Written by: Claire Mason, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
The media, as a collective, is far from perfect.
However, it also has redeeming qualities. And, in my opinion, one of its redeeming qualities stands out head and shoulders above the rest.
Essentially, you can open the doors to the media on the basis of a great story.
You don’t need the advertising budget of a Fortune 500 corporation.
Or the brand recognition of a Kardashian.
You simply need your story.
Why you need to start with your media mindset
Now, there are ways to package your story so that the editor or journalist you’re pitching to can see the value in it. I call this “the anatomy of a pitch”. It’s a teachable set of skills that any individual interested in securing media coverage for themselves can learn.
Yet many people feel intimidated to explore what engaging with the media can do for them.
This is a great pity.
For the individual, it means missing out on the media’s incredible power to make them more visible, enhance their credibility and help them grow their businesses.
For the rest of us, it means missing out on stories that could change our lives.
That’s why I always begin with media mindset training when I coach an individual on their thought leadership publicity strategy.
Giving ourselves permission to feature in the media
Debbie Danon is a Leadership Coach & Facilitator based in London who works with clients across the globe. She is the creator of The Rebel Leadership framework, and hosts a Facebook page called “Permission O’Clock with Debbie Danon”.
In Debbie’s hands, “permission” is a path to giving ourselves access to our own greatness. For anyone aspiring to gain media coverage, incorporating permission into their media mindset work is extremely important. And powerful.
Debbie shares how individuals with great stories can feel intimidated to work with the media due to limiting beliefs that are filled with H.I.S.S.es.
“A H.I.S.S. stands for a Harmful Internalised Standard or Story. They’re the beliefs that make us feel like we are not enough, that we have to perform rather than be ourselves. They keep us playing small, or wasting energy trying to be someone we’re not,” explains Debbie. “So giving ourselves permission is really a way to rebel against those H.I.S.S.es, and harness more of our power.”
In my work as a Thought Leadership Publicist, I see this all the time. I’ve encountered individuals who have created frameworks recognised by global bodies, or have insights that can completely transform people’s lives, or have a point of view on their industry that bring to light other possibilities who feel too unimportant to have the media interested in them. Yet these incredibly talented individuals don’t feel the media could be interested in them.
Debbie elaborates, “The insidious nature of having beliefs of not being enough is that we see other people, places or things (in this case, the media) as holding all the power. And ourselves as not being worthy of holding any power at all. Or certainly not a lot of power.”
“Once we practise giving ourselves permission ‒ whether to become visible, to authentically offer our expertise, or to build a media network one conversation at a time ‒ possibility starts opening for us,” Debbie continues. “The key is we can do this gently, honouring ourselves every step of the way. As I tell my clients, cultivating Rebel Leadership like this should feel like a stretch, but not a struggle.”
In the case of media work, this might be giving ourselves permission to acknowledge that we do want to secure media coverage for ourselves and our businesses. Then, it might follow that we give ourselves permission to explore publicity training. Next, we may give ourselves permission to put the training into practice and see what unfolds.
As Debbie says, “the key is to question the dynamic that has the big media on one side and little you on the other ‒ that’s a whole lot of H.I.S.S.es!”
I couldn’t agree more.
You are powerful. And the media wants your stories.
Best of all, by getting your stories into the media you are engaging in a wonderful act of service.
Firstly, to yourself.
Secondly, for all the rest of us.
The media will help get your stories out in a powerful way. Your impact on the world will be amplified. You can help so many people this way.
And it all starts with giving ourselves permission to step into our media greatness.
Claire Mason, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Claire Mason is a Content Strategist who works with solo entrepreneurs and founders. She helps them earn the publicity they deserve to grow their sphere of influence and sales pipelines.
Claire has earned bylines from numerous publishers, including The Guardian, Marie-Claire, and The Sunday Times. And she has placed her clients’ stories in publications like Forbes, CNBC, and WSJ among others.
Her clients regularly see increases of 40% or more to their pipelines after implementing her content strategies. Her work has been showcased as an example of best practices by HubSpot. Claire is also a regular contributor to Business2Community, Brainz Magazine, Tealfeed, and Digital Doughnut, and she writes regularly on how content marketing can move the needle for B2B brands.
