Tim Ladhams Inside Small Bubsiness Podcast Interview
===
Liz Nable: [00:00:00] Want a journalist to actually open your pitch email. In this episode, I'm giving you a secret code word that makes it happen. Before we jump into today's interview, I wanted to share something very special with you. As a thank you for listening to this episode of Media Magnet. We've created a secret code word you can use when pitching your story to today's guest, Tim Lathams from Inside Small Business.
If you include this code word at the very top of your pitch email, Tim will know you've come through me, and he's guaranteed to open and read your email. Now we are not publishing the code word publicly because we don't want it to get overused, but if you'd like it, simply DM me on Instagram @liz_nable and I'll send it straight through you.
All right, let's get into today's show. Today I am joined by Tim Lathams, editor of Inside Small Business, one of Australia's leading publications dedicated to telling the stories of entrepreneurs and [00:01:00] founders just like you from across the country. In this conversation, Tim shares exactly what editors are looking for when it comes to small business stories, the different ways founders can get featured from opinion pieces and founder pieces to q and As, and how to pitch in a way that actually gets a response.
He also explains why he actively prefers hearing directly from small business owners themselves rather than PR agencies or big corporate communications teams, and why authentic founder stories with real lived experiences and insights are far more valuable to his readers. If you've ever wondered how to get featured in the media, position yourself as a thought leader or share your story with a wider audience.
This episode is packed with practical insights. You can start using right away.
[00:02:00] Hello and welcome to Medium Magnet, the podcast for female founders and women owned businesses, startups, and side hustlers who want to learn how to grow their business, leveraging the media and free. I am Liz Nable, and I'm your host, personal publicist, PR strategist, and dedicated hype woman. My goal with this show is to give you a behind the scenes tour of how the media works to break down the barriers between your business and the big MA heads.
So you can see how easy it is to get featured simply by giving journalists what they want at Media Magnet. You'll also get access to the top journals, editors, writers, and. PR people in your industry and beyond sharing their secrets and expertise on the how, why, what and when of pitching and getting featured in the media consistently.
I will share with you how to build your reputation as an industry expert so successfully. The media will be knocking down your door. When [00:03:00] I first started in small business 12 years ago. I had no idea what I was getting into. I had spent 15 years as a television news reporter working at several major networks in Australia, and then as a freelancer in the US and around the world.
I spent years dividing my time between working long shifts on a news desk and traveling the world chasing stories. It was unpredictable and exciting until it wasn't anymore. I decided I wanted a life where I was in charge of what happened next and where I was working to build my own empire, not someone else's.
There was a lot I had to learn about running my own business, but getting media and great free PR was not one of them. I already knew what the media wanted. I knew the secret formula for what made news, and I knew how to leverage those media outlets to build my business, get more exposure, and ultimately make more sales.
I was featured in every major media [00:04:00] outlet in the country, and I never spent a single cent on pr. I took that knowledge for granted until it dawned on me one day that I could teach what I knew to other businesses. Let them in on the secret, and they too could build their brands with organic media and pr.
Let me help you take your brand from Best Kept Secret to household name. This is Media Magnet. The podcast, and I'm pretty pumped to have you here.
Liz Nable: Thank you Tim and welcome, um, to the show. Thanks for giving me the time today to have a chat.
Tim Ladhams: It's a pleasure.
Liz Nable: So let's sort of start from the beginning because I haven't featured inside Small Business, obviously on the podcast before. Um, tell us a little bit about who you are and what [00:05:00] you do and then also, um, the magazine itself and, and the kinds of stories and the audience that you serve.
Tim Ladhams: Sure. So potted history. has a significant online presence. That's been about 11 years. Um, and for my 'zines, I have been on board for all of that time far, about 14 months where I went off and did something else. And then, um, circumstances conspired to bring me back. Um, so it was just a quarterly magazine until they came on board, and then it was purchased by OctoMedia.
Sydney, who also publish inside retail, inside FMCG and a number of other, more retail and franchise focused publications, and they bought Inside Small Business. Um, so what we do today is we publish usually five stories a day online. [00:06:00] Um, the mix is two or three news stories, so. That can be a new piece of research about small businesses specifically, um, zero Insights, uh, Cobo or the Council of Small Businesses of Australia, when they do research stories like that.
And then I write a feature every day. And that feature, it depends on the news. Worthiness of what we have at any one time. So if there's a, if there's a big story, I will, rather than just pending a, a short news story, I will write a deeper feature and I will interview Matthew Addison at Cobo or the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman, if they're involved in that story to get sort of deeper context.
Liz Nable: Right. [00:07:00]
Tim Ladhams: Then the, then the basic media release that is sent out. So that's a judgment call on, okay, what really matters and what do we think people would like to know about in more detail? If that kind of story isn't around, then my feature is on a founder or a small business owner, somebody who's got a quirky story or has come through a specific challenge or has achieved exceptional growth.
And again, we are not blowing their tires up, but it's more about the strategy and how they manage to achieve that.
Liz Nable: Yeah. So it sounds like our common ground is that we are both really passionate about small business and giving small business owners a voice. Um, yes. . And there are,
Tim Ladhams: there are other formats that we do that, so , everything that gets published goes on news brief the following morning.
Down the bottom of the news brief. So I run one or two op-eds a day. So they're opinion pieces. So they [00:08:00] are, they are small business owners pitching to me to say, , or consultants in the small business space, experts in the small business space. So that can be about AI or it can be about retention, or it can be about.
Digital marketing, it can be about on any aspect, , everything online , our analytics show that if anything takes more than about three or four minutes to read, people fall off. And I think specifically for us, that's because, you know, when the news brief comes out and the small business owner opens it, they're probably doing three other things already.
Liz Nable: Absolutely.
Tim Ladhams: So I, so those opinion pieces, we try and keep really specific. So there is, there are one or two or three really simple, actionable takeouts that people can take and apply [00:09:00] if relevant to them.
Liz Nable: Okay. That's really interesting. I think there's a lot of, from what I've, I've seen in the work that I do with small business owners, there's a bit, obviously there's a huge sentiment out in the economic landscape at the moment that it's very hard at the moment.
It's never been harder to do small business, obviously. Things like the rising cost of goods, inflation, insurance, rent, all that stuff.
Tim Ladhams: Yes.
Liz Nable: What are big business versus like David and Goliath stories, big bus business versus small business? How do you feel about those kinds of op-eds? Um, some of it, like, about some of the challenges that small business owners face, um, that perhaps big businesses get a jump on or get, you know, special treatment for and tho those kinds of stories.
Tim Ladhams: Yeah, I mean those, those, by the nature, they tend to, they tend to be a bit more long form. So they are, they are the kind of things that tend to end up in the magazine.
Liz Nable: Got it.
Tim Ladhams: Um, so for [00:10:00] example. I, I, I've got four new features that are gonna become recurring in the current magazine, and one of them is called the Quarter Event.
So it's an opportunity for a small business owner to talk about things that are beyond their control, that are stymieing their growth. So it can be government policy, it can be bureaucracy, it can be late payments by. Large corporations to their small business suppliers that will grow over time. We've just done the first one, um, in this issue, um, which was about a, a, a, a territory government new digital scheme that was designed to simplify things and has actually made things almost impossible for small tourism operators in the Northern Territory.
Liz Nable: Right.
Tim Ladhams: So that's the kind of thing that you know we are looking [00:11:00] for then.
Liz Nable: Yeah. Okay. That sounds like a very interesting column. Um, because I get a lot of small business owners who come to me with exactly those kinds of issues. Things like meta shutting them down or closing their accounts with no explanation.
Um,
Tim Ladhams: I've, I've, I've covered, I've covered that three or four times. I mean, that happens. That happens a lot.
Liz Nable: Yeah. Banks hidden fees. Um,
Tim Ladhams: and that, that we ca, that we can do as an opinion piece as well because obviously the magazine is only quarterly.
Liz Nable: Yeah.
Tim Ladhams: And there's only one of that slot.
Liz Nable: Yeah. Yeah.
Absolutely. Yeah.
Tim Ladhams: The other thing we started last night, well, sorry, with the magazine that went to print last night, which is really interesting. Um, is, is a, is a piece called the Smart No. Um, because everyone's telling people what they should do and what opportunities they should grab with both hands, [00:12:00] and this is about why sometimes it's better to set, take a step back and even if something looks shiny and exciting, that it might not be for your long term benefit.
Liz Nable: Yeah. I love that because, and that's so true. 'cause small business owners are multitasking all the time, and I see it all the time in the courses that I run, they get sidetracked by something. Um, and they end up doing five things really poorly rather than doing one or two things really well. Um, and I think it's hard in small business sometimes, particularly if you're starting out to know where to focus your energy.
Um, so that's, that's really interesting too. Okay. So there, there's an op-ed potential opportunity that you, you might for. Yeah. So,
Tim Ladhams: yeah. So let's, so let's go back to online. Yeah. So there's the, there's the feature.
Liz Nable: Yep.
Tim Ladhams: Which, if you've got a cool story, sometimes they are, sometimes they are. We hook them up to, to current events.[00:13:00]
So for example, , during the Australian Open, , I did two stories related to that. So one was BetterUp, which is a. Which is a small business in Melbourne that, that, um, is railing against single use coffee cups.
Liz Nable: Mm-hmm.
Tim Ladhams: Um, and they were invited to the open. Um, and then the other one was a sports nutrition startup who were invited to fuel.
Athletes at the Australian Open, which is actually one of the co-founders, is a full-time Olympic, um, champion.
Liz Nable: Awesome. Um, okay, so that's online. So there's features,
Tim Ladhams: so that's online. So there's the feature
Liz Nable: Yep.
Tim Ladhams: There's the opinion piece, which is, which is written. That is written by the contributor.
Liz Nable: Mm-hmm.
Tim Ladhams: Um, and they get, we get their bio, their LinkedIn. A profile link [00:14:00] and a picture of them, and that goes in their author profile and then they write the story and that is to a maximum of 750 words. So that's why it needs to be, you know, a really specific topic.
Liz Nable: Yep.
Tim Ladhams: Um, I then also run q and a, so that tends to be with more with real micro businesses or really quirky stories.
So I think the last one I did was an arts and craft business, and the one I did that was a 13-year-old girl who started her own swimwear range, that kind of thing. So I just, uh, I, I will look at a pitch and make a decision on which, which way I think it will present best.
Liz Nable: Okay. Um, sounds like there's so much opportunity for small business owners to get featured.
So is there anything else in that list? No.
Tim Ladhams: Um, , so online, there is , the new [00:15:00] stories, which tend, they tend to be the only place where we do feature bigger companies because they tend to do the research.
Liz Nable: Oh, okay. Right. So based off data and statistics and search.
Tim Ladhams: Yes.
Yeah. Okay. And, and, and, you know, so somebody like Zero, they are a massive. Organization.
Liz Nable: Yeah.
Tim Ladhams: But they do, their products are designed primarily for small businesses.
Liz Nable: Yeah.
Tim Ladhams: And they do, you know, they do a, they, they do a, I think it's quarterly or might even be bimonthly, a thing called Zero Small Business Insights.
Liz Nable: Yeah.
Tim Ladhams: So that's, that's useful data, useful research. And a couple of other organizations do an index, which is how small business is performing.
Liz Nable: Yeah.
Tim Ladhams: Um, the payment times one is huge. 'cause obviously that's cash flow is
Liz Nable: Yeah. Yeah.
Tim Ladhams: Um, so when, when the big, when the big end of [00:16:00] town start slowing down their payments to small business suppliers, we call 'em out.
Liz Nable: Yeah. I love that.
Tim Ladhams: Um. And, and, and conversely, if it it's interest, that one's interesting because different industry sectors treat their supplies very differently.
Liz Nable: Mm mm
Tim Ladhams: And that's worth highlighting, you know, because if you are. Depending on what your business is, that gives you an idea of, you know, well, am I likely to be paid on time or not?
Liz Nable: So if someone's sort of listening to this podcast episode and, and maybe they're, um, they're a startup or they've never been featured in the media before, or perhaps they haven't been doing this for a long time, do they still have validity? Are they still a
Tim Ladhams: hundred percent? Yeah, a hundred percent. So what, I mean, what, what I like people to do is just to pitch to me, um.
Via email.
Liz Nable: Mm-hmm. I don't,
Tim Ladhams: I don't publish my phone number because otherwise I would never do anything.
Liz Nable: [00:17:00] Fair enough. And I'll share, I'll share your email in these, um, in the notes, in the podcast notes everyone. So, um, yes,
Tim Ladhams: that'll be there. So what's, what's really useful is if they are sophisticated enough to have already put together like a a, a one page bio.
And what I want, really want to know is the why. The what? The why and the when.
Liz Nable: Yep.
Tim Ladhams: And the where, and if they haven't got a bio, it can just be a series of bullet points.
Liz Nable: Yep.
Tim Ladhams: So it's, you know, my name's and I went to buy some thongs and I couldn't find any that were comfortable and practical, so I made my own.
And I'm just going back to a piece I did in the, in the last magazine. Um, you know, I started the business in Perth in 2017. Um, I grew and then I will go back and ask questions.
Liz Nable: Yeah. [00:18:00]
Tim Ladhams: If there are holes, and then I will either, I might say to them, okay, here are the, here are the op-ed guidelines. If you are interested in writing and you would like to write a 500, 750 word oped on this specific topic, um, if it's something that I think that would work well in the q and a format, then I'll, I'll tell them that.
And then in due course I will craft a series of questions for them and send them to them, be quite prescriptive, again, about length of response and that kind of thing. Um. And if it's something that really appeals to me, I will do an email q and a, and then I will then write a feature. And that doesn't, that doesn't appear as a q and a, that appears as a continuous narrative written by me, um, which is dotted quite frequently with direct quotes that come back from that q and a because they lift, it becomes a, it becomes an a, a, an [00:19:00] alive piece of journalism in my opinion.
Liz Nable: So a lot of small business owners that I work with will often get bogged down in like the technicalities of the perfect pitch. And, and you know, whether they're bothering you or whether they're, you know, you, you, you want to hear from them. How much do you want to hear from these small business owners and does it really
Tim Ladhams: well?
That's, that's who I want to hear from. You know, I mean, I, I, and, and if, if for any reason, I don't think it's quite right, if, if somebody's made the effort, I will invariably try and respond. You know, the, the, the literally hundreds of emails I get every morning from the United States and from the big organizations talking and, and the people who are clearly trying to sell a product.
I don't, I'm afraid I just press delete because, but if somebody's, you know, I, I, I, I can tell where they're from.
Liz Nable: Yeah.
Tim Ladhams: Very quickly. Um, and. [00:20:00] I can, you know, if, if, if, if, if they're, if they're, if they're, if they're genuinely a small business or a startup early in their journey, then I will do my best to try and accommodate them in one format or another.
Liz Nable: Yeah, it's interesting isn't it? 'cause we had this conversation on the phone last week. Um, a lot of small business owners think that. That editors and writers and media don't wanna hear from them because they're not, you know, they haven't been in the game long enough, or they don't make enough revenue.
But in fact, no,
Tim Ladhams: that's the, that's the, the, that's the complete antithesis.
Liz Nable: Yeah. The opposite is true.
Tim Ladhams: Yes. And, and in the early days, you know, I, I think maybe 'cause I was less experienced and there was less content around maybe I used to run. I used to run op-eds by, from,
I'm trying to think the, some of [00:21:00] those people like GoDaddy and, and, um, what's the, what's the people who help you with your tax?
Liz Nable: MYOB or like, um,
Tim Ladhams: tax well, them as them as well, but also the, you know, the, that, that franchise thing that,
Liz Nable: oh, um, the tax block.
Tim Ladhams: HHR Block,
Liz Nable: H&R Block Tax
Tim Ladhams: Block. Yeah. And it kind of, I realized after a while that actually they were thinly veiled attempts to promote their own services.
Liz Nable: And it's interesting, isn't it? Because um, a lot of what comes from those big PR companies and internal comms teams is really not targeted. It's not something that you guys would ever. Portray anyway or have on the pages of your magazine. So I, I do feel like that personal story and authentic small business, someone with real lived experience on the ground has a far better chance for inside small business, obviously.
But even in a lot of the bigger media organizations there, there's a real [00:22:00] return to like authentic stories. Real life, um, opinion-based pieces, like lived experience rather than some manufactured PRPs with B-roll footage and stock stock images.
Tim Ladhams: Yes. I mean, there, there, there, there, there is the odd occasion when somebody will pitch to me and I will say to them, look, I think this sits better with somebody else.
Liz Nable: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Tim Ladhams: So, um. I get pitched by a lot of things that are around. Um, so I'll give you an example. Like women's health?
Liz Nable: Yeah.
Tim Ladhams: Small businesses. Now, I, I map carefully so I'm not covering, um.
You know, I, we, we look to cover every aspect of running a business, so I don't wanna do the same [00:23:00] thing. So I recently said to somebody, look, why don't you talk to Mama Mia? Because I think this is very much their kind of thing. And, and on one of those occasions, which was one of those meta things, I actually, I, I told them to go to the current affair because I thought it was egregious enough to sit there.
Yeah. Because I'm not like a big breaking news,
Liz Nable: no ,
Tim Ladhams: the, you know, the shape the tree type of publication. Yeah.
Liz Nable: Yeah.
Tim Ladhams: Um, and obviously having done this for a long time, and I, I sit on probably four panels on average a year at pitching events with people from radio, tv, and other print. Mostly online, but you know, and print sometimes.
Um, so I know people and then listening to them, I kind of know what they're after. You know, we're all after, we're all after good stories, but with a different angle. [00:24:00]
Liz Nable: Totally. So there sounds like there's tons of opportunities in the online version of the magazine. How, what, what are you looking for in terms of like.
Quality and pitch angles and those sorts of things to make it to the, I guess that next level, which is the print version of Inside Small Business.
Tim Ladhams: So that's, that's, that is, that is, that's a very different beast. Um, so if I get a pitch and it sits, it sits either in one of those sort of areas that I've just talked to you about.
, Another thing we've introduced is a thing called the devil's advocate, where we basically get, we get two people to, um, it's like dueling banjos to, to fight viciously for their, when they have completely opposing views. So the one I've done is here is the [00:25:00] value of LinkedIn for small business.
So , I got a pitch from somebody who, you know, wanted to write about , how best to use LinkedIn
Liz Nable: Uhhuh,
Tim Ladhams: and I knew I'd had a pitch recently from somebody else who said it. I thought it was a waste of time. So, um, what am I trying to say? The magazine content i, I commission. Okay. So I look at everything I've got and I sit down with my CEO before each.
We usually run three significant features. Um, so we, the one we've just done, uh, the three features are, one was, is the AI bubble about to burst. Um, so I, I interviewed in depth five people who are. Embedded in the AI space, but with specific reference to small businesses. [00:26:00] And that was like a, that's like a 10 page feature.
And then, um, another we could. I sit and talk to Amy and she, if she's heard something on the ground in Sydney that people are talking about, and this was the case with, she said she'd spoken to a lot of people in, she's the CEO of the, of Okta Media. But um, obviously, so she talks to lots of people all the time and she said she'd had this, this feedback that the cost of acquisition of social media was becoming prohibitive to small businesses in particular.
Because they, you know, the algorithms are changing and when they first, when the platforms were first around, they wanted, they just wanted followers. So they made it really cheap and really easy Yeah. For people to market on them. And now they've got hundreds of millions or billions of people on, they are jacking up [00:27:00] prices and trying to make as much money as possible.
Um, so I spoke to four people in. Various different people, but generally, um, people who are in marketing agencies that have small business clients. And we talked about that. So, um, that's a question of, you know, obviously after all this time, I have quite a long address book already, but somebody new might pitch to me and I have a potential stories folder.
And I might say to them, okay, I'm gonna sit on this until the right opportunity comes along in print. And then when it does, I go back to 'em and say, okay, we're gonna, this is what we're doing and this is gonna be the angle.
Liz Nable: Mm-hmm. What would you say, um, are the advantages for a small business owner to get featured in something like small business, inside small business in terms of, in any capacity Q and a?
Um, the, the [00:28:00] opinion piece. Feature stories. What, what are. What would you say are the benefits to share your story or your opinion, or your lived experience or give value or educate? What's the benefit of being in media, like inside small business?
Tim Ladhams: Well, 'cause it, it, I think it positions them as a thought leader among their peers.
That's what I like to think.
Liz Nable: Yeah, I, I mean, absolutely. Obviously, I, I teach this for a living. I couldn't agree with you more. I think some small business owners, again, wearing lots of hats, super time poor, have started a business because they're passionate about that product or that service will often say to me, oh, you know, media's dead.
You know, I can just do this on social media. What would you say to that?
Tim Ladhams: I think that's nonsense. 'cause I think that, I think that, I think, I think, I think that sort of sum, if you, if you, if you exclusively in social media, I think, I'm not saying it questions your [00:29:00] integrity, but it, what it does do is it, it, it doesnt, everyone is, and everyone's shouting.
So that thought leadership aspect of things goes outta the window. Mm. Um, perhaps LinkedIn is the only platform that, to some extent does offer that. Mm. Um. And, and you know, virtually everybody's on social media to some extent, and it's very valuable, but it's, it's a, it's a different thing. That's, that's, that's, that's a marketing channel.
That's an advertising channel.
Liz Nable: Yeah, absolutely. And
Tim Ladhams: it's, or it's, or, or it's a brand awareness channel. Now, you know, by being an inside small business that gives you some level of brand awareness to a degree. And we are read by those, you know, we are read by the, by the zeros and the, and the myop and the people like that because they want to know.
It helps them with their approach to trying to win small business clients.
Liz Nable: Yeah, [00:30:00] and there's obviously that trust and credibility piece because the media, whether it be inside small business or a mainstream news channel or a newspaper. There's a big piece about reputation and credibility and authority.
Um, I think when you are featured by an outlet, like inside Small business, it tells me that you do have a trusted voice, that you know what you're talking about, that you are the best, um, or the most authoritative in your field. You really can't. Get that kind of cut through in social media. In, I mean, social media, obviously there's a role for social media, no doubt.
But in terms of building trust and credibility, I just don't think you can replicate what media presence gives, um, in that capacity.
Tim Ladhams: No. And, and that's, you know, and, and I feel quite a big responsibility in that, and that's why I am.
A real stickler for the rules that we put in place. And I get really angry when, [00:31:00] with people when they try and, oh, well, you know, can you just do this for me? Or, so the biggest, the probably the most, so a, you know, I'm, I'm, I'm quite succinct with the guidelines about what, what isn't allowed.
Liz Nable: Mm-hmm.
Tim Ladhams: And if I get a piece.
Which is 80 or 90% on track. I, I, I saw a piece yesterday and there was some really good insights in there, and then there was one paragraph that was just utterly self emotional and I just took it out and I, I went back to the person and I said, I'm removing this entire paragraph, you know, take it or leave it if you would like me to, to, to, I ultimately.
I have the final call on What doesn't, doesn't go in my site.
Liz Nable: Hmm.
Tim Ladhams: Now on this occasion, [00:32:00] this person said, okay, yeah, sure, understand. Let's, you know they want to be co, they want to be covered anyway.
Liz Nable: Yeah, absolutely.
Tim Ladhams: But the biggest one is links. I do not, we do not publish any external links in our articles and people say, oh, you know, well anyway, I won't even go into the various justifications that people try and come up with, and it just doesn't happen.
With that bio, it's, it's, it's very clear. It's, it's a, it's a, it's a written bio in which you can talk about, you know, what, what you do and how good you are, or how much experience you've got and all that kind of thing. And a photo and a, and a LinkedIn profile. Yeah. And that's it.
Liz Nable: That's it. Yeah. Yeah. I think if you're not familiar with the integrity of, you know, um, how media organizations are built and the rules that they live by, I think you can often be a bit [00:33:00] confused by thinking that you might have editorial license over an article that's being written about you.
But really at the end of the day. A proper media organization, traditional media organizations, the writer or the contributor or the person being featured does not get to see the final product before it goes to print. Um, do they, they really need to just be sharing their story. And the journalist is the one who, who who tells it?
Tim Ladhams: Yeah. Yeah. Well, certainly with the features and the magazine, you know, and if people say, oh, I, I want to sign off on it before. It's published. That's a total No-no. Yeah,
Liz Nable: absolutely.
Tim Ladhams: Because it's not, it's not. Yeah. But you know, with, I mean with the, with the opinion pieces,
Liz Nable: it's, that is
Tim Ladhams: apart from a few things like how style, I mean, it seems everyone in this country has capitalization, diarrhea, and by capitalizing every third word of a sentence, it makes it more urgent or imm or something.
It doesn't, I think
Liz Nable: that might be an [00:34:00] AI thing too. Um,
Tim Ladhams: potentially, yes. But anyway, so, so, so, so I, I, I edit op-eds to house style, but generally it's, it's the words of the business owner and it's the voice of the business owner. And I don't want to interrupt that. So I will only interject if they are breaking the rules in terms of being self-promotional or.
Or, you know, um, disparaging somebody else to an extent that might put us in a difficult position legally.
Liz Nable: Yeah. So it's not about sales for anyone who's listening to this podcast, Tim is not in the business of doing your self promotion or selling your product. It's gotta be about the story.
Tim Ladhams: Yes.
Liz Nable: Yeah.
Tim Ladhams: And the ethos,
you know, um. I mean, people can look. There are six categories across the top of the,
Liz Nable: yeah.
Tim Ladhams: Website to give an overview of the type [00:35:00] of thing, so it's one is finance, one is technology, one is sales and marketing. Planning and management and growth and development.
Liz Nable: They can go to the website and, yeah, no, those are them. , and you know, within that we have subcategories. So you know, if you are writing a story about, um, you know, there was some, there was a change in legislation about psychological safety in the workplace recently, for example.
Tim Ladhams: So that would sit under the people in HR banner. And I had a really interesting follow up opinion piece from a small business owner who has a consultancy that, you know, works in that field.
Liz Nable: Mm-hmm.
Tim Ladhams: Um, and, and those are good. I, I generally, I have about an eight week tail between. Something being submitted and something running, because I have so many people who want to send me a opinion pieces.
Liz Nable: Mm-hmm.
Tim Ladhams: But last week I jumped the queue with two pieces [00:36:00] because they were very clearly linked to International Women's Day. So they would about two very different aspects of women in small business. Right. Um, but I jumped the queue and then , I got a, I got a good piece about LinkedIn and apparently it.
It is, whatever it is, it's its 20th birthday on May the fifth.
Liz Nable: Right.
Tim Ladhams: So I'll run that story on the third or 4th of May to coincide with that.
Liz Nable: Awesome. So before we wrap up, um, to clarify, it's not about sales, it's about the story. You definitely wanna hear from small business owners no matter what age or stage that they're at in their business.
Tim Ladhams: Correct.
Liz Nable: You wanna hear like, authentic stories with. You know, how they got there, what they're doing, why they're passionate, all those sorts of things. How do people get in touch with you? Can you share your email address and I'll pop it in the show notes as well. Um, and is there a a, a better time or, you know, day or time, or is it really just sending you their [00:37:00] email pitch, following up and, um, making sure there's some sort of relevance to, to now or to when that, when that story might be, um,
Tim Ladhams: might be
Liz Nable: relevant.
Tim Ladhams: So, so the subject, the sub, they should give a little bit of thought to the subject and just give, like, try and make it, try and make the subject appealing in terms of, and succinct about what they're doing. It doesn't matter what time of day or night the email comes. Um, the other thing I would say is, please don't send me an email 24 hours later saying, did you get my email?
I mean, I actually worked out that at the, at the weekend, I literally did not unlock the front door of my apartment because I was working on the magazine.
Liz Nable: Wow.
Tim Ladhams: Now that's, that's only four times a year. It's 'cause production, it's like there's a, there's a tight window, the designers overseas. Um, so [00:38:00] there's a lot of sharing of, anyway, that's technical stuff.
Yeah. Um, but. There are some times when I might not reply for four or five days. It doesn't mean I'm not interested. If I have time, I will try and say, Hey, I'm in the middle of something really big. I'll come back to you in due course. But I don't always get to do that. Yeah, yeah. Um, if you haven't heard after a week, by all means polite, follow up.
Um, you know, just wondering if this was of interest is perfectly acceptable.
Liz Nable: Amazing. Thank you Tim. Um, I can't wait for you to receive a flood of new pictures from the listeners of this podcast.
Tim Ladhams: Yes.
Liz Nable: Like you're already time Paul, we're gonna make you more time Paul, um, than ever before. It's been a pleasure to have you and really appreciate your insights into insights More business and super helpful.
Um, adds a lot of value to the listeners who, um, dedicated to the show.
Tim Ladhams: Yeah. No. Well, thank you very much for the opportunity, 'cause that those are the people I want to speak to are people [00:39:00] who are genuinely small business owners. So if they're people who are reaching out for help in this field, it sounds like they're very much in our wheelhouse.
Liz Nable: Absolutely. Our worlds are aligned. Lots of small. Thank you, Tim.
Tim Ladhams: Thank you very much. Speak you soon.
Liz Nable: Bye.
This episode of Media Magnet was brought to you by my signature group coaching program, the Media Masters Academy. The Media Masters Academy is a live online six week course taught by me and designed to teach you how to become your own publicist and give you exclusive access to pitch the country's top journalists and editors doors open just three times a year.
Check it out at liznable.com, along with a ton of free resources to help you get started taking your business from best kept secret. To household name [00:40:00] write now, if you love this episode of Media Magnet, please share it with your business buddies or on social media and tag me at @liz_nable. And if there's a specific guest you want to hear from on the show or a topic or question you want to know more about, please tell me so I can make sure the show stays dedicated, especially for you.
