Full Transcript – Priscila Martinez – Wild Business Growth Podcast #295

This is the full transcript for Episode #295 of the Wild Business Growth podcast featuring Priscila Martinez – Public Relations A-Lister, Founder of The Brand Agency. You can listen to the interview and learn more here. Please note: this transcript is not 100% accurate.

Priscila Martinez 0:00
I always say the more human you can get, the better.

Max Branstetter 0:17
Toodaloo and welcome back to the Wild Business Growth podcast. This is your place to hear from a new entrepreneur every single Wednesday morning who’s turning Wild ideas into Wild growth. I’m your host, Max Branstetter, Founder and Podcast Producer at MaxPodcasting. And you can email me at to save time with your high-quality podcast. This is Episode 295. We’re getting dangerously close to 300. That was like a half voicecrack A half woohoo. And today’s guest is Priscila Martinez. Priscila is the Founder and CEO of The Brand Agency, the award winning creative communications and PR firm who worked with Fortune 5 clients has some amazing huge everywhere known clients including Amazon, Apple, Hulu, Disney, Netflix, to name a few. And not to mention some of the biggest celebrities in the world. And in this episode, we talk everything from how Priscila got her foot in the door with PR as well as creating her own PR firm, how you can start to get bigger and bigger clients and bigger and bigger names more famous clients if you wish to go that route. The keys to pitching the press from press and some email pet peeves with it. Who doesn’t love those? It is Pris. Enjoyyyyyyy the showwwwwww! Aaaaaalrightyyyyyyy we’re here with Priscila Martinez, Founder and CEO of The Brand Agency and just doing super cool things. I would say your clients companies are okay. I mean nobody, nobody really anything like that. We’re not going to talk about that at all. But now Priscila, so excited to get into your story today. How you doing? Thanks for joining us.

Priscila Martinez 2:09
I am so honored to be here. Thank you so so much huge fan. I know we’ve been chatting through a few of the people that you’ve had on here in the past, so I am excited to join their ranks.

Max Branstetter 2:23
Thank you. I know that means a ton and honored to be here as well and honored for you to join the ranks and also for them to join your ranks. It works both ways as well. So we’ll get to all that today. And we could just keep going back and forth. But actually I have some questions too. So before we get to the brain agency story, I saw that you went to Pepperdine, which I did. I found out about Pepperdine because there was one day I was really bored a long time ago and I was looking up what are the most beautiful colleges in the US and like every less Pepperdine that Malibu like by the water campus always comes up isn’t really is beautiful there as all the lists make it out to be.

Priscila Martinez 3:03
It’s incredible. It’s also a big mind mess up for a college kid. I remember graduating on my assistant salary, I won’t date myself but it was about $18,000 a year back then. Fresh my first job and remember thinking like can I afford ocean view like what is wrong with this equation because we had an ocean view in our dorms at Pepperdine if you can believe that. Not all of them but a few lucky people got ocean view and it really does feel like a resort when you’re walking from class to class. There’s tennis courts and pools and just beautiful. You know people son out everyone is Dan. It is not a normal place to go to college and I got so so lucky to spend four years in the elbow. It’s still one of my favorite places in the entire world.

Max Branstetter 3:50
Yeah, and for anybody who’s not familiar, just google pictures of Pepperdine campus and then you’ll probably lose about an hour going through that but just seems like absolutely beautiful place to go to school. We have like we have another cool view over here that I wouldn’t say it’s quite Pepperdine, but I’m in Hoboken and Stevens Institute of Technology here right on the river. They added two new dorm buildings that are like beautiful and they look over the river and they look just right like you’re pretty high up and you look right at the New York City skyline. And I’ve been thinking lately like how do they decide or like how what’s the lottery like how do you get into one of those Skyline facing ones because I can’t imagine that as a as a freshman either.

Priscila Martinez 4:31
Yeah, it’s not to think about the places that we get to explore from school or even work now work trips have taken me to so many amazing places I just got back from can lions and you want to pinch yourself and say oh, you know so lucky to be able to do this and have that be you know, my responsibility right my job or my school. It’s pretty awesome. Yeah,

Max Branstetter 4:53
that is pretty awesome. Cannes Lions which I will never pronounce correctly. Maybe it just did there actually.

Priscila Martinez 4:58
But you did. You did?

Max Branstetter 4:59
Oh Thank you. All of the pictures and videos from that make it look almost as beautiful as Pepperdine. What’s the vibe actually? Like? They’re like, what’s your biggest takeaway from soaking all that up?

Priscila Martinez 5:10
Yeah, you know what, there’s so much activity. There’s so much energy, there is so much networking going on. It’s certainly valuable. And I feel that this year had an inflection point. You had a lot more celebrity presence, you had hooky from TikTok, you know, walking the streets of the festival, there’s just there’s so much going on, there’s so much value, but you can also get sidetracked a little bit into the nightlife things that happened, I jokingly posted something on my personal channel that said, you know, can lions equals Vegas, and there’s so much going on, you’re walking down and it’s like incontinence, music, people dancing on the page, people, you know, there’s so much craziness. So I think you have to be really disciplined and and you know, have an action plan, you can’t just head there and try to figure out what to do. You need to have your meeting set up and figure out what events are worth your time and making sure that you’re meeting with the partners that are available for you to meet with. But all in all, again, such a beautiful place to do business, such a beautiful place to network, and very, very lucky to have been there. And now

Max Branstetter 6:17
we’re going to hit up with a bunch of copyright lawsuits from all the songs that sound like entente answers.

So let’s get to something that’s TBA, literally The Brand Agency. So this actually, I’m curious if it ties to your journey at Pepperdine. Like where was it that you started getting an interest in like the PR and communication space? Yeah,

Priscila Martinez 6:44
absolutely. It ties in with my college experience. I mean, I grew up in a small border town PR was not a thing. You know, if you came from my household, you were a doctor, you were an engineer, you were a lawyer, or a teacher, no other, you know, career options. And I’m being a little facetious, but that’s the truth. And I got to Malibu, you know, had my college experience. And it was just so many different doors opened up and I was learning about so many things that I didn’t know even existed. So, for instance, back in the day, again, I’m dating myself, there was this thing called the Kodak house. And it was basically a very smart publicist rented a beautiful gorgeous home on the water in Malibu. They had brands sponsor different areas of the home and then they invited celebrities to come party inside the house. And lo and behold, it was you know, Vanessa Hudgens holding a Neutrogena sunblock as she was, you know, throwing a volleyball with her friends are Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton, these were the celebrities of the day. And I remember attending as a guest when I was in college, and it just completely blew my mind that people could make money and make a career in that way, that was never an option for me. So that certainly, you know, piqued my interest. And after that, I started actively looking for public relations internships, and I want to say maybe 80% of my internships in college, were all based around public relations. I was schlepping product and clothing and sunglasses to reps and stylists, and then, you know, doing doors at events, and just really trying to get my foot in the door any way that I could, because I had experienced a fun job right in my mind, you graduated college, and then you sat down at an office, nine to five, Monday to Friday, every single day. And for me knowing that there were options that took you to a beach or that, you know, helped you plan and come up with an amazing idea for an event that got a client, a ton of conversion, like that was very novel and very interesting. And definitely I was I am still very much an extrovert. And that really went well with my personality having a job that forced me to do all of those things. I

Max Branstetter 8:59
was just thinking of asking how you got your foot in the door. And then you literally said, that’s how I got my foot in the door. So that’s, that’s one of those idioms that is just omnipresent. But yeah, so you had that initial feeling of, Wow, this career seems really cool. Like, I didn’t know this could be a career. How far along the way was that kind of reinforced that like, not only do I want to do something like this, like I want to actually start my own agency one day,

Priscila Martinez 9:28
right out of college. My first job was at the largest privately held public relations firm, which was so cool. And I was just at the frontlines of when the industry was changing. It was you know, I started when we were sending out press releases via fax, which is so crazy. We think about it. We got our first BlackBerry’s and we thought we were ruling the world and I got to work on really interesting accounts. I was there when the industry shifted to focus on you know, bloggers, we didn’t call them influencers or con Did creators back then it was such an exciting time it was so good print was still king. I mean, there was so much going on. So I was at that agency for about eight and a half years. And there was just a point where I was bringing in my own business, I was managing my own accounts. And I knew that there was something about the culture that I wanted to change, I think PR back then, and maybe in some instances, still is, is a very cutthroat environment, you are competing even with your colleagues in your same office. And that was something that I wasn’t so keen on, I really wanted to work on clients that I absolutely loved and was passionate about. But I wanted to do it in an environment that spoke to, you know, the way I like doing things, and that really, end of the day made me incredibly happy and fulfilled, right. So that’s when I decided to, you know, put up my own shingle, it was eight and a half years, maybe nine, after I accepted that job as an assistant at that agency. And I took all the learnings I took, you know, all the relationships that I have made. And I funneled that into what is now the brand agency, I

Max Branstetter 11:03
was just about to ask you how you put up your own shingle. And I’m just getting

Priscila Martinez 11:10
funny enough, I remember my first little office, it was a to office office in Beverly Hills, it was walking distance from the four seasons. So we would take our meetings there. And it was such a fun time, there was so much energy. And you know, I was so excited about everything.

Max Branstetter 11:27
You mentioned clients and that you started gaining a lot of like, great clients. And then at some point, I mean, I don’t know if you would consider yourself known for this or not. But at some point, the brand agency like you started to work with like, not even fortune 500, fortune 100 companies like fortune five companies and like literally, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, Disney, Hulu, like all these amazing companies. So there’s there’s a whole company side. Let’s dig into that. First, how do you get your foot in the door? Now? I’m just getting I’m sorry? How would you start to get like huge shoot some of the biggest companies in the world to work with you. It

Priscila Martinez 12:04
wasn’t an overnight thing. And I think we’re sometimes tempted to, you know, kind of look at the past or re experience the past with rosy colored glasses. And it certainly was not the case, right at the beginning days, it was taking a meeting with any and everyone that would meet with us, you have to prove yourself first and foremost. And I think you know, slowly but surely our first client certainly wasn’t Apple or Amazon, right. But through very consistent work through very hard work. And through being nimble. I think this is a characteristic that is oftentimes not given the spotlight and importance that it deserves. But being nimble, like we would get calls from people saying, Hey, I spoke to three other PR firms and they can’t crack this nut we need XYZ KPIs for this project that we’ve already invested this much on, can you get us any headlines? Can you get us any, you know, activity surrounding this, and a lot of times we were the last call, you know, in those beginning days, we weren’t the first or second that people would go out to to try to you know, get solutions out the door. So being known for someone that is nimble being known for someone that can always find a creative angle certainly helped us get there, I remember the first project we took up with Amazon, the call sounded something like we have this thing everyone is saying it’s not going to work, we really need it to work, because we’ve already you know, invested all of these time and resources into it, we need headlines can you help. And it was just not being afraid of saying yes. And also, you know, knowing and trusting that we had the network that we had been preparing for this for years that, you know, if a door closed that we knew we were going to knock on another one and another one and another one until we reached an open one. And I think you know, building that reputation in the industry as a team that can really go out there be nimble and get the job done. Even if it means rolling up your sleeves, even if it means getting a little bit dirty, even if it means you know, working a little bit longer on a project that you didn’t anticipate taking up so much of your bandwidth. So with that, you know being said, I think really putting during the beginning days putting your head down, no client was too small. And then having it build, you know, one upon the other. It was a very steady progression. Now looking back on it when you’re you know, standing in one position and looking down at everything that you have done. Again, you you’re tempted to credit yourself a little bit more with being a bit quicker with things but it really wasn’t that way. It was a slow build. And it was a very consistent build. And it was, you know that daily hustle, it’s kind of like going to the gym, right? If you go once a month and you really kill yourself at the gym that one time it’s not going to make a difference. But if you’re going every day, even if it’s just for 2030 minutes, at the end of the month, you will see a difference. So I would liken it to that it was just very consistent, very hard work. Parker. Yeah,

Max Branstetter 15:00
it’s amazing. How many of the entrepreneurs that I’ve spoken to on the show and actually, I know you mentioned that you’ve listened to Bill Shufelt from athletic brewing, like one of his main mantras is about being consistent. Like you don’t do anything like crazy in a single David, like being consistent with your approach, no matter what that is, like, that is a huge thing for building your business and building, you know, gaining top notch clients like that. You mentioned the the creative angle was an area that’s helped to differentiate you and team as well as being nimble and you know, trying stuff out. These days, what would you say is like, your bread and butter, what you’re known for, as an agency, like what specific tactics or type of work because when people hear PR communications, or like entertainment marketing, there’s probably like a trillion and a half different things that they think that you could be doing public relations

Priscila Martinez 15:56
and communications. It’s such a big umbrella term. So many things fall into it. Nowadays, you have influence or you have celebrity contracting, you have that traditional media pitching. So what we’re really known I’m going to answer that question in two parts. Our Los Angeles office is certainly known for entertainment, that’s where my roots are. Those are, you know, the clients that we service out of the Los Angeles office, you know, day in and day out, even our location in Los Angeles was very strategic. We’re next to Warner Brothers. We’re next to the Hulu offices, we’re, you know, very next to Disney. That’s another client, all these people are clients that I’ve mentioned that we have chosen to remain very close to even geographically in servicing them. So that’s, you know, our Los Angeles office and then New York really thrives on lifestyle. So we serve as a lot of our fashion, a lot of our beauty, a lot of our hospitality accounts out of New York and the city just lends itself to that. Right now. You know, one of our clients is carrying eyewear. So meaning we’re handling every single brand under that umbrella Gucci Bottega Veneta car da, there’s just a wealth of heritage. valancy Agha luxury brands that were, you know, spearheading communications, four out of our New York office are really setting the bar there. So you know, we’re very known for, you know, those two lanes, we also developed a niche that I think is really interesting. And again, this came about as a result of doing work for clients. And then they ended up feeling that we were excelling in this area. And then they would, you know, hand us scopes that solely focused in that area. And now we have a whole practice built to it. But that’s thought leadership. So we work with executives at you know, publicly traded companies, sometimes even startups just to build their profile, a really great story that I have is working with Brandon Cohen of liquid IV, when he was a 27 year old and getting him, you know, full page features in Inc. Magazine and getting him you know, placements and Adweek and really helping him build that profile all the way up to the sale. So that’s another area that we really excel in. So to answer your question concisely, I think entertainment, lifestyle and thought leadership are things that people come to us quite often for.

Max Branstetter 18:12
And thank you, you know, when you were listing off those fashion brands, I felt like you were just rattling off everything in my closet. So thank you. Yes,

Priscila Martinez 18:20
absolutely. That was my install.

Max Branstetter 18:23
Exactly. Closet info. But that’s such a valuable skill in an effort to be able to help out brand, especially like the liquid IV, you mentioned, like a brand that’s newer and obviously seen a ton of growth, but like, you need to really, like propel you over the top or have that media meteoric rise like not mediocre meteoric rise like that. It really helps to get some huge placements and features like that. What’s the secret sauce for landing, like, you know, a front page feature or like a really buzzy headline or something when you’re like a startup that’s trying to break out into the world that way?

Priscila Martinez 19:06
That’s a fantastic question. There are some clients that we work with that, you know, even from the initial meeting, we can’t wait to get out of that room and pitch press, you know, they are superstars, you know, that what they are offering in the world just need to get out there. It is so awesome, right? And then there’s other clients that we work with, where we really have to, you know, set up a foundation before we go out and seek those larger placements for them. And you know, as much as I would love to say everyone comes in and is, you know, a natural superstar. Sometimes there is some massaging that has to happen, right. So sometimes we’ll look at a client and figure out okay, what is it that we need to change about the messaging or is it the order that we’re, you know, giving people information and that is maybe deterring press or that has deterred press in the past from covering you know, What is it that we can bring out to the forefront? That’s a nugget. Sometimes founders don’t think that, you know, a certain piece of information is important. But then you pull it out and you’re like, No, no, no, this is the headline, right? So it’s an art, it really is in figuring out, you know, what press is going to gravitate towards what is going to create headlines. And ultimately, you’re reverse engineering the equation, right? If you have a press contact, whether it be an editor or a writer, they’re being graded on how many clicks their story is getting. So the way that you can make their job easier is by providing that to them on a platter, helping them really see you know, what that headline is, what the clicks will be, what the interests will be, when you give them something really meaty, for some clients, they just have it and you know, they’re gonna be superstars. And all you need to do is get them in front of that, you know, journalist, and they’re going to be able to tell their story. And it’s going to, you know, Run Wild. But then there’s other clients that you really work on that foundation that you take care of all of their messaging, you media train them, you come up with a really tight list of press outlets, that you want to go out to a new zero in on the journalists within those outlets that are likely to cover the story. And then you go out and you know, try to make those connections. So it’s a little bit of a labor of love, but definitely worth it. In the end, when you see results, like, you know, a client getting acquired, or them taking the stage as a keynote or something like a can lions, which we have done. For clients in the past, it’s really cool moments that we know come about as a result of all that foundational work that we did.

Max Branstetter 21:40
I appreciate the shout out to this podcast, as well as Athletic Brewing again with the Run Wild. So there for that I’m really curious about when you’re actually pitching press. What’s that look like these days? And like what what’s a tip you can share about actually kind of creating that aha moment in the mind of the recipient? Like, are you emailing? Are you calling these days? Like, what does it look like when you’re pitching? Yeah,

Priscila Martinez 22:07
it depends on the relationship you have with a journalist, if it’s someone out there listening, and they’re thinking of, you know, doing their own pitching, or if they want to guide a firm in pitching it certainly depends on the relationship. If you meet a journalist out at a networking event at their at the bar, and they’re, you know, grabbing a beer together, and the next day you have the confidence or you establish the relationship in a way that you can call them up. I always say the more human you can get the better give them a call, you know, you can shoot them a text do that. To answer your question, the majority of pitching happens over email. If you don’t have that personal relationship with a journalist and it’s a lukewarm relationship or a cold relationship, there is nothing worse than you can do then call a busy person when they’re in the middle of a deadline and ask them for a favor because you have haven’t done anything for them in the past. So avoid that if possible. And the way to actually get in there and rise above you know, all the noise that is in their inbox is making sure that they know that you are paying attention to them, you know, you’re gonna go out and ask for a favor, the least you can do is be educated on what it is that they do what it is that they like, past articles that they have had, it would be amiss, if you email a journalist, and you don’t mention anything about a like minded entrepreneur, or like minded brand that they have covered in the past, you want to make sure that you’re always nodding back to the amazing work that they have done. And it doesn’t have to be the most recent story. It can be an article that you took inspiration from, you know, a couple of months ago, a couple of weeks ago. But making sure that you’re saying, Hey, I care about your work just as much as I’m about to ask you to care about mine. And also in that process when you’re familiarizing yourself with these people’s, you know, past stories or beats, that they’ve covered events that they’ve attended. You should know if this is the correct person to pitch or not. Right? If you you know zero in on someone and as you start learning about their past work, you realize that this isn’t something that they are likely to cover, don’t waste your time, don’t waste theirs forego the pitch. I think we also have to be very realistic about the people that we are reaching out to in the advent of AI I know I get about 10 ai emails a day about I can help you bubble blob with yours. It’s just there’s so much noise out there, right don’t become a part of that problem. I think you really have to come in, make sure that you know that this is a perfect pitch for them. So do all of that work upfront, read their stories, familiarize yourself with their profile. And then if it’s a fit, you know, let them know in the intro of your email that you are aware and that you have been, you know, studying everything that they have done and that you have Something that you feel might plug into their beat and into what they are covering. And then make things really easy for them. Right? If you’re, you know, going back and forth on scheduling, don’t say, What day do you want me to hate? Here’s a scheduling link. And I’ve also listed, you know, three times here below, let me know what works, I’m happy to send the calendar invite with a debt. So make life as easy as possible to them. So that would be my my advice. If anyone is thinking about starting pitching

Max Branstetter 25:27
I wish those AI email pitchers out there would actually say, I can help you blah, blah, blah, at least it would be like transparent and like, stand out a little bit. Like if they use those actual words. You know, your, your advice is so good, especially on being human. And like, I feel like so often, especially like, if we’re sending out a bunch of emails, or if we’re like, reaching out, like I even see this. I mean, we’re getting a little meta here. But like, if I’m reaching out to like, a lot of podcast guests at the same time, it’s like, you have to remind yourself that like, like, yes, of course, it’s like, you know, you want to reach out to however many people or however many people jump out at you in a given time period. But like, these are real people. It’s not like you’re just like reaching out to names. And like the more human you are, and like the more like relevant you are and timely and also flexible. And the more you have a Calendly link. The better. Yeah, so So that’s incredible advice. And speaking of human. So we kind of foreshadowed earlier, but you’ve huge clients, and as a, you know, Fortune five companies out, as we’ve mentioned, but also on top of that, like by now you’ve worked with a ton of like big name, a list celebrities, which is like a whole other ballgame. But how would you characterize working with celebrities compared to like maybe what you might have expected beforehand. And

Priscila Martinez 26:41
again, given my background, and where I grew up, celebrities were in this pedestal, and they were demigods, and it was just untouchable, right. And then you go in there, and you start working. And you’re spearheading strategy for a launch that they have, or even things as little as helping them walk down a carpet, red carpet. And you realize that they’re just like us. And I know that sounds so cliche, but it is so true. There are certain rules that change when you’re dealing with a celebrity, you know, if you’re walking Kim Kardashian down the carpet, you’re not going to be chummy with her and say, Hey, girl, can we swap cell phones? You know, let’s make sure we stay in touch. That’s just not

Max Branstetter 27:20
that was yeah, that was my bed. Sorry about that. Yeah,

Priscila Martinez 27:24
you’re not gonna get anywhere in this industry being that informal. But end of the day, they are just as nervous sometimes, you know, in these instances when you’re leading them through a launch, or they have just as much doubt or impostor syndrome, or they’re just as worried about what people are gonna say. So it really helps to get to that down to that human level. You know, I find that work, part publicist, part psychologist, sometimes, and making sure that you’re talking them through all of those emotions that are popping up, I think the difference between a celebrity and a brand is that a brand when you are working with a brand, it’s a huge executive team. And if something goes wrong, that fault can be divided and split up amongst many, many people. And when you are working with celebrities, and they’re the face of a brand or the face of an initiative, if anything goes wrong, and there is an ounce of negative press, if you know, they look to the wrong way during the launch, and someone happened to snap a picture at that exact correct moment. It’s all on them, right? And it’s their name that gets dragged through the headline. So really having grace for that, and, you know, trying to figure out what it might feel like being in their shoes, and then acting accordingly saying, Okay, listen, I know you’re nervous about XYZ. This is the plan that we have, in case this happens. And by the way, we don’t think it will. But I just want to let you know that we have knowledge, you know about this type of issue, that we have gone through it in the past successfully and that we are your team and we will become available to you should that happen. But we expect things to go you know, in this way. So making sure that you have that grace and not just operate from oh my gosh, they’re so difficult or oh, you know, they’re impossible to deal with. They don’t know anything. Executives are so well versed in, you know, communications versus someone that is slapping their name on something but really having that grace and figuring out there is a reason for that neurosis and making sure that you honor that.

Max Branstetter 29:24
Honored to announce that in addition to the Wild Business Growth podcast getting close to the Episode 300 milestone at the time of this recording the Podcasting to the Max newsletter. I don’t know why I said it like that. The Podcasting to the Max newsletter. At the time of this recording just released Issue #75. So if you are interested in a little sprinkle of podcasting tips, a little sprinkle of entrepreneurship tips, and just terrible puns. Sounds so pleasant, terrible puns, you can sign up at MaxPodcasting.com/Newsletter there that is short and sweet to you. Every Thursday. It’s MaxPodcasting.com/Newsletter. Now, let’s switch it up. So I’d love to switch gears a little bit, you mentioned that you’re part publicist, part psychologists. And you’re also you know, you’re you’re part entrepreneur and business owner, but then you have your home life and personal life beyond that. And I would guess that you’re at least a slightly busy person. So it’s a lot on your plate. How do you manage that balance of like, being able to unplug and like detach from business like if you’re able to at all, you

Priscila Martinez 30:39
know, I think one of the biggest lies that entrepreneurs are sold is that you’re leaving your nine to five to have this beautiful cushy, let you’re leaving your 9-to-5 for a 24/7. And I know that’s a common trope that we hear in business, but it’s the absolute truth, I was just on vacation, you know, with my husband, and I checked my email every single day. And that’s okay, this is the life I chose, right. And this is the way I do things. And it actually makes me feel a little bit better, to be able to keep tabs on things while I’m out and coming back to, you know, a week of issues that compounded as much as we try to keep that balance. I once heard Jeff Bezos be interviewed, and they asked him about work life balance, and he said, it’s not a balance, it’s a harmony. And you know, I couldn’t agree more, I think you have to realize the things that you’re giving up when you choose to be an entrepreneur and to, you know, put up your own shingle. But also, there’s so many benefits that come with that, right. So you, as an individual person need to take stock, and figure out what’s important to you, and when that balance is in a good place for you. And then when it tips and it’s not working for you any longer. Because the truth is, you can’t really shut off. I mean, this morning, I was having breakfast with my toddler and my laptop was next to me, I don’t think a lot of working moms will admit to that. I think there’s a lot of shame and guilt, especially amongst moms regarding, you know, having technology out when you’re spending time with your kids, but that’s what works for us. Because I want to sit with my son, you know, for one hour before he goes to school, I need to have my laptop out and maybe shoot an email or two while he’s getting a bite of eggs in. Again, you know, I think we strive for balance, but the best we get is harmony and just figuring out what makes you happy and putting everything in a balance and you know, staying in this path for as long as it works for you. Yeah,

Max Branstetter 32:35
harmony is a beautiful word. And I can definitely get behind that. Like it needs to. It just gels together and can complement and work together. But yeah, it’s definitely not like a 50/50 split. And all right, I’m gonna.

Priscila Martinez 32:48
Yeah,

Max Branstetter 32:49
I’m curious from a creativity standpoint. So like, how do you besides you know, people being referred to you? How do you seek out and get inspired about like, who might be a cool celebrity to work with, or who might be a really cool company to work with,

Priscila Martinez 33:08
on top of everything else that we’re balancing as publicists, you have to keep your finger on the pulse? Like, there is no I don’t know about that, or I haven’t heard of that, you know, influencer, that the client is suggesting you really have to know your stuff. So making sure that you’re paying attention to media that matters right now, you know, tick tock is incredibly popular, and a lot of our new celebrities are coming out of there. And a lot of our input is a moving product. I don’t know, right?

Max Branstetter 33:41
Like you’re about to jump off

Priscila Martinez 33:44
of my last connection started joking. Yeah. Even though I’m a dinosaur, and tick tock is not. Yeah, my age group, and you know, I’m not about to record videos myself, I do have to learn, I have to figure out what’s working, what’s not, you know, what brands are killing it on tick tock, what brands aren’t and what celebrities, you know, are doing really well and then offer up solutions to clients that include that platform, right? And this is just one example and things ebb and flow and, you know, we know that there’s so many things that come in and they have a pop of attention and then you know, they leave but we don’t know what’s going to lead. We don’t know what’s going to stay so as a marketer, as a publicist, as a communicator, you really have to keep abreast of everything that is going on. And then start taking those measurements for your client. Is it worthwhile to invest time and resources but you do have to you know, know what the hot series in Netflix is and who people are talking about on tick tock and what breakup is trending. You really do have to stay on top of your your pop culture.

Max Branstetter 34:56
Do you have any special tricks for for staying so abreast on All that influencers just pop culture all that like it’s a lot and it’s always changing.

Priscila Martinez 35:04
Yeah, I wish I had a good tip I do scroll I like at the end of the

Max Branstetter 35:10
Doomscrolling & lurking

Priscila Martinez 35:10
What a stellar guest you have on a lurker for instance, social media. For me it started in talking about tick tock specifically, I said, I’m gonna do it for a few minutes a bit while I brush my teeth, right? And then after that, and not because you could get sucked in. And then it went from, you know, just brushing to brushing and flossing. And then it went to like taking the tick tock, you know, to bed and spending a few more minutes on there. So there’s no perfect formula. I say, Yeah, a few more. And then next thing, you know, you’re like, Okay, this is not healthy. But what I do have to say is that I work with really cool people. And I’m not just saying that I love every single person that comes into the office. I learned a lot from them to like, sometimes it’s just your watercooler talk, like I’m making a coffee and someone is talking about this influencer or a young publicist says, you know, I just gifted this person and you kind of get into conversation that way. So I feel like I’m using them to suck a little bit of their youth and digestive myself, but I think, you know, keeping those company is one and then you know, even if it’s just a few minutes here and there that you squeeze in while you brush your teeth or floss. Just trying to keep abreast at least you know, knowing how the platform works, knowing you know the big players, so that you can go into a meeting prepared, should a client have any questions.

Max Branstetter 36:38
So let’s switch it up yet. Again. I want to wrap up with a it’s a couple quick segments that are let’s do it pretty different, but it’s more more on the personal side. So like this is about you and kind of just your personality. It doesn’t have to tie to the business at all. So this first this first segment is called the unusual. So pet peeves, quirks weird talents, we’ll start with weird talents so weird talents or party tricks. What is something that you just like have a knack for like you’re really good with it could be something around the office around that house or something? But it has no impact on the business?

Priscila Martinez 37:13
No, I can make a kick-ass pina colada, I will make you drink three of them does not help with anything business. But it’s very refreshing. I can tell you that.

Max Branstetter 37:25
Wow. That’s I think just just hearing the name. Pina Colada just like puts

Priscila Martinez 37:30
you in a nice mood. It’s been transports you somewhere all the time changes in latitudes.

Max Branstetter 37:35
What is a quirk you have like something a little quirky about your personality, your husband, your toddler team somebody calls you out for but as who you are, I

Priscila Martinez 37:45
do this thing with my lips that I don’t notice I do people say that. Like when I’m resting and thinking I’ll I’m sure your video will capture

Max Branstetter 37:54
your attention from the beginning. Welcome,

Priscila Martinez 37:56
watch the tape on this and I am humiliated every time somebody brings it up. But there is

Max Branstetter 38:02
I haven’t noticed it if it’s any consolation.

Priscila Martinez 38:05
And you know, you can have immediate code for the arms and the likes and all of those things. No one teaches you how to stop those things. I don’t know what’s going on in my brain. I don’t know if I’m thinking about something. And that’s, I don’t know what you’ll play the video back and then telling me Yeah,

Max Branstetter 38:22
appreciate it. We’re just gonna have one still shot if you make in the face, and that’s exactly. Alright. And then pet peeves. What is something? You know, besides when somebody calls you out for making that face? What is a pet peeve you have of something that just kind of like ticks you off just a little bit. This

Priscila Martinez 38:41
is a lot getting asked a question that the answer is readily readily available for. So an example is if someone responds to my email and says What time is that? And if they scroll to the original email, they would have found the time that is like just just put me to bed I am done. We’re not talking anymore, that I can really, you know, please me, certainly.

Max Branstetter 39:08
I’m with you. Yeah, there’s a lot of stupid questions out there. I’m guilty of a lot of them. But that’s a great insight that the email chain is like email chances were like a lot of that happens like so many times people are like, I don’t know, if it’s, you know, people using Gmail or something like different email, software that people are reading stuff in a different order. But like, yeah, I feel like there’s a lot of that more and more as time goes on of like something that was missed. It was like clearly in an email. So you gotta watch out. Stay vigilant on that.

Priscila Martinez 39:38
Oh, can I give you a second answer for this question, Gmail, email organization. I was on Outlook for all of my career. We switched to Gmail a little less than a year ago. What are the Gmail Gods thinking when they organize the emails in threads? Can someone please help me I’m

Max Branstetter 40:00
with you know, that’s a good point. I think maybe that was why like subconsciously brought them up was like, Yeah, I mean I use Outlook first and foremost I have Gmail as well. And hands down like Outlook better so yeah, well, yeah, well, we’ll help Google Alaskan but let’s wrap up with some rapid fire q&a. You ready for it?

Priscila Martinez 40:18
Let’s do it.

Max Branstetter 40:19
Alright, let’s do it. I’m just going to ask you about your resting face and I’m just gonna I really haven’t noticed it. Alright, Let’s Get Wild. Let’s Run Wild. What is the actually most beautiful spot on Pepperdine’s campus?

Priscila Martinez 40:37
Oh my goodness, there’s so many of them, honestly. And I’m not just saying this. Like there’s there’s the dorm room row for freshmen. And if you’re walking that loop, there’s a moment where you’re overlooking the tennis courts and the pools and you can see the ocean That’s gorgeous. The Business School is so high up that there is no bad view at all. They have an alumni Park, and it’s just a clear shot of the ocean and the sun setting. There’s no There’s no back view. I’m sorry. And there isn’t just one not to make anyone jealous?

Max Branstetter 41:11
Yeah, no, I’m just gonna like start undergrad all over it. Just go there. All right. What is a place you’ve been for work besides Ken lion? Is it lion or lions? Plural? Lions plural? Yeah. Lions plural. Okay, what’s the place?

Priscila Martinez 41:30
Thank you. So hold on. Now you’re making me think about it.

Max Branstetter 41:33
Well, it’s confusing because Ken has the s and you don’t pronounce it. No

Priscila Martinez 41:36
lines. I was right. I was right. Okay, perfect.

Max Branstetter 41:39
All right. So what? What was the place besides that, that you’ve been for business that was just like, wow, this is pretty

Priscila Martinez 41:45
cool. Puerto Rico. I think that was a that was a good one. I was there for a big event. And we were flying in celebrities. And it was a red carpet and this whole thing and I was just floored at how beautiful. The island that we were at was it was just gorgeous. It’s one of those places that you wake up working and you just feel so lucky.

Max Branstetter 42:07
All right. And then last one, I asked this a lot whenever there’s guests that have worked with celebrities, and because it’s always just a box full of chocolates full of answers. Who’s a celebrity that you’ve met in person that you’ve been most starstruck by?

Priscila Martinez 42:21
Angelina Jolie. I have to say she still does it for me. She is an A++ bonafide celebrity. They don’t make them like they used to she’s stunning, sweet. I had the chance of being in her home and it was just like her introducing herself as if I didn’t know who she was like, of course, I know who you are. So yeah, Angelina Jolie would be my answer. Wow.

Max Branstetter 42:47
Unbelievable. So we’ve gone from Pepperdine to Mr. & Mrs. Smith. Priscila, thank you so much. This has been absolutely awesome. Just love what you’re doing. And congrats on all the growth and success with a brand agency. So cool. Where’s the best place if people want to learn more about the brand agency or if they want to connect with you online? Probably on your Tik Tok, where you’re doing like the flossing dance. Where’s it where’s the best place for that?

Priscila Martinez 43:14
So I

am, well our company is TheBrand-Agency.com and you can find a bunch of our client work there and a few of our team members are listed as well. And then if you want to find me personally, I’m @PrisMartinez on Instagram and then PriscilaPR on LinkedIn so easy to find and I would look forward to connecting with anyone.

Max Branstetter 43:38
Perfect, perfect personal I find I use the term perfect a lot and it works out naturally when the name starts with peace. Yeah, you go Priscila. Pris for short. All right. Last thing, Final Thoughts, the stage is yours, even if I can’t pronounce it. Final Thoughts, can be a word to live by. Just a quote. short bit of advice, whatever you want, send us home here.

Priscila Martinez 43:59
Yeah, I would say just continue being nimble. I think that that’s my motto in life, making sure that you’re able to switch and be quick and make and with anything with life. You know, the only thing that you can prepare for with life is that it’s not going to go the way you planned. So making sure that you’re able to switch your mindset quickly and get up and brush yourself off and get to what you have to do.

Max Branstetter 44:28
A baby’s got to do what a baby’s got to do. Thank you so much, Priscila for coming on the podcast, sharing you’re on-brand, The Brand Agency story. And thank you, Wild Listeners, for tuning in to another episode. If you want to hear more Wild stories like this one, make sure to Follow or Subscribe to the Wild Business Growth podcast on your favorite podcast platform and Subscribe on YouTube that YouTube is @MaxBranstetter and the video versions are always full of surprises will haha I don’t have a good evil laugh. You can also find us on Goodpods where there are good podcasts and podcast recommendations. And for any help with podcast production, you can learn more at MaxPodcasting.com and sign up for the Podcasting to the Max newsletter. That is where podcasting meets entrepreneurship and the worst puns known to humans. Being Human at that, and that you can sign up for at MaxPodcasting.com/Newsletter. Until next time, let your business Run Wild…Bring on the Bongos!!