Later this week I am going to a Social Media, Blogging and Branding Conference in Bentonville, Arkansas called SoFabCon. It’s close by, is partially led by a very cool dude, Ted Rubin of Collective Bias, and promises to enlighten me about all sorts of things. Plus I get to go buy crazy socks for the parties they have. It’s a rule.  

I thought I would investigate the idea of Public Relations over the week since that is so intertwined with the subjects of the conference.

Her Hidden World

I have a friend and client in Australia, Natalie Tucker of Defined Image, who recently wrote an FB post about getting 2,000 likes on her Personal Stylist business page.  That is a big milestone for her.  She credited me with helping her do that by listening to her very traumatic, personal, private and revealing life story, one that would not fit in most PR firm’s bio of their client.  

Her World Exposed

After I heard the story I told her that while her first instinct was to hide that story away (that it wouldn’t be good public relations in other words) I thought that telling the story to the world would be a huge moment for her and her business. It would turn her from this perfect woman in a perfect marriage with perfect kids, somewhat unrelatable in her public relations perfection, into a real and relatable woman with an incredibly powerful story of how she got where she is today.  

She agreed and found the courage to tell the story. That was 1 year ago when she had 100+ followers.  A year later and she has 2,000 followers and her business has grown by leaps and bounds.  The story being told to the world was the turning point.  She is an incredibly hard and dedicated worker, no story can replace that. But it was the entry point for so many to know and love her and give her a chance to prove what she can do for them.

True PR

What does that story say about your own PR? It says you let your PR, whether DIY or through a company, be the best version of you, but you make sure that best you is real, authentic, genuine and true.  It says your Public Relations efforts should include who you really are.  That way you don’t have to try to remember what false mask you are suppose to  wear. You just wear yourself as best you can be.

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Drawing and Commentary by Marty Coleman. I also designed Natalie’s website. Check it out.

Quote by the Doris Fleming, mother of Peggy Fleming, the 1968 Olympic gold medal figure skater.  She told it to her daughter after she won so she wouldn’t be fooled into thinking she was something she was not.  She also won 3 world titles and 5 national titles.

Peggy Fleming, Gold – USA; Gabriele Seyfert, Silver – East Germany; Hana Maskova, Bronze – Czechoslovakia

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