Podcast Episode: KJ Blattenbauer discusses public relations for brands and businesses at any scale

Transcript

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (00:05)

Hi, hello. Tell everybody who you are and what you do.

KJ Blattenbauer (00:07)

Hello.

My name is KJ Blatenbauer. I'm a publicist and an author, and I've spent nearly three decades helping entrepreneurs and brands go from being overlooked to becoming recognized authorities. ⁓ Being in public relations for nearly 28 years, I've seen firsthand that visibility, it's not about ego. It's about credibility, confidence, and opportunities. And I'm all about helping people step into the spotlight so they can grow both themselves and their business.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (00:39)

amazing. This is needed more than ever before because the personal brand is necessary in today's economy for pretty much everybody in different forms. But it sounds like you've worked with people who are doing great things, who really needed extra attention to spread the word about extraordinary projects. Do you have some stories you can share?

KJ Blattenbauer (01:05)

Sure, don't even think, look, everyone I get to encounter and every one of my clients, they are all extraordinary. But I really believe that anyone from your local plumber down the street to someone who owns a bakery to a famous celebrity you see on TV, I think everyone is at the same level and we all have amazing stories, right? Like one of the biggest myths out there is that PR and visibility is about chasing fame or going viral or it's only for people you see from Hollywood or big names, that sort of thing. And it's not.

PR is about amplifying what you're passionate about and sharing your gifts and your story with the world. So I'm over here in the States and I have clients that, you for us in the United States, you think of big time people coming out of New York City or you think of them coming out of Los Angeles and then everything else is just flyover States. It's just where planes go back and forth. There's nothing there, but I have interior designers in the Midwest ⁓ in the middle of the United States that are producing amazing kitchens.

beautiful living rooms. They are some of the top interior designers in the world and most people couldn't even find where they're from on the map. And it's just taking what their story is, what their gift is, and it's finding the right way to package it. And I think that's what all your listeners should be doing. I think it's what every entrepreneur should be doing personally.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (02:22)

Completely agree. And this is so exciting to be able to teach people about this because for it to explain my background, I did have some experience in having to bring attention to what I was doing. But then in my personal life, I was trying to look for services sometimes where the best people you can barely find them. And sometimes it's just knowing someone who knows someone because

You can't even Google them like what you said and, or maybe the details are out of date, things like that. So I'm wondering to get started. What's the first thing someone should do if they are creating anything at all that they want to provide.

KJ Blattenbauer (03:10)

I think they need to take into account three tangible takeaways first, right? And the first lesson I think they need to teach themselves is to stop being consistently boring. I think a lot of people are told to just be consistent and they're like showing up every day doing the same thing, whether it's blogging, whether it's their podcast, whether they're on social media, and they just, know they have to post something every day, but it's nothing meaningful. It's making them very forgettable.

If you're gonna be showing up consistently, whatever that looks like for you, Monday through Friday, three times a week, once a week, monthly, however it is, make sure that when you do show up, you're saying something that sticks with your audience, it sparks interest or conversation with them, and it spreads. It's something that they can talk about their friends, their peers, their colleagues. They can talk about you in rooms that you're not in. I think that's the first thing. I think the second thing is to remember that authority beats virality.

Like going viral feels fun. It sounds great on social media, but it's basically the equivalent of like a sugar high authority is what's going to pay your bills. So a feature in your, in the right publication, you know, a customer referral on the white right referral or community website, ⁓ a podcast interview, a panel of appearance, all of that's going to do more for your credibility and your business and your bottom line than a million TikTok views ever will. I mean, the true story is if I went viral tomorrow on Instagram,

I might gain a couple hundred followers, but are those followers gonna buy stuff, or are they just checking out what the hot thing is, the second, and then they're gonna bounce? I think the third thing people should take into account is their elevator pitch. ⁓ It matters more than you think, right? When you asked me what my introduction was, if I was just like, I do public relations, people would be like, ⁓ okay, like they lose interest fast, right? So if you can't clearly say who you are, what you do and why it matters in 30 seconds,

No one else is going to be able to either. And also, no one else is going to care. So you need to dial in your elevator pitch because clarity is going to be currency for you. And a way that I would recommend people do that is through like the, call them the three P's of visibility. So the first P is presence, right? How you're showing up consistently in front of the right people. Once you know who your target audience is, once you know where they're showing up, make sure you're showing up there and you're consistently in front of them.

showing your expertise, showing your value, showing how your product or service can change their life. The second P is going to be positioning. And that's the narrative you're shaping about yourself, about your expertise, about what you offer. Make sure that across every single platform you use, website, social, when you're in interviews, when you're talking to people at networking events, make sure you're always saying the same thing so they don't find you one place and think, oh, you know, like he's a, he's a

a taxidermist and then over here they're like, no, he's a life coach. And you're like, are they the same guy? Like you want it to be consistent across all platforms. And then the third P is going to be press. Credibility markers are press hits and it doesn't matter if it's digital, if it's in print, if it's broadcast, if it's going to be a podcast, press is a credibility marker that proves you're the real deal. Like if I tell you I'm amazing, you'd be like, okay, well.

That's good to know. Tell me more about why you're amazing. But if you see my name in Forbes, Entrepreneur Inc. on this podcast and other podcasts, you're going to be like, wow, she really is amazing. Like she's credible. So if you focus on the three P's, presence, positioning and press, you're going to always move the needle on visibility, credibility and authority for yourself.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (06:38)

There's so much for everybody to learn there. Firstly, I wanted to start off with the positioning because you need to know who you are before you can then tell everybody. So that's a great place to start. A lot of people, whether they are entrepreneurs or people who maybe have a job and decide hustle into something else, they will lovingly or happily call themselves multi-passionate. And

Legitimately, some people are good at a few things, but we still need a focus. I'm wondering how do you guide people who need to provide a point of focus for the audiences when they are interested in a few different things?

KJ Blattenbauer (07:22)

Well, I think it's figuring out how the, if those few different things tie together or if they're separate because right. Everyone has, if you go through a basic marketing class, they're going to tell you, you have content pillars. Here's the four buckets or here's the three buckets. Here's the things that you should talk about. And I think it's figuring out how those buckets or there's those areas of interest all tie together and then working that in into your brand. Right? Like we're all not.

one dimensional. We're all multi dimensional creatures. We all have multi hyphenate, you know, like I'm not just a publicist. I'm an author, right? I have my own business. I guess that makes me an entrepreneur. You know, like you're not just a podcaster. You're a speaker. You hold amazing workshops. So it's just figuring out the right mix of how to put those things together. And sometimes it's great to have another person that's not emotionally invested in your business, like a professional like me to help.

guide you and steer you because it takes the emotion out of it and it shows you what an outsider or how an outsider is going to view what you do.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (08:23)

That is crucial for sure. Sometimes people need to know what other people think about them because maybe the way we see ourselves isn't how everybody else sees us.

KJ Blattenbauer (08:35)

Right. I also think, you know, a good mini exercise to do if you ever feel like you've jumped your skis or you've gone too far ahead of yourself or your messaging is all over the place. think ⁓ write down three things you want to be known for. Not your entire resume, not every single thing that you do, not all the hats you wear, like the three things. If you could only be known for three things, what are the three things you want to be known for?

And then I think you take those three things and they become the backbone of your visibility strategy, right? So anytime you post, anytime you pitch yourself to be on a show, a podcast, be a speaker, anytime you share your story with others, it should tie back to at least one of those three things. And I think that's how you build a clear, memorable, authoritative brand.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (09:20)

Three things can be so focused and there's a magic in the three because that's so similar to how I learned how to present a speech because people can't remember a long list. So part of what you're telling people is don't try to be known for 20 or 30 things.

KJ Blattenbauer (09:37)

Yep. Right, right, right. I all most of my things if you haven't noticed already, I do things in threes. I think the third time's a charm. think threes just a long enough to remember and really being known for three things. That's a lot to be known for, you know.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (09:54)

It is, it is. And it's freeing enough because then we're not just one thing. And I'm wondering if you've seen people tying in there a few different occupations into one purpose, because within your writing and within your consulting and whatever you do, you are helping people to gain their attention. So does the purpose sometimes.

KJ Blattenbauer (10:19)

Mm-hmm.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (10:23)

tie all of the different interests together.

KJ Blattenbauer (10:26)

⁓ think 100 % the purpose ties all the things together. You know, we talked about one of my clients is an amazing interior designer. She designs the most beautiful kitchens, but they're not only beautiful, they're functional. She walks every kitchen and she urges all her clients to walk out a recipe before they decide what the layout of the kitchen is going to be because it has to be functional and useful, not just pretty. But she's good at doing that because she loves to cook.

She loves to bake, she loves to do recipes. And so that teaches her how to teach her clients how to do things. I have an awesome author and speaker on my roster. She is just amazing at marketing and technology and all things STEM. She is a, when little girls dream to be a scientist, that is my client. And her passion is that she wants to see more people like her. She wants to see more women in her field. And she's done.

everything she can, being a speaker, being an author, starting a nonprofit to help funnel people into that. So yeah, I think 100 % your purpose is going to drive everything.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (11:27)

purpose, find the purpose. Absolutely. You talked about consistently, consistently doing things that people actually talk about. And we mentioned before we started recording that people go on holidays for significant chunks of time and as much as self care is important and as much as a break can revive people.

What would you say to people who are perhaps wanting a few breaks in the year, but they need to maintain their presence online or in the public space between all that?

KJ Blattenbauer (12:10)

Well, I think the great thing about technology today is that you can schedule things and people won't even know if you're on vacation. I think vacations are important. I love a good rest. I love a good beach holiday. Like I'm never going to tell someone not to take time off. But I think, I think it's being proactive. If you're working in your business, if you're promoting your business, look, if you, if you, tell you a quick story. A client came to me and she said she felt like the best kept secret in her industry. She's doing amazing work. No one knew her name.

So together we worked on her story. Like, here's what's inside of you that you think is just everyday mundane, that I as a publicist think is amazing and newsworthy. We'll pitch you to a couple of publications. We'll see where things go. We'll take it from there. Within two weeks, she had a feature in a national publication. And after that, she started to get tagged. She started to get quoted. She started to get booked on podcasts and then more interviews and then TV. And suddenly after a few weeks of working with me, and then ⁓ that national publication came out.

her client list doubled and her client list didn't only double, but she kept getting more press. It started to snowball. And then after her client list doubled after two months, by the third month of working together, she had gotten all this press. She had a 12 month waiting list for clients. You know, she could take all the vacations she wants. She's got that pipeline already built up. She didn't suddenly become more talented. She became more visible and that changed everything for her. So yeah, if you want to take as many holidays as you want to, if you want to take three months at a time off,

Schedule, have your content pillars created, know what you want to talk about, schedule it so it doesn't stress you out. don't plan ahead, whether you're going to have sales, launches, speaking opportunities, workshops, have that all planned ahead, and then pitch and promote all of your stuff. then once the media is out there, the internet's forever, right? Once those stories are out there, people can always Google, they can always find you. Drive them to your website, drive them to your email list, drive them to your freebies or your lead magnets.

No one knows if you're sitting here or if you're, you know, off in Paris, there, your systems will work for you. If you've promoted yourself, if you're out there enough, if you're, you know, hiding away in your house, no one's going to be able to find you. But if you're out there being visible, sharing your gifts with the world, it's going to do the work for you.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (14:29)

Absolutely scheduling content has really been a miracle these days. It really has and it does give people freedom. So I'll ask you for the people who are really getting started from scratch because I love to schedule things and that's something that I have looked into but for those who haven't even started doing that, what are some simple things because the systems look

People might think the systems are expensive or complicated and are wondering what's this simplified way where someone can get started with some basic systems.

KJ Blattenbauer (15:07)

Well, think you use the free tools, right? So I know that I'm not gonna show up every single day on social media. It's just not, it's not good for my mental health. I don't need to show up every day on social media. It's not part of my system. So for the three days I do show up on social media, I just have my post written. I throw it in the calendar invite. At 8 a.m., the calendar invite will show up and it's like, time to post. It didn't cost me anything to create that post. It didn't cost me anything to put it in my calendar. And that's a free way to schedule things out. So I never.

have to worry, you I don't have to pay for some expensive software to post it for me. Truthfully, I think sometimes the platforms like Instagram hurt you if you're using a scheduler tool like the fancy ones, right? That post everything for you. You know, not a social media expert, but these are the rumors I've heard. So I just go in and manually post it myself, but it's simple. You can use a calendar as long as you. If you plan ahead. You shouldn't have any problems showing up is my personal take.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (16:05)

plan ahead, it's that simple. So reminding yourself to do things. So you heard that the platforms will not give people as much reach if they are scheduling things a lot.

KJ Blattenbauer (16:19)

Well, mean, social media changes every day, right? So like today, Instagram is this size and tomorrow the posts on Instagram will be that size. And this today, TikTok's going away and tomorrow TikTok will be here forever, right? Those things, they all change. When I started, there wasn't even the internet when I started my career. And then we had MySpace and then it was Facebook. And now look at all the things that we have, you know, will Twitter stay Twitter? Will it become X? it go back? Does anyone care? I think

Those things all change. So the systems change and I think the rules change as they all try and keep people on their platform longer. So I would assume if you have a social media platform and you want people to stay on there, you don't want them to be using automatic schedule or tools because that means they're not even on your platform. The schedulers on the platform. So it kind of defeats your purpose of engagement and community and having people on your site.

You know, I think I sat through a meta talk like three years ago and they're like, ⁓ we don't share as many posts that are automatically scheduled. And who knows if things have changed since then, but I would assume since there are so many competitors for Instagram right now that yeah, I would assume that they still are faulting you if you're using an automatic scheduler.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (17:28)

Okay, that is insight for sure because I was absolutely trying to depend on the scheduling because it looked like a way to make life easier. But what you're saying is take a moment in the day of the week to put something out there in the moment.

KJ Blattenbauer (17:45)

Right. And I also think that a good thing about being out there, if you just are going to post, if you're just going to post something and then run away, you're not going to engage with people, whether it's on your post or you're not going to go seek out your ideal customers or people in your target audience or experts that you might want to have in your community. If you're not going to go interact with them or their poster is going to post your stuff and go away, it might not even be worth posting because I know that when I post something,

I go out and I engage with, I go out and I see what are my friends doing? What are my peers doing? What are, you know, leaders I aspire to have in my community doing? And I try and drop a few comments here or there. Then I'll do my post. Then I'll go look at some more things. In total, I maybe spend 10, 15 minutes a morning on like my social media platforms. But that engagement, you know, it leads to podcasts like this. Being guest on podcasts like this, leads to knowing kind of.

what other people in the world are doing. It gives me ideas for my content to promote because I see pain points of my target audience or their peers, ⁓ what they're going through. And so I think that engagement helps spike what I'm posting and promoting more versus if I just went out there, threw my post out there, didn't engage with anyone and then went about my day. Again, I think the social media platforms want to keep you on there.

because just like I'd want to keep someone on my website longer. So then they'll purchase something Instagram, Facebook threads X they're all, they're all the same. want to keep you on like Tik TOK wants to keep you on there and keep you on there and keep you on there as long as possible because that's how people get their numbers up. That's how they get their ad revenue. They want to trap your eyeballs. So if you're not on there and engaging, I don't think they're going to, they're going to forget about you.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (19:37)

Absolutely. He needs to actually engage with people. So it's, it's a two way conversation a lot more than how media was done decades ago. It's a lot more interaction directly with people. And I wanted to really check on something I've been wondering for a while. I see some people getting very dependent on a particular platform. And that came to me because you talked about how the platforms have changed.

and they will keep changing. And I see some people, get a little bit concerned, lovingly concerned that some people are identifying as I am on this platform. am just, I'm mainly on LinkedIn. You can find me on Facebook and it becomes a little bit dependent. And I'm prone to this as well to some extent because I connected with so many people on Facebook, but I'm branching out now, but I'm wondering,

What can you say to people who are very much depending on and identifying with specific platforms instead of creating their own?

KJ Blattenbauer (20:44)

Well, I'm all for what I can control. And so what I can control is my website and what I can control is my email list. And while it feels like I could control my Facebook account or my Instagram account or TikTok, and yes, I can control what I post there. If one of those went away tomorrow, all of my followers, all of my content, any discussions I was having on that platform that could lead to business, it's all gone.

But anything that I'm, any conversation I'm having on my emails, in my personal website community, in my personal inbox, those are all something that I own and I can control. That doesn't go away unless I decide to shut down my email list. And so I do believe that, look, social media is a great tactic among many other tactics to further promote yourself. I don't think social media is the be all or end all for promoting yourself. I think it's.

one thing in addition to other things. ⁓ But I think having a website is valuable. And I think having a way to get leads is valuable on your website. And I think having an email list is crucial. And if you don't have an email list, you need to start building one because, know, what do you what happens when like Instagram goes down for an hour and everyone flips out? So what if Instagram goes down for days? Or what if Instagram goes away? What if TikTok really does go away? How are you going to

promote your products, how are you gonna promote your services to people? An email list can keep going and going and going.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (22:13)

Definitely.

It really can and email when you have that contact list, then you can send emails to those people, regardless of what tools you have. It's accessible. It's affordable. And even the websites, some people will say, I can't afford a website. There are affordable ways to get one. I'm sure, I'm sure you would agree. People can just start with anything, anything that they can control.

KJ Blattenbauer (22:42)

Right.

Anything at all. You know, I think now if you Google it, I'm not even sure what they call, but you can get just a one page like Lincoln bio and put it together. I think you can link off of like you could literally probably build something off of Canva and link it worth, link it from your Facebook page, link it from your ⁓ Instagram, link it to your Tik TOK and it can have everything you need. You don't need to have a big flashy website. You don't need to spend $60,000 to have someone build you a platform.

You don't even have to spend the $12 a month it is for like a Shopify hosting. You don't have to have all of those fancy things. There's a million different ways to work around. You could have just one contact page or just one of those digital business cards that pulls up and people can reach you that way. It's really deciding how you want to show up in the world, but also what's the best way for your ideal client to reach you. however they...

interact with people, however they reach out to people, however they conduct their businesses and services, that's where you want to show up. Otherwise, you know, it's like a love language. My love language might be gifts, but if my husband's is acts of service, you know, he's going to be like, why do you keep giving me gifts? And I'm going to be like, why do you keep mowing in the lawn? Like I want chocolates. So you just have to meet your people where they are.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (24:01)

Meet your people where they are. Absolutely. And that could mean that some locals will want a business card and then others want to find you online. Meet them where they are. It's not about when we're providing something for other people, it's not about what we prefer, it's what other people prefer. Totally. I want to branch out beyond the platforms and to the tools for a second, because people do focus so much on the tools and those things are so important now, but

KJ Blattenbauer (24:19)

Yep.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (24:30)

You're talking about credibility and attention and, and you emphasized that it's not about ego. It's about spreading the word and positioning yourself. That is so relatable for Australians and yes, people in other countries. The, the label, the phrase that we have over here on the other side of the world is the tall poppy syndrome. I don't know if you ever heard of that. Yes. Okay.

KJ Blattenbauer (24:58)

Yes,

which is brilliant, by the way. Brilliant. Brilliantly named. You know, I mean, I think it I think it's the same no matter where you are. Visibility isn't about vanity. It is a strategy. If you are excited about what you do, if you're good at what you do, if you're passionate about what you do, share that with people.

Share it with people just like you would share it with your best friend. Talk to them about what you're passionate about. You know, like you talk to people about rugby, you talk to people about traveling. Why wouldn't you talk to them about what you're the most passionate about? if your business is your baby, why wouldn't you, you know, you talk to them about your kid kids, why wouldn't you talk to them about your business baby? The thing that I see among my friends all the time is if I'm at a party and you, I know you, but you haven't met one of my friends and...

you ask my best friend, hey, you know, like, what do do for a living? And she's like, ⁓ I bake. I would step in immediately. And I would be like, she doesn't bake. She is the best baker ever. You should see these cakes. I'd be pulling out my phone to show you her cakes. Like I would be hyping her up because she is extremely talented at baking. I would be hyping her up. Like she was on one of the cooking shows, you know, and I would be telling you all the great things about my friend till you're

eyes probably roll back in your head, you'd be like, all right, KJ, I get it. Like, she's fantastic. We need to do that for ourselves. We need to talk about ourselves the same way we would talk about our best friend. And I think that's choosing yourself. I think it's shaping your story. And I don't think that there's anything vain or wrong or egotistical about that. Visibility isn't vanity. It is a strategy. And the only way that other people are going to have a problem with that

Which by the way, we shouldn't worry about what other people think about us. It's none of our business. But the only reason other people have problems about it when someone becomes too tall of a poppy is because you're reminding them that they're not growing. And people don't like to feel uncomfortable and they don't like it pointed out that they're not growing. When someone else is chasing their dreams, it tends to create space from the people who aren't chasing their dreams. But that's a them problem. That's not a you problem. Keep chasing your dreams. They'll catch up or they won't, but that's on them.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (27:13)

It really is. I also wonder when someone is focusing so much on what we are doing and worrying about it, why aren't they directing that worry towards what they are doing to boost themselves instead?

KJ Blattenbauer (27:28)

Right.

Right. We have, we're a sports household at my house. And so we have a theory where, you know, the people who are commenting, the peanut gallery, the people who are commenting from the stands, from the seats, the ones that are always talking, talking, talking, talking, talking, they aren't in the arena competing. They had to buy tickets to be there. And they bought tickets to watch what we're doing enough to talk about what we're doing. They're wasting so much time. Like you said, they could be go doing something themselves.

but they're just focused on what we're doing, which means we're doing something spectacular because not only are they talking about us, they pay to be there. They can't look away. So keep on shining is what I would say to my friends.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (28:08)

Keep on shining. And to go back to your story about how you would talk about a friend, that is crucial. And I think that people need to really zoom in on that for a second, because I can relate that to my own experience this year. I was simplifying it too much. was mainly in community, and it's great to be branching beyond that. But I tell people, I do speeches. I've done speeches for a while. And I think...

There's a simplified version in that people do all sorts of things. The I bake is classic or people say I write, but when you own the value of it, it was actually someone else locally who said to me, you need to really emphasize more than that. was someone locally who said, you've been doing this for a decade and a half. And.

I kind of just took that for granted. I'm just me. And I think that we do because we see our own humanity and our own flaws. That's what we focus on. But it sounds like you are helping people to actually focus their own minds and other people's attention onto the value. And I'm wondering what other things can people look for within what they do?

to understand the higher value of things that they're already doing.

KJ Blattenbauer (29:41)

You know, well, I think it goes back to something we talked about already. Write down the three things you want to be known for. Like literally put them across the top in columns of a sheet and then write down everything you're proud of that you've done that fits into each one of those buckets. I'm sure you're going to have an amazing long list. Like nothing's too big or small for that list and just fill it all out there. All of those different things are stories. All of those different things are ways you can promote yourself, put yourself out there. What might seem minuscule to you is

huge to someone else. What might be a struggle that you've made it through might help someone else make it through the struggle. I literally have the best job in the world.

Am I saving lives? No, I'm not a surgeon. I'm not scrubbing in. I'm not curing cancer, but I get to take people's hopes and dreams, the things they've worked so hard for, and I get to share those with other people and I get to help them live those hopes and dreams further. I get to help them monetize those hopes and dreams. let, you know, there is no better feeling in the world than when one of my clients gets their first press hit or their 50th press hit or sees their name somewhere or published or gets announced to be on a stage or wins an award. It is the

best feeling in the world, to just see them light up because someone has recognized the struggle and all the time and energy they've put in. And it's the greatest thing. Greatest thing.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (30:57)

You love seeing other people get attention.

KJ Blattenbauer (31:01)

Yeah, yeah, who doesn't want to see their friends succeed? know, a rising tide lifts all boats. Why wouldn't I want to, if I know how to promote things, why wouldn't I want to bring the next person along with me and show them how to promote things? The universe is not on a budget. It has enough abundance for all of us.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (31:19)

that's something to keep in mind. There will be some out there who are thinking this person has attention. How could there be space for me or this person has done this category already. So do you see people ever worrying about that? And what can you say when someone is worrying? Someone else has already done a version of this. I hope that everybody can

personalize what they do and their version of anything.

KJ Blattenbauer (31:51)

Right, right, well, I mean, when you think about it, so...

Like there's all the, there's the whole blue ocean strategy book, right? Like you find, you know, the ocean's a very vast place. There's room for all boats. You just have to find the place to put your boat and that's where your people are going to be in fish and whatever. It's been a while since I read the book, but at the same time, there's always people are like, there's so many coaches in this field. There's so many people who do this kind of pottery. There's so many artists that do art kind of similar to mine, or there's so many writers writing books. And then they like talk themselves out of doing something. But then you look at,

Take social media. There's hundreds of thousands, if not millions of accounts on social media, and that isn't stopping anyone from posting on Instagram. So I just don't think there's a million different ways to make spaghetti. It's still spaghetti. There's a million different ways to bake a cake. It's how the person, you provide the secret sauce, how you're gonna coach, how you're gonna speak.

how you're gonna bring people together is different than how the next person's gonna coach, how they're gonna speak, what they're gonna teach people, their life experiences. And I think we all have a unique perspective that we bring to whatever it is we do. I might handle publicity a different way than another public relations professional. I have a different way of looking at things. Public relations has been around for hundreds of years. It's nothing new. same principles are all the same.

But some people are better at it than others. And I really just think it's who you are as a person that sets you apart that I don't think there are any markets that are too crowded. Because if there were, they wouldn't exist. Look at all the different kinds of cars. Do we really need another type of truck? Probably not. They're probably going to roll out four new models any day now.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (33:38)

Yes, they will. There's always a new version of anything. And I'll go back to how you said people need to get the right sort of attention and do something that people will talk about. I'll go back to that again, because if someone is doing their own version of something, then there's an opportunity in that to

do something weird and I want to get your opinion on the really weird PR. We've all heard about the stunts that Richard Branson did many years ago, that sort of thing. Do you think that most people should be getting weird or what, where do we draw the line in all that?

KJ Blattenbauer (34:23)

I think we all have our schtick, right? I think back in the day, it was a little refreshing to see him act like a silly goose, but I don't know if in today's age and time, those things would fly. For me, when it gets around April Fool's Day, I'm always like, this is going to be cringe for so many brands and a few are going to shine, right? But if it's not executed well, I'll be the first publicist to say it. All press is not good press.

Does all press get your name out there? Yes, but there's bad press you can't recover from. And do you really want to make your like Cracker Barrel? They changed their logo. Not for the better. Do you really want to have that kind of strain on your employees to try and fix that mess after you spent that much money on something as silly as a logo? And now when you think about it, like some sort of stunt. ⁓ no, I just I think whatever you're comfortable with, whatever your stick is, I think you should stick with that.

because we all have themes and things that we believe in. But I also think it's what's next after you do this PR stunt, what's next? What's it really gonna do for you? Because if it's a stunt just to bring eyeballs to you and then you have nothing else to offer or it's completely different than what you're offering people after the fact, like it's one thing to be a comedian and do something just outrageous. And then like, I have a comedy special coming out or this is just my comedy act, blah, blah, blah. It's another thing if you go do something completely outrageous and then are like,

Hey, come to my workshop. You know, it's just, it just might not ring true.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (35:54)

You're saying have the right offer after you get attention as well. That's so crucial. I'm still navigating that a little bit. And I hope I'm wondering if you guide most people or everybody to have something that locals can look at. then even if someone is just locally creating things, have something that people online can experience or I'm wondering.

how do you guide people who are maybe bit blurry on their offer, even if they got to the hang of getting attention?

KJ Blattenbauer (36:30)

Well, I would say before you even want the attention, you should have an offer. Because if you get attention, like for instance, back in the day, Oprah used to have her favorite things list. And if you made that favorite things list, you were guaranteed to sell 15,000 to 30,000 products or whatever the service was, whatever the book was. The second that thing got published, if you couldn't provide that you had the website that could handle the traffic, you had the product or a way to make the product where people weren't going to have to wait more than two weeks to get theirs.

you wouldn't make that list. They would not let you be on that list. And you had to sign legal documents saying, hey, yep, we can fulfill this because otherwise it's a nightmare if you can't. I would say that there are some people who are not ready for PR. If you don't know what you want your product or service to be, or if you're still kind of figuring it out, I would wait till you are crystal clear on at least one product or service before you do outreach. I would also make sure that there is a clear way for people to contact you.

whether it's a website, whether it's your email, whether it's on a social platform, I would make sure that, you know, clear product or service offering, a way for people to reach you, and a way for you to collect payment, right? Like, businesses don't run on hopes and dreams. Like, we all have bills to pay, you know? Like, I wish that my optimism would keep the lights on, but unfortunately, I have to pay the electric company. So I think having your operations down,

You know, done is better than perfect. But I think having at least one clear offering a way to people to know about it or purchase it and a way to collect funds for it, then you're ready for PR. But until then, you know, you're not ready.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (38:11)

One clear offer that's a focused way to get started for sure. And then once people have that offer, then they can get all of the extra attention. And the Oprah example is a great one because that was huge. it would be interesting to see whether attention is a lot more scattered now or just ultra segmented because

Oprah's doing something now, but we don't have those shows ⁓ getting the eyeballs as much as years ago.

KJ Blattenbauer (38:49)

Right.

But now we have the TikTok trends. Like there were the scary dolls earlier this summer, the Labooboos. They were just, you know, they looked like those tormented bunnies or whatever they were. But, know, they would pop in your TikTok and then they were everywhere. And you're like, who, what? You're spending that much money on a scary doll that you're going to hook on your purse. Okay. I mean, but when things take off, they take off. Now, if you were the Labooboos people and you weren't prepared and you didn't have enough of those little gremlin creatures, then you're kind of in trouble.

Right? Or like, you hear it all the time. They're a clothing company here that was part of by the Kardashians. It's called good American. They had for the first time, plus size denim and jeans for plus sizes that was unheard of when they first launched, which seems silly and like this day and age. But when they launched their campaign, they're like, yeah, we have a couple thousand in each skew. They sold out in hours.

and they weren't prepared to sell out in hours. And they didn't have the leech, know, in fashion, you have to have things lined up. You can't just turn something really fast. It takes months. They didn't have any of that. So it almost, the day they launched was almost their last day in business because they weren't prepared for the backend of what they all needed. So it's just having your system in place. It's just having a plan. So if you have your one offer, if you have your one product, if you have a way for people to reach it, ⁓

Then you're ready for publication think about like artists if you are hand sketching beautiful things and you you put an offer out there where you're gonna hand sketch someone's know, you're gonna do a beautiful charcoal drawing of someone's home and then Martha Stewart's like ⁓ I got this beautiful charcoal drawing of my home and then they link to your Etsy site and you wake up the next morning and you have to hand

create 50,000 charcoal drawings of people's home, but on your Etsy site it says, we'll be ready in five to seven business days, like your hand is gonna fall off. So you just have to make sure that when you are promoting yourself for attention, that you've thought through the process of how you're gonna get things to people, that you've thought through anything that could become a customer service issue.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (40:56)

If you get the great quantities that are the ideal and the dream, then how would you make it happen? Definitely. I was so surprised to hear that story about the good American because you would think that those people would know what's required and it sounds like it can happen to anyone.

KJ Blattenbauer (41:17)

It can really happen to anyone. can happen to anyone because you never know. Like I think I have the best ideas all the time and I put them out there and they flop. And sometimes I'm like, we'll just see, you know, like this is something I can throw together easy and it takes off. So you really never know unless you're completely dialed in with your target customer, what they want. And it's knowing those things and then making sure that if you sell out, you can easily get those things back.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (41:47)

Absolutely, absolutely. I have been wanting to ask about the worst case scenarios so that people can feel empowered and prepared. Because I love talking about all the positive things, but it's worth asking. For example, we mentioned in passing that when someone is growing tall poppy style that people might react to that a bit. But as a publicist,

KJ Blattenbauer (41:58)

Mm-hmm.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (42:16)

It's great to share wisdom with everybody about firstly, what if people are really reacting to someone and also what would you say about outright classic crisis control?

KJ Blattenbauer (42:32)

Well, think deep breath, right? What feels like the end of world, the end of the world to us is probably going to be limited to a very slow, a small news cycle, right? Like, unless it's a huge, huge crisis, it's not going to last days and days and days. It's going to be a very big point in time. I also think you have to step outside yourself. So is there an internet troll and are they bothering you? Well, the first rule is you don't feed the troll, just ignore people.

You know, people that want to, people that seek you out on social media, comment negative things, want to get your goat, want to make you feel bad, think they've really done something from their mom's basement, typing behind a computer. ⁓ Just ignore those people. They just want attention. And if you don't, if you don't give those weeds attention, they do not grow. ⁓ If it gets really bad, you know, I wouldn't say limit comments because then you are limiting the comments from people who want to engage with you, want to hear your stuff, but you can delete their comments.

If it's a bad review, I think it's taking an honest look like, this bad review on my restaurant worth it? Is this bad review on my product? Is it true? Like take yourself and the emotion out of it and be like, okay, is this the experience people are having in my restaurant? Is this the experience people are having with my product? And then it's a personal outreach. You know, there's a reason why on Yelp and other review sites, you can respond as the business to try and.

soothes the situation to try and get more information. Sometimes the person just wants to be heard. And then if you're responding, you're hearing them. I also think that if it's something huge, like if you're the Coldplay guy and you're at the Coldplay concert and you get busted with someone else's wife, that is not a good day. That is a PR crisis. But I also think that there's, mean, well, one, the number one thing, maybe don't have an affair and go to a Coldplay concert. That would just mean this publicist's advice. But on that note,

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (44:20)

you

KJ Blattenbauer (44:25)

I think there's a right and wrong way to do things. think that they're, you know, everyone loves to see people rise from nothing. And then we put these people on a pedestal and we start to get a little jealous because it reminds us of all the things we haven't achieved. And it shows us things inside ourselves that we might not like. And that's an us problem. It's not that person up there's problem. But then when that person falls off that pedestal, people seem to kind of like that too. It's just a weird part of human nature.

But what's important is if you do the rise, if you're on the pedestal, if you fall off the pedestal and everybody wants to see you fail, it's not true. Not everyone wants to see you fail because what people love more than anything is the bounce back. It's owning your story. If you made a mistake like the Coldplay guy, and if he had just come out right away and been like, I made a mistake, this was wrong. If he had just apologized to his wife, to his kids and been sincere about it.

It would have been a whole different news cycle. It wouldn't have become the joke that it was. But now I see that he's out there saying that he was in an open marriage and he's going to sue anyone that talks about it. Like, buddy, you are not doing yourself any favors and also get a publicist because who is telling you to put these public things out there? Just stop. I think if anything happens that goes south, it's assessing the situation. Is it a troll you can ignore?

Is it a customer that you should reach out to personally or through whatever the channel is that they made their displeasure known? Or did you truly make a mistake? Did you screw up? And if you did, sincere apology. But with that sincere apology, and it has to be sincere, you also then have to follow it up with the actions to fix what you just apologized for. And after that, nothing should be an issue anymore. Then you have a chance to redeem yourself and you just have to keep showing up as you promised that you would.

and people will forget about it. You'll move on. It'll be a little footnote.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (46:20)

That is such an example. And I don't know if it was weeks or months before that guy said he was in an open marriage, but at the time what stood out to me was that suddenly people were associating that company just with that incident. And the thing I loved about how things unfolded is that eventually Gwyneth was saying, it's great. Everybody has such an interest in.

this tech now and they were bringing the attention back to what they're really about. That was really crucial. Do you agree that if there is a crisis like that, there's space to bring it back to what someone is really about?

KJ Blattenbauer (47:09)

Yes, I think there's always space to bring it back to what things are really about. I would say that there's a tasteful way to bring it back to what things are really about. ⁓ Do I have a specific idea of what I would have done differently besides calling in Gwyneth? No. But ⁓ I do also think you have to take a step back and look at it for what it is. That company needed to save itself. It was getting bad press. At the same time, it's a story about two families that are kind of going through something awful.

incredibly publicly and there are kids involved. And I think you always have to be extremely, like you should be extremely concerned about anyone's feelings, but when there are kids involved and like two marriages are getting ruined, I think that there's a mindful and a tactful way to move forward and go about things in a combative way. Like the male CEO handled things was not the way. So, you know, the Gwinnett thing, was it funny? Yeah, it was funny, but

Ugh, when you take a step back, the whole thing is just sad.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (48:10)

It really is. And you mentioned the kids. think people around the world weren't thinking about that. And that whole saga, everybody saw it. was, it was so deeply entrenched in everybody's minds for days and weeks. And everybody from every walk of life turned it into a joke. It was just, it became a cultural phenomenon. I remember seeing these

mock-ups at whatever you call it from Ikea and you know so many brands were piggybacking off it. It was a whole thing in itself. But I think that that incident became somehow a product and behind all of that there were children and you're bringing things back to the humanity of things.

KJ Blattenbauer (48:59)

Mm-hmm. It does.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (49:08)

Feel so grateful that I have seen relatively sheltered versions of attention because when there is family involved and when people do need privacy about some issues, I think it's absolutely worth looking at that for a second. If you want to give some wisdom to listeners, maybe they have.

children or maybe they are caring for a family member with extra needs or maybe someone is struggling with their own personal health issue privately and they don't want the world to know or whatever it might be and then if someone is having a personal brand and a public presence but they still need to keep those boundaries, how do you guide that?

KJ Blattenbauer (49:57)

Well, think it's remembering that just because your business is public or you might want to be a public figure, it doesn't mean you have to tell people everything. You don't have to give people your diary. They're not hiring you to know your innermost secrets. You only have to share what you're comfortable sharing. So first of all, I think it's setting hard boundaries for if I had children, my children would not be on social media. They wouldn't be mentioned in anything. I wouldn't be telling stories about them.

When I write bios for my clients, I tell them not to put their kids in there because the world is full of weirdos. And I just, she's a mom to three beautiful kids. Okay, I can see why you would be proud of that. I would be proud of that. beyond that, let's not say anything. I even kind of am like, ⁓ three kids, we have to tell them how many you have so they know how many to kidnap. It's that sort of thing or how many that they need to taunt. I'm always really...

proud of the celebrities who don't show their kids' faces on social media because people will go harass those kids, right? And it's bad enough that, you know, they're probably getting harassed at school for things their famous parents say all the time. They don't need to get it from strangers on the internet or have how they look be attacked by strangers on the internet. ⁓ I really feel...

Like you just don't have to share your whole life with people. And if you're personally going through something, whether it's illness, whether it's hard times at home, whether, know, sometimes it's just hard being an entrepreneur and you just need to take a break. You just say it. You don't have to, you don't have to even say why, you don't, see press statements all the time. My family is dealing with a difficult time. We're asking for privacy right now. ⁓

know, Kelly Clarkson just had to do it. She stepped away from her very fabulous talk show earlier this year. She didn't give a reason outside of the statement that just said, you know, stepped away to deal with a personal family matter for enjoy our guest hosts for the next for the next little bit for the future. And they didn't even give a timeline and then they would have different guest hosts host or show. Well, we know now that she had to step away from her Vegas residency and a couple other commitments because sadly her ex-husband, died from cancer. Right. But we didn't know until

You know, it's not it's none of our business what's going on in her home life and whether she's a superstar or whether you're, you know, Sally down the street from you. No one owes you every single thing that's going on in their life. That's just unless they're 100 percent filming a reality show. And even then, reality people are not sharing you with you everything that's going on in their life. think it's picking and choosing your boundaries, picking and choosing what you want to share. And if you're stepping away from something or you're going through something and you need to take a social media break.

Say why, if you feel like it, or just take the break and step away. I mean, it's not an airport. You don't have to announce your departure.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (52:40)

love that so much, so much. It's okay to take a break. To be real with you, I can share that in my twenties, I think I was seeing the opposite of some of those things. As I said, as mainly in community, wasn't, I wasn't a Kardashian and I was sort of glad for that, but there were people saying, don't take a break, just keep going. And that was just...

ingrained in my beliefs so much that even months ago, I didn't know how to stop. so I think that hearing from a publicist, it's okay to have a pause. I love how every conversation I've had on this podcast comes back to self care.

KJ Blattenbauer (53:25)

Right, because selfishly from my world, if you've done all the press up until you need to, if you have everything rocking and rolling and you don't physically have to be there to provide your service or your product, you can take all the pauses you want. The press is going to snowball. Your stuff's going to sell just because you're physically or mentally not there. If you have the newspaper articles, the podcasts that are running, your website's up and going, things are being fulfilled product or service wise, people won't know if you step away or not.

You don't have to tell people what you're going through.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (53:56)

You don't have to say things. And I have a question that really reaches for something that I normally pursue. So I try to look for some people who know and understand that there's more than what people are saying online. And I'm wondering if you align with it as well, where if someone is creating a public presence, they're still.

keeping a few people around them selectively who are seeing beyond what's public so you can still be a human being.

KJ Blattenbauer (54:32)

True, true. You're the company of who you keep, right? So if you're the company of the five closest people around you, I hope one of them really knows you inside and out, and they can call you on your BS, and they can share your joys, and they can remember you before you were the famous person you become, or they can remember you from the startup, and they can love you the same whether you're making a dollar or millions of dollars. I hope there's at least one person in your circle like that. ⁓

What you tell them in the middle of the night during like sleepovers is not what you have to share with Bob on Instagram. Like it's just, you just don't have to, you don't have to do that. And along those same lines in that circle of five people, I hope you only keep people that have your best interest at heart. Because if you do go from making a dollar to millions of dollars, if you don't have the right circle around you, someone's gonna sell you out and tell all your secrets and you don't want that either. So just, you know.

Quality, not quantity, of people in your group.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (55:34)

Be careful about who is in your inner circle.

KJ Blattenbauer (55:37)

Mm-hmm.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (55:40)

So true, so true. I wanted to bring it back to products for a moment as we wrap up in our last five or 10 minutes, because it has been amazing talking about the very personal human side of all of this. But at the end of the day, most people who are creating a public presence are doing it because they want to provide something. do you have perhaps some final words of wisdom?

for people who are trying to create the best possible offering, be it a product or service, and they are trying to narrow down their targeting. Maybe they have been just local and only serving their one suburb or town for a while, and they are wondering if they should stick with that, but also...

Just any last words of wisdom for anyone who's trying to make sure that their offering is the best thing that it can be before they are ready to then share it.

KJ Blattenbauer (56:47)

Right. Well, I think you find where your ideal client is, the person that you really want to serve, the person that you think your product or service is best suited for, and you reach out to five strangers or you reach out to five of your customers and you ask them, hey, how's your experience been with my stuff? Full disclosure. What could be improved? What do you like about our product? What didn't you like about our last launch? You ask them. And if there are people who have, you know who would be a great person to source? The people who come and abandon a card on your site.

Like what made you not want to purchase? What about this doesn't feel right for you? Just ask the question. I think the best way for you to grow is to do research, right? Research your product, research your service, get on that old Google machine and Google, okay, what are people asking about? Insert your profession here. If I needed to think of content for public relations and new services, if I wanted to serve my clients best, the first thing I would do is Google.

I would literally Google, what questions do people have about public relations? And then I'd Google after that, what services are people Googling for public relations? And I would find it. And then because it's me and I have to know more, I go to chat GPT, I'd ask the same questions. I would cross reference to those things and I narrow it down. From there, I'd reach out to people who I think could benefit from PR, who aren't my clients, but I think should be. And I'd be like, hey, I have a couple of questions for you.

love to give you some free PR advice if in return we could have a focus group of one and I could ask you five questions, not 50, not a ton of their time, not taking them to coffee, five quick questions, less than 30 minutes of their time. ⁓ And I think that that would help you build an offering. Then if you're already someone who knows what your offer should be, say you're a real estate agent, right? And you're in your tiny community, but you wanna start serving the community next door, the town next door, or you wanna grow regionally.

Okay, so you've probably been featured in your local media outlets. Why wouldn't you extend your expertise to other ones? If you're doing blog posts, if you're doing podcasts, if you're doing social media posts, Google what questions do people have about real estate? Pitch yourself to your local media and to the media a couple cities over. Go national if you want to. Go international if you feel like it. I'm assuming that there are certain tactics for selling a home that are universal.

So I think those are simple ways to broaden your scope, to narrow down what your offering should be, but then to also promote yourself externally.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (59:15)

That's so much that people can do. Thank you so much for the practical solutions that everybody can do to take the next step in their process. KJ, if someone wants your guidance or more wisdom from you beyond this conversation, what should they do?

KJ Blattenbauer (59:35)

They can visit my website. It's hearsaypr, H-E-A-R-S-A-Y-P-R dot com. Or you can find me on Instagram. My handle is at KJ Blatenbauer and that's at KJBLA-TTEN-B-A-U-E-R. Or they can pick up my book, which is coming out at the end of December and it's called Pitchworthy and it's going to have 20 of the best PR tips that is going to help you excel.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson (1:00:01)

pitch-worthy. Awesome. Everybody should read that. Thank you so much for the conversation.

KJ Blattenbauer (1:00:02)

Mm-hmm.

Thank you, thank you, I appreciate it. Thank you for having me.

Thank