingly.

When you send the emails, they get so many emails a day. How do you make sure that your email is being seen and how many times will you email before you give up?

That’s a good question. A lot of times, I suggest reaching out first without any sort of pitch or call to action on their part. You could just reach out and say something like, “This story that you did on X, Y, Z was really great. It resonated with me because,” and just make a personal connection with that producer, or the anchor person, or whoever it is, and really complement their work, because it resonated with you in some way. This client of mine who did a strategy session with me, he actually had success. He’s in Iowa, he had success with just a personal outreach like that, creating a long-term relationship with a local television reporter there that resulted in numerous television appearances over the course of several years. It really can move mountains to just make that personal connection. Also, the thing about this particular client is that he had a very distinct point of view. He’s a financial expert that talks about college-aged kids growing up without debt. A very specific point of view is also very important. I would start out with a friendly email and then offer. You could in the second email offer a segment idea and a subject line is very important. I always like to put something in the very first words of the subject that indicate that it is what it is. Story idea, guest idea, something like that. Segment idea, something that indicates that this is an idea for them if they’re interested in it. After that, you could follow up in a week or so. Depending on the circumstance. You could even follow up with a phone call.

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Cool. What are some of the best titles that got you to the TV segment gig?

That’s interesting. It’s hard to say what the title itself was, but I will say that whatever media you’re pitching, if you write the headline, write it in the form that they would eventually write it so that they don’t need to change it in order to use it. That goes a long way for a lot of reasons. One, you are showing them that you’re really familiar with their tone and the way that they do their writing. That is a goodwill thing if they recognize that you are paying attention to the way that they do things. Secondly, if you’re making it easier for them to say yes, even right off the bat that they recognize they don’t need to write the headline because you already wrote it, then that’s another point in your category. I can’t say exactly what’s the winning headline, but if you follow the format that they’re already using, that will do a lot of good for you.

I actually have had pitched Real Talk Radio, Nicole Antoinette, who is an amazing podcaster, really prolific, and super thoughtful in the content that she puts out there. I pitched her and I wrote the headline in the exact format that she writes her headlines. It was a pretty particular format. It was like the person’s name and then three things that they talked about in the interview. I didn’t know. I could guess what we would talk about. I didn’t know what direction the interview would already take because it didn’t happen yet at that point, but I just sort of—you obviously have your ideas of talking points that you would hit in an interview—made up what I thought she would write, and she commented on that. She did book me on the show and she said, “That was the perfect headline,” I think it went a really long way to helping her recognize that I was paying attention to what she was doing and honoring her work.

Sometimes, I get pitches from potential guests. They’re so generic. I can see they don’t know anything about the show, just a pitch. It’s a copy-paste.

Exactly. I think there’s so much learning for any of us who would venture to pitch out there in that statement that it really does need to be tailored to every single media outlet you’re going to reach out to.

When you reach out to podcasters, do you usually use one sheet or a more robust media kit with a few pages?

No. You got to make your pitch as short as possible, but infuse it with as much specificity and as much tailoring as you possibly can. If they ask for more information, I still don’t send anything that’s a form or that’s a download or anything. I still try to customize everything even if they say like, “Send me your headshot and your bio.” I don’t send them my media kit. I copy and paste the bio into the email.

That’s very generous of you. Very helpful. On the other side, sometimes people are just sending me their links and their bio is so long. I want to introduce them and I have to figure out what three sentences out of the hundred of sentences they sent me I should introduce them with. It’s always good to have a shorter bio for interviews and maybe longer for something else, right?

Exactly. You should definitely have your media bio which is 3-5 sentences long. I actually have a resource for that on my website if you go to AmandaBerlin.com/Resources, you can download a media bio guide for writing your media bio. It makes everyone’s life easier. That’s really the key, you just want to make it as easy as possible for them to utilize you and your expertise.

When you network with people in person, what are some guidelines to do networking, to introduce yourself in the correct way?

I created an article on this. I actually think that I have it as a download as well. I think I came up with seven ways to answer that question like, “What do you do?” and that in there, one of my favorite ways to talk about what you do in networking is to tell a story. In this interview, ask me questions about particular anecdotes and clients, and I think that’s actually the perfect way, as you’re diving deeper into the conversation, to contextualize what it is that you do. You may have your buzz phrase like I always say, “I’m a former corporate publicity strategist, who now uses my powers for good.” That usually gets a little chuckle or whatever, but then I say, “I teach entrepreneurs how to do their own publicity, book interviews, and get featured,” and then when wrung deeper into that conversation and I can tell a story about how I help the client in particular.

What’s something cool that I can say? I love that sentence that now I use my powers for good.

Right? You are into the superhero metaphors.

Yeah. I have to think about it. What can I say that will sound so cool that people…

I know. We have to work on that together.

Together forever, Amanda. Thank you so much for all the freaking amazing tips you shared with everyone so far. What are your three top tips to living a stellar life?

Always act in a way that you can be proud of. I kind of reverse engineer. I try to reverse engineer my reactions and decisions. I kind of try to look ahead and see how I might feel looking back at how I behaved in a certain moment. If I can look back, look ahead and imagine how it would feel looking back and feel proud, then that’s how I’m going to try to behave. I also highly recommend not overthinking and really learning how to follow your gut. I’ve, for some reason, lived many of my years always being able to tune into my gut instinct and my gut reaction and being very decisive once I was clear on what the decision was. Be willing and able to tune into your gut instinct and gut reaction, and be willing to trust those gut reactions and those feelings because they are so informative. Finally, I would say one of the biggest thing is that I do on a daily basis that enables me to live a stellar life is movement. I know this has come up in other interviews that you’ve done. I think that this is something that you’re into as well if I’m not assuming too much.

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Very much into, but I haven’t moved for three weeks because I’m sick, I’m still kind of sick. I miss it. I’m like, “Can I move?” I used to dance once.

Really? Exactly, yeah. Reclaiming dance has been huge for me. I danced as a kid growing up in dance school, but I always was so inhibited and so embarrassed to wear a leotard. I was inhibited. Once I reclaimed dance and reclaimed movement, it tested my endurance and my body. I started challenging myself in low stakes environment like the gym. It turned over a really painful aspect of my childhood where I was so embarrassed about my body, had bad body image, and just wasn’t kind to myself. It allowed me to really reclaim that.

That’s nice. This is another thing why I love you so much. What kind of dance do you do?

I just do dance at the gym. I go to a couple of amazing instructors who do modern, nothing too technical, but just something where you can just be free, that’s the kind of dance that I like.

Lovely. Dance and movement, oh my gosh. People are probably psyched about everything that you can teach them and they would want to contact you. Where can they reach you?

I love hearing from anyone who wants to get in touch. I love connecting with new people. I’m just going to give out my email address. You can find me at amanda@nullamandaberlin.com via email, but if you’re not up for an email person-to-person contact, you can find me at my website AmandaBerlin.com and its Berlin just like the city.

There are lots of free resources. My favorite is a publicity personality quiz. If you go to AmandaBerlin.com/PublicityPersonality, you can take the quiz and figure out where they stand, the kind of business that you have, what your preferred way of interacting with people, where you should start with media outreach, which type of media is right for you to begin with. That’s the publicity personality quiz.

Yes. Thank you so much, Amanda.

You’re welcome. Thank you so much, Orion. Thank you for doing everything that you’re doing to put conversations like this out into the world and to empower women to live a stellar life. I’m so grateful that you’re out there.

Thank you. I’m grateful for you and I’m grateful for you, listeners. We talked about a lot of things. As Amanda said, don’t overthink everything, follow your gut, follow your intuition, you know what to do. Just do it and live a stellar life.

Your Checklist of Actions to Take

✓ Believe that you have an expertise worth sharing with the world. Enhance your knowledge and skills in that area so that you become a trusted authority within your niche.
✓ Figure out what you can offer to get the media’s attention. Make sure that it’s something so valuable and worthwhile that they’d be willing to grant you some exposure.
✓ Create a list of places where you want to be seen such as podcasts, magazines, conferences, TV shows, etc.
✓ Share your story and don’t be afraid to show your vulnerable side in a healthy way. You never know whose hearts you can touch by making them feel that they’re not alone in whatever they’re going through.
✓ Build a strong brand that will clearly define who you are as a person of public interest. Make the first impression a memorable one through taglines, colors, or a logo.
✓ Your primary mission should be to help people rather than gaining popularity. Set your intention to serve others and positivity will flow back to you.
✓ Recognize and respect your own boundaries. Being in the public eye can quickly become too much. Always remember that you cannot pour out of an empty cup. It’s best to take care of your feelings and wellbeing first.
✓ Be authentic when reaching out or responding to media prospects. Don’t just use a generic script to answer as it may seem robotic. Take time to write tailored messages that show you care and appreciate their time.
✓ Hire a PR consultant or agency to help you with the zig and zag of public relations.
✓ Check out Amanda Berlin’s website to get her free publicity tips and best practices to grow your business.

Links and Resources

About Amanda Berlin

After more than a decade in the New York City public relations world, Amanda Berlin now uses her pitch powers for good. She helps entrepreneurs step into their presence, create a story that inspires others, and spread their message in the media. Amanda and her clients have been featured in all types of media from Business Insider to fox 5. She’s the host of The Empowered Publicity Podcast. Amanda has created a library of template guides and trainings and works one on one with clients to guide them to strategic story-telling and media relations based on her 12 years of experience guiding strategy for major brands in the corporate world.