Hack Your Own PR

It's been a huge month for technology and journalism in Australia, with hardline stances by the government, multi-million dollar deals between NewsCorp and Google, and that Facebook dummy spat. But before all that went down, I got to speak to the people who write about tech news for a living. It was a massive nerd-out moment for me - and I'm sure you guys feel me. Kicking off our tech journalism special is Natasha Gillezeau, part of The Australian Financial Review's highly regarded technology desk. Natasha has covered everything from the Google and Facebook news laws in Australia, a rolling topic over the last 12 months, to the rise of more authentic influencers and more. Along the way she's picked up award nominations at the Lizzies, tech journalism's night of nights. Natasha is lucky enough to cover both breaking news and also follow trends, spending 5 to 6 weeks researching features and speaking to a variety of sources. How do you get your name into Natasha's little black book of tech contacts? Well, she was happy to share what she's looking for in a great source, from establishing trust and being polite and punctual, to being clear on what you do and don't know about. (Hello, niche businesses!) I also asked Natasha about how she stays on top of trends, what her "journalist lens" is when she's assessing stories for the AFR, and how to best prepare for an interview and make sure you're quoted the way you want to be. Download 'Pitching to the AFR guide' at odetteandco.com.au/pitchingtotheafr Find Natasha instagram.com/natashagillezeau linkedin.com/in/natasha-gillezeau-571272176/?originalSubdomain=au afr.com/by/natasha-gillezeau-h18hvf [email protected] Find Odette Barry online odetteandco.com.au/hackyourownpr instagram.com/odetteandco instagram.com/hackyourownpr

Lucy Blakiston is one-third of the team behind Sht You Should Care About, the game-changing social media account that's delivering the most important news of the day to Gen Z in a format they know and understand. Using memes, witty banter, visual storytelling and snack-sized updates on important topics, Sht You Should Care About is a bit like the town crier of the 21st-century. And people are listening: the Instagram account has 2.4 million followers. In any given week, you might see posts on Covid-19, the US presidential race, persecution of ethnic minorities, climate change, taking care of your mental health and Harry Styles. Sh*t You Should Care About also publishes long-form articles on its website, releases a weekly podcast, and hosts a monthly book club for some respite from all that news. And while it might look like a far cry from the journalism we're used to, its aims are just as noble. Blakiston and her co-founders Ruby Edwards and Olivia Mercer want to make the news "understandable, digestible and reliable" for people their age - which is not even 30, in case you were wondering. Running their operation from a dining room table in a small town in New Zealand, the trio are disrupting what we know as news and current affairs. I sat down with Lucy to find out how to run a 21st-century "news room" from home with a team of 3 people, what can be done about the rise of fake news, and what's in store for media in Australia and New Zealand. We also chatted through the ingredients of a great meme, how to switch off when your whole job is about social media and current affairs, and the most exciting Instagram follow she's ever had. If you're curious about how Gen Z consume news, want to know where the industry is headed or you're already a regular reader of Sh*t You Should Care About, you're going to get loads out of this conversation. Find Shit You Should Care About https://www.instagram.com/shityoushouldcareabout/?hl=en https://shityoushouldcareabout.com/ [email protected] Find Odette Barry online https://www.odetteandco.com.au/hackyourownpr https://instagram.com/odetteandco https://instagram.com/hackyourownpr

Throughout my teens, my sisters and I would fight to steal the Good Weekend magazine from the kitchen table on Saturday morning. We would savour the intellectual commentary on societies emerging issues, satiate our thirst for knowledge of the culture beyond the four walls of our young existence, and we were fascinated by the interesting dynamics and relationships featured in the Two of Us profiles.

To say this magazine is embedded in the DNA of my coming of age is an understatement.

Good Weekend continues to play an everpresent and intertwined role in my thirst for expansion and growth. And while I may not have been the target GW audience in my teens, as each passes by I find myself closer to its core demographic and valuing the words in her pages evermore.

In this conversation with Katrina Stickland, Good Weekend editor, we explore all of the things that make this iconic, stalwart of Australian culture, tick. On every page, we bear witness to the investment in high-quality journalism, stories built upon layers of research, edits, feedback rounds and then more edits, until they're shaped into meandering chats between family, friends and water cooler conversations to mark a time in history.

If you have a product or story that will delight Australians with a taste for the finer things in life then you will want to tune into this podcast, but also, read at least ten weekends worth of the Good Weekend, before pitching your story.

Find Katrina online

https://www.linkedin.com/in/katrina-strickland-40110725?originalSubdomain=au

[email protected]

Find Odette Barry online

https://www.odetteandco.com.au/hackyourownpr

https://instagram.com/odetteandco

https://instagram.com/hackyourownpr

Katelyn Swallow is the editor in chief of the Australian Strong Fitness Magazine - part of the global Strong franchise. Strong Fitness is a digital and print publication, that provides evidence-based training and nutrition advice to Australian women between the ages of 20-50 years of age.

As Katelyn shares in this episode, it's all about evidence for Strong Fitness - they're looking for the research and data to back up their stories.

Katelyn walks us through everything she's looking for in a pitch whether you're pitching for a cover shoot, you've got a product or if you're looking to becoming a contributor.

She talks us through the purpose, the key communication pillars and what it takes to win her over whether you're a publicist, writer or small business pitching a story.

Find Katelyn online

https://www.linkedin.com/in/katelyn-swallow-11b9a074/

https://instagram.com/strongfitnessmag_au

https://www.strongfitnessmag.com.au/

Find Odette Barry online

https://www.odetteandco.com.au/hackyourownpr

https://instagram.com/odetteandco

https://instagram.com/hackyourownpr

Handle your own PR, hack your own PR - whatever you want to call it, sharing the fundamental skills of public relations with small business owners is the thing I live for. But it turns out I'm not alone. That theory about no original ideas being left in the world was shown to me to be true recently, when I found out about Handle Your Own PR, a Melbourne business that's been offering PR mentoring to small businesses and entrepreneurs for 12 years.

Founder Jules Brooke got in touch with me and, rather than threatening or strong-arming me for being a copycat, she wanted to collaborate. After all, she pointed out, we both have the same mission, don't we?

We decided to chat through our different approaches to PR mentoring and make it an episode for my podcast. I couldn't have asked for a better experience than the one I had with Jules, and for that I'm so grateful.

Take a listen as we compare various PR tactics, spitball different approaches and ideas, and hear about Jules's journey from running a PR agency to being a PR mentor to all kinds of small business owners. Jules is also kind enough to share some of her key pieces of wisdom from a career that far outstrips my own.

Find Jules online

https://www.handleyourownpr.com.au/

https://www.instagram.com/handleyourownpr/

Find Odette Barry online

https://instagram.com/odetteandco

https://instagram.com/hackyourownpr

https://www.odetteandco.com.au/hackyourownpr

Eloise Keating is the editor of SmartCompany and along with a small but mighty editorial team, this niche business publication has become one of the most engaging, useful, and practical resources for small business owners.

Eloise shares her tips to secure headline coverage with Smart Company including what not to include in a subject line, who the editorial team specifically want to feature and speak to within the business landscape, how Smart Company plans it's content and it's workday including the daily brainstorming meeting to plan out the day's content.

We talk about how to secure an opinion editorial and what she's looking for in expert contributed content and also, discuss through the essential element of advertising and diversification of revenue streams in the current media climate. If you want to build your reputation and brand within the business community, Smart Company is the place to flex your thought leadership.

This episode will give you everything you need to know if you're planning to pitch to Smart Company, and Eloise kindly shares the email address to put your story in front of the entire editorial team.

Find Eloise online

https://www.linkedin.com/in/eloise-keating-78549858/

[email protected]

Find Odette Barry online

https://instagram.com/odetteandco

https://instagram.com/hackyourownpr

Want to know the secret to scoring a story in Women's Agenda? Angela Priestley is the Founding Editor of Women's Agenda, and as a classic journalist and editor entrepreneur and business owner, she starts the day bright and early, and says getting that pitch into her inbox for first thing will give you the best part of her brain -- that's 4.30am for Angela!

I'm so delighted to share this conversation where Angela shares everything you need to know to secure an article in this independent and 100% female-owned and run media outlet. After this episode, you'll be confident to secure a story sitting side by side the latest news and views affecting how women live and work.

Angela walks through the importance of the email newsletter in 2020 and exactly how to frame up a killer pitch. If you're a female small business owner doing awesome things, Angela wants to hear from you.

If you want to grab my essential guide to pitching to Women's Agenda jump over to odetteandco.com.au/womens-agenda

You can contact Ange @ [email protected]

Yatu Widders Hunt is a proud Aboriginal woman, communications professional and founder of online community, Australian Indigenous Fashion. Yatu is a Director of Indigenous Social Change Agency, Cox Inall Ridgeway and works freelance across the media landscape.

In this episode, Yatu shares how she wishes to change the PR industry for the better by adopting more indigenous practices like deep listening, codesign, and collaboration into the heart of campaign development.

She talks about the value of truth, time, and taking a moment to consider your options when managing a crisis and she talks us through some of the social change projects she's been proud to codesign with community.

Find Yatu online

https://www.instagram.com/ausindigenousfashion/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/yatu-widders-hunt-6b7a1985

Find Odette Barry online

https://instagram.com/odetteandco

https://instagram.com/hackyourownpr

Future Women is a thriving platform connecting female leaders with stories that inspire their ambition and desire to grow and flourish in their careers. Somewhat of a hybrid model, the modern media brand hosts considered articles, a thriving digital community, and pre-Covid, incredible networking events. These days, the platform connects women with incredible leaders spanning media, politics, sportswomen, authors, startups and beyond.

In a time when media outlets are battling an onslaught of revenue cuts, Future Women is defying the economy and going from strength to strength.

In this episode, Jamila Rizvi flexes her intelligence as Chief Creative Officer for Future Women, and author, columnist, and podcast host sharing how the platform has built an agile model that responds to its community, her thoughts on media platforms future success and some of the issues with diversity within some of our most highly regarded media outlets. We walk through how to pitch to Future Women and specifically, her podcast Anonymous Was a Woman.

You can find Jamila on just about every social network, but here she is on Insta:https://www.instagram.com/jamilarizvi/

Find Odette Barry online

https://instagram.com/odetteandco https://instagram.com/hackyourownpr

Sophie Lord is a good human. Truly her values run deep and one of the most lovely things about this beautiful human is that she doesn't shout from the rooftops about all the awesome things she does, instead, she just makes value judgments and strives to be better than she has had shown to her in her career as Art Director for the likes of Bauer Media and Pacific Magazines. Sophie unequivocally rejects the messages from corporate execs that the colour green and Asians on a cover won't sell mags. As a result of this misguided advice, Sophie has developed an MO to raise the bar, but she's not necessarily spruiking a diversity and inclusivity policy, she's just living it. She's not necessarily an environmental ambassador, instead, she makes conscious decisions to support small businesses that consider the life cycle of their product's consumption. She's not a paid-up mouthpiece for the industry but she has advocated for better support for bridal businesses through the tidal wave of CV19. She truly is a champion for good. Being the editor of Hello May, a bridal magazine with heart, is one of the many strings to Sophie's bow. Sophie says she felt like the bridal industry needed a breath of fresh air and authenticity and so she set about doing things differently to the big brand publishing companies. Printed on recycled paper stock with soy-based inks, printed in Australia, she is on the front line of changing the magazine landscape. As Sophie says, independent publishers are kind of having a moment. While the big brands and titles are closing around them, Sophie and her team are weathering the pandemic and regaining momentum after an initial pause. This conversation was a joy to record with Sophie and will be incredibly valuable to vendors, photographers, wedding gown designers, stylists, and all of the creatives who bring our weddings to life. Find Sophie at https://www.instagram.com/sophielord/ https://www.instagram.com/hellomaymagazine/ Find Odette Barry online https://instagram.com/odetteandco https://instagram.com/hackyourownpr