Jess and I both come from tech start-up world into founder roles so have so much in common. Jess is absolutely killing it right now with her No Agency Method live courses — teaching startups how to ace their own PR.

‍

After building marketing teams at Starling Bank and Yolt, I’m a massive fan of upskilling in-house teams wherever possible plus, have you heard the industry secret that many journalists in the startup sphere get most excited about a brand when they build a relationship with the founder themselves? It’s true and Jess is here to give you the tools to build on this and make your brand famous.

‍

Enjoy Jess’ story and savour her fantastic advice!!

‍

‍

1. What is the problem that your business sets out to solve?

‍

PR for startups. It’s usually a black hole of money being thrown at a PR Agency and being disappointed with the results. Or your team can’t afford an agency, so you feel like PR is out of your reach. For too long, PR has been a mystery for most people, it sits behind the smoke and mirrors of needing a little black book, or decades of experience. But really, it’s a skill that you can learn. And it’s very possible to do it yourself.

‍

2. What is the solution you offer?

‍

The No Agency Method demystifies PR, and helps give founders, solo-prenuers and startup teams the tools to DIY their PR. Learn all the tips and tricks to figure out how to craft your PR strategy, to get your team to buy into it, to find the right journalists for you, and to crucially actually get journalists to answer your emails! Get media coverage for your startup yourself, and save thousands each month. One No Agency Method ‘graduate’ saved their team £48,000 a year by firing their PR Agency, it was enough to hire more staff so they could DIY it!

‍

3. How did you find your first five customers?

‍

I launched with a strategy to build my profile on Linkedin, and I went viral. I reached 150k people with one post. So my first five customers came through Linkedin lead generation, just people who’d seen who I was and were curious to find out more about how I work and what I offer. I teach founders and startups how to raise their profile, so going viral was truly my method in action!

‍

Check out the post Jess is talking about here: Jessica Barlow 🚀 on LinkedIn: #pridemonth2020 | 511 comments

‍

4. What’s your top piece of advice for fellow founders?

‍

Listen to your gut. Don’t just do what you think is the right thing, as it might not be the right thing for you. Tune in to your gut and flex your intuition muscles, give yourself a chance to know if a decision is really the right one for you.

‍

5. Top lesson learnt in business?

‍

Feel it all. Actually feel the lowest lows and the highest highs. Don’t try and shut out your emotions, if you’re having a bad day. Be in that bad day, let yourself feel your emotions because the day will end and you’ll have let it go. Truly powerful stuff stops lingering anxiety or black clouds of doom!

‍

If you don’t already, then make sure you follow Jess on Insta and Linkedin — go go, do it!

‍

If you enjoyed this read, please check out other #lessonslearnt and sign up for my monthly newsletter for free growth marketing tools