How to increase your confidence for PR success
Typically, when would-be clients say that they don’t feel confident seeking PR they mean one of three things (if not all of them):
1. I’m not sure who would want to hear my story
2. I don’t know what stories resonate and therefore what to pitch
3. There are certain levels of PR I haven’t experienced and so don’t feel confident about pursuing
The first two statements are easily rectified through coaching, templates, swipe copy, scripts and a bespoke PR plan, as will be provided at Media Magic (my retreat for business women, experts, coaches and authors who want to uncover a quick and systemised process to pitch the media so that they can get onto more top platforms, be seen as industry experts, and start raking in larger paydays) on July 25th-29th, 2024.
The third statement is more of an inside job because “I can give you the exact steps and strategy, but if your mindset and your psychology are not in it, it’s not going to work” (Holly Haynes).
When it comes to mindset, one of the things that a lack of confidence can cause is anxiety but, as I once heard, “the opposite of anxiety is not calm, it’s trust”. What this all comes down to is this question- although you may not have experienced the levels of PR that you want now, do you trust that once you have been exposed to the tools and strategies that you need to get there, you will implement them?
If the answer is “no,” your lack of confidence will be a self-fulfilling prophecy. If the answer is “yes,” though, you can expect outcomes like Margaret, who said:
Why using your voice is the key to unlocking your next level
How many times have you shrunk or downplayed your personality? And how many times did you think doing this would help you advance in the business world? One of my earliest memories of being told I was being “too much” was the feedback I’d get on my school report cards. They often read, “Nina is great, but she talks too much.” Well, all I can say is look at me now (lol). I literally get paid to speak and coach other women to use their voices to pitch the media and tell their stories.
But I’m not the only woman who’s turned her “too much” into her superpower. I recently asked my IG community what they got in trouble for when they were younger and how they’ve turned that into their superpower as adults and businesswomen. Here are some of their responses:
How to sell yourself for PR success
"Self-promotion is an essential tool for career advancement [and] networking" (The Harvard Gazette).
In other words, visibility begets visibility because people (rightly or wrongly) believe that those who've been featured in/on respected media platforms are more credible; have greater expertise and authority. Here's the catch, though:
Women are less likely to reap these benefits because, according to research, women feel less at ease with promoting themselves than men- which in turn means that they're less likely to do it. What this really translates to is less access to:
PR opportunities
Clients who will trust and want to work with you
Brands and influencers wanting to collaborate with you
Moral of the story?
5 things holding women back in PR
Anyone who knows me knows that I’m a HUGE Disney fan!
The film that started it all? The Little Mermaid, which I got for my 5th birthday.
One of the things that I love about Disney movies is that they typically have deep, inspirational messages that can be applied to everyday life. The Little Mermaid is no exception.
In case you’re unfamiliar with the story, here’s an example of that:
Ariel (The Little Mermaid) dreams of being human.
When she falls in love with Prince Eric, she goes to Ursula (the sea witch) for the opportunity to kill two birds with one stone:
Become human forever
See Eric again, get him to fall in love with her and seal it with a kiss
Ursula agrees to help Ariel, but the gag (catch) is that:
She wants Ariel’s voice as collateral
Ariel will only have 3 days to find Eric and experience true love’s kiss
Without that kiss, not only will Ariel not get her happily ever after, she’ll be Ursula’s prisoner forever.
I know what you’re thinking, “How do mermaids, sea witches and having magic spells broken by true love’s kiss relate to my life, Nina?”
Well, the truth is that we all have Ursulas in our lives- even you
Your Ursula may not be a plus-sized purple octopus with a powerful singing voice like Ariel but, as a woman, there are plenty of things vying to sabotage your visibility dreams and steal your voice.
In fact, there are 5 voice stealers that personally stopped me showing up before I learned the tools needed to overcome them.
I recorded a video (below) about them because I don’t want the same things that stopped me from stepping out into the spotlight to also stop you.
The most misunderstood thing about confidence and PR success
In a lot of my recent conversations with women about what's holds them back from achieving their PR goals, confidence has come up a lot. Here's the thing, though. Confidence is something that must be cultivated. We cultivate confidence through practice. If you sit around waiting to feel (more) confident before you do the thing you've been putting off, it will never happen. In my experience, action precedes confidence; not the other way around- which means if you implement, execute and stay in integrity with yourself, the rest will follow. Not sure how? Well…
4 ways to build confidence for PR Success...
When I first started my blog, I wasn't confident in my writing skills; so I would write my blog posts, record myself reading them and then send them to my friends Isata and Daryl every...single...week. And every single week, they would listen, give me feedback and affirm both me and my talent until I finally got to the point where I was so confident in my abilities that I didn't need to send the voice notes anymore. Now things have come full circle and I get the chance to serve my clients with the very copywriting skills that they helped to nurture via done-for-you PR services and The Perfect Pitch Packet. Through this journey, I have learned the importance of the following for building the confidence needed for PR success:
How to gain confidence for PR success
Have you seen Oprah + Viola: A special Event on Netflix, sis?
If not, it's basically a really great interview between Oprah Winfrey and Viola Davis based on Viola's new autobiography (Finding Me)
There were so many nuggets shared between the 2 ladies throughout but my favourite lines really came from the quotes that they shared about courage
Such as "Courage is the most important of the virtues because without it, you cannot practice anything." (Maya Angelou) and "All courage is, is fear said with prayers." (Anne Lamott)
I loved these lines because they perfectly covey what it takes to gain confidence for PR success…