How This Startup Secured Coverage On CNN, NBC And The Super Bowl

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Most are aware of America’s Small Business Development Center (SBDC) organization, formed by a partnership between congress, the SBA, private sponsorship, universities and regional governments. Currently there are nearly 1,000 SBDC centers in the U.S. 

​according to the organization’s national website. But here’s another reason for small businesses to consider working through their regional SBDC. In addition to training and mentorship, in many cases the organizations provide PR assistance to their participating members as well.

For a great case in point, consider the story of Estella Pyform. In Fall 2011, Pyfrom came to the SBDC at Palm Beach State College in Boca Raton, Florida for free help in marketing the full-size passenger bus she had turned into a mobile high-tech classroom. She was bringing the bus to low income neighborhoods throughout Palm Beach County, Florida to give under served children free access to computers, the Internet and educational software. This 76-year-old retired Florida educator—who grew up in Belle Glade, the daughter of migrant farm workers—had used her life savings to make her vision a reality. Yet she had trouble getting the word out and raising additional funds to keep her program going.

With the help of the SBDC, Estella Pyfrom branded her "Brilliant Bus" (Image courtesy of CNN.com)
I learned about Estella from Sharon Geltner, Business Analyst for the SBDC that is Florida's state-designated provider of small business assistance and Palm Beach State is its host institution. After Geltner and the SBDC created a brand for Pyfrom, by April 2013, it was natural and easy to secure the attention of broadcasters. Estella appeared on national television on NBC Nightly News and internationally as a CNN Hero in recognition of her "Brilliant Bus." By Fall, Pyfrom was a Top Ten CNN Hero and was in a global televised ceremony, hosted by Anderson Cooper. She was the same woman, but with different PR. Once the snowball of publicity started she moved easily and naturally from obscurity to worldwide attention.

More recently, Microsoft featured Pyform in a $9 million 60-second Super Bowl ad, seen by 104 million viewers in February 2015. In that same month she appeared on The Dr. Oz Show. Pyfrom’s nonprofit has received donations from Microsoft, Office Depot, Toyota and other organizations and received countless awards. Oprah Winfrey honored Pyfrom in front of 13,000 fans at a stadium in Miami (on Oprah’s eight-city tour), named her the top VIP in the nation, and profiled her in the January 2015 issue of O Magazine. President Barack Obama honored her as a Point of Light at the White House. Pyfrom has also appeared in Essence and won a Diamond Award from the National Coalition of 100 Black Women. This year, with the help of the Children’s Services Council of Broward County (Florida), Pyfrom added a second bus to her fleet. The last two summers she has toured southern cities, teaching children computer code. Pyfrom has received requests to replicate her bus from around the country and as far away as Africa.

But just a few years ago, when Pyfrom came to SBDC, she had an incredible humanitarian accomplishment, but could get neither funding nor press. Geltner and her team believed Pyfrom’s challenge was related to problems in her branding and site. She had a wonderful tangible object, which was the bus, but the name of her nonprofit organization, “Project Aspiration—A Class Act,” didn't describe what she did or provide her with a clear identity. Furthermore, it didn't say anything about the bus, which is her calling card.
As an advisor, Geltner kept pounding away on having the word “Bus” in the business name, with some alliteration, if possible. Pyfrom then wanted “Brain Bus,” but after Geltner showed her the name was in use in Kentucky, she suggested “Brilliant Bus." The name stuck.
The team then turned its attention to revamping Pyform’s website and developing a social media presence, which gave Pyfrom her legitimacy for attracting donations and media attention. (Once Pyfrom achieved fame, various media outlets and volunteers overhauled her website, www.brilliantbus.org, again and she recently won praise from a website that monitors nonprofits’ online presence.)









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​As Geltner urged Pyfrom to take her mission online in a serious, consistent way, she noted that these days, even if a person is Michelangelo or Leonardo da Vinci or even a combination of the two, if he’s not online or if she doesn’t have a clear identity, they’re ignored. Decades of experience and real world accomplishment won’t matter without the foundation of an online presence and a memorable brand. This rule held true when Geltner vouched for Estella with reporters she’d known for years. Now Geltner uses Pyfrom’s success as an example to other clients who are reluctant to go online.

With a new name, website and social media in presence place, getting media coverage was the next hurdle. The door opened after Fort Lauderdale-based NBC News correspondent Kerry Sanders became interested and made Pyfrom the subject of a two-minute "Making a Difference" segment he reported in January 2013.
CNN producers saw the segment, and when they realized Pyfrom had already been nominated for CNN Heroes by one of her volunteers, they got excited. When she was selected as a CNN Hero in April, a flurry of press followed with coverage emerging organically from virtually every local media outlet as well as national outlets such as Jet magazine and other publications and TV shows.

More Lessons
Working with Estella Pyfrom and her Brilliant Bus showed Geltner how life experience that seems unrelated to PR, social media, search engine optimization and business counseling is extremely valuable.
“All of my clients need marketing help, especially for online marketing, but not everyone can handle the new Internet concepts,” Geltner said. “When I first got this job, some people asked if I had enough corporate experience to be successful. I soon learned that what really made the difference, were skills which were instrumental for helping clients, from a variety of previous jobs—none of them corporate.”

One important gig was as an aspiring author, carefully studying how literary agents render judgment in seconds. The same was true in working as a reporter in a newsroom. Both editors and agents must distill messages to their essence in seconds and sum them up succinctly. Those skills are perfect for social media as well. Another position in social service agencies and her observation of the way clinicians interact gave Geltner insight into how to persuade people to make decisions in their own best interests. In addition, her nonprofit work suited her support for small business owners. In both cases, clever strategy and tactics matter, because there little money to spend for promotions.

The common element for these entrepreneurs is fear of the unknown. After the Great Recession and the rise of the Internet, the world turned on its ear, and no one was successful in marketing without having to alter their approach. “All my clients are smart enough to change, but will they want to?” Geltner mused.
What freezes clients in their tracks is the wrenching emotional decision: “Am I going to do what it takes to stay modern and stay relevant, and frankly stay in business?” Not everyone decides to go forward. The longer they hesitate, the further they fall behind. Not everyone wants to face these hard facts.

But Pyfrom didn’t let age, custom, tradition, complacency or inertia get in her way. 

She updated her methods and assumptions. Over her many sessions with Geltner, Pyfrom saw the possibilities, knew that her success required these changes and kept an open mind. As for Geltner, she looks forward to helping Pyfrom get more Brilliant Buses and to helping many additional small businesses achieve strong public relations outcomes as well.

With SBDC’s increasing their impact through the U.S., perhaps great PR is yet another reason to consider engaging the help of one of these entrepreneurial teams.
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Author

Cheryl Snapp Conner is author of the Forbes eBook Beyond PR: Communicate Like a Champ In The Digital World. Do you have a great entrepreneurial PR story that others could learn from? If you do, reach out to Cheryl Conner via Forbes with your thoughts Write something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview.