How to Maximize Your Media Visibility and Brand Recognition

How to Maximize Your Media Visibility and Brand Recognition – Interview by Stacy Jones – Hollywood Branded Podcast

Stacy Jones:

Welcome to marketing mistakes and how to avoid them. I’m. Stacey Jones an I’m so happy to be here with you all today, an I want to give a very warm welcome to Susan Harrow. Susan is the CEO of hero communications, where she spent over years, providing media training and honing communication skills for authors on national book tours, and developing executive presence for both corporate leaders and entrepreneurs around the world. Susan has trained thousands of clients worldwide on how to interact and be comfortable with the media. Her methods are based in neuroscience, martial arts and mindfulness, base practices with a goal to speed your comfort and confidence for media interviews as a media trainer, marketing strategist and author of the best-selling book Sell Yourself without Selling Your Soull®. She’s been called the Go-to Girl for getting on Oprah and other outlets. Susan today specializes in working with socially conscious businesses to get their message media ready and grow their reputation.

In studio today Susan and I are going to be chatting about how to shine in the media spotlight and build your brand to become a highly recommended guest on top-rate news shows podcasts and across media. We’ll learn what works from Susan’s perspective what should be avoided, and how some individuals just miss the mark. Susan welcome so happy to have you here today,

Susan Harrow (She/Her):

I’m so pleased and I actually love what you did with my bio and this is one thing that your audience can do. You write your own bio Of course Sometimes it’s one line for TV and you. write your bio which I did and then you rift on it and so what I’m going to do is when I hear this recording is I’m going to go. She said some really great things in a different way than I never, said I’m going to take that because she’s a media Pro.

And then use that and that’s what all of you can do too. you listen to how the media packages you, or wherever you’re speaking like you do your packaging first, and then you see how people repackage you, and you see how you want to re-brand yourself in light of their insights and their brilliance

Stacy Jones (She/Her):

Some off time so that repackaging makes you go Hmm. What made them say that about me? And that’s something you can also go in and dive into.

Susan Harrow (She/Her):
So if somebody is repackaging you in a way that you don’t want. If on the spot, you absolutely should correct them gently with equanimity. But just say what is true and just sort of reshape it on the spot if you can, and then later, if it’s not possible, just make sure that that doesn’t get out there, because that’s not how you want to be perceived and branding is all about perception. So you want to control and package and shape everything that goes out there on you on the Internet especially today, because we can’t take anything back.

Stacy Jones (She/Her):

So, Susan How did you get here today where you are? This media maven of expertise on how people should be packaging themselves an where they go wrong as well.

Susan Harrow (She/Her):
It started when I was almost a tot, which is when I was in Junior High, and I was friends with different groups, the popular kids, the Jocks and also the artists, and one day I saw a group of people gathered around one kid, and he was being pummeled, you know, just furiously pummeled, and I went and grabbed the bully and yanked him off, and there was one of my artistic friends. They are being pummeled, and I screamed at everyone like, what are you looking at? Because even then I was a protector of those people who were bullies, and today I really see my role as protecting beauty and helping introverts and people who have really wonderful things to share that maybe don’t want to be in the spotlight, or don’t know are afraid to be in the spotlight, or who just want to be in the spotlight, introvert or extrovert. But it’s really I’m I see myself as a protector of beauty, an then working with the wild ones, the outcast, the people who are nerds, maybe the crazy ones who have these ideas, but they’re the they’re the people who are shaping our world today and doing really important things.

Stacy Jones (She/Her)

And so these nerds, these outcasts. It became pretty successful in life, usually because they kept their nose to the grindstone, and they were behind the scenes and quiet. They were introspective and looking at ways, they can change the world. You’re right. It is scary to. Then all of a sudden have to step out from the shadows an be in the limelight. And when you’re an entrepreneur especially, or you’re an author, or you’re an executive at a company, but maybe not the true spokesperson. Those are skills that just naturally you’re born with. You have to actually learn how to present in front of Media. Correct.

Susan Harrow (She/Her):
I’m happy that you said that because it is a lot of role, play, and repetition. Sometimes we look at what are your worst fears like? What are the worst case scenarios? First, because people come come to me, and they might have imposter syndrome, or they might have a loss of confidence, or if they don’t, they not sure they don’t really know what they’re in for, because doing media is really at the highest level of your communication in a very condensed format. So we might sometimes work on worst case scenarios.

First, what are your triggers? That’s where the neuroscience and martial arts come in. I’m a black belt and Aikido and I was a teaching tennis pro. So I bring in the whole body to it, because that’s what we’re seeing. We’re seeing your executive presence is you? And the sum of Camus said, it’s the sum of all of our experiences that we’re, we’re coming to the the camera or whatever first.

So then we do the role play we do like let’s do a realistic. We get your key messaging down, and then we work on let’s on a realistic role play like. What is this actually going to feel like? So you know what it feels like in your body and then we speed it up, and then we work on like all the things that could kind of go wrong an take you off track, so to make sure that you can stay on track and be the message like Gandhi says, My life is my message, and that’s really it. We want everything that you o say are, and think to be an alignment, and to be able to connect an speak that offer, whatever that is, an really speak to your audience in a way that they can hear it.

Stacy Jones (She/Her)

And there’s a lot of people who have messages that they want to share, or they have a book that they’ve written, or they have a business that they’re very proud of, and they know that they’re their own best advertisement, but they have concerns that they can actually get their message off clearly. And just as you said about the imposter syndrome they just have fear as well a lot of times. So how are you utilizing the neuroscience and getting them into the boy, as you said, like? What are some of the tricks that you use.

Susan Harrow (She/Her):
I think the first one is really a centering one which is in Aikido. What we do is we really feel our feet on the ground, and you can imagine I love that the Dalai Lama came up with this, that it you feel like your feet are roots deeply going into the ground and then you imagine you see the people. So you, you do that until you’re settled. So this is stage screen wherever you want to just settle. So Sometimes, when we get nervous our energy comes up, so it’s always about the breath right?

We take a breath, we settle, start to feel your your energy in your stomach, and then like start to feel it all the way own your legs and deep, deep, deep into the earth, maybe the center of the earth. And then you imagine those roots going out to all the people that you want to connect with. Maybe first in that room, and then you want to imagine it like extending out to the community, extending out to the world, like all the people that you want to connect with. Sometimes you can think of those I remember reading in Sanaya Roman’s book way way a long time ago to see people as like pops of light. And I’ve always love that image of just seeing like a population of people because we are light.

That’s what we we are made of Light and vibration right? But however you want to feel it and image it. And then when we’re like on media or like right now, I’m looking into the dot, I’m not looking at you so that feels like I’m looking at you. And when you’re on a TV show or in a video, you’re looking directly into the eyes of the host. And with that kind of connection.

Once you make that kind of connection you can imagine a heart to heart connection too, if that feels comfortable to you. But you once you establish that connection with the host everyone in the audience feels it. So. If you’re in a stage on the stage, you’re connecting deeply with just a few people, and it creates that energy in the room.

So grounding yourself, centering, taking that breath, waiting till you’re ready right, and then connecting with with whoever that is, one or several in an audience. Yes. So when you’re talking, I’m looking at you just so I can see you. But then, when I’m talking. I’m looking at the Dot. Okay, so so that can be helpful for connection, because I want to see what you’re doing, I don’t want to just be looking at the Dot the whole time. I want to see you or other people. But yeah, it is. It is very distracting on zoom. And I think that’s why we also really want to have our deepest intention set before we create. T

hat’s where we always start. We start with What’s your questions: what’s your deepest intention? How do you want to serve? How what do you want for yourself? Professionally, personally, physically, financially, spiritually, because PR Can open up everything and so can speaking engagements. An then what do you want your audience to do? What action do you want them to take? And then the fourth one is, what is your big dream, if anything were possible.

So that is the basis that we, the foundation that we talk about before we even start to create your messaging, because if you’re starting to tell stories, but they’re not relating to what your deepest intentions are, we don’t? They might be a great story, but we don’t necessarily want to use it for this purpose.

Stacy Jones (She/Her)

And so now you’ve centered the person you have gotten them to engage with whomever they’re speaking, connected. Their hearts are beating as one. Their eyes are all together.

Susan Harrow (She/ Her)

That’s true, because when we sync up our hearts and we tell stories, we we sync up neurologically. That’s when you start gesturing the same.

Stacy Jones (She/Her)

And you start mimicking your body the same. There’s a lot of when you’re actually in alignment with someone else. But what else can you do like? How else are you approaching? How are you prepping? How are you, you know getting ready for these engagements where a lot of times when you’re going on, Media, it’s not that they’re giving you a cheat sheet. Of these are the questions we’re going to ask you. Instead, they say, here’s a topic, and we’ll ask you questions.

Susan Harrow (She/Her):
Yeah, that’s a great point, because what you what you want. Yes, you have we have our messaging, but it needs to connect with what’s topical or trending today in the media. And so we need to modify an shape those messages that it connects to your audience. It also connects to what the media wants of you. So it is a constant shaping. So what we do is we we start with the creation of those key messages.

So the first one is your signature story. Why do you do what you do? Because everyone is going to ask that. So right now I’m working with a client who is trying to reshape the construction industries. The stigma and so we were talking about and I came up with some some ideas and lines meaning we want to change it from being dirty and disrespected to noble and needed because we have a huge shortage right now in the construction industry. Already we have a 500 000 person shortage today, and it’s just going to get worse. So it is an issue. Now they have a children’s book, and they have a whole big plan around cultivating children from the third grade up to feed in into the construction industry.

Stacy Jones (She/Her)

Now, that is a game plan like that’s a long-term game plan.

Susan Harrow (She/Her)

It’s a long-term game plan we’re also talking about like what they found talking to their audience and this is where we’re listening to the response. What we were talking about. You want feedback of what? What’s coming back to you? Is it working is that people were saying. But what are you going to do for us today? And I was just brainstorming with the publicist, which is often what I do as a Media Trainer. I connect with the public system, the brainstorm together, the marketing department, and we were talking about creating a career day, you know, getting the construction people out in career days. E. C. and incorporating that into our messaging, that this is how we can help people. Now, does that make sense. So we’re starting to shape that messaging. Then we’re doing the the practicing So you need the signature stories first, and then you need the messaging.

We want to talk about. you know, lots of times in integrate into the messaging is like, what are the success stories that you had? But we want to integrate that into a point meaning how have you benefited someone else, whether it’s a customer, or a client, or or whatever that offer is, an and partly what the media is always asking. Is your opinion or advice right? So we want to create that, too, like you were. You and I were talking about you being on a show this morning, and what happened, and I know we wanted to talk about when things go, what happens when things go completely wrong because we can have the best laid plans.

I think one of the the biggest thing that I train people on is the equanimity an centering an flexibility, the being able to improvise so that it that does take a lot of practice to be able to do that. But it’s like you may get thrown off by a question that you’re asked , Can you bounce back? Can you keep the conversation on center? And that takes quite a lot of practice? You’ve had a ton of practice at that, and most people haven’t.

Stacy Jones (She/Her)

Well, and I’ve had a ton of practice. Yes, I have been on hundreds of different interviews, whether it’s media outlets that I’m giving them written words, or I’m talking on a phone or I’m on TV, but it doesn’t always go well. And you’re right. You just have to kind of figure out how to go about it, and how to keep moving, because there’s nothing like being in front of millions of people on air, and just sitting there going. Oh, my God, I don’t know what to say right now, and you don’t want to say completely the wrong thing, because you know, those millions of people are looking at you, an they’re feeling for you, but they’re not necessarily fan for you in a way that’s supportive.

They might be sitting behind the cameras and the TV screens going. I’m so glad I’m not her right now, an you want to try to figure out how to get through those, and if you practice and you’re prepare, I know I’m much more able to deal with the mic going dead in my ear, so I can’t hear the producer and the questions that they’re asking me. Or there’s a new question that’s blobbed out, and I have no idea or just some weird thing happens, or my dog goes off on a tirade during the Interview what to do about it. I love it.

Susan Harrow (She/Her):

And we were talking about that happened like with your Mic going dead and sometimes naming It can be the best thing to get on track like you know I, I know I should be hearing you in my ear, and I hear nothing. So I’m going to just say and you say, and I’m going to say that I still can’t hear you, and so blah blah blah, you know. So if you’re caught off guard, the one phrase that you can always say to is: “I don’t know about that, and what I do know is,” it buys you time to transition to something that you know that you can say so you could always say that even if you’re caught off guard because oftentimes the best way plans, I mean, I work with clients to plan out every point an the props and everything, and sometimes right it goes to hell in a handbasket and you’re in the Green Room, and they say we’ve change topics, and we may not have prepared sound bites for those topics.

I still want my clients that happen, by the way, to a client way back, when when she was on Oprah.
And we had prepped, and it was like a three-day shoot, and they threw out everything that we prepared, and she’ called me on a Saturday, and said, oh, my God, what do I do? And we had to create new sound bites right then, you know new messaging right then. But I want my clients to be able to do that, and like what we were talking about, like listening to the marketplace like one of my clients, is what we found She came to me.

And she had lost her confidence, and then a few sessions in she’s like I’m not even thinking about that anymore. We really need to focus on more of the technicalities of managing an interview. And then what we found was through those interviews and through what she was doing a popular topic right like. So then we started focusing on that. That would be like a natural evolution. We don’t always know what the marketplace needs or wants until we put it out there an then that helps reshape what we’re going to o, and then her new topic, even though she’s in cyber security. She started doing networking for Introverts for tech women, but also for all we sort of broadened it for anyone who was an introvert.

It’s especially relevant now, because people coming out of Covid are more introverted and not a lot of people are not having this easy time networking in person or even on zoom. So it’s a super relevant topic, even though it may not have been her primary focus. It’s like, that’s what’s hot now. So that’s what we go with. Does that make sense? no 100?

Stacy Jones (She/Her)

And I think there’s something else you touched on there as well as confidence and we’ve talked about imposter syndrome and imposter syndrome hits everyone. I had it, I’m Sure you’ve had it. Yeah, everyone gets it like you get up one day and you’re on the top of the world, and something rocks you, and you can’t get your group back, and it’s just not there. How do you get people through that as well as how do you give them the confidence in general? Because those are different things: imposter, syndrome and confidence Aren’t: Necessarily the same. One thing.

Susan Harrow (She/Her):
Yeah, and I don’t feel like I give anyone anything. I feel like they have it already inside them. You don’t. We won’t find your voice. We have a voice, we’re shaping your voice. So when you have imposter syndrome first of all, it’s natural. It’s natural, because to have doubt when you’re going to the next level. What’s not necessarily what’s natural and what happens is different when you’re jealous. You know, when you see somebody and you have something that you want, and I use Aikido technique. We call it steal the technique, because when you see what someone else wants, you can say instead of feeling insecure and going like. Oh, God, I’m not as good as that person, you say. How can I learn that? And then you start practicing it so you can embody it. So instead of you can feel jealous and acknowledge that. Oh, I feel jealous right now. I feel less than okay. Then let that go and say, I’m gonna study this person. What do they have that I can learn from? But in that moment the other thing is really it. Mastering yourself, it’s mastering your thoughts. So you notice the thought. You let it go, an then you ask yourself: You know what is the good that I’m here to give that only I can give you know, and to really start to focus on that.

And if you start to focus on that every single day of your life, like, Really, what is mine to do here? What am I here to do, an what is mine to do? And when somebody else is great at something, well, is that mine to do. you know, to ask yourself, start asking like an inquiry of questions. And then there are the practices, because competence leads to confidence. So by doing something over and over again, like practicing a media interview. That’s why we practice it. You and I were talking about. We practice it. We do it. We see what went well, and we see what we want to shift for next time. So it’s an iterative process and that is the same thing with imposter syndrome. It’s like, oh, I’m feeling it right now, and I don’t recommend going in from the outside. A lot of people say, oh, you know, Write down all of your accomplishments, but that’s outside yourself. and and some people are highly accomplished, and it doesn’t matter. Michelle Obama has it. Lay Gaga has it. You know all of these people have it so. It’s not how accomplished we are. It’s how we feel inside about ourselves, and continuing to bring ourselves back to the question :You know what legacy do I want to leave, and who I am across time and space.

Stacy Jones (She/Her)

And think a lot of people forget that I know I do this, that I think that my team members of all ages, including the newest, have my insights and my knowledge, and that they can look at something, and that they can come up with the same results from that. I forget very frequently that 20 plus years of doing exactly what I’ve done over and over and over again has actually given me insights and an ability to see things that people won’t pick up on, and I think if people can remember that whatever they’re specializing in, whatever their topic is, whatever they’re giving, you know, extra love inside their brain, too. hey actually have more knowledge about it, and more insights about it. Then probably the everyday general person who’s out there.

Susan Harrow (She/Her):
I think that’s so true. I know one of my testimonials that I love is a person saying that you know you’ve given me more in  15 min than I have in six months of media coaching. Why is that right? Like it is because and my Bff and I were talking about this. You know that she’s a like a psychologist, and it’s like she’s got the world experience. She’s world travel, she knows languages. She, you know, has meditated for 40 years. She’s got all of this body of experience that she brings to bear and I think that that’s true of us. And there’s a story I don’t know if you know it is like. There was a cruise ship going out, and they couldn’t leave because there was something wrong with the engine, an they had all these different people in that couldn’t fix it, and they finally go. You know there’s this one guy in the town that knows everything. It’s this old guy let’s have him in when he comes in, and he listens to the engine, and he gives it one tap with his hammer, and the thing is fixed, he said. That’ll be Ten thousand dollars, he said. What are you talking about? You just did this in less than a minute. he said. Less than a minute 50 years of experience. Yeah.

Stacy Jones (She/Her)

That’s true and that’s that’s a whole other topic we could dive into. Because that’s the issue with a lot of service businesses. And why brands and clients like. I work in the land of agencies, don’t get it sometimes because they think oh influencer marketing I can do that internally, but they don’t think about the fact that the agency that hire has screwed up so many times an learned all the ways to now do it right, that manage to learn how to do it right better, faster, more quickly, and with less risks. Think about Bud Light right now, and I’m sure they’re wishing that they had approached what they were doing a little differently as well.

Susan Harrow (She/Her):
I don’t know about Bud Light. You don’t know what’s going on with the light right now I don’t know my out of the beer, the beer pipeline, this totally random.

Stacy Jones (She/Her):

We’ve just taken a total turn. But so what’s happened with Bud Light is, they decided that they were being very supportive. They wanted to be supportive across an inclusionary for diversity, and they did a partnership with an influencer who was transgender. It was transgender and the core of Bud Light users took offense at it.

Susan Harrow (She/Her):
Oh, and then they did not lean in to the fact that they had made a decision, and that they wanted to be more inclusionary, and they retreated and they sold out everyone on their marketing team, Everyone, their agencies everyone anywhere who had anything to do with it, to dial back an say, oh, no, no, no! We did not mean to do this. We’re the beer for everyone. We did not mean to be topical. We did not mean to be the center of common conversation. They have lost eight percent of their market share and growing

Susan Harrow (She/Her):
Had you brought up that example? Because without this kind of thoughtfulness you can ruin your reputation in a moment, and it’s very hard to get it back like. Will they get that eight percent back? We don’t know, but their reputation is tarnished and people are going to be talking about that. It’s like the Will Smith slap. Those are the kinds of things that will he recover from that? Probably somewhat right, but he will never be revered and belove as he was before right, like videos of him being inspirational and that sort of thing. No. What do we think of when we think of the will, Smith. Sl: that’s what we think about him slapping Chris Rock. So it’s really important when you’re shaping your brand and know every single appearance is part of the fabric of your entire imagery, your entire brand, your look, and feel who you are in the world, and what you stand for. So it’s super important to be deeply intentional about all of things before you just start to put things out there, especially the temptation on social media just to put something out there and see if it sticks. And that’s a great example. But a great bad example of that.

Stacy Jones (She/Her):

Yeah, it’s interesting that we have a lot of product placement films, the right TV shows and Hollywood branded. That’s what we do, and we cannot for the life of us every brand, every client I talk to about. There’s a new Will Smith’s movie we should look at it for integrations. He actually has moved on. It’s going to be coming out in another month. It’s not about Will Smith. It’s the movie They’re like. We’ll Smith in the movie. No won’t touch it. I mean, it’s amazing what damage happens, and if you don’t control it right, and in his case I don’t think that the control was one effective, you know. But even if it’s one right. It’s not forgotten, you know.

Susan Harrow (She/Her)

Monica Lewinsky is a sad example of that. You know she’s one it going on to do really great things but no one will remember that they always gonna be thought about of the address the press, I know, and it’s that’s super sad in that particular instance, too, because that wasn’t harming, you know she wasn’t harming someone. But those are things that we really want to consider very deeply. Of course. Yes, we can try to recover for them. But let’s instead of let’s see what we can go to not have that happen.

Stacy Jones (She/Her)

But the good news is this when you mess up on air, and I can tell you, in front of millions of people, I have completely killed it. Not in a good way

Susan Harrow (She/Her):
You still can survive. It’s not the end of you, either. Yes, you o survive, and you can o goo in the world, You can see. Yes, you can survive. You can survive the shame an all that, an you can recover from it. So Yes, we’ve only ha those moments, an you know I still get nervous on doing every even a podcast. I still get nervous an speaking for sure, I mean I remember hearing Ella Fitzgerald would throw up before every single appearance right like. So some things we just have to accept part of it is accept our bodily functions except what our body is doing, and see if we can transform that energy, like the energy of nervousness to excitement, like part of it, is frame of mind right? And then part of it is like, okay. So I’m sweating. You can either choose to, you know, Integrate that into whatever your lesson is, or your talk, or you can choose to, you know. Use it in some other kind of positive way, or just let it go an let it be neutral.
and be aware that maybe won’t raise your arms up too high. I was thinking it’s like, you know, people really super nervous, you know. Yeah.

Stacy Jones (She/Her)

But it’s interesting like. So before I go on a media appearance, you know I I try to prep. I try to figure it out, even if I just have a this is the broad topic, an they haven’t sent me out everything I go through. If they’ve set me up questions, I write my answers to the questions I bullet them out. I think about it. I rehearse it. I try to put intention behind it, and then I try to figure out, how can I twist this and provide a unique value that no one else can provide. What marketing tools do I have? What software tools an analytics, what can I bring to the table that’s going to actually highlight this can help paint the story of the expert that I’m suppose to be in lending that to them. And then I do all of this, and I send myself in a little bit of a mad pandemic. I must get ready. I must get ready, and usually I don’t have much more than a day prep for this or a few hours even. And then I know, sitting there waiting. And you’re on zoom, let’s say, or You’re in the studio, and you’re like oh, my God! That they said  10 minutes! It’s gonna be an hour. It’s gonna feel like forever before I’m on this show what always goes from my head then, when I try to balance myself, is but I’m really only going to be speaking for like to 10 minutes, and this is going to be over in a blip, and I try to think about how I’m going to feel afterwards versus worrying about the hour long. Feel of that lead up to that  10 minutes, so that I don’t get so anxious and those are tricks that people can use, and I’m sure that you can as well.

Susan Harrow (She/Her):

Yeah. And I really think about like I em, Forrester said only connect, so I think about really that that deepest intention we come by? How do you want to connect? Really, what is it that you want to convey that? Only you can right like you said your unique points, writing them own, preparing them, and then speaking them out loud, even if it’s in the Green Room. One of the things that you can do, and I learned this from listening to an actor when your is actually get up and start moving, because sometimes, when we’re nervous, we can’t. We contain the energy. So one of the things that you can do that I learned from an actor is put your hands up against the wall like this, and press so your whole body is getting pressed. But the other thing that you can do to this let go of nerves is to shake, shake everything, to stand up and just shake your arm, shake your booty, shake your head, and just start to get that nervous energy out. So you’re more relaxed because when you’re relaxed, then thoughts can actually come in the right thoughts, like even if you forgotten your bullet points. that I I thought that is relevant. That’s in the moment, especially if it’s something that you haven’t prepare for can come in, because when we’re nervous, cortisol blocks that, an we don’t have access to that information. So we want to be as relaxed as possible.

So those are a couple of things to do. The other thing is breathing. So sometimes I do a breathing in movement, because we can’t sit still because we’re so nervous. But it’s just even pacing in the green room or pacing before your zoom call, breathing in for four hold for out for Six, or sometimes it’s called box breeding , but I like to. you know, breathe in hold, and then breathe out an expel all of your breast, so that might be and count. Even you do that for  min, and you will calm own your autonomic nervous system, so you can have those beautiful insights an bring the knowledge that you know to bear, even if you haven’t prepped for the point, an that takes practice, and I really recommend an my clients that they start to do that every day. I have a bran new client, and and we were she was prepping, for she just had the one day notice for the Wall Street Journal, and she hadn’t done any media interviews before, and so we were. We were planning all of her points, and then and I said, then we’re going to practice them out loud, and we planned all the specific points, and and the and the hard things. I’m going to be asking about your revenue, of course.

You know. Be a bad girl and serve yourself first How do you want to shape your company? What do you want to reveal? We talked all about those kinds of things, and then she it was suppose to be the next day, and as soon as we got off the call the Wall Street journalists called her, and she took the call, and I was like I didn’t tell her not to. I didn’t think about like don’t take the call like you’re you’re You’re set for tomorrow, so you can prep, and you can say, you know. Just say I’m in meetings right, or I can talk to you in an hour, or whatever that is that you don’t. Actually, those are the kinds of things that people don’t know. Oh, I have to take the call. No, you don’t. You don’t want to miss the call. You don’t want to miss the opportunity. No; but you shape your own destiny. You are mastering of yourself. So a lot of things. Well, what I’m teaching people is permission. particularly for women, you know, like you don’t, you know, have to answer any question, or you don’t have to say anything we can pivot to what you want to know. But we’re trained to be more specifically. Women are trained to be more to the disease to please, right? We wanna we want to be goo girls. We are trained to be good girls, No, I want to train you to be a bad girl Okay.

Stacy Jones (She/Her):

Yeah. An I think that what I’ve learned is that when I have lots of time to prep, an when I have lots of time to train, just for an article right like. Just there’s an media outlet, an you, if you own a business, you can’t spend all your time prepping. You actually have to o work as well. So. But you own a business, or you’re the leader of a, or you’re an executive of a, or you’re the author of it all of that things that you’ve one. Not in the time that you’re prepping for the specific interview. That’s why they’re interviewing you. You actually know all the information. If you can just let yourself say it. and you’ll save yourself potentially a lot of time, because I know I over prepare. But when you’re talking, and the more you talk, and the more you do interviews. you can come up with Zingers, and you can come up with things and rapport with that interview subject that you’re talking with that, you’ll eventually feel that you’re like, yeah, I nailed it. That is what they’re going to use as my quote. That’s how they’re going to end the article you can get so in tune with who you’re talking to when you just let yourself relax an go back into who you are, and why you’re the expert.

Susan Harrow (She/Her):
I’m so happy that you brought that up because that is so true, and it’s the saying it out loud. It’s you. Yes, I recommend writing own your points like you do, but they have to be spoken out loud, because writing is sometimes a little more formal than speaking. And so we wanna we wanna Practice it out loud, and we want to practice it in in situ, in the situation, in the role play. Because I can tell you like. I had a a really famous client who was a New York Times bestseller, and and he tended to ramble on, and we were practicing and for his net National book Tour right, and he was interviewed by NPR and thank God, it was taped. It was edited, but he was like, oh, my God Susan, Everything went to hell in a hand basket, and I listened to the original, the unedited, and I’m like, oh, my God, that’s not what we practiced right? And so
it doesn’t matter. It’s like, okay, learn from that. Because, like, yeah, you went off topic like this many times, and so let’s practice it another way, so you can get it. And I also want to say practice anywhere like
I had one client She’s a telemedicine evangelist expert, and we would be. I would be media training her while she was getting her makeup one because she had so many bookings. That’s when we could media train, so she’s getting somebody is doing her make up, an we’re going over her points, you know, and or she had all she had four kids. So we were going it in the car when she was driving her kids. That’s not ideal, but it happens, you know, so it’s like, wherever you can practice. You can practice while you are driving, saying things out loud when you’re walking, but also, you know we can practice anywhere to get really like with you, you know you might have the hour. You might have 5 minutes. You can still settle in and say, you know what, what are the things that I really want to say like you said. Only I can say.

Stacy Jones (She/Her):

Yeah. And even I think, turning like I turn to my husband, I interview my team members, I’ll be like. So I’m doing this interview. What do you guys think about this topic, and hearing what other people say and think it’s not that you’re stealing their ideas, but it helps you hone in a little bit more on like, what are conversations? How do people approach? So you’re less in your head, and you’re able to actually see and engage an talk yourself out in the normal conversation. It’s a really nice pre-test, a little bit, too.

Susan Harrow (She/Her):

That’s a that. That’s also a great idea in the Zen of fame. Course that I taught when I was doing live group coaching one of the things the exercises that we would do with each other when they were match with the sound bite buddy is, say. what do you remember from what I just said, or what stood out to you. So then you can get instant feedback, and then people often reshape what you say, and they reshape it in a better way, right? And you’re like oh, I didn’t say it exactly like that. But I am going to use that. That’s again that feedback. But it’s also really great to hear. What are you remembering like what’s sticking? An we don’t know that until we get out an start to o it right like you said, oh, there was a zing, or I thought I’m after hopefully, we think of this in the fully in the in the moment. But it’s being relaxed enough to have access to that part of ourselves which is uniquely us, but that it is part of the unconscious brain. When we talk about neuroscience. It is that part of the brain when you’re relaxed, that jazz musicians have that we have access to that we do not have access to when we’re not relaxed, and that’s why it is so important to do an practice these kins of things when you’re not in the situation. So when you are they automatically like snap into place, an if they don’t you have access to o something to relax yourself an to get ready in a moment.

Stacy Jones (She/Her):

Another thing. I don’t know if you’re incorporating this yet or not, but Chat GPT all things AI.

Susan Harrow( She/Her):

Oh, my God! Are you using it? I just use it too. I just use one of my my clients signature stories. We had the rough of it, and I put it into Chat, GPT and said, Make this more charismatic and it got you so make it more magic. No, it’s magic what it it! An then I ran it by him. I’m like, what do you think and he’s like sounds better than anything I could have written. It sounded better, and it brought in we’re not going to use all of it, but it brought up some other perspectives that we hadn’t yet talked about. Yeah. So no, I’m fining it, and the key is how you ask it questions like my another friend of mine said she put it in, and she was asking to make it more whimsical, and that wasn’t working, she goes I didn’t try charismatic. I go Try: charismatic.

Stacy Jones (She/Her):

Yeah. You can try any word. Well, the what are you doing this morning on that I was on TV for was agism in Hollywood, and I use that. I put in different questions and quotes into Chat Gbt just to see kind of the structure. And what I actually, I said provide an outline on ageism in Hollywood. So you asked it to provide the outline in outline. Yeah, and not right. So in this my trick that I found with Chat Gbt is, if you outline first, and then you ask it to write. It actually does a better job writing, and you can go little chunks, and we’ll actually write more. So if you’re blogging or doing something from a thought leadership perspective, that’s taking it more content out, and at least see more things an examples, and hone in on it. But it was nice, because it just came up with ideas that I knew. But it wasn’t something I would have necessarily thought of, and it was topical, and I was able to take a couple of those points and say, Yes, indeed, I want to incorporate that into what I’m doing instead of spending a lot more time researching online,

Susan Harrow (She/Her):

Googling. It’s so much faster it is so much faster. No, I love. I think that’s so great, and then you can take what Chat Gbt says, and make it your own. But you’ve got the core of the idea of it. Yeah, I’m using it in the same way. We’re doing the outlines and and and yeah, and I had never done it for the rough draft of someone’s story. But I thought, well, let’s just see what happens.

Stacy Jones (She/Her):

Well, then, after the interview, you could also take that. So whether it’s written, or whether it’s a video you can feed that back in. And video, you’re taking a transcript. Feed that back into Chat Gbt: and you can ask it to create social media content for you. So you could say, Write 5 social media posts, and you then put your whole transcript underneath it. And you can say and share that I was on morning Rush on scripts, and it fits it out at you, and they add emojis, all it will add emojis to you. You can say, Write it for LinkedIn, and it’ll give you the right format right for Twitter. It’ll give you the right format and keep it within characters like there’s amazing things that you can do with it.

Susan Harrow (She/Her):
I have never thought of that. I love you because I I myself don’t like to write social media post, and I was gonna give it to one of my assistance who wanted to try it. But I’ll give it to her to put into chat Gbt:

Stacy Jones (She/Her):

It is so amazing. Yes, we ,You can take anything. If you write blogs, you can then write your blog, and then you can feed it in. Say, right introduction, right? Social media content, right? different social posts. You can do so much. Wow! Where it allows you to be. Spend more time being you versus trying to craft something from scratch and editing from something is always easier than editing from nothing spend more time being you.

Stacy Jones (She/Her):
How can our listeners find out more about you? Where can they go?

Susan Harrow (She/Her):

So they can go to prsecrets.com which is my website? You can also go to susanharrow.com. But you’ll find you’ll find me on prsecrets.com. I have lots of free trainings there, either Video audio special reports. If you want to learn how to write your signature story, which you need to do and you can do it in 5 minutes. I give you templates you can go to prsecrets.com forward slash Sig. Po like signature story podcast Sig po. and I give you that template that you really literally can do in 5 minutes, and then you can put it into chat GPT to expand it. But it gives you that there, of course, there more than 5 formats, but that’s really a beautiful one, and if you want to work with me personally, I welcome that. There is a form on there that you can fill out, so I can get to know you a little bit, or take the Zen of fame. Your genius gone viral course. So those all all of the options on prsecrets.com

Stacy Jones (She/Her)

Fantastic, and those will be in the show notes for all of our listeners. If you’re walking your dog, driving you’re like I did not get that go to our website you will find it. But then, also, you know, Susan, you an I are talking right now on camera. I’m. Assuming that you can work with clients anywhere in the world by doing the exact same thing.

Susan Harrow (She/Her):
And I just spoke to somebody in the Netherlands the other day. Other people are yeah anywhere in the world. Most of my business was always. We use Skype so most of my business was here and you know, on video. And then, when clients came to town or there were local authors, we would go into the CNN studio or in their hotel room to work on camera. If that’s what they want or people fly me to their their venue to do like a workshop, or whatever like. I one where we had a day workshop working on your sound bites. And then we went in studio the next day, so they have all the assets, the social assets that they wanted. So that’s something I may be offering that in the future. I don’t know. It depends on if people want that. But they really love it because they have all those assets that they could use for TV, an then on all on social, they have a really great interview. So if you haven’t done a media interview before, because you know, the media wants to vet you. They want to see, you know they want. If for the higher level, and even for podcasts, too, they want to see how you are on camera, you know. Are you comfortable enough? Can you carry your own so can you talk and do the back and forth? Not a speech from the stage. But can you? Can you go back and forth now?

I forgot the question you asked me. You asked me something location wise and education anywhere. So I work with people all over all over the world. It doesn’t really matter. It’s really, you know, from stage to screen, whatever you want. And also there are people who don’t aspire to to go on camera, but they really want to do. They won’t really want to do media, or they really want to do lives, you know, just get better at live. So it really runs the gamut from whatever it is that you want to accomplish from being a very beginner to a thought leader to have a whole thought leadership program as well. If that’s something that you want to develop, you know.

Stacy Jones (She/Her)

And just being able to stand up in your own company and present better that in itself can be worthwhile. We we’re able to learn the tools where you learn the confidence you learn how to give presentations, because you could actually unlock a whole new fortune in your future. As you climb your job, ladder and success, and you take on new skills, and you show that you actually are the shining star that you are within your organization, because now you’re able to be identified because words are again coming out of your mouth if people are associating it, an you’re doing it a professional manner.

Susan Harrow (She/Her):
That’s the executive presence. So like one of my clients was, he didn’t have anywhere else to go? He was so high up in the organization, but they wanted to develop his leadership presence and his skills. So that’s what we really worked on. And how did you? He needed to captivate like 800 people, but 3 different audience segments in his presentations. So we really worked on How do you connect and keep everyone into did in like a two hour presentation um through your personality, through your Charisma, through your stories and giving the relevant information that people needed for those kinds of meetings. So yeah, so that that, too, and women in particular, I love the developing their executive presence, like really developing how to feel comfortable in any situation particularly difficult ones in the Dei world, right like. But also if there’s a lot of women in a man’s world or in tech world, who they have very specific issues that we can role, play to hold your own and be yourself like Oscar wildebe yourself everyone else is taken, but it’s not easy, you know and what you said you like What did you say the fortune is in your future. You had some great quote there you’re like.

The fortune is in the future, and is in you, and I love what, Jim Rohn actually said If you work on your job, you make a living. If you work on yourself, you make a fortune. And it really is that self awareness that is the number one quality of leaders today is self awareness. And when you broaden that self-awareness, and you bring it to your presence that’s, when people and companies and opportunities are really attracted to you.

Stacy Jones:

Well, Susan, I love having you on you Absolutely! So again. Everyone. So look up, Susan, find ways to better communicate whether it is just internally, whether it’s through one of her courses, whether it is to hire her where you can become the next best media spokesperson out there for the written or the verbalized word. You have it in you. Everyone can do it. You just need to hone it and learn how to do it. And then Susan again, thanks, and to all of our listeners. really appreciate you tuning in to another episode of marketing mistakes, and how to avoid them. I have a point of chatting with you this next week. and until then, if you have any need for co-branded partnerships, opportunities to get your brand in the media spotlight versus you, or maybe you give us a call, an our team can chat through it with you. I hope you have a great one. Take good care. Thank you.