Being Everything to Everyone Made Us the Obvious Choice for Nobody

What XL PR is narrowing down on:

I've always believed that entrepreneurs were born to make a difference AND build something wildly successful. I always hoped I didn't have to pick one, and I've always tried to do it all. To make a difference, my company gives contractors access to a career coach, 4 team retreats a year, a book club, and membership to the BEST media relations training out there among other things. And on the business side, let me give you a peek.

For a while, we were losing clients faster than we were signing them. And if you've ever been the founder, the one everybody is counting on, you know that exact feeling. 

Being everything to everyone meant we were the obvious choice for nobody. I thought staying broad helped us serve a LOT of clients (15 different industries to be exact), but it turns out maybe I was missing something,

If we represent clients in the same industry, am I about to walk into a reporter's inbox with 30 versions of the same client? Won't they start to blur together? Won't I be competing against myself?

So I had to step back and look at the clients who we were passionate about including ones who not only got the wildest results but actually listened to us and it was a true collaboration. 

Some of our biggest wins? We took BookSmarts to $13.73M in earned media value, landed 140 placements, built a 25% revenue lift, grew their organic SEO by 700%, brought in 60+ new clients, earned them awards, and won a Golden Spike against billion-dollar competitors while shedding light on her personal financial journey of paying off over $200k in student loans in under 3 years. Utah Radon: 6,000 test requests and partnerships with major hospitals. North Star Recovery: investor relations and five recovering addicts furnished and moved into homes. Youth Futures: more donors and real brand awareness for homeless youth.

What are XL PR's strengths?

When we looked back at the clients who brought out our best work, we expected to see a list of unrelated industries. An accounting firm. A radon-testing company. A recovery center. A tulip farm. A homebuilder. A children's book company. On paper, they have almost nothing in common.

But realized they could be grouped into two categories: Behavioral finance and behavioral health.

Behavioral finance is the people and businesses helping everyday Americans build a healthier relationship with their money. Accounting and bookkeeping that takes the shame out of the numbers. Homeownership is made attainable for working families. Employees finally are able to save for a place of their own. 

Behavioral and environmental health is addiction recovery, trauma, mental health, and the physical environments we live inside every day. 

A lot of these stories most people are too scared to say out loud, but we want to tell these stories.

Here is a visual that will help:

XL PR shows their two niches, Behavioral and Environmental Health and Behavioral Finance

Why does XL PR care so much about Behavioral Finance and Behavioral and Environmental Health?

These are industries so personal to me.

I don't just talk about financial discipline, I live it. I read Dave Ramsey in high school, tracked every expense for seven years straight, bought my first home on my own income, put money in a Roth IRA every single month for over four years even when money was tight, and never once took on a car loan, and implemented profit first in my company. I've been the breadwinner for years and built XL PR from zero to $715K in under three years. And you know what I STILL have triggers and shame around money that I’m working through!! 

I bring that same lived experience to behavioral health. I have three neurodiverse kids. There have been social workers in my home three days a week. I walked my husband through two years of long COVID and years of other behavioral issues. My dad has Parkinson's and is slowing declining. I have a therapist, somatic worker, anger management coach, and a nervous system regulation women’s group and do couples therapy. The taboo stuff that keeps most people quiet is exactly where I'm most at home. 

And my right-hand gal lives in those same veins with me. Rachelle also lives debt free, makes no excuses, and fights hard for the companies trying to make the world healthier and better, with the exception of Diet Coke/Coca-Cola, she fights hard for that company too ;). She has a public health degree from UVU, led the school's first-ever student-to-student giving campaign, planned events and prevention education for The Center for Women and Children in Crisis, and led the financial services PR work behind BookSmarts's whole campaign.

What can XL PR do?

So here's what we're building from here. XL PR is the go-to agency in these two spaces, behavioral finance and behavioral health. We are working on the podcast connections, the earned media relationships, we will be facilitating collaborations between clients so they grow faster together, we know the events our clients need to be attending in the industry, and we have a real, deep understanding of the strategy. We deliver PR that drives real business results.

And we aren't stopping at media placements either. There's more coming: full funnel PR. But more on that soon.

For now, we've got a few more fun things landing this summer, including a brand-new website that brings all of this to life, coming toward the beginning of July.

XL PR jumping for joy because they are so excited to continue to serve businesses in behavioral finance and behavioral and environmental health!

There's so much to be excited about, and XL PR is so excited. So if you're a founder in behavioral finance or behavioral health sitting on a story that deserves to be heard, don’t hesitate to reach out. Let's chat!

Schedule a call with us to discuss how we can help your business!