Unlocking the Synergy of PR and Social Media with Michelle Rupp

Get ready to crack the PR code with the wisdom of Michelle Rupp, a seasoned pro who's turning the tide on how we perceive traditional media's role in the digital age. In our latest Marketing Happy Hour podcast, we're not just chatting about the harmonious blend of PR and social media – we're proving it's a game-changer for small businesses and nonprofits. Michelle, a former journalist turned PR whiz, joins me to debunk myths and share how hitting the airwaves can still make waves in a sea of streaming and social platforms.

Imagine your business or nonprofit capturing the limelight and converting a single media appearance into a nationwide sensation. That's the story I recount with Michelle, showcasing the untapped potential of local news in rocketing online traffic and solidifying trust with your audience. We'll reveal how a smartly angled pitch can not only secure valuable airtime but also weave your message into the fabric of the community, creating a lasting impact that social channels alone can't match.

Roll up your sleeves for a behind-the-scenes glance at the world of DIY PR and crisis communication – no hefty budget required. We dive into the essentials of crafting a compelling narrative, the art of timely pitching, and how to make your on-camera debut shine. And for those unexpected challenges, we've got your back with strategies to weather any storm. Join Michelle and me for a toast to the power of PR as we equip you with the insider knowledge to confidently command the media spotlight. Cheers to your marketing success!

Find her course at: www.memorableresultsmedia.com

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:01

Welcome to the Marketing Happy Hour podcast, where we stir up the perfect blends of insights, strategies and trends to quench your thirst for marketing and business success. Join us every week as we pull up a chair, pour out the latest business innovations and mix in some expert advice from industry leaders. I am your host, Shelby McFarlane, CEO of Shelby Company Incorporated. It's time to shake things up, stir up some creativity and sip on success. Welcome to the Marketing Happy Hour podcast. Hey y'all, what's up? It's your boss, babe, Shelby, here, and I am joined today by Michelle Rupp, a fellow boss, babe, what's up, girl? Hey, good morning, how are you? I am so great and I'm'm so excited we finally get to have this conversation after collabing on a few projects together. It's really fun to have another marketing expert.

Speaker 1: 0:54

And just a little bit about Michelle. She is an Edward R Murrow and Emmy award-winning journalist. Y'all like I'm staring at this trophy in the background and I'm kind of jealous. Like it's so pretty and I feel so honored to be in an Emmy Award winner presence. Like, hey, girl, Thank you.

Speaker 1: 1:13

From producer to broadcaster, she's had 20 years of experience in the broadcasting industry. She's followed her career in broadcasting by filling a few PR roles for nonprofits in the healthcare industry. Now she runs her own PR firm, so she's a fellow boss, babe guys. It's called Memorable Results Media and we kind of. We met through an event that I chair every year called the Rubber Duck Derby, and we met through Bryant Rotary Club and she's a PR expert. I'm a social media expert and I'm not going to lie like as an Enneagram aide I was like super intimidated, Like what is this lady doing? Like this is my territory girl, Like I don't need you. But honestly, like now, a couple of months later, we've actually become really great friends and we have so much in common and we can actually collab on several different things. So tell us a little bit about you more, Michelle, and what Memorable Results Media does.

Speaker 2: 2:07

Well, shelby, thank you so much and thank you for having me on. I'm excited to have these conversations with you and your listeners will get so much value out of today's episode and I'm just I'm super excited as it relates to Memorable Results. You know my heart and passion is for the small business, and small is relative, so you know we may be talking about a business with a half a dozen to a dozen employees. We could be talking about a business that has 100 or 300 employees or 300 employees, but that passion is getting them positive publicity in their communities. We all love publicity, right, we all love positive publicity. We don't love the negative publicity.

Speaker 2: 3:01

Negative publicity and sometimes it's the negative publicity is business's first introduction into publicity and that's something I want to change. We've got, particularly here in Arkansas. You know we have strong mom and pop small businesses, grit, grind, they do what they do. They love their communities, they love their country, they love their schools and let's get out what it is that they are doing, whether it's the business or, in the instance of the Rubber Duck Derby, a nonprofit. It's just so important and I think a lot of business owners look and think, yeah, I'd love to be on TV, or I'd love to be on radio, or I'd love to be featured in the newspaper, but I don't have an advertising budget, so I guess I can't do that. But you can.

Speaker 1: 3:59

Absolutely yeah. And when I started in my marketing agency eight years ago, I was really young, you know 22, thought I knew everything. And so I was like yeah, I do everything. I do websites, social media, pr, I do your press releases, I can do it all. And, girl, I found out real fast like I can't do it all Right. So then I had to like niche down because I soon realized through a political campaign that I was over. Pr was not my favorite thing, and when you talk about negativity is the first, like usually the first way that people are in the public eye. That's so true because social media just was rising and people are going to like oh, let's post negative stuff before positive stuff, you know. And then you're trying to like counteract that, and so it's really nice to have someone in my life now that I'm like yo, you can have them. I don't want to handle this.

Speaker 1: 4:46

You know, like you know what to do, you know how to write the press releases. Like with Duck Derby, we've done it eight years. This is the first year we worked together and you made my life so much easier because you got us on TV, you got us on the radio and I would send out emails pretty much begging them, and you're like hey girl, by the way, I texted my like producer friend and y'all are going to be on TV and I'm like I mean that was easy, right, like I had to beg for that last year. So it's really cool to know, like, what the difference is in PR. And let's talk about what are a few common misconceptions people have about PR when it comes to like marketing and for their business and stuff like that.

Speaker 2: 5:22

The biggest one that I'm seeing right now is people don't think they need it because of the explosion of social media. And that's what I love about what you do, because you are so gifted and talented and creative on the social media side. And that's not my wheelhouse, that's not what I want to do. I'll do it if I have to, but that's when, when I have clients who will say well, michelle, do you do social media? No, no, I wouldn't do that with a 10 foot pole, but I know someone who does Exactly, exactly.

Speaker 2: 5:56

But I do think that businesses, particularly right now, are under the misconception that no one watches television anymore because we're all streaming and you know everybody's watching Netflix and they're on YouTube and like there's really no need for local television. And my counter comment to that is you might not be watching television, but your customers are. And particularly with Gen X, we were raised with the television and while we still have a very high component of social media, there's still 80, 82 or 86. I have to go back and check um percent of Gen Xers who watch local news. So, and and they're the ones who have money to spend. So it's almost if you aren't doing some form of PR. You're missing out on a whole chunk of change that can be coming into your business. So I'm always surprised when people are like well, why would I want to be on TV? Well, why would you not? There's nothing made there.

Speaker 1: 7:17

Absolutely, and it runs right into social media. So you know, when social media exploded in 2016 with fan pages and business pages, like it was the number one way to find a new business, it was the number one way to advertise, you know. But now I feel like I mean, gosh, it's been almost 10 years. So here we are, like kind of turning in the world and social media is great, but it really is just there for validation of like who you are as a person and who you are as a business, as well as feeding into that search engine optimization. And so people think, like when you go on TV, like oh, I'm just doing a TV clip, but with the Duck Derby as an example, they posted us to their social, they posted us on their website.

Speaker 2: 7:58

We had video footage, we had the validity that oh hey, it's actually a nonprofit, like they're actually legit they've been on the news and so I really think that it works together as a whole, like your marketing campaign needs all of it. It does. I often tell people that it works. We work in concert with social media. It's not an either, or it's a, it's a, both is is another tool in that whole marketing toolbox.

Speaker 2: 8:25

And you're right, social is is kind of the end all be all and, depending on who you talk to, some people are getting tired of it. Everyone, it seems, is getting aggravated or annoyed, with the algorithm changing as the wind blows, absolutely. And I often wonder are we coming to a place where we begin to see it merging a little more, where the pendulum kind of swings back a little bit? It's not all social media, it's it's social and and traditional. And you touched on something earlier, being on TV, radio, newspaper, the validity that it adds and those links then that you can post on your own social media. And if you are a business and you have a website, that's when you get to post that neat little banner there that says, as seen on and the level of credibility that that gives your business instantaneously.

Speaker 2: 9:25

You can't put a price tag on that, because everyone knows that television in particular isn't going to just put anybody on the air. And for your business to be able to, you know, slap an ABC logo or an NBC logo or a CBS logo on the website. That sets you apart from your competitors and other people that are in the market. And then when you have people who are searching for your business outside of, like the state of Arkansas, and they're like oh, okay, well, if they're on TV, then that probably needs to be someone that I can trust doing business.

Speaker 1: 10:07

So tell my listeners about the really cool story of you getting someone on TV. I believe it was Arizona or Nevada. Yeah, so tell us about that story because that's so rad. And this is why, guys, you need a PR person, because they make magic happen.

Speaker 2: 10:22

Thank you. Yes, there is a client who is also a friend and I'll tell you, all my clients are friends. There's a client in Kansas City and she was going to be in Phoenix or Scottsdale Arizona at the same time. I was going to be in Scottsdale Arizona and we got talking and decided hey, you know what, let's pitch her as a segment in television in Phoenix. And so I reached out and I will say this caveat, having been in the business for as long as I was it's a very tight fraternity and so you're constantly moving in the TV world and so you know people in different markets.

Speaker 2: 11:11

And if, for example, I didn't know anyone specifically in Phoenix, however, I had worked with someone who had worked in Phoenix who said let me pass along an email address. And at the end of the day we had we reached, I pitched to three stations in Phoenix, two of which came back and said we love this idea, we'd love to have your client on, and then we ended up being on one of the stations, because the other station we couldn't work out with flights and timing. It just wasn't going to work out. But that client recently opened a membership and said I mean, I've got people from all over the country who are in this membership now, because they saw her on TV in Kansas City, they saw her on TV in Phoenix and it was like this. What this has done for my online business is like I could have never imagined.

Speaker 2: 12:12

So um it's yeah, it's, it's fun and it's um the. The folks in Phoenix said you know, hey, anytime you're back in Phoenix let us know. And if you've got some, if you've got another client out here that you think would be good for television, let us know. We'd love to have them on.

Speaker 1: 12:29

So so, yeah, that's so cool and and that's just like the importance of you know that girl or lady she had a nationwide business to where she could do something like that, like be on multiple stations, and it's just as important to be on your local station as it is if you're trying to do national stuff, because people are still watching TV. I mean, we were just talking about the tornadoes and when people are listening to this, it's been like freaking tornado season, like crazy in Arkansas and we were talking, me and her, we're both watching the same station at like 1.30 this morning or two o'clock this morning, and it's important that you know they are there for us. You know personally, so we also know that people are watching them and their segments and stuff like that as well, because news stations are not going away. I don't know why people think that like news is going away.

Speaker 1: 13:14

It's not like they're still going to be there.

Speaker 2: 13:16

No, it's not.

Speaker 2: 13:17

We had, um, I had access to some data with a particular client who we um, they were wanting to increase their registration for a particular race.

Speaker 2: 13:34

I'm a runner, I work a lot with different races in town and out of town, but anyway, this particular race they were wanting to increase or maybe just kind of bring more awareness to their race and get the numbers up. And we created an event and that's one thing I love to do is kind of create an event to give the media a reason why they should attend. And so we did a metal unveiling and we had three of the four stations locally turn out and I went back to look at some early data and there were two stations that ran a 30 second story during the five o'clock news. One station had seventy nine thousand local viewers the local viewership. The other station had thirty four or thirty five thousand in local viewerships. Combined you've got over a hundred thousand in local viewership and they sold out their race and the race director said we've been doing everything we can on social media. We're never going to have a hundred thousand. See our posts on Facebook on Instagram.

Speaker 2: 14:49

He said we're going to have a lot that see it, but we're not going to have those kinds of numbers, and I think that's one thing that businesses don't understand is the ability to reach literally reach the masses when you have something that's on air.

Speaker 1: 15:10

And that's really, you know, I'm not like, I mean, I guess I could dog my own industry and niche for a minute, because it's like social used to be where we, where you reached everybody it used to be, the engagement was so high and people aren't engaging anymore because we have so many ads and so many people trying to sell us on there, you know. And so I really do think it's important that people understand that, yes, you can reach more people, but the people that saw them on social I mean that saw them on the TV are going to go to Facebook, they're going to go to Instagram, they're going to search them on Google, they're going to try to like, figure out who these people are. And that's how you get people to your social and then you do to call to action to your website. So that's how everything works together and I absolutely love that because I've been in a business marketing wise for 12 years and back in the day before social, I mean, we did yellow pages and we did, you know, I was on TV and I paid for TV ads and, like you know, all the things for my business at the time, and then just watching it kind of come full circle.

Speaker 1: 16:07

It really does make you think, like history kind of does repeat itself. And even though technology is going, you know it's still increasing and it's still being great. But really it's kind of repeating itself where people are kind of tired of it. They're tired of being reached out to on social. They're, you know, tired of the algorithms and all of that stuff.

Speaker 2: 16:25

So it's funny. You know, everything that is new was old and so much has been brought back and I will not know exactly how to respond if the yellow pages ever come back.

Speaker 1: 16:40

Oh God, I got one delivered to my house the other day. I swear. And I'm like this thing is like smaller than the church pamphlet on a Sunday.

Speaker 2: 16:49

Like why is this even a?

Speaker 1: 16:52

thing. So the um. Yeah, whenever I had my other business, it was named Arkansas window tip. We literally named it that because it started with an A and that was like the first. You know like one of the first few in the phone book. And I had a. I had a podcast interview with my dad, who's also in the advertising world. He's been in it for over 30 years and so we talked about like what the difference is between 30 years ago, when he was starting, and like now, me being 30 years, 30 years old, it's like okay, so like what's the difference? But really we found a lot of common things. Like he talked about the newspaper. You know, like, do you do a lot with newspapers? We don't really talk about that. He talked about the newspaper. You know, like, do you do a lot with newspapers? We don't really talk about that. We're kind of more newsy and stuff. Like what do you think about newspapers?

Speaker 2: 17:34

They definitely have their place, and print, broadcast or, yeah, print media has its place, and I've not worked a ton with newspapers. When I have clients who are interested in print, a lot of times it's in the form of the different magazines that communities and areas have that they put out. And so I would say 95 percent of my clients are most interested in TV and there's probably about 5 percent that are interested in radio as well, and there's probably about 5% that are interested in radio as well, and that kind of goes nationwide. While, yes, I'm based in Little Rock, I do have clients around the country. I've got one client actually in Ohio and we are specifically targeting for her niche podcasts and so there's an element of reaching out to podcasts as well, and so it is interesting to see how they all just kind of converge and, you know, run alongside each other.

Speaker 1: 18:44

I never even thought about podcasts. Like that's a really cool outlet to like get people on Cause it's so hard to find. You know, I love being interviewed and I usually like collab with other females and stuff on their podcast and sometimes it's hard to get on a podcast. Um, maybe I'm just too friendly, I don't know. I do this more of a creative outlet, like you know. I'm like, hey, I have fun talking to my friends and we like share it with our you know followers. Like that's really cool. Um, but it's really hard because there's some like a legit podcast out there. I'm like dang, they got advertisers. You know, like maybe one day I guess I should say sponsored by Shelby and Co or like something like that you know in the middle of it, but that's really cool.

Speaker 1: 19:21

I didn't think about podcasts like being something that you can reach out, like for PR and stuff. I want to talk about how we collabed with the Duck Derby, so with the Duck Derby, so with the Rubber Duck.

Speaker 1: 19:31

Derby. It was really cool. It's cool to have a different element. So, like I said, I've been doing this for eight years and I've always chaired it me or somebody else with me. But it's been hard because social was so popular eight years ago. So eight years ago it was like social media. We sold out so easily. 5,000 rubber ducks were adopted. You know, within the first couple months we had a huge festival. It was great, covid happened and then, you know, things kind of died from there and so, like I was saying, I thought it was easy, like I'm going to get on TV, I'm going to do all this stuff, and it was just like begging people. You know, I I could write a press release saying God for chat GPT now, because it helps me more than anything. Like you know, like now I have you, but before you, you know, it was like okay, well, I'm going to Google like what's a press?

Speaker 2: 20:16

release my nemesis chat.

Speaker 1: 20:19

GPT, exactly, oh, we have. That's a whole different conversation. That's a different podcast episode. We'll go off on that.

Speaker 2: 20:25

There you go.

Speaker 1: 20:29

Absolutely Um, but absolutely yeah, um. So this year, you know, whenever I first met you, I remember the meeting and I haven't ever told you this, so this is the first. So we met through our friend Adam and I was like doing the whole meeting like had my checklist. You know, being the boss babe, that I am the leader, that I am probably annoying half the people in the room Cause that's just what I do, but anyway. So I'm like, oh hey, michelle, I'm Shelby Like. So I'm like, oh hey, michelle, I'm Shelby Like.

Speaker 1: 20:52

So I heard you're taking over all the marketing efforts, like social media, and you just kind of like stare at me, like this lady be crazy, like what She'd be crazy Like, are you kidding me? Because I was like, oh well, I heard she does marketing. Okay, so this is great, you know. And again, common misconception. I'm like she does marketing, she's going to do that, right.

Speaker 1: 21:13

And so I remember, leaving that day, I texted Adam and I said I'm pretty sure Michelle hates me. Um, I totally called her out and she looked at me like I was crazy and I'm pretty sure I need to have coffee with her. And so then I'm like we should go have coffee, like definitely collab with each other, right, like doing the fake stuff that people do anyway. So then we have coffee and we're like such great, like we get along so well. Like I was like, oh, okay, and this is just another reason, guys, why you should get to know people and not like just be like oh, she looked at me like I was crazy, like bye girl, like I don't want anything to do with you, you know. But we ended up like we go to the same church, like well, these branches of the same church, we have so much in common and so it's cool to be able to see the other side of that just a couple months later Like, oh cool, we're chill now.

Speaker 1: 21:57

So, anyways, what I was saying is it was nice to have you on our team to help us out with all that, because you understand the importance of social too, because when we're on TV, you took a lot of behind the scene pictures, you did the video, you did all of that, and so that was really nice to have that, because usually I'm like taking selfies and like, hey, I'm going to set this up on a tripod, like that, yeah, and it's that social proof, the behind the scenes social proof, and people eat that up.

Speaker 2: 22:26

That's what they love to see. They enjoy knowing kind of what's going on. They enjoy being able to say, oh, I know her and she was on TV today. And it's funny going back to when we first met and you were like and you're going to take over or you're going to be handling social or whatever. And I remember thinking, no, I thought I was just putting you on all the TV stations in town. But you're like I don't have a Facebook account. Yeah, I don't, I don't have a Facebook account.

Speaker 1: 22:58

I mean, we can figure something out, but um, that's so great I'm glad we got past that Cause I'm easy to like okay, just write people off, right. Like okay. Well, obviously I like pissed them off, so I'm just going to move on. You know like it is what it is, but Adam's like give her a chance, she's really cool. And I'm like I mean, if Adam likes her, okay, I guess I will too. I'm so glad you didn't write me off, because Absolutely Same yeah.

Speaker 2: 23:25

We had some, some TV gold there getting ready for the derby.

Speaker 1: 23:30

So Absolutely so. It's been really cool talking about PR with you and all of that. Do you see like any kind of trends coming about with PR or any kind of excitement in the future, or even just leave some tips for my listeners right now with?

Speaker 2: 23:44

what they do with their PR is people are starting to maybe take a second look at television and maybe what those traditional forms of media, how they that could serve their audience. A couple of things that I would leave with your listeners is that, as we've been talking and, and as we've referenced media, I do want to make sure that there is clarity in that we are not talking about advertising. Advertising is part of marketing. That's one of the facets of it, but we are talking about, of course we'll get this term, but in the industry it's earned media. Ok, well, the people out on the street, it's free media. I mean I, the people out on the street, it's free media. I mean, I don't know any other way to say it it's, you know, getting a segment on television that is not coming from any kind of advertising budget. And so I, for those listeners, you know I would.

Speaker 2: 24:54

If you are under the misconception that, oh my gosh, I've got to have six figures in an advertising budget in order for a television station to look at me or a radio station to take me seriously, not necessarily because there are ways that you can get on that really don't require financial resources at all. There are things that it does require, such as a little thing called viewer benefit. You can't come on and make it look like a blatant advertising advertisement. Right, at any rate it I. That would be one of the first things that I would encourage. Clients that are cut listeners that are listening I would encourage them to not just stop and immediately write off traditional media because, well, I don't have the money.

Speaker 2: 25:47

There are plenty of ways that you can do it yourself. Certainly Memorable Results is always happy to help fellow Arkansans, how happy to work with you one-on-one. Also, we've got a do it yourself where I teach you what I know and how to write a press release, how to write a media alert, when to send a pitch, how to structure your pitch. You've gotten on TV? Oh my gosh. Ok, what am I going to wear? That's my favorite question. That people ask is but what do I wear? How do I fix my if it's female? How do I fix my hair? What do I do for makeup? And so there's a course on my website that is available for purchase. That kind of covers all of that.

Speaker 2: 26:38

And so that local businesses, local nonprofits, aren't fumbling around. They can actually approach their local media with a level of confidence that they are speaking the language that they are speaking, the language that they are presenting. Well, a lot of times, particularly with radio and newspaper, when you send a press release, the paper very well may copy it verbatim, so you want to make sure it's grammatically correct. There aren't any miscellaneous. That's the first way to lose credibility. Same thing with radio. They're going to read your press release, oftentimes over the air. Great publicity, great publicity, and then you know.

Speaker 2: 27:23

The only other thing I would say is if you find yourself in a crisis communication situation whether that's on social media, whether that's you know allegations, right or wrong, doesn't matter If you find yourself in a crisis situation, immediately reach out to someone you know, like and trust to guide you through that, because there, there, no one handles it perfectly, not even a pro. No one handles it perfectly. But when you are with a pro, they can help minimize backlash because, at the end of the day, that's what you want. And so, um, I would, I would highly recommend reaching out to someone, um, as like, like, immediately.

Speaker 2: 28:12

Um, yeah, I often say you know, here, here's, here's the fire extinguisher Like you're trying to put it out while someone's on the phone calling the fire department. You know, like you might be trying to handle it while someone's on the phone getting a hold of Media Pro. So definitely.

Speaker 1: 28:27

So tell us more about your course and where they can find that.

Speaker 2: 28:41

Oh yeah, so the course actually is going to be available May 12th, which is Mother's Day, through May 16th. Now, for those who are listening after May 16th, you're like, oh man, I wish I would have. You can still go to the website MemorableResultsMediacom Memorable Results, because that's what we provide clients is memorable results, memorableresultsmediacom. And, um, there's a wait list and so you'd be able to enter in your email so that you find out the next time. It's it's available, but it will be available from mother's day. We're actually running a special on Mother's Day Mother's Day through May the 16th and, like I said, it's a it's, it's all recorded. It's bite sized chunks, easy to understand. You're going to get a downloadable workbook in it with templates and everything that a business or a nonprofit would need to know when wanting to present. Well and try to get on television or radio, yeah, and it's a great way.

Speaker 1: 29:40

It's a great way to like dip your toe into a little bit of PR stuff. I feel like even marketing agencies that are trying to like learn PR, or like mark. You know marketers that are trying to learn PR, or maybe you're marketing for a business itself or you're the owner of the business. I think this is a good way to kind of like okay, I'm going to get my toes wet and then, once I like, learn a little bit more about the process. You can hire Michelle and memorable results media afterwards. So awesome.

Speaker 2: 30:04

Yes, I had a friend in Nebraska. She is with a marketing agency and she did this course in January and messaged me and said I didn't realize press releases were still a thing. And I work at a marketing, you know, at an agency I didn't realize press releases and, you know, after I broke out in a cold sweat and then calm down, they are still a thing and now this is something that you can do with your clients and so even yeah, even people in the industry, just as you said, may not realize really that's still a thing.

Speaker 1: 30:45

It is yeah. It is Well awesome. Well, thank you so much for this conversation today, michelle. I had a wonderful time and looking forward to future podcast episodes, because we will be coming at you guys more together as we collab, because we are not enemies, we are friends in the marketing world and we work well together. So thanks again, michelle, for being here and, guys, I will talk to you next week. Shelby, thanks so much, have a great day.