How To Get Clients By Using The Media With Lynya Floyd

Diane: Hey, hey, if you have ever wondered how to get your name in those big business media outlets like Forbes and Entrepreneur, you will want to listen closely because this week's guest Lynya Floyd left her magazine editor job in New York City to help entrepreneurs win over the media. Hey, Lynya welcome to the show. Lynya: Hey, Diane. Thank you so much for having me here today. Diane: My pleasure. I'm excited to pick your brain on this. we actually met when you were in your old job as the fancy media editor. I would love to know a little about your journey from how you went from that job into being the fancy entrepreneur that you are. Lynya: I would love to share that with you and your audience. So I spent, almost 20 years, working behind a desk within the media at different magazines. I worked at Glamour. I worked at Essence. I worked at Family Circle. Always focused on women's health. So generating content around that and doing publicity for those different magazines, whether I was appearing on the Today Show or the Dr. Oz show or on NPR radio. And it was absolutely fantastic, but I got really curious about how I might be able to have even a deeper impact with people. It was absolutely wonderful working in the media and being able to reach millions of people, literally with the stories that I was writing or the stories that I was editing or the appearances that I would have on television, but I was missing that one on one connection as well. And so I pursued integrative health coaching. I got my degree doing that. so I became national board certified doing that. And I fell into this world of coaches. That's how I started to meet other coaches. Understand that there was this whole other world out there of entrepreneurship because that wasn't something that I was familiar with beforehand. And as I was circulating through that world, I met Selena Sue, who is who I work with now with the Impacting Millions program. And that is the first time I really began to understand that so many people out there don't realize what happens behind the scenes in magazines, in podcasts, on television. And there's actually a lot of fear around approaching the media. People don't know how to do what they do. You don't want to quote-unquote, bother the media. they don't think that they have a good story to tell. they see other people out there telling their stories, but they're not really sure how they can be different or what they can say. That is going to be really impactful. And as someone who has been a storyteller for her entire life, telling my own stories, telling other people's stories, helping people share their stories. I began to realize that I had a real superpower there in order to be able to support other people in their storytelling, because I truly, truly believe everybody, everybody has at least one great story in them and they probably have dozens of great stories within them. And when it comes to their business and their entrepreneurship, Everybody has some fascinating advice to share, you know, there's that phrase about, how does it go? It's why bring sand to the beach? I think there's a lot of entrepreneurs who have these ideas inside of them, but they think, Oh, that's everybody knows that. Or, everybody knows that's the way to run a business more seamlessly, or everybody knows that this is health advice that you should follow, but in. Reality. Most people that they're talking to are not at the beach. You're not bringing sand to the beach. There are the concrete jungle there's someplace else. And when you share those nuggets of wisdom with people, it can completely be life-changing, which is exactly why I got into working in the media. Exactly what I love about storytelling. You have the possibility or you have the ability to not just, change someone's life for the better, but you can save someone's life. You can save someone's business, you can have such a dramatic impact. And when I fell into this world and I met Selena and she asked me to do a couple of guest webinars for her, and it just kind of sprung up from there, working together on a more consistent basis. And that is what I spend the majority of my time doing now, just really supporting entrepreneurs with their storytelling, helping them get into the media, helping them share their ideas, with a much wider audience. In order to help them be seen as experts in their field. It's a really competitive market and you can partner with and work with the media in order to stand out in that competitive market in order to find more amazing clients to work with. and even in order to, raise your prices, be seated as a more esteemed individual to work with. so that is, that's how I got my feet wet in the entrepreneurial world and then decided I'm going to dive in full force because this is absolutely amazing. Diane: I think everybody almost has this image of the editor in the Devil Wears Prada and limiting it like you're waiting for did they read my email? Did they not read my email? Do I chase them? How soon do I chase them? It's this whole set of rules that is this completely foreign, space to us. And I think we get really up in our heads about that. so from your editor hat days, is that like when you're on the receiving end of pitches, cause people always like editors need content and you're like, well, do they really? Lynya: Yes. Yes, they really do. Absolutely. And they need content right more now than ever before. everybody's at home right now, some people are, on lockdown right now. And so people are going to their computers. They're opening their mailboxes. They are watching their television. And so there is a strong need, not just for content, but also for really great content because that's a more competitive field now also because there's more eyeballs and we want to get more eyeballs on our stories. We want to get more people watching our television shows. We want to get more people listening to our podcasts. So absolutely editors and segment bookers are looking for great content. So I really encourage people not to be bashful because it's not that you are bothering someone by reaching out to them with your brilliant story idea. It is that you are helping someone fill in the content that they need. there's some editors or some writers out there that are trying to crank out like three, four or five stories a day. If I, as an editor could get something that landed in my inbox, that was perfect for my audience. and that's. Was well-written and that was a great story idea. I would be ecstatic you're making my job easier, but the trick here, right. Is making sure that you're approaching me in the right fashion and that you are setting up that pitch letter in the proper fashion and that you really thought about my audience and what they would be interested in hearing. One of the problems that I run into. with the clients or the students that I work with at impacting millions is sometimes we get really wrapped up in the story that we want to tell as opposed to the content that people need to hear or what they want to hear. And it happens to the best of us. I've fallen into that trap before as well, but you have to be, this is very much, what I learned in terms of my world of integrative health coaching. This is very other-focused listening. Reading and content creation. You have to be thinking about the editor that you're pitching or the podcast host that you're pitching. You have to be thinking about the audience. That's going to be consuming this content and make sure that that's really going to resonate with them. If you want this to be a win, win situation, which it needs to be. Right. This isn't just about you getting media. And I think that's. Another thing that trips people up, they’re thinking, Oh, well this is just benefiting me. No, you have to make this a win, win situation all around. So it's not just about great media that you're getting it's about the people that you're helping, from the editor on through to the audience that you're serving. Diane: I think the thing that I found surprising a friend of mine was featured in Forbes with one of those profile things but what blew me away about that, that was how much evidence she had to provide. And I think we get really into, like our blogs might be a little more opinion pieces, and we forget that when we're pitching media, that's actually journalism that things have to actually be correlated. So suddenly we're into research and quotes and making sure everything ties back. How do we make sure that we've covered off all those bases? So when we do go to an editor, they're not going well, this is a lovely opinion. But do you have anything to back it up? Lynya: Brilliant. So as a health journalist, that is something that I have never, ever, ever been able to get away with because we have to have our studies, we have to have our statistics. Right. And so that's my foundation. So I always come back to that and it is something that I remind the clients that I work with and the students that I work with. I'll sometimes read someone's pitch or I'll be editing someone's story. And it will be very apparent. I'll say, Hey, this is really great content, but you're asking the reader to just trust you. Just believe me. I know this is true and they don't know you get, you have to gain that trust. And what do people love more than anything? They love statistics. Six, when you watch television, when you watch morning TV, or when you watch the afternoon shows, the host and the guests are bringing you actual facts. They're bringing you numbers. They're saying X number of people have been found to do this. A new study showed that X, Y, and Z. And so I really encourage people to. Lean on statistics and lean on recent research. The thing that I love about recent research is that it answers that perennial question, that people in the media and journalism are always asking, which is why this story now. Journalists. Always want to know why this story now. Yes, there are lots of evergreen stories that people will share within the media. But if you want to move to the front of the queue if you want to be at the front of the line in terms of a journalist or an editor or a podcast, or thinking, which story should I run next? You want to be able to answer why this story. Now you want to have that timeliness angle when it comes to your content. And one way to do that is with recent research. And sometimes people get a little nervous when I say that and they think, I'm not a health journalist or I'm not a researcher, but there's research that comes out about everything that we all have access to. And it's not just, physical health-related. There can be, you might be. let's say an expert in time management. And for example, you can do a quick Google search and come up with some statistics around how good or how bad people are at time managing or how important that is to people right now, or how many hours the average person loses in a day because they are, doing miscellaneous things and not focused on tasks. So those are very simple things that you can look up online. Find something recent. I always want, don't pull something from 2005, you want to find something recent and that just adds some meat to your story that adds some teeth to your story. And that one of the things. That is going to get somebody that you're pitching more excited about working with you and your content. And it's going to get the audience that's consuming that content more engaged, and it builds that know like, and trust factor, right? It's another way of doing that because somebody hears those numbers and they think that person knows what they talking about. Oh, those are great. Oh, that's a really interesting statistic. Oh, now I believe what they're saying. The other thing that I recommend to people is to pull from their own experience. If you really, really can't find something online. And I doubt that you really, really can't find something online, then pull your audience. Maybe you have a thousand email followers or a thousand people who are following you online and you can ask them something and be able to say, well, 90% of the people that I work with, say, X, Y, and Z, or that they're struggling with a, B and C right now. So you can always find a way to get some compelling statistics that are really going to engage your audience, but also engage the individuals that you're pitching. Diane: I've always been kind of jealous of the people who are in the health coaching space, because I feel like the year is naturally set up for them to be like, Ooh, Summer diets. Ooh, Christmas explosion of food. there's something in every season that works for them. How does somebody who talks about business? Make it seasonally exciting? Lynya: There are ways for every year. A single industry to make their content exciting. So the first thing that you can do is just look at the natural waves within your business world, right? So as a business person, you have different quarters that you have your business broken into. And so if you're thinking about Q1, then maybe you're thinking about. Ideas or content that is going to help people start off the new year on the right foot. Right. And then if you're thinking let's fast forward if you think about Q4, then maybe this is about how to end the year strong. What do I do when I set these goals for myself in Q1 and I'm struggling to hit them by the end of the year so I can meet my goals. There are also lots of awareness days that happen all throughout the year, and they're not just health-oriented, there's women's entrepreneurship day. there's small business awareness month. And so you can ride the waves of those kinds of awareness. Days as well. And when you niche even further down, right? So business owner could be someone who specializes in energy work, or they could be someone who specializes in Facebook ads or what have you, those niches that you're in and are also going to have their, certain days where people are more likely to be talking about those industries that you're in are going to be more likely to be talking about social media, for example. but also going back to research, there's going to be content that comes out around whatever you specialize in as well. And so you're looking for those. New studies or those new statistics that can drop that would tie into what you're talking about. there, even the statistics that drop about just how the business world is doing in general or how businesses are limiting, when COVID drops, that was an opportunity for everyone in any, it didn't matter what business you were in. You could talk about how you were pivoting now that everybody is staying at home. So there's always, you just have to kind of look for those opportunities, but they're always there and it's not just…I'm totally with you because absolutely January always. New year, new you and there's always get ready for summer. There's always, the holidays are coming, and here's how not to gain 10 pounds, but you have those same kinds of cycles in all types of business. You can always think of timely story ideas that are really going to grab the attention, not just to the people that you're pitching, but also the individuals who are going to be consuming that content. Diane: TV and movies have taught me that physical magazines are planning multiple months in advance, the online magazine. Is it that same way? Lynya: Yeah. so hard magazines. if you're going to be holding that magazine in your hand, they work three to six months in advance and people always get surprised when I tell them that. It is the God's honest truth. I'm working on a story now. That's not going to come out for six months. Right. But I've already got that assignment and I'm working with on it. So three to six months is the runway for physical magazines. But when it comes to online opportunities, that runway is much, much, much shorter. And so what you can do is, or what I encourage people to do is just think a month or two in advance when it comes to the online opportunities. And really you could come up to the last second when it comes to online opportunities. Because when I was working in magazines, sometimes something happens that day and you realize, Oh my gosh, this celebrity just did this wild thing. And I have something to say about that. There's something that we can learn from that. That's a story you can pitch that day. You have to be fast about it because that's what everybody's talking about in that moment. And you want to ride that wave, but you wouldn't know, six weeks in advance that excellent charity was going to do this wild thing, but you can still jump on that bandwagon and be a part of that conversation and ride that wave even the day of even, the minute of that happening. When it comes to online magazines, websites, blogs, think within that, right up to the second to that two-month window of time, certainly podcasts, it really varies in terms of how frequent they have episodes coming out. and some people are just really great about planning very far in advance. there are people who were banking, their podcasts, for three, four, or five months. but there are some who will do things up, up until the last minute as well. So I encourage people as well to think about it. And in terms of online content and really be pitching two or three months in advance, with that timeliness angle and making sure that you're really honing in on the audience that you're going to be speaking to because more so than online publications and magazines. and definitely more so than television, which is really broad because they're talking to millions and millions of people. Podcasts are this amazing opportunity to really niche down to a very specific audience. So you want us to make sure that that audience knows that it's being heard with the ideas that you're pitching Diane: I love what you said there about bringing podcasts into that media collection and thinking about when you're pitching a podcast, pitching it in the same way that you're pitching an editor so where's a good place for people to start with. where did they find these days or what they could be pitching? Lynya: So one of the wonderful things that we have through impacting millions, Selena, Soo created this amazing publicity calendar that actually walks you through all year long. These amazing dates that you can peg your stories to, to get that timeliness factor. So you can find that at impactingmillions.com/calendar. and that will give you some really, it's just going to seed some ideas. And all of a sudden, a lot of people come to me and they think that they only have one or two or three ideas. And then when we sit down and we'll do, I'll do one on one coaching with people, or I'll do hot seats as a part of impacting millions and get someone on one time with people. And what they find is that they actually have 10, they have 20, they have 30 different ideas. It is all in how you. You spin things. And we really want that treasure trove of ideas, because I want to be in a situation where you're just sending out one idea and you're waiting you're back and waiting to hear back and waiting here back. And then a month has gone by and you're like, I've gotten any publicity and just doing this one at a time, you want to be able to send multiple pitches out to multiple different outlets, knowing that each of them is different, but that you haven't done this tremendous heavy lift to create those. And we all have those story ideas inside of us. It's just a matter of. Sitting down and taking the time and getting those out and having a publicity calendar to work with is something that will really help you do that. Diane: this has been amazing. I feel like I've just had a personal media coaching moment. Lynya: I love it. Diane: to finish up, I always like to ask my guests two questions. The first one is what is your number one lifestyle boundary for your business? Lynya: So when it comes to boundaries, I actually flip this in my brain a little bit about what entrepreneurship made possible for me and. It was head and shoulders above all other things travel. And so being able to travel is like my non-negotiable. I have to be able to be like, no matter what I'm doing, I have to be able to be flexible, and be able to pick up and do my job. From anywhere. And that is a little more complicated in the age of COVID, but this is a temporary thing that is happening and borders will be opened up again soon. but that for me was really, really huge. And so obviously that's very difficult to do when you have a desk job and you only have so many, weeks in a year that you get to, be off on vacation, but how wonderful if you can work from the UK or if you can work from Toronto or if you can work from Sydney, you can work from Bali. And so that, to me having that freedom and that flexibility with the things that I'm doing and making sure that it's all in alignment, has been really, really important to me. So that was my non-negotiable. Diane: for me, that's a big boundary as well, I don't want to have to physically be in the same location and on a particular day for 12 months, for example. and finally, what is the worst piece of cookie-cutter advice that you have got as a lifestyle entrepreneur, as you've journeyed from corporate into your new space? Lynya: So I'm on your storyteller, guests. Diane, I'm sorry. I know that I'm flipping all these questions on you. because I actually have to say that. Being in the industry that I'm in. I actually, you got a lot of great advice. I knew a lot of amazing coaches. I knew a lot of people who had transitioned out of the corporate world. but what I will say is that one I tried to take in too much advice. I tried to, I was just like, great, I've got the 50 best tips and I'm going to follow all of this. And the reality is that you have to take the road to know where the road is going to take you. And some pieces of advice are gonna resonate and some pieces aren't and you will never be able to incorporate everybody's 50 best tips into your first year of entrepreneurship. You're just going to have to figure some things out. One thing I will say is, there were people who were very definitive about, the tool that they liked, or the scheduling program that they liked, or, just one specific, thing that you would buy in order to support your business. And that did not work for me. there are people who hate the calendar tool that I use, but I love it. Cause there's so much functionality. They wanted to get into the weeds of it. But some people are like, I just need something really super easy and Much more simple interface. And so really just honoring the fact that yes, you get suggestions from people about the tool or the app that they absolutely love, but ultimately like you really do have to do the work and figure, okay, what do, what, which what's really going to suit me when I'm scheduling my posts, what's really going to. My ideal client when they're scheduling their sessions with me. And so that is where I would land with it. It's not so much that it's bad advice, but they're picking something or they're giving you advice and it's very personal to them. And you really have to walk up to the buffet yourself and figure out which is the thing that you want to take and put on your plate. Diane: And very often that recommendation comes followed very quickly with a referral link I'm always like take everybody's software recommendations with a huge pinch of salt. Lynya: Slightly and figure out what works best for you. Diane: Exactly. Not just with tech, with everything in business. thank you so much. It's always an absolute pleasure chatting to you. what is the best place for the listener to continue the conversation? Lynya: with find me on Instagram. That is the best way to continue the conversation. You can totally slide into my DMS. And let me know if you're looking for one on one coaching, or if you want more info about impacting millions or if you want more info about life coaching, that is the best place to find me. Diane: awesome. And I'll be sure to link you in the show notes so they can find you. Lynya: Thank you so much.