- Hi, adventurers!
Welcome to Crown Pointers.
Put you best foot forward with these
pointers from PR expert, Anna Crowe.
Welcome, Anna!
- Thanks so much for having me!
(upbeat music)
- [Lisa] What is PR and how is it
different than advertising or marketing?
What exactly is it?
- Sure, that's a great question and
often gets confused with
marketing, advertising in general
and I think my parents are
still confused about what PR is
and how it is that I'm doing it.
But public relations in a
nutshell is kind of the art
of creating a strong positive
reputation and the brand.
And it's really figuring
out what your story is
and communicating that story to the world.
So it's creating that
reputation, creating that trust
and getting that brand
awareness and recognition
so people know who you are and trust you.
- Perfect.
So what are some things you've
learned from all of your
experience that apply to everyday
people, not just celebrities?
I think we associate the big glasses
and the dark tinted windows
with PR but I'm sure there's
lessons that apply to all of us
and how to put our best foot forward.
- Today we are on social media and
we are way more accessible
to people in general, right?
And so when any footprint
that we have for the person
whether it's online or in person
we're communicating our brand.
So who are we, what do we
stand for, what's our mission
our vision is all part of the persona.
And that's the same thing
for a company, right?
Same thing for a company,
same thing for a business.
How you talk, how you act
is all part of your brand.
And so it's really essential, no matter
what business you're in or whether you're
just marketing yourself,
if you're a writer
if you're a teacher, if you're a professor
if you're an attorney.
Understanding what your brand is and
what is the message you look
to get out to the public
and building that reputation based
on what's important to you.
- How would you recommend
balancing authenticity
and being who you are
and maybe the unpolished
imperfect self that you are
with also projecting the brand
that you're going for
with your mission in life
and who you are on the inside?
- So this is really important for me
and to me and I'll tell you why.
I believe in transparency,
I believe in being genuine
I believe in authenticity
maybe more so than your average person.
Probably to the extend that
you believe in it as well.
- Especially for a PR...
- Exactly!
In the profession where we're
trying to promote brands
through PR, it's all about that
genuine connection to the brand.
Because you can't build trust
when you're just putting
a lot of layers on top
because at the end of the day
you can fool people and you can be a fad
you can keep things going for a little bit
but at the end of the day, people are
going to see who you really are.
So for instances, from a
brand stand point, you can say
Oh, I'm really in to sustainability
and it's really important to me.
And you can say that message but unless
you're actually doing
something, people are
going to see that and not believe you.
And they always say it takes
30 years to build a reputation
and 30 seconds to take it away.
- Scary.
- Right!
And to hurt it.
And so we want to make sure
that whatever we're putting out
there is really authentic.
And so balancing that
authenticity with perhaps
the desired brand that you want to be
and I think that just takes time.
I think that takes time and
a clear vision of what it is
that you want to portray and
is that really true to you?
And if it's not, think about it.
Is that what you want to put out there?
- Is there a litmus test that
you use in your personal life
that comes from your expertise
in PR that kind of allows
you to know how do I know
if I want to share this and
what level of polish is needed
before I put something out there?
- I think that I always go
back to the Dr. Seuss quote
"Today you are you,
that is truer than true.
There is no one alive
who is youer than you."
- That's so cute!
- And I always think of that
what ever I have to offer
or somebody around me
has to offer is genuinely
original and authentic to them.
And that's good because we
all want to be different
and we need to be different in order to
grow together and to support
one another and to add value
and I think that I've
struggled with this just in my
career because I started
my career in a completely
different profession and I
found my way from working
towards a CPA track at
Deloitte to running a PR firm
on the different coast.
- Totally different.
- Right, but I always had
this inner voice that tells me
I wanna do something different, I'm gonna
try it one step at a time
and I'm gonna test it.
And everyday is a new opportunity to test
something and try something different.
And maybe be more comfortable
with sharing something.
The end of the day now that I've been
working for over 20 years or
nearly 20 years, whatever it is
I think, you know what, this
is who I am and this is what's
important to me and people
should find that out.
And if that's not doesn't
work for them, that's okay.
Because there is enough
people in the world
there are enough companies in the world
that you are gonna find that
rhythm and you can be synced.
And a lot of the times the
clients we take on and the
partners we collaborate
with I wanna make sure
that we genuinely connect to and that we
have very similar core values.
And so I do a gut check or the litmus test
you mentioned as our own core values.
Are we in alignment?
It doesn't mean that we have
to believe the same exact stuff
on all levels but if we have
a couple things that are just
so different, maybe we're
not the right partners.
- Right.
- So that to me is the test.
Or people that I meet in
my personal life, same.
You look back at some people
that may have been in your life
10, 20 years ago and who are
no longer there and the same
people who are still there,
it's just continuously taking
a look at who am I, what's important to me
what's important to that person
and making sure we're in alignment.
- Are there any other pointers
that you would want to share
about how to put our best foot
forward when it comes to our
personal or our business lives?
- I think that, at least for me
and I'll just do an experience share.
I think everyday presents
us with a new opportunity
and if you did something wrong
one day and you feel like
you failed even if it's a small failure...
Before I go to bed I think about what
can I do better and how can I improve.
When I wake up with brand
new energy and I think
today I can do it better
and I'm sure I'm gonna fail
at something else big or
small but I take that as an
opportunity to learn and I
say tomorrow's another day
and today if everything's just
falling apart, that's okay
because it's an opportunity for me to grow
to learn as an individual, to
be better at professionally
personally and do it all over
tomorrow in a better way.
- That's really encouraging advice.
Thank you, Anna!
- Of course.
- So Anna Crowe is the
founder and CEO of Crowe PR
and I'm gonna link up her website below.
They are an award-winning
PR agency and specialize
in branding...
Tell us a little about...
- Sure!
We essentially specialize
in building reputations
and brand awareness for clients.
And we work in the health
& wellness, technology
hospitality and food & beverage spaces.
- Perfect!
So check em out for sure and
then while you're down there
in the comments section let
us know what you do to start
your day fresh and put your
best self forward everyday.
As always, if you wanna
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for the Adventure of Everyday Life
subscribe and thanks everybody!
- Thank you!
(upbeat music)
