as a small business owner
have you ever thought about
how you can get media coverage
especially for free
because we don't have big budgets most of the time
well if that's been on your mind
i have a great guest for you today
she is Barbara Scofidio
and she is an editor with Skift Meetings
which
was Skift ever like an actual magazine
like a printed thing no
it started
it started online and has always lived online
it's a global
globally distributed and an incredible global team
yeah and you've been with them for how long
uh going on two years
i remember when you transitioned
we were in new york together around that time
um but uh
how long have you been in media
oh my goodness since college
i'll try not to give my age ten years
ago i would say thirty plus
nice that's cool
you've seen some things Barbara just a few
well um
so you have owned a small business
tell me about that i have
and i think that's a good fit for your topic
and certainly i can speak from my professional career
but for twelve years
i owned a retail business that started with one store
and ended up with four and um
it did that while i worked my um
full time role and really
probably because of my background as an editor
we were very successful at winning awards
getting into you know
the yankee magazine and the boston globe
we had at one point
a store on charles street in boston
and a store in concord massachusetts
yep and groton
which is where it started
where i live wow
where while you're working full time
mind you well
with other people yes
yeah but still
i mean so
you understand the overwhelm that happens
when you have to wear all these different hats
so um
you touched on something interesting
that i wasn't gonna cover today
um so let's do it
i definitely wanna talk on uh
i wanna start with how to get great free media coverage
but you mentioned awards and
that's something that i don't spend a lot of time
thinking about or talking about
so i'm glad you mentioned that
so how what's the best way for a small business owner
to get media coverage
you know if i were to
if i were to even back it up a little bit
um it's so easy to get granular when you
to be to live in the gran
in the details when you own a small business because
and you know
often you're you're
you're bogged down with the paperwork
and the accounting and the
you know in our case
it was the inventory
we had a hundred and fifty local artists
new england artists that we had to
you know track their inventory
the day to day the staff paychecks right
payroll cash flow
the biggest
the biggest cause of death of a small businesses
correct so
a lot of small business owners don't
the marketing is where they
is where they think they can cut their
you know effort
but actually for me
marketing was always my top
one of my top if not my top priority
because in retail
you had to keep people coming in the door right
so you had to keep being creative promoting
creating events
trying to get into the papers
creating relationships with the editors of those papers
so they thought of you we created an entire um
in our store in concord an entire uh
business group
that it started doing events right in our town to
to grow awareness
that there were so many great businesses
right in the town so it's also about collaborating with
um in some cases
people who were your competitors
but to to kind of create
you know drive the the
the business for all of you
yeah that's fantastic
i have an upcoming episode on that very topic
coops collaborating all of that
i love when that happens
especially if they are unusual collaborations
but that's fantastic so you were able to work with
quote unquote competitors
absolutely
because your business was local
and the more you know
feet that come to the area
the more kind of all boats rise
absolutely and that's the only way it works
ha ha yeah
you know it's just
there's so much uh
people there's so much noise on people's feeds
and there's people are so busy
and now in that particular field
why even shop retail if you can
you know sit at your computer
on your sofa at night
with a fire crackling and a glass of wine and shop
right why would you
why would you you know
push through the snow to to uh
to go to a retail store it is a tough business
it's gotten a lot tougher since i did it
um what
what you
what we were just talking about with the collaboration
i don't understand
a lot of businesses that don't make that a priority
marketing as a group because then
you've got all the lists
from all of the different businesses
all the goodwill
that those individuals have created over time and
but you know
you've got the social media presence
of all the businesses
it's just so much more powerful to do it that way
exactly and even if you're not a local
brick and mortar type business right um
if you are regional national
if you're digital online only
shopping cart type business
it still works right
you know because like you said
you're leveraging each other's lists and media presence
social media and all that
i i just wrote a story
now i'm moving in i'm putting on my skift hat um
but it was about you know
relationships and um
in the dmc world and the agency world
and um the story should be out this week uh
and basically
there was a person who was saying that um
and and doing research
qualitative research kind of to prove that the
the relationship model is outdated
and we've got to really think about perhaps younger um
business owners who don't want to they
they don't correlate
they don't see the correlation between attending events
and building your business
and then there were i
i spoke to a dmc in the dominican republic
he's been there for twenty seven years
and he said that's just not true
you know of course online is helpful
but you've got to be out there um
seeing the same people walking the site together
bumping into them time after time
learning about what's important to them
yes to really be a partner nothing
i mean
well
for those who aren't in the meetings or hospitality
tourism any of that business
dmc is a destination management company
that helps when a group is coming into a town
helps them with all the things on the ground
and all the activities and
and excursions and and decor
and all the things that go into
having an out of town meeting
in a place where you're not an expert
but um as far as
meetings go you
and i strongly believe that nothing beats face to face
and it's absolutely it is like
this is what i mean by like
trade shows and but also
just sitting down
and having a one on one meeting with somebody
and maybe we're skewed because of our generation
i i perhaps
but uh
and and
and it's so industry dependent
we're in a people i'm
you know
the meetings travel industry is so people focused
right and relationship focused
um but nonetheless
the more friends you make
you know i'll give you an example
going back to media so when i had the store
i became friends with the editor of the local paper
don't exactly remember how i did it
it was a while ago but
reached out first of all
i didn't think it was it was um intimidating
it wasn't intimidating me
to me to reach out until i could find to could
could reach this person and connect with this person
and you have to keep trying
they're busy you know
you have to find different ways of of
of perhaps confining them
that might be to include a local
let's say um
business association meeting
where they'll be you know
if they're not answering you by email or phone
find a way to get in front of them and
and build that relationship
because once i had it she was lovely
and she asked me at one point
if i would write a column about local business
and thinking local first
there's actually a movement called think local first
i did that for years i wrote about the
the whole concept of purchasing locally
and the multiplier effect
when you spend money in a destination
that money gets spent in that destination
and how the the what
you know
if you can start training yourself to think about
whether what you need is
can be found right on your main street
and keep those businesses alive
it's it's good for everyone
the community the business owners
that you don't want those to be abandoned storefronts
and and
you know over time
or become a starbucks or whatever
so exactly
so yes
i mean i default to
of course relationships matter
probably because of my generation
yay gen x whoo
but uh
which is funny because we're such loners by
by default but um
i just think that it makes everything easier
it makes finding a job easier
it makes getting referrals easier
when somebody knows you and likes you
everything just get easier
gets easier so why wouldn't you um
how did that article turn out
how did the research turn out
oh it
it was a column i did regularly
once a month no no no
the the qualitative column
oh the qualitative yeah
um she no
she's standing firm on her
her belief that things are going to shift and uh
it was a mix of people and most
i think where it ended up is that we do need to um
have a oh
you've got to take a multifaceted approach to
sure to yeah
of course
but it's there's no reason
yeah uh
i think the more disconnected we get with ai and
and all of these things and the trust crisis in america
which i talk about a lot
the more these things really matter
but yeah
i think the multifaceted approach is
is always smart so
and you've got to be smart about your linkedin
that was another thing that came up
that a lot of people only post
and in in this case
i was talking about
these dmcs only post on linkedin when they're
let's say attending an industry meeting or um
or will only reach out if they met you at that meeting
they don't try to keep you know
posting regularly about trends they've seen
or something really cool that they've done
so that they get in front of those customers
and i you know
one of the biggest rules
talk about job hunting
one of the biggest rules is don't um
not speak with someone for years
and then the minute you need a job
yeah exactly
all of a sudden
there you are appearing in front of them
i mean it's it's
it's not the same as as them seeing you all along right
some communication yeah
and so you talked about consistency on linkedin
let's talk about consistency with media
so putting my small business owner hat back on
did you did you wait for
when you owned your business
for an event
or something significant to reach out to the press
or did you
you know how frequent is the right frequency
mm hmm when you own like
a retail business mm hmm
like do you have to wait until there's something
we created regular events specifically to have a reason
ha ha to have something written
you know brilliant
um it
we uh
i've i've been involved in other um ventures
um the town i live in uh
did a town wide art exhibit for all local artists
and we create we
we made it such a splash it was it
we had a coffee table book that we put together
about all the artists
it was really just a two week event
but we did all of these other things around it
we had interviews with the artists
and the different galleries that had the event
had different openings and
you know you
you turn it into something
specifically for the purpose of getting it
getting that press right right
so the rest of the year
how would you get media coverage
yeah a different
you know different
one of one of the ways was the
the column
i don't know that most businesses can write something
but if there if you're part of a trade association or
um or you can speak at that association's meeting
finding ways of becoming an expert
i think one of the biggest
again i'm going back to linkedin
not misused but underused tools is linkedin
i get many of my story ideas as i'm
you know even in bed
on my phone like
you know scrolling
that's how i and then i
you know copy it and send
you know send it to my work email
but i'm constantly looking
so if you're out there
editors and writers are looking for you too
they've got to come up with ideas
another way is if you can write
and ai can help with this
you can write articles that serve that audience
right and that
your prospective customers would be interested in um
but writing it in a way that's not pitching promotional
right yeah
i mean how many of those do you get
i mean by nature
press releases are promotional
but articles no
you don't right
and if they if they
if they found a hook and
and really focused on their expertise
instead of promoting their business
i could use it but instead
what i get i have to throw away
or
i have to decide if i wanna go the distance with them
and help them create that
and usually the other thing is editors are busy
and they're just looking for
sometimes yeah
easy answers or the turnkey everybody
i mean that's not how we are at skift
we're journalists we
we labor over our articles for
for days sometimes but um
it a lot of
especially like local media
local newspapers they're looking for
you know
we called it filler back when i worked for a newspaper
not to be insulting
but they're looking for ways of filling their space
they're looking for quick
quick hits you know
if you can get something written
that's useful to their audience
they're probably gonna print it
yeah and filler has a value too
because it makes you searchable
it
every time you're mentioned on somebody else's website
you can link to it um you
it makes your business more searchable you
if you are the face of your business
so even filler is good exactly
and then the other pieces
getting involved in associations or groups
or business groups whatever
chambers of commerce um
you are written up
because they're writing up the event of the chamber
and then you pop up on the
on the feed you know
the more you like you said
the more you pop up
so business are are um
press releases
still the best way to make an announcement
or should people reach out and send you articles
yeah as a first stop
or what do you prefer yeah
the thing about press releases is if it's of interest
i'm going to pursue it
but when people send me things about
and especially with the meeting sector
of the travel industry a lot of pr agencies
will send me press releases about weddings
or press releases about you know
with photos of vacationers or whatever and
and that just creates a really bad um
vibe for the future or call to check in
like who calls anybody anymore or
or forward it and say i want
you know to make sure this is at the
i love that you know
the top of your lip you know
your feet yeah whatever
and i just
of course if it's interesting
i'm going to call you
so they should not follow up and say no uh
just checking no
because we read everything
we are looking for leads yeah
yeah and eventually it will hit
but the the way it's gonna hit is if i have again
a relationship with that pr here
pr person i have a friend who i went to college with
she's one of the big travel um
agency um
travel industry pr people
we anything that comes through from any of her people
haha i pay extra attention to
i mean people that i've met over the years
travel with over the years yes
they're you know
they're my first choice when i'm looking for something
yeah you know
they're trustworthy you know they
their information is good
interesting what not um
so uh
i spent two years in a public relations department
long ago many
many years ago and one of my tactics was um
i would call up
back when the phone was something you actually used
i would call up a writer a journalist
a reporter
and i would give them an exclusive occasionally
and i would make sure to you know
spread the love around to the different papers
newspapers also antiquated term
but um
is that still a good
you know activity to do
sure and actually uh
this just came up we had a lead um
on a story and i was all excited
because i saw that my colleague had written it
and gotten it out before anybody else
and then i saw it in another um
competitive
another one of our competitors posted the same
exact thing later in the day
and i thought that's not
you know that's not what we
i'm sure my colleague expected
i'm sure she expected when she was reached out to
and you need to clarify that as an editor
and make sure that's the case
case case studies in general
rather than a product pitch or a up
in our case
it would be a pitch from a hotel or destination
let's say yeah
but an actual story
of a company that has done something really creative
always always interested
without question and
and i've had i mean
one of my biggest stories of last year
had to do with a direct sales
amway direct sales company
a a
a meeting that they did it was a multi generational
meeting and they brought children
and it was just a great story
a different yeah
i'm never going to write about that destination
just a we don't write about destinations at skift
it's not what we do
but that turned it into a real business
uh case story and
and it was very well received
so that's cool yeah
so yeah
always have a unique angle
or if people have the ability to do their own research
um that helps to anything nowadays to add credibility
because there's so much this credibility yeah
i like to call it noise noise yeah
okay so any don'ts
besides don't pester
you don't call and say want to move this to your top
top of your list hahaha
i didn't mean to be rude but yeah
no it's not it's
that's what this is about
right right
uh
you know be
just be clean
and you're in what you pitch
and you're writing if
if i catch writing and
and because a lot of people are using ai
i would say that fits in there too
i can spot because i'm a writer
i can spot ai instantly and i
i do have a lot of trouble with
it's a great starting point
it's a wonderful tool but if you're writing something
it had better be creative and and
and have care put into it
and if i see something that just looks like it was just
you know pushed out
um yeah
without any and it's got those typicals ai
there are there are little things you can look for that
that are represent you know
you're pretty sure it came from ai
if you see yeah
i mean we
we're all getting very smart around
identifying that flowery language
you know yeah
and i can spot it a mile away
by some of the catchphrases and everything
like here's the truth or here's the deal
or in a world where
you know there's just so many giveaways
at least for me there are great articles out there
that list all of the different phrases
and i actually uh
i uploaded a list to my own gpt
and i said do not use any of
very smart yep yep
very smart
good for you um
i wanted to ask you before we move on to awards
okay and wrap up with that topic sure
any advice on handling negative media coverage
yeah i
i um
i think it's just really important
to get in front of whatever it is
and to be honest and to admit um
if there's something that went wrong
and to if necessary
have a conversation i had a situation years ago and um
it basically something that one of my
this was when i was planning events
which is another part of my life that i did
events for corporate meeting planners
i had a speaker who said something that was offensive
and and then we reported on it
and the person was just furious with us
and i got on the phone with him and i said
how can i make this right
you know it slipped by me
it wasn't even anything that i did
but i hired that speaker oh
i took full responsibility
and then that was um
somehow got publicized but
you know i
i was all about how can i
how can i fix this yeah
and i wrote an apology let my management know
i just bumped into him at a meeting a couple weeks ago
he was so friendly and sweet
and i thought you see that
you know i
i now have you owned it
yeah absolutely own it
that's the one thing i can say yeah
so you you talked about awards
as a strategy to get media coverage
let's end with that topic
cause that's fascinating
i didn't even think to include that
sure i mean
people take take awards very seriously and um
are most awards as mine is hanging whoops
hanging in the background there
oh yeah
good yeah good
good for you yeah
and i mean as a journalist
over the years we've we've received awards and um
you know and um
are honored um
i mean there is an overuse of awards
i won't get into that in my industry anyway um
but let's put all that aside
for certain kinds of businesses
and in in our case
it was retail it it meant a great deal to uh
to win an award we ended up um
with yankee magazine i had pitched
because i pitched
i had pitched the editor various stories
he was aware of the store
at some point he sent a writer there um
who to evaluate us
and we ended up winning you know
best in massachusetts for artist and gifts one year
that's awesome which was a big deal
and then there were i i'm always look
i was always looking for way
you know ways we could get into some list
there's so many lists out there
and they're all even if they're um
you know someone's blog
you know five great things you can do in massachusetts
in my case right
or you know
if you know
they're writing things like that
and you can fit in there
you've got to just reach out and say hey
you know i
i love your column
here's what we do you know
come come see us or
you know what can i what
how can i you know
um get you to learn more about us or whatever
and follow up maybe once but
you know they're looking for ideas too
and they might not be aware of you right
the whole idea is making people aware of you and um
and believing you know
just and being relentless in your pursuit of new ideas
i think yeah yeah
and there i love yeah
look for lists you can be on
create a list and include
create a list love it yourself or
you know and just
you know you can
you can do it in a tongue and cheek kind of way
and of course you have to stop by the xyz store
when you're in the neighborhood
there are ways to do it that aren't so ishy
and self promotional right
but i'm thinking of setting up a google alert
which is super easy you can google how to do that
but a google alert
for types of awards that are in your industry
or in your town or whatever
sure um
and just get notified so you don't miss those things
sure you've got to be looking
and that's why i think what i said
if we want to come full circle when
when we started this conversation
is that
if you get too buried in the minutia of your business
and it's very easy to do
and it's a very comfortable place for a lot of people
you don't have the time or
you know to
to be looking at a much bigger picture
which is
your business isn't gonna be there for you to track
ha ha
track people's hours and and yeah
do the accounting if you don't get the people
the customers right so
you know the
the marketing has to be a top
top priority and just stretch yourself
and if you're
whatever
don't have the confidence to reach out to someone
find it because that is how you grow your business
i love ending on that i do have one final
final very important question
okay dogs or cats
oh dogs
he's like right behind me
literally back back to back with him right now
what is his name and breed
oh fenwick
and he is a rescue with twenty five breeds in him
oh my gosh you did a test
twenty five oh my gosh
sweetest thing in the world
sweetest thing in the world
i love that you did a test
what are you
uh i
dogs a thousand percent
a thousand percent hahaha
so i
i feel bad for anybody who comes on as a cat person but
oh boy we don't need to talk about that
Barbara thank you so much
thank you this has been so insightful
i appreciate it and as always with you
it's so interesting and
we end up talking about things we didn't even expect
um so i appreciate you
thanks for taking the time. 
Nice to see you Shawna
all right take care