 Hey, good afternoon everybody Tom Stewart here. I'm with Liz Trotter. Our guest today is Ruth Furman and this is smart business moves Hi, thanks for having me Well roots you were saying something right before we came live and I said stop talking say it live, right? Go ahead Go ahead. Oh, I was just saying I have a public relations firm And I am so passionate about the work I do in the cleaning organizing laundry stain removal home services industry because I feel like I feel like the Information that we share and the work that you all do truly helps families Yeah, I agreed. I'm I'm glad that you're here. Ruth. It's your first time on smart business moves, right? Yeah, I think it's the first time we've had a PR person. Isn't it Tom? Yeah, first time we've ever had a person. Yeah, I mean There's there's I mean, I know there are a lot of PR agencies out there But not many of them. I don't know. I don't know of any of a PR true PR agency that Spends time in the in the residential cleaning vertical Now you do now you do Yeah, so Ruth Why don't you just give everybody? Oh, what we get we only got two eyes on right this second. So is there any updates that we need to do real quick Tom before we I'm little up and preoccupied. I don't even know what's going on in the world. Okay, one day right for wedding Yeah, he's got a wedding coming up there. I I got a new mustache Oh my gosh, y'all that's so funny didn't eat. I know you'll appreciate this when I saw Tom today I said, oh Tom you got a new mustache because he shaved his beard All right Yeah, oh look didn't he wants to know about your wedding real quick Yeah, my daughter caroline's getting married on the 17th We've been taking dance lessons. Oh What that's amazing So are you gonna get video you and Janice dancing or are you in caroline? I guess Caroline and I are Father and daughter dance. Oh It's gonna go viral. It's gonna go viral. I love it. I know I love that people love daddy daughter dances. Oh my gosh Yeah, it's gonna be awesome. I'm excited um There was something else I wanted to talk about and I can't remember what it was Oh, I wanted to mention that next Tuesday Today's Wednesday. Yes next Tuesday everybody We are starting our success series the foundations of success series Next Tuesday same time um Same no, it'll be a zoom y'all so that you'll have a chance to talk and we'll be going back and forth. It'll be more like a More like a what Tom? More like a webinar. Yeah more like a webinar. Yeah, so you'll have a chance to engage if you are not Registered for that yet remember you get a free month just to check it out and see if it's something that's interesting to you What's that gonna hurt go go get your free month and see if it makes sense to you we'll be talking leadership this first month and just some Go up to events I think And do you see yeah foundations of success series calendar? Oh no down below that sign up Yeah, there you go so Sign up there And it's free for the first month it is so What do you got to lose come hang out with us? We'll uh We'll actually be Presenting Liz and I will have material and we're presenting. It's uh, it's a learning opportunity Not to say that smart busy. You can't learn things the smart business moves, but We'll actually prepare for for for this Where smart business moves as y'all know is And it's more a loose free flowing and we do that on purpose because we want to have real conversations We don't want to have just some scripted You know you say this and we'll say this feed. That's what you want Y'all have seen that with your own eyes. How many times that sharing timberg and I had gone back and forth Y'all know we can't choreograph that thing, right? So, um Ruth, why don't you now we um, we're in here a little bit We got some people that are going to be paying attention. Hey mark. Good to see you Oh, you're looking forward to hearing about hearing from Ruth. I know she's amazing Um, do you know mark ruth? I don't think so. Yeah. I know the name. I know the name. Yes You're definitely gonna want to um have a more connection with him But go ahead and tell us a little bit about, you know, we got a few eyes on here and who you are what you do What what is pr for our industry? I started as a journalist and one of my first journalism jobs was in the home improvement industry. I wrote Um stories and edited stories. I'm helping owners of hardware stores home centers and lumber yards So it seems like my evolution years later into doing work for our home services business Business is just is very natural So what uh what I do um in this industry and I work in a number of industries is I really help Small business owners with expertise get seen online nationally in national publications And also in local news media TV segments Feature articles spring cleaning coming up. So I help them My clients amplify their voices and I've also become a go-to for news media as as you both know Doing features on a huge variety of topics. I think one of the most fun ones We did recently was the coffee stains piece Fun for you Rose Yeah, it's it's interesting because what I'm seeing happen in in healthcare too as well as home services Is that the media they're doing stories about things that are like You know viral clickable content. I just want the story about cleaning reusable water bottles So so the media they like to do stories about things that are topical and and interesting to their viewers and readers So that's a lot of yeah, it is fun for me. Um, and as you both know, sometimes they have really tight deadlines Yeah But um, I try to really be a go-to and then what happens For my clients is I've started getting referrals from seo companies Because it it helps some some of these high domain authority websites that the content is is posted on Not only does it give my clients good content for social media, but it also really helps their google ranking Sure How does how does that work? Can you explain that? I'm sure that a lot of people have no idea how that might help Yeah, and and I I have some referral sources who are seo companies So I am still learning because this is a relatively new division of my company So what I do is I check the domain authority of of the various websites And I do whatever I can to be sure that My clients when possible get backlinks to their own websites or you know, their bios And it really just helps amplify the business online And this is not in any way a substitution for google ads Or social media or other marketing it I find that the the features in the national and local News media are just a complement to all of that Does that make sense? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah Uh, tom, do you have any questions? You know me? I just never You know, I mean, it's it's interesting that you're Working with with with high domain authority websites though. I mean, that's uh from an seo standpoint There's a lot of things you can do with a website to help with seo And once you do all of those things basically the only thing it's left is getting Backlinks to Really good websites and a backlink is basically just a clickable link that goes to your company website. So They'll write an article about how to get coffee stains out of whatever and You know, we have a quote from the owner of XYZ cleaning service And that will actually be a clickable backlink in that article Where the owner or somebody for XYZ cleaning service is sharing how you get the coffee stain out of out of carpet and that will Make your website over time links like that will make your website rank higher when they go To google and say find a house cleaning service near me So well indirectly you'll get more business Cause of that Right. I mean, I was finding that a lot of my clients in health care Were really seeking that they were seeking The type of content not just being on local tv not just being quoted in local newspapers but many of them employ seo services And then the seo companies were starting to notice That we were getting some traction And started referring me work In all kinds of industries. So now it's it's it's a direct strategy and a service that I offer to my clients so it's really been interesting and And uh, it's it's kind of fun. It's I kind of geek out You know at at this kind of thing, but it's just something that all of um, all of the small business owners I I work with Really want and really feel as important because that's how we're getting found online And it's getting harder and not easier, right? It's not getting easier and easier to be found It's getting harder and harder to be found. So looking for all of these different strategies makes Uh, perfect sense And you know, I want to be really clear. I am not an seo company I do not have a google ads program or anything like that. I am not a social media company However, I work very closely with all those types of businesses for my clients So I just decided it was important to me to be a pr firm owner in 2024 um to really Offer content that had some value Yeah, um and gave my clients I call them digital assets So that everything I do is an asset. So if you're featured in an article if you're on tv It's all an asset for you to repurpose On your website on your social media I often do blogs with backlinks. So yeah, it's just really it's becoming very important in the public relations business in the past You know, when I first started doing working home services, it was just all about Getting my clients on local tv getting them quoted in local newspapers getting them interviewed On all different types of topics But then as I've had some growth and gotten some additional clients in the industry It a lot of it has been become about I call it seo pr So it's actually a new service that I'm now marketing So the the title for for our discussion today is how a good pr strategy can improve your cleaning business And you know, I've never really thought of pr as a strategy I mean it is or it could be I'm sure for a lot of us. It's like Ruth, you'll say hey, I've got an opportunity You know better homes and gardens wants to know how to get coffee staying out of a carpet You have any advice and it really wasn't a strategy. It was just an opportunity sure You know, I've got an idea and sometimes we get a backlink out of that and that's that's awesome but how do you Get it from random acts of pr to something that really looks like a strategy What is a strategy to look like in pr? And that's a really good question. I was just emailing with a A a business this morning about that and they want to do more, you know, I I offer recurring project I offer recurring programs and then many pr firms offer retainers and then there are projects So what is strategy is it really depends on the on the company many companies do a lot of community service So I like to create for my clients an entire calendar. So What is going on? What are you promoting? What do you make the most money on? deep cleaning, you know Do you have a new service you're promoting one of my clients just started promoting a carpet cleaning? So it's really making noise strategically about What makes my clients the most profit? or What is the most newsworthy or preferably both? All right, so so help me out here because I'm not I'm not quite getting it Let's say that um, so like mark baker. He always has a ton of brand new stuff that he's doing always He's got some fresh idea So let's say he tells you hey, I've got this brand new idea. I really want to get it out there Like what what would you do? How would you help him? Do you reach out to people that might be like how does it work? Yeah, exactly. So, um, let's say it is um Cancer awareness day, which it recently was and someone is doing Free cleaning services for cancer patients or discounted something like that So then we would promote that particular business to the local news the local newspaper Offer mark or someone from his team to go to go In studio to promote what they're offering. I know many many of the Businesses I've met through you do a lot in the community And I'm a big fan of what I call brand layering. So let's say Mark is doing something with another local business That isn't service to the community that kind of thing is infinitely newsworthy to the local press And it sets you apart You know who does this? um First person popped into my head tricia like you two tom Oh, she's all over it and You know social media is is a big part of of of her pr mix and she does that layering that ruth is talking about You know, she always has other companies that she's working with and everybody's getting a benefit So she would how she would Work with you and she would tell you about what she's got going on And then you would get her wider recognition About this thing that she's doing by contacting local media national media, etc. Right? She's fantastic And another great thing about some of the stuff that I have seen her do Is it involves a lot of what I call community engagement active community engagement Where people are dropping off if I remember correctly people are dropping off gift cards making donations To something that she is doing, you know company-wide So that that is something that is really really attractive to the media and is part of an ongoing pr strategy for someone Someone like that the community engagement and um, it's it's what she does It's it's heart centered philanthropy But it's also community engagement and it's also very effective brand layering. So, you know, I just thought of something though um I bet every single company out there has something that is noteworthy That is that they don't even know is like one of the things I run into with the people that are in my circles They're like, I don't do anything special. I'm like, what are you talking about? You totally do, you know, and I'll have an example for every single company because everybody's doing something That's kind of amazing. But to them it just seems normal Yeah, Liz, you know, you brought up a good point. You had introduced me to one of your someone in your circle mom had a couple kids on the east coast and We were talking about that. I was like, okay Schools out what kind of things do you do in your household to keep your house from being a total direct? So so that's something I had recommended to that individual, you know Go on tv with one of your kids and talk about it. So there's really a calendar I always find out with my clients When is public school out in your area? When is private school out? When is school starting again? And, you know, I try to do help my clients with a lot of family oriented stuff Also stuff with seniors seniors and loneliness in the winter, you know services I mean, there's a whole list of ideas. Unfortunately, a lot of them are are in my brain that I share with my clients But you know for those companies that do not want to hire a pr firm There's a lot that they can do right in their markets with existing resources I can see how I could do this stuff. Sorry, Tom. I know you want to say something I'm just thinking, you know, the whole strategy part calendar seems to be a big part of it Know what's going on The layering part. I love that because you're just leveraging and you got more people that's going to help You know get this out In front of people Also the different media, right? So, yeah, tv radio Different blogs different social media channels. What's interesting And noteworthy on instagram is not the same thing as what's interesting and noteworthy on facebook So I can see how that changes, too Absolutely Liz and you know tick tock. I mean, there's a lot of sometimes some of my clients will do a cool tick tock You know video and it'll turn into a tv story. So it's kind of cool There's there's so many opportunities in the home services industry and that's why I get so excited about doing this work And that's why I've been so grateful to expand my client-based nationwide so that I can really help in more communities Yeah So what the thing I was going to say is I know that this is the kind of thing that you can do on your own If you're a Trisha Lake, you can probably go out there and do it yourself, right? I am not Trisha Lake. I can't do it myself. I don't have these ideas. You're very creative Ruth. You're um, and you're a dynamo so you're You're good at getting things done, but that I'm The thought of me trying to do what Trisha Lake does or what you does does not sound fun Does not sound easy Yeah, I mean I I don't know, you know, it's like there's a lid for every pot, right? So I I work, you know, very I'm very flexible in how I work with clients, you know, some clients You know, they have, you know, the social media content all covered They don't necessarily need the pr for that But they don't have the relationships or the comfort level to pitch themselves to be on the radio or on tv Or in the newspaper. So they have me help with that. So yeah, I mean and then ideas I have a lots of ideas because I've been doing this for a long time, you know, so and a lot of it is um, there are some things that I recommend that people can can do for free and Then there are some things that I that they can retain My team to help with just depending on sort of what their strategy is Again, I'm really big on what makes them the most money and What they want to talk about in some cases it might be hiring Might be having a hard time hiring. So that might be an interview that they might want to do They might have an employee that's doing something cool It's really, you know, the the older I get and the more seasoned I get in my business I'm really really pausing to have those conversations to to what do you want to make noise about lis? You know, I mean it's national dog day Let's talk about how to clean up how to how to how to keep your house clean, you know in the summer Whatever it is. So, yeah something he's like Charlton it's a bit over there. What you got Tom? No, but just at liz's point you said things you can do for free and Nothing's really free. You can choose. You're either going to invest your time doing it or you can hire somebody else to Hope you do it and It's an investment. You're gonna need to make an investment in this one way or or another which Kind of gets to the point of what am I going to get for that investment? I mean, it's fun to see that national publication You know get your name in it or to to get you know on a local news channel but Do you have any examples of how That's helped people's businesses from up from a financial standpoint Yeah, absolutely and and and I am all about being being paid and being valued for my work I just like to be Really helpful and really generous and and give ideas for things that some companies may choose to do themselves but yes, um, I definitely feel that time is money And I hire help for my own business. So these national articles And these national backlinks have really been valuable to some of my clients And have have helped them get local recognition and local business Well, what do we do? What do we specifically do for free though? What can we do for free ruth not now? What can you do for free? No, that's what that's what i'm that's what i'm saying lizz is what what you can do for free is Especially in some of these much smaller communities We are you're probably running into the editor of the newspaper at at your you know your chamber luncheon Or you know, you you'd be friends someone at a tv station at a charity event that you're involved with What you can do for free is you can pitch yourself and you can be accessible and you can make yourself available to be a go-to in the press And that you know, that's what you can do for free or you know You may have someone on your team who represents you at events who can do that on your behalf And it's not free, but it's not something that is a big line item for your budget. Yeah so I think There are quite a few companies that try to do something like that So instead of like I might not be very good at networking But I send my person over to do all of the networking and they Right and so they would just have to have some ideas of like you said, what's the strategy? What are we trying to push? What makes us money? How are we going to position ourselves? What's who do we need to get in front of that kind of stuff? Is that what you're saying? Yeah, absolutely, and I had a prospective client this morning reach out to me and said I want to have you do that for me I was a me in the home services industry and I want to have you represent me at events And I want to have you go on tv for me. Well, I know a lot, but I am not an expert personally on Cleaning disinfecting, you know So yeah, so it's it's it's something that I coach my clients or one of their team members on how to do Um, but yeah, absolutely. It's just you know, it's putting yourself out there and and pr And networking and community engagement. It's it's all It's it's a beast because it's very time intensive and we're in our offices and taking time to go to a Go to a chamber luncheon across town. It's time intensive But you know for those people that you know have the have the resources and have the local contacts I highly recommend doing that even if you're already using someone like me to get you on tv and Pardon me do more Exactly, you know one thing that you had me do that I thought was super smart and I loved it was you had my head trainer write an article and Get her name Into I don't know if it was readers digest or better homes in garden. I can't remember right now You've done a couple things together. Yeah, yeah, all right, but it was Martha Stewart and Oh my gosh, that was Really good for the internal culture in my company You know what pretty much now if that head trainer says hey, I think you need to do blah blah blah They're everybody's like oh Michelle said blah blah blah She's an expert now, you know where before it's like well, I've always done it this way Are you know what I mean? It was like but now she's never been published in Martha Stewart. So That's right. Now. She's an expert and internally Our company sees her as an expert, but you know what she also has more confidence She also just from that one little thing Like maybe seems little to me, but doesn't seem little to her and feels like changed a lot of different things so Oh That makes that makes me happy and that you know, that's I think it's important Liz and tom In in the media when you can to not only have the owner be the face of the company To really spotlight your staff and there are a lot of reasons for that and one of the reasons is when you don't want people Expecting you necessarily to come to their home or office to clean You want to spotlight your staff and it's also really effective for seo I've been told by many of the editors at the publications that sometimes Features pot more if someone with training or cleaning in the title is quoted as opposed to an owner or a founder Wow Yeah, but it makes sense. I didn't ever think of that either. Oh, I like that. Yeah So So wreath one of the things i'm hearing here from a strategy standpoint another dimension of this is some of the pr opportunities are Responding to a request martha stewart wants to write an article on a particular cleaning item And it's an opportunity for experts in the cleaning field to contribute At a local level It's it's kind of the other way around where you're looking to build relationships with local media Where I guess you can actually pitch them Ideas is that what i'm hearing? Absolutely. Pam Clyde who I believe you both know she's such a superstar in texas Britlyn, um, she did a tv segment. I want to say it was last uh, January about getting organized for the new year And it was an in studio interview. So absolutely. That was something that I actively pitched to the local TV station and she popped it on her youtube and yeah, so a lot of a lot of what I do is proactive pitching and some of it is um Taking advantage of opportunities that come to me because I've been a go to um because a lot of media know that I have Clients in this industry But a lot of it is proactive not just on the calendar based upon the calendar and what's going on but just ongoing stories mental health and cleaning is a big topic We have any advice in terms of how you pitch local media? Say you go to the chamber commerce and you meet the editor of the local newspaper or the producer of a local news channel It's like, okay. I want to I want to get in the local news. How do you you have their name in contact? And you shook their hand, but how do you pitch them on an idea? Well, you have to have a strong angle. You have to study their outlet whether it's tv or or a newspaper So let's just say an example. So i'm i'm ruthi's cleaning service in alabama And I meet the I'm not I meet the editor of the newspaper And I also meet the producer for the early for the morning show at my cbs affiliate Okay, editor of the newspaper. Hey, you know, it's so great to meet you. I have been in this town for 30 years I am one of the biggest employers in town And one of the things that kind of sets me apart is that I have a focus on hiring single moms Okay, or whatever that's I just came up with that on the top of my head And I know, you know, there's there you're always writing. I've always seen you write stories about jobs So here i'm a local company and i'm looking to hire I need to hire six people right now And then for the tv station, I might say, you know, I watch your morning show and it's so fun And you have jackie doing these live remotes Why don't we why don't we have jackie come into our our headquarters? Yeah, you know here in alabama and we'll we'll have her will teach her how to do spring cleaning Yeah Just a fun little so Basically You have to know what they're interested in and pitch them based on that But also I heard you use a little social proof and a little bit of data Right to kind of open them up to listen to to what you were saying so I'm your friend who is a tv news anchor here in las vegas where I live and she likes to say why now So what so you've always got to be answering that question when you're having that conversation and you've also got to Kind of choose the time. I wouldn't necessarily hit them up right at that luncheon, but I'd get their business card And or their contact information even better if you can get their cell phone number on your phone And say hey, I need follow up with you in a couple days with some ideas Yeah, so I I try to kind of uh Know that they're working the room too and be respectful and not take too much of their time But I definitely take advantage of that face time so you know We've dabbled in and in publishing in the past, you know derek and I you know cleaning business today all of that and Sounds like it's really fun. You know, we're going to go ahead and we're going to curate You know all these articles, you know about you know running a cleaning business And you start off with all these ideas and then it starts to become really hard It's like oh, wow, what are we? What are we going to cover now? What are we going to say? What are we going to write about so? You know imagine from a running a cleaning business standpoint and doing what we do every day. We probably underestimate how Excited some of these publishers would be it's like wow. I really needed something. Thank you They're Does it work that way? I mean are they setting there? It's like gee. I don't I don't have anything to put on the news tonight I hope something falls in my lap Tom, you're right. You know, they really need content Especially I find with tv around the holidays, you know, because They're doing all this holiday coverage and they're like, okay a lot of our staff is off We need some stuff for this week. So I've done stories about How to clean up after Christmas or how to get your house ready? For surprise guests. So yeah, so it really is they do to answer your question. They really do need content and you come to them and you provide them with ideas and for tv, especially if it's very visual And for for newspapers, it could be a good business story. It could be a good people story For radio a lot of the community stuff is really exciting So, yeah, you're absolutely right. The media the news media needs content Oh, yeah, are there any tricks any tips in terms of how to make it that much more attractive or that much more Easier for them. I I know there's a thing called a press release Is there a certain way of presenting your story that makes it easier for local media to do something with it? Absolutely, and that's a great question. I'm finding I've had my own firm for 20 some years And I'm finding and I don't know if you find this in your business. No one has any attention span Yes, I do I do press releases. However, the majority of what I do is what I call up Pitch and it's a paragraph with a few bullet points Okay, or it's even a text super super short and concise To get their attention and I usually give like two ideas. I'll say we could either do this or this Have you ever done it in the video? You know, I um I have done I've done short videos and I've done voice memos. However In my business with media that I don't know personally I don't because many times what they're doing with my pitch is they're sending it directly to their boss So they'll be like, who is this person in the orange and pink talking about cleaning? They don't know me. So it's weird, but But if it's someone, you know, a video is good as long as it's short Okay, tom, you remember steven roll I'm sure you do. All right. Well, Stephen all was this guy ruth from, you know, I don't know a couple decades ago. Maybe now um And one of the things that I always appreciated that he talked about and pushed goes along with what you said about the why now so what he said pay attention to what's happening today and Build a story around whatever that is. It doesn't matter what it is. You've got some Spin on that and the like an example that I have right now is The press that's happening Around oh, what's the name of the cups? Yeah. Oh, yeah, the Stanley cups. Yeah, the Stanley cups, right? So two weeks ago, we could have pitched a story about you know, how we gave everybody in our company Stanley cup blah blah blah and Something about team engagement or something along those lines Now we'd have to be talking about how how do we protect the environment from Minerals So but it seems like there's If you can find something that's happening today and pitch Whatever it is that you're doing around that you're going to have better luck, right? Yeah, absolutely. I call that news Jacking and I help with two stories about Stanley Stanley cups one for the local TV and one nationally Where they wanted to interview one of my healthcare clients about disinfecting them. So Um, so yeah, you're right, you know anything that's hot is you know the news The the reporter reached me and she's like Do you know anyone who whose kid loves Stanley cups and so yeah, so you're absolutely right. That's a great example So I wonder what we could pitch Like what could I have you pitch about? my company To like a local media outlet About Stanley like I know there's something but it's so hard one's your own company, but that's where you come into ideas, right? Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. You know, you just you just mentioned that you did that super cool like, you know employee Give back. So, you know, that might be that might be a good story or You know, let's say there's a story There's a story on your local tv station and and target has run out of Stanley cups You know, you could say hey, everyone's buying me Stanley cups Our team can can can show you how to effectively clean them So good. Yeah And keep them looking good forever, right? You've invested all this money in the Stanley cup. Yeah I love that phrase news jacking I created that you're welcome to use it. Yeah So it's really it's weather. Weather's also I don't know about you both, but um, I just got back from visiting my mom in Indiana and weather Weather is infinitely newsworthy. So it just rained in last in Las Vegas. So Everything was everyone's doing stories about weather. So anytime you can tie into Weather things going on in town that you can tie your expertise in it's very very helpful dust You know, but all of that. Oh my gosh, I love what mark says right here Yeah That you're you are so spot on mark. I think that it is hard to pitch yourself Right. I mean for a lot of people it's really hard to pitch yourself and to pitch yourself hard Who was I talking? Who was I listening to mel? Mel Melinda. Oh, I can't think of her name. Mel No, oh no different mel. Anyway, she was talking about this too how it's so hard and more so for women than men I think to pitch themselves in a Just pitch themselves where men are used to talking about themselves in more of a I'm amazing. You know, I am kind of what that's what tom's like, you know, all the time Oh stop I mean, it's is it kind of following the category of you know Successful people are prone to action and just just do it, you know, it's We're not landing airplanes here. You know, what's the worst that can happen? You're going to learn something and get better at it, right? Well, I mean, I think a lot of people and and to liz's point I think that some women, you know, it's like we feel like we're bragging and it's it's just it's just a little cringy Oh, I'm going to pitch myself to to talk about myself or my business. However Um, like ashamed or embarrassed or yaki just uncomfortable You know, like like I can't imagine tom, you know, reaching out to his tv station and saying, hey You know, I want to pitch a story about father daughter dances and my daughter and I want to be on tv I can't would that be comfortable for you tom? And I put you on the spot, but Yeah, I would have to to think about that a moment. Yeah But you're not a real pitchy guy though tom you are not the stereotypical This I don't want this to sound bad, but you're not the stereotypical A strong big ego guy that is just And talks about how great you are and what you're doing and all of that. It's just not you I haven't ever seen you. Thank you. Denise. This is right. It's melody edwards is who I was talking about here Yeah, he's just talking about this recently But I mentioned father daughter dance and that's a good example I mean in some cases it might be a story about You or someone in your company that has nothing to do with cleaning But it's it's kind of a sneaky way to shine the spotlight on on your company So that's another thing I do a lot with my clients. Good And and I guess really this whole example here maybe illustrates why it would be a good idea to hire somebody to help with because It's almost like hiring a trainer. It's like Our coach is like all you need to do is do what they tell you to do and you don't have to think much about it It's not It's not like you're the one that's bragging. You're just doing what you're you're told to do Yeah, you're just following orders I'm thinking right now. I bet the media outlets are looking for fresh angles on valentine's day They've got to do valentine's day. They got to do love mother's day every single year Right, what are some I'm not asking you this but I'm I'm thinking Easter No, absolutely. I mean, you know, so so it's really kind of like I brainstorm with my clients and say You know, here are some things that are coming up. Are you doing anything special valentine's day? I was just working with the client in the in the home services business about You know, what do you do if someone comes over last minute for valentine's day? What are three things you can do quickly? At your house that you could talk to media about So, you know, it's it's really fun. I want to know why someone's coming to my house for valentine's day You get out of here. Don't be coming over This was a galentine's day story. Um, this it was a story Galentine's day is actually on the calendar and somebody was Gallant with a g Gallentine's day. Yeah, it's a thing It's it's a special. I'm actually going to a gallant's gallantine's day thing tomorrow night But it's the whole month of valentine's day women gather and you know in friendship Okay And there's also a single awareness. I think is the day after valentine's day. So I've helped with some stories about that too Need a pal in times day, right for just pals to like Have two if they're gonna have gallantine's day I don't know. All right. That's good. So Really just tapping into That stuff. Um, so mark is saying right here. Oh, I guess we didn't show this one Visual idea might come but then fear takes over and people talk themselves out of it that I So to tom's point. Yes, the pr person tells me what to do. Yes, I can do that But also I really like the idea of the pr person just being the one that goes out and does it And just I don't have to worry about the fear taking over I don't have to worry about trying to fit it into my schedule find a time Just like, uh, so we're reading in book talk right now. We're reading who not how write that book who not how And I love that book and the whole not the whole idea but the large bulk of this idea is Don't do the things that you're not amazing at right find the things that you're amazing at do those Get other people who are amazing at those other things to do those things. It's the fastest way To kind of scale your business faster bigger better Is by you not doing stuff you're not good at but especially small businesses have a tendency to Do all the things I feel like we have to do all the things tom you've kind of Popped out of this a little bit with made central Haven't you you've had to kind of pop out of this a little bit You can't do all the things you hired two or do you have three full-time developers now or two? We have three full-time developers. Yeah But back in the day You were kind of the one steering the boat about what was going to be developed and they worked They were first guy worked like a few hours and then Yeah, they don't let me they don't let me do much of anything anymore. It's kind of cool. Yeah, that's I'm thinking so how do how do we Part of that is this we got Ruth over here. She's the who We shouldn't be doing the who stuff Um at least in this area unless you're Patricia like well It's it really very it varies by the company, you know, so let's say And I do represent some of my clients with the media directly You know and I have I have my talking points, you know figured out and I have the expertise from the clients But you know in my opinion and I don't want to be I mean, I'm a guest on your show So I don't want to make you mad In my opinion You I mean the owner or the you know the worker bees You know the deep cleaners on your teams Are really going to be the best people to be the face of the company and not They're the publicist, but not to pitch it to the no, no, no, I misunderstood. No pitching absolutely In many cases in many cases because we know Kind of the length and how to do it do we send them a link to something on youtube? Like we know kind of the best way to get their attention However, as far as being the face of your company, it's better if it's somebody on your team Even if it's not you Liz, you know Even if even if you have one of you know, one of your team members You know do it. So I totally agree with that. I think that makes really really good sense But that's kind of to the point of I don't want to learn how to like tim what tom was saying like do we do a press release? How do we do it all good information? But I really don't want to learn how to do that and the fact of the matter is we're not Excellent at that, you know, it's okay. I can sing. I can dance. I can draw I'm just not very good at any of it, you know, so I'm better off hiring people to do those things I feel the same way about your business. Um, you know, I I I wash down all my counters after I make a meal and you know, but I don't I have someone who I hire to help clean my home. So yeah, no, I think um I think that someone like me and you know, there are pr people, you know, that work all different ways But you know, I think we do offer a lot of value. It just really really needs to be something that is going to add value For you and for your marketing and for your social media So it just needs to be very strategic And it really needs to be aligned with what you want to make noise about So it's a conversation usually multiple conversations and a lot of creative idea sharing So yeah, I love what I do and I'm so lucky to do it I'm glad you love what you do Ruth because I do not love what you do for me I would not want to do it. Someone has to do it And you're the right who for that because you do love it You eat and drink this stuff, you know, I make the analogy with like singing and drawing and stuff like that and I just Try to tie that in so that point makes a little bit of sense It's really obvious if somebody's really a good artist as opposed to somebody who's just Trying to to draw a picture It's it's crystal clear. You can can see the difference a lot of times It's a lot more difficult when we're trying to build our own website or trying to Do our own, you know public relations. We think we're doing a good job. We don't really It's harder to see the difference between just doing it yourself versus a real professional and and Am I making any sense? It's it's it's it's hard to see the difference Yeah in your small business. It's hard But the difference is real and the difference matters. It's the it's the pinch of baking powder that can make all the difference I like that. Yeah, and I mean, it's like you're You're scheduled every minute of your day is accounted for you know, you're doing schedules You're working with your team You're, you know, you're you're doing a lot. So is this the greatest and best use of your time You know, not necessarily So in some cases if you decide it is an effective strategy, it's a good idea to talk to an outside pr resource to hold your hand and help you and Kind of work hand in hand with you to figure out what makes the most sense and to amplify all the cool stuff you're doing And and we might have to do it, right? We're small businesses We can't afford to pay everybody to do everything that So some of the stuff we have to do it We you know, like that even if we're not good at it. We still have to do it I might have to create the copy for my website even though It's not great. It's not amazing I might have to do a lot of the different things, but It seems to me like this is a really good area to get off your plate quickly because it can make a big impact Faster where some things Even if you get other people to do them and they do them really well It's not going to be that big of a deal website copy. I think that's good SEO yeah, another really good one And what you do seems to be another one of those get someone else to do it Otherwise you might just not even do it I you know, I think so and I agree obviously because it's what I do I was talking to a friend of mine right before we got on who has a social media company and she just got a new client So I think that people are seeing websites and social media as they should as absolutely necessary PR Gives you content for Your website and for your social media, but it's not as necessary However, it's very very helpful and it's a great way to help you stand apart But I'm the first person to say that if a client was deciding between having a website Or having having social content or doing PR. I would recommend they do the other two First not that they would only do them just that they would do those first, right? Yeah, that I'll build this up then do this. I mean you can't do everything all at the same time. You got to Prioritize what's what's got to be done first and I don't even work with a client that doesn't have a website listen tom Because in the past I've had people who just have instagram pages and and they wanted to be on the news But it just doesn't work well because then the people that watch the story don't have any way to contact them So I insist that all of my clients at least have a brochure website at minimum Well, speaking of websites tom, maybe we should share ruths because I just looked at the time here We only got a few more minutes I'm so grateful for the opportunity And while you're popping that up tom. I'm just gonna Pop up this. Oh great picture ruth though. Can we just all take a moment to acknowledge tom's mustache Is what mark baker says mark you were late for the meeting today. Otherwise you would have heard us already commenting on this All right, but ruth I love this picture of you your hair is amazing Thank you I just dropped the link into chat So if you want to talk to ruth more about you know public relations and how she can help with that You know just just reach out You know the local the local media in particular if you're a small company You know, you can spend a lot of money on Advertising just to try to build a brand so people can hear about you You know just being on a local news channel can Be the one of the cheapest ways that you can actually build brand recognition And once people start knowing that you're there It's kind of a synergistic effect with your paid advertising and everything else that works better for you So yeah, you need a website But right after you get the website you want people in your local community to know that you're there And what you do and what makes you special and that's that's where ruth can help you I I wonder if So, you know, we all of this stuff has to be done. We have to do all of these things. Is there a certain Um What i'm thinking is market size like if you live in a big market Is it going to be more valuable for you or if you're in a small market? Do you need to do it and it'll Top you to the top faster. Is there any consideration there like market size? I would say no I would say the platforms or the platforms and the stages that you're playing on are different But it's valuable in every market. Sometimes it's a little easier in smaller markets However, sometimes in smaller outlets, you don't have as many media outlets. Oh, yeah So it just really varies, uh, you know, and sometimes sometimes in smaller markets I find it a little easier to get clients on tv than in the bigger markets But in the bigger markets, usually they have six stations and um, you know, I also highly recommend that clients that have client Employees who have speak different languages. I highly recommend getting on the Spanish speaking stations and All of that. So it just depends on the market. We develop kind of a custom media list and figure out, you know, who your target is I'm also curious like Back in the day I think being on tv was like a really big deal 20 years ago getting on tv seemed like a really big deal How important is tv today? Do a lot of people even watch tv nowadays like like the the those typical channel cbs and abc and No, here's here's what i'm gonna say because I don't Have like the nielson numbers for you know, all of this all of the different markets that you all work in however What I will say is one of the reasons that my clients like tv is because it's awesome Content for their websites for their social and for them to use a blog and backlink So it doesn't really matter if anyone sees your newspaper article or watches your segment at five in the morning You're gonna reshare it. So that's why my clients like tv Radio, yeah All right. So that was a perfect example Of why you want to hire somebody to do it because it's so easy to get caught up in stupid thinking Right, but the person who knows what they're talking about. I was like, no, you missed the point again. Liz. You forgot what we're talking about I do this all day long. I get it. And it's a really good question Oh You know, it's crazy how fast an hour goes we are at the top of the hour. So ruth. Thank you so much. This was fun Appreciate it. Appreciate it ruth. Um, hopefully people will reach out to you if they're looking for some pr opportunities And uh, we'll I'll see you next week y'all. Tom. You're not gonna be here, right? I'm yeah, I'm gonna be getting ready for the wedding Yeah, we got a lot a lot of moving parts, but Ruth, we appreciate what you do for the industry too. It's important and you're you're you're helping us move In a in a very good direction. Thank you um, so we're gonna call it a wrap for today, uh next wednesday five o'clock eastern and uh Tuesday five o'clock go to a core profit builders.com and sign up It's you know, free for the first month and hope to see you there too Y'all take care. Bye. Bye