Black women are killing it in all sorts of spaces: we are entrepreneurs, influencers, business owners, entertainers, respected subject matter experts, business women, esteemed scholars and so much more. When we are killing it, brands, platforms and media outlets are often drawn to what we are doing and want to work with us. What’s great about these collaborations and campaigns, is that they offer us exposure to different audiences.
These requests often come when you least expect it and there’s usually little to no time to prepare for it. If you’re not ready, a deal or an offer could fall through. For instance, let’s say Oprah’s team sent a request to feature you or your brand in her magazine right now, would you be ready? If not, do you think they are going to wait around for you to get ready? This is why it’s so important to get PR ready and stay PR ready.
But what does being “PR r
Who are you? They’ll want to know more about you regardless of what you do, so be clear about who you are: your inspiration, your mission and your message. having a well-written bio that seams these points together that you can refer to will help you remain consistent with responding to inquiries. If you have a website, make sure this is somewhere on your website in the “About Us” or a similar section.
What do you do? Make sure to have a space, whether it’s your own website or social media platforms, that fully explains and clearly shows what it is that you do. Keep the optics (e.g. website design, social media feeds, logos, photos, etc.) high resolution and professional looking. Be sure that optics are consistent across online platforms.
What else have you done? Another question that brands and platforms will ask is what else have you’ve accomplished. Much like a killer resume, a killer media kit will do the talking for you. A media kit is like a fact sheet for your business, platform or brand. It shows when you started, what you’ve done, who your audience is and the demographics, the analytics of how your brand or business performs, industry awards as well as notable media coverage.
How soon can you send the information? The time that it takes for you to respond or acknowledge the receipt of a request could make or break a deal. Set yourself up for success and creating templates for responding to the most frequent type of media requests. When you reduce response time, it not only creates more time for you, but it also saves time up for the entity reaching out to you. It shows them that you are serious about what you do, and they tend to treat you more professionally.
What is all this?! Sometimes in our excitement of getting media exposure, we tend to send over way too much information, pictures or product. For example, if they ask for one picture, but you give them two, that’s one thing. If they ask for one picture and you give them 10, that’s quite another. We don’t want to be overzealous and overload the platform or brand. It reeks of desperation, plus, many of them find it annoying.
Now, take a deep breath…and relax! You’re PR ready now!
When you’re covered in the media, it always feels like a lucky break. Just remember, that if you don’t have an existing PR ready brand, no media outlet, platform or brand is going to wait for you. Don’t miss out on an opportunity to gain media exposure because of a lack of preparedness. Stay PR ready and you won’t have to get PR ready.
