Rebecca (00:01.25)
Hello and welcome to another episode of the Champagne Lounge podcast. Today I'm joined by one of our new members to the Champagne Lounge, Amber Daines. Welcome to the show, Amber.
Amber Daines (00:10.796)
Thank you, what a warm welcome and so happy to be here.
Rebecca (00:13.634)
I'm excited to have you on the show. You and I have known each other a little time now and to see you jump in, tell us a little bit about who you are and where you are located in the world.
Amber Daines (00:24.012)
So I am a bit of a nomad, but at the moment I'm based on the New South Wales Central Coast. I was in Sydney for a number of years, but I actually grew up on the Central Coast. So never thought I'd move back here. And like a lot of people, tree change, sea change became very appealing during lockdowns. And I've been here almost four years now.
Rebecca (00:40.672)
Amazing. So have you gone back to where you grew up on the Central Coast or if it's just more okay?
Amber Daines (00:44.706)
No, more tree change. So I'm actually not a beach person, even though a lot of people move to the coast for that reason. I do like the ocean, but I don't need to live near it. So we've gone from all the tree change aspect of the coast.
Rebecca (00:58.742)
I love that we went tree change two years ago and I'm thoroughly enjoying it thoroughly enjoying it. so right now you're an expert in PR and media training and, helping business owners get in front of the media, be confident in front of the camera. but what got you into working into that space? Because, you know, not everyone has the confidence to jump in and have those skills and be in front of the camera and, be able to hold conversations with almost anyone about anything straight off the bat. So give us a little bit of a background about.
how you got into working in the world of media and PR.
Amber Daines (01:32.002)
So we have to go back about three decades. That's how long ago my career started. So in the nineties, I did a comms degree at University of Technology in Sydney. And then I did what a lot of people did back then, which was a cadetship in newspapers. So I worked at what was then Fairfax, which is the Australian Financial Review, St. Morning Herald. And from there, I really got the sense of what journalism was all about. So you can do all the theory in the world, but you've got to go do these things. And then I had a short stint in TV before I moved overseas. I was in Hong Kong, London and Paris.
as a business correspondent. So for me, it really taught me at a very young age just to go in, do it, make mistakes. Some days are good, some days are bad, but at the end of the day, you just refine your communication skills by using them. And that's really what I've brought into my business now is allowing people to do that. But also now I've got the business expertise, having worked in corporate comms, in big agencies and so forth for a number of years before I started my business around 16 years ago.
Rebecca (02:29.048)
Yeah, amazing. And you mentioned that, you know, not all days are good days and some are bad days and you've got failures and wins. And how did you navigate that? Or can you think back to, you know, how you navigated those downfalls when it was a bad day and what sort of tips and tricks, I guess, and hacks you developed to be able to get through that and keep going the next day? Because I know a lot of our listeners and our members are trying something new or they're working in a regional environment with their own challenges of whatever they're doing from wherever they are. And
I know a lot of them struggle with how do I get through the bad bits to keep going on the good bits.
Amber Daines (03:04.844)
think the benefit of my early career particularly was the fact there was no social media. So you won't even find any blooper reels of me because back then it was all done on video tapes, which are now sitting in probably some storage vault that, you know, Sky News has somewhere hidden with mold on it. So I don't think I had to make mistakes in the same way people do now. I think what we do is very public. as I always say to people, if you're to put yourself out there, it's the good, the bad and everything in between that you're really showcasing.
Rebecca (03:12.696)
Sign it.
Amber Daines (03:33.74)
For me personally, it's just, think what I loved particularly about daily journalism and what I try to bring to my clients is the fact that it is a new day and a fresh start every day. And what you think is going to stay around and haunt you for a long time, it might be a webinar that didn't go that well, or you were overly prepared and then you kind of just fudged it because you're in your head or whatever it might be when you're doing something even like this, is that it moves on. The Caravan moves on a lot quicker now because we have so much more content.
So I think the power in that is it kind of diminishes the fear of actually doing it, but also knowing, there'll be other opportunities as well. So this is not it. It's not hinged on just one moment in time or one piece of comms. I have multiple ways to get across to my audience and be human in the meantime as well.
Rebecca (04:20.11)
And when you're working in the space that you're working in, is that comms, know, your social media content and what you're putting out there as a brand, is it comms working with the media? So what's your definition of comms? Because you and I were chatting just off before we hit record, there is so much content out there and there's so much to create and digest and do people really watch it. So what's your definition of that in the world that you work in?
Amber Daines (04:44.14)
So think there's two prongs, if you like, that's what we call earned or traditional media, which is where I cut my teeth career wise. And that's my specialty in terms of media relations for my clients. But we also offer that full suite of communications advice and strategy. I think a lot of people just think content for content sake, or they have an idea and sometimes that works. But then if there's not sort of consistency and persistency, the campaign, if you like, doesn't actually land because we are consuming so much in a day. So.
I think people have to start with the why and then work out perhaps in 30, 60, 90 day blocks, what they're going to be doing, what they're going to be talking about. And like a lot of people in the space, like we're in Beck, you know, we're kind of, we are entrepreneurs. So we have a million ideas, but you can't be known for everything. So it's about whittling it down to what's the one or two things in this particular block that I want to focus on and making sure that it's landing with those audiences because you are being quite consistent. I think that's what people kind of
don't think about even in podcasting. know, you and I do this regularly. I've had my own show for like a number of years and I've had 5 million downloads. People are like, wow. It's like, yeah, I did this since 2017. I did it when I had like 10 downloads in three weeks. You know, it didn't just happen overnight. And I think that's where we kind of get discouraged when we don't see the results instantly.
Rebecca (06:02.75)
100%. I was just about to say, I've got a post in it here that says, you know, if your daily reminder to show up and it is that consistency piece. I've just celebrated 5 ,000 downloads on this podcast and we're a year in. So I hope that in, you know, five or six years time, we're at that five mil. That would be pretty, pretty impressive. But, you know, we talk about the, the amount of content we're consuming and you talk about consistency. A lot of business owners will go, well, I can't want to show up every day.
you know, when you're talking about consistency, you know, would I be right in thinking, you know, that consistency could be once a week with a podcast or once a month with a newsletter or once a day on stories that consistency can be different for different people and different platforms, right?
Amber Daines (06:39.04)
Totally.
Amber Daines (06:46.274)
Absolutely. And I have a thing about the scarcity economy. So for example, know, 20 years ago, you'd get snail mail posted to you, you get an invite, and then suddenly we all turned to e -invites. Now, if you want to make a big splash, I reckon if you posted something to someone and they opened it, the joy and the spark of surprise would be there because it's the scarcity economy. And the same with content. People might look forward to a podcast that drops once a week, but if people are doing two a day or going live every day, for example,
you're not going to capture everybody and you might actually turn some people off. And I think for us, we've got to be really aware that we're doing this for the audience and it can't be about ego. It's got to be about results and also who wants to really do something every day and not necessarily know if it's going to work. So I think sometimes you create a little bit of suspense and build up.
Rebecca (07:33.943)
Mm
Amber Daines (07:33.986)
because you actually are not there all the time in people's faces. So then when they get your newsletter, they're like, wow, what have they got to say? haven't heard from them for four weeks rather than a daily kind of thing where I think there was a bit of a habit of that. But then everyone started doing that. And how many, how many pieces of content can you possibly consume in a day and actually do anything with them would be my question to people.
Rebecca (07:55.15)
That's massive, isn't it? I mean, I know on a daily basis, I would delete 30 or 40 emails before I've even started the day and I haven't opened them, you know, and right. so, and so it kind of goes, am I disheartened? Am I watching people not open them? Are they not engaging? And then you get the odd thing that's like, I've been following you for years, know, and that's why I've done it. And I think, you know, when you're creating these campaigns and doing
Amber Daines (08:03.425)
Slowly.
Cutie!
Amber Daines (08:20.223)
Yes.
Rebecca (08:24.374)
know, campaign could, I suppose we should probably go on the definition of a campaign because that can be something short that you're trialing with something, but also something with longevity, correct?
Amber Daines (08:33.754)
Absolutely. So a campaign can be a 30 day burst of an activity, it might be a social media campaign because you're launching a new course or something like that if you're a course creator, but a whole year campaign could be, you know, basically brand awareness of all the prongs and all the bits that you do. So I think building that into your strategy is really important, but you're understanding the strategy is really important, the why and the how and the tactics, people get very caught up and obsessed with them.
And sometimes they're not the right tactics for your audience. For example, for me on TikTok, that would be completely useless because a lot of people I work with would be corporates and older people that wouldn't be the demographic who is consuming TikTok.
Rebecca (09:14.47)
I'm shying away from that platform Amber. In terms of, yeah, just trying not to be all things to all people. And I think that's something that's really hard to do when you're surrounded constantly by the different platforms. I I myself try and have all the notifications off. So I'm not distracted. And you and I talked about being in your own lane and trying not to look at other people's content. What sort of...
Amber Daines (09:18.37)
I politely decline.
Rebecca (09:43.18)
What's your rationale behind that? I know what my rationale behind it in terms of not wanting to scroll and doom. I know a lot of people like to look at other people's content to see for ideas and to spark information. Like why do you sometimes put the blinkers on?
Amber Daines (09:58.326)
think it's about being purposeful in why you're doing anything. So there are times I'm doing research, particularly for clients, and I might have to look at what their competitors are doing, or some of the people in their space or their world or my world, just to understand my content or their content to work out what I think might work for them.
But that's part of the research piece of my day. So I might block out, you know, 60, 90 minutes to do that in a very purposeful way. But that's not just scrolling for scrolling sake. There are times we all do that on the couch at night and that's a completely different thing, right? Looking at cat videos or whatever your thing is. But I think when I'm doing deep pieces of work, I even leave my phone, I have a home office out the back of my house. I will leave my phone on the charger inside the house deliberately. So I won't be able to actually look at it because
Unfortunately, it's such a dopamine fix and it's so distracting and it's such a waste of time. And I think about all the time we had before social media and in some ways it's great. We can be our own publishers. We have so much control of our narrative and our story. And if something happens, we can go jump on straight away and access information and reach others. But at the same time, why do you need to be on it all the time? think that you'd find very few successful people would be on it all the time.
Rebecca (11:13.238)
I'd agree with that. know a lot of people, particularly in the circle that I, our membership are, you know, we talk about the tech sort of side and detoxing, and then you go the level up in the mastermind that I'm in so that I can be the best facilitator of our community. And they don't sleep with their phone in the room. Like it's not the first thing that they switch on, right? It's not the device they use to set an alarm in the morning.
Amber Daines (11:31.444)
No. Do it in the morning.
Rebecca (11:39.938)
You know, and funnily enough, I found myself last night, I was home alone. sat doom scrolling. Like I never do that. If my husband sat there, no.
Amber Daines (11:45.618)
happens. And I don't think we judge ourselves to do that, but I think you're aware of it though. That's the case. See, some people aren't even aware of their habits. They're not even aware.
Rebecca (11:51.64)
Mm -hmm.
I was so aware of it because normally when I sit on the sofa next to my husband and he's playing his game, we're scrolling social media, it drives me bonkers. And I'm like, my phone's down. Why are you not concentrating on this? And as soon as I was home alone, granted I did start with a Pinterest board for upcoming photo shoot of something I'm quite excited about. That was creative. But then I sat there and I ran my phone battery to 2%. That was insane. Crazy.
Amber Daines (12:12.246)
Feels creative and good.
Amber Daines (12:18.848)
Wow. You couldn't even stop until it died.
Rebecca (12:23.416)
Couldn't help myself. And so, you could I tell you anything about what I watched? No, like absolutely not. So, you know, in terms of, you know, creating that content and putting it out there, I think you touched on it earlier in the episode that, you know, there's so much out there that people won't necessarily see it. So there's that worry factor or that fear factor of being out there and putting your face there or putting your videos out there. The chances of people
actually seeing those first blooper ones are quite minimal.
Amber Daines (12:56.002)
And because the algorithm works to kind of have current content, it gets buried fairly quickly, if that makes sense. The only thing that changes is if you're really famous, like that's why there's often lots of clips of bloopers of celebrities on interviews and those tend to stick around because they're being repurposed. But for most of us, we're not in that space. So our fears and our worries about perception are mostly our own, if that makes sense. People aren't generally as worried as you are about.
how you come across and whether you said everything perfectly and did you have a great hair day? mean, they're all the things that make people feel better, but I don't think they're the things we as the consumer are fixated on. It's about the value of what you're sharing. And if you have an audience that knows and loves you over time, I think that's great because you can be more and more authentic, although it's a fine line depending on your brand. don't necessarily need to see.
Rebecca (13:37.422)
couldn't agree more.
Amber Daines (13:49.206)
You know, people kind of at the, the worst day or after they've gone for a run, unless it's in their brand. I often talk to my clients about that. I mean, why are you sharing this behind the scenes stuff? it just because everybody else is, or is there some purpose in it? Are you doing, like about to launch a fitness app and therefore this is really important. But I think sometimes I feel like they overshare and I would always say to people, it's like anything, step it back a bit, you know, just kind of take it back a bit and, and also allow yourself to have more strategy behind everything you're doing.
Rebecca (14:19.539)
It's that discretion, discretion, you have to share everything all the time.
Amber Daines (14:24.436)
No. And I prefer that you don't. There might be generational though, Rebecca. I don't know. Like it sort of feels like the younger generation like to tell you everything from like they're in the dress shop, dressing, shopping for their formal dress and they're like taking photos and sharing them. Like that just wasn't something we could do back in the day.
Rebecca (14:27.35)
Yeah. I'm not sure.
Rebecca (14:42.432)
It's also not something that, you know, I would, you know, because I'm at the sort of older end of millennial, I think, is what I would be considered as I think. As much as I've got a background in video production and video creation and media creation, the idea of documenting my day on a regular, I forget, know, we sat and created a gate in the fence between my neighbor and I, like, we probably should have.
Amber Daines (14:52.513)
Yeah.
Amber Daines (15:05.481)
Yes, me too.
Rebecca (15:11.83)
recorded that for a reel about, you know, how much you wanted to just hang out with your best friend and the gates there. And did we time lapse any of that? No. Did I time lapse do in my garden? No. Like, was there all those content opportunities that would have actually paid attention and done a story for my business? Yes. So, so in doing that, like I share that, like, where's the joy factor for you in creating content with your clients? Because I look back and go,
Amber Daines (15:29.366)
Yeah. Yes, yes.
Amber Daines (15:37.482)
Yes, absolutely.
Rebecca (15:41.258)
I missed it. And then I put myself in a little bit of a, that's annoying. That would have been really good.
Amber Daines (15:47.774)
another chance. I don't need to be another gate necessarily, but there'll be something else similar. And that's where you got to have a bit of a content planner, I reckon, and just know what what's coming up in your life and what what you want to share and why you're going to share it.
Rebecca (15:50.754)
No.
Rebecca (16:01.25)
And do you advocate when you're creating content with your clients? I mean, do you create the content or do you just put the strategy in place for them? Yeah.
Amber Daines (16:07.732)
It depends on the client. So my smaller business clients, we would definitely hold the hand a bit more, but obviously bigger clients, they might have external agencies they're working with, but we've got to make sure all the comms is humming together. There's no point doing a campaign over here on social. And then we're doing a media campaign. It's talking about something completely different that's irrelevant to that campaign. It's all going to sit together as one big narrative. And that's really what we work and help our clients do.
Rebecca (16:31.227)
So it's those pillars and that focus of the month or whatever that potentially could be.
Amber Daines (16:34.366)
Exactly. What's the big event? What's the launch? What's the theme? Sometimes we're news jacking, which is where you kind of, know, whatever's trending in the, in, maybe in your world of business. what can we jump on and share and give maybe insight information, or you might be critiquing a big development or a legislation or a policy or something in your sector. And that positions you as an expert as well, but you've got the benefit of the fact that that content is already there. You're just commenting on it and adding, adding your two cents worth, if you like.
Rebecca (17:03.686)
Last week we had we had Bridget Johns on who was talking a lot about mental load and mental capacity. So I think there you've just, you know, that's a really perfect articulation of having that content prepped with a theme in mind and having it just done and made and created and therefore giving you the brain space and the time and the capacity to see something in real time and go I can comment on that.
Amber Daines (17:24.542)
Absolutely. that's it. Just but also you can't pay attention to everything. You're like, what is it that you want to be the expert in? And you're just paying attention to that. Does that make sense rather than I need to be commenting on everything that's happening in the news? Well, that's not my space. But if it's something to do with comms or I'm a crisis comms expert, you know, there's company crisis, we might jump on and do a blog or do a video blog. Just talking about what that means and what others can learn from it. And that's really
Rebecca (17:34.136)
Mm
Amber Daines (17:51.146)
I think the storytelling piece that people need to remember, I think there's two things happening here. We've got social media, which is like the nanosecond attention span. But then if everyone was to line up all your content together and map it out, even in an Excel spreadsheet, what would be the overall impression that it would be creating about you and what you do? And I think as entrepreneurs, know, we talked about in the beginning, how much we have going on in a day and how we have a thousand ideas, but you can't be known for everything. And I think the people that I find the most difficult to follow is like,
one minute they're launching this and then they're launching that and then they're doing this collaboration and they think they're like creating something really cohesive, but could they tell me in 30 seconds what they actually do and why they do it? That would be the key for me.
Rebecca (18:33.867)
That's massive, isn't it? It's that storytelling. And I used to tell people when I was creating video content, you know, the business sounds boring to you because you've had it for so long. Like it could be completely fresh to someone else. So I think finding ways to keep saying the same thing in a different way or just being mindful of the fact that you don't need to overthink it or recreate the wheel every single time, I think can really help take the pressure off as well, because you want to be known for that niche.
Amber Daines (18:43.298)
That's true.
Rebecca (19:01.27)
or that simplicity of offering. It just might get a little bit boring for you to talk about it, but it could be the first time or second time that someone's heard it.
Amber Daines (19:10.146)
Exactly. we do know, like we've done research in our agency that even from a media point of view, people have people say, for example, when they're watching a webinar, you'd know this yourself, or you're watching TV, and then you've got your you've your smartphone happening, because you're doing your pin interest, Rebecca or dream scrolling, we're not paying attention solely. So we know that people hear and see about 30 % of what you've shared. So if it feels a bit repetitive, but the key message lands, that's okay, because people might have turned that on halfway through.
They might've muted you because they're on something else. And I think that's the power in great communication. You know how to take really complex things and simplify them and amplify them through the simplicity of the message. think we over -complicate it by trying to be like even AI, like I'm not an expert in AI. I've just done a blog on that, but I'm honest about that. And I laugh at myself. I am a little bit of a luddite. So I kind of go, well, these are the things that I'm loving because I'm not just going to use it for the sake of it.
That would speak to a certain type of audience, but they're also my client and I know that as well.
Rebecca (20:13.644)
Yeah, I think if you're listening to this podcast and you've gone from, we've sort of taken you through that overwhelm of trying to create all the content to then back to that simplifying of it. And I think if you can just work out what you want to be known for, be really clear on that messaging, you know, then it takes the pressure off. So release that mental load, you know, just start thinking in clear pillars, get the campaign right and just make sure that you've...
You've got a clear understanding of who you're talking to and that messaging stays very clear and very succinct, I think is the big key takeaway. Amber, I'm going to pop all your details into the show notes so that everyone can come and find you and learn from you. know you've got a number of downloads that can help people plan this stuff out. Before I let you leave the podcast today, I said at beginning, you are one of our newest members to the community. What was the catalyst for you in jumping in and becoming part of our membership?
Amber Daines (21:04.694)
think it's you, Rebecca, you're a big draw card. So I think we've known each other for a while. And I am similar to the tech thing. I'm slow to kind of jump on board stuff. I kind of watch and I consume and I and I sort of work out where I'm going to put my energy. And I think also, now that I've been here for years in a regional area, it's time for me to expand that community. And I think it's just a new area for me. And I'm always excited to do something new, but do it with a real purpose in mind of wanting to create collaborative opportunities and of course, meet some fabulous other.
Rebecca (21:07.15)
Thank you.
Amber Daines (21:34.028)
other people in similar spaces.
Rebecca (21:36.162)
but you certainly will start meeting a number of different people, a number of amazing businessmen from across the country as you keep joining our virtual meetups. So thank you so much for jumping into our membership. Thank you for spending your time with me on the podcast today. I love that you took immediate action on that and booked that in. I think that's pretty phenomenal. And I thoroughly enjoyed our conversation. So thanks so much, Amber.
Amber Daines (21:57.506)
and yeah, look forward to keep connecting.
