How to Best Capture the Mainstream Spotlight and Ensure Your Long-term PR Success

When entrepreneurs own and claim their true gifts, and then learn to shine them into the world, that is how the people they are meant to serve will find them. This is also the core proposition of good PR.

In 20 years of public relations and marketing experience—repping clients from Hollywood to NYC and Silicon Valley—I have found that my signature niche is helping others identify and share their niches with a mainstream audience.

Owning my special knack for this is what drove me to recently start coaching consultants, small business owners and experts in executing their own publicity campaigns.

The Biggest Mistake

The top mistake that I see so many entrepreneurs and business owners make is that they wait to implement public relations, thinking that it’s a “luxury” or something for “later” or “when I…”

This is partly due to a misunderstanding of what public relations is and how it works. To most people, it remains a mystery, which is why I’m opening the kimono in my online PR Stars Programs, where I’m showing how it’s all done.

The truth of the matter is that everything in this day and age is about PR. How you’re seen and perceived across all platforms is paramount. Social media and online marketing are part of your PR—and PR is the glue that ties it all together.

It’s an evolving business, and now, most PR professionals are functioning in more of a digital PR capacity. We’ve had to adapt to the ever-changing online universe and all that it has brought us in the past few years.

Your Message

One of the main jobs for any business owner is to have good PR, which leads to higher visibility and credibility—and that leads to more business success, such as sales, partners, investors or donors.

You get to this end goal of success by ensuring that you have strong positioning in the marketplace.

There are so many competitors and so much clutter in our 24-hour news cycles that it requires powerful and impactful messaging to make your mark and establish a brand.

Knowing what makes you, your product and/or services different, special or unique is fundamental. Then, being able to convey that to the right audience in the best way possible is how you will secure the most optimal results for long-term success.

In PR, we are focusing on relationship-building with the press and influencers. Some influencers now have even more sway than top tier traditional media outlets.

If knowing your positioning, messaging and how to get it in front of the right people is key to your business success, would you want to incorporate it into your business from day one?

Everything is about marketing. And marketing your message is PR.

What’s Stopping You?

I’ve also found after working with countless clients over the years that one of the biggest hurdles is learning to own the spotlight.

When we let our doubts, insecurities and other limiting thoughts or beliefs hold us back, we’re only doing a disservice to ourselves and those people that are out there searching for our help.

You know that there are people who are meant to find you so that you can fulfill your life purpose and help them with theirs.

When we don’t shout our accomplishments and our mission from the mountain tops, it’s that much harder and takes that much longer for our tribe or community to find us.

Some will say that it’s too much in the ego to promote oneself. I say that it’s more egoic to hide in the shadows. The ego will always try to sabotage you, so don’t let it keep you small.

One Action Step

What is one action step that any business owner can take right now to start moving the PR needle forward?

One of my best recommendations—that I tell everyone I meet—is to sign up for a free service that all PR pros and entrepreneurs in-the-know use to get results. I have no affiliation with the service, but I do know that it works.

I’ve used it for my agency clients, and my PR Stars community uses it on the regular to land incredible editorial results in mainstream media. From Fast Company to high profile blogs and podcasts, using this one tactic, along with my guidance and hacks, has changed the trajectory of many businesses.

The site is helpareporter.com (aka HARO), and I’m also gifting you my pitch template that landed one of my agency clients an LA Times story.

The HARO training in my PR Stars Inner Circle is one of my most popular modules because it gives an instant confidence builder to members that start landing fast and easy press results.

When they see an appropriate media opportunity, they are forced to own their expert status, quickly learn how to pitch themselves for editorial results—thus, stepping into the spotlight with grace.

You’ve Got This

So much of our journey in this life is about intention. By committing to simple action steps, we tell the universe what we want and show it that we’re willing to put skin in the game.

My best advice to you for long-term PR success in your business it to own, claim and shine your gifts into the world.

If you’re feeling challenged or stuck in this area, please join us in my PR Stars community where others just like you are going through the same journey.

You’ve definitely got this!

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Heather Burgett is an award-winning publicist and CEO & founder of The Burgett Group. In the past 20 years, she has represented Grammy® and Oscar® winners, authors, billionaires, celebrities, consultants, experts, philanthropists, rockstars and top brands.

In her PR Stars Programs, Heather guides spiritually-inspired entrepreneurs, experts and small business owners into the mainstream spotlight by teaching them how to shine their special gifts, make headlines and gain a global audience. She has been featured in mainstream media, including The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, PR Week,Variety and KCET-TV’s “SoCal Connected.”

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To receive your complimentary pitch template that gets you into major newspapers, click here.

This story was written as an original article for Equallet.