108: Secret PR Hacks With Jason Feifer (Part 1)

Almost every entrepreneur’s dream is to get press coverage. However that doesn’t always do their business any good. Join us today as Jason Feifer shares his vast knowledge on the do’s and don’ts when it comes to press coverage.

My Guest: Jason Feifer

Jason Feifer is the editor in chief of Entrepreneur magazine, and host of three podcasts: Pessimists Archive, a show about why the pessimists of the past were wrong and how to be optimistic about the future; Hush Money, about the way money makes life awkward; and Problem Solvers, about entrepreneurs solving unexpected problems in their business. He has been an editor at Men's Health, Fast Company, Maxim, and Boston magazine, and has written about business and technology for the Washington Post, Slate, New York, and others. His novel Mr. Nice Guy, which he wrote with his wife, is currently being developed for television. Jason lives in Brooklyn.

Pivotal moments

• Jason started as a community newspaper reporter. He had a couple of realizations.

• He realized that no one at the New York Times or well known newspaper, which he dreamed of writing for, would ever pick up the tiny local newspaper that he was writing for and say come and write for us.

• He realized he was wasting his time, and he would have to go to them and prove to them that he was ready to write for them.

• He began cold pitching and sending out ideas.

• After 9 months Jason got a few wins. He got into the Washington Post, a story in The Boston Globe, a few pieces into The Associated Press. At the same time, he took a job at a smaller newspaper, because he needed a steady income.

• He did 2 things at once. 

• Jason realized another important thing. In front of you at any given time you have 2 opportunities. Opportunity Set A are all the things we need to do, opportunity Set B are all the things that are available to us, but no one is asking us to do them.  

• SO every job that Jason ever had after his realization, he has always done 2 things at once, and the stuff he is creating on his own is what will get him to where he wants to be.

• In order to become the Editor of Chief Entrepreneur Magazine, he took other jobs, but kept finding new ways to build skills that the magazine was not asking of him, and that eventually led him to where he is today.

Advice:

For an established publication that employ professional journalists such as Entrepreneur, Washington Post, New York times and so on, in order to know if a publicist is legit or a scammer, the first thing you need to look out for is the word guarantee. If someone is guaranteeing you press coverage, then they are not legit, because a publicist cannot guarantee coverage. A good publicist builds relationships, and the only thing they can guarantee is maybe a meeting. 

If you have good information or a valuable story and you want to get out there on your own, there are a few important points you need to know.

1. Ask yourself what you need press for?

2. Once you have an answer, you have to think what the publications are that are going to get you to your goal

3. Once you know what publication you want, get to know how they tell their stories.

4. Spend time on their social media.

Quote

Self perceptions are powerfully limiting.

Resources & Links:

• Twitter: @heyfeifer
• Instagram: @heyfeifer
• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jasonfeifer/
• Show: www.estierand.com/breakthrough

Part 2 of this episode where you hear more go to estierand.com/108-2

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