Monday Edition: Some exciting news to share!
Also: What I'm working on, where I'm traveling, newly published stories, and job leads!
Happy Monday!
I'm back in Brooklyn after having an incredible time in Greenville this past week.
Those of you who I am connected with on social media probably saw that something pretty exciting happened on Friday shortly after I sent out my daily newsletter. Muck Rack released their 2022 edition of the most popular food journalists -- and they ranked me as #1!
Honestly, I have some dear friends on that list, people whose writing I deeply admire as whose talent and drive I aspire to (like the amazing Amber Love Bond, who is also on the list!), and so I'm blown away to be included at all. But shocked to be at the top!
To say I’m honored and humbled would be a complete understatement. I just pray I live up to this incredible accolade.
I'm back in Brooklyn for a few days and then am headed to Louisville later this week. Don't have my schedule yet but I'm hoping to have a bit of free time to connect with a few friends there - so stay tuned!
This past week, when I was in Greenville, my friends Emily and Terri and I used some of our time between events to go for a mead tasting (I mean, is anyone surprised I gravitated toward a medieval spirit?) and while we were there, discovered awesome God Save the Queen t-shirts.
We all bought matching tee in honor of Her Majesty. (We actually also got coordinating temporary tattoos, but that’s a story for another newsletter!) Clearly I wore my God Save the Queen t-shirt this morning while watching the Queen's funeral, which I did while drinking earl gray tea and eating a crumpet in her honor, and it felt really nice to know even if I was watching alone at home, it was something we were all in together.
And we WERE all together. You’d think waking up at 4 am on a Monday, you’d not have a ton of company. But not with someone as universally loved as Her Majesty. I had steady text streams going with a bunch of close friends — including some on the west coast! Did you watch it also? It was poignant and beautiful and I’d love if you shared your thoughts and feelings.
PS: I have a consulting session later this morning and also dinner plans later. Chances are that tee is staying on for at least one of those plans. Possibly both.
God rest the Queen. Long live the King.
Job Leads
Stanton & Company, a full-service sports and lifestyle marketing and PR agency focused in the healthy, active living space in Los Angeles, is looking for an Account Director (AD) and a Senior Account Executive (SAE). These roles would ideally either be based in Los Angeles (hybrid) or New York City (remote). The Account Director (AD) should be energetic, creative, and has strong media relationships and writing skills to manage key accounts, with 10-12 years of experience to help lead our public relations team. The ideal candidate should have an in-depth understanding of and passion for lifestyle, health and wellness, deep relationships with key media, and a solid understanding of how to maximize influencer engagement as part of a PR campaign. Strong written and verbal communication skills and experience managing and fostering growth among multiple clients are important. The Account Director must be a strong multi-tasker, adept at balancing long-term strategic plans while overseeing day-to-day tactical project executions. The Director of PR will lead the strategic planning process and continually develop and implement original, creative communications programs for our clients. This position will work on both brands and individuals, so a combination of personal PR and consumer packaged goods experience is desired. The Senior Account Executive (SAE) should have strong media relationships and writing skills to manage key accounts, with 4-6 years of experience. This candidate must continually demonstrate strong strategic thinking skills, deliver valuable press coverage, be client service-minded and must be passionate about the brands and clients we work with a primary focus in health and wellness, beauty, and natural products/foods. This position will work on both brands and individuals, so a combination of personal PR and consumer packaged goods experience is desired. Please email resumes to ashley@stanton-company.com.
Get a special group rate
I’m now offering a 50% discount on paid subscriptions when purchased as part of a group subscription (that’s four or more people). It’s a great way to get your team involved and save some cash.
Newly published …
Since people are often asking about the status of stories from a while ago, and I only share stories in this newsletter that were published or updated in the current week, I have created a list of my author pages at various publications to which I contribute. Bookmark it and make your life a bit easier.
This list will live on my Substack URL and be updated as necessary. That way, you can see what I’m doing at any publication, at any time, from types of stories to general structure of stories to even volume and frequency of my content at that outlet.
This can also help you to target pitching a bit better. That makes your job easier, and mine too!
RetailMeNot: 7 Ways To Save More on DoorDash
RetailMeNot: How to Shop at Aldi: A Guide for First-Timers
RetailMeNot: 10 Ways to Save More on Uber Eats
The Kitchn: Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s Latest Post-Workout Meal Features Enough Food to Feed an Entire Family
Food Network: The New Tiny Cast Iron From Our Place May Be the Most Adorable Pan We’ve Ever Seen
Her Money: Ways To Save On Hotels That You Never Knew Existed
If you or your client are featured in any of these stories, I super appreciate any social media shares! Please remember to tag @alywalansky and the outlet.
What I’m working on now:
Be sure to read the below list carefully. Many are stories I posted about yesterday, but some of yesterday's stories are no longer listed and a few new ones have been added since yesterday. This (below) is everything that is still a currently open opportunity as of today.
Please remember when pitching me: Email me at alywalansky@gmail.com - do NOT just hit reply on this newsletter, or there’s a good shot your email will be lost in the heap. Give your email a subject line that makes it clear which story you are pitching me for — it’ll help you in the long run.
Please consult my industry insights guides on submitting expert commentary, sending emails that will catch a journalist’s attention, how to craft pitches journalists will say ‘yes’ to, and the right and wrong way to submit photos, if you need any extra guidance before sending your pitches.
Forbes.com
National Taco Day is a few weeks away and I’m looking for fun, unique, inventive tacos. If your restaurant has something really cool and interesting and delicious, please send me the following: Name of dish, where sold, description, quote from chef about the dish, and a high res image.
TODAY.COM
I’m rounding up freebies, deals, and discounts at food chains in honor of the following upcoming food holidays:
National Coffee Day (9/29)
National Taco Day (10/4)
Please send me the deal, when it’s good, what the deal is, how to claim it, and any other details. (Is it only good during specific hours, is it only good at specific locations? This is all helpful to know!)
Share the love
Every morning, I share what I’m working on that day and links to newly published stories and send it right into your inbox — for free! I also share productivity tips, job leads, links to volunteer and mentoring opportunities, recipes, and more — all always free.
Please share this newsletter with a friend or colleague today. Every Friday, I randomly choose one new free subscriber who signed on that week. They will be automatically upgraded to a paid subscription for free — and, if they tell me who referred them to this Substack, that person will as well! These opportunities only get better if we share them with our friends.
Paid subscriptions get additional benefits, such as my weekly industry insights newsletters, subscriber Zoom chats, and much more.
Virtual consulting sessions...
Looking for a consult as you plan your next event or trip? Or just want someone to take a look at the pitches you’ve been sending and give some feedback?
I've been popping into a lot of PR team virtual meetings and some other fun stuff (This summer, I even joined in on an agency’s team retreat right here in Brooklyn — it was so fun and I made so many new friends!) and making myself available to answer all sorts of questions about pitching, events, and trips from a media perspective. I like to keep these things chill and comfortable and relaxed all by sharing perspective and learning from one another.
If you are interested in setting anything up for your own team in the coming months, please email me and we'll get something on the books! This is available for entire agencies or smaller group lunch and learn type concepts. If you are a freelance publicist and want to join in with a few other freelance publicist friends and set something up, we can do that as well!
Potential new availability: A few people have reached out to me and asked if I was also open to doing consulting for freelance journalists in addition to the PR consulting sessions I currently do, and I am absolutely considering it. I need to spend some time thinking on what a session like that may look like and be structured, but after 20+ years in the industry, I’ve seen a whole lot change and it may be interesting to share my own experiences with someone just starting out. So, stay tuned!
On the fence over whether this is a good fit for your team? Here’s some feedback I received from people who I have worked with recently:
"Aly’s advice and insight is invaluable to our team, not only is she incredibly knowledgeable, she is approachable, generous, and kind too. While we read every one of her newsletters, we decided to go one step further and invited Aly to host a Q&A with our agency. During the session, we felt comfortable asking her everything and anything. She went above and beyond, providing examples and reasoning for each answer, and the team walked away with an abundance of new insight, tips, and tricks, plus a new confidence in handling some of the most crucial parts of our jobs." Sacha Bell, Rachel Harrison Communications
"Looking for a brilliant writer that always goes above and beyond? Look no further than Aly! She is an incredible teacher, tells it exactly how it is and is so generous in sharing her knowledge. She knows what she wants from publicists, is very clear on her needs and expectations, and how to best support one another. Most of all, her kind personality jumps off the page, and her giggle and smile are infectious. In this consistently changing world of media, it’s so refreshing to know someone so genuine.” Kirsten Wanket
“Aly spoke to our team to help us all gain a better understanding of the media side of our business. Whether it was the best ways to pitch media or understanding the editorial process of content, she gave us tremendous insight into a vital relationship for mutual success. We were thrilled and our team came away with not only a deeper understanding, but with greater empathy for our colleagues in the media market. Definitely would recommend Aly for any agency looking to better work with their media counterparts.” Dawn Britt, Founder/Managing Partner/CEO of OneSeven Agency
“Aly has very kindly agreed to join a few sessions for us talking to both smaller and larger internal groups, and it has been incredibly helpful for our team to understand more about her process, and garner best practices that we leverage as we work on various programs. From sharing dos and don’ts for virtual and in-person events to pitching tips, Aly is a pro and always so thoughtful in her responses. And her own first-hand knowledge has helped us all to better understand the work process for freelancers and how we can most effectively work with other freelancers like Aly. We always appreciate her time and insights!” Erin Delahanty, Edelman
“I would highly recommend booking a virtual consulting session with Aly for an agency of any size! She offers up to date perspective on everything from the affiliates to how to get your pitches read to timing your pitching correctly. These virtual consulting sessions literally save you time trying to figure out what the media is looking for and give your team an immediate edge. Aly took her time and answered questions from the team. She is super friendly and you can tell she genuinely wants to create a win-win relationship between the media and publicists. Our team loved having Aly on and we cannot wait to have her back! It was a blast!” Leah Cybulski, ChicExecs
“Aly was able to join our agency for a PR Perspectives chat and not only was it so much fun, but it was so informative! Keeping a pulse on the constantly changing media landscape is so important and we loved the insights and expertise Aly was able to share with us. Highly recommend setting up a chat with her!” Jennifer Haile, Dentsu Creative PR
“I am always looking for ways to share new ideas and learning opportunities with our team to improve how we pitch and offer value to journalists and in turn their audience. Aly's no nonsense approach gave us accessible advice about the best way to communicate to media, what formats works best, and basically how we can share our client news in a way that will get us noticed and included in stories. Would do again in a heartbeat!” Samantha Davidson, Say My Name Communications
“For my team’s first hybrid media event for a product launch in the COVID era, Aly quickly jumped on a Zoom and dropped great insights that drove many of the event elements. The direction she provided helped us increase attendance and gave her journalist colleagues a more memorable experience. It was a bonus that she was so easy and fun to talk to.” Apryl Ash, Approach Marketing
Now, it’s your turn! Email me at alywalansky@gmail.com to get something on my schedule for this fall.
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Affiliate marketing is complicated, and it seems that the landscape keeps changing. If you are looking to be prepared for gift guide season and all other shopping-related content, you may want to try the Ultimate Masterclass and Introduction to Affiliate Marketing for Publicists. It's a brilliant course and it'll answer all your questions (including some you didn't know you had!)
That’s it for today! Have a great day and I’ll see you same place, same time, tomorrow!
<3
aly
congrats on MuckRack, amazing! So glad they recognize greatness!
I loved seeing all your photos and a huge CONGRATS to you! That's awesome Aly!!