10 Questions Design and Remodeling Professionals Ask About PR

Hello, and welcome to Designer Discussions with Jason and Miriam. Today we are talking about the 10 biggest questions designer remodeling professionals have about PR. Welcome to Designer Discussions Podcast with Miriam and Jason. Tune in each week where we discuss marketing, PR, and business advice for design professionals.

Yeah, thanks, Jason. Um people have lots of questions about PR. And the first one actually usually is what is PR? Like so many people are confused about what it is.

So many people think it's just about getting featured in a magazine. But PR, like as a discipline in and by itself, it's actually way, way broader than we have time to go into here. But what we're focusing on in terms of benefits for design and remodeling businesses is really what I would call media relations. It's anything that gives you visibility in the media, right?

So, but that doesn't just have to be magazines. That can be um it can be online. Actually, most um media coverage nowadays is online. There's only so many print publications left.

There's a lot of different ways that you can do that, which we talk about in many of the podcasts, um, where I speak about the different ways to get um actually published. But there's local media, there's national media, there's um trade media, there's lots of podcasts, you know. It could be you speaking at an event and getting visibility that way. Um, social media and PR exposure really are also very intertwined.

So it's very broad, and I would consider anything PR that um that you don't have to buy, right? You don't write it yourself and you don't have to buy it. It's what we call earned media. That really is what PR is.

A second question um I get a lot is like, I do I need to hire an agency to get published? And my answer to that is absolutely not. You do not need to hire an agency. If you, if your business is um massive and you're well established and you have like a marketing machine behind you, then I would say, okay, you probably should um hire some professional help um from people like me.

But if you are um running a design and modeling business that's um small to mid-size, you can absolutely um do it yourself. The most important thing is that you decide to do it and you are consistent and maybe get a little bit of help from people like us in this podcast or in our academy program, where we help um businesses do their own marketing in PR. So yeah, you definitely do not have to spend $5,000 or more dollars a month to hire a PR firm. Then another question that often pops up is about what like people don't know what they're like, what would I be able to talk to to the media?

I have nothing that's of interest to them. And I'm like, that is completely wrong because the media are always looking for content. And in the design space specifically, there's so much content that's being written on a daily basis. Like we monitor um these topics that are out there and the requests from media that are out there very, very closely.

And I can tell you that every day there's new um articles that are being written about design trends, um, about um insights into projects, about um commentary on whatever topic it may be that's um and that's trending in the design industry. It's always um something timely. And what media really want is things that are interesting to their audience. And what you already have, and like your projects and what you know, your um knowledge and expertise about design and construction really is of interest to them.

What they don't want, the type of content they don't want, but what people often want to share, is like is like how amazing you are, you know, or how passionate you are about your business, or those generic um types of statements, like that's advertising. Okay, you're gonna have to pay somebody um to say that. It's like what the media want is things that are interesting to the their audience, and you already have that knowledge and information built into you. So you absolutely have things to share that um are interesting.

Then another question that um often comes up is about photography. I'm like, do you need professional photography? And here on designer discussions, generally, I would say that both Jason and I are advocates that you do get professional photography, at least of the really key projects that you have in a year. It doesn't have to be every project, but the projects that you're really proud of and excited about, it is worth to spend the money.

In terms of how the media use photographs, things have changed dramatically. Like five to ten years ago, I would have said absolutely you need to have professional photography. That is not 100% true anymore, because there are a lot of um media platforms that will accept iPhone photos, you know. It just depends what it is.

It if it's a glamour shot of a luxury project, it needs to be professional, you know. But if it's like some kind of makeover or maybe behind the scenes, or just you're talking about a specific aspect of a project that you're working on, the media um might very well be willing to accept um like self-taken pictures, I would say. And it's also because even even iPhone cameras have come such a long way. So what you probably could get from a professional photographer 10 years ago, if you know what you're doing, um, you can get a photo.

It's not the same, it's never gonna be the same. Photography is an art form, but it's good enough that um you can you can definitely use it with the media. So I would say you just have to um discern which projects merit um spending the money to get a professional photographer come in and which ones don't. Then another question I often get is like, Well, how long is it gonna take for PR to work?

You know, and my answer to that is twofold. Um, in order to do PR well, it's probably and and in depth, it's probably gonna take longer than most people want to hear. It's really something, if you're serious about it, it's something you should always be doing. Like it should always be in the back of your head.

You know, I know everybody has a business to run and other things to do, but it's like if you want to proactively do PR, you have to have the PR filter on so you can discern what um what type of content you have that might be um worth sharing with the media. But that being said, you can get, if you have never done PR and you want to get media coverage, you can do that quickly within within a month. Um pretty easily if you put your mind to it. And it's definitely one of the top, um, it's the top thing really that I teach in the Designer Discussions Academy.

And because people love um being rewarded quickly for the effort that they put in, and that is absolutely doable and something that works really, really well for design and remodeling businesses. So there's the quick press and then there's the long-term PR effort, which are really two separate things. And um, you as a business have to decide if one or both of those um are something that you you want and need um for your business. Obviously, I'm an advocate that everybody should do both, but not everybody listens to me.

Um then my sixth question that comes up quite a bit is about is local press even worth it or should I just focus on national media? It's like everybody wants to be an architectural digest, okay? That's just actually that's changing a little bit. Um AD has lost um some of its um some of its unique appeal, I want to say, just with the way that the media have changed, but it is still probably the the gold standard.

And it's very difficult to get published in AD. And if you have only done minimal PR or none at all, you're probably not gonna get featured in Architectural Digest anytime soon. But that being said, um my recommendation for design and remodeling businesses that operate mostly on a local regional level is to mostly focus on local and regional PR because that's where your audience is, that's where your prospects are, that's where you're gonna be getting new projects from. So why focusing on being published in El Decor or AD or House Beautiful?

If maybe that's what your prospects read, but maybe, and most likely more of them read the little magazine that gets put in your mailbox, sometimes for free, you know, that features um local news and and coupons from local businesses and um also stories about local projects. You know, that's probably your better bet if you actually want to use PR as a business development tool and not just for vanity. It's like I'd say the big national placements um for regional businesses, it's really more about vanity than it is about business.

So it depends what you want, you know. Also, um, that being said, you do need to have a pretty good portfolio of smaller media placements in order to get the bigger ones. You can't just leapfrog right to the top. It's really something PR is something that builds on itself over time.

And Jason, you're gonna like this question. This is a question, it goes back to the the clarity of what is what and what works how. It's like what is the difference between PR and marketing? And it's really the wrong question because in the way that we um work it, PR really is part of marketing.

And my philosophy very much is that your your marketing and your PR, it's they're like they're like different family members, you know, but they all have to work together um in order for you to have a harmonious um and effective um program in place. So the the big difference really is that PR is it's I it's all about getting that third-party credibility that you don't pay for. I always say it's like word of mouth, but it comes from more reputable um sources. So anytime a media outlet says something about a great project you produced or puts a quote of you in an article that is about kitchen countertop trends or whatever it may be, that really makes you credible because it comes from an outside source that's reputable and you didn't buy it.

Like if you think about search, um, AI or or um even Google search, it's like ads are not taken into consideration. They're not credible because you're buying the space to say how fabulous you are. There is absolutely a place for advertisements, by the way. I am not poo-pooing paid media at all.

Um, but PR is valid, is like if you have the same amount of PR like media coverage that's earned and media coverage that's paid, the earned coverage is, I don't even know how many times more valuable than the paid coverage because it has that built-in credibility that you'll never get from an advertisement or from any kind of marketing where you go out and you say how fabulous you are. It's really much more impactful if somebody else says it for you. That's um that's really the difference.

Then a question that's been popping up more lately is I'm like, Zach, what's a press release? And can I have a press release or how do you do that? What is it? Um, and the press release history is kind of interesting because um traditionally it's something it's a, it's a it's a very kind of structured announcement that big corporations would put out to announce news, you know.

Like think um when Kohler Company would launch new products or any kind of business venture, we'd put out a press release when I used to work in corporate that would let all the media know what we're up to. And it was more so something that the big companies did, but um things have changed and there's a lot of um innovative platforms out there. Obviously, AI can write a press release for you in about 10 seconds. It's probably not going to be very good, um, but it can absolutely do that.

And then there's wire services out there that help you distribute it to a lot of different um media outlets for very little money now. It probably ranges anywhere between 150 to $1,000 to distribute a press release. So, and there it there's absolutely a place for that, especially in uh times of um AI visibility. It's press releases are one of the tools that we use to help um brands and businesses become visible um online.

But if you've if you're not doing any other PR, I would say don't worry about press releases. But if you're thinking about including PR more as a strategic discipline into your marketing mix, then it's something I would encourage you to look at because absolutely any size business today can very well issue press releases and and make them useful for the business. And then the ninth question that I guess is really a mindset question, um, because people often feel like they're not they don't have enough expertise.

Um and I alluded to this already a little bit earlier, but it's like everybody has this kind of fear of not being good enough, and maybe there's a level of fear of rejection in there. If you like, if you go to a journalist and you say, Oh, I have this great story for you, I have this great project for you, and what if they're not gonna like it, you know? And like they may not like it, you know. I've been rejected more times than I can count in my life, you know, with pitches.

And that's just something you have to be aware of. That doesn't mean that your content is not valuable, that doesn't mean that your knowledge is not valuable. It just means that maybe it wasn't the right time uh or the right topic. And it's about, but you you have this relationship.

So every time I was Jason's heard this a million times, but I always um compare it to serving coffee. You know, it's like if you're like in a coffee shop and someone, you know, you're serving coffee to people and maybe that person's already had enough coffee, you know, it's too much caffeine, they can't have anymore. Like maybe they prefer tea today, they're in the mood for tea, you know, maybe they don't want a hot beverage, they want a cold beverage, you know, but that doesn't mean they don't buy coffee.

So if you serve them, if you offer them coffee tomorrow or next week or maybe next month, it's like, oh my God, I'd love a cup of coffee, you know. And that's kind of how media um are too. It's like, like my job as a PR professional, and your job if you want to do your own PR, is just to you find content that's relevant and you offer it up, and maybe they like it and maybe they don't. Um, but you just have to know that inherently you have you have good, you have good information, you have good knowledge, you have good content, you have good photography, and it is valuable for them.

It just might not be the right time. So it's always more of a not now than a no period. And then the final question I want to address is like, so what like what do you what should uh you as a business focus on first if you want to get PR? Um I honestly think what you want to focus on is clarity.

And Jason talks about this all the time, but it's the same thing for marketing and for PR. It's like you really have to be clear about who you are, what you do, who you serve, what makes you different, and what projects you want more of. And then that allows you to create a strategy to get the types of PR that help you achieve those goals. And it's not about perfection, um, it's really all about consistency, you know.

And if this is some if you have done that legwork, you know, and you are in a position where your website looks representable, that's a must-have. Um, because if you if you reach out to the media, they may go look you up. You want to make sure you have some current content on social media. You want to make sure your website's up to date and has all the basics that Jason um lays out in his top 10 website um things to pay attention to.

So if you have that, you can just start slowly and and and start building PR into your marketing mix and come back to other episodes we've done about the topic. Or of course, um, if you're really interested in tackling PR and your other marketing um efforts on on a more structured, um, more strategic level, then check out our Academy program. Yeah, and those are the most important, um, biggest questions um that I do get about PR on a regular basis. And um if you have any questions, as always, reach out to us.

And we hope to um hear and see you back here again in two weeks on Designer Discussions. We hope you enjoyed this episode of Designer Discussions and all of the helpful information. Subscribe to our podcast, leave us a review, and share it with your friends. We look forward to having you back next week for more information on the podcast and the marketing studio.

Visit designer discussions.com and follow us on social media.