The Business That Story Built Christie Bilbrey, Marketing and Brand Story Strategist, Entrepreneur, Speak

In this episode of the PR series, I interview Erika Heald on all things content creation and digital marketing. Today, managing your digital marketing can become frustrating and overwhelming. When it comes to content, it's easy to get wrapped up in the idea you’re creating content for the sake of it, but it is crucial to focus on the goals. The goal of today’s episode is to provide you with practical tips and tricks for navigating the world of content strategy that will build your confidence and your business growth. 

Some top tips … 

Thought leadership has become a must-include component of most brands' PR and brand-building efforts. It is so easy to post content for the sake of posting but focus on posting content that is authentic and starts conversations within your online community.  

Staying organized is the best way to reduce stress when planning your content. Utilize tools such as editorial calendars, content templates, and AI to maximize your efficiency and to ensure no aspect of your content strategy or plan is overlooked; even the smallest details matter! 

Make sure your content strategies are rooted in solid goals and objectives. Whether creating content for your next post or trying to determine the channel that best fits you, remember that your goals and objectives are the ultimate destinations for success among your audience and your strategy. 

Going viral should not be your goal! Going viral is a vanity objective, not a business objective, and it will not add monetary value to your brand. Remember, you are trying to share your message with a specific audience, not a giant one.

Commit to avoiding random acts of content marketing. Create useful content that your audience will enjoy consuming; don’t create something to fill your editorial calendar, create content you would spend time engaging with if you didn’t work for your company. 

This episode at glance … 

>>  (2:45-4:13) Thought leadership has become a must-include component of most brands' PR and brand-building efforts. But what exactly IS thought leadership? Thought leadership is conveyed by a person who is unafraid to share their opinions, even the unpopular ones. Thought leaders make a huge difference in your content, stand out from the crowd and truly connect with your audience. 

>>(4:16-5:30) Find different people to be thought leaders for your content. Utilizing various expertise will ensure you can meet all of your content strategy needs and allow your audience to connect with your brand more uniquely and authentically. 

>>(5:40-8:07) Content pillars are essential to marketing on every channel because they help you define what you want to talk about and what you want to be known for. You don’t always need to rely on keywords for pillars; focus on what drives a true connection with your audience. 

>>(8:10-8:59) Content marketing is all about getting to know your audience. Similar to servant leadership, you’re trying to be helpful. Rather than trying to sell your content you’re trying to be relentlessly helpful with your content. 

>>(9:33-13:33) How do I know my content drives business growth? Take a look at Gini Dietrich’s ‘PESO Model’. This model will help you understand that all content is interconnected, and you can create content that works best for your audience, messages, and objectives. 

>>(13:42-17:57) Editorial calendars help you organize your ideas, objectives, and pillars. This calendar is a flexible way to help you determine what you want to do and when you want to do it; it will also keep you accountable for committing to a specific time and activity. 

>>(18:11-21:30) A common mistake in creating growth-focused content strategies is focusing too much on what your competitors do. If you only focus on sharing your version of what your competitors share, you won’t stand out as a unique voice in your space. 

>>(21:40-24:55) The best way to gain momentum on a small budget is to make sur

Today is a short, solo episode focusing on slowing down and enjoying the Christmas season. Grab a cup of coffee or tea, take a breath, and let’s reflect.A few takeaways … 

Look for easy ways to slow down, take a break from the frenzy of life right now, and enjoy re-centering your thoughts on what is good and things that matter outside of your work life.

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“I love Christie and The Business That Story Built podcast!” Does that sound like you? Please consider rating and reviewing my show! This helps me support more people like you who want to build a stronger business. Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!

Also, if you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast! Every week I release an episode that helps strengthen the stories we tell ourselves and the stories we tell others. Follow now!

Ways to reach Christie Bilbrey

www.christiebilbrey.com

hello@christiebilbrey.com  

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christiebilbrey/ 

Instagram: https://instagram.com/christiebilbrey 

A Lawyer’s Secret Weapon to Grow Reputation & Business Development with Angela de Cespedes
PR Series
In this episode I interview Angela de Cespedes, a litigation partner in Saul Ewing’s Miami office. She specializes in commercial litigation in sports & entertainment, eSports, and video gaming. We discuss the importance of taking your business development online and engaging with potential prospects, colleagues, and others to maximize your time while building your reputation and network.A few takeaways … 

Identify business development activities that can draw your audience to you.

Prioritize your efforts to show up consistently online in a way that will raise your credibility for prospects, media, and others who are looking for someone who does what you do.

Take advantage of the headline LinkedIn gives you. Don’t fill it with something generic that doesn’t differentiate you. Think of the keywords you want associated with your brand. These are searchable and can help you show up for those in Google as well as on LinkedIn.

People will Google you and look at your LinkedIn profile before they ever go to your firm’s website bio. Make a great first impression by creating personalized professional profiles on social media.

This episode at glance … 

>>  (7:45-9:15) The importance of prioritizing PR in your legal career 

>> (9:30-11:20) Identify an approach that uses your strengths to grow your reputation & business development network 

>> (11:30-15:00) Why proper use of LinkedIn needs to be a part of your reputation building & business development strategy

>> (15:00-19:00) Mindset and time management choices to stay consistent with reputation & visibility-raising activities

>> (19:00-24:10) Define & protect your personal brand reputation & image

>> (24:15-30:25) Get creative to stand out with visibility efforts 

>> (30:30-34:15) PR trends lawyers should pay attention to 

>> (34:20-41:05) Best tips to maximize LinkedIn

Rate, Review, & Follow on Apple Podcasts

“I love Christie and The Business That Story Built podcast!” Does that sound like you? Please consider rating and reviewing my show! This helps me support more people like you who want to build a stronger business. Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!

Also, if you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast! Every week I release an episode that helps strengthen the stories we tell ourselves and the stories we tell others. Follow now!

Ways to reach Angela de Cespedes & Christie Bilbrey

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/angela-de-cespedes/ 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@lawyerswithgame6662/videos 

Saul Ewing: www.saul.com 

 

www.christiebilbrey.com

hello@christiebilbrey.com  

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christiebilbrey/ 

Instagram: https://instagram.com/christiebilbrey 

Download my free guide: Create Your Buyer Persona

Download my free guide: 10 Tips to Grow Your Business as a Podcast Guest

PR Series
In this episode I interview Sarah Bugeja, the VP of Marketing for Later, the social media management software company. We discuss unique challenges that B2B business owners have with social media as well as how to more effectively take advantage of all that social media has to offer your business. A few takeaways … 

Many B2B companies don’t take advantage of differentiating their business from others in their space with their creative content on social media, so many competitors begin to look and sound the same. 

A recipe for successful content on LinkedIn and other platforms is making sure that it is entertaining and interesting.

Sharing the stories of your wins and losses - and doing it in a way that uses layman’s terms, so that others outside of your industry can follow along. Your vulnerability will draw your audience to your willingness to be authentic and show that you don’t only share a highly-curated feed, making them more inclined to trust you and follow you for authentic tips and help. 

When repurposing content, think about where else you will want it to live before you create it. 

Look for opportunities for partnerships and collaborations to get in front of new audiences you want to target.

This episode at glance … 

>>  (6:15-11:50) Missed opportunities for B2B companies on social media

>> (11:55-15:05) Which types of content are most effective for B2B companies to engage audiences on LinkedIn

>> (15:05-17:30) Best ways to provide content that humanizes your brand

>> (19:45-24:30) How to approach paid ads with social media

>> (24:33-26:00) Taking advantage of the best times to post on each platform 

>> (26:05-26:30) Does scheduling posts affect your views? 

>> (26:20-28:25) Tips for repurposing content on other channels

>> (28:30-29:45) Metrics you should and shouldn’t focus on

>> (30:00-35:00) How to be seen by more accounts when a platform isn’t showing your content to much of your audience

>> (35:05-36:50) DM strategies to be effective and not spammy with cold outreach 

Rate, Review, & Follow on Apple Podcasts

“I love Christie and The Business That Story Built podcast!” Does that sound like you? Please consider rating and reviewing my show! This helps me support more people like you who want to build a stronger business. Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!

Also, if you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast! Every week I release an episode that helps strengthen the stories we tell ourselves and the stories we tell others. Follow now!

Ways to reach Sarah Bugeja & Christie Bilbrey

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahbugeja/ 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/mavrck/ 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/latermedia 

 

www.christiebilbrey.com

hello@christiebilbrey.com  

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christiebilbrey/ 

Instagram: https://instagram.com/christiebilbrey 

Download my free guide: Create Your Buyer Persona

Download my free guide: 10 Tips to Grow Your Business as a Podcast Guest

Meaningful Metrics for PR with Mark Weiner
PR Series
In this episode I interview Mark Weiner, the PR industry’s leading expert on meaningful metrics for PR, to help businesses and PR pros understand how to successfully communicate with each other, develop fruitful relationships, and dive into the details of data that shows what’s working, what needs to change, and how to make strategic decisions based on data from PR metrics. 

Believe it or not, this is a heated topic in the PR world because it has long been difficult to find extremely helpful PR metrics. A lot has changed in recent years and we discuss best practices, how to get the PR pro and the client speaking the same language to understand what success looks like, what’s possible to measure, and how to set expectations. A few takeaways … 

If you don’t understand the values and speak the language of data that executives speak, it will be very challenging to communicate the effectiveness of PR efforts. Getting on the same page with communication up front and identifying exactly what success looks like is essential to successful PR efforts in the eyes of the client.

While you can spend a lot of money on price promotion advertising to make more money in the short run, the money often stops when the ads stop because people are more cost sensitive and less loyal today. It’s like turning on and off a spigot. PR doesn’t have diminishing returns the same way as advertising. When the ad stops running, they cease to provide returns but PR lives online for years and will continue to serve you, delivering a much better return on investment than advertising.

The more involved the decision of the buyer, the more online research they are likely to perform before making a decision or even talking to a salesperson. PR stories and online reviews can carry much more sway than ads for buyers.

Taking your client through a PR audit up front is an important element in setting your objectives. It’s most helpful for a client to go through this with a third party who doesn’t have a vested interest in a positive outcome. The most honest responses are given anonymously, confidentially, in an online survey, where the results are only given in aggregate. 

This episode at glance … 

>>  (4:45-9:25) How to reduce friction between PR pros and clients in finding meaningful metrics and data as well as what to do with it 

>> (9:30-14:15) How measurable objectives prove the value of PR

>> (14:15-13:00) While PR may not drive the most sales in volume, it does provide the greatest efficiency

>> (13:05-21 :45) What to measure and how to maximize measurement insights to grow your business

>> (21:45-22:15) Key insights that companies and PR firms should look for in their metrics and the role of technology in it 

>> (27:20-40:00) The most important questions to discuss at the outset of a campaign or working relationship to develop the right program to track the right metrics 

>> (40:30-48:00) Most overused metrics 

>> (51:50-55:00) Good options for small businesses who can’t afford expensive focus groups for research

>> (55:40-1:05:00) How to tell stories from data

Rate, Review, & Follow on Apple Podcasts

“I love Christie and The Business That Story Built podcast!” Does that sound like you? Please consider rating and reviewing my show! This helps me support more people like you who want to build a stronger business. Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!

Also, if you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast! Every week I release an episode that helps strengthen the stories we tell ourselves and the stories we tell others. Follow now!

Ways to reach Mark Weiner & Christie Bilbrey

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-weiner-0ab74b1/ 

PR Technology, Data, and Insights book on Amazon : https://a.co/d/dOR5hDQ 

www.christiebilb

PR Series
In this episode I interview Gini Dietrich, creator of the PESO Model and founder of Spin Sucks. We discuss the PESO Model approach to communications strategy. For those unfamiliar with it, this approach was launched in 2014 and is now taught to every PR, marketing, and communications student in the United States and talked about by marketing and PR firms nationwide.  It’s a pretty big deal when your approach becomes an industry standard in less than 10 years. We discuss how this happened, why it matters, what it is, how to implement it, measure it, and where the industry is headed next. 

Some top tips … 

The PESO Model was developed by Gini Dietrich to avoid the peaks and valleys that naturally come from solely focusing on media relations. By expanding to incorporate owned media, shared media, and paid media into your communications strategy, in addition to media relations, you can continue to build awareness, lead generation, and more when you don’t have a great press piece coming out that month.  

The PESO Model is best implemented by starting with owned media (including blogs, podcasts, and videos), adding shared next (social media), and then moving to earned (media relations) and paid (social media ads, sponsored content, and email marketing).

Everyone should at least measure direct traffic, organic traffic, and branded search with Google Analytics. When direct traffic increases month over month, it demonstrates that your communications program that builds awareness is working. Organic traffic shows that your content, social media, and media relations are working in driving people to your website. By going into Google Trends and typing in your company name, if you see an increase in searches for your brand, then your PESO components are doing their job as well.

If you haven’t yet experimented with Chat GPT, start by typing in a prompt for something you’re working on, like an article, and ask it for 500 words on your topic or headline. It won’t be the final draft but it will be a first draft and will help you save time. Gini uploaded a podcast script and asked it to optimize for search, write some headlines, write a meta description, and write me seven tweets. Again, it wasn’t the final product but it was a timesaver for a first draft.

This episode at glance … 

>>  (5:00-6:30) What is the PESO Model and why was it created 

>> (6:30-10:30) The strategic order to approach implementing the PESO Model

>> (10:30-13:00) Overlap and differences between marketing and PR

>> (13:05-19:00) What to measure and how to maximize measurement insights to grow your business

>> (21:00-25:00) What do PR and corporate communicators need to consider in light of Chat GPT moving away from search engine results pages 

>> (26:00-27:40) How to get your message in front of journalists when departments are shrinking and they are doing the work of 5-6 people   

Rate, Review, & Follow on Apple Podcasts

“I love Christie and The Business That Story Built podcast!” Does that sound like you? Please consider rating and reviewing my show! This helps me support more people like you who want to build a stronger business. Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!

Also, if you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast! Every week I release an episode that helps strengthen the stories we tell ourselves and the stories we tell others. Follow now!

Ways to reach Gini Dietrich & Christie Bilbrey

www.spinsucks.com  

www.christiebilbrey.com

hello@christiebilbrey.com  

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christiebilbrey/ 

Instagram: https://instagram.com/christiebilbrey 

Download my free guide: Create Your Buyer Persona

Download my free guide: 10 Tips to Grow Your Business as a Podcast Guest