Thursday: What the Princess Kate saga reminds us about messaging, branding, and modernizing PR approaches.

Good morning!

It’s no secret I’m a little obsessed with all things royal family, and have been the go-to source in my extended social circle for anything royal-news related for decades.

So, it may come as a bit of a surprise I haven’t really been posting much about the whole “Where is Princess Kate?” drama that has taken over social media the last few weeks. I have some of my own feelings on that matter, but I realized we do have an opportunity here to explore what has been happening from a branding perspective — and there’s been some really important lessons to be learned along the way.

Messaging: Every brand/business wants to pilot their own messaging, of course. And, of course, who hasn’t edited a photo or added a fun filter to a selfie before posting it. We all have. But we’re also in an era where we’re all terrified of AI taking over, fake news is all over the Internet, and sometimes nothing feels as authentic or genuine as it should. But rather than just take it for the post-truth world it sometimes appears we live in, we can take this as an opportunity to remind ourselves how important it is to be honest, and accessible, and engage with our audiences in an authentic way. If you go silent when things seem to go awry, people notice — and as we learned from Watergate a million years ago, the cover-up is often a lot worse than the crime. (Not that I’m saying there was a crime here at all, but the whole effort to not be transparent has only made people notice the lack of transparency more than they would have in the first place.)

If you lie, people will know. If you try to mislead or fabricate a truth, people will know. And the trust will be destroyed. Social media is a GREAT way to make brands and their followers have a deeper and more authentic relationship — but it’s also a really fast way to irrevocably destroy that relationship.

In short: A brand’s social media is a great way to build trust and relationships. But that same social media can instantly destroy those same relationships if you make a mess of it — and we see that happening in real time here.

Also, it can’t be denied that as much as we may love (or hate) the royals - they are a really old brand, at its core. If your brand is 1,000 years old (in their case) or decades old, maybe, in your case, you have to adapt with changing times and needs and audiences — the PR strategy of the royal family back when Queen Victoria was around ain’t going to cut it in 2024, in the age of social media, and they have done a really poor job of adapting.

Consider that with your own clients’ PR needs — educate them, help them to move forward to the modern and current needs of their audiences, but also the journalists that you and they work with, before they lose the game of Darwinism as well.

The reality: In the absence of the information people crave, they will just fill in the blanks — and you may not love the result of that game of Mad Libs.

You can still grab the recording of our Mother’s Day Gift Guide AMA Zoom Event!

Thanks for attending last week’s Mother’s Day Gift Guide AMA Zoom Event, cohosted by my dear friend and badass journalist Alice Dubin. We had a blast and a full house and dozens of amazing questions on everything from helping your pitch to stand out, to better email subject lines to followups and photo submission best practices and SO MUCH MORE. You can catch more information on what we covered and how to access the recording here.

So honored to see Muck Rack included me in their 2024 list of top ten most popular freelance journalists. Check out the list here.

gelsoandgrand

A post shared by @gelsoandgrand

In just about the coolest news that can happen to a girl who grew up in Brooklyn, there’s a pizza named after me! It’s inspired by my Dirty Aly martini and it’s at Gelso & Grand in Little Italy. Please go check it out and tell me what you think <3

Newly published or freshly updated

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: 20+ Stores Closed on Easter Sunday (and 20+ That Will Stay Open)

• Forbes.com: Patrick Mahomes And Travis Kelce Partner On Upscale Kansas City Steakhouse

• Forbes.com: Hop Over To These 11 Bars Nationwide To Try Their Fun Easter Cocktails

• Travel & Leisure: Zappos' St. Patrick's Day Sale Has Us Feeling Lucky — Hoka, Birkenstock, and More Are Up to 55% Off

• RetailMeNot: 15 Easter Sales That Shouldn’t Be Missed for 2024

• Food Network: Del Monte’s Newest Pineapple Is Made for One

• Forbes.com: The Settepani Rainbow Cookie Croissant Offers A Fresh Spin On A Dessert Classic

• Forbes.com: A Soup Made With Louis XIII Cognac May Be The Ultimate Luxury For Seafood Lovers

• Forbes.com: 10 Relaxing Nightcaps To Enjoy In Honor Of National Sleep Awareness Month

• RetailMeNot: Savings Star Origin Story: How I Learned to Eat Well (In NY!) On a Shoestring Budget

• Best Life: 11 Things You Should Put Away When Guests Come Over, Experts Say

• RetailMeNot: How to Save on Groceries: Tips That Actually Work

• RetailMeNot: Meal Prepping Products That Are Actually WORTH It

• Travel & Leisure: I’m a Travel Writer, and This Is My Secret to Packing for a Week in a Single Carry-on Bag

• Travel & Leisure: In-flight Theft Is Unfortunately a Thing, but These 12 Items Give Me Peace of Mind When I'm Traveling by Plane

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.

Here’s what I’m working on:

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.

RetailMeNot

How to Save on Food Delivery Apps: You may have picked up that everyone is noticing that food delivery is VERY expensive. What was a lifeline during the pandemic and then a habit has become a huge budget drain for many. But the reality is — sometimes you just have to order food delivery (maybe you're sick, maybe you want the convenience factor). So what steps can you take to make sure you save the most you can? So I’m looking for expert tips (actionable) on saving money on food delivery.

Budget shopping and cooking/eating smarter: As you all know, I write a lot of content for RMN related to budget shopping and cooking/eating smarter. I’m going to be working on a monthly column on the subject of cooking/eating well on a budget, and I’d love you to pitch me products/ideas to consider for it - maybe a new meal-stretching product that is a good deal at a grocery store, an awesome product to try that may cut my meal prep time in half, other themes as far as saving money on food/cooking/eating and doing it in a way that is smarter.

Forbes

Are any bars/restaurants planning a fun cocktail or dish in honor of Purim? If you have something, please email me with the name of the cocktail, a description (not a recipe), a quote from the bartender or chef, and an image. (And please remember to consult my nifty photo guidelines here.) Please pitch me by March 21 for this one. Reminder: The cocktail or dish MUST exist on a menu at a restaurant or bar either permanently or as a special.

Looking to up your affiliate marketing game?

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!)

Virtual (and now in-person!) 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’m available for PR team virtual meetings to answer questions about pitching, events, and trips from a media perspective.  Note: I’m also available to travel for consulting sessions as long as travel expenses are covered. We can chat! This is available for entire agencies or smaller group lunch and learn type concepts.

<3

aly