How to Pitch to Journalists and Get Quoted as a Dietitian

How do you pitch to journalists and get quoted as a dietitian?

The best way to pitch to journalists and get quoted as a dietitian is to be ready before the request arrives: a media bio you're happy with, a searchable bank of content you've already written, and a clear idea of the topics you can credibly comment on. Then you pitch the right journalist at the right publication with a timely hook, rather than sending the same email to everyone.

I learned this from Jo Jessop Maloney, an award-winning PR and communications consultant with more than 20 years of experience, including central government's Government News Network. Jo and I first worked together in 2020, and between us we got my old business, The Children's Nutritionist, into the Telegraph, HuffPost, the Mirror and the Independent. (Jo still keeps one of those pieces on the shelf behind her. I'm choosing to take that as a compliment.)

Why do journalists quote influencers instead of registered dietitians?

Journalists often quote influencers and celebrities because they're available straight away and they bring an audience who'll share the piece. Some journalist requests have a turnaround of around two hours, and a registered dietitian who needs to check the evidence can lose out to someone who answers on the spot.

Jo was clear that it isn't always the case. She's had journalists ask for a health expert's qualifications before quoting them, even when those qualifications never appear in print. Her view is that anyone can have an opinion, but health advice needs to come from the right person.

When I answered journalist requests for The Children's Nutritionist, I'd often read the questions and think "God, I need to go and have a bit of a think about that", and by then the window had closed.

How do you get press coverage when a journalist needs an answer in two hours?

To get press coverage on a tight deadline, you need two things ready in advance: a media bio and a searchable content bank. A media bio is a document with your introduction, your credentials and the stories you're comfortable sharing, rewritten until you're happy with it. A content bank is everything you've already written for social media, courses and emails, stored somewhere you can search it.

I had exactly this set up: I could type "vitamin D" into my Google Drive and find everything I'd written about it, already researched.

Jo also has a test for whether to respond at all. She calls it "shimmy it": run the opportunity from your head to your heart to your gut and back again, and only go ahead if they all agree. If it doesn't feel right, another opportunity will come.

How does press coverage help ChatGPT and other AI tools recommend you?

Press coverage helps AI tools recommend you because they rely heavily on earned media, which is coverage you haven't paid for. Jo quoted research from Muck Rack showing that 84% of what AI is reading comes from earned media. She also shared that a year ago, 6% of consumers used AI to find business recommendations, and today it's 45% (BrightLocal).

Consistency matters too. In my episodes on how to get ChatGPT to recommend you and AI search for dietitians, a big theme was showing up as the same name everywhere. Jo's advice is to use the introduction from your media bio on your website, your social media and every pitch.

What's the difference between reactive and proactive PR?

Reactive PR means responding to what journalists are already writing about, and proactive PR means pitching your own ideas to them. Jo splits it into three:

• Reactive: answering a journalist request, often on seasonal topics like vitamin D as the nights draw in.
• Trending: reacting to something in the news, like a celebrity's new diet or a new report. Google Alerts on your niche words help you spot these early.
• Proactive: positioning yourself as the expert with your own headline ideas, pitched to a specific publication.

When it comes to how to pitch to journalists proactively, Jo's advice is to be targeted. Study the publication, find the right section and the right journalist, and ask whether it's somewhere your audience actually reads. Being the lead expert in one place can be worth more than a mention in a hundred.

When is a press release worth writing?

A press release is worth writing only when you have a timely hook, such as a new service, a business launch, an award or a charitable offer tied to a date.

My favourite example is the time Jo and I created our own awareness week. We registered Fussy Eating Awareness Week, Jo sent out a press release and it got featured. I ran free workshops every day that week, people signed up with their email addresses, and I nurtured them by email until some became clients. The PR put me in front of people who'd never heard of me. My emails did the rest.

How do you find your story when you think you haven't got one?

Everyone has a story, and it doesn't need to be dramatic. Jo looks for what she calls "bridges": a value, a characteristic, or something you've lived through personally that now shows up in your work.

You also decide how much to share. With me, we didn't go into every detail. We simply acknowledged that I had personal experience in this area and that my passion for the work came from there. Jo never pushes clients further than they're comfortable with, and her advice for interviews is simple: if you don't want to say it, don't.

How do you get over the fear of what colleagues will think?

The fear of what colleagues, friends or family will think gets smaller when you come back to why you're doing it. Jo's advice is to be open about your reasons, which is usually that you want to help more people than you can reach in clinic, and to lead with that when you share a press win.

For me, the why was the NHS. Fussy eating services were so limited that if a child didn't meet the access criteria, they didn't get seen, or we sent a leaflet instead. I knew I could help more families my way. That's what let me shout about my work, even while worrying what everyone from the dietitian who sat next to me in the office to my dad would think. A few people asked whether I'd get struck off by the HCPC. Most were just proud.

If you'd like someone in your corner while you do this, Jo's PR Accelerator is a 10-week programme for women in business. She works alongside you on your media bio, a thought leadership piece, a top tips piece, proactive pitching and journalist requests picked out for your niche. It's £900, or £333 a month over three months, and it runs again next year. Follow Jo on Instagram to find out more. She also writes media bios for £250 and runs a PR Club for £10 a month.

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The right steps, in the right order for building your successful nutrition business. Get your 22 point step-by-step workbook here: https://www.sarahalmondbushell.com/master-plan

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Episode transcription:

Sarah Almond Bushell: Welcome back to Beyond the Clinic. Now, think about the last time you saw a nutrition story in the news. It might have been a headline about ultra-processed food or gut health or whatever the diet of the week happens to be. Who did they ask for a quote? Because more often than not, it isn't a dietitian. It could be a celebrity chef or a wellness influencer with a ring light and a supplement range.

or someone whose main qualification is just a beautiful kitchen. Meanwhile, know, where the ones with the degree, the registration, the years of clinical practice, sitting at home and shouting at the radio. So today we're going to talk about how to change all of that, how you can get in front of journalists, get quoted in the press and become the go-to expert in your area without it feeling like shameless self-promotion.

And I couldn't think of anyone better to help than today's guest, Jo Jessop Maloney. So Jo is an award-winning PR and communications consultant with more than 20 years of experience. She's worked with FTSE 250 companies, local authorities, charities, the Arts Council England, and even central government through the cabinet's office government news network. So if anyone knows how to get a message heard, it's Jo.

And she also runs her own consultancy, which has been going for over a decade. But what I love most about Jo's work, and the reason why I wanted her on the show, is that she's got a real knack for finding the human story in a business. The one angle that makes a journalist sit up and actually want to talk to you. And of course, as health professionals trained to lead with the evidence and keep ourselves out of it, That's something that I know a lot of us really struggle to spot in our own work. So I can say from experience because Jo and I actually go way back. I think it was about 2020 when we originally met. It was definitely pre-pandemic. And she worked with me on PR for my old business, The Children's Nutritionist, several times. And you'll hear more and more about that as we chat through.

So I've seen firsthand exactly what she does. And I've also learned that when Jo says, trust me, they're going to love this angle, she's always right. So in this conversation, we're going to get into what journalists are looking for, how to find the story angle in your own business, and how to pitch yourself without feeling like you're begging. So if that sounds good, we'll dive in. Welcome, Jo. It's great to have you here.

Jo Jessop Maloney: Thank you so much having me. Gosh, she sounds good, doesn't she? You

Sarah Almond Bushell: And she absolutely is. Did I get all of that right?

Jo Jessop Maloney: did, absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. And that's something that obviously we'll come on to as we're probably chatting away. But sometimes we don't hear about ourselves in the third person like that very often. And when you do, do you know what? Your shoulders go back a little bit and you say, yeah, she sounds all right. And it's all true.

Sarah Almond Bushell: Yeah, it's all true. It's all very impressive. So we've known each other six, nearly seven years, I guess, coming up since 2020.

And between us, we've got my old business into places like The Telegraph, The Huffington Post, The Mirror, The Independent, so many others.

Jo Jessop Maloney: I've literally got one in front of me right now actually. do,

Sarah Almond Bushell: I you!

Jo Jessop Maloney: I do. This is one my favourite pieces. So yeah, we've got loads haven't we?

Sarah Almond Bushell: well done for you for keeping a hold of that. That's amazing.

Jo Jessop Maloney: Thank you. That's actually normally on my shelf behind me. It's one of the one of my proudest moments that the free cover of the Daily

Sarah Almond Bushell: brilliant, and mine too.

Jo Jessop Maloney: Telegraph. Thank you. Yeah. We'll take that. We'll take that.

Sarah Almond Bushell: That'll do. We'll take that one. Yeah, absolutely. So yeah, well, thank you for that. Can you tell us, tell the listeners how you ended up in PR in the first place? Was that always your game plan?

Jo Jessop Maloney: Yeah, was, no, it wasn't. It wasn't where I intended to go. So I'd always loved writing. It was something that I've always loved from being a very little girl. So English was something that I just really, really enjoyed. I loved reading. I loved writing. I remember even when I was playing, that I'd often just sit and write letters or leaflets and try and create my own leaflet or my own magazine.

So maybe actually, maybe it was always there from the very beginning. I just didn't really realise what it was. I used to do radio shows with my friend, know, when you used to press the two buttons down, I'm showing my age now, on a tape cassette and record your own voice. So we used to do that. I used to record radio shows, I used to write magazines. I used to just love anything like that. So when it came to schooling...

My English teacher however thought that I wasn't very good. I was a bit of a slow reader and he loved my writing, he loved my creativity but he wasn't very encouraging and I remember him at one parents evening saying she'll be lucky if she gets a C at GCSE and I remember thinking well I'll show you and I got an A at GCSE and it was really that I would not take no for an answer. This is something that I love. This is something that I enjoy. And alongside creative subjects, you music, art, drama, I really wanted to go down something like that. I knew that it was the creative arts or writing that I wanted to get into. So I went to university and I did English and Media at university as a joint honours degree. Really, really, really good university in Leeds.

and there were loads of connections so I did a little bit with the BBC whilst I was still a student and then I just remember one day standing outside this door and on the wall it said do you want to cut out newspapers for £8 an hour and I thought yes I do. I had to read the newspapers for my degree anyway and I thought well I might as well get paid for it and £8 an hour as a student in those days you know.

So I went for this job and what I didn't realise was it was working for the Central Office of Information. At the time they were called GNN, Government News Network. And I just went in, did my little job and left and I didn't really realise where those little newspaper clippings went. I mean that job's probably completely redundant now because you've got scanners and all the rest but we used to literally cut and paste and stick with a prick stick.

And then as I got to know the team a little bit more, I started to find the world of PR and I started to find out a little bit more about what the team did and where these newspapers went and what they were all about and the whole story and journey of that. And I absolutely was hooked. I absolutely loved the idea of being able to write a press release and get things out there and share your story and.

very interested in humans and psychology of how humans receive information and how you listen to like people's views and news and I just was like I'm sold. But deep down in all honesty I always wanted to work in television so

Sarah Almond Bushell: really?

Jo Jessop Maloney: that was like my absolute dream job was to be a TV producer that's what I always really wanted to do.

And there is a little gap in my career, if you look on my LinkedIn, where I actually went and did a little bit for ITV.

Took a massive pay cut to go and see if that was what I wanted to do because I just never wanted to look back and think, well, I never followed the dream. I did kind of fall into PR even though I absolutely adored it. Anyway, turns out TV was not for me. I did four to six months there.

And yeah, I got headhunted many, many times during that season to go back to do PR. And I just really missed PR and communications. I really, really missed it. So yeah, it didn't take me long to realise that actually wasn't my dream. But I'm really glad that I tried and I'm really glad that I gave it a little go and went into that world to find out more. But yeah, definitely, I think PR is in my blood. I think it is who I am. It's what I enjoy.

but as you kindly said at the beginning with the human interest at the heart of it and the real story at the heart of it so you know I'm really passionate about getting good stories in the media getting the right people to be quoted for stories and that is something that I'm really really passionate about.

Sarah Almond Bushell: Yeah, absolutely. And that leads me on to the next thing I wanted to ask you actually, because quite often when these nutrition stories hit the news, it's an influencer or a celebrity giving the quote rather than a registered healthcare professional. So why does that happen? Can you give us an idea of why that happens?

Jo Jessop Maloney: Yeah, really, really good question. And I think it's one that we could probably speak about for hours and hours. I think when we strip it back, I think it's not always the case. I think we do see it quite a lot, but it isn't always the case, as we've shown already that, you know, there are places where the registered professional is quoted. And I've had many times as well where in a lot of health health professional sectors where the journalists actually asked me for qualifications and said what are the qualifications of this person they don't publish them but they want to know that the person that's speaking about that subject is the right person with the right gravitas behind them and the right qualifications behind them so i wouldn't say it's all the time when it is I wonder, and this is just speculation I suppose and from my opinion and experience and expertise, but sometimes is it down to the numbers? Is it down to the followers? Is it down to an audience that's already sat there waiting that they know that that influencer or celebrity will re-share that to their audience? Therefore is it clickbait? Is it clickability? Is it follower numbers? Is it that? And it could possibly be that.

Also, there are some stories where everybody could have a voice on them. We've all got an opinion, we've all got an opinion on certain stories. And at the end of the day, these little things here that are an extension of our hand do kind of make us our own journalists ourselves. So therefore, could that celebrity have an opinion? Yes. And could it be viable? Yes. And could that...

that celebrity chef have opinion? Yes. What I would like to see is that backed up by some kind of evidence if it is something that I would say is, you know, medical or very health led.

I feel that the right person needs to be quoted on something like that. And as you're very aware, one of my key areas of agreement when people work with me is that you have responsibility and you know this obviously in your world but you have responsibility in what you put out there because at the end of the day when we're talking about people's lives aren't we it's people's health and it's people's lives and we wouldn't want to give the wrong advice and I am passionate about it being the right person for the right story depending on what that story is I think it's an opinion piece I think anybody can have an opinion If it's expertise and advice, think therefore it needs to be the right person.

Sarah Almond Bushell: Yeah, absolutely. And I remember, you know, when I used to do a lot of journalist requests and things back in the day, often it was who was available, you know, because they need to be, they need the answer now. So who

Jo Jessop Maloney: Absolutely.

Sarah Almond Bushell: was available and ready to go. And sometimes when I looked at the questions, I would be like, God, I need to go and have a bit of a think about that or do my research and get prepared. But actually, there's often not that luxury of time to be able to go in and be able to share that information. So I do wonder whether sometimes, you know, sometimes people who aren't regulated healthcare professionals can say things without having to check the evidence base. And so they are just available at the drop of a hat.

Jo Jessop Maloney: Yeah, I think you've hit a real good nail on the head there. I think it is about, you know, the turnaround times and like you say, sometimes these requests are like two hours and that's it.

Other times you get a bit more time and a bit more luxury to write a fuller piece, but yeah, sometimes they are really quick turnarounds and like you say, you are registered and you've got to make sure what you put out there is right. But like you say, being prepared is the best thing. If you are...

thinking about dipping your toe into PR, having a really good media bio written that you've sat with, you've pondered over, that you've taken to Costa with you, that you've looked at time and time again, that you've shared with loved ones, that you've shared with people that you really admire in the industry. And then you've decided, yes, I'm happy with this, it's final. Because then you can just pull things from that. You've sat with it, you're happy with it. So when the request comes in, you are halfway there, you've got your introduction, you've got a lot of your content. And then the other thing that I recommend is that content bank or content pot, whatever it is that you call it. Majority of us, as I said, have lots and lots of content that we've written for our social media, for our courses, for our top tips that we share with our audience, maybe via an email funnel or something.

you make sure that that's searchable and somewhere stored somewhere because when these requests come in you can probably search it and find that you've probably said something before.

Sarah Almond Bushell: Yeah, yeah. And that's exactly what we ended up with. I had the media bio, which is essentially just a document with all of your stories and the things that you want to share. And then I had this like, like you say, it was a content bank on a Google Drive that I could just type in, know, vitamin D, whatever I said about vitamin D and it comes up and you're prepared straight away. Yeah.

Jo Jessop Maloney: Yeah and those those bits of content you've given them the time of day you've probably done your research you've gone back to you you know they've had the time that you need so when you've only got an hour you're happy with what you're putting out there because you know you've given it the time that it needs prior and then the other thing was and we talked about sometimes you don't have to go for them sometimes it's like actually that's not for me I don't feel comfortable I use the thing all the time and people laugh at me but it's become a bit of a motto of mine really. I always say shimmy it, just shimmy it through. That just literally means shimmy it through from your head to your heart to your gut, back to your heart, back to your head. So you're making sure that it's always aligned. With my clients, I don't want anyone to go to bed and think, my gosh, why did I do that?

I always want people to feel aligned and if something doesn't feel right, another opportunity will come.

Sarah Almond Bushell: Exactly. Yeah. You don't have to say yes to everything, you? Yeah. Yeah.

Jo Jessop Maloney: Thank you.

Sarah Almond Bushell: So let's talk about what press coverage can actually do for a small business owner, whether you've got private practice or maybe online business. So I'm thinking in terms of things like credibility, trust, obviously more clients would be nice.

What sort of things does PR do for you as a business owner?

Jo Jessop Maloney: Yeah, so this is changing in the ever-changing world of digital. But obviously, PR has always been somebody else speaking about what you are, what you are good at, and who you are. And it's somebody else doing that on your behalf. So you are not the only one that is talking about your business and what you're doing and what you're good at. Why is that good? Well, that's the like-no-trust factor.

it gives you gravitas, it's somebody else talking about you and if that person is the Daily Telegraph or the BBC or The Guardian or Huffington Post or Netmums or something that your audience already watches, reads, listens to, it's real gravitas behind that because it makes your audience go wow, like they must really know what they're talking about for somebody like that to want to hear from them.

So that is always been the case of what PR is about. It's about just boosting you up and getting somebody else to speak about you, about what you do and who you are. And it really does give you that trust factor.

So that's probably the main one. But then we've got things like as seen on, as featured in, that can be tickers along your website, that can be on your social media.

And again, it's that kind of seven touch points of somebody interacting with you. It might just be something like that that makes them go, yeah, they're really good. The other thing as well is we've probably all done this and probably all heard somebody do this. But if I'm working with somebody, a therapist or a life coach, I probably would say to my friend, I'm working with an amazing life coach at the moment who's been featured on the BBC.

Now why do I say that? Because I'm impressed. So it's impressive. So having those things really makes people just sit up a little bit and think, yeah, yeah, that's really good. Similar to your qualifications, it's a way of, you know, really sharing who you are and what you know. And that, again, is really, really good. And then when it comes to the world of AI and digital footprints, This is where the landscape has really really changed over the last couple of years. So I was reading the other day a piece from Muck Rack and it was saying what is AI reading? And basically AI is now reading 84 % is coming from earned media. So that is what AI is reading. It's trying to find out more about people and it's reading earned media.

So when you Google or you AI or you chat box or whatever AI you use, ChatGPT, if you are saying who should I go to to speak about this or who would be the best person to talk about X, Y and Z, 84 % is coming from earned media. That's massive when it comes to PR because it means what's your digital footprint look like and where is it coming from? The other statistic that I find really, really interesting is that one year ago today, 6 % of consumers used AI to find business recommendations, 6%. Today's 45%.

Sarah Almond Bushell: Wow, that's a massive increase.

Jo Jessop Maloney: So talk about the huge shift in consumer behaviour. So if we don't have a good digital footprint, are literally, we're invisible. So it's really about, PR is about visibility. Now, it's not just the only thing that you can use visibility, don't get me wrong. There's marketing, there's social media, there's podcasting, which is part of PR anyways, podcasting. But there's lots of things that we can do.

to make ourselves visible, but PR is a big part of that. And when you see that 84 % is coming from earned media, that is PR. So earned media is PR that you've not paid for. It's where the journalists have either come to you for the story or the quote, or you've pitched something to them that they've received and accepted. And again, because of how good AI is, the journalists will know if you've used AI to create it.

and they will also notice already out there. So we need to make sure that what we are providing is really, really good and really high end. But I just found that shifting consumer behaviour really, really interesting.

And it really does show how important not just SEO is, which is what we've been talking about probably for a decade, but searchability.

Sarah Almond Bushell: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And funnily enough, actually, just last month, did a few episodes on AI and how to get recommended by AI. I think it was 120 and 121, if anyone's listening and wants to listen back. But a lot of it is about being visible on lots of different places as a single entity. So like if you are...

You know, I, my business used to be The Children's Nutritionist. So therefore I needed to make sure that that Children's Nutritionist was mentioned on my website, on my social, in the press, not, you know, Sarah Almond Bushell over here and a dietitian, registered dietitian over there. was the same name across multiple different places. And that being refreshed regularly. And of course that's what PR is great for, isn't it? Because it's, it's instant, you know, and then You might have something else tomorrow, might have something else the next week. It's just constantly topping up that visibility.

Jo Jessop Maloney: Yeah, and it's not just about now link backs. So link backs are great and we always try and get them. But if you don't get them, that doesn't matter anymore. The robots are going and searching it anyway. So yeah, it's that consistency of how you introduce yourself, which is why that media bio is so important. Once you've written that and sat with that and created that, that is the introduction that like you say, Sarah, you need to use on everything. You need to use it on your website, your socials.

your introduction to media, your award entry, whatever it is you need to use that as much as possible.

Sarah Almond Bushell: Yeah, yeah, brilliant. That's great. So let's demystify it all a bit. know, what does make something newsworthy? Essentially, what are journalists looking for when they're, if you're pitching them directly, what sort of things make you stand out?

Jo Jessop Maloney: So there's two ways when it comes to PR. There are proactive and there's reactive. So reactive is very much, I'll start there because it's the easier way to explain it. Reactive is very much where we are responding and reacting to a journalist request. So that could be a journalist that's just decided with their editor that they're going to write something about vitamin D or about energy vampires and things that are draining our energy right now. So I'm thinking about what know vitamin D is obviously going to be very topical as we're going into winter and so is things like energy vampires as we're going into Halloween. So it tends to be things that happen on an annual news round.

They will sit together and they'll say we need to write something about darker nights and the fact that we don't see as much sunlight during this season. And they'll go out and they'll try and find experts that are willing to do some top tip pieces on that. And then we know what they're writing about. So that's the really good thing about the reactive. We can respond to very, very specific requests. So that's kind of the reactive side of things.

The other reactive side of things is when something hits the news. So a celebrity that's trying a new diet or a pill that's hit the headlines because there's been a side effect that's just come out.

Or a report that's come out about X, Y and Z. Or a celebrity's child that's just revealed on their social media that that child is going through something.

So they are kind of health examples of what we would call a reactive hook.

So the journalist then, these are the ones that are very fast, the journalist then says on the back of whoever, Joe Bloggs, who's very, very famous, child revealed that their child is going through X, Y, and Z. We need an expert to comment on this now, right now. And we then respond to that.

Now the chances are that that thing that they're talking about is your niche. The chances are you've probably got a lot of things that you can talk about. So if the reactive opportunity doesn't come that way, we will then take that and proactively pitch you because the opportunity is too good to miss. So you will probably have, I'd like to think, Google Alert set up with some of your niche words on there.

So you will start to see that Victoria Beckham has started talking about this or so and so started talking about this and therefore it's time for you to jump and say I am an expert in this these are my thoughts and opinions and the really good thing is even if it isn't picked up in the media which using somebody like me you'd like to think it would be but even if it isn't and you're doing it yourself and you're trying to get it out there and it doesn't land you have got a response to something that is trending that if you even put on your own platforms, blogs, social media, you're going to start getting some search abilities anyway. So it's really worth doing these reactive hooks and jumping on things when they are trending. We call that trending news. So there's the reactive when they ask you, there's the trending hooks where they could ask you or you could hook on it first.

Sarah Almond Bushell: Or there would

Jo Jessop Maloney: I can hear myself. Or there would be the third option, which is the proactive, where you try and put yourself out there as

Sarah Almond Bushell: be the third option which is the proactive where you try to put yourself out there and...

Jo Jessop Maloney: a thought leader. So you would be the thought leader on something. So it might be that you want to do a piece on anything and we would position you as that thought leader. So that's proactively putting you out there as the expert. And we proactively come up with some headline ideas.

Sarah Almond Bushell: But we try to do more to try and make it easier

Jo Jessop Maloney: that we then pitch to the media or to that specific publication, which is the best way of doing it these

Sarah Almond Bushell: for people to catch the best things.

Jo Jessop Maloney: days. So again, back in the day, it used to be kind of a scatter gun approach and send it to all.

That's very, very, very much changed in the last decade in PR. It is very much now about looking at the publication, finding the sections, looking for the looking for the journalists and saying, right, that's where I want to be.

And that's an approach I've always really enjoyed doing, is finding, you know, yes, you could be in 100 places, but are they the right places for your audience? You could argue that, it's good for your digital footprint and searchability, which is good. And there are places for scattergun approach, don't get me wrong. But is it better to be in one specific place as the lead expert? Yes, I think it is.

and then you can repurpose that for other places. And then the final thing is that press release. So a lot of people mistake the PR to stand for press release and that's not what it stands for. PR actually

Sarah Almond Bushell: I don't know.

Jo Jessop Maloney: means public relations.

But a lot of people are just like, it's just press releases, isn't it? And it is very much not just that. So press release.

I would not recommend you writing a press release unless you've got a timely hook. So press release would be the launch of a new business, but we're talking about a business venue where you're doing an opening ceremony locally where you're inviting people down and that would go to your local business newspapers and business publications. What else would be a press release? It would be a new service. It would be Something that is happening that is timely, it would be a charitable offer. So say it's World Mental Health Day coming up and you're going to give X percent of your income away for whoever buys this product or you're five top tips away or you're running free webinars or something like that. That would be a press release. But that is just a part of PR. It's not the be all and end all.

And that is classed as proactive because we're putting that together and we're proactively pitching it to the media to try and get them to cover it. So that hopefully gives you a bit of an overview of Keylog.

Sarah Almond Bushell: It does, it does.

And it just reminded me, can you remember we created an awareness week?

Jo Jessop Maloney: we did? We just created our very own.

Sarah Almond Bushell: We did? Yeah, Fussy Eating Awareness Week.

Jo Jessop Maloney: Yeah, and we've it registered and everything.

Sarah Almond Bushell: We got it registered and we did have a press release and you sent out a foreign wide and it did get featured. Yeah.

Jo Jessop Maloney: It did, it did.

yeah, you could, I mean, and that would be classed as a PR campaign. So if there's something that you're really passionate about, you know, can create a campaign around it. We've done flash mobs, we've done, we've done all sorts of things to get, you know, to become PR-able. And there's loads that you can do, you know, awards, if you win an award, that could be a press release.

So there's loads and loads of things you can do to get your, to get your message out there. Absolutely. Yeah.

Sarah Almond Bushell: Yeah, yeah, it's so funny. I'd completely forgotten about that until you just about press releases and and actually so we PR I would say very much at that sort of top of the funnel visibility getting yourself known credibility. That's where it sits really. But that awareness day, I ran every single day around like free workshops or something like that. And then people would sign up for them. And then I had the email addresses and then I started to market to them via email and I got clients.

So it did have a knock on effect, but it was the PR bit at the start that brought, put me essentially in front of brand new audiences, brand new people who'd never heard about me before. And then I warmed them up and nurtured them and showed that they could trust me. And then eventually that turned into clients. Yeah.

Jo Jessop Maloney: Yeah, absolutely. And it is about just thinking a bit differently and a bit creatively.

But also, like I said, not getting too excited and too carried away and really thinking of it strategically in line with your business, which is why having someone like a business coach alongside a PR coach is really, really important.

Because you need to make sure that it is in line with your PR goals and your business goals.

And I'm very interested in people's business goals. I always ask at the start of any relationship that I have, you know, what are your PR goals and your business goals? Because we need to make sure that they're aligned, that we don't get too carried away with some of the exciting stuff that comes in.

You know, we need to make sure it's on brand, it's on message, it's on, you know, it leads to, you know, whatever platform you want it to lead to. Where people do get to know you. And that's the hard thing, isn't it? Is capturing that.

and where the audience does come from. But knowing that having PR in your back pocket and having those trust tags is helping to build that audience and a new audience as well. Or helping to help the lingerers come out that have been in the background for a while going, I'm still not sure, I'm still not sure. And then they see a Marie Claire piece, BBC piece and they go, actually, yeah, I am sure now. But yeah, you can create anything. You can create your own.

Sarah Almond Bushell: Yeah, you can, absolutely.

Jo Jessop Maloney: You're on awareness day.

Sarah Almond Bushell: Yeah, yeah. And I think one of the big things that I learned from working with you was how to put yourself in the story and feel comfortable about it. Because I think, so I think that was one of the things that you're really, really great at is like finding that human element, because as healthcare professionals, I think we're cautious, we're trained, you know, to lead with the evidence, to not...

make it personal, leave ourselves out of it. So how do you help people find their story when maybe they think that they haven't got one? Why would people be interested in me?

Jo Jessop Maloney: Yeah, yeah, and I do find that a lot, especially in the early days of conversations with clients, that they kind of go, no, that just feels a bit icky or that I don't want to share that part or why is that relevant? And what I often say is there are so many bridges to people's stories, like so many. The thing is we just don't always go back and kind of look at them from that perspective.

but there are so, so many bridges and it could be, it could just be a characteristic, it could be a value, it could be a sort box that you've experienced personally that you're now doing professionally. It comes back to your why and your passion for me and I think I'm so interested in why people are doing what they're doing. So personally, I could very, very easily do PR for products that at the end of the day, you know, we get some coverage for that we, you know, we celebrate and we've got the win and we've got some really big marketing achievements. But I'm passionate about the people.

So I like to talk about the people and I like to talk about the story that's behind that. And there's a saying in PR that is it's about storytelling, not selling.

and we need to find the story behind what people are sharing. And that's so important. The other thing is that people buy from people. If we don't share elements of who we are and what we stand for, how is our audience supposed to know who we are and how are we supposed to get to know us and buy from us? So it's a fine line sometimes that some people are just very, very comfortable being the expert and not sharing that personal side of their story. And there is a, you can still make that work. And as we did with yourself, Sarah, you know, we didn't go into the warts and all, but we just nodded to the fact that you've got personal experience in this area and your passion, you know, for your work came from there.

And you can write it in a very sensitive way, which makes it, you know, not uncomfortable and not icky. So the big thing that I do with my clients is that media bio and that is that storytelling. And I will ask you questions like, well, where did this come from? Tell, or I'll just say, just tell me a story and then we'll sit with it and we'll shimmy it. So we'll make sure the head, heart and gut aligns.

and we'll give you time with it. And, you know, I've had the privilege of hearing some incredible stories where we summarise it in maybe a couple of sentences, but in there is so much pain and emotion and experience and I never ever want to dismiss that.

But the reason why we summarise it in a couple of sentences is because it's too painful to write any more than that.

but it gives our audience a nod to what has happened and an understanding of I've been there and I've done that. And then I've had other clients that have talked about everything in real detail and they've shared it, massively shared it and wanted to share it because they know that they want to help other people. And I have many, many ladies that will say to me, if only one person doesn't have to go through what I've been through, I will be happy.

Sarah Almond Bushell: that's enough.

Jo Jessop Maloney: So there's many ways of doing it. The biggest thing for me is I want people to be comfortable. I don't ever, ever push anybody forward to share anything that they're not comfortable with. And I would always say silence is golden on a press call. Don't speak if you don't want to say it, just don't say it.

Just don't share it. Don't go down anywhere that you're not willing to share.

It's your life, it's your story, it's your family, it's your partner, it's your whatever. It's yours.

Don't be forced to share anything that you're not comfortable sharing. But again, that's where that media bio is really important because you've got that time, that energy, that thinking space to give it right needs in order to be comfortable with what you're putting out there and you don't get caught on the hoof in an interview with somebody going down a...

the road that you didn't want to go down and you've probably got a way of describing it and putting it in a way that you're comfortable and being able to maybe stop that question going any further.

But everybody, I would say everybody has a story. Everybody.

Sarah Almond Bushell: Yes, yeah, I agree. There's always a reason why you do what you do. Yeah, yeah. And what you said.

Jo Jessop Maloney: There is. And it might not be the drama story, it might

Sarah Almond Bushell: No, it doesn't have to be.

Jo Jessop Maloney: not be the crisis, it might not be the burnout sat on the bottom step, it might not be any of that. It might be that you look and go, God, I've had a really good life. And that's brilliant. You've been blessed. You've had a great time. You've had a great life. But I guarantee you there will still be bridges and there will still be...

certain words or certain soapbox subjects that go throughout that life that you are passionate about. It might be a charity that you support that's completely separate to what you do, but there's got to be something, there's got to be something that angers you, passions you, gets you mad, makes you cry, and you'll probably find that that theme runs through a lot of your life.

Sarah Almond Bushell: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And I think, like goes back to what you said at the beginning there about it's often your values, it's within your values, isn't it? And I think a lot of us, I don't know, maybe I'm making this up, but sometimes it takes a little while to uncover what those values are. Like you might not know what your values are, but when you start, like you say, putting pen to paper, writing this media bio out and thinking about your story, you're the kind of person who would be able to see that wouldn't you and be able to pull out and say yeah that's it that's the angle we need that's the thing that people need to.

Jo Jessop Maloney: I mean, as people are talking, I'm not even joking you, I get cramp in my hand because I'm literally scribbling away so many headline ideas or connections. And I call them the golden nuggets that we don't always see in our own story. But somebody like me that listens in a very different way will hear it differently.

Like I said at the beginning, and I made it a bit of a joke by going, God, she doesn't say she sound good. But the reality is we don't.

read about ourselves on third person and one of the privileges of my role and my job is hearing these stories, writing them down, sending them back to the client and the client literally going my word I'm so proud like is that me like she sounds so good and as women where you know one of my other passions is is very much you know helping women feel empowered and feeling like they can do it and As women we've got, you know, we've got tall poppy syndrome where we've had lots and the statistics are out there where we can read more about it where society and people have just cut us down and try and cut us down and even if we stand tall and we try and be that bright poppy if we don't cut ourselves down with imposter syndrome someone else is going to try and cut us down anyway. So when we've got imposter syndrome battling the tall poppy syndrome sometime reading about ourselves in third person and going wow like that is incredible listen to that person listen to that story i love how you've connected that i love what you've done there it's really really powerful and i suppose that's another answer to that other question what is PR is powerful it's empowering

Sarah Almond Bushell: Yes, it is very powerful.

Jo Jessop Maloney: it really is because it makes you go wow that is me that is me

Sarah Almond Bushell: Yeah, yeah. And actually, I think, you you've kind of touched on like the whole mindset side of things there as well. Because I do think that sometimes, well, as dietitians, we might feel a little bit icky about putting ourselves forward. Sometimes it might feel a little bit like showing off. Sometimes we might be worried about what our colleagues at work might think. What would you say to someone who's...

can see the value of PR, really want PR for their business, is terrified of the visibility side of things.

Jo Jessop Maloney: I would absolutely say come back to your why.

Always. Like come back to your why. Why am I doing this? And if you can find that link, you can't help stay, you can't stay silent because you can't help but speak up.

And it's very much again, you know, why am I speaking out? It's because I want to help people. It's because...

I feel limited maybe in the role that I'm doing, that I can't reach enough families, that I can't reach enough people, that I want to just share my story beyond the boundaries of my surgery, the boundaries of my office, the boundaries of my social media. I want to share my expertise, my story, my experiences, because I want more people to be better. I want more people to feel better.

especially in this sector that you're working in Sarah, I want people to feel empowered, people to feel whatever it is. So yes, when we feel icky about sending that headshot where we're like, with that headline, when we know we're doing it because we're going to help that child or we know we're doing it because we know we're going to help that family, it makes it feel less icky and it makes it feel more purposeful.

So I would say always, always come back to your Y. And if you're worried about what your health professionals around you might think or what your mum might think or your family might think, talk to them, chat with them, let them know why you're doing it because nine times out of 10, they'll be dead proud of you anyway. And it's all

Sarah Almond Bushell: Yeah, totally.

Jo Jessop Maloney: so often what our imposter syndrome voice is telling us.

But if they're not, let them know why and say, I'm doing this because I want to reach a bigger audience. this this magazine's got three million readers. And if only four people, you know, feel that they know what they're saying now or they know what questions to ask the GP. I feel like I'm doing a good service. So explain it in that manner. And then when it comes to sharing the story. So when you get the win and you share it on your socials.

Start with the why. Say, I'm really proud to have spoken to Marie Claire this week about X, Y and Z because I'm really passionate in my business to reach more people about this. You know, be really, really clear and really, really upfront about why you're doing it. It's not an ego thing. It's not because you think you're the best. It's very much about who can I help and who can I bring along with me.

and why am I sharing this and just always passion-led and wise.

Sarah Almond Bushell: Yeah, yeah. And I think that really, really helped me because, so my niche area, I guess, was fussy eating. And it was one of those areas in the NHS where the services were so limited and that, you know, was access criteria. And if the child didn't meet that criteria, this didn't get seen, or we had to send them a leaflet instead. And I just thought I can help more people if I can do it my way. And that was really part of the reason why I started the business.

But was definitely the reason why I could shout about the business and about how I could tell people. Yeah.

Jo Jessop Maloney: And did it feel really icky when she did it or did you feel that the preparation helped?

Sarah Almond Bushell: think I needed the preparation. I think I wouldn't have been able to do it without having you in my corner saying this is absolutely the right thing to do.

But it probably comes back to, like you say, the imposter syndrome, the, you know, what's everybody going to think? And everybody, you know, from the the dietitian who used to sit next to me in the office to my dad, you know, everybody, what are they all going to think? But you're right. was, yeah, you did, you did get people who were perhaps a little bit envious about what you were doing or you you all right saying that? Are you going to get struck off by the HCPC? And you know, you're never going to say anything that's wrong or that's going to cause a problem because at the end of the day, we're professionals and we're going to do our research and we're going to make sure we're saying what we want to say. But the vast majority of people were just really, really proud and celebrating our successes. So, yeah.

Jo Jessop Maloney: And when you looked at how many people shared your story as well, it just showed that people were proud and they did want to celebrate you and get that story out there. But I did think it's all in the preparation and in the mindset of how you approach PR.

Sarah Almond Bushell: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So Jo, I know that you've just launched something that I think is going to be really, really good for dieticians, which is part of the reason why I wanted you to come on and talk about this, just because I've had my own personal experience of PR. So do you want to tell us a little bit about your PR accelerator?

Jo Jessop Maloney: Yeah, so I've just launched a 10 week programme which I'm really, really happy and excited about and it's for any anybody really, mainly female entrepreneurs or women in business because that's kind of my niche and who I work with. I do do PR for other people as well, for men and but if you identify as a woman this is for you.

And it's a 10 week program where I come alongside you. There's six people in the program for 10 weeks and we work together on your PR. We get you PR ready. We do a media bio together and then we start to think about, OK, where would we like to be featured? I'll do one thought leadship piece with you, a top tips piece with you, some proactive pitching and then we'll also do a little bit of reactive as well.

I am part of a massive database where I get, my gosh, 900 probably plus emails per day of people asking for people. So I will go through that and find those bespoke ones for those clients that are in that accelerator program. So you'll have a real good taste of the proactive, the reactive, you'll have the preparation time, and then hopefully we'll have the celebration time as well where we can celebrate.

some of those wins. We will also look at that AI, digital footprint searchability element of it. So there are, you know, many times probably in the last decade we've had clients come forward and go, I'm not interested as long as I'm in Psychologies, that's all that I want.

And the landscape has changed so much that if that's all that you want, that's where you will be and that's it. And actually it's not about that anymore. It's really about being in the right places at the right time.

and building that digital footprint. So we'll also look at what we call low hanging fruit. So we'll look at those places that you can feature and get that digital footprint going, have that regular place where your name is featured. So we'll also look at that as well. So it's really exciting program. I've actually already got five of the ladies on there already. So there is one

Sarah Almond Bushell: Amazing.

Jo Jessop Maloney: place remaining. It's nine hundred pound if your people play up front or it's three, three, three.

if people want to spread that across three months. It will be running again next year so I'm really really excited about that. if people want to follow me on Instagram I'm at jojessopmaloney and you can just have a little watch and a little you know see what I talk about, who I am, find out about me. Obviously you've heard my Yorkshire accent for the last few minutes but I would like to obviously get to know people and I'd like you to get to know me as well.

my approach and if anybody's got any questions feel free to ask me. If that isn't right for you and you actually just think I don't want to be part of programme I offer a service where I will write your media bio for you for £250 and I also do a lot of like reactive services and proactive services and done for you PR so there's lots and lots of ways that you can work with me.

and I also run a PR club which is a very low level entry level for people that just want to stick their toes into PR and that's £10 per month via a community called Connect. So there's lots of ways that you can start your PR journey but the

Sarah Almond Bushell: Excellent.

Jo Jessop Maloney: accelerator is a really good way of having somebody like me beside you as you're preparing, getting ready to go and then celebrating.

Sarah Almond Bushell: Brilliant. And when does this round start of the accelerator?

Jo Jessop Maloney: The next round starts on the 8th October. So yeah, if you want, and as I say, there's one space left. So if you do want that, get in fast.

Sarah Almond Bushell: Yeah, brilliant. That's great. And I'll make sure I put all the links in the show notes so that people can find you straight away and make contact.

Jo Jessop Maloney: Thank you so much. Thank you.

Sarah Almond Bushell: Brilliant. Well, it's been an absolute pleasure, Jo. I've really, really enjoyed our

Jo Jessop Maloney: Nice.

Sarah Almond Bushell: chat and it's made me feel really inspired about what PR I might be able to do for this business. Cause I've actually done very little other than when we launched the podcast, we did a little bit of PR back then, was two and a bit years ago now.

So yeah, need to get my thinking cap on and I'll drop you message as well.

Jo Jessop Maloney: Yeah, please do, please do. And it's been lovely chatting. I feel like I'm just being chatting away.

Sarah Almond Bushell: No, I know it's great, isn't it? Brilliant. Thanks, Jo

Jo Jessop Maloney: Thank you. Thank you so much.