Deirdre Breakenridge, Owner of Pure Performance Communications
By Cheval John
November 8th, 2017
Today’s episode of What’s The Word? features Deirdre Breakenridge, founder of Pure Performance Communications.
Deirdre has written many books on public relations and social media.
Her recent book “Answers for Modern Communicators: A Guide to Effective Business Communication” deals with how professionals and college students can be successful communicators in a business environment.
She is also the host of #prstudchat, a twitter chat which speaks about how college students can learn more about the public relations field and how they can prepare themselves once they graduate from college.
In this episode, you will hear:
-Deirdre’s process in writing her first book
-The importance of live streaming
-On why she started the podcast, “Women Worldwide”
-On hosting “The PR Influencer Show” on Nasdaq
This episode was recorded on Facebook Live via Blue Jeans Network before airing on BlogTalkRadio.
Snippet on Vallano Media TV
Full Episode on BlogTalkRadio
Website: www.deirdrebreakenridge.com
Twitter: @dbreakenridge
Quotes from Deirdre on:
PUBLIC RELATIONS
Public relations has changed so much because of social media and the way businesses have to be more flexible.
People would go online at any time and if they wanted something, we had to be there.
If you are going to support a business, you have to be ten steps ahead and to understand and listen and know where the pain points are in the market and with the customers to be able to help that business.
NEW MEDIA
I knew we had to embrace new media.
It was a different way of communication and how we approached, not just traditional journalists, but different types of media and where people wanted to receive their news.
In 2003, I had a huge wake-up call.
My team went in to pitch a CEO and his team on a tech product and we were probably a little over-confident.
We thought we knew exactly where we could get the message out through what channels.
After we pitched on how we were going to launch this load balancer product, he kind of looked at me and said, “Okay, that was good, but where’s all the new stuff that’s really going to excite our end users? Where are they going to embrace things?”
What he was saying was why aren’t you talking about blogs.
I had written about that in my second book, which is really ironic that I was writing about blogs, but not pitching that.
I went back to my agency that day and said, “No matter how ahead we think we are, we are not.”
“We are now going to start opening up technology for our public relations professionals. They need to be hands-on in the back end of websites and content management systems.”
“I want public relations people to upload news releases and photos. I want them hands-on with technology.”
They thought I was crazy.
That was the start of “We have to be flexible, we have to move, there’s new things out there.”
Public relations people have to embrace and move forward.
BRANDS BEING MEDIA COMPANIES
They are content machines and they are not just sharing content for the sake of getting their messages across.
They are educating and becoming thought leaders.
They are having other people come in, be correspondents and share news and information and do interviews.
It is a whole new dynamic.
I was sitting with a financial services company recently.
They now have an in-house studio for video production because they are thought leaders in their space and they are going to be doing interviews.
We see this a lot more.
That is the kind of storytelling and brand journalism you want to bring to the table to be a media company.
LIVE STREAMING
I think it is a great opportunity.
It is almost the no bull crap way of getting out some really good transparent information.
You are talking to a person who grew up in the agency world where we would not put out anything.
This is a new way of being able to tell stories and to share who you are and what you do.
To give a piece of yourself as an entrepreneur and to show your passion through a live stream is really important.
If you enjoy this episode, you can share via the social media icons below.
Also, who would you like to be a guest on the show?
The Right Way To “Amplify” Your Message
By Cheval John
It seems like in every generation, there is a new buzz worth that catches fire and add a new meaning to the English language.
One of the buzz words that is really catching fire seemingly this year is “amplification.”
You might wonder what does amplification mean?
According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, amplification means “the particulars in which a statement is expanded.”
So if this definition is right, a person want to make sure that their statement or message have a wider reach and be able to stand out.
In the age of social media, it is really noisy because everyone is out there sharing valuable information and trying to stand out from their competition.
The problem is that many are using the same mechanism like posting on Facebook, Tweeting on Twitter, etc. to try and get notice.
If you are a business, you are trying to find ways to amplify your message and make a sale.
They will try to find out which social media platform to use to get their message out and gain more customers.
Many businesses and people will go into using social media as a way to only promote their products or service.
Unfortunately, they miss the boat.
What they fail to realize is that they should not use social media to self-promote and turn people off.
Instead, they should use social media to engage with their audience and build a loyal following.
And for those who do understand the use of social media, they are standing above the noise and are amplifying their message.
They also understand that blogging is overcrowded and that one of the ways to stand out on social media is having a podcast.
They see that a podcast is another way to create a loyal following and slowly, but surely build trust with their audience and gain a loyal fan base.
They also see that podcast has a much smaller competition compared to blogs.
It makes sense because they are about 300,000 podcasts in the world compared to about 450 million blogs according to Cliff Ravenscraft, longtime podcaster and host of the Podcast Answer Man.
And the listenership of podcast has been steadily growing over the last decade.
According to the Edison Research, 46 million people have listen to at least one podcast in a month this year.
So does it not make sense for anyone including small business owners and solopreneurs to have a podcast?
I think so.
Britt Michaelian think so too.
Mrs. Michaelian recently launched the Mass Amplify Show earlier this year and it is really doing well.
It has been on iTunes New and Noteworthy within the first weeks when she launched it and is continuing to do well.
She has interviewed different guests like Bryan Kramer, Ted Rubin, Porter Gale, Brian Fanzo and many others who have amplified their message.
Though Mrs. Michaelian has been a best-selling author, reported from the Red Carpet for major events like the Billboard Music Awards, and even helped launched the Ricki Lake Show Social Network, she understood the changing times and was prepared to reinvent herself.
She shared with me on “What’s The Word?” last night about how she had a successful launch with her podcast, “The Mass Amplify Show”
Hint: Mrs. Michaelian had co-hosted or hosted several podcasts before the Mass Amplify Show:
One of the important lessons that people can carry away from this episode are:
1. You have to reinvent yourself in order to keep up with the ever-changing world of social media.
2. You must bring value to others if you want to stand out from the crowd
3. You must give, give, give
4. Your career path will change overtime and you will have to learn how to pivot.
If you follow Mrs Michaelian’s advice, you are on your way to amplify your message and stand out from the crowd.
Do you know of other ways to amplify your message? You can leave your comments below.
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