927 Michelle Rupp:

Melinda Wittstock:

Coming up on Wings of Inspired Business:

Michelle Rupp:

One of the advantages that I took with me is being able to get it done as, as you well know, 5:00 is coming, right, 6:00 is coming. I don’t know that I can even think of one instance where I went to my news director and said, oh, I’m sorry, I’m not going to have that story today. Like, that was never an option. Now, there were times when the story that was assigned in the morning meeting had evolved and even changed and gone in a completely different direction by the time we got to the afternoon meeting.

Melinda Wittstock:

Much about the rough and tumble of journalism is a perfect training ground for entrepreneurship—from fast-changing circumstances and the constant deadline pressure to the ability to translate the complex into crystal clear communication and messaging. Michelle Rupp is an Emmy Award winning broadcast journalist who leapt into entrepreneurship by founding Memorable Results Media, a boutique agency dedicated to helping small and medium-sized businesses gain earned media coverage on local and regional television. Today she shares her unique media strategies that help businesses increase revenue, create sold-out events and grow brand visibility.

Melinda Wittstock:

Hi, I’m Melinda Wittstock and welcome to Wings of Inspired Business, where we share the inspiring entrepreneurial journeys, epiphanies, and practical advice from successful female founders … so you have everything you need at your fingertips to build the business and life of your dreams. I’m all about paying it forward as a five-time serial entrepreneur, so I started this podcast to catalyze an ecosystem where women entrepreneurs mentor, promote, buy from, and invest in each other. Because together we’re stronger, and we all soar higher when we fly together and lift as we climb.

Melinda Wittstock:

Today we meet an inspiring entrepreneur who made the leap into entrepreneurship from the fast-paced world of broadcast journalism, founding Memorable Results Media, helping small and medium-sized businesses gain valuable earned media exposure. Michelle Rupp shares the lessons, and challenges, she carried over from her journalism career, and her best tips for navigating PR, building relationships with reporters, and making your business stand out in today’s noisy attention economy. Whether you’re a founder looking to master the art of storytelling or someone dreaming of making a bold career shift, Michelle’s insights into balancing ambition, action, and authenticity are sure to inspire. Michelle will be here in a moment, and first:

[PROMO CREDIT]

Eight years ago, I started this podcast because I wanted to help women succeed as entrepreneurs. Over the years, I’ve driven more than $10 million in sales to the women I’ve featured on this show, and this year I’m taking my investment in female founders to a whole new level as a venture partner of the new firm Zero Limits Capital, where we’re dedicated to investing in highly scalable seed stage startups founded by women and diverse teams – a mission more important than ever as the Trump administration cracks down on anything and everything DEI. We’re looking for innovators with exciting new applications of AI, Blockchain and other emerging technologies that make a social and sustainable impact to change the world. Is this you? If it is, take a moment and tell us about your opportunity at bit.ly/ZLCintake – that’s bit.dot.ly/ZLCintake – capital ZLC lowercase intake.

Melinda Wittstock:

Any business can blow hundreds of thousands or tens of millions on advertising to grow their company, but not everyone is able to master the art of free earned media and its brand-building power and validation to stand out from the crowd in a noisy marketplace.

Melinda Wittstock:

So, what does it take to get journalists to feature your unique mission, vision and solution? And what is the true value of being featured on national or regional television, a major magazine, or digital media property? Today we get into it with a proven PR maven and former Emmy Award winning journalist.  Understanding what’s newsworthy and building genuine relationships with the media is essential to building massive community engagement, brand recognition, and authentic validation. Let’s put on our wings with the inspiring Michelle Rupp and be sure to download the podcast app Podopolo so we can keep the conversation going after the episode.

[INTERVIEW]

Melinda Wittstock:

Michelle, welcome to Wings.

Michelle Rupp:

Oh, Melinda, thank you.

Melinda Wittstock:

Well, I’m looking forward to talking to you. You and I share a background from, you know, journalism and broadcast journalism into entrepreneurship. And you’re celebrating a big milestone. You’ve been in business for four years. So, let’s start at the beginning: What was the impetus that made you hop from your Emmy Award winning career into entrepreneurship?

Michelle Rupp:

Yes. Well, Melinda, thank you. And it’s been quite a journey. Most definitely a lot of that. When I made the ultimate decision to step away from the business after about two decades. And the natural progression was to begin to go into corporate PR roles. And I did that for about five, six, seven years and thought, this is not what I was created to do. And there was a very pivotal moment in 2019 where I hit a perceived failure and that really caused me to reevaluate everything.

Michelle Rupp:

And at that moment I thought, when was I the most happiest? Because if in fact, you truly are meant to do what you love to do and it not feel like work, well, then when was that moment in my professional career? And I kept going back to. It was when I was storytelling and sharing the stories of different businesses, different individuals, when I was in the television industry. And so, as I was entering into a high level, executive level, high profile corporate position, my mind was already about 75 steps ahead. And I was thinking, how do I take my knowledge from what I know in television, my passion for helping business owners, and how do I marry those two and how do I do that while also executing deliverables in this C suite position in the midst of a pandemic, while also creating an exit strategy from this C suite position so that I can be able to do what it is I truly love doing. And so, while, yes, I am overjoyed that we are celebrating four years of memorable results media, I gotta tell you, in some ways, it feels like I’m celebrating 40 years in this business because of all the things that have transpired just in that short amount of time.

Melinda Wittstock:

Yeah, so you mentioned a lot of things there, right. And it sounds like, you know what’s true for most entrepreneurs. I mean, there’s never a right time to start a business. It’s not going to be any easier tomorrow than it is today or a week from now or whatever. So, you just have to start. So, you were juggling a lot of things. How did you manage that?

Michelle Rupp:

Juggling?

Melinda Wittstock:

Because I think that’s the point where a lot of people get overwhelmed, and they stop, or they just stay in planning mode, and they never make it out of the gate because they’re just planning for some perfect situation that never arrives. So, what, what, what spurred you to action there?

Michelle Rupp:

And, and in full disclosure, there were moments of, of definitely feeling stuck. But what ultimately spurred me to action was the thought and image of if I were to wake up four years from now and nothing in my life has changed. And that terrified me. And that was enough. On the days when it was a heavy lift and working remotely and honoring that corporate job, but then also utilizing time to work on my business, the idea of, yes, and if I wake up in four years and I am still at this point, that is going to be a very sad existence. Let’s get up an extra hour early. Let’s. I am a runner and so I do a lot of thinking and processing while I’m out running.

Michelle Rupp:

So, let’s go, you know, let’s go knock out a 10-mile run and let’s let the creativity flow and begin to think of ways to move my business forward whilst I’m simultaneously gently beginning to step back from the corporate job. It certainly was a, a balancing act, no question about it. And there were a handful of phone calls to my, to my parents where I was in tears and, and to my younger sister who was also an entrepreneur. As I was saying, can I do this? And, and of course the family support and, and family encouragement of yes, you can. We’re doing one, one foot in front of the other. You can, you can do this. And, and that, that’s really what helped in some of those moments that might have been perceived as dark moments and, and heavy questioning. It was no, you, you can do this.

Michelle Rupp:

And, and you must do it because there are small businesses that are out there that need what you are wanting to offer them. And so, you have to do it on the days you can’t do it for yourself, you’ve got to do it for them.

Melinda Wittstock:

Exactly. So, I mentioned, you know, when we just started talking that we share this background. You know, in my case, I started out life as a print journalist, a correspondent for the Times of London, somewhat improbably because I’m obviously not English to become a TV anchor. I was a broadcast journalist like you. And there was a certain point where I always felt the entrepreneurial pull like all through that there was that tension, especially in television between being talent, being on air, and being a producer.

Melinda Wittstock:

And I had to do both. Like, I couldn’t just pick one or the other. I got to the point where I was creating shows for the BBC.

Michelle Rupp:

Yeah.

Melinda Wittstock:

And created Financial Times Television for the Financial Times newspaper, you know, that kind of thing. So, I was kind of intrapreneur.

Michelle Rupp:

Yep.

Melinda Wittstock:

And then it was like, okay, that’s it. I just have to go and do this. I couldn’t like not do it. But I found that some of the skills that I’ve learned from being a journalist have served me very well. And there were some other things that I felt I needed to unlearn in an entrepreneurial context. Tell me about your experience with that. What were the biggest assets that you brought with you into your business from being a broadcast journalist and all that that entails? Let’s start with the assets first and then let’s talk a little bit about what were some of the things that were just completely different that you had to get your mind around and learn completely new skills.

Michelle Rupp:

Absolutely. And with, with the shared thread here of, of television as our background, one of the advantages that I took with me is being able to get it done as, as you well know, 5:00 is coming. Right. 6:00 is coming. And, and so the routine of daily deadlines and having to produce, I, I would not, I, I can only actually, I don’t know that I can even think of one instance where I went to my news director and said, oh, I’m sorry, I’m not going to have that story today. Like, that was never an option. And, and yes, I know that you, you relate, you know what I’m talking about. And so that whole cultivating and honing that skill of being able to produce on a daily basis, now, there were times when the story that was assigned in the morning meeting had evolved and even changed and gone in a completely different direction by the time we got to the afternoon meeting.

Michelle Rupp:

Yet you still had a story that was making error at 5:00 that day. So there, there was. It, it was ingrained that you did not take no for an answer. You, you came up with, with something. You always had something to report on or to turn that day and was not an option because as I said earlier, 5:00’s coming, 6:00 is coming. And by 5:02 you either sank or you swam. I also appreciated the fact that because news is immediate, and we worked day to day. It was a new topic every day.

Michelle Rupp:

So, there wasn’t the drudgery of, oh my gosh, I’ve got to go into the office and sit at my desk and work on the same spreadsheet that I worked on yesterday. No, no, there was none of that. We would come in as a reporter, we would come and at 9:30 in the morning, we’d have our story by 10, 10, 15 and we were out the door by 11, if not sooner, working on the story that day. And so, I appreciated the immediacy. I appreciated, I was not chained to a desk. I was out meeting people in the various communities, telling stories.

Melinda Wittstock:

Yeah. So, there’s something very entrepreneurial about that. Like there’s something entrepreneurial about finding a story. Right. Telling a story. All the teamwork, especially in television, right, required, you know, to get it done.

Melinda Wittstock:

But also, that kind of every day is different. You never know what’s coming at you. You got to sink or swim. All, all of those things sort of psychologically, I think prepare you for entrepreneurship.

Michelle Rupp:

Yeah, yeah. No, and I, I, I would agree. And even, even the days, and I’m sure you had these days too, where you had the enterprise, the story, and you are creating something out of thin air that directly, that directly links to entrepreneurship. And so, when I have those moments where I get quiet and I just kind of look back over my professional trajectory and I think, yeah, I’ve been, I’ve been creating from the beginning. Similarly to your background. My, my trajectory in television started as a producer and I was hired to create and launch the first ever lifestyle show in the state of Arkansas. Well, that show just celebrated 25 years and I’ve never created a television show before. I, I didn’t know what I was doing, but what I did know was that I had 58 minutes to play with and needed to come up with about four segments at five minutes apiece and one segment at two and a half minutes apiece, Monday through Friday.

Michelle Rupp:

And okay, I didn’t, they hadn’t prepared me for that in college. So, so you know, you, you just begin to figure it out and work with the team that is surrounding you and, and make it happen.

Melinda Wittstock:

Well, it’s interesting that you mentioned college, right. I haven’t won an Emmy, but I’ve won a whole bunch of Murrow’s and I’m also an award-winning entrepreneur. But I never went to journalism school and I never went to business school. Some journalists go into entrepreneurship and really struggle. And I wonder whether it’s about team and building team, because there’s an aspect of journalism, especially if you’re not really on the producer side, right, where it’s talent and it’s all very scarcity mindset and everybody’s got big egos and everybody’s competing and it’s like competing for airtime, competing for space, I guess, And that head, head-to-head combat is very different in entrepreneurship where you need a team pulling all in the same direction. And so how did that impact you? Were you, was your background more on the kind of producer side where you, you really had to develop that muscle kind of earlier on in your TV career before you were an entrepreneur, or did you have to learn that entrepreneur?

Michelle Rupp:

I think I really developed that muscle as a producer and then, and then took those strong qualities when I moved in front of the camera and spent the bulk of my TV time as a reporter and then, and then in another market as a main anchor. So, I think it was relying on the positive aspects of television of working with a team, of working with a videographer and working with that editor. And I’m writing the story, but yet the photographer who’s been with me all day, we’re kind of talking about this story and kind of framing it together. And so, yes, using that teamwork and then to pull that through on the entrepreneur side, I don’t know what I would do without a team having even, even, even from the standpoint of having that, those other people around to volley those ideas back and forth. And, and as it relates to working with local clients, ideas and strategies that I have about those local clients and moving their businesses forward. But maybe before approaching them with, okay, here’s the final plan, I’ve already verbally processed it with someone on my team and we’ve been back and forth making sure that we’ve accounted for all the different angles that may come up and have anticipated if we find ourselves in this situation, well, then this is how we’re going to get the client out of that situation. And so that definitely is something that, that being in the business I’ve taken away from, taken with me is let’s, let’s look at the different angles and while we may not be able to prepare for every angle, we can at least be aware that there might be some scenarios out there that we’re going to need to have a plan on how to handle.

Melinda Wittstock:

So, let’s just transition now specifically to Memorable Results Media. So, you know, again, congratulations, four years out, you’re helping all these business clients figure out how to get earned media, you know, for their companies. A lot of people don’t really know how to do that, but as a journalist yourself, you know the type of stories and the kind of the news pegs and kind of like what will actually get journalists attention. So, let’s break that down for everybody. Take me through kind of what you do with your clients to, to, to land them, you know, this really valuable earned media.

Michelle Rupp:

Absolutely. One of the most important first steps is having that initial strategy call because I want to be able to understand what that client, what their goals are. Not every client’s goal is from a financial point of view. Sometimes the client might want to simply raise awareness, they may simply want volunteers, they may simply want to take donations. Now yes, in a, of course there are the businesses that want to see their revenue increase. So it’s really important that I know from the beginning what the business’s goals and expectations are and then that allows me to begin to understand their story. And now how are we going to position you when it comes to pitching morning shows, lifestyle shows, individual reporter stories, and how can we get you positioned as the thought leader? Because it is my ultimate goal that after I’ve worked with a client and then that client begins to foster a relationship with that reporter or with that producer, that then it’s just a matter of time before that business is top of mind for that reporter or for that producer when something comes down the line that they need a go to expert for. I have one client in particular who said one thing you’ve taught me is anytime the media calls, I’m available.

Michelle Rupp:

I am always available, he said, because I know that if I’m not available, my competition will be. And, and that made me smile and I said, you know, I, I appreciate that you, you get it. You understand the value of being the thought Leader of being the go-to person and the fact that you’re willing to stop everything and say, yes, I can meet you, you can come to my office. What, what do you need? And it has, it has turned out to be he has turned out to have just incredible stories that the reporters bypass me and go straight to him.

Melinda Wittstock:

Well, so that’s fine. A lot of it is understanding though, kind of the news cycle, like what makes news, like what is actually…

Michelle Rupp:

That’s right.

Melinda Wittstock:

…interesting, you know, to the reporter and know most businesses don’t, don’t know that. So, let’s talk a little bit about that. You mentioned, you know, positioning people for thought leadership. So, every business owner, you know, presumably is solving, solving a problem for lots of people. And so, give me some examples of like when that problem is in the news, like, how do you know, how do you, how do you develop those relationships so that you’re kind of thought of or you know, how to pitch yourself at that right moment or for a journalist particularly, your expertise is in sort of say local news. How do you go about that?

Michelle Rupp:

Yeah, so obviously we know it’s all about relationships and knowing what is happening in the marketplace, what is timely. You know, are we coming up upon Easter? Are we coming up upon like the, the Kentucky Derby for those businesses that are in Kentucky, for example, the 1st of May, you know, if, if there’s an angle that your business provides as a unique angle, well, then what is something timely centered around the derby that can be pitched? There is a, a client in particular a boutique that is very well respected in their community and they give back very generously to their community. And I had an assignment editor reach out to me. That community was experiencing a, a cold, bitterly cold snap. And the assignment editor reached out and said, hey, I, I know that this is a client of yours. Are they doing anything with, with coats or jackets or anything, you know, to help people keep warm? And I immediately got ahold of the business owner, and she said, yes, we’re doing 50% off all coats, hats and gloves. So we’d love, yes, we would love to have cameras come into the business. And, and then she told me privately, she said, if someone, you know, Michelle, my gosh, it’s in the single digits.

[PROMO CREDIT]

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Melinda Wittstock:

And we’re back with Michelle Rupp, former EMMY award-winning journalist and CEO and founder of the PR company Memorable Results Media.

[INTERVIEW CONTINUES]

Michelle Rupp:

I mean, if someone can’t afford a 50% off coat, we’re going to give it to them. You know, we don’t, we don’t want anyone in our community going without just because they may not have the financial resources. Well, that was a great example of using the timeliness in something such as the weather, to be able to connect this business and, and have a story that ran on the 5:00 news, that ran on the 6:00 news, that was put on the website, that was pushed out through the mobile app and that business just blew up with publicity. And that, that is an example of taking one item that may be timely and, and being able to utilize it to the fullest extent.

Melinda Wittstock:

So not every business necessarily fits, say a local news. I mean that makes sense because there are news pegs, there’s things in the calendar, you know, we all develop social media calendars for a business for, for like evergreen content and that kind of thing. So, what are some of the, what are some of the businesses the challenges with local news? Say if you have a business that isn’t necessarily like tied to things like that, it’s tied more to news events that you can’t predict.

Michelle Rupp:

I’m working with a client that is actually an attorney and that’s been a very unique situation. Being able to offer this attorney as an unbiased thought leader on various cases. Now that’s not something that’s going to happen daily, but those opportunities do come and it’s being able to maximize those opportunities when they do present themselves with a high-profile case that might be coming up. Hey, by the way, I’ve got this individual who is not associated with this case whatsoever and could be able to provide a legal expertise as your reporter is trying to explain it on the 5 o’clock news. That would be an example of a, of a business that may not be looking for media on a regular basis. Yet when a station needs somebody, Michelle, who do you have? Okay, well I have this person, right.

Melinda Wittstock:

So, we live in this attention economy, right, where there’s just, it’s so hard to be, to find signal in all the noise, right? And every business owner has got to figure out their social media like okay, how am I relevant on this, you know, on this platform that, platform this, that. How’s my SEO working or my marketing funnels working? This, this that and you add kind of PR and earned media to the mix in that context. How does a business prioritize? What do you think is the best way to do that? I mean, because presumably, if you are getting earned media that can, that can really provide you with a lot of, I guess, validation of your business can kind of drive your social media. So, so how do you advise people to just kind of walk through all the different pieces of this puzzle and in what order?

Michelle Rupp:

Yeah, yeah. Yes, you’re right. Television is, is still the gold standard, and here’s why. It’s going to get your business in front of a local audience. We know from social media that the algorithm, at least the way it’s playing today, it feeds us what we’ve already liked, so it’s not necessarily feeding us anything new. So, if I’m not already following a business, how do I know that business is there? Well, television is an avenue that would get you in front of more eyeballs, a newer audience. Television is also a tangible asset. You can keep those links and repurpose them.

Michelle Rupp:

In terms of social media, you have those links virtually forever. It also gives businesses relevancy because, as you know, not everyone gets on television, not every business gets on television. It also connects you to your community, and people still have a level of faith and trust in television, particularly on the, on the local level. And, and it allows the business that, that banner that says as seen on tv, it adds that level of credibility. Anybody could say as seen on Instagram, but not everybody can say as seen on tv. And once you’ve received the first opportunity in television locally and regionally, it then begins to become easier to receive other opportunities on television because, oh, oh, this station A has already stamped you as someone credible and someone who can communicate well and effectively. So, station B says, oh, yeah, sure, come on, it becomes an easier pitch.

Melinda Wittstock:

Right, right. This is, this is, this is super important. And so, at what stage of growth should a company really start thinking about its PR strategy? Like how early?

Michelle Rupp:

You know, I think you could really start that from the beginning. I think all of these tools work in concert together. While, yes, we are, we are heavily focused on social media right now, your forms of traditional media are still there and they are still valid and they, they are still attainable and a tool to be used. I would think that even an early business could certainly reap the rewards and benefits of some TV time and some, some promotion, some earned media.

Melinda Wittstock:

Mm, exactly. I know some companies who brought their kind of PR in house where they focused on developing relationships with media just as, as a central part of their growth strategy, you know, from day one, and, and, and really investing in having their own relationships with journalists and then I think probably the vast majority of the companies kind of outsource that. Right? So, for instance, when they outsource that to you and they’re kind of leveraging your relationships, I guess, right? How do you manage that? Because some, you know, should I be, should I be like focused on developing those relationships for myself or, you know, how do you navigate that? I mean, obviously you want the business, right? So, you’d rather people be coming to you with it. But it’s a strategic decision for a lot of businesses. At what point do they really double down on developing their own relationships with journalists?

Michelle Rupp:

And I think for those businesses, that becomes the, the question of when does it make sense to turn it over to someone who specializes in that? At what point does it make more sense to bring someone on or use the resources towards someone who already has those relationships? They already know how to get into newsrooms. Television is such a small fraternity. You know this. There are real good chances that I’ve already worked with somebody in that newsroom previously in my career. So that allows the connection to happen a lot quicker. Rather than someone who may not have worked in the industry who might be starting from scratch and maybe trying to figure out, well, who is the person, is it the producer or is it an executive producer or is it a managing editor or, or is it an assignment editor or is it the reporter themselves? Well, what if I reached out to the anchor as they are trying to figure that out, you have someone in your back pocket such as myself that says, oh, I know exactly who to reach out to in this instance, or I know in this instance this particular show doesn’t do earned media. It’s a pay to play. So, if you want to pay for it, we’ll go after it.

Michelle Rupp:

But if you don’t want to pay for it, don’t then, then let’s look at other avenues. Maybe this show isn’t exactly the best avenue for you. There might be some other avenues for that. Earned media, right?

Melinda Wittstock:

So, the big question with PR always is what’s my return on investment? Right, because you can spend, you can spend a lot of money on pr. And then like how do you track the results? So, like what, what results should you be measuring? And again, PR is a little different from marketing. Okay, but you know, and I accept that, but a lot of people, you know, hard-nosed business owners will know, okay, if I’m spending five grand a month or ten grand a month or however much it’s going to cost me, what kind of return will I Get on that investment over what period of time? So how do you, how do you talk about that with your clients? How do you know you’re succeeding?

Michelle Rupp:

Yep. And that goes back to knowing their goals. I have a client that just immediately comes to mind. And they were wanting to. Their sole focus was to increase the number of attendance or attendees at their upcoming event. That’s, that’s what they wanted to do. And so, we did an entire media blitz that included local television and two local radio stations. And not only did they double attendance, but by doubling their attendance, that sold out their event.

Melinda Wittstock:

Right.

Michelle Rupp:

So, so do you now, so do.

Melinda Wittstock:

You work with people to figure out, okay, so what, what are the results they want? What’s the best way to, to, to drive those results? Do you kind of work with them to set expectations? And what, what should expectations be? I mean, what’s kind of a normal thing? Like perhaps. Actually, let me just ask that question all over again, because I wandered all over the place. Okay, so Michelle, to what extent do you work with your clients to figure out what those expectations should be? And like, what do you tell them? What should their expectations be? Over. Over what kind of time? Is there any kind of best practice or any kind of norm, I guess, for the people that you work with.

Michelle Rupp:

That’s, that is the expectations is a conversation that we have right from the very beginning. Because I need to be clear what, what their expectations are, and I am very honest with clients. It from the standpoint that it’s possible that we may see a near immediate result. I have had those clients that have seen nearly immediately results. I’ve also had clients that it’s taken a little more time. It’s taken maybe three months; it’s taken maybe four months. And at that point, we are continuing to chip away at that rock. And some business owners have noticed, oh, we’ve picked up another hundred followers on social media or our website traffic has really increased over the last three months.

Michelle Rupp:

I had someone say to me, but you can’t, you can’t directly tie that to television. And I laughed and I said, well, you know what, you’re right. But you also cannot tie that to television. The, the proof here is that more people are hitting your website or are following your businesses. And the only thing you’ve changed is we’ve gotten you in local media.

Melinda Wittstock:

Right, Right.

Michelle Rupp:

So you’re, you’re right, you’re right. It may not have had anything to do with local media at all. On the other hand, it sure could have.

Melinda Wittstock:

If that’s the one you Know if.

Michelle Rupp:

That’s the one that’s right. If that’s the variable, that’s the only variable that’s changed.

Melinda Wittstock:

Okay, what about the timelines? How long does it usually take? But when you start working with somebody, you know, when can they expect their first kind of, you know, local media sort of appearance or, or, or, or such?

Michelle Rupp:

Yeah, I’d like to start pitching pretty early on. I want to make sure that I have a strong understanding and that what I am pitching, obviously the business owner is, is fully comfortable and capable with. And then, and then I get right to it. And I, I tell the business owners too, listen, there are so many different nuances that go into newsrooms, particularly if you’re pitching via email. You can have an email that lands while somebody’s on vacation and when they come back they have 671 emails, and they just delete all of them. And so sometimes it happens very quickly. Getting that response and getting someone booked. Sometimes it’s a little bit more of a slow burn based on whatever is happening in that newsroom.

Michelle Rupp:

And I will say that the small businesses who make the decision, you know what, I want to try this on my own. I want to do this myself. You certainly can. And a couple of ideas that I would want to share with them are if, for example, you are pitching to a morning show, morning show television crews a lot of times will come in at 10:30 the night before and leave at 7:30 the next morning. Sometimes they’re coming in at midnight. They don’t keep the traditional nine to five hours that we are thinking of. So, as a business owner, if you’re thinking I’m going to send an email to the morning anchor, send her that email. But you know what, schedule it to send at 2:30 in the morning because that’s when she’s at work.

Michelle Rupp:

If you send that email at 9:30 or 10:00 in the morning, she’s done, she’s gone, she’s on to the next thing. So there, you know, there are some of those little insider secrets that again, small business owners can certainly manage on their own. But it, but it does take a moment to think about. Oh yeah, that’s right, I saw her on the news at 4:30 this morning. It’s 11:30 now. Yeah, that person’s probably gone a lot of times too. I would, I encourage business owners to pick up the phone and call and ask, just ask, who’s the assignment editor, who’s the morning show producer? You don’t want to talk to Them you want their email address and then send them that pitch that way.

Melinda Wittstock:

Yeah, that makes you know, a lot more sense. And don’t call people on deadline like.

Michelle Rupp:

That’s right.

Melinda Wittstock:

I can’t tell you how, I mean I just feel bad. I think I was rude to a lot of people like in my early 20s. So, they’d call, call me like can I be like writing a front-page news article for the Times of London? You know, I, I’d have like five minutes. I had two phones on my desk. I had all these like multiple lines and whatnot and said hey, there’s a press conference two weeks from now. I’m like, can’t talk slam. You know.

Michelle Rupp:

Right, that’s right. Well and, and exactly to that point, if you’re calling a press conference, do not call a press conference at 4:30 in the afternoon. You’re not going to have anyone from television. There’s they’re all getting ready for the 5:00 news. Don’t call a press conference at 6:30 in the afternoon. They are just finishing the 6:00 news. Some of it is, is knowing directly to your point. It’s knowing your timing as well.

Melinda Wittstock:

Completely. Oh, this is so important. Such good advice. So, Michelle, what’s the best way for people to find you and figure out if it’s a good fit and work with you?

Michelle Rupp:

Absolutely. I, my heartbeat is for small and medium sized businesses. I am the child of a local hardware store owner and, and so my, my parents had a local business and that’s, that’s really where my heart is and they can certainly go to memorable results media.com and we’ve got, we’ve got a couple of free resources on there. One of them includes the eight reasons why television is a gold mine and so they can kind of play around on the website. There’s also a place to book a complimentary call right there on the homepage if someone’s listening and they have said nope, I don’t, I don’t want to know anymore other than how to talk to Michelle. Okay, well I’ve got that button on the website on the right-hand side just for you. And I would just welcome any business that is, is wondering how in 2025 to have an advantage or do something different that isn’t social media. Boy, I would just encourage you to take a look at your local media.

Michelle Rupp:

There’s so much locally, regionally, and then of course, nationally that that can be done.

Melinda Wittstock:

Fantastic. Well, thank you so much, Michelle, for putting on your wings and flying with us today.

Michelle Rupp:

Melinda, thank you.

[INTERVIEW ENDS]

Melinda Wittstock:

Michelle Rupp is the founder and CEO of PR company Memorable Results Media.

Melinda Wittstock:

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Melinda Wittstock:

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