You canβt spell βinteresting points of view from the world of PRβ without βProwly #PRChatβ! Ok, maybe you can. The point is that this is where we give a forum to voices from all over our industry and get insights, opinions and more from a diverse group of pros on the topics of the day.
Today weβre talking to Brett Farmiloe, founder and CEO of Terkel, a Q&A site that allows PR professionals to answer questions and get insights published in articles. Think of HARO but for PR. Brett has authored pieces for an impressive list of industry publications and general business forums. He is an experienced speaker and presenter as well.
When heβs not eating anything but Hot Pockets for 30 days to bootstrap a startup or helping Hugh Jackman launch a coffee brand (wait, what?), heβs busy at his own digital marketing agency.
Hereβs what Brett had to say in response to our questions.
Whatβs something every PR professional is trying to do that youβve discovered a better method for?
One of the main objectives PR professionals have is to build visibility for their clients. Traditionally speaking, βthe pitchβ has been a primary way to achieve that objective.
Personally, I donβt like pitching. I also donβt like receiving emails. So, I created a Q&A site that spares journalists from fielding pitches, and relieves PR professionals from making a pitch.
The end result is journalists get connected to expert insights without all the back and forth that goes on behind the scenes. It feels a little cleaner, produces results, and certainly reduces clutter in the inbox.
Whatβs a resource/tool/channel PR professionals arenβt using correctly or to its fullest?
Expert insight platforms like Terkel or HARO are excellent ways to secure valuable placements for clients. Unfortunately, the success rates on expert insight platforms can be quite low and can lead to frustration for both PR professionals and clients.
Everyone has expertise in something, but no one is an expert in everything. The temptation with expert insight platforms is to answer all questions in hopes that some success will come of it. But as machine learning and natural language processing becomes more prominent on platforms, not only will answering all questions prevent short-term success, it can also be detrimental to long-term user reputation.
Bottom line: stick to your expertise. By answering questions that speak to your expertise or experience, youβll be adding value to a story and will experience more success.
What's the story behind creating Terkel? Can it help PR professionals?
Terkel is a Q&A site that connects brands with expert insights. Our big vision is to democratize thought leadership by giving voice to the uncelebrated.
The foundational idea for Terkel dates back to a series of RV roadtrips I took about fifteen years ago. Myself and three friends traveled 16,000 miles across 38 states to interview more than 300 people about their career paths.
The thing that stuck with me from those interviews was that people donβt have many meaningful opportunities to share their life experiences and expertise. Why else would 300 people spend an hour with four college grads to share the most intimate moments and learnings of their life?
People need a meaningful outlet to share, and Terkel provides an accessible platform to do so.
And in terms of helping PR professionals, Terkel is a simple way to answer questions and get clients published in more than 250+ publications.
Whatβs a recent thing you tried in your company that delivered surprising results?
Running a technology company provides the opportunity to dream up endless experiments with defined hypotheses and expected outcomes.
One experiment I was surprised by was the βSkipβ button on Terkel, which allows a person to skip a question that doesnβt speak to their expertise or experience. At some point, we didnβt think the Skip button was important. So, we took it away.
We were wrong. Users requested us to bring it back within the hour, and now the Skip button is clicked more than the Answer button on the Terkel platform.
Do you think storytelling is necessary for PR?
I think the easy answer is βof course.β But Iβll go further and say that for certain types of PR, such as PR via expert insight platforms, storytelling doesnβt matter.
Journalists sometimes just want a quote from an expert, and thereβs not room for storytelling. In that scenario, the story gets sacrificed for the sake of playing the role of the expert.
Thatβs why storytelling on branded media assets like a website or social is so important. Sometimes, PR peaks interest and then leads a prospective customer into a story thatβs told about a brand.
How do you go about tracking media coverage and measuring your PR efforts?
We track placements made through Terkel and provide people with a dashboard to view all of their recent placements. People who use Terkel can view their βSuccess Rateβ - calculated by βplacementsβ divided by βquestions answeredβ - which is a true measurement of βefforts.β
Tracking βeffortβ is actually underrated. PR pros want to know what the return on their time is. All too often, that metric gets lost. We felt it was important to showcase success so people would know where theyβre succeeding or falling short.
What should every PR practitioner stop doing?
The stuff thatβs not working. Identify an objective, establish metrics around the objective, and focus on the tactics that drive results. Rinse, repeat, and innovate.
What is the most gratifying part of your job?
We did a video shoot recently, where we invited about eight users to come share their experience of using Terkel on camera. Half of the people I had never met, spoken with, or heard of before. Listening to their experiences and hearing about the impact our platform has had on their businesses was pretty gratifying.
Because at the end of the day, whether youβre promoting a client, building a side hustle, or running a company - you just want to see the impact. People need to see the significance of their work. And when they get to see and experience the significant impactβ¦well, thatβs a nice feeling.
