How To Get Featured In Mainstream Media with Josh Elledge
In the Podcast:
03:03 – Introduction
07:55 – How Appearing into Mainstream Media Does to your Authority
11:27 – Quantifying Authority
15:34 – Certain Types of Business that Media Outlets are not Interested In
17:27 – Good Starting Point To Leverage Media
33:07 – Next Step for the Outreach into Mainstream Media
38:49 – Importance of Social Media Profiles
45:24 – Further Steps to Get into Media
53:11 – Content Ideas On the Media
56:22 – Closing and Where You Can Learn More About Josh Elledge
Josh Elledge knows a thing or two about being featured in mainstream media – he has been on TV over 2000 times! In this episode, I ask him what are some of the best ways business owners can also get featured on traditional media platforms and the best steps to take.
Ilana:
So todayโs episode is a little bit different. Actually, Iโm interviewing a guy called Josh Elledge, who runs upmyinfluence.com an agency, I guess you could call him an agency. Well, his business helps people gain authority and influence by getting on traditional media, be it TV and radio. So I thought itโd be interesting to talk to him because although th
e work that I do, and the strategies that I talked about on these podcasts is all about paid media, and online advertising and all that kind of stuff. The work that Josh does, I could see is really tying in very closely to paid media as well. So using mainstream media, in conjunction with online advertising. So Josh is an interesting guy. I actually met him recently in San Diego, and heโs been featured on TV radio more than 2000 times. So he certainly knows a thing or two about how to get on such Television shows. And I kind of press him quite hard in this interview in terms of what are some actionable steps that people can take to improve their chances on getting picked up by mainstream media, and getting the opportunity to illustrate their expertise in such media that would really, I think, do wonders for their online advertising as well. So I donโt think itโs one or the other, I actually see how the work that Josh does can really be used side by side with the stuff that we talk about. So letโs not waste any more time. Letโs get stuck straight in todayโs show.
Josh:
Ilana, thank you so much for having me!
Introduction
Ilana:
The pleasure is definitely mine. We met recently, or a few months ago, in San Diego, we were both speaking at Social Media Marketing World, talking about different topics, but related topics. So I thought this is exactly the person that I want to interview because you are all about how to leverage mainstream media for against building authority and revenue, etc. And I can really see how that would tie in beautifully into paid traffic campaign. So thatโs what weโre going to be talking about today. Do you want to kind of give me I guess, a quick, high level overview of kind of who you are and what you do?
Josh:
Yeah, so about 11-12 years ago, I started a company called Savings Angel. And when I started that company, this actually, I think, predates the rise of Facebook. And so I was in a dilemma where I needed visibility, weโd created a website that would help consumers cut their grocery bill in half. But, you know, as I mentioned, I just didnโt have any money for advertising. And so what do you do when you want to get visibility, but you donโt have any money? Well, thatโs a pickle. And so what I did is I just started reaching out to anyone I could who had an audience, and I said, Look, Iโd love to advertise. But I donโt quite have the budget for that, is there any way that I could create content, and that there would be content would be so good, that the audience would just love it. And you know, we could really focus on delivering super high value that way. So I reached out to radio stations, news magazines, newspapers, TV stations, blogs, you know, influencer, blogger, influencers at the time, really anyone I could, who would be willing to work with me.
And so I would do segments where I would come up with, for example, you know, how to get Cheerios for 50 cents a box, how to get breakfast cereal for 50 cents a box, how to get, you know, laundry detergent for 90% off. And so if I explained how to do that each and every week, I would say, okay, well, you know, just go to this website, grab this coupon, bring into this store, and you get your groceries for pennies on the dollar, it became actually a very popular segment. And so I actually did that. And it actually started making a lot of money for me. And I was thrilled at that, because, you know, flash forward many years later, and weโve now generated over $6 million in revenue, and Iโve spent less than $500 in advertising, I just have never needed to do paid ads, I could, you know, we boost and we you know that $500 maybe we boosted a couple of posts or something like that. But But really, itโs just all about, you know, how can I really step up my game and become an indispensable source for audiences.
And if I do that enough, then I start to build my authority, and I start to build my own brand and my own name. And so then when I do get more visibility opportunities, I kind of leverage the fact that the audience kind of already knows me. And so I can start at a higher level, right, rather than having to start from scratch with everybody, which you know, and again, in the world of paid advertising, this lends itself quite a bit to that subject. Because, you know, you can pay a lot per lead, or you could pay a little per lead. And if, if that audience has already kind of warmed up to you, theyโve already built up a little bit of know, like and trust for you, then youโre just simply not going to have to pay as much and thatโs my goal is I now, Iโm in a position, you know, Iโve been in the media Now, over 2000 times, I started serving pro bono in our local startup community. And just over five years ago, I started a company called Up My Influence, where thatโs our focus is we turn entrepreneurs and executives into media celebrities. And the reason why we want to do that is because we want them to just experience what itโs like to be celebrated everywhere they go. And Ilana you and I had the pleasure of seeing Mark Schaefer, you may be familiar with Mark Schaefer, Marketing Rebellion and if you look at the latest research for advertisers, itโs, you know, itโs a different world when it comes to consumer behavior. And, you know, 11-12 years of background in studying consumer behavior and leading consumer behavior, I can tell you exactly whatโs going on, and why itโs happening, and why advertisers really need to pay attention to their authority. And itโs just not enough to design better and better ads today.
How Appearing into Mainstream Media Does to your Authority
Ilana:
I couldnโt agree with you more, which is, I guess, a huge admission from someone that like me, who runs a paid, whoโs done a lot of paid advertising. And I guess I kind of see the merits in building authority and then leverage that authority with paid advertising, I kind of see them working really well together rather than one or the other, you know, using authority and using media outlets to try and send people to your website to then build the retargeting list. And itโs a completely different remarketing campaign when youโve got authority, and itโs like fanning that fire, you know. So, you know, I think everyone could agree they can see the merits as to why you would want to do this, they kind of seem obvious. If youโre starting out, what would be the first step, I guess, I mean, is it really just as straightforward as contacting some radio stations? I would imagine these people like inundated with requests.
Josh:
No, no, itโs even further back Ilana and let me kind of shift someoneโs thinking here a little bit. Because most people when they think of being in the media, or public relations, or visibility, they think about it from the perspective of, Iโm going to get in front of audiences, and Iโm going to get a bunch of people that are going to buy my stuff as a result of it. They look at it as a way of lead generation. Listen, yes, when you get on stages, and you get in front of people, are you going to be exposed to new audiences? Yeah, absolutely. However, that is only just one of maybe five or six areas where you as a personal brand, or you as your company, are getting value, you know, some other areas of values, youโre building a relationship with an influencer, if youโre working with a producer or writer, you know, an Instagram macro influencer, a YouTuber thatโs got a big audience. Itโs really, you know, when I talk about working with the media, itโs really a function of connecting with influencers.
And those influencers could be in traditional media, they can be in social media, itโs really irrelevant, the rules are pretty much the same. So one of the areas that I really think is the most undervalued aspect of working on large stages is what it does to your authority. And if we, as entrepreneurs, and executives and professionals were to focus on and just say, everything needs to lead toward growing my authority, what would happen a year from now, whatโs going to happen a year from now, if youโve invested everything into growing your personal brand, and growing the brand of your business, is youโre going to find that everything in life is just easier. So for example, you know, you Ilana you had the opportunity to speak at Social Media Marketing World and I suspect that youโve also gone to conferences, where perhaps youโve been just another face in the crowd. And itโs a completely different experience. Iโve gone and Iโve been a keynote speaker at conferences, and let me tell you, you just get treated differently. So your opportunity for partnerships for new clients, it just goes way up. When you get that celebration of who you are. Thatโs what our focus is on.
Quantifying Authority
Ilana: I guess itโs also somewhat hard to quantify. How do you quantify your authority? How is one media outlet more authority building than another? Yeah. How does one decide, you know, that your starting point?
Josh:
Well, so there is media and visibility, like working with influencers, thereโs stuff that you do for visibility, like, Iโm going to do this and this would be particularly like, letโs say, youโre working with an Instagram influencer, for example, youโre not going to get a lot of authority out of that, youโre not going to get a lot of authority out of being on Facebook. Why? because anybody can be on Facebook, anyone could technically work with an influencer. However, those are actually good avenues to get immediate sales. But what we ultimately want to do is we want to do that while we are working on our authority, because your authority is going to make your sales funnel actually work so much better. And so and hereโs how you quantify it. So letโs say that your paid traffic is going to a lead capture page. And so this is something you can test. What would happen, if you had, you know, letโs say, for example, Sydneyโs biggest newspaper for, you know, you were quoted there, you were quoted on the morning TV news, you were quoted in TechCrunch. And, a number of other, you know, popular and respected news outlet online. Well, if you put, letโs say, you put five or six logos on your lead capture page, you could do an A B test on that. And I can tell you, from my experience, that it is almost always going to improve your conversion rate by 10,15,20% and so now you look at increasing your bottom line by 10,15,20% that makes a difference.
And Iโll tell you, that when you can lead with your authority and Ilana if you do this, right, youโll actually get people like, Iโm going to talk specifically to people who do eventually, they need to talk with somebody on a call or on zoom or something like that. And they need to have like part of a sales process. So like, youโre going to be talking with somebody before they purchase your product or service. When somebody, we have a potential client who respect to you because of you, youโve gotten those indicators of authority, youโre just going to experience a different kind of call, like Iโve done Facebook advertising way back when I absolutely had no authority. And it was, you know, targeting a new audience. They didnโt know who I was, it wasnโt using my authority wasnโt leading with my authority.
And I literally had people on the call, theyโre like, okay, well, what are you selling, and they just, they had almost like, itโs such a difference for me. And then Iโve had people in Ilana, Iโm sure youโve had this as well, where somebody is actually seeing you on stage, or they theyโve seen you profiled somewhere. And when you get on the phone with them, theyโre almost a little star struck to talk with you. I want that for people, I want that certainly for our clients. But I want everybody to be celebrated for the work that they do. And so if you communicate because, again, people are going to follow your lead. People donโt know whether or not they donโt know, what category to put you in? Are you you know, an a-list in the world of business, are you B, C, D, you know, or maybe F. And so, if youโre an active listener, you know, again, be prepared for very difficult phone, sales conversations. Again, if youโre respected, youโve got and weโll talk about where thereโs where that authority comes from, thereโs actually three different areas. But when people can sense it, itโs just you donโt have to be very good at sales, people just naturally are gravitated towards you because they feel like youโve got the momentum. And they want a part of it.
Certain Types of Business that Media Outlets are not Interested In
Ilana:
Okay, so hereโs a question. Are there any certain types of businesses that you think media outlets would not be interested in?
Josh:
No, no, I donโt, because and the reason why is we could break down media, again, into several different categories. So youโve got and again, I think the more appropriate word that weโve learned to use is, because when we started off, we were like, well, Josh has been in the media over 2000 times will focus on media, well, thatโs kind of a loaded term, when in fact, all we really want is we want to be celebrated on stages of some sort. And so again, those can be virtual, they can be social media, YouTube, whatever it is, we donโt I mean, weโve made connections with huge YouTubers, weโve made connections with getting our clients on reality TV shows weโve made, you know, weโve gotten our clients on every possible type of traditional media you can think of, you know, in big Instagramers, and so no, I donโt think thereโs anybody that is, you know, would be hands off. Now, you could even look at maybe specific industry, niche news websites, for example, some, there is a stage for you somewhere, I donโt care what it is that you do, there is an audience that wants to hear what you have to share.
And so my job is to work with that person, get them from behind their computer screen, Iโm sorry, you can get up to a certain level, I think itโs very, you know, in todayโs economy, you can absolutely get up to a six figure income behind your computer screen. But eventually, if you want to get to seven figures, youโre going to need to get out from behind your computer screen. And youโre just going to need to start being an industry thought leader, an industry expert, and start serving the broader community and start serving other audiences.
Good Starting Point To Leverage Media
Ilana:
Okay, I totally see your point. So say, someone whoโs got a training business, what would be a good starting point for the leverage media?
Josh:
Well, okay, so thereโs a couple things I want to talk about number one is going to be audience selection. So Iโm going to talk about that first. And then number two, donโt let me forget this is I want to talk about, you know, kind of these first steps on what someone will say their early stage in their business, what should they be doing first? So the first thing Iโm going to talk about here is audience selection. How do you know where to go? How do you know who to serve? So the idea here is that you want to go where your audience is already pre congregated. So somebody, yeah, somebodyโs already done the work for you. Theyโve already pulled together, as long as you know who your audience is. You want to say, Where did these people go? So for example, Savings Angel, my audience, moms in the suburbs, Iโve been working with moms for 12 years. I love working with moms, I love, you know, even as a guy, even as a dad, you know, I just I absolutely love serving that audience have a heart for it. Like itโs just part of my calling. So I have learned that to reach that audience. I need to be on local TV, I need to work with mom bloggers, I need to work with bloggers that focus and social media celebrity, you know, social media influencers, who talk about shopping, saving, makeup, you know, mom things, parenting type things. And and I found that regards to TV, itโs that 9am to 10am hour. And that, let me tell you Ilana that has been my sweet spot for 12 years, is I have done over 700 TV segments in that 9am to 10am hour because that is when apparently my audience watches TV. Theyโre home with the baby. You know, I generally work with moms that are kind of getting into that nesting phase of life. And so that is absolutely been perfect audience for me. Okay, so thatโs just my example of audience selection. And thatโs an important concept to know. Because, again, you donโt want to spend your wheels waste your time talking to an audience that could care less about what you have to say.
So thatโs an important question you have to remember, now letโs talk about the first things you should do. And whatโs really important to understand before I get into that is where authority comes from, where are todayโs indicators of authority, and they come from three places. Number one, it is going to win, this is what people are going to look for and Mark Schaefer talks about this. in Marketing Rebellion, you have to understand that consumers have become more guarded more protected, more protective of themselves than ever before. Itโs because weโve all wasted time with them. You know, weโve all bought courses or whatever that, you know, weโve just wasted money, weโve wasted time, and weโre bombarded with advertising messages. So in the United States, the American Marketing Association, has estimated that consumers are actually exposed to up to 10,000 marketing messages every single day. And so we have learned to really shield ourselves from being sold to so anything that sounds feels, looks or smells like an ad, instantly, our guard goes up. And so how do we get beyond that? Well, we have to, we have to earn trust. And so that comes to we call indicators of authority. And this is what people are going to look look for. So letโs say for example, Ilana you send me an email, and I donโt otherwise know you, and your offers not bad. Itโs, you know, itโs a fine offer, youโre just like, Hey, you know, notice that you know, youโve got some visibility going on, youโre doing some good things, youโre just wanting to find out if you happen to be doing paid advertising right now, would love to see if I could offer you maybe some free tips or, you know, love to chat with you just to see if thereโs any, any way I could help you. Thatโs itโs a very benevolent offer. Thereโs nothing wrong with that offer. And so, hereโs what Iโm going to do.
And this is what everybody does. And we all think that weโre unique in this. And we all think that we have this superhuman skill to read other people, but weโre all doing the same thing. Okay, so number one, hereโs what we look for. We look for indicated, first thing, we look for our indicators of success. And so Iโm going to look at your signature, Iโm going to click on your website, Iโm going to look at your website, and Iโm going to look for a you know, is Ilana actually successful at what she does? Or is she brand new at what she does? And thereโs no right or wrong year. But itโs going to start building this picture. And itโs amazing, because people will actually spend, like, 10-20 minutes checking somebody out. When they could very, you know, again, it take like five seconds to hit reply and say, Okay, sure. You know, again, because we want to protect ourselves, we want to kind of do some sleuthing, before we engage with anybody. So we look for indicators of success.
So how do we figure that out? Weโre looking for reviews, weโre looking for testimonials weโre looking for, you know, is there some kind of is, are there handshakes going on? is there some award some kind of success, weโre going to look to see if your business is actually thriving in some way. So weโre going to just look for clues. And and Ilana you, I, all of us, we give off what I call poker tells, right? Like thereโs, itโs really easy to figure somebody out today on the internet. And so number one, again, is those indicators of success. Number two, everybody looks for social proof. So generally, what I do, lot of people do the same thing is I go to a website, and Iโm like, okay, looks pretty good. And then what I do is, so I click on, maybe I click on your social media and again, maybe marketers do this a little bit more than other people. But I will generally make a decision about somebody based on what kind of follower count and what kind of engagement they have going on. And so Iโll click on a Twitter account. And itโs amazing how many social media marketing agencies, Iโll click and look at their social media. And itโs under 1000. And, you know, thatโs not a bad thing. I mean, we all start at some point, but it just starts to paint this picture. And so we develop an idea of what somebody is worth today, based on this new digital currency. So I click on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, you know, whatever is available, Iโm gonna check it out. And then Iโm going to say, okay, they are probably earlier in their business.
And so unfortunately, someone may make a decision that that that person isnโt worth as much. And by the way, Ilana I need to let you know, a lot of what Iโm talking about, it sounds very superficial, and youโre right, it is. But we all do it. And so, you know, donโt hate the you know, whatโs the expression, donโt hate the game with donโt hate the player hate the game. Itโs just the way that it is. But this third thing is, would be associations. And so you have an association with Social Media Marketing World, that is a huge feather in your cap, that when somebody learns that you out of all of the marketers on the planet, were hand selected, to talk about this area of expertise that is a huge association bump. So, you know, and I think we should all do it, you know, again, if weโre responsible for, you know, marketing or growth of our company. You know, sometimes we struggle with celebrating our successes, or celebrating our, you know, some of these things. And, you know, a lot of times, itโs important for someone like me to come along as say, No, no, that logo really needs to be on your front page, people need to know that about, you know, know that actually, you need to talk about that in your social media. People want to know that about you. This isnโt bragging it, what it is, itโs trust building, and you donโt have to do it in a aha, look at me, but you can do it in a way that says, look, you know, Iโve been talking about this for a long time. And now, our philosophy, this thing that weโve you know, youโre part of my tribe, our tribe is being celebrated and recognized for what we believe in, and what are, you know, what weโve been, you know, trying to tell the world, well, the world is acknowledging our, what we all know, to be true. So itโs, itโs really good for your community, your tribe to see you celebrated, and because it makes them feel like they hitch their wagon to the right horse. So again, I often find myself when I work with new clients, you know, doing an inventory of all the good things theyโve done. And then Iโll generally tell them like, I would have no way of knowing that. And so as a result, I may not engage with you. And so yeah, really, really important stuff to do.
Ilana:
I think Iโm certainly guilty of some of the things thatโฆ.
Josh:
We all are, we all are! I guess, you know, no worries about that. And, itโs like 95, 98% of people, I do a lot of pro bono work with great work with a lot of military veteran business owners, will female business owners, I do a lot of consultations with companies. And itโs, itโs everybody. And I donโt think this is a subject thatโs talked about enough authority marketing. And the reason why Ilana I really start with authority is because ultimately, again, I want influence for people because when you have influence, the net allows you to just have a bigger impact on the planet have a bigger impact in the communities that you serve.
But if you donโt have the authority, you just donโt get the invitations. So something stood out when you know, when you someone figured you out and found you or discovered you, there was something about you that stood out to you know, Mike or Phil or whoever it was that, you know, you got connected with Social Media Marketing World, they liked it, and they saw something, and likely it was, you know, some sort of indicator of authority that caused you to stand out. So, again, everybody listening this conversation Ilana is a rock star, sheโs focused Social Media Marketing World, that really is a, you know, again, someone whoโs on the fence of like, you know, working with a paid ad expert, that is a huge, huge, huge honor. There a lot a lot of people in the paid ads world, they want to they want to speak there. Iโm just Iโm kind of on the outskirts, Iโm just, Iโm kind of Iโm talking about some weird that people donโt normally talk about. So thatโs how I snuck in
Ilana:
And you know as a confession. I donโt even have that on my website. Which is probably really bad.
Josh:
Oh, yeah, do it do it!
Ilana:
But I guess it kind of ties into kind of those three elements that youโre talking about with the success indicators and social proof and associations. Yeah, thatโs where your website or your landing page where youโre sending people to is so critical to demonstrate that, but itโs, itโs interesting, because like, Iโm a female in Australia, and I think Australian culture is not really a culture where you shout from the rooftops your success? And yes, Iโm a lot of women as well fall into that as well. So maybe our female business owners in Australia can relate to this in terms of it, you know?
Josh:
Ilana, you hit the nail on the head is a very, very well known phenomenon. And we work with, Iโd say about 65, 70% of our of our clients are actually female. And thatโs absolutely true. We see, I know, itโs a cultural, itโs a weird cultural thing. But again, we donโt do this to you know, to, you know, brag about ourselves, or make ourselves feel great. We really, really do it because, I mean, think about it from this perspective, your potential client or customer is out there and if they donโt make those, if they donโt, if you donโt connect the dots for them, that they should trust you. What is the consequence of that? What are the other things that they might choose to do with their money? Ilana Iโm sure, you know, a lot of very, Iโm sure youโve seen the work, use โworkโ in quotes, of a lot of bad paid advertising managers out there. Unfortunately, theyโre just there are bad agencies, there are bad actors. And your job is to protect and save your audience from getting burned. I blew 25 grand with my other company, investing in public relations, because I thought that that was the, see, I had gotten in the media, you know, at that time, you know, well over 1500 times myself, and I thought, Oh, my gosh, what would happen if I hired a professional year, I hired a quote-unquote, professional.
And hereโs what I got for my $25,000, I got one good to get, I got one good introduction to a local reporter. And that was good. And then I got to speak at a lawn and garden show. And that was my $25,000, I have a mandate, like I have to save business owners from old school, bad PR, you know, where theyโre just relying on old school tactics of, you know, pay me for an introduction kind of stuff. Itโs just, you know, in press releases and all this old school nonsense, it just doesnโt work anymore. You know, theyโre, theyโre just much better ways to communicate authentically.
So I need to save people from that. And I also need to save people from obscurity, because obscurity kills business obscurity, causes really, really great people to suffer in stagnation. So when I wake up in the morning, Iโve got urgency, like, I have to do what I do, where people are going to go out of business. So thatโs why Iโm like, Oh, Iโm kind of uncomfortable talking about this and I may not sound like Iโm uncomfortable, but I really am. Like, itโs like, I just, you know, one of my biggest fears is being called a phony or something like that. So it is, it is very difficult for me to, you know, toot my own horn as it were, but I do it because I know that my potential audience, they just need to hear that.
Next Step for the Outreach into Mainstream Media
Ilana:
Okay, cool. So letโs assume we have taken all the necessary steps and our authority is reflected very nicely on our website. Whatโs the next step that somebody would take to sort of outreach?
Josh:
Okay, so you mentioned the website. And and that, thatโs very important. I would actually, if someone were to say, Josh, what is the whatโs the one thing that I can do in the next seven days? Iโm baby brand new at this, like Iโve really never given it much consideration, what should I do. The very first thing I think that somebody should do is they need to hire a professional photographer. And they need to get new headshots. And I will tell you that problem, and that applies to about nine 95% of us. Headshots are your calling card, it is the first thing generally, that somebody makes a judgment on assuming that, you know, otherwise, your marketing is fine, all this other stuff, I mean, itโs, you know, someone is going to look at your face.
And look, thereโs not much you can do with it. Itโs like a goofy looking and so thatโs what God gave me. So look, you canโt change that. But at least you can lead with a great representation of yourself. Because when you meet someone in person, you see the beauty of that person, you feel the beauty of their energy, you feel their authenticity, you feel their energy, that doesnโt often get conveyed in most peopleโs photos, itโs kind of hard to do that.
And so what we what weโre talking about is weโre actually talking about lowering the digital barrier. And a great photo communicates who you are more authentically than a bad photo. And the reality is, we live in a swipe left, swipe right world.
And so if you say, okay, Iโm going to go get much better photos done. You know, what I have right now is by three, four years old, itโs just you know, as a selfie, or whatever it was, or, you know, and by the way, if you want to know the truth about your photo, I highly recommend a website, Itโs a free tool you can use. Itโs called photofeeler.com, itโs absolutely free. You upload your photo, and then you go vote on a bunch of other peopleโs photos. And then youโll get credits, and then people will then judge you on your photo, which sounds scary.
Ilana:
Itโs scary. (laughs)
Josh:
But yes, what you listen, you got to have this information, you have to know this. And what I find is that the, the feedback is generally pretty spot on. Like, itโs some people just have weird opinions. But itโs important that you get a cross section of what everybodyโs thinking, because what hereโs what I donโt want, is I donโt want you to do all of this marketing work and then youโre like, hmm, people arenโt really responding. I wonder why. And if you just had the honest truth about Ooh, yeah, you know, youโre coming across as a little bit of a creeper in your photo. Or you seem insincere or for smile, you know, I canโt really see, you know, because itโs not really zoomed in on your face. You know, all of these things can decrease your conversion rate, it can decrease it, believe it or not, like a bad photo can decrease your revenue. Again, is this superficial? Yes, itโs absolutely superficial.
So again, donโt hate the player hate the game. And itโs just, itโs just the way that it is right now. And so, listen, in the United States, if you have a friend whoโs a photographer, generally friend price is about $100, maybe $150. professional photographer, usually around $300 US, and is it worth it? Absolutely. Itโs worth every penny. Oftentimes, you might find photographers at conferences you go to, thatโs a really good deal. Like if you have a photographer like a really great photographer, that just taking a bunch of peopleโs photos on the site at the same time, thatโs a really good hookup, or you can get together and say maybe like a networking group. You donโt get a bunch of people all at once you can really hook get a hook up that way pricing wise. And then take your new photos, upload them to Photo Feeler and you can find out and you will get rated on likability, your authority, you know, kind of like how professional you look how authoritative you look how successful you are, I forget what the three categories are. But itโs a great exercise. And I generally recommend people get new headshots every two years.
Ilana:
Okay, cool. I think thatโs actually really good advice. I completely agree with you. Once again, Iโm yet to do that too.
Josh:
See I love this! See whatโs great about this, I love this conversation because I you know, a lot of weโre laying out some action items I donโt think are on peopleโs radars. And thatโs that makes me so happy. I just think of all the people that are not going to go out and get new headshots now. And Iโm just so excited for this. You know what Iโve done to stimulate Australians economy just by this good advice.
Ilana:
Cool. Alright, so weโve nailed our website with good success indicators. Weโve got good headshots. Whatโs the next step?
Importance of Social Media Profiles
Josh:
Your social media profiles. So this is, you know, youโre going to get judged on this stuff. And so, this oneโs going to vary depending on what your industry is, if you are, letโs say, a consumer product or something like that, youโre selling makeup, then yeah, of course, Instagram is going to be your number one, you know, possibly Facebook, you know, what I we generally work with a lot of B2B clients. You know, theyโre selling professional services or training author, speaker coaches. And so, I would tell you that even if youโre not B2B, if youโre B2C, the that your LinkedIn profile, I donโt think you can over invest in your personal LinkedIn profile. Iโm not talking about your company thing or your company page. Iโm talking about your personal profile.
Ilana:
I couldnโt agree more.
Josh:
Yes. So hereโs the deal. Hereโs why. Thereโs somebody whoโs listening to our conversation. And theyโre like Josh Elledge, huh, I wonder. He sounded like he had a couple of good ideas, far too much energy for my taste. But letโs go check him out. How does somebody check out me. So generally, what theyโre going to do is theyโre going to go to Google, and theyโre going to do a Google search, theyโre not going to be able to spell it. So Iโm going to help them right now. But itโs Josh, my last name is Elledge, and usually, depending on where you are around, Iโm gonna say guess Iโm guessing around number four, the number four search result is going to be my LinkedIn profile. And so if somebody wants to know, hmm, I wonder whatโs up with this Josh guy, theyโre probably going to click on that before they click on my Twitter feed, or even my website in many cases, if they want to know about me, so Ilana, Iโm going to ask you a hereโs a pop quiz. How much control does linked in give you on what you can put on your profile?
Ilana:
Complete control.
Josh:
Yes! (laughs)
Ilana:
It is because I recently re-did my profile
Josh:
Yeah, they give you like a big billboard, to put something behind your photo that everybody is going to see. And so what in it makes sense that if LinkedIn is, okay, letโs think about who is going to be looking at this LinkedIn profile? Well, itโs probably people that theyโre curious about you. And they want to know how you can help solve their problems. So theyโre going to, first thing youโre going to look at guarantees, theyโre gonna look at your profile picture. And then if that check the box, theyโre like, okay, just just read a pretty decent LinkedIn profile picture there, then theyโre going to look at the, you know, probably maybe the description, you know, my name, you know, my title, and then they are going to look at that big picture, that little billboard ad that I have behind it. And so Iโm going to use that image. And you can like, if youโre looking at mine, right now, youโre going to see that I use that inventory. It says grow your authority, influence and revenue, thatโs communicating directly to my audience, then actually put some of my biggest credentials there over 2000 media appearances, syndicated TV and newspaper expert, speaker on influence and authority got my logo on there, you know, good bright colors, smile, you know, good energy. And then you know, we continue on, Iโm not going to go into Iโm not going to go through all of this. But listen, if you donโt even pay me a dime, just copy what I do.
This has been battled tested. Over the past five years, weโve been weโve been tweaking, testing, tweaking, testing, we do all pretty much most of our lead gen we do on LinkedIn. And so every change has been tested. You know, my about section, itโs very intentional, everything there is is absolutely on purpose, I embed videos, I really go all out on the description of my companies, and my background and experiences. And so you know, everything is very intentional, because I know that the person whoโs looking at my LinkedIn profile is curious as to whether or not I can help them. So I want them to know, the answer is yes. Now, beyond LinkedIn, Iโll just say that I also believe that Twitter is extremely important for most business owners, particularly if you want to build your own personal brand. And so if you want to do more public speaking, we work with a lot of speakers who come in, and they say, Josh, Iโd like to start getting paid for speaking, or like, right now, Iโm only making about 1000-1500 per engagement. And I Iโd like to make more.
So. And weโre very good at this. Because I could tell you that most speakers who earn, you know, five figures plus speaking, generally have very big Twitter followings, and are very engaging on Twitter, they have a lot of engagement on Twitter, and they absolutely have a really great Twitter profile. And so the twit the followers and the followers and engagement, thatโs going to take a little while to build that up, you can do that you follow best practices. But what you can, what you can do this week is you can really build an amazing Twitter profile, you know, fill out the bio, really just maximize everything that they, that Twitter gives you and take advantage of it. And I mean, as a result, people are going to make decisions about your level of authority. And if they think that you are someone that oh, looks like people respect Ilana then they are going to respect Ilana. And everybody should respect Ilana.
Further Steps to Get into Media
Ilana:
Okay, so Iโm in agreement with you there in terms of getting really good social media profiles, done that now. What would be the next step for somebody who wants to leverage the reach in media?
Josh:
So Iโll just go through a few other things real quick. I really think that everybody needs to if you want to get in the media, itโs going to be so much, listen, do you want to get in the media and have it be easy? Or do you want to have it be more difficult? If you want to be more difficult? Well, donโt listen to what Iโm about to tell you. If you want it to be easy, then listen to what Iโm going to tell you. Okay? All this stuff. By the way, itโs amazing, because most people I see this all the time, they come to us, and theyโre like, Hey, can you pitch me and get me Ba ba ba ba ba? Yeah, we can, we can do that. But Iโm going to tell you right now, itโs going to be more expensive. And the reason why is because Iโm going to pitch you and the journalist is not going to like who you are. And so weโre going to pitch pitch, pitch pitch, or me or anybody. And so thatโs why I really focus on this authority first. And sometimes people were like, I donโt want to do the authority first. Itโs like, I just want you to sell me because I want the visibility. I want to make more sales. Like, look, you know, how much money do you want to burn through? Itโs, itโs, you know, you see, Iโm sure Ilana youโve got some clients, that their CPL is, like, ridiculously low. And then you have some clients that itโs pretty high and, you know, again, to it really, yeah. And so I want to make sure that, you know, we make a better go of it.
And so, I think if you listen, if you want to work with influencers and media, you need to have a press kit, on your website, you got a media kit in there, by the way, thereโs like three different kits that many of us are going to have, okay, youโre gonna have a speaker kit. And if you want to do speaking, you need to have a speaker kit, and thatโs going to get you thatโs going to help get you hired, if you donโt have a speaker kits, youโre not going to get as many gigs bottom line, media kit, how do you engage with brands, advertisers and partners, that goes in your media kit, then you have your press kit, and your press kit is, yes, I work with the media, I work with the press, I am an expert in my industry. And this is everything that you want to know about me and how I can you know what my area of expertise is.
So what goes into press kit, again, you can go to upmyinfluence.com, you donโt need to pay me a dime, just go copy mine, itโs honestly, I mean, I could spend a lot of time and we do a lot of press kit makeovers and all that other kind of stuff. But honestly, if you just if you if you take a look at ten most successful people in your industry, and look at their press kit, and then just copy it, thatโs a really, really quick and dirty shortcut. Now the reality is, a lot of people are going to get excited about that, theyโre going to think about doing it, and then they probably wonโt do it, because theyโre just going to get too busy with the tyranny of the urgent. But Iโm telling you that my job is to help make your work a lot easier and a lot more profitable. So you got to get this done. And so whether itโs me or you hire somebody else to do this for you, just get a press kit on your website needs to be linked in your header or your footer and it needs to say press kit, press something like that, okay. In the media, that would be fine. And then so you got to have that, then you get your media, okay, if you donโt have any media logos on your website, maybe youโve been interviewed on a podcast, maybe been interviewed just small, small, small stuff, go ahead and put the small stuff on there. Because you got to start somewhere,
Ilana:
Somethingโs very better than nothing, right?
Josh:
Absolutely. And, okay, hereโs the thing, um, is that, and I see this a lot, we get people, and they come in, and they say, Josh, can you connect me with Gary Vaynerchuck? Absolutely. I can. Can you connect me with Tony Robbins? Absolutely. Itโs not rocket science, like we know how to do that we know best practices for that. We may or may not have personal relationships there, itโs really irrelevant, in my opinion. Matter of fact, if youโre working with an agency that has personal relationships, you have buckle up buttercup, because youโre going to pay a ton of money. If you if youโre working with a PR agency that has a personal in with a big time celebrity, or theyโre going to charge you a ton of money for it. And I donโt think that thatโs really necessary today. I think that if you lead with a great presentation, and a great first impression and high authority, you donโt really need to pay for introductions, you could do this yourself. But again, so youโve got all that other stuff. You got your press kit, got you know, whatever logoโs you got when you say that you want this really, really big media, okay, you have to honor this stair step approach to this, okay?
You may not be if youโve never been on TV, and Iโll just use the United States as an example. Okay, if youโve never been on TV, and you say, Josh, I want to get on Good Morning America, or the Today Show, or Ellen or someone like that, Iโm going to tell you NO, Iโm not going to waste your money, because Iโm going to pitch you and theyโre going to say, okay, sure, you know, theyโre theyโre going to do it on their own, theyโre going to look for video of you, I can give them the best pitch in the world, but theyโre going to look for video of you. And if they donโt see evidence that youโve already been on major major market TV, theyโre not even going to give you a second, and theyโre not going to give you they wonโt give you more than like 30 seconds. Itโs just itโs, theyโre not going to take a risk on a bad guest. And so similarly, like, letโs say that you want to be in Sydney, Chicago, New York, LA, you know, New York, Hong Kong, Tokyo, you know, whatever, right?
Youโre going to have to do media market TV before you can do major market TV. And by the way, Iโm using the illustration of television, this same thing happens. If you want to work with influencers, you gotta spend your time in the trenches. You gotta spend your time earning your stripes, stop reaching out to the biggest influencers, because you know what, they have the power to wave their magic wand and turn you into a celebrity, do they? Yeah, they do. They really, really do. Oprah can turn people into millionaires overnight, she has that power to do that. But Oprahโs and her producers, and you know, and whoever else out there, Iโm dating myself Oprahโs you know, kind of taken sheโs, sheโs busy with Weight Watchers and all of our other projects right now. But again, theyโre not going to work with you if you havenโt earned your way to their level. So generally, what we do when we get someone is we say, great, weโre going to do 10, small podcasts, weโre going to do 10, small media outlets, and then weโre going to aim for some small to medium size, and weโre going to aim for medium, and then weโre going to aim for medium to large. And then eventually weโre going to aim for large.
You know, and really, I honestly think that the big deal in media is, you know, you always want your authority, what your media that you do for authority, and you get those. But honestly, like the big deal today, like in the eyes of Google, I think is the accumulation of all the small deals. You know, if you are seen and talked about everywhere, then Googleโs going to see that even if you donโt get follow links back, if it shows up in Google News, Googleโs smart enough to know Iโm not the expert on this. But Iโve talked with enough smart SEO people who have kind of nodded their heads and said, no, I agree with you. And that is you just want people talking about you. Google was saying thereโs something to this Josh, guy that we should probably give maybe give a little bump up. And thatโs what we want. We want that visibility.
Content Ideas On the Media
Ilana:
I guess. Yeah, thatโs I can totally see how to get on the major media outlets, they want some kind of proof of you know, that you can handle being on TV, for example, and provide a good experience for people. And so using the lower authority media outlets as, as that stepping stone, is it sort of the kind of thing? Do you need to pitch the content idea? Or is that theyโre going to come up with that themselves?
Josh:
Oh, no, no, no, no, you have to write everything for them. No, no, yeah. And I see this a lot. Where people assume that the media is going to do any bit of work for you. They just they donโt have the bandwidth to do it. So if I mean, this is this is really like our approach to working with media or even influencers, is we do everything for them. Wow. Yeah, yeah. And in fact, you know, one thing that we absolutely dominate, is that we do a lot where I call media inquiry placements, where journalists are saying, hey, working on this story, need an expert in real estate, who specializes in fix and flips in distressed areas. And so what we do is we would go, we monitor that sub really, really closely. And then we find, you know, we find a client, and then we write a, we basically, we write for the journalist, something that they can copy and paste. And we write it in third person, we write it exactly as the journalist would write it, and they copy paste.
And often times, they donโt even reply back and let us know, we just find out about it, you know, a week or two later, and they used it, Iโve been a journalist, you know, I thankfully have, you know, worked independently. So I donโt, you know, do it day to day, but Iโve been writing a syndicated newspaper column for over eight years now, I just have a lot of friends in the space, it is a really, really tough job to be a broadcast journalist or a, you know, or even a writer, even a freelance writer who, every single day, youโre expected to pump out, you know, one to four articles on different subjects. So honestly, you can use if youโre a journalist, you could use all the help you can get. And our job as experts is to make their job insanely easy. So then we can become a reliable source. And, you know, Iโve had journalists that theyโve used me over 100 times. And they know that they can, and I get an email from them, and I will drop pretty much everything Iโm doing. And I will answer their question immediately.
Closing and Where You Can Learn More About Josh Elledge
Ilana:
Wow, I can Well, I guess, you know, if somebody if I were a journalist, and somebody hands me something that I can literally copy and paste versus something Iโm going to have to edit and rewrite well becomes a no brainer. Okay, is some these all sounds really, really interesting. Is there something that we havenโt covered yet that you think is important that we need to talk about? You know,
Josh:
Weโve covered a lot of ground, and for the person whoโs listening to us, listen, I hope you know that what, you know, this is 2000 media appearances of experience talking right now, like, Iโm not messing with you. Like, if there were a faster way to turn you into a media celebrity, I would be teaching it. And honestly, there are things that I used to teach like four or five years ago, I donโt teach anymore. And the reason I donโt teach it is because Iโve tested it across thousands of people. And I have seen what people will actually do. And Iโve seen what, you know, what really moves the needle. And so I spent a lot of time talking on authority, when I think a lot of people want to know, yeah, but what should I say in the pitch? And honestly, what you saying the pitch is not as important. Itโs like, if you as long as you are a helpful, thoughtful person, that really matters more than, you know, crafting the perfect language, right? I mean, itโs really good to know the, you know, the vocabulary, and that sort of thing I may can really help you, but not as much as getting your act together. You know, your online branding, that stuff really matters.
Ilana:
Well, more so in this day and age that Iโm sure 10 years ago, for example, it just gets more and more important, more and more relevant. And thereโs kind of like no shortcuts to it.
Josh:
So thatโs another thing too, is I donโt want some whoโs listening to me, I donโt want you to get bummed out thinking that this is, you know, just way too much work. You donโt have to have everything done this month. You know, but if over the next 12 months, I know weโre you know, a lot of us are always you know, weโre always worried about how much money weโre gonna make this month, or this week, or today or whatever. A lot of us, you know, that Iโve heard this number of times, you know, people talk about, you know, kind of, you know, hunting versus farming. And so I am, you know, look you do the hunting, Iโm going to be you know, be your farming department. And Iโm going to work on getting you know, getting your, your crops, planting your seeds, you know, planted and your, you know, your rose cloud and all that other stuff. And, you know, it just, you know, keep keep me, you know, make me part of your team, whatever that looks like, you know, I do a lot of pro bono stuff I do. I do a lot of free stuff, free videos for YouTube, free podcasts, like I teach, Iโm obsessed with teaching. Iโm a teaching maniac. And I love giving it away for free. And, you know, thatโs itโs just I just believe that, you know, when youโre successful in business, you I think we all have a mandate to give and help our next generation of people to become successful.
Awesome. Thank you so much, Josh, for coming on. on my show. I really, really appreciate your time. Where can people find out more information about you and how you could possibly help them?
Josh:
You know, we have a free quiz, youโre welcome to take itโs an authority quiz. And if you go to upmyinfluence.com/quiz, itโs 10 questions, weโve kind of identified, you know, 10, very, very important areas, indicators of authority. Just take the quiz, Iโm going to give you a score. And then Iโm going to give you a huge list of resources, kinda like the Photo Feeler I talked about earlier. Iโve got about 20,25, 30, other things, you know, little tools that you can use, most of them are free, that you can use to really monitor and grow your authority. And Iโll even give you a free video masterclass. And, you know, all I ask is that, you know, just do the homework and actually, you know, do what I teach and do what I do, you know, do what Iโm telling you to do. Because it really will make a difference and you know that you know, if it was, you know, helpful for you then let me know that thatโs that that would be the greatest joy could ask for
Ilana:
Awesome. Well, once again, thank you so much, Josh. I know itโs some night time where you are so I appreciate the time out of your day. And thanks for coming on and Iโll talk to you soon.
Josh:
Ilana youโre wonderful. Thank you so much!
