Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Angel Tuccy. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Angel, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.
I came up with the idea for Vedette Global after being released from broadcasting. For 10 years, I was a radio talk show host in Denver, CO. During my career, I hosted over 2500 broadcasts and interviewed over 5,000 guests. In one afternoon, my entire world changed when our station “made a change”. Feeling like this was an amazing opportunity to make a change, I was also feeling paralyzed with making the decision of what to do next. I took advantage of the time off to go away for a few days, into the mountains to decide what my next step would be. I had options. I could stay home and support my husband in his business. I could stay in broadcasting, the overwhelming advice I was being given. Or I could start something completely new. I needed to give myself some space to make this big decision. During that time away, the idea of teaching entrepreneurs and small business owners how to leverage media exposure for growing their brands and sharing their stories came flooding at me. Then, looking for a unique name that represents what we would do for our clients, we named our company Vedette Global. Vedette is the French word for “star of the show”. During the next 3 days, I wrote out the entire business model with markers and printer paper. The papers were laid out all around me as I sat on the floor and drew it out. The ideas came flowing out of me like water. I turned on my laptop and recorded an online teaching course, with 12 separate modules walking you step by step on how to write your media story, and how to find ideal media opportunities for your topic and story. I reached out to my business coach and set up appointments to speak at 10 small business conferences across the country. While these conferences already had dozens of speakers, they didn’t have anyone from the media teaching how to access media. I was a unicorn of the conference. Becoming a public speaker was one of the biggest leaps of faith I had ever taken. It all happened so quickly. I jumped in with both feet and gave it 100% attention and action. It was a divine feeling like I was being called to make this change to bring small business owners new hope for finding media opportunities. During that first year of launching Vedette Global, I spoke to over 100 groups, traveled internationally, and created a boutique PR service. Our company has helped our clients get featured on thousands of media news outlets, magazines, stages, and podcasts. Now, I love that my clients call me the Media Matchmaker.
Angel, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I started as a podcaster in 2009, and we were discovered by a local radio station. The show was popular enough that I ended up hosting a daily talk radio show. By the end of my broadcasting career, I was hosting four hours of talk radio daily, with two back-to-back shows. The first show was a positive business talk show, and the second one was a Christian lifestyle show for moms. During my career, I saw how business owners often underestimate how powerful media exposure can be for a business of any size.
One of the things that fired me up and gave me the passion to help small businesses and grow their exposure was the success and impact of the exposure itself. Not only the exposure as it was portrayed but the marketing behind it, which turned out to be brilliant for small business owners.
My passion to leverage media exposure also stems from watching small business owners create a lifestyle that feels so busy, yet unproductive. They’re filling their calendars with one-on-one discovery calls, coffee meetings, long presentations and other time-consuming processes, struggling to convert one client or one customer at a time. When you leverage the power of media, you circumvent all the beginner skepticism and immediately fill your funnel with pre-qualified leads.
Being seen in the media allows you to invite people into your high value offers more quickly. For example, if it’s the first time that you’ve met, it can be challenging to expect them to buy your high-ticket programs, especially if they aren’t familiar with you yet. You want to provide them with a chance to explore what you’re offering. When you buy a product or service, they want to feel like they know a little bit about the company before they jump in with both feet.
The fastest way to start, or cement a customer relationship, is with media exposure. It’s all about being discovered and the power of media exposure comes to the fore when you can place yourself in front of your target audience. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that you can make things a whole lot easier for yourself by utilizing the resources that are readily available. The alternative? Filling your days knocking on doors, spending forever on the phone and chasing customers in a never-ending follow up loop.
Success is a strategy, not a secret. Here is my 3, 2,1 Media Boost strategy that any business owner can use to create momentum and publicity:
1) One press release per month. This rapidly puts you in front of thousands of media news desks, creating publicity and buzz for your business. It also expands your SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and builds relationships with journalists long before they need you.
2) Two interviews a week. Twice a week, be interviewed or speak on somebody else’s stage – someone else’s podcast, radio show, magazine, or television. That works out to being in front of 100 new audiences a year. Audiences. Rooms. Groups. Think about all the one-on-one emails you’re sending, your LinkedIn private message efforts, the drowning discovery calls and coffee meetings where you have to pay for you own cup of coffee for someone to ‘pick your brain’. Forget them. Two interviews a week, speaking one-to-many, replaces – and surpasses – the results from all the onesies.
3) Connect with three journalists a week. Build relationships with media contacts and journalists long before you need them. Each week, I want you to add 3 new media contacts to your database. This is the power list of who you’re going to pitch in order to get to your two interviews a week and one press release every month.
The 3, 2, 1 strategy will change your business in 90 days. It doesn’t have to take forever to turn your business around and feed the funnel. Give this strategy your full 90 days of attention and watch the universe show up to serve you and create a miracle in your business.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
Several years ago, when I was still in broadcasting, hosting 2 daily radio talk shows every weekday, I had gone to Arizona to visit my girlfriend for a relaxing weekend getaway. We went to yoga, had brunch, and were just hanging out and relaxing. On Sunday afternoon, my business coach called me to ask, “what are you doing tomorrow?” Well, I was scheduled to fly back to Denver in the morning, so I could be back in the studio that afternoon. I had a flight scheduled. I had 2 radio shows scheduled. My husband was expecting me home. My week was all scheduled. He told me that he was hosting a business conference in Las Vegas and invited me to come speak about media coaching. This meant I had to change my flight. I had to call my producer and find a replacement. I had to call my husband to let him know I was making a detour. I had to borrow clothes from my friend because I had only packed casual clothes and yoga pants. I borrowed a dress, jewelry and even shoes. The next moring, I walked into the conference in Vegas at 11 o’clock in the morning. I spoke in front of this excited group of entrepreneurs and showing up for that event changed my life. 3 weeks later, I was released from my broadcasting contract. Had I not shown up for that event to speak just 3 weeks earlier, that news would have crushed me. Instead, I used that news to launch me into the public speaker that I am today.
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
What helped me build my reputation in the marketplace came from endorsements and referrals. I was an unknown in the speaker/conference world. Yet, being invited to speak on other people’s stages, gave me the endorsement from the host to the audience in the room. Being an invited guest is a very effective and quick way to establish your reputation. To meet event hosts, I would volunteer to crew their events. I would show up to help out and to serve. I earned my way in from the inside. I’d find events that I wanted to speak at and I would show up to serve before I would ask to speak. Once I created a connection, and shared my expertise willingly, the invitations to speak at their next event would show up. Speaking in front of an audience is a fast way to build your reputation. I teach my clients to speak or to be interviewed twice a week – that gives you exposure to over 100 new audiences in a single year. After that, the opportunities will continue to snowball. Stages attract more stages.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://vedetteglobal.teachable.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/angeltuccy
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/makeyourbigimpact
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/angeltuccy/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/angeltuccy
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/AngelTuccyPR
Image Credits
Tricia Turpenoff