Business Innovators Radio - Justin Goldstein – Lead Strategist – Mark Stephen Pooler

Episode Date: November 18, 2024

Justin is an award-winning public relations and marketing expert, and the Founder and Lead Strategist of PR73, an integrated communications agency that helps brands build trust and unlock growth opportunities. He has reshaped industry practices through his work with leading organizations like Uber, AARP, Clinton Global Initiative, General Motors, and many more. Justin’s mission? To empower brands to develop trust at every touchpoint.Justin’s journey is a testament to the power of resilience and resourcefulness. Born with a cyst on his kidney, he learned early on to recognize his limits and adapt strategically—a lesson he now applies to business. Just as he used a kidney protector belt as a child, Justin advocates for understanding your bandwidth and being resourceful to avoid overextending yourself and your clients.http://pr73.com/Source: https://businessinnovatorsradio.com/justin-goldstein-lead-strategist-mark-stephen-pooler

Welcome to Business Innovators Radio, featuring industry influencers and trendsetters, sharing proven strategies to help you build a better life right now. You are listening to The Brilliant Business Show, conversations with leading experts in business. I am your host, Mark Stephen Pula. We have a wonderful guest today, Justin Goldstein. Justin is an award-winning public relations and marketing expert and the founder and lead strategist of PR7-3. Justin, welcome to Brilliant Business. Thanks so much for having me. I'm really looking forward to a conversation with you today.

So let's get started with the first question. building trust is so, so important, Justin, I'm sure you're aware. So let's talk about what establishing trust does for you, building trust in leadership and teams, and why trust drives talent retention and operational success. Absolutely. Again, thank you for having me. So, yeah, you know, we here at PR 73 actually commissioned a survey where the results went live earlier this year that at least within our direct industry mark for public relations really broader

communications PR and marketing trust was a really really important factor in the ability for a team to succeed in any campaign really to succeed and what we found was that a lot of the core communications point people within an organization didn't feel trusted by key stakeholders across the organization whether that be their direct management, other departments, you know, categories like that. And so I think that, you know, based on those findings of what we saw, when there isn't institutional trust in the communications team, it really damages their ability to execute external and internal campaigns and bring success to the organization from a brand perspective and even business development perspective. And I would bet that that extends beyond the communication space as well. I agree totally, and especially in public relations, just in trust is so, so important. And I think in business, building trust and good customer relations is such an important thing.

But unfortunately, not all business people do have this skill. But I am glad you do follow that. And it's great that you do with the work that you do and the people that you're looking after as well. Let's talk a little bit, Justin, about resourcefulness and recognizing limits. Understand when taking on too much can harm both you and your clients and how being resourceful is essential for success in business. Another great topic. Yeah. So, I mean, for me, resourcefulness has played an influential role, not only in my ability to build DR73, but to be successful in my.

daily tasks. And, you know, what I found is that it's really important whether you're a solopreneur working for someone else, whatever it might be, to be able to think on your feet and adjust very quickly so that, you know, even if it's something that you're not sure how to do, you go out and figure out how to do it, even if that means bringing in people to help. And what entrepreneurship and running my firm has taught me is something a little different than I think, you know, we've even been taught in school here in the states throughout, you know, K through 12 even into college, is that I think there's sort of an overreliance on textbooks and individualized performance when really when you get into the real world, it's more about

tapping the people around you to help you the most. And, you know, to me, that's something that I think you learn very quickly when you are on your own, but when you enter the working world to begin with. So, you know, the way I define resourcefulness is, of course, figuring it out, but not figuring it out alone necessarily. I think, again, you just mentioned something really important, especially in entrepreneurship, being able to adjust and change, especially in the entrepreneurship world, you always have to be able to adjust and change

to new ways of doing things and be more creative in different ways. So again, I really enjoyed that answer to the question. Let's talk about mastering, media relations a great topic and content strategy, how to create data-driven content that cuts through the noise while feeding algorithms for maximum reach. Sorry, Mark. Can you just repeat that one one more time? I can. Let's talk about mastering media relations and content strategy and how to create data-driven content that cut through the noise while feeding algorithms for maximum reach.

Absolutely. You know, so the media relations landscape has changed dramatically over the past, I'd say, 10 years, where as we saw with the election results here in the States last week, it's not just traditional media anymore. Podcasts are playing an incredibly important role in the ability to power a brand's message, whether it's a politician or business. And we're also seeing the rise of other platforms like Substat come into play as well. Those platforms aren't going away.

In my opinion, they're going to redefine what a valuable piece of media coverage is because I think ultimately people are going to continue to view and access those platforms more and more than they are traditional media, whether it be print downline publications like the Wall Street Journal or TV networks. So I think from the perspective of the opportunity that's out there, there's tremendous opportunity to conduct media relations and secure viable opportunities. And where the data approach comes in is taking a look at the media coverage that you secure and the interests that you get from reporters and looking at those topics or how those topics are resonating with reporters' audiences or would say a podcast host audience. because a lot of times when podcasts as a reporter contact someone for comment on a story, they're pursuing that story because they think that their audience is going to engage with it

and give them engagement in return. So it's a really good, I think, method in terms of figuring out from a data perspective, what's going to or looking at those data points to look at what's the kind of content that we can develop to engage our audiences because ultimately the reporters are looking to engage similar audiences to you. And then how can we use that as a baseline to start developing some solid content that we know is resonating at the media level and then we would maybe want to tweak to fit into what the algorithms are producing for audiences and helping us to reach those audiences?

It's good that you're staying on top of the game, Justin, and the work you do in public relations, I do digital media, PR as well. It's probably a little bit different to how you do things. but it's such a great way for clients to build their brands, their credibility, their authority, and again, for building trust, what you mentioned. So I'm such a big fan on the topic of public relations. It's a real big passion of mine.

So it brings me nicely on to our next question of, which we all want to do in business, winning new business and client relationships, proven strategies for closing deals, and turning clients into long-term partners while avoiding common pitfalls because I know I'm really looking my business. My clients stay with me time and time again. And it's so much easier to keep these existing clients than finding new clients.

So we all want to know how to win new business. Share a little bit more detail here. In terms of keeping current clients, correct? I'll repeat the question. Winning new business and client relationships, proven strategies for closing deals and turning clients into long-term partners while avoiding common pitfalls. Got it. Yeah. So I think what has worked really well for us to close business is to have a really successful intro call in terms of understanding what. are not only the pain points of the prospect that we're talking with, but who are, let's say, some of the other players involved that are decision makers, and how can we be a resource to them so that they're championing us, right? And so a good example of that is recently we had a

prospect that was really interested in working with us. They were ready to pull the trigger, but when our contact had gone to her boss, he was like, this sounds great, but we technically have to do an RFP process. And so what we did was we pulled together. We pulled together. other a brief that essentially had our scope of work, our recommended strategy, but then also a breakdown of what firms at different levels typically charged based on our industry knowledge. And she really appreciated that because she's like, now I can go back to my boss and clearly outline what we would be getting on an average basis across different types of agencies and mesh that against our budget, which we felt would be a winning budget recommendation.

So I think it's just really understanding the process of how you go about or how you go through the new business pitch, that it's not just about selling the prospect on your recommendation, but it's also about helping them to move through the process so that you're seeing as the most collaborative partner they can have, which will then bleed into when you actually work with them. And in terms of going over to that sort of arena where you help them to keep them as a long-term client, I think a lot of it comes down to not only just doing good work, of course, but also really understanding how to make sure they're leveraging the work you're doing. And what I found is especially, excuse me, in the media relations space, is that oftentimes

they'll get really awesome media coverage for a client, but they don't even think to use it for their new business efforts. And so, you know, a lot of what we run into commonly is we've gotten placements since they at the Wall Street Journal, but a client won't use that for their newsletter, won't do a social post, won't even think to. use it for an outbound sales technique. And so I think you just have to guide them a little bit and give them the roadmap for doing it so that they feel like they're getting some kind of tangible benefit in this case, media relations, then the media placement itself. That's a really important point, actually, Justin, because I get featured in press and media

because obviously I like to walk the walk. And I think for my clients, I like to always use my coverage is an example of what they're getting so they see I've done it previously. But it happens quite a lot actually. Some clients will get the coverage and they don't do anything with it. And it's like when I get my coverage, it's like it's on all of my socials. I'll get it emailed out to my email list. I'll share it again and again because knowing you can share these things more than once because people pick them up at different times on your social media. And like you mentioned, it's about guiding the client. So I always send a checklist now saying, share this to any groups.

You have relationships. Add it to your website under media section on a website. Share it to your social. So that's a really important point of really using it to the best advantage as you can. once you have got that coverage. My next question, Justin, anyone out there listening who could be a potential client, what do you actually do for your clients? So what kind of services and products would they get if they come to you and work with you?

Yeah, so, you know, we are a fully integrated comms firm, which means that we do PR marketing and help to sync the two, so that clients are getting the most benefit that they can, I would say that the more immediate needs that we typically service are media relations and content development. Those are two areas that I think clients think of us for the most. We also have a specialty in TV, radio, and podcast media. So, you know, if that's of interest to anyone listening, we certainly can help there as well.

But, you know, we offer an array of services where if you go to PR73, You'll be able to see those on our services page. That's really interesting. And are you working on anything exciting at the moment or do you have anything new coming up just in? Yeah, we're always working on something exciting. I would say some of the more exciting client work that we've done is with organizations like the New York Public Library, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the American Bar Association.

So, you know, anytime you get to work on clients like that, it's, It's always an exciting time. And there's a lot of cool work involved. And we're looking to build on that work and, you know, always find new, new contacts to collaborate with. I love that. And you mentioned media coverage.

What kind of media coverage is it for, is it for entrepreneurs? Is it for business owners? Is it for authors or just business in general? It's definitely a mix. You know, I would say that, We've worked anywhere from solopreneurs to large entities. So it really ranges.

You know, it just comes down to budgets and whether the campaign recommendations are a fit. But, you know, we've worked with organizations of all sizes. I love that, Justin. Justin, I thoroughly enjoyed having a conversation with you today. If there was anyone in your mind that you would like to reach out to you, who would it be? and how can our audience connect with you? You can email me at Justin J-U-S-T-I-N at PR-73.com. You could also visit our website at www.pr-73.com, add me on LinkedIn,

or reach out via our general email info at PR-73.com. Justin, thank you so much for being my guest today. I thoroughly enjoyed having a conversation with you. No worries. Thanks so much for having me. The pleasure's been all mine. Thank you, everyone, for listening to Brilliant Business, conversations with leading experts in business. Until next time, bye for now. Thanks for listening to Business Innovators Radio.

To hear all episodes featuring leading industry influencers and trendsetters, visit us online at businessinnovators.com today.