Jennifer Kaplan on Reputation, Relationships, and the Heart of PR | RR307

Janice Porter: 00:00:02

Jennifer, Hello everyone, and welcome to this

Janice Porter: 00:00:05

week's episode of relationships rule. My guest today, Jennifer

Janice Porter: 00:00:10

Kaplan is the founder and CEO of Evolve Public Relations and

Janice Porter: 00:00:15

Marketing, a premier PR agency she established in 2010 to help

Janice Porter: 00:00:20

businesses and professionals authentically tell their

Janice Porter: 00:00:22

stories. She has a communications degree from

Janice Porter: 00:00:25

Arizona State University and an entrepreneurial spirit I think

Janice Porter: 00:00:29

runs in your family. From what I can understand, Jennifer has

Janice Porter: 00:00:32

dedicated her career to elevating brands, building trust

Janice Porter: 00:00:35

and fostering meaningful connections. So welcome to the

Janice Porter: 00:00:39

show, Jennifer.

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:00:40

Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:00:42

to be with you.

Janice Porter: 00:00:45

Personal question, didn't check the the

Janice Porter: 00:00:50

the Sweet 16, but ASU, they didn't. They're not in it this

Janice Porter: 00:00:55

year, are they? No, you

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:00:56

don't want to get me started, because there's

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:00:58

a school in Tucson that's our rivalry. Thumbs down for but

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:01:03

since they're representing and it's Arizona, I might have to

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:01:06

lean in a little bit that University of Arizona in Tucson.

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:01:10

But got it? Yeah, it's a fun time. It's a fun time when the

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:01:14

games start going and everyone gets into the rivalries.

Janice Porter: 00:01:17

Yeah, I'm sure. And me, Little old me up in

Janice Porter: 00:01:20

Canada. You should see my husband. He's, like, checking

Janice Porter: 00:01:22

his chart every day, like, we follow the NCAA, and he

Janice Porter: 00:01:26

particularly, but we're basketball family, so that's one

Janice Porter: 00:01:30

of the most exciting times. So I just sort of pick and choose,

Janice Porter: 00:01:33

like, I like that name, or I've heard that team before, and then

Janice Porter: 00:01:35

I see and then usually it works for me. So he gets mad, but

Janice Porter: 00:01:39

that's okay. It's all good, because there

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:01:40

are so many upsets. That's why I know, I

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:01:42

know no method to the madness.

Janice Porter: 00:01:44

I know there was almost one the other day that

Janice Porter: 00:01:48

Colorado, Yukon, no Yukon, and Arizona, I think it was one of

Janice Porter: 00:01:55

those, yeah, anyway, I don't remember, but it didn't happen

Janice Porter: 00:01:59

anyway, enough of that. I just wanted to I saw that on your on

Janice Porter: 00:02:03

your one sheet, and I went, Oh yeah, college basketball, it

Janice Porter: 00:02:08

makes me Yes, but is it more football that you cheer on

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:02:12

I do when it comes to my school? Yes, yeah.

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:02:17

We're not as strong on the basketball side or compared to

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:02:21

our rivalry, got it.

Janice Porter: 00:02:22

Okay, sounds fun. All right, let's get in. So the

Janice Porter: 00:02:26

first thing that note that I noticed was that you had

Janice Porter: 00:02:29

dedicated your career to not only doing PR, but for fostering

Janice Porter: 00:02:33

meaningful connections, because I'm all about connections and

Janice Porter: 00:02:36

relationships and all of that good stuff. So what would you

Janice Porter: 00:02:39

say the key principles that you follow are that cultivate and

Janice Porter: 00:02:43

maintain relationships. First of all,

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:02:47

oh my gosh. Well, first I wanted to say

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:02:49

that, you know, building relationships and the name of

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:02:53

your podcast, relationship rules. I mean, you know,

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:02:56

relationships rule. Relationships rule, yeah, it's a

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:03:00

little trickier, but it Yeah, no, but it's so true, and

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:03:04

fostering those connections and networking and referrals and

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:03:07

having strong and a strong and impactful reputation is vital.

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:03:14

And so I feel that in business you know, to grow your network

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:03:19

and be respected by others. And then that is where I feel your

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:03:25

reputation and referrals and all of the things that people want

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:03:30

in being successful in their business come from. And so I

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:03:34

feel that the relationships and the way you build them and the

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:03:37

way you present yourself is the most important thing.

Janice Porter: 00:03:42

So when you begin talks with a company to work

Janice Porter: 00:03:48

with them, Have you ever like, Have you ever come across one

Janice Porter: 00:03:53

that you go, Oh, my God, how have they survived this far?

Janice Porter: 00:03:56

Like they have no idea, and so to bring them to what they need

Janice Porter: 00:04:00

to be is big,

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:04:03

yeah, absolutely. I mean, I feel like

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:04:06

sometimes, sometimes, when I have that feeling, they

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:04:10

obviously are putting out maybe a product or a service that's so

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:04:13

good that it doesn't matter if they get in their own way. I

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:04:18

guess, if you will. I was just having a conversation with

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:04:22

someone about a restaurant, and you know, maybe the service

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:04:27

isn't that great. The manager, the quality of the way you're

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:04:33

being treated, in a way, is not top notch. But you love the

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:04:37

food, so you probably go back. I love that meal, and so I feel

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:04:42

like, in that way, some of our clients, what we want to do is

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:04:46

get them to the point where people aren't on the street

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:04:48

saying, and no matter what the business, not just restaurant, I

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:04:52

understand but that there is a holistic feeling there. It's

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:04:55

like, oh my gosh. I walk in and I felt so welcomed. And then I

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:04:58

sat down, and the server was so great. And then I had this

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:05:01

incredible meal. Because where that conversation led earlier is

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:05:04

it's like, well, you can just get the food to go. Well, that's

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:05:07

not really going to help the business, yeah, at the end of

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:05:10

the day. And if that's my client, that isn't what I want

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:05:13

right on out there. So I think that people really need to,

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:05:18

especially entrepreneurs, especially people with small

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:05:20

businesses, they have to be so extra cognizant of, you know,

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:05:25

that impression and that reputation. Bigger

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:05:29

organizations, the apples, Coca Cola, I don't know, McDonald's,

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:05:33

they can flub up here and there, and it's really not going to

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:05:35

have an impact. But that a small business owner is really number

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:05:40

one. In my opinion. I agree.

Janice Porter: 00:05:42

I think one thing can just and and is I give them

Janice Porter: 00:05:47

another chance in how they recover. So I had an incident

Janice Porter: 00:05:51

this morning. Actually, I get this meal service a couple of

Janice Porter: 00:05:55

times a week, every other week or something, and, and they're

Janice Porter: 00:05:58

pretty good. The food's pretty good, although sometimes I get

Janice Porter: 00:06:01

bored with their choices, and so I'll go off for a while, and

Janice Porter: 00:06:04

then I'll come back to it. But last week, I had two meals

Janice Porter: 00:06:08

delivered, and one of them was pretty I'd had it before, and it

Janice Porter: 00:06:11

was pretty basic, and I wasn't truly paying attention, but the

Janice Porter: 00:06:15

things weren't labeled, and I mixed up two sauces, like one

Janice Porter: 00:06:20

was for like a beef dip, and it was for the the the side dish,

Janice Porter: 00:06:26

and the other was for the demi glaze sauce, right? And I looked

Janice Porter: 00:06:30

at the colors of the two packages on the pictures, and

Janice Porter: 00:06:34

one was lighter and one was darker. So I did exactly what

Janice Porter: 00:06:37

that it said it was wrong, and I messed up the sauce, and it was

Janice Porter: 00:06:41

horrible. And so I finally called them this morning,

Janice Porter: 00:06:44

because I'm like, first of all, guys, you know, be nice, if you

Janice Porter: 00:06:48

could just label them. Sometimes you do and sometimes you don't.

Janice Porter: 00:06:51

And I have called before when I've had an issue, and they

Janice Porter: 00:06:54

they're pretty nice, they're pretty good. But then they'll

Janice Porter: 00:06:56

say to me, we'll take, you know, we're sorry for whatever, and

Janice Porter: 00:06:59

you know, we'll give you $10 credit on your next order. And

Janice Porter: 00:07:02

today, I was like, No, damn it. It wrecked the whole meal. I

Janice Porter: 00:07:05

don't want a $10 credit. I want 59 or $26 or whatever. It was

Janice Porter: 00:07:10

valuable. Yeah, I want the value of the meal. And so she, she did

Janice Porter: 00:07:14

it, but I had to ask for it. And I just thought, you know, I said

Janice Porter: 00:07:17

this. I said, I appreciate that you took the time to do that, or

Janice Porter: 00:07:21

that you were able to do that because meals have gone up.

Janice Porter: 00:07:27

Everything goes up in price, but you haven't upped the, you know,

Janice Porter: 00:07:31

the $10 rebate kind of thing, for what

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:07:34

the value and making people feel well, so

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:07:37

that's that's really important. And the domino effect of that is

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:07:41

not only you telling that story to other people, whether it's

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:07:47

your family or your neighbor or on your

Janice Porter: 00:07:50

podcast. Yeah, exactly. But now

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:07:53

what people are doing is they're taking a social

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:07:55

media and that to me, you know, it's really hard to recover from

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:08:02

some of those situations we just saw in the last couple of weeks,

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:08:05

Southwest Airlines, they one of the the airline carriers are now

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:08:10

going to be charging for bags where that was their big thing.

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:08:14

Yes, well, people are just, I mean, I saw so many posts on

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:08:19

social media people upset and tagging them and saying things

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:08:23

and, you know, you can't really control it. That's a little

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:08:25

extreme. You know, they're making a decision company wide.

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:08:28

But my point is, people are going to walk out of that

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:08:31

restaurant or walk out of that experience situation that they

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:08:36

have, and they're going to take to social media. And we do a lot

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:08:39

of crisis PR, and we don't. We don't want to, we don't want to

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:08:43

have to do that. And, you know, establish a statement and put it

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:08:46

out. Where are we going to put it out, and who we talking to?

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:08:48

And then other people learn about it. And it's just, you

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:08:52

know, many years ago, a saying that I really like is people do

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:08:56

business with, people they like and people they trust. Yeah, and

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:08:59

so sometimes, when that using the same analogy with the

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:09:02

restaurant, if the meal is okay even, but you do walk in and you

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:09:07

have that feeling of, you know, feeling welcomed and serviced

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:09:12

and all of that, you'll go back there. And so in talking to our

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:09:16

clients, it really is about the people too, and not just what's

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:09:21

on the plate. A lot of people say, Oh, just get them in the

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:09:24

door and we'll make sure they're they'll they'll stay forever.

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:09:28

Sometimes that isn't the case. So I say to people in all

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:09:31

industries that it comes down to your reputation. It's really

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:09:37

important. I don't think people think about it as much. Plus,

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:09:41

just going back to social media, is videoing, you know, to be in

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:09:45

an establishment, and it is not just a restaurant, the doctor's

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:09:48

office or anywhere else, they're recording something that they

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:09:52

feel is not the way it should be. And those things are really

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:09:56

hard. They go viral. And yeah, then. Dealing with a much

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:10:00

greater situation. So,

Janice Porter: 00:10:04

so your primary business, PR agency, I think

Janice Porter: 00:10:09

today still of traditional PR, so it's TV, it's radio, it's

Janice Porter: 00:10:16

podcasting. Even brands online, yeah, brand online, okay, so is

Janice Porter: 00:10:21

it, did you have to do a real switch when you from 2010 like

Janice Porter: 00:10:27

to more social media and less traditional? Or is it always

Janice Porter: 00:10:31

like, what's the mix and or does it depend on the client? I

Janice Porter: 00:10:34

suppose. Well,

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:10:36

and that's a great question. What a lot of

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:10:38

those mediums have done, TV, radio, print, online, all those

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:10:43

they have taken to social media. So an article that might have

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:10:47

been in the traditional newspaper that they're throwing

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:10:50

on your driveway. Now that newspaper has their own social

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:10:54

media page, and they're sharing the stories, and they're

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:10:57

repurposing the stories we see with TV. They require the

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:11:00

reporters who are going out and doing an interview, if you

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:11:03

missed that segment this morning, well, now that reporter

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:11:06

might be required to do some sort of post or share of that

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:11:12

experience wherever they were and put it on their social

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:11:16

media. So there is a shift. There is there is no question

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:11:21

that the essence of social media is crucial. That is that is

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:11:26

there. However, there's still those platforms are still really

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:11:31

important, and the media outlets are also using social media to

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:11:36

repurpose what they're airing.

Janice Porter: 00:11:38

So you focus on the primary PR channels still,

Janice Porter: 00:11:44

and then they take it to social correct. They

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:11:47

also have email blasts, yeah. They also have,

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:11:50

you know, different tentacles that they're putting out. And

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:11:54

then, separately, you know, podcasts are now in that realm

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:12:00

of importance and means of people consuming information.

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:12:05

And then we do work with influencers. Back when it

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:12:09

started, a long time ago, I used to call them bloggers, okay, now

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:12:12

they're influencers, yeah, but they're important as well.

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:12:16

There's micro influencers that are really focused in maybe a

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:12:21

certain area of a city or on a certain topic. So

Janice Porter: 00:12:27

what comes to mind that I've been following,

Janice Porter: 00:12:29

actually, that some Well, I was before that the American

Janice Porter: 00:12:32

election was, what's his name? Caroline Kennedy son

Janice Porter: 00:12:38

Schlossberg. Schlossman, yeah, yeah, he would be one of those,

Janice Porter: 00:12:42

right? He was sort of speaking to his younger audience about,

Janice Porter: 00:12:46

you know, who to vote for, and following all of that. And I

Janice Porter: 00:12:50

thought he did it in a really hip kind of way. I liked

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:12:53

it. Well, we saw a big shift in that, not not

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:12:57

getting political, but really the the change of that in our

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:13:01

world, in our political realm, with platforming on social

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:13:05

media, was Obama, and he does such an excellent job of

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:13:10

reaching out to younger people through social media,

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:13:14

introducing use this hashtag and follow me here. And I mean, it's

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:13:20

just this movement that's so

Janice Porter: 00:13:24

well he was building relationship, yeah,

Janice Porter: 00:13:27

absolutely

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:13:27

present, yeah, conviction. That's exactly

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:13:31

right. You get to be a Voyer in some world too.

Janice Porter: 00:13:34

Yes, yeah, social media. Um, okay, so what would

Janice Porter: 00:13:39

you say are some hidden communication challenges that

Janice Porter: 00:13:42

many businesses overlook,

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:13:46

I would say for me, the biggest thing that

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:13:49

stands out that I see is leaning into situations when you need to

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:13:55

being forward about something and not as cryptic, Whether that

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:13:59

is a crisis or even you're launching something, and you

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:14:04

know you haven't fully announced it yet, and people are starting

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:14:06

to hear rumors. I think that letting people speculate and

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:14:10

guess and assume is not the best so I think the most important

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:14:17

thing that businesses can do is really be out there and forward

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:14:22

with good, bad, indifferent, when they have something to

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:14:25

announce or share. And I'm not just talking about on social

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:14:29

media, I'm talking about maybe with a press release or doing an

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:14:32

interview or having a press conference or doing some sort of

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:14:35

announcement. I think it's really important, because people

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:14:38

are eager to know, you know what's happening down the

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:14:41

street, or what's this? So

Janice Porter: 00:14:44

I don't, I can't stay away from some of the

Janice Porter: 00:14:48

things that are happening politically, even though I don't

Janice Porter: 00:14:50

political. So as a PR person, and as a person who deals in

Janice Porter: 00:14:55

crisis modes and who has it, i. A Pope, what was her name? Oh,

Janice Porter: 00:15:07

on Scandal. On scandal. What was her name? Olivia Pope. Olivia

Janice Porter: 00:15:11

Pope, you're Olivia Pope. And yes, and the the new big poo

Janice Porter: 00:15:19

balls in the government have a a group zoom message, or some kind

Janice Porter: 00:15:25

of message, and there's a reporter in there that they

Janice Porter: 00:15:28

don't even know is on the call, like this is how the

Janice Porter: 00:15:32

government's being run today. Disaster. So now they bring you

Janice Porter: 00:15:36

in to deal with it. What would you do? Oh, gosh, I'm just

Janice Porter: 00:15:41

playing here, because, I mean,

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:15:42

yeah, I know we can't go back, right? So I think

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:15:46

with anything now taking it out of political and just apply to

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:15:49

business, that is a really good example, because that could even

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:15:53

happen on an email, you know, I'm typing your name in, yes,

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:15:55

yes, and I get J, a n, and then I get Jana, who's, you know, one

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:16:03

of the news outlets, but I meant to type J, a, n, i, and it just

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:16:07

caught me. And so I feel like, so it's done, right? Yeah, the

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:16:12

text is down range, the emails down range, you know, it's done.

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:16:17

And so I do feel on one hand, because I see it happen

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:16:21

accidents, you know, and I'm not excusing that right now. Now

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:16:26

that's another layer again. I'm taking it to like just

Janice Porter: 00:16:28

I understand. I think you

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:16:30

have to be immediate, and that's what I was

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:16:32

saying a few minutes ago. I think you have to immediately

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:16:35

acknowledge and recognize and take ownership of a situation. I

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:16:40

think there's something authentic and real that people

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:16:45

like than hiding or defending or deflecting. And so for me, in

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:16:53

those situations, even from a political, you know, standpoint,

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:16:57

I think just being forward facing, I used to call it the

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:17:01

Tiger Woods. Familiar with Tiger Woods, many, many years ago, he

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:17:06

had a situation, and it was like everyone's waiting for him to

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:17:10

make a statement. Everyone's waiting for him to talk about

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:17:13

it. And I think when you don't, people start to lose a little

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:17:17

bit of trust, of course, little bit of interest, like, why are

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:17:21

you doing this? Yeah, good point. If I send something you

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:17:26

know incorrectly to the wrong person, you know, and then

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:17:29

there's the layer of oops, I just sent it the wrong person.

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:17:31

But what about the content and it being, you know, in the

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:17:35

situation, example, you use something a little more private

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:17:39

or a little bit more heightened. You just hope that maybe the

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:17:43

receiving person accepts and acknowledges the mistake and it

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:17:48

doesn't blow up. But I think my point is just taking ownership

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:17:51

right away is the most. I

Janice Porter: 00:17:53

think that that makes total sense absolutely so

Janice Porter: 00:17:57

what are three key elements to a compelling narrative that can

Janice Porter: 00:18:01

help businesses connect with their target audience.

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:18:05

Three key elements to a compelling

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:18:09

narrative,

Janice Porter: 00:18:11

so you're doing some branding now, I guess, for

Janice Porter: 00:18:14

somebody and can help their businesses connect with their

Janice Porter: 00:18:20

target audience. So telling the story of the company, yeah,

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:18:25

well, first you need to know your audience. Yes,

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:18:27

I see that a lot because businesses clients

Janice Porter: 00:18:32

want but they don't that. They don't know

Janice Porter: 00:18:34

their audience. Oftentimes

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:18:36

they don't, okay, I'm seeing a little more

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:18:38

now. Clients create personas. Yes, is the actual person she's

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:18:45

got, you know, she's this age, and it's she or it's he, yeah,

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:18:49

like to go work out on the weekends. He like really

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:18:53

drilling it down. Because often times, if that swath is so big,

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:18:58

the client just they think we can take anyone. We take them

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:19:01

all. We treat them all. We can feed them all. We can work with

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:19:04

them all. Sometimes it doesn't, I don't know if I said this to

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:19:09

you and we, we spoke earlier, but get rich in your niche. You

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:19:13

know, know who you are, and be true to that. And then from

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:19:19

there, those, those businesses, those clients will come. It will

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:19:23

foster that. And I feel like, oftentimes, I mean, granted, I I

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:19:27

try to sit in the seat of doing that. But anyway, I think number

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:19:30

one would be to know, know your audience, know who you're

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:19:33

talking to, and then be true to your message. You know,

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:19:40

sometimes people get lost in their message. You know, what is

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:19:45

it that you do? You know, old school would be like your

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:19:47

tagline or your, you know, your mission or your statement. But I

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:19:52

think that's still really important, because people are

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:19:54

hit with so much information that, you know. I think just

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:19:58

knowing, oh, we can go there. Or they're going to have this or,

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:20:01

you know, this person does that because your message is clear,

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:20:05

so you know who you're talking to, and then how are you talking

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:20:08

to them with your message? I think those are really

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:20:12

important. And then the last thing, which we were talking

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:20:14

about also is delivering on it and living it and being true to

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:20:19

it. And I think that's what's going to keep people coming

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:20:23

back. You spoke to me. It resonated for me. You got me in

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:20:27

the door or to call or go to your website. Don't let it fall

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:20:31

flat, right liver on said product or service, and then you

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:20:38

probably have me for a long time or for life. Do

Janice Porter: 00:20:41

you think that still happens today? Because I'm

Janice Porter: 00:20:43

a really loyal customer, and I get, I I get, in a way, maybe

Janice Porter: 00:20:50

stuck in my ways, because I, you know, always want the same

Janice Porter: 00:20:53

brand, or always go back to the same thing. I'm, I'm but I'm

Janice Porter: 00:20:56

loyal. Do you think that loyalty is still there with today's

Janice Porter: 00:21:00

consumer and today's business providers, I don't know if it

Janice Porter: 00:21:06

is,

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:21:07

I don't feel it is as much. And I guess to ask

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:21:11

you, using the example you did earlier with with the food that

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:21:16

you had delivered, if they didn't correct it, or if they

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:21:21

corrected it, but weren't willing to give you more than

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:21:24

just the $10 credit, or you didn't say anything today, but

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:21:29

now it happens a few more times. Would you lean on the fact that

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:21:34

you love it so much? It's easy, it's healthy, it feels ticks all

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:21:39

these boxes. Or you'd be like, You know what? It's more of an

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:21:41

inconvenience that I get the sauces screwed up, they're not

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:21:45

giving me the customer service I want, like, so I would say, you

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:21:49

know, where do you think?

Janice Porter: 00:21:50

Well, I think I feel as though I'm comfortable

Janice Porter: 00:21:54

with generally with them, but I might go off it for a while and

Janice Porter: 00:21:58

see if I miss it. It's not the end of the world. There are

Janice Porter: 00:22:01

other ones, although I know where their food comes from, I

Janice Porter: 00:22:05

know it's fresh and whatever, but yeah, I would probably, I

Janice Porter: 00:22:12

don't know, I don't think I'd spend as much money, but I might

Janice Porter: 00:22:15

give them another you know, I give them a try. I'd like to

Janice Porter: 00:22:19

communicate with the company, and that's what's always hard to

Janice Porter: 00:22:22

do today with most companies, I could get them on the phone, so

Janice Porter: 00:22:24

it was fine, but so often you can't, and so I give up.

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:22:30

Yeah, I mean, so couple things that you said,

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:22:32

so the grass isn't always greener on the other side,

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:22:35

right? So Correct. You're trading one problem with this

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:22:38

company for maybe a bigger problem with another company. So

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:22:44

there's there. There's that aspect. Can I put up with this?

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:22:47

Because I'm really getting all this great whatever. But you

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:22:51

bring up going back to a little bit of the relationship and the

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:22:54

communication, that is something that I feel has become more of a

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:22:59

divide for people I can't get a hold of someone I just talked to

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:23:03

an automated and I think we're going to see more of that. You

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:23:06

know, with automation, with AI, with cost of things going up,

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:23:12

staffing and others, just the overhead is high for people, so

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:23:18

it's easier to streamline their business. And I would say to

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:23:22

businesses, try not to get away from that if you can, because I

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:23:27

feel like that can make all the difference. There's a there's a

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:23:32

steak house here in town. We keep using food as an example,

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:23:34

but there's a steak house here in town. It's the only

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:23:38

restaurant I know. I make a reservation eat the next day, no

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:23:43

matter what day it is, Saturday, Sunday, whatever the next day is

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:23:47

of the week, they call the next day and they say, we just want

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:23:51

to make sure you had a good time or a nice experience, or if

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:23:54

there's any feedback, nobody does that anymore. Now that is

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:23:59

like makes such a difference. Now, honestly, 99% of the time I

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:24:03

see them calling, I don't answer it. I don't call them back.

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:24:06

There's no need, but that touch and that knowing if I had a

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:24:12

problem,

Janice Porter: 00:24:12

yeah, yeah, wanting to know, yeah, that's

Janice Porter: 00:24:16

pretty special. But then in in some of you know, my, some of

Janice Porter: 00:24:19

the work that I do. I'm talking to people about, you know,

Janice Porter: 00:24:23

sending a card, an unexpected card, when it can do more good

Janice Porter: 00:24:31

than so many other things, because they're not expecting

Janice Porter: 00:24:35

it. You're thinking of them and, wow, you took the time to do it,

Janice Porter: 00:24:39

and that puts you in their mind and their heart, because you've

Janice Porter: 00:24:43

sent them something tangible. So it goes from their head to their

Janice Porter: 00:24:46

heart, and they'll remember you for a while longer, you know. So

Janice Porter: 00:24:50

there's all of that too, that all that building relationship,

Janice Porter: 00:24:54

right? You said something earlier, and I remember reading

Janice Porter: 00:24:59

in your, um. Bio about your family is entrepreneurial, and

Janice Porter: 00:25:03

you said the riches are in your niches. And I, I have to say

Janice Porter: 00:25:07

niche, so I can't really use that for Yeah, yeah, but, but

Janice Porter: 00:25:11

was that from your mom? Was it your mom?

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:25:13

Yes, my mom said it. I think she's told me,

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:25:17

like, I want to give her credit all the time, and I think she

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:25:19

said she read it somewhere,

Janice Porter: 00:25:21

that's fine, but she shared that with you, and

Janice Porter: 00:25:23

she was an entrepreneur too.

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:25:25

She is, yeah, she's an interior designer. My

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:25:27

brother owns a large transportation company, and my

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:25:30

dad was in the travel industry, also as an entrepreneur. And I'm

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:25:36

interrupting you by saying we brought up my mom and the rich

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:25:40

in your niche

Janice Porter: 00:25:42

doesn't rhyme. Yeah. Another one

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:25:45

that she will take credit for, that that she

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:25:48

said to us, and I think that was kind of the catalyst in my

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:25:52

brother and I both being entrepreneurs, is she'll call

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:25:57

fear the real four letter F word. And I think that fear

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:26:02

holds a lot of people back from taking that launch or step, or

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:26:06

even if they have a business, maybe starting a new business

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:26:09

line, or what does it take to grow the business? And I

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:26:12

remember many times, you know, hiring more or whatever the you

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:26:17

know, investing in a tool that might help them, it can be

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:26:21

scary. And I feel like, you know, that's something I lean on

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:26:25

a lot, because I recall those words of, sure, you know, yeah,

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:26:30

fear, you know, I'm not saying go jump out of a plane, but

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:26:35

there are fears with our feet on the ground of doing business

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:26:38

that can hold us back

Janice Porter: 00:26:41

well. And I think I heard, heard the one, feel the

Janice Porter: 00:26:44

fear and do it anyway. And so, you know, you can acknowledge

Janice Porter: 00:26:47

it, but, you know, take the leap, so to speak. And I

Janice Porter: 00:26:51

remember, it's funny, because I did some personal growth work

Janice Porter: 00:26:55

few, several years ago. And I remember, you know, that exact

Janice Porter: 00:26:59

thing, I'm scared to death to climb up this 50 foot pole and

Janice Porter: 00:27:03

get on the platform and jump off on a zip line. I was like,

Janice Porter: 00:27:08

petrified, but I did it. And then you look back and say you

Janice Porter: 00:27:12

did it, you know, like, so you can do anything, if you can do

Janice Porter: 00:27:15

those things. So, yeah, those are kind of fun. So if you could

Janice Porter: 00:27:20

give one piece of advice to someone looking to scale their

Janice Porter: 00:27:23

business through relationship driven strategies. What would

Janice Porter: 00:27:26

you what would it be?

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:27:29

I know I said this earlier, but really,

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:27:31

really, really value your reputation. I mean, the way you

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:27:37

present yourself physically, you know, yeah, but, you know, put a

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:27:41

certain outfit on when you're walking in somewhere. Just make

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:27:46

sure that you're presenting yourself externally and then

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:27:51

internally, verbally, you know, and your interaction, I love

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:27:54

your follow up notes. I mean, all of those things are going to

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:27:59

separate you. And so I feel like that reputation is is all that

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:28:05

you have at the end of the day. And I guess also, because I do

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:28:08

that for a living, right? PR, one, I'm in a service industry,

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:28:12

so I don't have a widget that I can lean on. And being an

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:28:18

entrepreneur, I value referrals and people saying good things

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:28:23

about my business to hopefully get get others, but then people

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:28:30

remember you and talk about you in ways that will help you grow,

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:28:39

and, you know, fulfill other goals. And so, yeah, I just

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:28:44

think that the reputation is really essential for people, and

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:28:49

if they keep that in mind from the moment they get up, even

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:28:52

being nice to a person at a grocery store or whatever it is,

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:28:56

I think that that's really important. I

Janice Porter: 00:28:58

remember many, many years ago, I was doing an

Janice Porter: 00:29:03

event for a friend of mine who was a producer of a show down in

Janice Porter: 00:29:09

LA and he was doing some tryouts, and he asked me to do

Janice Porter: 00:29:13

some tryouts up here for him. These were for dancers. And I'm

Janice Porter: 00:29:16

not going to tell you the whole story right now. It's take too

Janice Porter: 00:29:19

long, but offline I can anyway, I did these tryouts in a club,

Janice Porter: 00:29:23

and I brought all these dancers in, and I did this whole thing,

Janice Porter: 00:29:26

and we had celebrity judges, and it was really fun, but a couple

Janice Porter: 00:29:30

of the judges were local. There was it was supposed to be the

Janice Porter: 00:29:36

entertainment critic from the newspaper, and she couldn't

Janice Porter: 00:29:39

come, and she sent this other guy who I knew, and I knew who

Janice Porter: 00:29:43

he was, but he didn't normally write in that on that beat in

Janice Porter: 00:29:47

the newspaper, and he basically trashed me in an article he

Janice Porter: 00:29:53

wrote because it, he thought it was a complete competition, and

Janice Porter: 00:29:58

that, you know, whoever they voted. Four would win, but it

Janice Porter: 00:30:00

was for a TV show, and they were hiring, then they were trying to

Janice Porter: 00:30:04

balance the different kinds of so I had to kind of encourage

Janice Porter: 00:30:07

them to, you know, do one which way. And so he said that I did

Janice Porter: 00:30:11

such a terrible job, and I did all this stuff, and it was

Janice Porter: 00:30:14

terrible, and it was in the newspaper, and I was in tears,

Janice Porter: 00:30:17

but then, you know, it was gone in a day, right? And so do you

Janice Porter: 00:30:22

believe that any press is good press, or, you know what? I

Janice Porter: 00:30:25

mean, like today, it would have been a lot worse. I mean, I

Janice Porter: 00:30:28

survived it, right? But I remember that incident to this

Janice Porter: 00:30:32

day. Yeah,

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:30:34

I um, whoever said there's no such thing as

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:30:36

bad? PR, I disagree. Okay, it has taken celebrities down. It

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:30:42

has taken true businesses down. We had some controversial things

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:30:48

after COVID That you know, were happening in the United States.

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:30:52

And those things, while, yes, a little bit political, but still

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:30:58

just issues. And I feel like people, you know, they just,

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:31:04

yeah, those things can definitely affect you. What

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:31:06

comes out of your mouth, what you say, how, even just in an

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:31:10

intimate setting, if we were just a couple girlfriends

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:31:13

having, you know, coffee at your house, and I said something off

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:31:17

the cuff that didn't even go, go big, you know, I'm going to, I

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:31:23

might lose friends, I might lose, you know, relationships

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:31:27

and all of that. So I think people need to think a little

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:31:30

bit about, you know, how they're, they're acting. I

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:31:34

understand if a critic has their time and place and their role,

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:31:38

but people just doing that. To do that is, I know it was, it

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:31:43

was interesting that that's silly for people to do that, but

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:31:46

yeah, I don't think there is such a thing as bad. PR,

Janice Porter: 00:31:48

okay, perfect. All right, so just a couple

Janice Porter: 00:31:52

quick questions to divert and wrap up. My favorite word is

Janice Porter: 00:31:58

curiosity. I love being curious about people and about things.

Janice Porter: 00:32:01

And I noticed actually, I was out with my little granddaughter

Janice Porter: 00:32:05

yesterday, and we were at the library doing some playing some

Janice Porter: 00:32:10

games there, and she kept asking, oh no, we were in my car

Janice Porter: 00:32:12

coming home, and she's in the back seat, and she's looking at

Janice Porter: 00:32:16

the dashboard on my car, and she goes, Grandma, why does it say

Janice Porter: 00:32:18

zero there? And why is that one blue and that one like it was

Janice Porter: 00:32:22

the constant, you know, the why? Why? Why? And I loved it because

Janice Porter: 00:32:25

it was curiosity at its finest from a five year old child. So

Janice Porter: 00:32:30

my question for you is, do you think that curiosity is innate

Janice Porter: 00:32:34

or learned? And part two, what are you most curious about

Janice Porter: 00:32:38

today?

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:32:39

Hmm, um, I think it's innate. And I think

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:32:42

as we get older, we feel like we know what we're afraid to ask um

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:32:49

for, maybe being judged or, you know, why don't you? You don't

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:32:54

know what that dash is for. You don't know what that you know

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:32:57

what I mean. But and when you're young, there's an innocence.

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:32:59

Yes, you think it reverts back when you're older, that you can

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:33:04

get away with that as well again. But I think there's a

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:33:08

segment of your life that, in that biggest chunk of life, that

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:33:13

being too curious, in just everyday life, yeah, can be

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:33:17

judged a little bit. That's a stupid Why would you ask that?

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:33:20

Well, maybe that person knows, but that other person didn't

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:33:24

know. So I think it's wonderful to be curious, but I do think

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:33:27

you're just I think we are all curious, and I think it's

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:33:31

innate. What am I curious about? A lot I always want to learn and

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:33:42

grow. And I think for me, because I studied communications

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:33:47

and college yes with an emphasis in public relations, but one of

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:33:52

my favorite classes were non verbal communication, and I'm

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:33:56

always curious people's cues that they don't even realize

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:34:00

they're doing Yes, and what some of the meaning is behind, you

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:34:06

know, a look or an action or a movement, and what it can imply.

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:34:12

So I think for me, I always get excited to kind of pick up on,

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:34:16

you know, those vibes from people and and what maybe it's

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:34:20

interpreting. Did

Janice Porter: 00:34:21

you see that show called, what was it called lies?

Janice Porter: 00:34:24

Oh, so good.

Unknown: 00:34:27

Yeah, it was our Dateline. Yeah. I'll talk

Janice Porter: 00:34:30

about that later, because I can't remember the

Janice Porter: 00:34:33

name of it for them. But anyway, that's great. That was an

Janice Porter: 00:34:37

interesting answer. Actually, I like that that that hadn't heard

Janice Porter: 00:34:40

for a while about people you know, kind of putting you down

Janice Porter: 00:34:44

for being curious, and so we stop in so many ways. So that's

Janice Porter: 00:34:48

awesome. Thank you for sharing that. All right. Wrap Up. Last

Janice Porter: 00:34:53

last thoughts for my audience around PR and relationships.

Janice Porter: 00:34:58

Last thoughts, anything. Mean,

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:35:01

yeah. I mean, if you own a business and you

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:35:03

know you're you're relying on a community or a group of people

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:35:07

to grow your business and be successful, just think about

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:35:11

your reputation and the way you're treating others,

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:35:14

interacting with others, and go home and scream and yell and

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:35:18

complain and all that, that's okay. I'm not saying don't do

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:35:21

it, but I would say when you're you know, when you walk out and

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:35:24

you want to make an impact and people to remember you just

Jennifer Kaplan: 00:35:28

think about your reputation while doing that. Yes,

Janice Porter: 00:35:32

that's great. Thank you so much. Thank you for

Janice Porter: 00:35:34

being here. We could go on and on. It's an interesting topic to

Janice Porter: 00:35:38

me, and I I love, like, studying ads and things like that,

Janice Porter: 00:35:41

because I think you can learn so much from what they mean. So

Janice Porter: 00:35:45

thank you. Thank you for being here. Thank you. You're great to

Janice Porter: 00:35:47

talk to. Thank you. Thank you to my audience. I appreciate you

Janice Porter: 00:35:51

being here. If you like what you heard, please let us know by

Janice Porter: 00:35:53

leaving a review and thank you again. Remember to stay

Janice Porter: 00:35:57

connected and be remembered. You.