Public Relations in a Digital Age: Insight with Andrea Pass PR

by Yvonne DiVita, Book Whisperer, in a Smart Conversation with Andrea Pass of andreapasspr.com

Andrea Pass on Being Relevant

Andrea Pass wants you to be relevant. Relevant to the audience your business or book serves. And she offers placement in top tier targeted media placement.

I asked her how she got so much done, given all the extra curricular activities she has, serving on the Board of Directors of the non-profit United Inventors Association (UIA), Workshop Council Chair for The Performance-Driven Marketing Institute (PDMI), and Vice President Membership of the New Jersey Association of Women Business Owners (NJAWBO). And her answer was, “Ask a busy woman.” Which comes from this quote, often attributed to Lucille Ball, “If you want something done, ask a busy woman to do it.” (paraphrasing just a little)

Andrea has also created the webinar series “Resonate to Revenue” and is also the Founder of Access Success Networking.

One thing I loved about our talk was that Andrea doesn’t just focus on one outlet or one thing. In fact, she mentioned national coverage and local coverage, which I think is so important. Starting local, for a new, first time author, can be a game changer.

Her strength in relationships coupled with her knowledge of the ever-growing media base results in securing top tier, targeted media placements to increase brand awareness, reputation management and sales for established businesses and growing entrepreneurs alike.

If you work with her, she also trains you how to appear in front of media. This is so important, I wish it was on billboards across the country.

Learning how to talk and act in front of media, and that includes podcasting, is among the most valuable training you will ever get. How to not say ‘um’ all the times. How to talk about your business – or your book – without sounding too braggadocios. How to remember to mention your book, more than once, throughout the podcast or interview. How to stay on point.

We aren’t born knowing how to do this. We need to learn how to do them, to be successful entrepreneurs. Andrea, as your Public Relations team, will teach you.

Evergreen Content

If we stop to remember that podcast interviews, any kind of interview done online – on blogs, or websites, or recorded offline and shared online on a media page – are evergreen, meaning they stay current and useful forever, we can start to understand the value of a PR agency like Andrea Pass PR.

Unlike old-fashioned press releases (you have to hear what Andrea says about those), the content created with digital media remains there for anyone to read today, tomorrow, and next year. Or the year after. The point being, if you’re an author, your book gets noticed over and over, regardless of how much time has gone by. In those olden days of print media, you were put in the recycling bin or trashed some other way, after a month or two. Lost, gone, and forgotten.

Andrea also talks about Place. And about understanding that sometimes, a smaller venue is a better venue. She tells a story about a client who was featured in a Mom blog and on the Huffington Post, and got more results from the Mom blog. Why? Because the Mom blog had focused, engaged readers who trusted her when she recommend products or books. The Huffington Post, by comparison, got a wider view, but the people reading it weren’t as engaged.

This is Rolodex Territory

Ah, remember the iconic Rolodex.

Ro·lo·dex/ˈrōləˌdeks/ noun

TRADEMARK•NORTH AMERICAN

a desktop card index used to record names, addresses, and telephone numbers, in the form of a rotating spindle or a small tray to which removable cards are attached.

INFORMAL a person’s list of business contacts and friends.

Everyone who was serious about business had one, in the mid to late 1900s. This was where you went to connect with the right people about a new business venture, or a new author. Public relations professionals must have had gigantic ones!

A classic black plastic Rolodex, filled with index cards holding contact information, sits on a brown desk.

Photo by Arnold Reinhold – Own work, CC-BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons

Today, online is your Rolodex. Today, someone like Andrea Pass can connect with the right person, at the right time, using her database of contacts, each one in its own descriptive box. I am making that part up. It’s how I envision a ‘Rolodex’ of today to work. Me, I have Outlook. It works. But then, I don’t need to connect with major media outlets like Andrea. I suspect she has a much better system than I (or you) do.

The key here is that knowing who to contact, or if you don’t have a who, how to contact the right person who will direct you to the who, is invaluable. Andrea calls herself a P.I. in P.R. So, a private investigator in public relations. She can cut the time in half, or more, that it takes to find that right person you want to talk to at major media outlets, or local media outlets. It’s her job, after all. Not yours.

I mean, would you let me or Andrea cut your hair? Clean your teeth? Do your accounting? Not hardly. And you wouldn’t do those things yourself, either. You hire experts to do them. Well, Andrea is an expert in public relations. Imagine how much more successful you can be, with her help. How many more books could you sell? How many more podcasts would you be on?

Just having a PR professional on the call makes you bigger. “Hi, this is Andrea Pass from AndreaPassPR, and I have a new author I think you’d be interested in interviewing.”

Wow. Better than, “Hi, this is Ben Castile and I’m a brand new author with a book titled… whatever… and I’d like to be on your show.”

Who is the podcaster going to take more seriously? Ben might get the gig, but if he works with Andrea, he will get the gig. No might about it.

Enjoy the show. Click the image. Don’t forget to connect with Andrea at the links below the video. See you next time on Smart Conversations. I have a very smart man who is going to talk to us about LinkedIn.