In this ‘episode’ of our series investigating the challenges of marketing a small business, we look at how a negative can be turned into a positive when someone from your past threatens your professional reputation by putting historical, private information about you into the public domain – by taking back control through the power of storytelling.
Heidi Anderson is a media personality, an author and a PR & confidence coach with 20 years’ experience in the media. “I have sat on both sides of the microphone when it comes to PR,” Heidi explains. “I have had people pitch stories to me as a breakfast radio host and, conversely, I have pitched stories to media outlets as part of my PR work.”
Heidi (pictured) started her eponymous PR and coaching agency in 2016. At the time, she was hosting a breakfast radio show in Perth. “Most radio personalities build their brand through showing up on red carpets at night, but that’s just not me!” Heidi avers. “I wanted to connect with our listeners and build a brand that was authentic to me. I am generally in bed at 8pm so red carpets and schmoozing were not my thing.” Heidi took off her headphones and diversified. She started running workshops helping people build their confidence and wrote on a freelance basis for large media outlets such as News.com, Seven West and Perth Now, for whom she now pens a weekly column.
An ill wind from the past
A few years ago, a fashion stylist and confidence influencer approached Heidi for assistance. ISB talked to Heidi about the challenges her client came to her with, and how they overcame them.
Years beforehand, the client’s ex-partner had leaked nude photographs of her on the internet and had recently got in touch with her again. The client had gradually rebuilt her self-confidence and built a successful confidence coaching and influencer business, and hearing from her ex-partner acted as what the client describes as a “trigger”, prompting fears that her ex would leak more intimate photographs, thereby damaging her professional reputation and potentially undoing all the hard work she had put into building her business up over a number of years.
“The whole campaign was designed to take her client’s audience on her journey with her and so they felt a part of both her story and her business.”
Heidi’s client wanted to get on the front foot and share her story, to nullify the reputational impact of any new leak of photos. She approached a PR agency to assist with this issue but they refused to take her on, telling her that such a strategy would be “career suicide”. The client came across Heidi at one of her empowerment workshops and told her about the situation. Heidi took a very different approach than the agency her client had spoken to originally. She told her, “I’ll show you how to tell your story and come up with a strategy that will enable you to take your power back, and safeguard your reputation and your business.”
Heidi devised a campaign that would empower not only her client, but that would also reach out to the wider community of women who have experienced domestic violence and threatening behaviour.
She created a powerful practical strategy that consisted of her client using Instagram to share her story, grasping control of the narrative and taking the people she coached and who engaged with her influencer content on the journey with her.
“Your clients are craving connection, and the power of storytelling is a great way to do this,” Heidi explains. “Using your own social channels to tell your story and ensure that you are the sole owner of your own narrative isn’t [done] enough in PR.”
The campaign was multi-faceted, moving on from the initial Instagram posts to photoshoots, a collaboration with a women’s shelter and an initiative that involved public participation.
“We started with a raw, real and unfiltered live event on Instagram to share what had happened, as a result, my client’s DMs blew up,” Heidi enthuses. “We then organised a photoshoot in which my client appeared in the nude and then shared those powerful nude pictures online, thereby giving her full control of the situation and nullifying any damage or loss of reputation her ex could potentially inflict.”
Heidi then arranged an alignment with a women’s shelter in Perth that looks after those who suffer from domestic violence. Her client ran workshops at the shelter, helping to rebuild the confidence of its patrons, and encouraged her own clients and followers to make donations to the shelter via her website.
The big finish
The coup de grace of the campaign was an initiative Heidi and her client labeled the ‘Red Carpet of Confidence’. “We randomly rolled out the red carpet at venues across Perth and invited members of the public to strip down and walk the carpet in celebration of themselves,” Heidi explains.
The whole campaign was designed to take her client’s audience on her journey with her and so they felt a part of both her story and her business. “Her super fans were with her every step of the way,” Heidi declares.
The outcome of the campaign was doubly rewarding. Firstly, Heidi’s client became ‘the news’,, with the story being picked up by the local press in WA and her being invited to be interviewed on ABC radio. Secondly, her client’s business boomed. She sold out her next workshop within three days and ultimately saw her revenue quadruple. Beyond these tangible benefits, Heidi is most proud of her client for taking her personal power back, thereby rendering her ex powerless, and creating a memorable moment that people in Perth are still talking about years later.
“A lot of people are afraid to share or show up because of someone judging them or finding out about their skeletons,” Heidi warns. “The power of telling her own story in her own way is how my client took her power back, and doing so changed her life for the better!”
| Four things to remember when sharing your story |
| 1. You don’t have to give ALL the details. There is power in sharing your story, but that does not mean you have to get into the nitty gritty. |
| 2. What is your intention? This is a BIG one. In this case, it was about taking my client’s power back as well as sharing her journey with her audience. |
| 3. Where do you want to share your story? Research the media outlets to which you intend to offer your story. Check that it aligns with their audience, and ensure the journalist sharing the story is the right person for the job. |
| 4. You are in control of the narrative. It’s your story, so make sure your PR team and journalists sharing the story know exactly what your intentions are, and ensure you know you are in a ‘safe place’. |
This article first appeared in issue 43 of the Inside Small Business quarterly magazine
