What do reality TV, entrepreneurship, publicity, and a balloon décor small business owner have in common? It sounds like a setup for a joke that is sure to have a nerdy punchline. But Bryan Laughery, founder of ClearCut PR and featured reality TV judge, ties it all together with sophistication in this “behind the scenes” look at a live coaching session for small business owner Jennifer Nyikos of Fun By The Yard.
The Blox is a reality TV competition show. It’s the largest live in start up competition show in the world, and it’s hosted by reality TV star Wes Bergmann. Early-stage startups compete in a weeklong competition with a series of pitches, coaching, and consults, all while being scored by a panel of judges so one startup can be named as a great start-up on The Blox. Bryan Laughery, a seasoned entrepreneur and communications veteran is one of those featured judges. Laughery’s resume boasts over a decade of experience in communications leadership roles for New York City companies, working with household names such as Disney, Marvel, Star Wars, Warner Brothers, and others. Now, Laughery runs the fastest up-and-coming PR agency, ClearCut PR, out of New Jersey. “We’re on a mission to get brilliant, hardworking entrepreneurs the publicity they deserve,” says Laughery when speaking about his company.
Jennifer Nyikos, founder of Fun By the Yard, a balloon décor company out of South Bend, Indiana, was a recent contestant on a filmed season of The Blox where Laughery was judging. They didn’t get a chance for an on-air consultation, so they did one behind the scenes, and it resulted in a major eye-opener on how publicity can benefit any small business.
For context, Nyikos, founder of Fun By the Yard, had attained a decent amount of success already with the company’s stunning balloon arches and balloon garlands that could be found across the campus of Notre Dame during special events. So, Laughery met her where she was at in her entrepreneur and PR journey to see where he could add value.
“Generating leads and awareness is absolutely vital to every business. It doesn’t matter if you’re doing a billion dollars annually or zero. The second you stop trying to generate leads and awareness for your brand, your business starts to die. It just takes longer to die if you’re a billion-dollar company, so the less revenue you’re generating, the more you should be doing” says Laughery to kick things off. Nyikos goes on to talk about her current clients, which she has a heartwarming passion for and adds that new leads usually find her by internet search or word of mouth. Nyikos, clearly a subject matter expert in balloon décor and a veteran in her field, was very open to the advice that followed from Laughery regarding publicity for her business.
“What they’re finding out about you and who they’re finding it out from are just as if not more important than them being able to find you at all” says Laughery. “This is where publicity comes in” he continues. The ClearCut PR founder goes on to explain that in his findings in working with companies on their lead generation, the abandon rate of potential clients that search for a service or company, but never call or contact them is alarmingly high. He explains that most companies that quantify where the leads are coming in from don’t go far enough to see how many people are not calling them after the search. He has determined that the main reason for client abandonment is the lack of trustworthy information about the brand from diverse and trustworthy sources. On the other hand, brands that are not only putting content out with their website and social medias, but leveraging publicity generate almost twice as many leads than their comparable competitors according to Laughery.
Laughery goes into depth explaining his company’s unique and valuable approach to publicity and why they exclusively work with founders, startups, and small business owners. “Just getting publicity for you isn’t enough. Not for us anyway. Most PR firms consider their job to be done when they get you publicity, but not us. We take those few extra critical steps to get you the results of more engaged leads, more sales, and more credibility, then quantify it for proof” says Laughery in regard to ClearCut PR’s approach.
ClearCut PR’s mission and strategy to get publicity for entrepreneurs goes into depth, and you can hear more by visiting them at clearcutpr.com
As for Nyikos, and Fun By The Yard, they are working on big things for their publicity. Nyikos and her company were prestigiously chosen to host the Big Balloon Build April 25th to April 28th where they will showoff 80 balloon artists from around the world in their Carnival themed balloon experience in Northern Indiana. This event will go to benefit The Ronald McDonald House of Michiana, and create a unique experience for everyone in attendance.
Find out more about Fun By The Yard at funbytheyard.net
Catch the latest season of The Blox on The Blox app. Some previous seasons could be found on Prime Video.
So, maybe the punchline was still a little nerdy, but in a good way. One thing is for certain. If you are a small business owner, then you can’t afford question if you are big enough for publicity or if you should be doing it for your brand. Those that have embraced publicity for their brand are experiencing benefits in a matter of weeks while their competitors’ awareness stays flat.
Published By: Aize Perez
