As far as pandemic lockdown projects go, Lisa Camooso Miller’s can be considered a business success. The podcast she launched in February 2021, “The Friday Reporter,” recently hit 5,000 downloads from 53 episodes and has helped her connect with a range of new clients.
“So much of what I would do before the pandemic would be to grab coffee or grab a drink with a reporter to get to know what they care about, find out what they’re covering, get a sense of trends, things that are different. And I couldn’t do it anymore unless I had an outlet for it and that’s how ‘The Friday Reporter’ was born,” Miller, a communications consultant, told C&E. “It’s a real validator and it’s opened a lot of doors for me.”
Now, there’s no shortage of industry podcasts at the moment (in fact, we’ve compiled a list here). But Miller, a former communications director at the RNC, has carved out a niche by featuring interviews with reporters where they talk about their own stories as well as what coverage they’re focused on.
For comms practitioners, finding out, say, what kinds of hobbies reporters have or where they come from allows them to find some commonality “so that pitches can land a little easier,” said Miller. “That has made the podcast a real resource for communicators in ways that I hadn’t anticipated.”
But for Miller’s own practice, it helped her remain front of mind during a period when it was hard to stay connected with clients or potential sources of new business.
“The thing about consultancy is visibility is tremendously important,” she said. “We don’t advertise [so] being out and about, seeing potential clients, introducing people to the work that you do, is just so much a part of the way that we do consulting.”
Still, it was a big change for Miller who for the first time in her career wasn’t promoting someone or something else. To help grow her guest list, she asked the reporters she knew who appeared to recommend someone else. When her list of Beltway-based reporters is exhausted, she plans to start interviewing state-level journalists.
“Every time I have a conversation with a member of the media, I learn something new, and that alone informs my creativity when I come to a pitch or I come to a conversation,” she said.
