General business advice, entrepreneurial strategies, stories, and operational tips for equestrian rural business owners.

Why Treating Your Business Like an Experiment Changes Everything

If you are currently toying with an idea, maybe a social media post or even a new product, but you’re feeling the fear, you’re in the right place. I have been there, and so have many of the brilliant business owners I mentor.

When you run your own business, every decision can feel heavy. We look at a new project, a fresh marketing strategy, or a new launch, and the first question that pops into our heads is: but what if it fails?

This single question has the ability to stop everything in its tracks. It creates a state of strategic paralysis, keeping you trapped in overwhelm and preventing you from taking any real action whatsoever.

But there is a simple piece of advice I give to my coaching clients, and to myself, over and over again. You need to adopt a business experiment mindset. It is a complete shift in how you operate, and it will entirely change how you run your business.

You need to treat it all as an experiment and adopt an experiment mindset.

Detaching Your Self-Worth from the Results

When we tie our success or failure directly to our self-worth, taking action becomes terrifying. We assume that if a product does not sell instantly, or if a marketing campaign does not bring in hundreds of leads, it means we are not good enough.

It is an exhausting way to run a business, and it is a fast track to feeling completely isolated at the helm.

When you adopt an experiment mindset, that pressure evaporates. An experiment cannot truly fail, because its entire purpose is to provide data. Just by doing the thing, you ‘win’. You are simply trying a new approach, observing what happens, and learning from the outcome.

Shifting the Goal from ‘Perfection’ to ‘Learning’

Think of your business operations like learning a new hobby. You do not expect perfection on day one (and if you do, you’ll be very disappointed very quickly!). You try something, see how it works, iterate, adjust your approach, and try again.

Your marketing and business strategy should be approached with exactly that same patience and curiosity.

Instead of demanding that every single move is a massive win, ask yourself: What can I learn from this?

  • If you launch a new short course and only two people sign up, that is not a failure. It is data showing you that perhaps the messaging needs tweaking or the timing was slightly off.

  • If an email newsletter gets a lower open rate than usual, it is just a signpost pointing you to test a different subject line next time.

  • If a post flops, become a detective and explore why. Can you experiment with different posting times, formats, captions, calls to action?

When you look at your business through this lens, it completely changes the game. It stops being a stressful, reactive chore and becomes a creative puzzle that you know you’ll succeed at eventually, but you have to go through the learning phases first.

Take the First Step

The next time you feel that familiar dread creeping in, take a deep breath and give yourself permission to just test the waters. You do not need a flawless, ten-year plan to move forward. You just need to run your next small experiment.

Make sure you follow me @rheafreemanpr on Instagram for more thoughts, ideas, and insights.

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Social Media Burnout: What Travis and Taylor Can Teach Small Businesses

Who would have thought we’d be chatting about what global superstars Taylor Swift and her husband Travis Kelce could teach small businesses around boundaries and burnout? But here we are. Let’s dive into social media burnout for small business (and how we can avoid it)

Social Media Burnout for Small Business

There is a loud, persistent narrative in the digital space right now telling us that we have to keep the cameras rolling all day, every day. We are told to film our morning routines, broadcast our deepest personal struggles, and share every single piece of our lives in real time just to feed an algorithm.

This is completely exhausting, not sustainable, and it is driving small business owners straight into a wall of absolute burnout. They desperately want to stay relevant, make sales, and be visible, but they also need to run the actual business.

But I have some wonderful proof that you do not have to buy into this panic. And it comes from what is arguably the wedding of the decade.

Recently, Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift got married. The media reported that they invited around a thousand people, including some of the most high-profile public figures on the planet. Yet, despite the massive scale of the event, they kept what happened inside the venue a secret.

As I write this, there have been no leaked photographs. No behind-the-scenes videos. There were no real-time updates. There is talk that they might do something with that footage in the future, but it will be entirely on their terms, when they want to do it, not because they felt pushed by outside pressure.

If two of the most visible people on Earth can protect a private moment, it is definitive proof of something I have been wittering on about for years: you do not have to overshare your life in real time to remain relevant.

The Dangerous Myth of Real-Time Sharing

Our current culture tells us that if we do not share something the exact second it happens, it somehow does not matter. This creates a state of panic. I see people throwing content together in a rush, pushing things live before they have actually thought them through, just to tick a box.

The truth of the matter is simple: the algorithm does not own your private life.

When you run your own boutique service, creative practice, or rural lifestyle business, boundaries are not a luxury; they are an absolute necessity. Pushing yourself into the public eye under a cloud of anxiety only leads to messy marketing that doesn’t feel right for you. You do not owe the internet every hour of your day.

Authenticity is Not an All-Access Pass

People mistakenly think that to be authentic, they have to invite the whole world into their internal chaos. They do not.

Authenticity does not mean oversharing for the sake of it. It simply means that when you do show up, you are exactly who you are.

You can be vulnerable about a challenge or a business struggle after you have actually come to terms with the situation. Once you have processed the experience, you can approach it from a learning point of view. That is incredibly valuable for your audience. Broadcasting from the middle of a live emotional storm is rarely helpful for you or your brand.

Behind-the-Scenes Content on Your Own Terms

Showing the human side of your business can be a fantastic tool, especially for small businesses. Showing the messy studio, the early morning packing sessions, or the daily realities of your craft builds trust and relatability.

The key point, though, is that this content must be shared on your own terms.

You do not need to stream live. You can record a video today, edit it next week, and post it three weeks from now when it naturally fits into your business narrative. When successful brands and individuals market themselves well, they are not posting out of panic. They are sharing content because it makes strategic sense.

Take Back Control of Your Marketing Narrative

If you are feeling the weight of all of this, let the Travis and Taylor rule be your permission slip to step back. You are allowed to keep the door shut on your private life.

Marketing should be an organised, supportive system that helps your business grow, not a reactive chore that leaves you feeling drained.

Because I know exactly how precious your time is, and how frustrating it can be to navigate these constant digital pressures, I have built something highly practical to help you shake off the overwhelm. I have created a completely free strategy tool designed to help small business owners handle their content planning and execution seamlessly, without the panic, and in a fraction of the time.

[Click here to sign up for your free guide] and start building a visibility strategy that works for your business, entirely on your own terms.

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Polaroid’s Inconvenient Truth: What a Brilliant “Anti-AI” Billboard Campaign Teaches Us About Standing Out

Polaroid’s Inconvenient Truth: What a Brilliant "Anti-AI" Billboard Campaign Teaches Us About Standing Out

It feels like every single piece of marketing copy, imagery, and product development is frantically trying to bend the knee to artificial intelligence. If you open social media on any given Tuesday, you are flooded with hyper-edited, polished, and clinical AI-generated visuals that look sleek but feel completely hollow inside. Like they’re missing a soul or human touch. 

But recently, the iconic brand Polaroid decided to throw a massive spanner directly into the works. And I for one love it.

In the summer, Polaroid launched a brilliant, multi-layered out-of-home billboard campaign that is proudly, defiantly anti-AI, anti-digital, and anti-phone.

It is a masterclass in modern marketing, and it contains some powerful lessons for small business owners who are sick of shouting into the digital void.

The Coney Island Beach Billboard

It started with a soft launch last year when Polaroid began hinting at a more tactile, “analogue summer” aesthetic. But this season, Polaroid has gone hard.

It dropped a massive billboard right on Coney Island Beach with a simple, jarring message: ‘Get in the sea before the AI data centers suck it all up.’

And it did not stop there. Polaroid rolled out a network of out-of-home advertisements plastering London’s underground tubes and dominating King’s Cross station. Every single poster hammers home the mental, environmental, and physical realities of being chained to your phone, while highlighting the simple joy of being present in the real world.

What makes this campaign so clever is that it is not aggressively shouting or filled with high-pressure marketing drivel. It is completely factual, yet it taps beautifully into our raw, unspoken human struggles and anxieties. One billboard points out the exhausting reality of “basking in blue light” from our phone screens. The Coney Island sign uses a stark environmental truth: AI data centres require an astronomical amount of water to cool their systems.

Polaroid has looked directly at the things currently keeping us awake at night and spoken them out loud in a language that actually resonates.

Why the Human Eye Craves “Jarring”

Take a look at the design elements used in these billboards. In a world where corporate imagery is preened, polished, and airbrushed to within an inch of its life, Polaroid did something very disruptive.

  • Handwritten Fonts: The text looks like it was hurriedly scribbled by a real human hand.

  • Genuine Polaroid Pictures: The creative layouts are anchored by actual photographs with their iconic white borders.

The visual effect is definitely jarring. It acts as a pattern interrupt. When someone is walking through King’s Cross, completely overwhelmed by their daily operational juggle and strategic paralysis, their brain automatically filters out the glossy, artificial corporate ads. But a raw, human piece of handwriting? That makes them stop and think.

To make this hit even harder, Polaroid reportedly coordinated with a network of creators and influencers who agreed to “go dark” – meaning they stepped away from social media entirely to actually enjoy real-life experiences without recording them for digital validation.

Crazy, isn’t it?!

The Power of the Inconvenient Truth

At its core, this campaign works because it shares an inconvenient truth. The most powerful marketing messages are always the ones that dare to speak an unspoken reality in an authentic, genuine way, rather than out of spite or a desire to create controversy for the sake of it.

Polaroid is a brand built entirely on capturing a fleeting human moment, holding it in your hand, and then moving on to enjoy the rest of your day without spending hours scrolling through a screen or editing every pixel post click. It has aligned its deepest brand values with a cultural truth we are all feeling.

What This Means for Your Small Business

You do not need a multi-million-pound billboard budget to use this strategy in your own business. Here are three key things you can learn:

1. You Have Permission to Stand Against Convention

If your industry is sprinting in one direction, you are allowed to walk the other way. If you have a genuine passion for a traditional, tactile, or deeply human way of working, own it. Back up your stance with facts, figures, or real-world experiences. Standing out for all the right reasons is a robust business strategy.

2. Social Media is Not Your Only Platform

As a country girl at heart, I am always reminding my community that building a business solely on social media is like building a house on rented land. Polaroid’s success proves that out-of-home, print, physical experiences, and standalone brand assets can have an big impact when executed with clarity.

3. Stop Trying to Fit into Boxes That Hurt Your Brand

If a digital trend, an algorithm demand, or an AI tool does not fit who you are or what your business stands for, do not use it. Authenticity cannot be manufactured by software. 

If you enjoyed this, make sure you’re following me on Instagram where I breakdown lots of marketing campaigns and masterclasses, and share what we can all learn. I’m @rheafreemanpr.

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The Rise of the Yap Video: Why Unfiltered Authenticity Is Winning the Marketing War

the rise of the yap video

The digital landscape has shifted again. If you have spent any time scrolling through social media lately, you have probably noticed a massive change in the types of videos taking over your feed.

It is a trend commonly known as the “yap” or “yapper” video.

Don’t let the name fool you- it sounds far more complicated than it actually is. Essentially, a yap video is a simple, talking-head style video where someone does a direct piece to camera. There are no fancy transitions, no high-end editing suites involved, and absolutely no highly polished scripts.

The best ones work because people are showing up authentically, exactly as they are.

You will usually see creators filming these while sitting on a park bench, lounging on their sofa, or sitting in the driver’s seat of their car. It looks, feels, and sounds precisely like someone talking directly to a trusted friend. Because that’s what it is. And that is exactly why this format is so incredibly impactful right now.

The Backlash Against the Polished and the Artificial

We are living in an era dominated by artificial intelligence, where feeds are flooded with AI-generated videos (and images!) trying to communicate complex messages. If you look closely at the engagement metrics on those artificial posts, you will see they simply do not land well. And I’m not mad about that(!).

At the same time, people are growing exhausted by the endless sea of heavy filters and aggressive editing.

When everything is polished beyond belief to fit a corporate mould, it becomes jarring when a raw, unfiltered video pops up. It forces the viewer to stop and think: Hang on, is that a real person? What a crazy time we live in when that will be something people will think!

The moment we recognise a real human being on our screen, our perception changes. We instantly realise this is a genuine message about a real experience. It is the ultimate anti-corporate stance, and it is exactly what modern audiences are craving.

The simple truth is that people connect with people.

I don’t care how much AI advances over the coming years, or how sophisticated video editing software becomes, that fundamental truth will never change. Human beings connect with human experiences. The yap video succeeds because it strips away the noise and delivers human connection in its truest form.

How to Create a Successful Yap Video

If you want to leverage this trend to build deep trust, foster community, and increase your relatability, you need to know how to execute it well.

The good ones might look accidental, but they still follow a practical structure. Here is your breakdown of what you need to start doing today to create successful, high-value yap videos.

1. Focus on One Clear Point

You might be yapping rather than reading from a script, but your video still needs a clear point. Do not try to cover your entire business history in one go. Pick one single tip, one point, or one real-world struggle you encountered and want to share the lesson you learnt. Keep the video short and to the point. Aim to keep your run time between 30 and 60 seconds to maximise engagement.

2. Choose a Grounded, Comfortable Location

You do not need a studio backdrop or professional lighting. Film in a place that feels completely normal and good to you. Whether you are walking the dog, sitting on your sofa, or catching up between tasks in your car, the environment should reflect your actual daily life. That’s part of the charm.

3. Use Your Normal Conversation Voice

Speak exactly how you would talk if you were catching up over a coffee while juggling a busy afternoon. Do not put on a ‘presentation’ voice. Share your thoughts naturally, fillers and all, because that down-to-earth delivery is exactly what builds long-term brand trust.

4. Always Include Captions

While the yap video itself should remain unedited and raw, adding captions is a non-negotiable for accessibility. A huge percentage of people watch social media videos entirely on mute. You can use simple, low-friction tools like Adobe Express, dedicated editing apps (like Edits), or even the built-in tools inside Instagram and TikTok to generate accurate captions in next to no time.

Stop Overthinking and Have a Go

Building a robust, future-proof brand means moving away from the pressure of looking flawless online all the time. The next time you feel stuck staring at a blank screen wondering how to connect with your audience, take a breath, step away from the corporate expectations, and just press record. If you need to, blame me and say that you read it here and wanted to give it a spin.

You can hold your phone out at arm’s length or set it up on a simple tripod. The key is to just be you, keep those simple rules in mind, and have a play with the format without overthinking the outcome.

If you are looking for more practical tips on how to effectively market your business, ace your PR, and get social media working for you, follow me on Instagram @rheafreemanpr.

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The Golden Rule of PR: Is it New OR Newsworthy?

Here is a hard truth about getting your business into the press: the media does not care about you. They care about their audience. And this isn’t me being mean, it’s just the truth!

When you send a pitch, a press release, or an email to a journalist, you are not telling a story for your own gratification. Or if you are, we maybe have uncovered the problem. You are providing content for their readers, viewers, or listeners. If you want a journalist to pay attention to your business, you have to look through their lens, not yours.

To do that successfully, your story needs to tick one of two essential boxes: it must be new or newsworthy.

Here is the difference between the two—and why they both matter.

1. Is it NEW?

When we talk about “new” in a PR context, we are looking at tangible changes, additions, or milestones within your business. Journalists love a fresh angle. This includes things like:

  • Launching a new product or service line.

  • Opening a new location or expanding into a new territory.

  • Welcoming a key new member of staff who is going to shake things up or bring a unique expertise to your team.

If it hasn’t happened before, it’s new. And new ‘stuff’ has the potential to be interesting to the press.

2. Is it NEWSWORTHY?

Newsworthy means it has a wider impact. It’s the kind of information that makes a stranger stop and say, “Oh, that’s interesting.” Think about elements like:

  • Winning major awards or industry recognition.

  • Announcing groundbreaking research or data you’ve collected that reveals a trend in your industry.

  • Doing something completely cool, innovative, or unique that disrupts the usual way of doing things.

Newsworthy stories are the ones that connect your business to the bigger picture of what’s happening in the world right now.

The ultimate question you need to ask yourself…

The next time you sit down to draft a piece of communication for the press, I want you to step away from your own ego. Take a breath, read over your pitch, and ask yourself this single question:

Will the person reading this leave with something they didn’t know before?

If the answer is no, if it’s just a self-congratulatory announcement that only matters to your internal team, or maybe you’re regurgitating something that’s already been and gone? If this is the case, don’t hit send. Go back to the drawing board and find the hook.

Make sure you are delivering something genuinely new, or undeniably newsworthy. Focus on what their audience gets out of it, and you’ll find those journalist responses start landing in your inbox a whole lot faster.

If you’re looking for more tips on how to effectively market your business, ace your PR, utilise AI (the right way!) and get social media working for you, follow me on Instagram @rheafreemanpr

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The Under 16 Social Media Ban: What Does it REALLY Mean for Your Brand?

The landscape has shifted again. On the 15th of June 2026, Keir Starmer announced a massive change when it comes to social media. That is, that by next spring, the UK is planning to introduce a social media ban for under-16s.

If your brand relies heavily on marketing directly to under-16s via social media platforms, this is going to be a significant change for your business. Currently, most platforms have an official age limit of 13, but we all know that millions of younger children are active on them anyway. However, as a legitimate brand, you have a responsibility to be seen upholding the rules, doing the right thing, and ensuring your business is robust enough to survive these shifts.

Look, we can be cross about it (and I am!), or we can get on with it. Or a combination of the two(!). With massive change always comes massive opportunity. It’s time to move a few things around in your thinking and your daily efforts. Here is your breakdown of what you need to start doing today.

1. Adjust your target audience

If your current social media marketing targets young people aged between 13 and 16, it’s time to refocus. You need to pivot your social media content toward the gatekeepers, as in, the parents and grandparents.

When you shift your target, your messaging has to shift with it. Stop trying to look cool to a teenager who won’t even be on the app to see it (well, legally). Instead, focus entirely on the parents’ problems and pain points. How does your product or service make their lives easier, safer, or more enriched? So rather than saying something will ensure they’re the person everyone will be jealous of at school, think about why the parent or grandparent would actually get on board. Will it improve grades? Will it help support challenging tasks? How will it make the parent’s life a bit easier? Adjust your thinking.

2. Map out where your new target audience hangs out

Following on from shifting your audience, you need to audit your platform strategy. Different demographics thrive in completely different spaces online, and they consume content differently.

If your brand has been heavily reliant on TikTok because it captured that younger crowd, you may need to start shifting your focus toward platforms like Facebook or Pinterest, which traditionally attract a slightly older parental demographic. Do the work now to figure out where the parents are spending their time. Look into the specific publications they read, the websites they browse, and the influencers they actually trust.

“As much as I love social media, it is a platform built on rented land. We don’t own our followers. Not even a bit.”

3. Grow your list (aggressively!)

If you have relied on social media as your primary engine to share your messages and educate people about what you do without having a robust mailing list or website, you’ve been building your business on borrowed land. See this as your sign to get a grip.

Social media has never been owned by you, and it never will be (unless your name happens to be Mark Zuckerberg or Elon Musk, and if it is, hi there!). If an algorithm decides to stop showing your content, or if your account gets thrown into ‘social media prison’ for no apparent reason, you are completely powerless. Use this government ban as the ultimate wake-up call to start building your own email database, and build it aggressively.

4. Engage beyond the social media box

Under-16s might be getting banned from social media apps, but they aren’t disappearing from the face of the earth…or the internet. They are still going to be consuming media and interacting with the world, just in different ways.

Start thinking well beyond the digital social media box. Look into experiential marketing, physical pop-ups, print magazines, and standalone websites. There are endless creative ways to engage a younger demographic in the real world. App blocks can stop a scroll, but they can’t stop real-life experiences.

5. Double down on your SEO

Social media might be off limits for teens, but the rest of the internet is completely wide open. When people are looking for answers, hobbies, or shopping recommendations, they (and their parents) are going to use search engines.

Put real effort into your website’s Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). Make sure your site is fast, engaging, up-to-date, and packed with high-value blog posts. Optimising your content gives search engines like Google the best possible chance of recommending you. Furthermore, it ensures that as AI-driven search continues to grow, AI models can easily find and utilise your content to answer user queries.

In summary – Take action today

The absolute core takeaway here is simple: Don’t panic. You have plenty of time between now and next spring to start actioning these steps and putting them into place. None of the strategies mentioned above will hinder your current social media marketing, or your wider marketing strategy in any negative way. In fact, they will only make your entire business structure infinitely more robust and future-proof. It’s time to ensure you can market to a U16 audience in a way that is highly effective, entirely ethical, and completely legal.

Follow me on Instagram @rheafreemanpr for more social media, PR and marketing tips and tricks.

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What images the press need from you and your business

Getting featured in the media is one of the most powerful ways to build credibility, expand your reach, and grow your brand. But when you pitch a story or a product to journalists, there is one critical element that can have a huge impact on your chances of success, and that’s your imagery.

The thing is, PR isn’t just about a great written pitch. The press needs high-quality images to accompany their articles, whether these are in print or online. If your photos don’t meet their standards, they will likely pass on your story, no matter how incredible your product is.

To maximise your chances of success, you want to tick every box on this list…

1. Keep images clear and crisp

First things first: your photography must be visually flawless. The press expects clear, crisp images. By which I mean…

  • Avoid motion blurs, soft focusing, harsh shadow or poor lighting.

  • Ensure your subject is sharp and the details of your product are easily visible.

  • If a photo looks grainy or unprofessional on your desktop screen, it will look even worse in print or digital media.

2. Ban all watermarks and logos

If you have invested in a professional photographer to shoot your brand assets, that’s brilliant! However, before you send those files to a journalist, ensure all watermarks are completely removed (and you’ve got the correct permissions to share!).

Why this matters: A media outlet cannot and will not publish a photo with a giant watermarked logo cutting across it. Similarly, avoid adding your own business logo onto the corner of the image. Over-branding makes the photo look like an advertisement rather than editorial content, making it difficult for the press to use. And if you want to stand out for the right reasons and get coverage, you have to stack the odds in your favour. Always.

3. Always provide high-resolution files

Never send low-resolution web files or compressed thumbnails to a journalist. Print newspapers and magazines require high-resolution (high-res) files to ensure the ink doesn’t pixelate on the page. Digital publications also prefer high-res images because they can crop into them without losing quality.

If you only supply low-res files, the editorial team simply won’t be able to use them in print, and your feature could be cut.

4. Say no to AI-generated imagery

Yes, professional brand photography costs money. But trying to cut corners by sending AI-generated images to the media is a major red flag. Journalists value authenticity and real-world storytelling. Expecting an editor to publish an AI-generated rendering to promote a real, physical product isn’t a viable option and can damage your brand’s credibility. Invest in genuine assets.

5. Make sure you have the correct permissions

Let’s talk about image copyright and permissions. If you hired a professional photographer, ensure you have paid them properly and that your contract explicitly grants you PR and media distribution rights.

Do not expect busy journalists to run around chasing down photographers to ask for permission to use an image to promote your product. You must handle the paperwork and have clear rights to share the images before you pitch.

6. Watch out for expiring download links

If you are sending your press kit or product images via a downloadable link (like WeTransfer or Dropbox), make sure the link doesn’t expire after three days. Journalists, editors, and features writers work on varied timelines. An editor might love your pitch today but not work on that feature for weeks, or they might see a future opportunity that’s perfect for your product. You want to give the press the opportunity to download and use your imagery when it suits their editorial calendar, not just when it suits yours. Use permanent sharing links or long-term press folders so your assets are always accessible.

Stack the odds in your favour

By making your imagery as accessible, professional, and easy to access, you turn yourself into a dream source for journalists. Keep your files high-res, unwatermarked, and permanently accessible, and watch your media coverage grow!

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The Hawkstone Farmers’ Choir: A PR Masterclass Where Everybody Wins

The Hawkstone Farmers Choir: A PR Masterclass Where Everybody Wins

If you were watching television this weekend, you didn’t just witness a piece of entertainment history, you witnessed an absolute PR masterclass.

The Hawkstone Farmers’ Choir winning Britain’s Got Talent is an incredible triumph for the choir itself, but it’s also a blueprint for how modern PR, community amplification, and brand alignment should actually work. It was a rare, beautiful moment where every single person involved walked away a winner.

Let’s break down exactly why this campaign was so brilliant, and the key lessons you can steal for your own business.

1. It Was Rooted in Real Community (Not a Corporate Stunt)

To understand why this win felt so powerful, you have to look at how it started. The choir wasn’t manufactured by a marketing agency to sell beer. It was originally set up by Jeremy Clarkson, whom we all know from Top Gear and Clarkson’s Farm, to support local farmers and raise awareness for mental health.

Farming can be an incredibly isolating job. Last year, the choir appeared in a Hawkstone campaign video that went completely viral. They were real, raw, they swore, they sang beautifully, and they grabbed massive press attention because they were completely authentic. And the fact that Jeremy said the ad had been banned…

When they stepped onto the Britain’s Got Talent stage, they brought that genuine community with them. It didn’t feel like a manufactured PR stunt, it felt like real people with a real purpose (because that’s exactly what it was!).

2. It Shattered Industry Stereotypes on Prime-Time TV

While Clarkson’s Farm on Amazon Prime has done wonders for changing public perception of agriculture, taking the choir to ITV for Britain’s Got Talent opened the floodgates to a completely new, mainstream audience.

For a long time, farmers have been saddled with a grumpy, old-man stereotype that is hard for the general public to connect with. The choir completely blew that up on prime-time television.

Looking at that stage, the audience saw:

  • Men and women of all different ages.

  • People of all different sizes from all over the country.

  • Real, hard-working human beings who face the exact same struggles we all do, working tirelessly to feed us.

By showing the human faces behind the industry, they built an emotional bridge with millions of viewers who usually feel completely disconnected from agriculture.

3. The Power of “Snowball Effect” Amplification

One of the reasons this campaign reached such heights was the sheer scale of the amplification. Because so many different camps were passionate about the cause, the message snowballed naturally.

It wasn’t just the choir shouting about it. You had the entire ecosystem working in perfect sync:

  • The Star Power: Jeremy Clarkson was backing them publicly.

  • The Cast: Clarkson’s Farm favourites like Lisa Hogan, Kaleb Cooper, and Charlie Ireland were constantly championing them.

  • The Judges: Amanda Holden even visited the team on their home turf during a previous show to support them on their journey.

  • The Grassroots Hub: They held a massive watch party at Jeremy’s pub, The Farmer’s Dog, bringing people together physically to watch the final.

When you combine mainstream TV, hyper-engaged social media support, and real-life community hubs, your brand message becomes unstoppable.

The Ultimate “Everybody Wins” Result

The best PR campaigns aren’t zero-sum games. The Hawkstone Farmers Choir victory proved that when PR is handled with genuine care, the ripple effect of success benefits everyone:

Who Won? What Did They Gain?
The Choir They literally won the biggest talent show in Britain and a life-changing platform. The first choir to do this in the show’s history.
The Farming Industry A massive prime-time PR boost and a brilliant spotlight on the reality of modern agriculture.
The Hawkstone Brand Priceless, money-can’t-buy brand awareness, visibility, and positive sentiment.
Mental Health Awareness Vital awareness around isolation and mental health challenges within the farming community, encouraging people to speak out and find help.
Clarkson’s Farm & Jeremy A beautiful, positive nudge for his show right as it returns to our screens.
Britain’s Got Talent A massive dose of genuine, feel-good television that engaged an entirely new audience.

What Can We Learn as Business Owners?

As business owners, we can extract a massive amount of value from this masterclass:

  • Community is your superpower: Nurture your community fiercely. When your audience feels like they are part of a movement, they will vote, share, and fight for you.

  • Storytelling is magic: A great story doesn’t just inform—it captivates and educates. The power of a human story will out-perform a slick sales pitch every single time.

  • Commercial goals can be positive: Just because a campaign brings commercial benefits and brand awareness to a company (like Hawkstone), it doesn’t detract from the positive social impact. That is, if it is managed with true authenticity.

On Britain’s Got Talent, the Hawkstone Farmers Choir made history. But they also reminded us exactly what happens when you lead with real people, real passion, and a great story.

Want to elevated your brand’s PR?

Learning how to extract the gold from major cultural moments is exactly how you build a standout brand strategy.

If you want more practical PR tips, behind-the-scenes campaign breakdowns, and actionable tricks to give your product or service the spotlight it deserves, make sure to follow me over on Instagram at @rheafreemanpr! Let’s get people talking about your business.

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How to Get the Press to Notice Your Business: 3 Non-Negotiable Rules

How to Get the Press to Notice Your Business: 3 Non-Negotiable Rules

Let’s be completely honest for a second. Getting the press to pay attention to your business, your new product, or your service can feel like trying to shout in a crowded stadium (and no one hearing!). You send off an email, you wait, and then absolutely nothing happens. This isn’t necessarily you, journalists are incredibly busy people.

It is incredibly frustrating. But more often than not, it isn’t because your business isn’t interesting, or your new product isn’t great. It could well be because that person’s inbox is overflowing with requests, but it can also be because your pitch didn’t give the journalist exactly what they needed to do their job.

Journalists, editors, and producers are some of the busiest people on the planet. They are drowning in deadlines and wading through hundreds of pitches a day. If you want them to pick up your story, you have to make it as easy as humanly possible for them to say “yes.”

If you want to drastically increase your chances of media success, you need to embed these three fundamental rules into your PR strategy.

1. High-Quality Imagery is Non-Negotiable

You could have the most life-altering product or the most inspiring business story in the world, but if your imagery is rubbish, your pitch is heading straight for the bin.

Think about it from their perspective: if a journalist loves your story but you haven’t provided a decent photo to run alongside it, they can’t publish it. You’ve stopped them in their tracks.

Here is what you need to keep in mind:

It doesn’t have to be a professional photoshoot. While professional shots are great, standard smartphones are incredible these days.

It does need to look professional. Your images must be crisp, clear, well-composed, and never blurry.

Watch your background. Make sure the background is tidy, decent, and fits your brand aesthetic.

Think about sizing. Provide high-resolution files that can be easily resized or cropped for print or digital.

Do everything you can to set yourself up for success from the very first click.

2. Keep Your Pitch Concise

It is tempting to write an essay when pitching your business. You want to explain everything from how you came up with the idea, your life history, your vision, for the future and maybe even where you went to primary school (I’m only half joking!).

Stop right there. They do not want your life story.

The golden rule of pitching the press is to keep it as concise as it can possibly be while still delivering the vital facts. Your email should be punchy and straight to the point.

💡 Insider PR Tip: If you absolutely have to add extra context or background details, do not clog up the main body of your email. Instead, create a clear ‘Notes to the Editor’ section right at the bottom. This keeps your introduction clean, while still giving them extra info if they choose to scroll down.

Before you hit send, ask yourself: ‘Is this extra paragraph helping my chances, or is it just making a busy editor close the document because they don’t have time to read it?’. If it’s the latter, you know what to do…

3. Include a Clear Call to Action

Let’s say the magic happens and a member of the press reads your pitch, loves your product, and wants to run the story. What do they do next?

If there isn’t a glaringly obvious next step staring them in the face, you are creating friction. You should never force a busy journalist to go on a weird, adventurous treasure hunt across the internet just to find your website or your imagery.

Make the next steps totally seamless. Inside the body of your email, explicitly state what to do next:

Provide a direct link. Always include your exact website address.

Offer more assets upfront. I always say something like, “If you need additional information or images, please let me know.”

If you like, link a shared folder. You could include a link to a Google Drive or Dropbox folder containing your press release and image library if you want. Do not, and I repeat DO NOT, send a link to a file that expires in a few days… you’re not helping them and that means you’re not helping yourself.

If they want to publish your business, make sure their readers actually know where to find you.

Want More Practical PR Tips?

Mastering your own PR doesn’t have to be overwhelming. It’s all about understanding what the media needs and delivering it to them on a silver platter.

For loads more actionable tips, behind-the-scenes tricks, and strategies to get your product or service the massive promotion it deserves, make sure you’re following me over on Instagram at @rheafreemanpr! Let’s get your business noticed.

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Are you still an equestrian business coach and mentor?

Short answer yes, yes I am, but let me just expand this… hold tight!

Are you still an equestrian business coach and mentor?

It’s a funny world we live in, isn’t it? You start off down one path and things happen that open doors and opportunities… and you either say yes and crack on, or say no and stay in your shell and never leave. I’m an option one person. Even if I’m not entirely sure what that opportunity looks like or where it’ll lead, I say yes, then worry about it later.

Let me take you back

A few years ago, I was in a pub beer garden with my friends and my then puppy, Indy. The phone rang, I didn’t recognise the number, but I answered it. It was BBC Radio 5Live asking me if I’d come on the radio and discuss a PR story as they had me on their system as a PR expert and would like my insight. I remember walking loops of that beer garden doing a briefing call, wondering what on earth was happening, sure that someone would say ‘hahah, gotcha!’. But they didn’t. In fact, I did go on the radio and it was a catalyst to a lot I didn’t see coming. In the weeks that followed I did a lot of TV and radio – I think my max was 15 interviews in one day. It blew my mind. I was able to put my YEARS of experience, learning and everything else into words on air… and people loved it. More than that, I LOVED IT. Since then, I’ve been on BBC News, ITV News, Channel 5 News, Talk, LBC, Heart, lots of BBC radio stations… and the list goes on. I even have my own radio segment each week now on BBC Hereford & Worcester, BBC Shropshire, and BBC Stoke.

And just like that, the niche that I’d be in for many years, wasn’t the only place people knew me. My experience, my insight, my analysis, was being sought on a much larger scale. And that attracted attention. And that opened up doors.

And when these doors open, you decide whether to walk through, or whether to stay put…

I think we all know what happened, don’t we? I walked through. This ‘walk’ allowed me to do additional qualifications, land Bloomsbury as a publisher, appear on more TV and radio, write for newspapers and magazines, speak on stages in front of over 2000 people. It didn’t change who I was, but it meant people saw me for who I was, and what I could do for them.

This meant that instead of just equestrian businesses, I had enquiries from people with looser connections to the space – still very much equestrian, rural, canine or country at first, but working alongside Help to Grow and Small Business Britain as a mentor, far more diverse than that.

This gave me the opportunity to think about who I want to coach and mentor

…and when I did that deeper dive into this, when I had the confidence to look beyond a niche, I realised that my clients are often equestrian, canine, country or rural, BUT most also have the following traits…

  • They’re female founders (this doesn’t mean I don’t coach and mentor men, but this is the theme!)
  • Driven
  • Talented
  • Think outside the box and aren’t content with mediocre
  • They usually have a dog, horse or cat – and those animals are discussed or sometimes appear on calls
  • They want to grow and develop their businesses and make them work for them. This doesn’t necessarily mean multi-million pound turnover, it means a business that does what they need it to do.
  • Have a sense of humour
  • They are incredible – they have done the work, they don’t BS, they’re inspiring and brilliant

…and all of this has led me here. To writing this blog. To sharing how my identity has evolved and changed but how my core values, my experience, my skill, the transformations I support, haven’t. And that’s led to a post I’ve felt weird about writing for SO long, but one that’s important for me.

And if you’re reading thinking you fit my ideal customer and want to grow and take things to the next level, then I might have a few slots coming up in the near future. If this is you, I’m inviting you to send me a message so we can arrange to jump on a call with me for a chat to see what magic we might be able to create together…

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