The Vault Unlocked

From Unknown to Unstoppable

23 min
Sep 2, 20258 months ago
Listen to Episode
Summary

Jill Lublin, a publicity expert and author of Guerrilla Publicity, discusses how entrepreneurs can build brand visibility and trust through earned media without large budgets. She emphasizes authentic messaging, strategic alignment with national observances, and leveraging local media as pathways to national recognition.

Insights
  • Earned media (publicity) builds trust more effectively than paid advertising because audiences perceive it as third-party validation rather than self-promotion
  • Authentic messaging aligned with personal identity and values outperforms fabricated personas; consistency comes from core message, not rigid narrative repetition
  • Local media coverage generates national pickup through producer networks actively scanning for featured experts across multiple platforms
  • Strategic timing using national observances and holidays (planned 3-9 months in advance) creates natural hooks for media outreach without paid placement
  • Access to media decision-makers and show hosts is the primary bottleneck for entrepreneurs; direct relationships and curated networks dramatically accelerate visibility
Trends
Shift from paid media to earned media as trust-building mechanism in B2B marketingAI systems identifying and amplifying individuals with existing media presence and name recognitionRise of fake influencer economy using rented assets (private jets, luxury settings) to create false perceptionGrowing skepticism of paid podcast placements; free podcast appearances becoming preferred publicity channelAuthenticity and alignment with personal identity becoming competitive advantage in crowded marketplaceLocal-to-national media strategy replacing traditional top-down PR approachNational observance calendar optimization as low-cost publicity planning toolMedia panel access and direct host relationships as premium service offering in publicity coaching
Topics
Earned Media vs Paid Media StrategyAuthentic Personal BrandingPress Release and Media Pitch TechniquesNational Observance Calendar MarketingLocal Media Outreach StrategyMessage Development and PositioningElevator Pitch PerfectionMedia Panel Access and NetworkingTrust Building Through PublicityAI and Name RecognitionGuerrilla Publicity TacticsIntrovert Communication StrategiesDiversity and Identity-Based MessagingFree Publicity ModalitiesMedia Mastery Intensive Programs
Companies
Forbes
Referenced as high-profile publication target for publicity; featured placement signals credibility to AI systems and...
Essence Magazine
Example publication where client gained coverage by aligning story with Black History Month observance
Black Enterprise
Publication where business communication coach gained coverage through identity-aligned messaging strategy
BBC
Example of national/international media reach achieved through local media strategy in UK market
People
Jill Lublin
Publicity expert, author of Guerrilla Publicity, founder of media mastery intensives; primary guest discussing public...
K-Von
Host of The Vault Unlocked podcast; interviewer conducting conversation with Jill Lublin about publicity strategies
Quotes
"Publicity happens from the minute you walk out your door. You are representing yourself, your business. All that is important to you in making a living. Let's do it right. Let's do it smart."
Jill Lublin
"Social media is not publicity. Please. You are not doing your publicity if you think you're doing social media."
Jill Lublin
"Be authentic to your message, who you are. That's scamming and my clients don't scam."
Jill Lublin
"When you're in local, you get picked up national and international because they're looking. Producers are scanning all kinds of resources and they are looking for experts who are featured in different places."
Jill Lublin
"Four out of five business professionals who try to cut through the media fail. And it all comes down to one thing: access. They don't have access to the people."
Jill Lublin
Full Transcript
You're listening to the Vault Unlocked where the real secrets of success are revealed. Every episode, one founder, one confession, one strategy that created income, scale and unstoppable growth. The code is cracked, the vault is open. Today we have Mrs. Publicity herself, Jill Lublin. How are we doing today? I'm doing great, K-Von. Great to be here with you. Yeah, I'm really excited to have you here. I love all things publicity. I think we're living in a world where everything is about your brand and getting attention and publicity is all about that. So please tell us a little bit about, you know, a little bit of who Jill is. How did Jill get to this spot? You know, what do we need to know about publicity? Why is it important? All of it. Well, thank you. So I got to this point. I actually wrote a wonderful book, Guerrilla Publicity, and that kind of really catapulted everything. I used to own a PR agency, so I'm really big on how to get things done. I took all that PR agency experience where people paid me a lot more than what I charge now. Why? Because my heart's with the entrepreneur, and I wanted to create ways to get publicity done without spending a fortune. I do that now in what I call my media mastery intensives and my small group programs, just really letting people get publicity done like no kidding, no nonsense. So that's been a lot of fun. I actually started my career in the music business. And if you want to talk, yeah, how to get out there, wow. The music business is all about perception. So that's really where I learned my chops, so to speak, in the music business. Now I use this with entrepreneurs and small business owners to really get your word out there and do it in smart, simple ways. Well, you just said something to me, which I love that. You said is perception. That's a big word, and I know what that means, but I want to dig deep. I want to go in that a little bit. Before we do, Jen, I want to make sure people understand the difference, because there's a massive difference between publicity and marketing and or sales and whatever there else might be. I want them to really understand, like when we say publicity, what is publicity to you? What does that mean to you? Yeah, well, first of all, publicity happens from the minute you walk out your door. What am I saying? I mean, in the Zoom room, I mean for a cup of coffee, I mean at the airport, you're always doing publicity. You are representing yourself, your business. All that is important to you in making a living. Let's do it right. Let's do it smart. That's really what I want you to do with your publicity and get it done well. So, is publicity going to get you sales? Yes, it will. Will it get you prospects and clients? Yes, it will. Will it grow trust in the marketplace so that people say, I've heard of you somewhere. Oh, yes, it does. You know, so it's really about getting known, being seen, being heard, and getting paid and using publicity as a strategy to do that, which is free and is like really earned media. So that trust factor is really huge, meaning people see an interview of you like we're doing here today. We're laying down foundation, giving people value and benefit. That goes a long way to creating trust in the marketplace. So let's give some benefit for someone. If someone was sitting there and they don't even, they're going, what, publicity? I've always wanted publicity, but how do I get on to the Forbes? How do I get on to the stages? How do I get seen? How do I get on to the top 10 lists and et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, all that stuff? I don't have a budget. What can someone do when it comes to publicity, specifically publicity for their brand that gets them seen, like you said, that gets them known, that gets them to build the trust? What are some of the things that you teach people doing in that regard? So one of the things I'm big on is getting, creating a message, a strong message that people care about that's consistent and persistent in the marketplace. Like who are you and what problem do you solve in the marketplace? That's a biggie. So I love helping people with that. It's actually a talent of mine to find the right message that matters because the truth is it's not always just about your business. It could be a story. It could be something you've been through. It could be something that's part of your life. Like for instance, I have a business communication coach and we're doing great stories about how to communicate more effectively in business. Yes, Ann, she's a black woman. When Black History Month happens, we completely switch her story to how to be a powerful black woman in today's times and communicate well. That's the story that got her into Essence Magazine, into Black Enterprise. I call this use everything you've got. This is where you use your ethnicity, your religion, your story. Like my business consultant, she's a, she's a, she is a business consultant. She has a son who's autistic. We utilize National Autism Month to talk about being a mom, raising an autistic son. How do you do that? That's another conversation, but here's what's interesting. It always drives people to your website, to what you want them to do and make such a big difference. So I heard something in there that I was wondering because you said the message is all about consistency and persistency, okay, which I love that. But then in there, you're saying that you change up the narrative and or the story depending on, you know, the opportunities you have, which I love to utilize all. Take what is your fortress and turn it in your fuel. I love it. Okay. But in this case, changing, you know, from business coach to business coach, specifically for, you know, for the black community, let's say, isn't that changing up the consistency part of your messaging? What it is, it's widening your net. So if you can actually catch more people in it, prospects, people who relate to you, people who think, well, you're interesting. I want to know more. That's really what we want to get to. I want to know more part, the trust factor, the, oh yeah, you're somebody interesting. Yes, I want to do business with you because that's going to lead to conversations, connections, and frankly, clients. And that's what publicity does. It gets you clients, it gets you prospects. And in today's marketplace, it gets you trust and that's important. Well this goes to the perception. So I believe that perceptions, you know, perceptions, everything and what you can perceive yourself to be is completely different than who you might be, who you might be and who you really are. Now, do you find that you have better success with, let's say, business owners, whoever it might be, people who are looking to be, looking to build their brands, their businesses that are in more in congruency with who they are versus in kind of disalignment with the perception they're perceiving? Ask me that question a slightly different way. So I'm just wondering, because we know perceptions, everything, right? And how many people do we know? I'm just thinking about all the fake influencers out there that are making themselves look like they're, like, they're king, you know, king tot, have all this money, have all this freedom, but they have nothing. It's all fake. Like, I mean, there's, I know that there's people that are renting now they're buying like storage units, turning them into making them look like they're in a, what do you call, private jet, charging business owners 10 grand a session to come in and get videos to make them look like they're on a private jet. You can get like a la carte. You want the girls with the okay, we'll get the girls. You want like, you can fill out the menu of what you want to buy. So you can give the perception that you're someone you're not, which I'm where I'm going in my life and the things that I kind of value is like, I don't see how that works long time. Like, I don't know that's not authentic and that's not resonant. The things I'm always teaching and absolutely my clients and I insist on is be authentic to your message, who you are, what you, you know, who you are. You know, that's, that's scamming and my clients don't scam, you know, but I think it's important to think about who are you and what do you offer and stay aligned with that. Listen, I have introverts who are a little frayed, you know, oh my gosh, I don't know what to say. And you know what, I give them a script and now they're prepared because the truth is your message needs to be prepared. I think it is important that you have a message that's powerful connected, that it's, that it's who you are really in your soul spirit and, and you know, be that, be that and, and yeah, as well as getting to alluding to it is that. So it's interesting because as you're talking and you're saying, I help people with their messaging, let's just say that and helping them find maybe that message, the one liner, what is it you do X, right? I, I look at that and I want to hear your thoughts because I would love to, you know, learn more. I look at that more as branding, like that's your, like there's like, there's like branding, there's your marketing, there's your sales, there's your publicity. It seems like you help people a lot with their brand as well as well as their publicity. Because when we think, you know, I think publications, I think Forbes, I think a book, I think getting on radio shows and podcasts and, you know, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Yeah. And that is publicity, getting in Forbes, being on podcasts, exactly what we're doing now, giving good information to people. That's publicity. Knowing what to say is publicity. It's a message. It's not exactly a brand, but let me just say there's a big tree called marketing. And in the tree called marketing, there's a, there's a branch, a very important branch called publicity, which is free, which generates and excites people, which connects people. And by the way, this whole wild thing with AI, I guess how AI is finding people through their publicity. I'm reading article after article about this. It's fascinating to me. Tell me a little bit more about this, because I want to understand that AI is, is finding people through their publicity, meaning they're through the right. No. Through, through getting name recognition. So like if you're featured in Forbes, guess who's going to pick you up? Yeah. AI guess who's going to pick you up? Your clients. Guess where you're going to walk into a client meeting, whether it's again on Zoom or live saying, Hey, I was featured in Forbes. Let me just tell you, you're going to the front of the line. You just started because people trust publicity because you're not paying for publicity. You earn it. That makes a big difference. Okay. So here's the, okay. Cause there is pay. This is why I'm interested in here. Cause there is paid and then there's earned publicity. And I'm, I'm convinced that most of this publicity that we're seeing from people is all paid. It isn't actually, when you're watching, you know, TV, radio, listening on what's called terrestrial radio, not, and most podcasts, you're, most people are not paying to be on, I'm not paying to be on today. Right. It's just like, Beyond today, but some of the top podcasts, they, they charge their guests to get on those shows. Well, unfortunately that's true. Now they are. Um, and there's still a lot of free stuff. So I focus on the free stuff. Listen, my book, guerrilla publicity, we're all about get. Yeah. I love it. So what are, let's give, let's give the audience a little bit. If it's okay, a little bit more, uh, knowledge on like, what are, what are, so let me ask this, what are free modalities for publicity that people can use? I would say obviously less outside of your typical, your social media platform. So if we're not talking about my own social media platform, what are some free publicity, uh, modalities, uh, business owner can start utilizing right now to create that, that perception. Yeah. Let me just say social media is not publicity. Please. You are not doing your publicity. If you think you're doing social media, just start. So let's just cancel that. I love that. And let's start. I love it. Let's go. Here we are. We're getting to the good stuff now. Yeah. And let's start with the fact that, um, your publicity, like, I want you to look at nationaldaycalendar.com, great resource free and take a look at what holidays would be perfect for who you are and what you got going on, right? And how can you fit in? Like, here's a great example. I've got to book the profit of kindness. Well, world kindness day is November 13th. Excellent. We can focus efforts on that. But I'm going to tell you, I also go out for random acts of kindness month. It turns out, well, it's actually week, random acts of kindness week in February. And you know what I say? I get contrary. I say to heck with random acts of kindness, let's practice a conscious act of kindness every single day. That's a contrary message. It fits in both places, by the way. Um, and so that's a little bit of use everything I've got. That's a demonstration of that. And that all came from nationaldaycalendar.com. So I definitely want y'all to start there. It is a great opportunity to connect quickly to a wonderful place that fits. Okay. So just saying that's, that's a great thing. So again, I want, if I don't understand, I always say, if I don't understand it, other people can't understand it because I was always the one that was in the bottom half of the class and made the top half perfect. So I get, I get what I'm hearing. I'm what I'm hearing is go to the, go to the website and then you can see all the days, all the national days, all the type of, uh, um, whatever you want to call them. Holiday holidays. Thank you. Uh, that are in the, in the calendar year. And then you find the ones that are in alignment. So we're talking about being in alignment, right? We're finding the ones that are alignment with you. So now let's say, let's, for me, ADD, Mr. ADHD, right? I find the ADD, ADHD day, right? And I'm going to attach myself to that day. How, how, what am I doing now? Or what am I using? Or how am I taking that day and being able to promote myself and use publicity without. So one, one of the things I want you to do is do it in advance and don't wait to the day to get started. We're like very much in advance. So make sure we know that I'm talking probably six to eight months in advance, but yes. Yeah. Yeah. Honestly. And sometimes last, by the way, cause sometimes people just need somebody to write on the spot. So, but please don't wait to, you know, I had one client. She goes, oh, tomorrow's, but whatever day. And I'm like, no, no, no, let's go for next year. Yeah. Occasionally you might get very lucky, but hardly. So yeah, you want to plan in advance and I say three, six, nine months. It tends to be the timeframe to look at. Typically you can put together a press release or like a, what I'd call an easy pitch could just be an easy pitch. Like, Hey, I'm the ADHD guy and on May 1st, it's, it's that celebration. And I'd love to come on and share not only my journey, but three great things that people with ADHD couldn't do to feel better and to, you know, not feel as scared of it, you know, whatever. Yeah, I totally get what you're saying. Yeah. Um, so then you would. So, okay. So then the, the step is you find the day you find the organization and you reach out to the organization to see how you can actually be part of that day in that community. Right. That's what that's definitely one way. I also, I'm a big believer in local, you know, so wherever you are in the world, go local, go look, I got a woman in the UK, got into London, you know, BBC, which of course is huge by going local. So I'm, I'm really big on go local. That means your local newspapers, your local business journals, your local ABC, NBC, CBS, and so on and so forth. Affiliates. Why? Because funny enough, when you're in local, you get picked up national and international because they're looking, they got producers scanning, uh, all kinds of resources. And they are looking for you experts who are featured in different places. I could tell the like the wealth of knowledge, obviously from your experience. I love it. So how do you work with your clients today? Like if someone is like, man, I got, I want some publicity. I got a messaging problem. How do they work with Jill? Well, they definitely can come in. I, what I love to tell you about, I have a great way that you can get connected really quick and, and that is my free gift to you, which is an action guide. I've got more great tips. You like these, you're going to love them even more. And then that also includes a, um, wonderful, interactive, no kidding class with me live with me, where you get to ask great questions and we're going to go deep on actually some of these other topics. So check that out. It's jilllublin.com slash guide, G U I D. And that's an opportunity to come in and really get to the next step. I love that. I love that. So we're at that point in the show where, uh, my favorite part is the pitch me. This is where you got to pitch me in my audience, uh, the elevator pitch of, of what you do and seeing how we can make it better, perfect it and make it something that's powerful. So Jill, the contacts of our show, of podcasts, of our listeners, I know they love this part. Uh, it is your chance to pitch me. Wonderful. Well, I'd love to tell you about the opportunity for you to get more visibility quickly. Um, I actually have a media panel. Imagine this, you in front of a media panel, just like we're doing right now. Oh my gosh. Telling the media who you are, what you're up to and why they should care. And they're going to be there right there at the media mastery intensive to listen to your pitch, to also tell you what works in the media, what's hot, what's not, and support you with getting better and frankly giving a better pitch in a very safe environment where you can be seen and heard and corrected as need be. Right. And I think that makes such a big difference. And so that's all done in the media mastery intensive. It's simple, it's fast, it's effective and it's interactive and live with me the whole time. So lots of breakouts and lots of chance to actually practice. So what do you think? Oh, well, I think it was a lot. And I think we could, uh, we can definitely shorten it for the elevator pitch. Uh, cause again, for me, an elevator pitch isn't trying to sell the product. It's just trying and publicity, trying to get their attention. The quickest way to tension. So what I heard in that, cause I've done this enough is one of the most good, one of the greatest gifts you actually have in your product is this media panel, AKA I'm assuming they're, I'm not going to call them producers, but they're produced, they're people who can get you onto media. Yeah. Is that, is that correct? Right. Yes, it is. Well, it's people with actual shows. Yes. So like you come here and if you're good, like you have an opportunity to actually get on shows and when you get on one, you get on 10. It's about getting on the right one. So you get access to that. That's massive. You understand that? That, that, that, that is what I call is access. And you don't get access to these people unless you know these people and you know these people because you have 20, 30, 40 years in this space. These are your personal contacts. These are the people you pick up on the phone. So if you are, if you're getting into your environment, that means you believe in that person and that means that person has a chance to actually change their perception and their actual business and their life because one, yes, from one of these media panelists, this could change everything for them. But that's not what, but here's the thing. That's not what we're saying. Do you know how four out of five businesses are struggle to get on major public platforms such as NBC, Fox News, blah, blah, blah, blah. Well, what I do is I actually curated a panel that allows, that allows people like you to pitch them and get you in quicker, faster, more effective. Done. Because what happens now? What's my next question? How high? That's all you're looking for. So I would work on, that was quick off me, but I would work on getting couple, what I call these wow statements. These are wow statements. You, in publicity, I'm sure you know, wow statement, right? Like what four and five trying they can't cut through. I don't want to be that four or five. Now, you know what I mean? Or did you, or it's either, it's like, did you know, or as a result of, right? So did you know four out of five people, four or five business professionals who try to cut through the media fail? And it all comes down to one thing, comes down to access. They don't have access to the people. They don't have access to the resources and they don't even have access to the knowledge of how to get to the people. Well, what I do is I give them access. Done. Done. How do I sign up? Bing, bing, bing, bing. I love it. Okay. Well, Jill, that was fun. I almost feel like we can go on forever here, but I love it. I think we live, I said in the beginning, I think we live in a world today where your brand, your publicity is everything. It's going to be more important than ever. And if you're, if you're struggling with it, or if you're having a hard times with it, it seems like there is access right here, right in front of you. Someone who's willing to open their doors, give you free materials. We'll have that in the show notes for you. And, uh, and we'll go from there. So Jill, I get to the world of publicity, to the world of getting seen, to getting heard and building trust. I just want to say thank you so much for being on the show. And that was another episode of the Vault Unlocked, where proven builders, real strategies and unstoppable growth happens. Subscribe now. The next unlock could be your success. The code is cracked. The vault is open.