2X eCommerce Podcast

How to Get Your Brand in Top Media Without PR Agencies → Gloria Chou
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Gloria Chou: [00:00:00] And so for decades, the industry has told us, you can't access the media, you have to pay us. So we just need to get rid of that myth and step into that frequency that we are our number one advocates and that journalists actually want to feature indie brands and people from all walks of life.

Mhm.

Gloria Chou: Because Use my CPR pitching method. And this is my method framework for how to structure your pitch. It could be written form. It could be in DM form. It could be in verbal form. CPR stands for credibility. Point of view and relevance when your pitch has all three.

It's pretty good. It's pretty solid It has what the journalist needs to know so they can quickly decide. Yes. Tell me more or maybe another time That's really the whole point of writing a pitch. You're not writing the story for the journalist. You're just Giving them enough information to give them an idea that you have enough to say that they can say, tell me more. the CPR method is a value driven way to start a conversation. You're not shoving your brochure down their throat.

You're saying, here's what people are looking for and here's a solution. So [00:01:00] from the get go, it's a value driven conversation

Mhm.

Kunle Campbell: On this episode of the 2x eCommerce Podcast, we're sitting down with PR experts, Gloria Chou, who's sharing her insider strategies to help founders like you.

Land top media placements on your own

This is the 2X eCommerce Podcast hosted by Kunle Campbell.

Kunle Campbell: if you've ever dreamed of seeing your brand featured on Forbes the new york times or even vogue without paying Sky high agency fees you're in the right place on this episode of the 2x eCommerce Podcast We're sitting down with PR expert Gloria Chou who's sharing her insider strategies for landing top media placements on your own Gloria's CPR pitching method has helped countless founders break into major publications by mastering the art of pitching, identifying the right journalist and leveraging [00:02:00] trends.

All without the need for big budget agencies. She also got some free resources to help you get started right away So stay tuned to learn more about those towards the end of the episode And don't forget to follow the 2x eCommerce Podcast on your preferred platform To keep up with our weekly insights and interviews that help you grow your brand Let's get into it.

hey, Gloria, welcome to the 2X eCommerce Podcast.

Gloria Chou: Yeah, I'm stoked to be here. Thanks for having me.

Kunle Campbell: Amazing.

Gloria Chou's Journey into PR
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Kunle Campbell: We've had prior conversations and we went quite deep in, in PR and I thoroughly enjoyed those conversations we had, but I never really got into your backstory.

So Thank you. Please, pretty briefly, could you give us, give me and the audience a bit of a background for me? Yeah.

Gloria Chou: So unlike a lot of PR people, I've never actually worked a day in my life at a PR agency or a marketing agency. I actually used to be a U S diplomat. And so when I was looking to change careers, I was actually.[00:03:00]

Quite miserable being a bureaucrat. I knew I wanted to be an entrepreneur and I knew I wanted to be in PR because I was that unofficial hype woman for everyone. I always joke that like my altered ego is like a hip hop MC cause I just love to hype people up and I probably applied for a thousand PR jobs.

I was a strong writer, a strong communicator, and. The thing is that nobody would hire me because I realized that the industry, the PR agency was a very kind of traditional model where they wanted someone from that cookie cutter experience. And very quickly, I realized that this industry was, not only was it very traditional, it was very gate kept as well.

And so I had to just get like a really small, tiny client, which was a friend. And he worked at the startup that I had no, no idea about. I think it was like FinTech AI, something. And he's yeah, if you can get us on CNBC and Wall Street Journal and New York Times we'll give you a couple hundred bucks here and there.

And so it was, I only got paid if I got them featured. And because I had no PR experience, remember this, I didn't know any journalists. And I [00:04:00] just had to literally, I kid you not, put in the Google search bar, newsroom, New York times. And I had to dial zero for the operator and cold pitch thousands of times getting phones slammed in my face, putting together email addresses, throwing spaghetti on the wall until I got my clients a response.

And so I think from being an outsider, an absolute outsider who had no connections to any cold any journalists and cold pitching, I started to pick up on the patterns on when that someone would stay on the phone with me without hanging up or how can I get a journalist who has never met me to respond to say, tell me more.

And I ended up getting my clients on Wall Street Journal and CNBC and Fortune and Financial Times. And so I, I now teach this process to make PR accessible for anyone. And my whole thing is you don't need to know the journalist to get featured.

The Art of Cold Pitching
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Gloria Chou: You just need to know how to cold pitch.

Kunle Campbell: You need to know how to cold pitch.

How do you cold pitch?

Gloria Chou: I think there's a mindset part that stops 90 percent of us. And then there's a [00:05:00] tactical part. It's really the mindset part. I think traditionally the industry has told us, you cannot pitch to the media because you need to know someone and that's how they monetize, right? They can charge you exorbitant fees and that is.

Unaccessible for 90 percent of small businesses. Retainer prices started around five to 10, 000 a month. They want you to pay for about six months of contracts and they don't give you any transparency into how they're doing their work. But basically you need to understand that like journalists want to talk to you, the founder.

So let's remove the middleman and let's just make that process accessible for you. So you need to believe that they do. Second thing is that they absolutely do accept cold pitches. This is how the news and the cookie crumbles. If the journalist only featured big box brands, they would probably lose their credibility very quickly.

And so for decades, the industry has told us, you can't access the media, you have to pay us. So we just need to get rid of that myth and step into that frequency that we are our number one advocates and that journalists actually want to feature indie [00:06:00] brands and people from all walks of life.

That's the main one. Now let's talk about how you actually do your own PR because that is your key to not paying for an agency, to not paying for ads and to just keep getting that sustained traffic SEO PR is very simple. Don't let anyone tell you it's not PR is writing a pitch and sending it to the right person.

And if you can combine those two things and repeat it in a system in your business, you are getting that sustained visibility all year round. We can go into kind of the who's in the house, but that's really it. It's writing a pitch and knowing who to send it to. Boom. There you go.

Kunle Campbell: Okay. Okay. Right in a pitch.

I, what you know you talked about, you just made a point around losing credibility from like media agencies or actually the media, actually losing credibility of the back of just featuring bigger companies and bigger personalities.

Understanding Journalists' Needs
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Kunle Campbell: What from like DTC founders or 2X eCommerce [00:07:00] founders listening to this, who have brands What do journalists and media outlets want to see?

What are the key features? They say, okay, this makes sense. I want to have that initial conversation after they've pitched what characteristic features they really want to see from from a small business owner.

Gloria Chou: Yeah. And this is a thing that we're not taught and it's totally normal, right? As a DTC founder, you're not taught this.

Don't be ashamed or feel like there's something wrong with you. You just simply don't have access to that information. And that's why this conversation exists. So for all the times that I just literally, I kid you not, just putting words together and throwing spaghetti at the wall. I came up with my CPR pitching formula, but at a 20 foot.

20, 000 foot level. We need to understand that the journalist is not your customer. The journalist is not going to buy from you. So the more that you put on your marketing hat, which we all do as founders, the more we explain our benefits and features and why you should buy this. [00:08:00] The more the journalist is going to simply say, okay why don't you buy an ad?

I will transfer you to the ads department. And so in order to bypass buying for an ad, what does that mean? It means that we have to take off our marketing hat. And put on a different hat. It's a different way of communicating that is new to us, but it can be learned. And that way of communicating is communicating by leading with the relevance, the season, the time, the trend, what consumers want.

And so it's a different way of writing that we're not used to. And you can do it in a way that I've packaged it in my CPR framework, which is that we need to present something that is timely for that season. A lot of times we are giving the journalists a brochure of all of our products. That is the quickest way to get your email thrown in the trash.

What we want to do. Is to pick out the one or two great items that's going to solve a seasonal or relevant problem for this time This snapshot in time. So let's say if you are pitching for q4 the holiday gift guides think in terms of winter [00:09:00] Think in terms of bundles think in terms of stocking stuffers What are the items that are good for under 20 versus what are the ones that could be categorized for a more of a premium?

gift guide If it's something in the fall, if you make skincare, it could be fresh citrusy things that don't weigh your skin down. If you are in fitness, it could be something for new year new you, what are the great routines that you can have for your at home Pilates routine, right? If you are someone who travels a lot or you make travel accessories, think about the one or two items that's great for spring break, or maybe it's for a summer season.

So do you see where I'm getting at here? It's about picking the right things for that time. And so that's like the big piece of it is we have to pitch for that season. Another way you can pitch is for trends. So remember the show, the bear on HBO or white Lotus on HBO or the bear. And so these are really popular shows.

A lot of times you can pitch just for the pop culture place [00:10:00] that we're in. So you can pitch for something that's like. We have someone who makes swimwear and the pitch I wrote for her was how to pick the best swimsuit for your white lotus Italian vacation because white lotus was filmed in italy and everybody was taught going to italy right now We're having a big taylor swift moment So if you make apparel that is very like girl power, maybe something with pink.

It could be something like best items to wear to your next Taylor Swift concert. So that's how you can get creative around it.

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So all you need to do is upload a list of customer details and REVIEWS.io will handle the rest automatically sending [00:11:00] out review request with customized email invitations. This means that you can get more reviews on your site quickly helping boost your credibility. One of my personal favorite ways to extend the reach of our reviews is through their Review Management feature allows us to distribute reviews to third party platforms like Trustpilot or Facebook.

You can either send 100 percent of your reviews there or let REVIEWS.io automatically spread them based on. Where you need the most visibility. It's a smart way to amplify your brand's presence across multiple channels and build trust with potential customers. And if you're stuck in a long term contract with another provider, like Yotpo or Okendo, Loox or Stamped, REVIEWS.io makes switching easy for listeners of the 2X eCommerce Podcast with their Contract Buyout Program. There's no need to overpay for a service [00:12:00] that isn't delivering the results you expect. REVIEWS.io will buy out your current contract and offer flexible, no commitment monthly plans. So you can switch today without the hassle of being locked in.

So ready to make your reviews work harder for your business. Get 10% off your first year with REVIEWS.io by mentioning 2X eCommerce when you sign up. New customers only terms and conditions apply Remember our chat in May, earlier this season, episode 33 with Sam Pelleiro about scaling from $1M to $10M with Google Ads. If you're already using reviews, but feel like you're not getting enough, there's a faster way. With REVIEWS.io's review booster, you can collect reviews, not only from new customers, but also from past customers.

So you're not waiting around for fresh orders to start building trust.

So all you need to do is upload a list of customer details and REVIEWS.io will handle the rest [00:13:00] automatically sending out review request with customized email invitations. This means that you can get more reviews on your site quickly helping boost your credibility. One of my personal favorite ways to extend the reach of our reviews is through their Review Management feature allows us to distribute reviews to third party platforms like Trustpilot or Facebook.

You can either send 100 percent of your reviews there or let REVIEWS.io automatically spread them based on. Where you need the most visibility. It's a smart way to amplify your brand's presence across multiple channels and build trust with potential customers. And if you're stuck in a long term contract with another provider, like Yotpo or Okendo, Loox or Stamped, REVIEWS.io makes switching easy for listeners of the 2X eCommerce Podcast with their Contract Buyout Program. There's no need to [00:14:00] overpay for a service that isn't delivering the results you expect. REVIEWS.io will buy out your current contract and offer flexible, no commitment monthly plans. So you can switch today without the hassle of being locked in.

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Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Seasonality and trends riding off trends seem to be really good. And they also seem to be. Sustained ways of continuously getting PR and exposure for products within your portfolio, because seasons always come.

And if what you offer actually align with the seasons, then you have a better chance, I believe. Now, how do you figure out who to pitch to? We figured out the Watts, but who do you, [00:15:00] there's so much going on. There's so many journalists databases, there's so much going on. How do you figure that out?

Crafting the Perfect Pitch
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Gloria Chou: Let's wrap this up with the what to pitch, right? So I have my CPR framework which puts everything very neatly in a structure because we all tend to blabble on and on and make that email an unofficial unpublished biography. And that. Is very unattractive.

So how do we make it concise? How do we make it specific without attaching a brochure? Use my CPR pitching method. And this is my method framework for how to structure your pitch. It could be written form. It could be in DM form. It could be in verbal form. CPR stands for credibility. Point of view and relevance when your pitch has all three.

It's pretty good. It's pretty solid It has what the journalist needs to know so they can quickly decide. Yes. Tell me more or maybe another time That's really the whole point of writing a pitch. You're not writing the story for the journalist. You're just Giving them enough information to give them an idea that you have enough to say that they can say, tell me more.

And so this is how it [00:16:00] generally looks like in a pitch. So we all start with the subject line. That's very important to getting your email open. The subject line should not say your name, your company name, or the word pitch in it. That is irrelevant and they're probably going to throw it in the trash.

What you want to do for the subject line is it almost should read like an article title. For example, Best Vegan Cruelty Free Skincare Minis, Stocking Suffers Under 15. You see how that's specific and it tells you, tells them exactly what category to write for. Best Back to School All Purpose Pencil Cases for the Messy Child in Your Life, right?

See how that is very specific. So that's the subject line. Let's get into the email using my CPR method. I like to start with R for relevance. Why? Because you're capturing the journalist at the get go and you're competing for their intention. So you have to start with the relevance. The relevance is usually as consumers are looking for XYZ gifts this season, right?

You see how that paints the relevance, whether it's back to school, whether it's cold, whether [00:17:00] it's, For her, for him, whatever that is. And then you, that's the relevance. And then you go into P as in point of view, it's usually three bullet points. So it could be three reasons why your skincare minis are the best.

It could be three trends that you're seeing. And under one of those trends, you could talk about your product. Always list where you can get your product, where it's shipped and the price. And you can put a hyperlink. This is very important if you want to get your product featured, because these are the, Important essential information is that the journalist will need to know to decide whether or not to feature you, especially for the gift guides, right?

Where does the ship where it's available? Is it on Amazon? Is it on your website? Is it at Macy's and also the price? And then you conclude with C as in credibility, and it doesn't have to be this. You have a lot of features. It could simply be you are someone who created this formula with your daughter, your mom and daughter duo, and you made this eczema cream because your daughter was struggling with eczema.

Or it could be that you've been featured at your local. Whatever, right? So that's how you would conclude it and how [00:18:00] I like to end the email instead of in desperation of please feature us because we don't have money to pay for an ad. It's simply, I'm happy to talk more about these trends. I'm happy to maybe send you a sample and here's how I can be reached.

Now, be careful about samples. You have a lot of quote unquote wannabe influencers who will take all your free samples and never promise a thing. So make sure that your samples are low cost to you and that it's at a credible outlet. A lot of journalists actually don't need samples. You'll, you'd be surprised.

If you have an affiliate link, put that in there too. Here's my affiliate link. It could be a skim links or whatever. Journalism is going towards where they do want to have affiliate links, so that definitely does help you. And then you simply put, here's how I can be reached. Put your phone number, call or text.

That's it. You see how that, how easy and clean that is. And one more thing you can put in one photo, no more than one of an image of your product. Don't make it super big size. It's going to go trigger their spam filter. And it. If they want to find out more, just simply hyperlink, but don't attach big files, [00:19:00] don't attach your brochure, don't attach your, slide deck.

Kunle Campbell: Interesting. Super interesting. So you're pitching like it was an article and you don't necessarily want to mention your company or your name. It's just. You are

Gloria Chou: mentioning it in the pitch, but not in the subject line.

Kunle Campbell: Okay. Not in the subject line. Okay. Okay. So it's so when you're thinking about the subject line, you're thinking about a hook, like you're

Gloria Chou: thinking about it almost should read like a title of an article.

Kunle Campbell: Interesting. Interesting. And then the body really just. shows relevance on, okay it is winter now and this is the collection. This is why it's great. And yeah. Okay. Okay. That's super, super interesting. Yeah.

Pitching to Different Types of Publications
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Kunle Campbell: Now there, there are obviously two types of publications, right? Or In my head that there might be more their publications like your cosmopolitan housekeeping and all of that [00:20:00] stuff showcase products, experiences and the like, and then there are other also publications which would be normal newspapers INC.

Financial times that feature stories, like entrepreneurial stories. I'm there's one open now that sort of commensurates in Kim Kardashian skims on the financial times that I'm reading now. It's one of those really super long FT weekend articles, obviously the public, I knew this for sure. Have a.

They have an affinity for zero to hero stories. Is there any, how would you recommend entrepreneurs who've made decent progress, say you've gone zero to seven figures through like a Tik Tok, um, Tik Tok page in two months, that's, noteworthy. How would you pitch it? Would you pitch it that way too?

What are your thoughts here?

Gloria Chou: So I think at any one time, if you have a physical [00:21:00] product, you will always have those two simultaneous angles that you can pitch. One is more long form and one is more about the product. Now there are some overlaps. There are some product gift guides that will go into your story a little bit.

So it could be about best black owned businesses who have like beauty brands, right? So there are some different stories like that. Now for a longer article, yes, you can definitely pitch something that goes more into your story and why it's important, your mission and your why. You're obviously going to want to have a track record.

So data is important. That usually is more convincing when you have made seven figures ARR, but it doesn't, it not always, right? Because you might be doing something in a very interesting way. That no one's done before. So I definitely do want you to put that, even if it's a gift guide pitch, you can put it in the credibility part.

Just put two or two or three sentences on why your formulation is very different. And maybe what, maybe a little bit about your story your reason, your why. And also don't forget about there's local TV and that's [00:22:00] great too. It's because who doesn't love a hometown hero story, right?

Especially if you have a local charity, if you give back or if you've done something locally. Another thing is podcasts, right? We're listening to a podcast right now. It's a great way to get people to convert, to buy into your mission. It's a much higher buyer intent when people have listened to you for 30 minutes.

They're obviously invested. So that's when you can also pitch. not just about your product, but more about the struggles and obstacles that you had to overcome and how you can be of value to that podcast host. I pitched you to be on this podcast and it's similar to the CPR method, but instead of the three points on why my product is great for the season, I've simply pitched five questions I can answer on your podcast.

So it's something similar for sure.

Kunle Campbell: Yeah. And in your pitch, if you don't mind my sharing, it was, it read the subject line, read like an article. The free PR method that garnered a billion organic views, it's okay, I want to read more, it's, and that in of itself could be, you're essentially [00:23:00] selling the future because I could use that as the headline for this episode.

Gloria Chou: Think about, think one step further, right? I think a lot of times we're just thinking about selling our product, but I didn't even tell you in that pitch that I have a PR program. It's, it was all value. And I started with relevance. Hey, we're in Q4 and your audience are looking for ways to get more eyeballs on their products, not through the traditional ways of ads or social media.

And so that's my relevance. And then I went into like my five questions about the who, what, when, where, why of organic PR. And then it concluded with the fact that I've been on many podcasts and I'm really happy to share this and my reason and my why.

Kunle Campbell: Interesting. Earlier on you mentioned the fact that you create an affiliate link for the, is it for the journalist or the, for the publication?

Gloria Chou: Yeah. So if you're pitching for a product specific gift guide, you, and if you have in the field yet. Kind of structure set up a lot of journalists and magazines now [00:24:00] do that where it's a win for both you and them. So they feature you and people click and buy, then they get a certain percentage.

Setting Up Your PR Foundation
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Gloria Chou: So you could set that up on your own internal interface, or you can go to a website like a skim links and set that up. So that's, again, that's optional. I don't think it's mandatory, but I do see a lot of publications going that way, in that direction.

Kunle Campbell: Okay. Okay. And then one big question which I'm facing now is time.

Time is quite limited. We have so many commitments as founders how much time would you need to set aside? Would the listener need to set aside to, to do PR on their own?

The Value of PR for Founders
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Gloria Chou: Yeah, I will say it's not about adding it to the plate, but making it a foundation. And I'll tell you why PR is the only thing out of all of your marketing activities that gets you SEO, traffic sales, and authority.

You cannot get SEO with anything else. And you can't get that authority with ads and social media. So for me, it's one of the most highest [00:25:00] value work that you can do as a CEO. And I would rather get one gift guide, get in front of tens of thousands of people, and then repost it onto my social media. I would rather get onto one podcast, establish that credibility, and then repurpose that one podcast into 20 different pieces of content, reels, audiograms, quotes.

Carousels. You see where I'm getting with this? Lots of these letters. So it's really about rethinking what we do with our time, because we all just have 24 hours in a day. I always say even Beyonce only has 24 hours in a day. So it's about working smarter and not harder.

Effective Time Management for PR
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Gloria Chou: And so that brings me to my next point is, you can very easily allocate 15 minutes a day to connect with 10 journalists.

And then you spend another 15 minutes. Writing your pitch. Once you master how to write a pitch, you become great at this style of writing. You can repurpose it for any season and get featured all year round because the structure of the CPR doesn't change. You're just swapping out Valentine's day with mother's day, right?

It's the same, but you have to learn speaking this way to get a win. [00:26:00] And so the upside for me of spending a little bit of time upfront, but then getting featured in a Oprah's favorite things is tremendous. As opposed to spending three months on social media, trying to get in front of the followers who may or may not ever buy from you.

So it's a mindset shift. And it's something that we're not taught because again, the agencies make it very inaccessible. And that's why they charge these high prices. And I want to answer your question about now that we talked about what to pitch, let's pick.

Identifying the Right Journalists
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Gloria Chou: Go and talk about who to pitch, right?

Because PR, if we want to do it ourselves and be our own advocates, it's writing a pitch and sending it out. So we talked about writing a pitch using the CPR method. Let's talk about who to send it to. Now, obviously my program, we have a database of a hundred thousand journalists, but you can start to populate your own media list.

And here's a trick about knowing who to send it to. Don't send it to the info at. Forbes. com or media at buzzfeed. com. That's an internet black hole. No one's going to read that inbox. What you want to do is find the journalist who writes for your [00:27:00] specific topic or beat. So if you write, if you make something that's a consumer tech, right?

It's probably gonna be the consumer tech writer. If you make something that is like fashion, apparel, Probably going to the fashion, commerce, or shopping editor. If you make beauty, home, self care stuff, probably be, it's going to probably going to be the beauty or wellness writer. Do you see where I'm getting at with this?

You want to be specific to that person. And here's how we can start to populate our own media list. You can Literally right now after this, go into the Google search bar and type in Google news alert and Google will ping you with all of the digital articles that is written about your keyword. And you can just simply copy and paste the journalist's first and last name and their email because it's all public information into an Excel spreadsheet and you can have an ever growing list.

Another thing you can do is Sign up for HARO, which stands for Help a Reporter Out, as a source, and you will get pinged the hundreds of different articles that journalists are writing every day, looking for [00:28:00] a very specific type of person to interview. And if you fit the bill, then you can very well respond to that.

You can also go on Twitter or LinkedIn and follow hashtags like journal request, which is journalists looking for last minute interviews for people to interview. And if you, again, you fit that demographic, then you should respond to that. Those are a very grassroots way of doing it. So there you have it.

You have your CPR method, which is how to write a pitch. And then you have your grassroots way, which I just showed you on who to send it to you, and then you put the two and two together and you can repeat it as a system.

Kunle Campbell: Interesting. Interesting.

Building and Maintaining Relationships with Journalists
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Kunle Campbell: And then what about building relationships with these people long term?

From, because I. I have a handful of journalists who have covered, whether it's this podcast or covered, insights I've provided them to help build their story and sometimes when they're pressured for a story, they just reach out to me because they know I'm that 2X eCommerce guy that helped them in, one or two articles in the [00:29:00] past.

And so that's a relationship, although it's driven by them. It's a relationship, right? So how do founders listening to this or marketing teams listening to this? I want to handle their PR kind of manage and nurture the relationships with journalists over time.

Gloria Chou: I love what you said about that because it's not a one and done.

If you get featured once you are living proof that if you get featured once you can get featured over and over again. So again, talking about the upside of PR is tremendous. It's always a relationship, right? Because the CPR method is a value driven way to start a conversation. You're not shoving your brochure down their throat.

You're saying, here's what people are looking for and here's a solution. So from the get go, it's a value driven conversation and you can also use social media to follow up and follow up is so important. A lot of people, because it's very, again, unnatural to pitch, they send one email, maybe they'll listen to this and send one email using the CPR method and go run and hide in there.

in their bedroom. And I'm telling you right now, [00:30:00] you have to follow up. You have to keep following up, be persistent in a very kind, persistent way. And so I say you always want to follow up once a week. And again, as the season and the headlines are changing, you can refresh your subject line.

You can say, Hey, I just wanted to follow up with this. Now, people are getting closer and closer to Halloween. People are looking for X, Y, and Z like festive gear. Let me know if you received that email and you can also follow up with them. On DM because journalists are on these platforms and they're writers And so what better way to connect with them than compliment them on the latest article they wrote or say hey I loved your piece about X Y Z and it's a very interesting perspective I would love to suggest a follow up story.

I actually sent you a DM. So you're just keeping that conversation going And once you have that one feature, the best part is that you can get featured over and over again, and then you can actually ask the journalist, I'm thinking about pitching for this season, do you know [00:31:00] of a journalist who would be interested?

And then all of a sudden they can introduce you to people in their network. So journalists are very friendly people. They're very fast people. They have a lot of deadlines. And so the best way you can be of use for them is pitch using the CPR method and then just respond quickly and see, just see how you could be a resource for them as they're writing so many articles.

Delegating PR Tasks
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Kunle Campbell: What about delegation? So One of the things that popped into my head is some people would be like, I have an EA or a marketing person, can we just create systems? Essentially, they just employ the CPR system and give them, the system to act on my behalf.

Gloria Chou: Yeah, that's a great question.

We actually teach this in our program. And the best thing is once you master this CPR method, you can create it as a system and have an EA send out 10 times more pitches, right? I actually have someone who is whose job is just to send out podcast pitches so that I am on a podcast every single week. That is my benchmark for her.

So we can absolutely do this. [00:32:00] And what I would recommend is. Have a different email. You don't have to have a new email, but don't have that pitching email be the same as your customer service inbox. So it could be like a team at or info ad. I like team at, so all of my pitches. Are monitored by an inbox that's team at Gloria chowpeer calm and I have my assistant pitch as me Do not pitch as a third party agency Just pitch as yourself journalists want to talk to you and just have an email tracking device on there It's very cheap.

You can get a Chrome extension plug in Just type in email open tracking and that way you can monitor which emails are being opened So then you can see the progress and also the result. A lot of times we make a lot of drama in our head about, oh, the journalist hates me because they're not responding.

And it's they actually don't even know you and they haven't even opened the email. So that could be a deliverability issue. It could be they're not there anymore. It could be your subject line needs to be better. So let's solve for the right problem. So get some analytics around, is your [00:33:00] email being open?

Now, if it's being opened, that's a good thing. It means that, okay, they read it. That's when you go in with the follow up and if they keep opening it many times and the software will tell you if someone has been opening it many times, that's a really good sign that they like your story. They're just trying to find a place for it.

And that's when you would keep them warm comments about their articles and just build that relationship. So having that data and having a separate inbox to monitor that is absolutely huge for you working with your VA.

Kunle Campbell: Yeah, it makes sense as in monitoring and if they open it over and over again, it's, yeah it's an indicator that they're finding they're finding a place for your email and then.

With the processes, when you outsource the processes to your EA no, actually I want to ask, so you just mentioned something that you are you're on a podcast every single week.

Gloria Chou: I try, so my goal, whatever that benchmark is, I want to get on four podcasts per [00:34:00] month. So I work backwards from there.

It's a volume game. So if I want to get on four podcasts per month, she needs to send out 20 to 50 pitches, right? And obviously now I've been on many podcasts, so it becomes much easier. I've been very streamlined and precise with the way I pitch. I know exactly. But when you start out it's a volume game.

And it's dating. It's like sales, really. The more pitches you send, the more you're going to get a response. And I always say, everything you want is on the other side of that send button. And a lot of times beginner people who have, who are just starting this PR, they just simply don't have the volume to be able to like.

Get onto those podcasts and features. So a lot of times we think it's us and it's just, it's not us. It's not that your product is not newsworthy. I've written pitches for bath salts and candles and towels and they all get featured. So it's not about how newsworthy your product is. It's just that you simply haven't done the work to have enough volume.

So remember that and.

Leveraging Trends and Media Types
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Gloria Chou: We all start somewhere, but once we build up that muscle and we get really good at [00:35:00] understanding what the news trends are. And by the way, just be a good steward of the news. Like we're all on our iPhones, monitor the news, monitor the trends, see what celebrities are doing. That's going to give you a lot more ideas to pitch.

We had someone who was in the bridal industry and Sophia Richie's wedding was trending. She was on all the magazines from her makeup to her jewelry. It was a moment. And so the pitch that anyone in the bridal Industry was doing was related to Sophia Richie, right? That was what I suggested. And that really got people's attention because that was trending at the moment.

So be a good steward of the news, understand what's happening, and that'll just give you a lot more tools in your arsenal to be able to strike up a conversation with the journalist. And, speak in their language.

Kunle Campbell: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I like the trends bit. And just going back to your feature being featured on podcasts.

What's been the impact of turning off to getting featured on four podcasts every month.

Gloria Chou: There are different [00:36:00] seasons in business, right? So I don't want you to feel overwhelmed. I think there's a lot of people listening. That's Oh, I'm never going to do that. Like I, I spent the first six months of this year in a different season of my business.

So it was systems, it was hiring and I was not focused on visibility. And now in Q4, I decided, okay, I am ready to pivot and do more of these appearances. So now I am in a season of visibility. And so using a lot of the momentum that I had from last year, I'm simply going back to my media list and then refreshing the angles and swapping out Valentine's day for Q4, and I'm setting the same pitch, right?

So it's the same method, but I'm just pitching in a way that's very relevant to you. Because if I were to pitch you. around, I don't know, February, the pitch would probably something, be something about 2025 trends. It would not probably not be about gift guides. But it's the same, it's the same CPR method.

I'm just refreshing the relevancy. And so now that I am deciding to pitch, I am pitching for this [00:37:00] season, which is what do your audience want? How can I be a value to them? And how I can be a value is that I know right now is the shopping season and they're all trying to get more sales. So how do we take advantage of that customer sales season?

Yeah.

Kunle Campbell: The reason I asked is there's been a phenomenal rise of like founder led brands and some of the most impressive founders I've had on this podcast. That's 2X eCommerce founders have a similar sort of mission with you in regards to the podcaster parents. So they're very focused on.

Getting more, accumulating more podcasts, parents, not necessarily to sell more products, although that's going to be the final outcome, but to tell their story. And I just wondered what's podcasting has in the media type space. So what should listeners who potentially are operators of 2X eCommerce business focus on, should they [00:38:00] focus on product features?

First or founder stories, how would you approach it if you were DTC founder?

Gloria Chou: I would say you want to have both those things. There's so many buckets of visibility, right? You have your gift guides, you have your local, you have your TV, radio, pocket. Like they're all of them have SEO. All of them. Give you traffic.

So you want to make sure that you are populating all of those things. You want to check all of those things, but it also depends on the person. So if your people are not watching TV, like for example, I live in New York city and I don't own a TV probably don't get on TV, for me, like my people like to listen to podcasts.

And so for me, podcasts is a great way to establish my authority in this niche. Not only as someone who is. Has a program, but someone who really is a coach, right? And someone who is teaching this. So it really depends on where your audience is. So if you are in fashion, it your audience might be again, there might be on Instagram, Instagram live and certain podcasts for [00:39:00] wellness, beauty trends.

And it's just, again, it just depends on where your people are. So do that. Do that work, but also know what your style is. Some people don't want to be in front of the camera and that's okay. We have people who have never once appeared on a single camera and they got featured in all the gift guides and all the digital things.

So just understand your style and don't feel overly pressured that all of a sudden you have to be a TV personality because that's absolutely not true. Like I've never been on TV, for example, and I probably won't because this podcast works really well for me.

Kunle Campbell: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Podcast. Yeah. Yeah. Makes sense.

Makes sense. Makes sense. Gloria. Okay.

Final Thoughts and Resources
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Kunle Campbell: And any final. Aspects of approach to PR we, we haven't covered on, on, on this episode.

Gloria Chou: Now, I know this is a lot. This is a very media episode. Probably people are taking notes. But I want to say that it's, if you're feeling a little bit overwhelmed, but excited, that's normal.

And the reason why is because for decades, we've been told by the industry that we cannot do our own [00:40:00] PR. And so this is a very radical, courageous thing that we're doing, which is stepping into the role of being our number one advocate. So it's going to feel scary, but I promise you, if you just understand that the journalists want to hear from you and that you're not too small to be seen, that everything becomes easier, right?

A lot of times we put a lot of obstacles just because we haven't done PR, which is keep doing the same thing, which is posting on social media and spending money on ads, but it doesn't get you the results of what you want to do. So every time you try something new, it's going to be scary. But I promise you, it's so worth it.

It's going to make you a better communicator. It's going to make you more courageous and it's going to make you realize Oh my God, I deserve just as much as a big brands to be seen because it absolutely happens in my program. Most people are very beginning. They have one solo preneur or their team of one and they've gotten featured in all the magazines being cited alongside, the CEO of Tom's shoes.

Like someone was a, was in a Vogue article for the future of [00:41:00] sustainable fashion and she has a little. Tiny little shop like that. She operates like in her house and it's up She was in an article about sustainable beauty and Vogue from the editor at large that wrote it simply just by pitching and she was cited Alongside million dollar CEO brands.

So it absolutely is necessary for you to put your diverse viewpoint in there So do it

Kunle Campbell: Yep. Yep. You couldn't have said it any better. I, I've been in situations where we just wonder why we had a pop on on sales. You're looking at the Shopify dashboard and you're like wondering and you're digging and digging and digging. And then you look at the traffic reports. And you realize that your brand has been mentioned in a media outlets, it's been recommended a particular products recommended or maybe even a forum.

And then that just, creates that, that moment of of awareness. And yeah yeah. And yeah, it just boosts sales through. So yeah, thank you now [00:42:00] for people who want to find out more about your CPR method who. who just yeah, want to find out more about you. Do you have any, where should they go?

And do you have any special offers to listeners of this podcast? It's essentially, get started with their own PR.

Gloria Chou: Yeah, I'm all about access. And so my free PR masterclass actually shows you word for word, the structure of a CPR pitch that got someone featured on Martha Stewart living apartment therapy and dozens of magazines.

You can watch it on demand for free at Gloria chow, PR. com slash masterclass. That's Gloria CHOU, PR. com slash masterclass. I also have a gift guide freebie, which outlines the 10 best angles. That you can get featured in a gift guide. Remember, we talked about trends, we talked about seasonal, that is all in there.

So you can go to gloriachowpr. com slash gift guide and you can DM me the word pitch on Instagram and let's start a conversation. I'm on Instagram at gloriachowpr and I love to learn about your business and help you [00:43:00] workshop these angles. I just love coming up with angles even in my sleep. So just shoot me an Instagram DM and I will answer.

Kunle Campbell: Thank you very much, Gloria, for coming on the 2X 2X eCommerce Podcast. I will link to all the resources you mentioned. Yeah. I learned a thing or two about, doing my own PR myself and yeah, appreciate it.

Mhm.

Kunle Campbell: Okay. So thank you for tuning into this episode of the 2X eCommerce Podcast. I hope you enjoyed our conversation with Gloria Chou and picked up valuable steps for handling your own PR CPR pitching framework is a powerful tool and Gloria's journey shows how anyone can get featured in top publications by using strategy.

Relevant and relationship building as a special bonus. Gloria has shed some fantastic resources for our listeners. Just check out her free PR masterclass on gloriachoupr.com/masterclass, grab her gift guide freebie at [00:44:00] gloriachoupr.com/giftguide. And if you are ready to go deeper, explore her full PR program at getfeaturedaccelerator.com.

All these links are shared in the show notes. If this episode has helped you rethink your approach to PR, please subscribe to the 2X eCommerce Podcast on your favorite platform. Your support helps us bring more incredible guests and insights. Don't forget to share this episode with your fellow eCommerce founders and operators who could benefit from Gloria's tips As always keep pushing the boundaries of your eCommerce growth and thank you for listening

Mhm.