Marketing 101 with Cyndee Harrison of Synaptic Approach

Narrator: [: 00:00:00

Welcome. Welcome.

AM: 1220

I would agree with that. It's the, it's the female takeover. It is. It's a total takeover. But that does not minimize how, what a very close second that it is for our aspirin being spelled with an E. You're our extraordinary engineer, Jen, because we always appreciate you. You are just the best. Thank you, Tracy.

I appreciate that.

Yes. And If I don't push that button, he'll say, why didn't you push that button? So, you know, I have to I know. I know. I feel quite sure that he's found a way, even on the plane, he has found a way to be listening to the show today. But that's okay, because we have such an amazing expert on today. And of course, ask Brian spelled with the E is all about the experts.

ion, to provide insights and [: 00:02:00

And just all around amazing PR experts and what entrepreneur does not want to know more about PR, right? So, without further ado, I am going to bring on Cindy. Welcome

Cyndee Harrison: to the Ask Brian Show. Thank you. And how convenient. I spell my name so strangely, but I do have two E's at the end of Cindy, so it is fortuitous that our focus would

Traci DeForge: be on you.

Like [: 00:03:00

Cyndee Harrison: Which I've actually always really hated. But that's okay. Today, I'm really digging it. We're very cinematic today.

Traci DeForge: I love that. And so, Cindy, I know you have just an amazing background.

You've worked in marketing agencies for 20 plus years. You actually have just a tremendous amount of experience crossing all the media platforms and even including branding and project management and e commerce and just all things that are so incredibly important in building a brand. And you're also a founder and an entrepreneur yourself and you've won numerous accolades and awards.

the Ask Brian show today. So [: 00:04:00

Cyndee Harrison: Yeah, I am so fortunate. I have had, sometimes I'll sit and tell stories of different projects that I have been involved with or different things that I've been a part of and I sit back and I go, I just feel very, very fortunate to have worked with some really amazing people and I've had a lot of great opportunities.

e the content. I know you've [: 00:05:00

Are you interested in marketing? And it had never crossed my mind. So I show up, it was the first time I had ever gone to a business meeting, and I wore a little Sunday go to meet and dress, and I, I went in with my manila folder and a legal pad, I had no idea what I was walking into. And that project grew into a real passion.

And I immediately saw a connection between the storytelling that I loved that was so central to education being very, very similar to the process of telling brand stories in the marketplace. And I was hooked. I never went back permanently. And I found myself, we relocated to Michigan and, you know, our, our lives and careers took many different directions, but I ended up primarily working in agencies.

And for anyone who is ever [: 00:06:00

And so, I was working for an agency in Detroit, Michigan, and I'm driving to a meeting with my boss, and we had just left a really top level, multi million dollar contract conversation. And it was 2000, gosh, I guess it was 2010, and this guy is a smooth operator. And all of a sudden, he nearly wrecks the car, and he says, Oh my God, there's that pawn shop.

t, what is he talking about? [: 00:07:00

It looks like the Santa Claus line at the mall for photographs with this family. And we just happened into this. And here, my boss, who I is to this day my mentor, and he's the coolest operator I know. It's so starstruck and he looks at me sheepishly and he says, ah, get their business. And I had no idea. So I start doing what at that time I was doing a lot of, which was business development and sales.

started trying to reach out [: 00:08:00

And they were managing their, most of their marketing and whatnot internally. Now, luckily, they're very, very smart business people, very, very savvy. But I just kept on keeping on and were, you know, through persistence, came to know them, came to really like them. And it grew into, long story short, I worked for them for seven years.

re corporate communications. [: 00:09:00

So it was a very, very cool experience. And now I just have all of this exposure to things that I'm like, ah, I got to do more of this. So the show ended, I launched on my own. I am now very, very fortunate to work with the most brilliant, Fellow marketers and publicists that I know. So I consider myself the richest person in the world.

I really do.

Traci DeForge: Oh, that is okay. So I've heard a lot of founder stories on the Ask Ryan radio show. And none of them has involved swerving, almost creating a car wreck, to go into a pawn shop where a reality TV show is being filmed, and thus the magic happened. Like, that's amazing. Who knew? Who knew? Who knew?

But I [: 00:10:00

Now, of course, we know that I come from an audio background and a podcast production agency owner. So I'm going to always default to the storytelling side of things, but can you speak to why that is so important for a company, for a brand, for a founder, for an entrepreneur?

Cyndee Harrison: Sure. So public relations really is about telling your business story in a way that's not just That resonates with your target audience, right?

w it benefits them. In other [: 00:11:00

I do want, I don't want to, you know, derive some value for myself as well. And so it's really important that business owners not limit their PR efforts to just telling their own story, but also how it converts into value for the people that they work with. So it's all about building a reputation, not necessarily, you know, public relations isn't necessarily focused on sales as much as it is building and maintaining a positive image for your business.

You want to establish Relevant trust and authority, whatever your industry is, you got to be the top of mind choice when it comes time to call.

the stories to be out there. [: 00:12:00

Cyndee Harrison: Yeah, yeah, yeah. So there's a gal, Jeannie Dietrich, who has a blog of I just love her content. It's called spin sucks. And she put together an acronym that describes it very well. It's called the peso model. So it starts with paid media. So whenever we have an advertisement, right, like whether it's a Facebook ad, or even a billboard, anything that we're paying for, that's paid media is pretty easy to understand.

from the shop or we post our [: 00:13:00

We're, you know, not tactile things that we wrap our hands literally around, but all the media that we control is owned. And so earned media is really the realm where publicists and, and pr and it, you don't necessarily, no one never needs to necessarily partner with a pa. There's more than one way to gain earned media, but earned media is described as those.

broad interest. And then the [: 00:14:00

So earned media is really considered the brass ring. It carries a lot of weight because all of us know when someone else is talking about your story and telling your story, particularly if they come from a, you know, a seat of authority, then that carries a lot of weight. Even now, we live in such a strange world for journalists.

And they, they're under more pressure than ever, but even now people just really do trust the stories that they read in the media. And so it's a goal of entrepreneurs who are subject matter experts to tell their story in earned media pieces as is appropriate. I say that because not every entrepreneur is appropriately positioned to serve as a source.

ally important. If you stood [: 00:15:00

Absolutely. I I'm ready to bring them on, but actually we really work with, with folks to make sure the timing is right. Because. We want to make certain that our messages are consistent. Messaging should be consistent across all the platforms. So, there's a little bit of groundwork that we recommend before you just start ringing up the local media and offering your subject matter expertise.

solute prime and part of the [: 00:16:00

And when That actually would manifest for some of the entrepreneurs in the program. It really was all about timing because some of the entrepreneurs were ready for it and it launched their business and beyond belief. And in other cases, it was actually kind of detrimental because they weren't ready for the, I guess it's called the halo effect that happens.

Can you talk a little bit about that?

are very few of us that are [: 00:17:00

Traci DeForge: I mean, I would agree personally and professionally with that.

Cyndee Harrison: So I guess the best that we can do is to, and I love that you used the word manifest, let's go ahead and start building that infrastructure now. And just assuming she is going to call or whatever your ideal media hit is, go ahead and prepare for that and expect that it is coming. And what I mean when I say prepare for that.

Is to make sure that your messaging is consistent. And, and here's a good example. A lot of entrepreneurs, we try to delegate things, right? And I absolutely suffer from this myself. So a lot of times I am that cobbler who has no shoes, our brands, social media, of all the brands that we either manage or influence their social media.

falls to the end, right? So. [: 00:18:00

So here's what I mean by that. Um, I work with a lot of small business owners and leaders, and if they're going to scale, Then they have to delegate, right? We don't, all of us only have 10 fingers. And so one of the things that we work with people a lot is to make sure that if they have someone who is delegated to their messaging, say, for example, on social media, if their social media channels have a.

Culture or a [: 00:19:00

But then when you visit their showroom and you meet the actual designer, you find that their approach is really, really rigid and it wasn't anything that you were expecting based on that Instagram content that you had seen. Well, that is the responsibility of the business owner. That's an opportunity for the business owner.

rs of your team. That you're [: 00:20:00

It's really important that those are living, breathing pieces of our brand and our brand story that reflect the way we actually do business with one another inside of our organization with customers inside and out. And that way, our messaging is consistent. Because again, if someone sees a member of your team.

ion and then a viewer who is [: 00:21:00

They want to follow up, they go to your social media and you've not updated anything for many months. Or they sign up for an email newsletter on your website and they get like an error message. So that's why I say start with the consistency now. Go ahead and start, start manifesting that, you know, maybe the Kelsey brothers, whatever you are, whatever your brass ring is, Oprah.

A moment ago, we used Oprah as like, you know, whatever your goal is for your dream media hit, start back, you know, work your way backwards and be ready when they show up in your parking lot.

your external communications.[: 00:22:00

And when I left the broadcast radio business and started my own business full time, that is fundamentally my mission and purpose. Was to help educate people about how important it was because we would create amazing advertising campaigns and then drive traffic to a business and they would get there and then the employees wouldn't know that they were having a sale or they wouldn't have any idea of what the, you know, essentially Abbie award winning commercials were working, but the customer experience wouldn't be congruent.

ink it's talked about enough [: 00:23:00

Cyndee Harrison: Amen. And really, truly, wouldn't we rather have, you know, one or two quality long, I mean, depending on your business model, obviously if you're selling donuts, you can't afford to sell one or two donuts. So this is, you know, would be scaled to your business model, but wouldn't we rather have a manageable number of incoming clients that we can have a long term relationship with rather than tens of thousands of eyeballs.

ame. Anyway, I do think that [: 00:24:00

It's spearfishing for most of our businesses. It really is a spearfishing game rather than these wide net catching many, many shrimp. And again, We have to, we have to adjust these things and scale them to the type of business that we have. But I think a lot of the marketing talking heads are really talking to one another.

of the conversational space [: 00:25:00

And so that's why we really, we really do like the pay so model, we really do like focusing on earned media and establishing relevant trust and authority. in the industry specific audiences that are going to pay the bills.

Traci DeForge: And,

Cyndee Harrison: you know,

Traci DeForge: I want to point out an even more subtle takeaway for people who are listening today, and that is how important it is as an entrepreneur to align with other like minded entrepreneurs who feel the same way and are, and are really going to understand your mission and values and how you do business, because.

the conversation that we're [: 00:26:00

And I just, again, I think it's so important for people to seek out and whether it's mentors or whether it's like minded partnerships that have good synergy with your business model. I just think it's amazing. And that wasn't necessarily a question, but a statement, but I do, I really do. You may not know this, Cindy, but I'm known for a pivot during the show, and I really actually teed this up for it a little bit before, but not [00:27:00] intentionally, about how important it is to have synergy and, and align your business with the businesses that have the same types of mission and values and goals and objectives that you do, because that just makes everything, reduces so much friction and just sets everyone up for success.

And my pivot is to really talk about one of my most favorite things, which is podcasting and podcasters. And I love that you have really taken a stake and put a stake in the ground with supporting podcasters with PR. And even to the point where you have the podcastpublicist. com domain, which of course I love for branding purposes.

What was your passion behind [: 00:28:00

Cyndee Harrison: Sure. I love that question. Um, and in 2015. I was involved with a syndicated podcast through CBS, a CBS syndication and it was called Play.

it and the lesson that I learned, it was not a successful endeavor and I was a really low, you know, a very high level, a lot of really smart people. Just weren't able to make that work and essentially it boiled down to they, I think that what ended up happening was it was too difficult to grow podcast audiences.

just not. And at that time in: 2015

The [00:29:00] conventional wisdom of podcasting. Well, fast forward all these years now, we got involved with a client who is in the podcasting space and I'm like, Oh wow, I used to love podcasting. It's been a minute. And so we, we took a deep dive and we start really trying to educate ourselves, bring ourselves up to speed and I'll be doggone.

ing in the days that, back in: 2015

At that time, it was, you know, I can remember asking people like, Hey, have you ever listened to a podcast? And there, there were a goodly number of folks who had never even heard of it. Now, that's really not the case. There are voracious, it's like reading. And There are people that are more voracious consumers of podcasting than others, but really [00:30:00] it is more mainstream now, and as such, we feel that it is time for when folks are ready for a publicist, and not every podcast host is a subject matter expert, and not every business owner is ready to be a publicist.

I guess on a podcast, but when they are and they're ready to tell that brand story and share their subject matter expertise, we feel like we're in a great position to, to bridge that gap for them and to, to help flatten that learning curve, because there is a learning curve into how to pitch yourself and how to speak the language.

t out of the gate instead of [: 00:31:00

Okay.

Traci DeForge: Well, this conversation is so amazing. I can't believe that we're already almost to our, this not really stopping point, but definitely moving forward closer to the top of the hour. So I want to be sure, Cindy, that people can find you. I know we mentioned the podcast, publicist. com. But you also have so much great resources and other information.

So what is the best way, if someone wants to connect with you, what is the best way for them to reach out and be able to learn more about you, engage with you and your team? Sure. So podcastpublicist.

k yourself before you engage [: 00:32:00

So there's a free downloadable. Checklist that really applies to any subject matter expert, just to walk them through some of those things that we've talked about today about being consistent in your storytelling and your branding.

Traci DeForge: Well, I know people are going to absolutely want to plug into that. And I, I am just going to give a shameless plug for, you know, we, we work with, you know, hundreds of podcasters, obviously at produce your podcast.

ody to go and check that out.[: 00:33:00

And if you weren't able to write that down or you're afraid you're going to forget it, don't worry because the live radio show is also released as a podcast, and of course that's the Ask Brian, A S K B R I E N podcast, and you can find it wherever you listen to your favorite podcast, and this episode I know will be a fan favorite for sure.

So, we have a few minutes left and I really want to Basically speak to the entrepreneur, the business owner, the person who like is ready to get started, like what can people do if they're ready to get started with PR, they don't even know where to turn or what to do, but they know it's an important part of building their brand story and really even as a lead generation tool.

What are some of the steps you would recommend?

business, everything is big [: 00:34:00

We really need to nail down what is widely interesting about my subject matter expertise and so many businesses want to focus on, Hey, we're having a big sale or we're having a big promotion. And really what they're missing is their best opportunity is to add value as a subject matter expert. And so really, if you can do the job, of helping out that journalist, help a reporter out and help them accomplish their job, because they have a job of building news stories that are broadly interesting, widely interesting.

them and reach out and say, [: 00:35:00

And if you can boil your expertise down to those bite sized nuggets that will really help add a lot of, pack a lot of punch for that journalist, then there's no way that they aren't going to welcome the opportunity to work with you. I

Traci DeForge: love that. Okay, so one last question for you. What has been your biggest challenge that you've had to overcome as a founder and entrepreneur?

Cyndee Harrison: Ooh,

Traci DeForge: definitely scaling.

, very complimentary talents [: 00:36:00

Your reputation is everything and when you bring on new folks onto the team. They are a part of that reputation. So that's been, that's been my ongoing challenge. I'm really proud of how it's going and our team works really, really hard to serve our clients. So, so far so good, but it has not been easy. I concur,

Traci DeForge: but I've also met your team and they are fantastic.

Thank you, Cindy. Thanks for such a great show. You've been listening to K. H. T. S. F. M. 98. 1 a. m. 12 20 and hometown station dot com.

live or anytime wherever you [: 00:37:00

That's ask b r i e n. com.