Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin - Change Maker: Aliza Licht, Marketing Guru, on DIY PR and Building a Personal Brand

Episode Date: December 3, 2021

Aliza Licht, PR guru and real-life The Devil Wears Prada insider joins Nicole today to talk about how to be your own PR team, and what a career in PR really looks like. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It is time to start thinking about holiday shopping, and I'll let you in on a little secret. Get everyone on your list something special from Justin Wine. Justin is legit my favorite wine to give and to receive. With a rich history of accolades, Justin produces exceptional wines and is proud to be America's number one luxury cabernet. Since 1981, Justin has been producing world-class Bordeaux-style wines from Paso Robles on California's Central Coast. As a pioneer of Paso, Justin Wines are what put Paso Robles on the winemaking map. Justin offers curated gift sets, library wines, magnums, and even custom-etched bottles. You can personalize the gifts with a custom message, icon, or logo. Go to justinwine.com and enter code MONEY20 at checkout for 20% off your order.

Justin offers the perfect holiday gifts for clients, colleagues, family, and friends. If you're looking for a special wine to serve at your holiday table, try Isosceles. That's Justin's flagship Bordeaux-style red blend. Whether you're a first-time wine drinker or a wine aficionado, Justin has a wine for everyone, every occasion, and every celebration. Be sure to check them out at justinwine.com and receive 20% off your order for a limited time. Hey guys, are you

ready for some money rehab? Wall Street has been completely upended by an unlikely player, GameStop. And should I have a 401k? You don't do it? No, I never have. You think the whole world revolves around you and your money. Well, it doesn't. Charge for wasting our time. I will take a check. Like an old school check. You recognize her from anchoring on CNN, CNBC, and Bloomberg.

The only financial expert you don't need a dictionary to understand. The Cole Lappin. As you know, here on Money Rehab, we feature changemakers, public figures making change in every sense of the word, and along the way have been in, or might still be, in Money Rehab. So today I'm talking to Aliza Licht. Aliza has had a uber successful career in marketing and PR and has worked for corporate giants like DKNY and Warby Parker. If you're wondering, wait a second, could this be the voice behind the insider Twitter account DKNY PR Girl? Why, yes, that's Aliza. Aliza also wrote Leave Your Mark, a bestselling book filled with so many useful nuggets of career advice.

Today, I wanted to talk to Aliza about what a career in PR and marketing really looks like and how to get some PR on a budget. So, Aliza, welcome to Money Rehab. We kick things off with a quick game of Money Rehab Never Have I Ever. Have you played Never Have I Ever? I have, not related to money, but let's do it. I wish we had cocktails next time. So if you've done something, just say I had. If you haven't just say you haven't. So ready? Yes. Never have I ever pitched an investor? I have not. Never have I ever negotiated a deal on rent? I have not. Never have I ever written a will? I have. Never have I ever applied for a

trademark? I have. Never have I ever been in debt? I have not. Badass. Never have I ever asked for a raise? I have. Definitely more badass. Never have I ever fibbed just a little bit on a resume. I have not. You're a very honest woman. Never have I ever worked a part-time job. I have. I was a gift wrapping person. That's an important skill to have. Never have I ever maxed out a credit card. I have not.

Finally, never have I ever written a best-selling book. I have. Yay! You have. And this is how we met originally, right before you were launching Leave Your Mark. You are now the authority, really, like the queen of all things marketing. Can you tell folks who don't know your story, how you got into the marketing world? Well, first of all, thank you so much. And Nicole is a big exaggerator in case you don't know that by now.

So I have spent my career in fashion and I started on the communication side of the business and then moved over to marketing. But one of the fun projects that I had the honor of working on was creating a digital presence for my former company, DKNY, back in the day. And I created a social media personality that was inspired by Gossip Girl called DKNY PR Girl that became a thing. And... No, no, no. It became like a huge thing. Okay.

It became a huge thing. It was anonymous for two years, which by the way, is not easy to keep a secret for two years. So let's just props for that alone, right? Absolutely. You know, it was really mainly on Twitter. And then of course, went to other platforms. But what I found myself doing on Twitter was giving out a lot of career advice and talking about what it

was like being a publicist for, you know, a major American brand at the time and sort of trying to coach people. And eventually, you eventually, I started a blog as well. And then I got offered a book deal. So I decided to make it a career mentorship. So it's really about marketing yourself, actually, and how to build your personal brand and then succeeding your career because you've established yourself. So there's many aspects to it, specifically landing your dream job, killing it in your career, rocking social media. But there's many aspects to it, specifically landing your dream job, killing it in your career, rocking social media.

But at the end of the day, it comes down to reputation management. Either it makes you or it breaks you. And you've done it beautifully. There was a big New York Times article that said you could be America's next top mentor, right? Because you had put so much out there and people were listening to you around career advice because you really struck this awesome balance of working for a bigger company, but also building your brand

to people who think you have to work for yourself to build your own brand. What would you say? Can you be your own brand within a bigger brand? I think it really depends on where you work and what you do. Not every company is going to be amenable to having someone getting PR, right? And I think eventually, I had to get permission to write the book when I was still employed. And it was many channels of approval. It was not the easiest thing to get approved. But I think at the end of the day, I think the side hustle as an entity is so important. And I think one of the two will win out eventually, right?

Either the day job or the personal brand. But I think it's really smart. And I think, Nicole, you would preach this too, like financially to sort of straddle both until you can figure out which way it's going to go. But I think you do have to tread lightly and make sure that your company is comfortable with it. It's good to know. I mean, for somebody looking in from the outside, they could think this was all rainbows and butterflies for Aliza. She had, you know, this amazing social media presence, then this big ass book deal and everybody was just hugging and kumbaya on the inside. But it's really nice to know that that was

a struggle and it took several layers of approval. That happened to me when I was at news networks. I had many, many levels of approval, even for something that I thought was good for everybody. Ultimately, it really was good for me at the end of the day when I moved on because, you know, especially millennials, you do a lot. I never think of a career as a career ladder. I more think of it as like rock climbing. So it's really important to have your own back, but it's also really important to not bite the hand that feeds you. Yes. And I'll just add one more thing. I think when you're working on a big project like a book or anything that has sort of longevity to it, one of the things that I wanted to make very, very sure is that I own this IP, right? So just making sure legally that you're

going through the right channels so that all this work that you're doing is not going to somehow end up being owned by your company by accident, I think is really important. Yeah, it's really smart. And I think it's also important to find the shaded part of the Venn diagram. So, you know, you found the things that Donna Karan was all about. And then you found the things that Aliza was all about. And you found that shaded part that really worked for both of you guys. You didn't randomly come up with, like, oh, I want to do a blog about spelunking. I don't even know why I said spelunking, but, like, something super... Wait, what is spelunking? What is spelunking? It's, like, isn't it some climbing something, like, outdoorsy thing? Clearly, I have no idea. Okay, I have no idea.

I have no idea, but I'm just going to go with it. Exploring caves, Morgan says. She's our producer from Maine. I did not write a book about exploring caves. No. But that would be like super random and not helpful to the company you work at. So I think it's important to be mindful of their brand as well. So you can find some of that overlap. Yeah. But actually to be fully transparent, when I was first pitching it, I wasn't sure that they would want to be a part. I mean, the character is called DKNY PR girl.

I don't own that. Right. So I gave him the option. I said, I can tell this story because it's my story and just say company X, or I can say this story because it's my story and just say company X or I can say DKNY. It's up to you. And then it's kind of like, well, wouldn't you want that free press? But I think that even when you say that you had a conversation like that, that seems like it could be a contentious conversation. Like what if somebody is breaking out into hives thinking like, I can't ask my boss something like that. I think at a certain point, you kind of have to decide what's important to you. And at the end of the day, it was important to me to write this book specifically because I really wanted to give a virtual mentorship to young professionals. I wanted to pay forward everything I learned in

my career. And I can do that without saying any brand at all. I can tell the exact same story and just not name names. So not as good, but it certainly would convey the same message. But if you're going into a conversation like that, where you're saying, okay, look, everything is above board, whatever company I'm working at, here's what I'm thinking about doing. What would you say to somebody who is going to have a conversation like that? Like you've been on both sides, right? So what would you want to hear as a boss listening to a pitch like that? I think first and foremost, this is not an email, right? This is a conversation because I think tonality is really important. Like, like you just said, like, if

you're reading that, you that could come off as like fighting words. Like, well, I can do this with that. Yeah. Right. So making sure, one, I have a very good relationship with our general counsel. So having a conversation that was just like we're speaking now and saying, listen, here are the two options. You know, I would love to include the brand. I've worked here for a really long time.

You know, I'll do here for a really long time. You know I'll do a really positive job doing that. Or if you're not comfortable, then I don't have to. It's up to you. So it's more how you say it and deliver that message than it is... I mean, I can totally see how if it was an email, I mean, it probably would not have gone over the same way. Totally. And I think having that conversation is also really nerve wracking, but it's more important to do that than to have them find out without you telling them. Right. I mean, hello, I couldn't.

First of all, let's not forget, I was owned by LVMH. I wasn't just going to wing it. Right. No, I mean, I went through this when I was at CNN, and I would get, you know, little features or whatever. And I remember having to ask permission from the network. And then I was super nervous about it. And I thought they would say no, or I thought they would hate me. Or like, I thought maybe I'll just do it rogue and be like, Oh, I didn't totally know this was happening. But I think that trying to be as transparent and above board as possible

is really important. And also the way that you present something that can also be beneficial to the brand you're working for, too. So it's not like me, me, me, me, me. Right. You still work at a company that relies on profits and revenue. So like I think a boss would want to hear, OK, well, how is that going to help me? And also, are you still going to be able to do your job? Like, exactly, exactly. Hold on to your wallets, boys and girls, money rehab will be right back. Now for some more money rehab. And so if you are working in a bigger company, and you're just starting to think about building your personal brand, what would you suggest as far as getting your own press if you don't have a publicist? I talked about this in Rich Bitch and I think in Boss Bitch around some easy tools that you can use

to start pitching yourself. Well, I think first and foremost, you also have to make sure whatever you're working on on the side is not competitive in any way to what you do at your own company. A lot of big companies have rules about PR. So for example, the first thing you do is if you do want to do some media is probably go to your comms team and just say, I have this opportunity to speak on a panel or whatever the opportunity is. This is who's on it. This is why I'd like to do this. And make sure that you get their buy-in. As far as pitching the media, I think it really comes down to doing the research, picking up, opening a newspaper, clicking online, seeing what the reporter writes about, paper, clicking online, seeing what the reporter writes about and really digging into the types of stories that they do. So the easiest way I think is to do a quick search on Twitter. So if I were

wanting to do press right now for Leave Your Mark podcast, I would just type in reporter podcast and like start to refine, like do an advanced Twitter search to try to find people who are in that space and then drill down from there. Because every journalist is on Twitter, as you know. And to me, that's like that's like almost like the same thing as Cision these days. You just can search, seek out who you need to contact and then really try to figure out how to get in contact with them. And, you know, honestly, I think getting emails or Instagram DMs or Twitter DMs, you can get in touch with them. And, you know, honestly, I think getting emails or Instagram DMs or Twitter DMs, you can get in touch with anyone. You can. So Cision is this company that you pay thousands of dollars to. A lot of PR companies do that so they can find people's contact information

or send press releases or whatever. But what you're saying is you don't need all that. And in fact, you and I have hired in our lives many very, very expensive publicists where I think, frankly, you know, we're not going to name names, but like I think a DM could have probably got the job done better. And, you know, to your point, and honestly, I've blocked out that period. And yes, I mean, it was OK For everyone listening, it's like picture $10,000 in a check form and just ripping it to shreds and tossing it in the garbage. That is, that was the investment that I made. So that was not a, not one of your, have you ever questions, but have you ever wasted money? Yes. Is the answer to that. Um, but I think at the end of the day, you know, people like to hear directly from talent. And I think if you can cut out any middleman, you can, that's the best way to go.

Or middlewoman. Middlewoman. Yes. Yeah, I think that you know how to tell your own story and things have changed. I don't know when you sent that big check, but even in the last, you know, five years, I would say it's easier now than ever before to slip into somebody's DMs. This is the only way I slip into people's DMs, like not the sexy kind. But definitely if I want to reach out to somebody and I do have still PR teams and I do still spend a lot of money to be transparent about it. But also,

like in the end of the day, no one is going to care as much about your career as you are. And so if it's not being done, you know, you can point fingers all day long being like, I paid you to do this, but it's not happening. Ultimately, it just matters that it happens. So sorry, if you paid somebody else, you just have to do it. Exactly. And so what would you suggest some DM like that looked like? What would you, how would you draft it?

I think I would, I would always have a specific reference, like, hi, so-and-so, I loved your article on X, Y, and Z podcast host. You know, I just wanted to introduce myself. I have a podcast also. I would love the opportunity to share a little bit about it. I think, I think you have to ease into the pitch. I don't think you can just cold pitch and say like, Hey, I'd love to be, you know, be featured in your, in your site, in your article. I think you have to ease into it, but I do think people very much appreciate a specific reference to

previous work that they've done or why it resonated with you. And I think that's a good segue into any sort of intro. Yeah. I think how to be helpful to them first and foremost, instead of being like, I'm so fabulous, all the things. True. And I love that. But sometimes they're like, I didn't ask you and I don't need you to do anything for me. right? So I think if you're someone who is established, right? And so for example, if I were going to reach out to someone and I need something from them, I might offer them something in return. But if I'm purely pitching a story, then I think you need to really do a great job explaining why it's relevant to them.

I think the key is to show that you're not wasting anyone's time and that you're highly aware of what they cover. A lot of journalists will complain. People don't know what they cover. It's like, hey, can you do this story on pets? Okay, I don't cover pets. You kind of have to do your homework. Yeah.

And don't copy and paste. It's so fucking obvious. Totally. And what about some of those sites like Haro or Haro? I don't know how to say it, like help a reporter out those places where they're essentially marketplaces for journalists to put out what they're working on. Yeah. I mean, listen, I think you can sign up for those kind of emails. It's overwhelming to get the sort of the roster. So basically what it is, is reporters will put out the stories they're working on and it's by, it's by category. So you can go in and let's say you're in food and beverage. You can go in and be like, okay, what are reporters working on

from a story perspective? I mean, it's certainly valid. Um, if you have the bandwidth to sort of read through and dig into those kinds of emails, I, I don't have the patience to do that. Yeah, you and me both. But there are a lot of things that sort of democratize this world for folks who are just starting out. Because if we really reverse engineer, the endgame here is what? To when somebody puts your name in Google to, you know, have things come up that show you as a subject matter expert, right? So how do we get there? Or is there any other end game we should be thinking about? So, you know, what we're talking

about then is really thought leadership. And you can take thought leadership into your own hands by starting a newsletter on LinkedIn, by starting an essay on Medium. So I think it's really, it goes back to repetition is reputation. The more that you speak intelligently on a subject, whether it's on third-party credibility, like a media site, or your own platforms, the more you become known for that. For today's tip, you can take straight to the bank. I know that it takes extra time to personalize emails when you're doing outreach, but you have to do it. I know you want to be as efficient as possible. So do I. But it's actually more efficient

to spend a little extra time here. You will get fewer positive responses if you don't personalize emails. Trust me, the investment you make with your time will pay dividends later on. Money Rehab is a production of iHeartRadio. I'm your host, Nicole Lappin. Our producers are Morgan Lavoie and Mike Coscarelli. Executive producers are Nikki Etor and Will Pearson. Our mascots are Penny and Mimsy. Huge thanks to OG Money Rehab team Michelle Lanz for her development work, Catherine Law for her production and writing magic, and Brandon Dickert for his editing, engineering, and sound design.

And as always, thanks to you for finally investing in yourself so that you can get it together and get it all.