The FWL Girl Boss this week is Nicole Rodrigues , CEO and founder of NRPR Group. She’s a seasoned publicist and social media marketing pro with 15 years of experience . She’s developed and executed strategic campaigns for some of the biggest names in business such as Yahoo!, Dolby, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Sony Playstation, Hulu, M-GO, Toon Hero, Demand Media, MobiTV, and the Oakland Raiders.
Nicole is the host of PRfect Pitch, a new PR-focused radio show that’s geared towards helping PR, marketing and media professionals step up their game by incorporating best practices and developing better relationships.
Nicole takes great pride in being a former NFL cheerleader, spending many years cheering for the famed Oakland Raiders – Imagine that! . She continues to cheer on her “new team” at NRPR and is a graduate from San Jose State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Public Relations.
We sat down with Nicole to discuss 5 PR tips for female entrepreneurs
“There is a lot of buzz around how to become a successful female entrepreneur from business and personal perspectives, but there is little existing conversation about how to manage and leverage that success from a publicity standpoint. With over sixteen years of experience in the PR industry, I cannot tell you how many times a company or an executive could have avoided bad exposure (or even business failure) by better understanding the importance of self-marketing early on.”
Here are 5 PR tips to help female entrepreneurs be even more successful:
1. Remember that you are your brand
As the face of your company, you, personally, need to create and maintain a presence on Twitter, Linkedin, Instagram, etc. But be mindful with what you share there. You are the personal core of your company – everything you do on the personal side is now a reflection of your company’s values and practices.
2. Self-promotion should not be something you’re ashamed to do.
It’s not uncommon for people to be shy about sharing their success, but there is a gracious way to celebrate yourself/your brand without puffing up your feathers. You should feel free to be proud that you are a rainmaker; that you are trying to make changes in your industry. You have a mission that you are determined to accomplish! Don’t feel egotistical or too loud about it. Be extremely proud that, if you are doing something you believe in, you are already a role model.
3. Your employees are a direct reflection of your vision.
They ought to be involved and truly believe in you and your company. Create a team you are confident shares your values and elevates your business. Encourage them to follow all of your social channels and further remind them to like/follow/share/comment (etc.) your social posts. Energy is infectious. If people can see your Company’s positive energy through interactions with employees online, others will be more apt to join in.
4. Establish yourself as an industry-expert through thought leadership.
This is Have an opinion. Write it down. Get it seen. Even if you are not the best writer, you can find a ghostwriter or a positioning agent to help translate your ideas and pitch them to the proper outlets. You can even publish directly to the LinkedIn Pulse for free, which allows your words to be read by a huge industry audience instantly. People will start to notice you, develop respect for your work and ask for pieces from you in the future.
5. Hire the right PR team or press agent.
This is perhaps the most important! Find someone (if you want a press agent) or a team (if you’re ready for team support) who all understand the full marketing landscape. This is necessary, because if your PR team has no clue how to play within your digital marketing or social media ecosystem, they won’t be able to give you a full view as to how to make your media relations activities work on a grander scale. Also, don’t be too picky or prideful. If you’re just starting the press outreach process, you and your company aren’t going to go from zero to Forbes over night. If you are a brand new business, you have to be willing to start small. No matter how big your idea is in your mind, everything requires building.
These are just a few examples of the many ways you can actively increase the marketability of your brand from the moment of inception. I promise, by utilizing these basic steps early on, you will help set the foundation for much more success in the future. And always remember to be smart, be nice and work hard!
You can see more from Nicole over at the NRPR Group site.