We recently connected with Shanté Micah and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Shanté, thanks for joining us today. Some of the most interesting parts of our journey emerge from areas where we believe something that most people in our industry do not – do you have something like that?

The traditional model of PR and marketing emphasizes controlled, visible campaigns that directly engage consumers through advertisements or crafted content. While these elements remain parts of the marketing mix, they are no longer the sole drivers of consumer interest. Today, consumers are increasingly skeptical of information that comes directly from brands. They’ve told us that they prefer to know us through other means, not ads or content marketing. They are more likely to trust and be influenced by organic interactions within their personal networks.

At Good News, we focus on the profound impact of ‘dark social’, which refers to the sharing of content through channels that are not measurable by traditional analytics tools, such as email, messaging apps, secure browsing, social media, and media. This type of sharing is often overlooked by marketers because it’s not visible or trackable in the same way that interactions on public social media platforms are. However, it represents a significant portion of the online sharing activity and is a genuine testament to a brand’s actual reach and influence.

When someone shares a product recommendation in a private message, it carries a personal endorsement that is far more impactful than any advertisement or public social media post. This is because it’s unsolicited and comes from a trusted source. Similarly, media mentions, are then likely to be largely shared via dark social.

We aim to build brand credibility and visibility in a way that aligns with how people communicate and make purchasing decisions today, which usually means diversifying or replacing current marketing efforts with more media mentions and features (like this) that make up the new modern marketing dynamics and focus on genuine relationships and trust rather than mere visibility.

Shanté, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I began my career in the dynamic field of broadcast journalism before transitioning to a role as a brand and communication strategist. I hold a master’s degree in public relations from The Newhouse School of Public Communications in New York.

In my career, I have worked for International Sports Broadcasting as the host broadcaster for the Olympics, and I have managed brand strategies for companies big and small. Throughout my career, I have been instrumental in developing and representing the identity of various brands, spearheading numerous award-winning campaigns for major clients such as Adobe, Dell, ESPN, Disney, and Time Warner Cable.

In 2021, I founded Good News, a company dedicated to assisting brands in enhancing their visibility, clout, and credibility through earned media and strategic thought leadership. Our focus is on cultivating strong, authentic narratives that resonate deeply with target audiences, leveraging my extensive background in both traditional media and strategic communication.

Our goal is to create a company that acts as a safe harbor for its employees, partners, clients, and customers. Brands need to be better at understanding the new needs of their consumers and presenting them with authenticity before all else.

How’d you meet your business partner?

I met my business partner Josh Moody in 2014. I had my own company and I was being recruited to work for the same agency that Josh was a part of. I remember saying “no thank you” so many times but they were smart and set up a couple of lunches with their best people. Josh was one of those people. I was ultimately onboarded at the company and while Josh and I led two different teams we collaborated and talked often about our life goals, values, what we were reading, how we were developing our teams, and our leadership.

Eventually, I moved on to a new company and when I resigned from that role, I knew the next adventure would be once again as a creative and business owner. I was in the mix of a few transitions, including renovating a 100-year-old house, adopting two pups, and trying to give them the best life possible. One day, I thought about Josh and sent him a quick email updating him on my whereabouts. He responded and said that I had popped into his mind the day prior. We set up a Zoom, chatted about business and goals as usual, and at the end I asked if he’d be open to being accountability partners. We started meeting via Zoom on a weekly business and after a couple of months, he proposed the idea of doing something together as business partners. I said yes and within a few weeks, Good News was born.

Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?

Teams thrive on alignment. Reinforcing alignment through consistent messaging and exemplary actions is key and from what I’ve seen, misunderstood. I helped a multi-billion dollar brand navigate the unprecedented firsts of 2020 and it became apparent what teams had strong alignment and what teams did not.

Here’s what I learned as a leader of a team that not only survived 2020 and beyond but thrived as a result. One, you have to articulate key values to your team, as in what makes a strong A player. Write them down. Rank them in order of importance. Define them. Share them often.

Two, you have to share both the vision and the means to empower and enable your team. This includes everything from how to communicate their ideas and how to communicate on a daily basis. Anything new came to me as a one-pager. This forced my team to think critically about what they were proposing and allowed us one single document to discuss and if it made sense, expand upon and run up the chain of command for further alignment. Daily communication meant defining channels and expectations for real-time feedback.

Three, I had to be exemplary in what I required of my team, from the key values to communication. My best moments were when members of my team ran with something and acted “as if” which was easy because they mirrored my approach.

Finally, if something goes well, your team gets credit. If something goes wrong, you take full responsibility.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://higoodnews.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shantemicah
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shantemicah/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@thisisgoodnews