How to Get A Free PR for Your Business with Christina Nicholson

Yong-Soo Chung [00:00:00]

Christina Nicholson is an award-winning journalist with more than a decade of experience anchoring, reporting, writing, blogging, video production, editing, and live TV.

And one of the aspects about her job that she didn't particularly enjoy was... PR.

Christina Nicholson [00:00:20]

I was on the receiving end of a lot of pitches from a lot of publicists people who thought they had a great story idea and wanted to be in the news. And I was like, okay, these people clearly have no idea what we do in our morning meetings, what we talk about, how we put a story together, why we decide what to cover and what not to cover.

Yong-Soo Chung [00:00:39]

So, she decided to show them how it should be done.

Christina Nicholson [00:00:42]

...that's when I got out of news full time and got into PR.

Yong-Soo Chung [00:00:46]

Yeah, you heard her right!

The former journalist Christina Nicholson, former TV reporter and anchor Christina Nicholson, left journalism and got into - of all things - PR.

Christina Nicholson [00:00:59]

Okay, so, currently, I have a PR agency where we handle the public relations for businesses, and I also have a mentoring program. So if you are a small business owner or even a solopreneur, and you want to get more attention without spending money on ads, I will help you through my mentoring program if you don't have a budget to hire an agency like mine.

Yong-Soo Chung [00:01:19]

And today we are going to talk about the kind of PR that I love... FREE PR!

Christina Nicholson [00:01:24]

You have your organic media, which is you putting yourself out there. You have paid media, which is you paying to put yourself out there. But that in between is the earned media, and that is somebody else putting you out there. So that's where the credibility and authority comes into place.

Yong-Soo Chung [00:01:42]

So, join me on this episode of First Class Founders with Christina as my COPILOT, as we navigate how to get really good PR for your business for free - or, at the very least, cheap - through something called 'earned media'.

Christina Nicholson [00:01:56]

Because obviously, you're going to toot your own horn. You're going to pay money to toot your own horn. But when another outlet chooses to toot your horn, it means so much more.

Yong-Soo Chung [00:02:06]

Over the next thirty minutes or so, Christina and I will discuss various ways of getting free or cheap PR for your business, how immensely it can impact your business, and most importantly, how to spot scammy PR pitches!

Christina Nicholson [00:02:20]

Thank you for having me, Yong-Soo! Happy to be here.

Yong-Soo Chung [00:02:22]

Jetsetters, buckle up your seatbelts, put your phones on airplane mode and get ready for take-off!

Christina Nicholson [00:02:31]

Hi, I'm Christina Nicholson. Let's get down to business.

Yong-Soo Chung [00:02:43]

SHOW ID
The next generation of successful founders in this digital age of entrepreneurship will leverage their audience to launch, build, and scale their brands. First Class Founders explores this golden intersection of audience-building & company-building with proven strategies to grow both your audience, which is your distribution, and your brand, which is your product.

Because those who can master both will create a category of one.

Hi, my name is Yong-Soo Chung and I'm a serial entrepreneur who bootstrapped 3 successful businesses from $0 to $20 million over 8 years.

On this podcast, you'll learn timeless lessons from world-class content creators, startup founders, and CEOs. You'll also hear tactical tips & strategies from ME, Yong-Soo Chung!

Are you ready? Then, let’s begin!

Before we begin, we teamed up with HyperPods to bring to you a quick 3-min hyper-visual summary of this episode on how you can get free PR for your startup or small business.

You can grab the hyper-visual summary for this week’s episode for free at firstclassfounders.com/hypervisuals.

As a journalist, Christina used to be quite annoyed with publicists.

Christina Nicholson [00:04:01]

...especially the ones who thought it was my job to give their clients coverage. There were a lot of times when I would bypass the publicist and go straight to whoever I needed, because I didn't need somebody telling me how to do my job, how to write the story, what questions to ask, all of those things.

Yong-Soo Chung [00:04:19]

But now that the roles are reversed, she is trying to do things the 'right' way...

Christina Nicholson [00:04:23]

so I treat journalists the way I would have want to be treated. And the fact of the matter is, publicists need journalists, but journalists don't necessarily need publicists, because there's a lot of stories, there's a lot of things happening.

Yong-Soo Chung [00:04:35]

Christina says, the only thing you CAN do as a publicist is to give the journalist the material they need.

Christina Nicholson [00:04:42]

Because, again, the journalist doesn't owe anybody anything. You need to come to them with a good story. You need to give them everything they need to tell that story and deliver it all on a silver platter.

Yong-Soo Chung [00:04:55]

Because, the ROI of getting a journalist interested in your story is immense.

Christina Nicholson [00:05:00]

So I will give you an example of somebody who was in my media mentoring program. She was a dietitian, and she worked with young kids. We got her a segment, uh, in San Diego where she lives. It was a live TV segment. It was in the fall, so it was back to school time, and the topic was packing a back to school lunch so your kids would come home and they would eat it all their lunchbox would be empty. Like, how do we do that? Because this is a struggle for a lot of parents. She did a segment, her very first segment on live TV. And that day she was getting emails from local businesses who had food products, and they were saying, hey, could we pay you to promote our products on your website?

Yong-Soo Chung [00:05:29]

Incredible! Just a single segment on local TV and the dietitian was flooded with requests from advertisers!

Christina Nicholson [00:05:53]

Because they saw her on TV, they automatically assumed that she was an influencer. And that is because of the perception that you have when you are invited on TV, you're not paying for the ad. They would not have done this if she paid for a commercial during the news that morning. But they saw her as part of the content, sharing her expertise.

Yong-Soo Chung [00:06:12]

That's the amazing power of earned media. It has the buying power of paid media but comes securely wrapped in the trust associated with organic media.

Christina Nicholson [00:06:23]

...being on a platform other than your own introduces you to new people. And if you are in front of those people at the right time, when they're ready to pull the trigger, you can see results immediately. And if it's not the right time, if you're consistently earning that coverage in different places over time, when somebody is ready to pull the trigger and buy your product, read your book, join your email list, purchase your online course. You will be top of mind because you have built that authority and credibility in the media.

Yong-Soo Chung [00:06:54]

I will admit I always saw PR as a somewhat sleazy act. I thought publicists basically schmoozed their way into 'deals' for their clients - something that I was very much averse to.

Not to mention the fact that it seemed rather expensive. I mean getting big outlets like Forbes and CNN to talk about your business is sure to cost a pretty penny, right?

Christina Nicholson [00:07:15]

Yeah, no, that's a great question, and I always want to highlight that because a lot of people get very distracted by the big names of the Today Show and Forbes and CNN and Fox Business News. And it's like, yes, that's great, and you can go straight there, but it's rare.

Yong-Soo Chung [00:07:29]

And, it DOESN'T have to be that way, Christina says.

Christina Nicholson [00:07:32]

I suggest starting small. And it doesn't just have to be local, but the fact of the matter is, you are more newsworthy where you live, where you are locally. And even if you live in a big city like New York City, well, New York City also has the boroughs. They also have small communities. Every small community has their own little local newspaper. That is something that you can capitalize on.

Yong-Soo Chung [00:07:56]

Yeah, that makes sense. Media coverage is media coverage. Yes, being covered by big outlets is desirable but you have to start somewhere.

Also, as an entrepreneur, I always talk about serving your community. Therefore, it automatically follows that being recognized by the community would count as a big win, right?

But what if you don't have local media you can leverage? Or what if local media coverage is not really applicable for your business? I mean, if you are running a crypto-based startup, local media isn't gonna be of much help, is it?

Christina Nicholson [00:08:28]

...there's millions of podcasts to choose from. So look at podcasts that have listeners that are your same audience. They're talking about something similar. Like you and I, we both speak to entrepreneurs, but we speak about different things. So, uh, your audience is the same as my audience, but we speak about different things. So that's why you came on "Become a Media Maven", because you're a great guest for my podcast, and that's why I am on your podcast.

Yong-Soo Chung [00:08:53]

Yeah, I was recording for Christina's podcast literally hours before she recorded this interview with me! We spoke about the FIVE growth levers you can use to grow your business. I'll leave a link to Christina's podcast in the show notes, queue it up in your podcast player to play it next!

And while you are queue-ing up Christina's episode, how about sharing THIS episode with someone who reminds you of Christina? Or someone who could use Christina's wonderful words of wisdom right at this very moment?

See, if every listener of this episode shared it with one other person, we'd instantly double our listenership! And I'd be able to get more such amazing guests for future episodes! So, yeah, I'd love it if you could introduce one of your friends to First Class Founders BUT no pressure at all!

Anyway, I digress. Let's get back to Christina.

She was just telling us the importance of getting in front of new audiences. And the two ways she suggested were connecting with local media and connecting with other podcasts with the same audiences.

As for the matter of pitching yourself as a guest on either of these options, Christina recommends that you focus on YOUR expertise when pitching yourself as a guest.

Christina Nicholson [00:10:04]

So I would suggest whether or not you have a product or a service or a book or an online course, whatever it is, you always need to be promoting your expertise. You still have some kind of expertise. So I would focus on being helpful with that expertise.

Yong-Soo Chung [00:10:24]

...BUT pitch your expertise in a way that specifically benefits the audience of the podcast you are pitching yourself to!

Christina Nicholson [00:10:30]

When you pitch a podcast, share talking points that nobody's ever heard before. So when I pitch a podcast, I say things like, let me tell you how I got a startup making no money on the Today show. Like, you want to share something that's so specific, instead of saying, I'll teach you how to pitch the media to get coverage, okay, essentially that's what I'm doing. But when I want to get on your show, I want you to hear something that makes you want to listen, not just your listeners, but you'll be like, oh, I can learn something new here, or I've never gotten a pitch like this before.

Yong-Soo Chung [00:11:03]

Another method, suggested by Christina, of securing PR for yourself is looking through something called HARO forums

Christina Nicholson [00:11:11]

H-A-R-O. It stands for help a reporter out. I've been on both sides of HARO. I've posted in there for sources and I've been a source, and when I have posted and asked for sources, I was shocked. First of all, you're going to get hundreds of responses, so just keep in mind that there is competition there.

Yong-Soo Chung [00:11:28]

Basically, Christina says, the simplest way for getting free PR is to help journalists out with what they are looking for. And HARO is just a straightforward way to do that.

Christina Nicholson [00:11:38]

So the best way you can get coverage is just by helping a journalist do their job. What do they need help with? You can also get on Twitter or X, whatever we're calling it today, and search hashtag "journo request". And by doing that, you will see so many requests from journalists looking for sources.

Yong-Soo Chung [00:11:58]

Except, HARO is no longer what it once was...

Christina Nicholson [00:12:01]

It has really gone downhill in the last few years. Before it was acquired by the company that owns it now, it was better. But now anybody can post anything on there, and it's like the Wild West. People will post things and you'll reply, and then they'll get back to you trying to charge you for an ad to their random website. Just be mindful of that. However, there are still some things there that you can benefit from, so you could start there. And when you respond to a query, just be sure you are answering it exactly how they want it to be answered.

Yong-Soo Chung [00:12:37]

So, yeah, use HARO but exercise caution. Lots and lots of caution.

Of course, there is always the worry that your pitch might not align exactly with what the journalist is looking for.

Christina Nicholson [00:12:48]

I think at the end of the day, you have to remember that the journalist doesn't owe you anything. It's not the media's job to promote you. So if they're working on a story and you can help with that story, just go and help and give the journalist whatever they want. Be as helpful as you can with what you know and stay in touch. Make sure you share the story you're featured in. Tag them so they see that and stay in touch. And when they're working on other things that are in the ballpark of what you do, or if you want to look for something that's trending that's relative to what you do and pitch that, you're going to have a much better opportunity of getting the coverage.

Yong-Soo Chung [00:13:27]

The most important thing is to not get frustrated when a pitch for earned media doesn't land the way you wanted it.

Christina Nicholson [00:13:33]

Because at the end of the day, they have a job to do. They're going to do it with or without you. So it is in your benefit to help them include you in it because that only helps you short term and long term.

Yong-Soo Chung [00:13:46]

That said, did you know that earned media doesn't have to be proactive? That it can be reactive?

That is, you don't have to pitch yourself and put yourself out there if you don't want to! You can also choose to be reactive to the situation and still get yourself earned media coverage!

Yong-Soo Chung [00:14:01]

So there's a lot of ways that you can earn media exposure slowly to start out without pitching yourself and instead just being reactive to what's going out.

Christina Nicholson [00:14:12]

But how exactly do you do that? What strategies does Christina advise? What is the most important ingredient in this entire endeavor?

Answers to all these questions in a few minutes but first, I want to give a special shout out to my wonderful sponsor Humphrey!

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Oh. So Check out Humphrey's shop at spottedbyhumphrey.com and use code FIRSTCLASS15 for 15% off your next order. That's spottedbyhumphrey.com. I'll leave a link in the show notes.

Yong-Soo Chung [00:15:36]

And now, let's get back to our episode on how to get free or inexpensive PR with former TV reporter and journalist, Christina Nicholson!

Before the break, Christina mentioned that you don't necessarily have to be proactive to achieve earned media coverage. That you can be reactive and still get yourself earned media coverage.

There are several examples of this out there but Christina brought up the example of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce to drive home the point.

Christina Nicholson [00:16:07]

We see all the stories about Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce now, okay, that's a trending story. So is there something that my brand can relate to as, uh, that story is developing and we're finding different angles. I mean, we saw what he wore before the game that's turned into a story. What convertible he was driving after the game that's turned into a story. The reality show that he did a few years ago that's turned into a story.

Yong-Soo Chung [00:16:39]

But, the fact of the matter is, this takes a LOT of patience.

Christina Nicholson [00:16:43]

There's so many ways to jump on trending news, and you can't do that if you're only executing this kind of marketing strategy short term. So it has to be long term, because outside of what's trending and the news cycle, we also look at the calendar. So we're not just looking at seasons, but we're looking at holidays. We're looking at, like, podcast awareness days, things like that. So this is something that happens long term.

Yong-Soo Chung [00:17:09]

Like most things in business and entrepreneurship, PR too is a long-term game.

Christina Nicholson [00:17:14]

This is definitely a long term game. It's like SEO. It doesn't happen overnight. You definitely have to be committed to this for the long haul. Like at my agency, we will not work with you for anything less than six months because it's a long term game for so many reasons. One, we need to get to know you and your brand and your goals. Two, we need to start working our contacts, okay, who do we already know that can help this client hit these goals, tell these stories in these places, and then we work with the news cycle, what's trending, what's being covered now? Because that is the number one way to get media coverage when you are pitching coverage, it's what's trending.

So it's a delicate mix, but just like everything strategic in business is, you need to be patient and you need to trust the process, and you need to be very focused with who your audience is and what you're putting out there. And then be ready to turn that publicity into profit, because a lot of people think it just ends with the publicity. You get featured somewhere. Maybe you're a guest on a podcast that gets a lot of downloads, and then you sit back and wait for the success to roll in. And it doesn't always work like that. Sometimes you need to share the podcast. Sometimes you need to have a really good landing page you're sending people to, so people actually want to download that freebie. Or you need to share it on social media and tag the podcast host. And then maybe they'll share it after they're tagged in your post. There's just so much that goes into it, but it's not hard. It's easy, but it takes time to do.

Yong-Soo Chung [00:18:48]

The good news is you can do it yourself!

Christina Nicholson [00:18:50]

In my course in my program, I teach people how to do this with just 2 hours a week. I ask them to block off 2 hours a week to do this themselves. Now, we all know to build a business, you either need to spend time on it or you need to spend money on it. So what are you going to do? Are you going to spend money and hire somebody to do this for you, or are you going to spend time on it and spend the time to do it yourself?

Yong-Soo Chung [00:19:14]

Whether you choose to do it yourself or hire a capable publicist like Christina, the most important thing you need to remember is this:

Christina Nicholson [00:19:21]

Overnight successes don't happen overnight. You don't see what's happening, uh, on the back end. You don't see all the small media hits that led to the big one.

Yong-Soo Chung [00:19:29]

All this discussion with Christina was tempting me to explore PR opportunities for myself, for this podcast. I wondered how I could effectively deploy PR to build an audience for the First Class Founders podcast and newsletter.

Christina Nicholson [00:19:42]

...the best way to build a, uh, podcast is to be a guest on other podcasts. So go to other podcasts that would have the same audience as you. So in my case and Yong-Soo's case, it would be podcasts under the marketing umbrella. Podcasts in the entrepreneurship category, um, in the business category, being a guest on a podcast is the best way to get listeners over to your podcast.

Yong-Soo Chung [00:20:05]

So, find out which other podcasts my listeners follow. And then, pitch myself to be a guest on those podcasts - got it!

Christina Nicholson [00:20:13]

I would also suggest, um, newsletters. So you can sponsor a newsletter, but if we're talking about earned media, build a relationship with the person, um, who is sending out that newsletter. You could do a newsletter swap. You could just share some valuable information with them and then maybe they'll share it in their newsletter. Because I find people who listen to newsletters are people who listen to podcasts.

Yong-Soo Chung [00:20:36]

Newsletters, check.

Christina Nicholson [00:20:38]

And then I know everybody thinks radio is very outdated, but NPR is a big one, especially if you are a nonfiction author. Because again, people who listen to NPR are people who buy books. They're people who listen to podcasts.

Yong-Soo Chung [00:20:53]

NPR would be nice. Maybe I'll keep an eye out on the "journorequest" hashtag on twitter that Christina mentioned and respond to any journalists looking for a quote in my area of expertise!

Christina Nicholson [00:21:03]

If you get on CNN talking about how you scaled a business from zero to 20 million in eight years, maybe that would lead to people finding your podcast if you mention it on the show, which, if that's your goal, you should try to find a way to sneak it in there. Uh, that's more of a credibility build because you're on CNN, maybe you'll get on the website with a backlink. That's up to you then to take that segment and do a podcast episode, turn that segment into an ad and target people who listen to popular podcasts to get people back on your podcast.

Yong-Soo Chung [00:21:40]

Oh yeah, if I get on CNN you better believe I'm milking that appearance for all that it's worth! I'm doing a podcast, a newsletter, a bonus episode - the whole nine yards! Maybe even a live Spaces or kick off my video content efforts with a Youtube live-stream playing the CNN clip on loop!

But seriously, jokes aside, I agree with Christina that guesting on podcasts is definitely a good way to grow your audience - something I have found through personal experience.

Christina Nicholson [00:22:08]

Especially if you are in a service based business or something where you need to show your expertise. Just because the mindset of a podcast listener is so different from the mindset of somebody watching TV or reading a story online. And you get to know, like, and trust the person on the podcast more so than you would reading a two-sentence quote in an online article. And, uh, the barrier to entry is low to start your own and to be a guest on one.

Yong-Soo Chung [00:22:33]

Podcasting isn't the only option with a low barrier to entry, by the way...

Yong-Soo Chung [00:22:37]

so many websites love a contributor because these companies can't pump content out fast enough. So you would be doing them a favor, and you would be doing yourself a favor because now you have this authority and credibility to say, hey, I write for Ink magazine.

Some people look at this and they say, oh, well, I should be paid. Well, if you're a writer and this is your job, yes, you should be paid. But if you're an expert looking to build your brand and you're looking at this as a PR opportunity, then you should be happy to do it.

Yong-Soo Chung [00:23:06]

In case you are wondering where you can find such websites, don't worry, Christina's already done the hard part...

Christina Nicholson [00:23:11]

I created a PDF. If you go to sixteenplaces.com, you can grab it. It's 16 places that are accepting contributors right now for their websites.

Yong-Soo Chung [00:23:23]

The beauty of this exercise is that you can leverage it to get guests for YOUR own podcast!

Christina Nicholson [00:23:28]

My podcast isn't huge, like a lot of these peoples are. They're not going to want to come on my podcast. But if I say, hey, I want to interview for Ink magazine, that's how I get to talk to somebody. That's how I get to ask them questions and get answers. So it's so beneficial for people to contribute. So, again, look at the outlets that you read. If you are a good example of somebody who is in your audience, which a lot of the times we are, especially in the online business world, and see if they are accepting contributors, nine times out of ten, they are. And it's a great way to share your expertise and meet new people. And you have, um, a lot of credibility and authority by doing that.

Yong-Soo Chung [00:24:13]

As I was talking with Christina about this, a thought occurred to me. With the rise of social media, PR is no longer restricted to traditional media outlets like newspapers and TV. Specifically, the rise of influencers on social media platforms has introduced a new dimension to the PR industry.

Christina Nicholson [00:24:30]

Yeah, there's so much gray area in PR now. Now more than ever, because now there's this pay to play thing, because people don't pay attention to advertising the way they used to. Like, we know we're being sold to, so we kind of tune it out. So now we're doing advertising so it doesn't look like advertising. And that's like, Paris Hilton was the originator of influencer marketing. And actually, it goes way back before social media. Like I read the book Britain, uh, shoe Dog, about the creator of Nike. And their big thing was, we got to get Michael Jordan to wear our like, that is influencer marketing. And that is how it works today. If you want Kim Kardashian to post about First Class Founders, you got to pay her a million bucks to post about it. Will it move the needle? Yes. But that is not earned media. Like, you got to charge for that. She is charging for that because she can.

Yong-Soo Chung [00:25:25]

This "pay-to-play" media has also found its way into traditional media, Christina pointed out.

Christina Nicholson [00:25:29]

sometimes you'll pitch a magazine this is big for the local glossy magazine. You'll pitch a story, and they will come back and they will tell you, oh, we're pay-to-play. Like, everything in this magazine is an ad. So if you want to be included, it's $1,000 for an article. And then sometimes they get even fancier. And they don't call it an advertisement. They'll call it an advertorial, or they'll call it sponsored. They'll make up all kinds of words to call it something. And the fact of the matter is, it's being paid for.

Yong-Soo Chung [00:26:03]

In case you are wondering if you should or shouldn't accept that offer...

Christina Nicholson [00:26:07]

I always tell people, like, listen, there's a lot of opportunity for editorial that doesn't cost you, so just go for that.

Yong-Soo Chung [00:26:13]

Essentially, paying money to appear in someone else's content counts as an advertisement, Christina emphasized. And in such a situation, you should always ask for a media kit.

Christina Nicholson [00:26:24]

I pitched a client a few years ago to be a guest on a podcast. And the podcast host came back and said, I charge people to be a guest on my show. And I was like, okay, cool, pass along your media kit. And he was like, thrown. I was like, if I have to go back to my client and say, it's going to cost this much, he's going to know what he's getting. So let me know your download numbers, tell me about your demographic, give me the information so I can make an educated decision. And he was like, well, you pitched to be a guest. You want to be a guest on the show? I'm like, yeah, but if you're going to tell me that you charge, now, I'm buying an ad, and I need to know what I'm buying because I need to make an educated decision on how I spend this budget. So if anybody is charging you for anything, just make sure you know what you're paying for. That's how advertising works.

Yong-Soo Chung [00:27:10]

If you are in the business of creating content, it's always a good practice to have a media kit, Christina points out.

Christina Nicholson [00:27:15]

And because we can have an Instagram account, we can have a podcast, we can have a newsletter, and now we can charge for things, as creators, we don't know what the hell we're doing, and we're just saying, oh, yeah, uh, this is my price. Well, there has to be a reason for your price. And you have to create a media kit, and you have to inform people. So if you are somebody who is of influence and you want to start charging to make money, there's nothing wrong with that. You just have to tell people why you're charging, what you're charging when you do offer that to them.

Yong-Soo Chung [00:27:45]

Asking for a media kit, Christina points out is also a good way to keep scammy PR agencies at bay…

Christina Nicholson [00:27:51]

Be mindful of people who slide into your DMs. Um, they slide into mine, too. And they will tell you, oh, I can guarantee you coverage in 100 media outlets for $500. Listen, if somebody is ever guaranteeing you coverage anywhere, you better make sure that they work for these outlets and they work in the sales department, and you better look at their media kits.

Yong-Soo Chung [00:28:15]

In fact, Christina shared with me THREE red flags to watch out for, when scrutinizing any PR pitch.

Christina Nicholson [00:28:22]

If anybody in PR is saying [BLEEPED], run.

Yong-Soo Chung [00:28:25]

Wanna know what word is hidden behind that bleep?

Well, you'll need to become a premium member of First Class Founders if you want to find out. Because, in each episode, I craft a bonus segment exclusively for the premium members.

This week's bonus segment, for example, features Christina pointing out the THREE red flags in most PR pitches...

Christina Nicholson [00:28:44]

It's not hard to figure out if you take the time to do it, but it's hard because they make their offer sound so irresistible, and it sounds amazing, but that's because

Yong-Soo Chung [00:28:55]

...as well as a list of common mistakes that small business owners make when it comes to doing PR.

If you become a premium member, you will also enjoy a ton of other perks - such as access to a private feed, AD-FREE episodes, released a WEEK early. So, yeah, join the First-Class Founders membership today - go to firstclassfounders.com/join. Look for a link in the show notes!

Before wrapping up our interview, I asked Christina what she would do differently if she were to start her PR agency from scratch. Her answer was almost instantaneous...

Christina Nicholson [00:29:29]

I will share a couple of things that I regret and wish I could do different. And one of them is just focusing on one thing and being hyper focused on one thing at a time, instead of trying to do all the things in all the places. Um, I feel like once you build a business doing all the things in all the places, first of all, it takes a hell of a lot longer, and it's hard to go backwards and niche down or focus down. So I wish I would have done that.

Yong-Soo Chung [00:29:56]

She mentioned the blog she has been trying to monetize, as an example.

Christina Nicholson [00:30:00]

I'm trying to build my lifestyle blog with SEO to get paid through ads on it. And I wish instead of making it lifestyle, I would have picked a niche and zeroed in on that because I would be a lot further by now.

Yong-Soo Chung [00:30:13]

The other thing she'd do differently, she said, was investing sooner in her business.

Christina Nicholson [00:30:17]

For the first two years, I soaked up all of the free content that I could online. And I think that was maybe part of me trying to do a bunch of different things when I just needed to face my negative money mindset and put some money down and hire a coach to tell me exactly what to do, step-by-step to get where I needed to go instead of all of these online courses with all of these people in all these different niches. Yes, I learned and I grew, but it wasn't until I hired a coach with a person I could talk to that talked back to me that things really changed in my business. Because that one on one help makes a big difference.

Yong-Soo Chung [00:30:55]

Very well said. This negative money mindset is a topic I have been meaning to talk about for a while now. I'll put together an episode on it soon. If you have any questions about the topic, DM me on X @yongsoochung and I'll answer them during the episode.

Meanwhile, do check out Christina's podcast "Become a Media Maven"

Christina Nicholson [00:31:18]

You can hear Yong-Soo there, too. He's a guest.

Yong-Soo Chung [00:31:21]

...and you can reach her through her website and newsletter.

Christina Nicholson [00:31:24]

CN: You can get my newsletter every Thursday where I pretty much talk about the same stuff that I talk about here, over sharing everything in the industry. You can, um, get on the list at mediamavennews.com. And I am on social media at ChristinaAllday. I'll talk back if you talk to me. And then I mentioned Sixteenplaces.com if you want to start, uh, becoming a contributor.
YS: Yeah, I actually went to Sixteenplaces.com before earlier today, and, uh, yeah, it's a great resource, so I recommend everyone download that.
CN: Thank you for having me!

Yong-Soo Chung [00:32:04]

If you enjoyed this episode with Christina Nicholson on how to do effective PR for free or really cheap, then I'm certain you will also enjoy my episode with Parker Worth titled, "The Art of Storytelling: How Parker Worth Went from Broke to a $22,000 Course Launch." Parker is an amazing story teller and the techniques he discusses in this episode are an excellent complement to the PR wisdom Christina imparted on today's episode.

And that's it for today's episode. My name is Yong-Soo Chung and I'll see you on the next episode of First Class Founders!