6 Tips for Dealing with Publicity Stress and the PR Grind

By Peggy Sealfon

Promoting yourself can be challenging.

But you can take several clear—and simple—steps to streamline the process and keep stress at bay.  I used to own an advertising agency and, more recently, have become a life coach, author and publisher, so I’ve distilled advice into these six doable tips.

1. Create a simple publicity outline or plan to set your path.

Whether you’re launching a book or sponsoring an event, you have many details to manage. Planning can go a long way toward reducing the pressure.

Cultivate exposure through all the social media venues: a website for your book, Facebook page, Twitter account, Instagram, your LinkedIn profile, etc. Make a list of media contacts and bloggers who might be interested in your topic.

Write a press release. Consider how your topic might be tied to timely “news” events to expand potential coverage.  For instance, I was able to appear on a local early-morning FOX news broadcast last month for my book Escape From Anxiety and talk about stress during the holidays.

2. Take periodic breaks, especially when working at a computer.

Brain fog is a big casualty of prolonged sitting. Make sure you schedule quiet moments each day.

As humans, we weren’t meant to be at high alert every minute of every day. So I suggest you take what I call a “productivity pause” to be quiet for a few minutes. Give yourself permission to sit still. Close your eyes, take a few deep sighs, and let go of all thinking and doing for one to five minutes.

A big exhalation actually signals the body to relax. In my free audio, 3MinutestoDestress.com, you can learn how to take brief mental pauses that will refresh your mind and body in productive ways. It will help you think more clearly, feel more energized, function more effectively and ultimately reduce stress.

3. Be positive about PR.

Develop productive self-talk patterns. Be mindful and aware of negative thoughts like “I’m not important enough to be on that big TV show” or “That editor would never agree to meet with me” and stop them in their tracks.  Interrupt them with an affirmation or mantra that reminds you of who you are. 

I’ve distilled my personal message to myself into three words which I schedule as an alert on my phone daily: Passionate. Powerful. Purposeful.

It reinforces how I want to show up in my life and helps me keep on track. Write down a few words that describe who you are at your very core and how you wish to be perceived.

4. Periodically, take time to get organized.

Detox your environment that’s filled with scraps of paper with reporters’ phone numbers, notes, PR books—anything that might distract you. Get that media contact information into an online database which can be something as simple as a Word or Excel document. Cleansing is a good way to avoid having tasks slip through the cracks. 

If you’re not good at organizing, find someone who is. Offload tasks you hate doing. For instance, I dislike filing and accounting so I have assistants who love these tasks and do them well. Accept what you can do and delegate what you can’t.

Publicity tasks you can hire someone else to do include finding people on Fiverr.com to create a simple logo, researching bloggers who might welcome a guest post, hiring an assistant for a few hours a week to help with social media, or using a professional press release writer. An assistant can also do things like read through emails you get when you subscribe to HARO, the media leads service.  

5. Be around confident people.

Their attitudes will rub off on you and can be inspiring. Jim Rohn, Tony Robbins’ first mentor, said: “You’re the average of the five people you spend the most time with.”  

If you want to be successful, choose to be in the presence of successful people. You’ll learn a great deal. Their habits and perspectives are contagious.

6. Ask for help, advice and support.

Don’t be afraid to contact people who you see in news stories to ask how they got their publicity. Many will be flattered you noticed and eager to share their experiences.

Join LinkedIn groups devoted to book marketing, PR and publicity. Share your successes .Ask and answer questions.

You can offer to help, too. In your own community, meet the editors and reporters of your weekly and daily newspapers. Offer yourself as a resource and ask, “How can I help you?”

Look for local publicists, or PR people who specialize in your industry. Even though you might be tempted to do it yourself, the pros can actually save you time and money.

How do you destress and decompress from your publicity tasks? Tell us in the comments.

Peggy Sealfon is an internationally-renowned expert on dealing with stress and anxiety. A motivational speaker and author, she is a certified Life Coach with advanced training in ancient yogic techniques, mindfulness and spirituality as well as certifications in functional medicine, modern psychology, energy medicine and nutrition.  She is co-author of The Change—Insights Into Self Empowerment, one of the fastest-growing personal development book series in the world. Her best-selling book is Escape From Anxiety—Supercharge Your Life With Powerful Strategies From A to Z.  She is publisher and editor of Embodying the Power of the Zero Stress Zone (published January 2017) a compilation of the teachings of world-renowned spiritual master (and Kripalu Founder) Yogi Amrit Desai.