Heather Holmes is the Founder and CEO of Publicity for Good, a millennial-run communications firm that provides high-level disruptive publicity and social media services across industries. A seasoned professional in communication and marketing, Heather is dedicated to fostering community growth and brand development. With an inspiring journey guiding aspiring PR professionals and entrepreneurs, she champions ethical values, as demonstrated by her unique lifestyle of living off the land. Her dedication to sustainable living and self-sufficiency adds depth to her expertise, which extends to nationally recognized food brands and restaurants.
Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:
- [2:09] Heather Holmes shares how she lives on a 22-acre homestead with chickens and a garden
- [4:30] How Heather became drawn to PR after securing over 35 media interviews per week at an ad agency
- [5:28] Why Heather founded Publicity For Good
- [10:40] Keys to gaining media attention
- [12:15] What are the critical elements of a successful PR campaign?
- [16:55] Heather lists some common PR misconceptions
In this episode…
The public relations industry can play a crucial role in amplifying brand stories and driving positive impact. What strategic approaches and mindsets are key to growing a purpose-driven business in this industry?
According to Heather Holmes, a public relations veteran, authentically connecting your brand’s story to meaningful causes and current trends is crucial. Inspired by PR’s power to reach new audiences and scale businesses, Heather started her own agency with the goal of amplifying brands that create positive change. Despite facing challenges like the pandemic, her consistency, entrepreneurial spirit, and focus on pitching relevant narratives enabled Publicity for Good to grow from a startup to a team of 30, generating millions of impressions. For long-term success, it’s important to integrate authentic storytelling, leverage connections, understand what the media wants, and align PR with the overall marketing strategy.
On this episode of the Top Business Leaders Show, Heather Holmes, the Founder and CEO of Publicity for Good, joins Rise25’s Chad Franzen. Heather discusses her journey to building Publicity for Good into a renowned, purpose-driven PR agency, and shares insights on the power of storytelling and media relationships to amplify brands and drive positive change. She also delves into balancing entrepreneurship and parenthood, her vision for her agency, and strategies for successful PR campaigns.
Resources mentioned in this episode:
- Chad Franzen on LinkedIn
- Rise25
- Email the team at Rise25: support@rise25.com
- Heather Holmes on LinkedIn
- Publicity for Good
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Episode Transcript
Intro 0:04
Welcome to the Top Business Leaders Show. Powered by Rise25 media, we featured top founders, executives and business leaders from all over the world.
Chad Franzen 0:20
Chad Franzen here, co host of the top business leaders show where we feature CEOs, entrepreneurs and top leaders in the business world. This episode is brought to you by Rise25. We help b2b businesses reach their dream relationships and connect with more clients referrals and strategic partnerships and get ROI through done for you podcasts. If you have a b2b business and want to build great relationships, there’s no better way to do it than to profile the people and companies you admire most on your podcast. To learn more, go to Rise25.com or email us at support@rise25.com Heather Holmes is the CEO and founder of Publicity For Good. She’s a renowned PR professional dedicated to making a positive impact on the world with a passion for helping individuals and brands amplify their stories. Heather has built publicity for good into a powerhouse agency known for its innovative approach to PR. Heather’s leadership and expertise have led to the agency generating millions of impressions for clients and various media outlets, including ABC, CBS News, and more. Beyond her professional accomplishments, she’s also a wife and mother and living off the land and embodying the values of sustainability and community that she promotes through her work. Heather, it’s great to have you today. How are you?
Heather Holmes 1:36
Yeah, I’m really excited to be here and really help people scale their business. And I’m a mom, I have 202. And one of the way and I don’t have a babysitter today. So this is the life we live working from home. But I love being here. I’m the founder of Publicity for Good. And we partner with purpose driven brands and people to grow their impact and community by really getting into media.
Chad Franzen 2:02
So I would love to hear all about that. But first, tell me about this living off the land. What does that mean?
Heather Holmes 2:10
Yeah, so we, we have 22 acres, and we’re slowly building a homestead. When we found out that we were pregnant, we were like it’s gonna, we need to build fast. So we ended up building a house that has two acres, and we have our own chickens. So we get eggs every morning. We have a garden, we’re not fully self sufficient. Yes, we still go to farmers markets and the grocery stores, but very intentional. We buy our groceries at bulk. And we’re just trying to eat you know, as local as possible.
Chad Franzen 2:42
Wow, that is awesome. How many different types of crops would you are you able to enjoy?
Heather Holmes 2:50
Oh, my gosh, I don’t even count. But I think it’s a good reminder. Because sometimes in business, it’s easy to lose faith or forget about doing the boring things every day. Right, like doing outreach, or just doing the things that keep the lights, you know, running. And I think growing crops or flowers is such an amazing reminder that you don’t water them every day, they’re going to die, right? So like, we have to do the boring things every day. And scaling isn’t sexy, it’s very boring. It’s showing the same thing every single day. And it’s such a good reminder.
Chad Franzen 3:29
How much work how much work does that take?
Heather Holmes 3:33
It should take more. And like I’m trying to save my plants right now because I forgot about them. But I tried to have it be a part of my morning routine go out, go barefoot during coffee and like water the garden. I am not a pro I am not 10 hours a week in the garden. Very minimal. Where we’re at right now is just full force building a business scaling and then being parents. So you know, gardening, you know, doesn’t necessarily get as much time as it should. But you know, you you’ve learned the basics, you figure it out. And we’ll have amazing, you know, food, grow our kale from last year. It’s still you know, here, so it’s fun.
Chad Franzen 4:18
So let’s get back to Publicity for Good. Take me through kind of your journey up till the point where you started. But what does your background kind of look like?
Heather Holmes 4:31
So I worked at an advertising agency of a publicist for three and a half years, I was a communication major. And it was the kind of environment where you had to secure media interviews every week for clients. You didn’t go home if you didn’t meet your goal, right. So I got really good at relationship building. And I remember I had my planner and I would take notes of how many people I called How many emailed how many interviews I booked, then, you know, I look and it’s been like two years and I’m booking 35 interviews a week and I fell in love with publicity. And the fact that you can reach new audiences and really tell your story and I’ve seen business owners scale, not even having a website. It’s just their story, your story, and that’s what’s really powerful is that PR allows you to grow your community, you build a network, you share your story, and you scale. So.
Chad Franzen 5:22
So you, you did that for three and a half years. And then what inspired you to start Publicity For Good?
Heather Holmes 5:28
Yeah, so my dad and uncle were really successful entrepreneurs in real estate, and they both passed away. So really leaving a legacy was the only thing that I thought I could do. But when you work at an ad agency, it’s very long hours, 15 hour days, but it’s not like you’re getting up at five, you’re getting your work done, you’re taking a little break, there’s no flow of wife and work, it’s just like, you’re there nonstop, right? And I dreamed of being able to build something that made a difference that made a difference for my family, for clients. But, you know, like, there would be a little bit more flexibility. You know, like, as long as I met my metrics, I could get up at five and work. And then if I had to do something midday for the kids, I could write, like, that’s really what drives me to start the company. We started the agency, eight years ago. But we’re now a full time team of 30, full time in the US, Brazil and Philippines. At first million dollar a year was the year of the pandemic. And literally for three and a half years, we live full time on our air strain, my husband and I. And when you don’t have a lot, and you’re in a very little space, you scale, but then also in a pandemic happened, our business literally like decreased by 50%. Right away, and it was scary. So we had to scale we had to hustle. And we were able to because everything was closed, there were no distractions, and we had to scale to survive and keep the team.
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