July 29, 2025 • 21 mins
What happens when crisis hits your business and the only information people can find about you online is that negative event? In our conversation with communications expert Tiffany Muehlbauer, we dive deep into her innovative "Pool Theory" concept that's changing how organizations approach crisis preparation.
The Pool Theory isn't about shouting louder when trouble arrives—it's about creating enough momentum in your brand presence beforehand that disruptions barely make waves.
For small businesses and entrepreneurs feeling overwhelmed by limited resources, Tiffany offers practical, implementable strategies. One client transformed their visibility with just three consistent actions: highlighting one client win monthly on their website, sending one monthly newsletter, and posting once weekly on LinkedIn. Within six months, they saw tangible results and new business opportunities. The key isn't being everywhere at once—it's identifying where your audience engages and maintaining an authentic, consistent presence there.
You can find Tiffany's new book, Pool Theory, on Amazon or at thepooltheory.com. Find Tiffany at ArmaCommunications.com.
Email the show via Tom@leadinginacrisis.com
Reach Marc Mullen at marcmullenccc@gmail.com
We'd love to hear from you. Email the show at Tom@leadinginacrisis.com.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Tom Mueller (00:07):
Hi everyone and welcome back to the Leading in a
Crisis podcast.
On this podcast, we talk allthings crisis management and we
like to do that by sharingstories from experienced crisis
leaders.
I'm Tom Mueller.
Thanks for joining us.
We're glad to have you backwith us again today.
Hey, if you want to email theshow, you can reach out to me
(00:33):
via tom at leadinginacrisiscomand would love to hear from you.
In fact, we heard from alistener down in Fort Lauderdale
, florida.
Claire wrote in recently andtook issue with our attitude
toward lawyers.
Recently and took issue withour attitude toward lawyers and
because we tend to all have alittle bit of a negative view of
attorneys on this podcast justbecause of our past life
(00:54):
experience.
But Claire wrote in to stand upfor those attorneys who are
hardworking folks just trying todo their best and, claire, we
appreciate you sharing thatperspective with us and keeping
us thinking positively about allparts of our incident
management team.
So thanks very much for that.
(01:14):
On today's show, we're going totalk about how to prepare for a
crisis before it ever hits yourcompany or your agency.
Our guest is Tiffany Muehlbauer, who has a new book that just
launched last week that focuseson some particular theory that
(01:34):
she has for helping companiesprepare for crisis and to
improve branding and positioningin the marketplace.
Tiffany, welcome to the podcast.
Tiffany Muehlbauer (01:46):
Thank you so much.
It's such a pleasure to be here.
Tom Mueller (01:50):
Do you mind just taking a moment and giving us a
quick thumbnail of sort of yourlife experience and what you're
about today.
Tiffany Muehlbauer (01:59):
Absolutely I would love to.
So the last few decades of mylife have been heavily involved
with public relations andcommunications specifically for
my clients small businesses,medium-sized businesses and even
publicly traded companies, formy own company, armour
Communications.
And really over the years we'venoticed a recurring theme, and
(02:22):
that theme is that organizationswait until it's too late to try
and get a message out, and atthat time the message is being
written without anything,without their help whatsoever.
People will just drawspecifically from what they find
on the internet about youalready.
So we've created a littlesomething called the pool theory
(02:43):
.
So we've created a littlesomething called the pool theory
, and the pool theory is reallyabout not about shouting louder
in the room, but aboutvisibility.
So it's about creating momentumin your brand presence and then
(03:04):
when disruption does hit, youdon't, because you know, in a
still pool even a pebble willmake waves, but in a dynamic
pool you can drop a cannonballin there and it barely splashes
or goes snoticed.
So that's really what it iskind of in a nutshell.
Tom Mueller (03:18):
So it sounds like your theory is really about
building up that bank ofgoodwill ahead of time, building
up your brand value so thatwhen something goes wrong and,
let's face it, good thingshappen to bad companies all the
time.
Effort and time to build upthat kind of goodwill in your
company and brand.
(03:38):
What's your guidance forcompanies as they're setting out
on that journey?
Tiffany Muehlbauer (03:58):
Well, a lot of times we are completely
overwhelmed as entrepreneurs, weare almost always under
resourced, but you don't needmore noise around you.
It's about finding a goodrhythm, something that is you
know that you can be consistentwith that, you can keep up on a
regular basis and just startwhere you're at, because you
(04:19):
undoubtedly have things to say.
So you know.
Remember that communications isnot just about that information
flow.
It's about building up trust.
So it's you know, talking aboutall of those wins that are
happening in your business, nomatter where you're at in your
business, and finding ways tobuild that personality behind
(04:39):
the brand or the company itself.
Because, let's be real, allcompanies have people behind
them somewhere and maybe we willmake mistakes, maybe we'll have
great successes, but at somepoint people will start to
research what are you about?
And you know Google is veryrevealing, so you can craft what
is being revealed or said aboutyou, but if you don't say
(05:01):
anything, then the rest of theworld is going to create that
message for you.
Tom Mueller (05:06):
You know, there's an issue that springs to mind
here and that's aroundauthenticity, because you could
invest a lot of money and timeand effort trying to position
your company one way, but ifyou're, the values don't sort of
ring true to how your companybehaves.
You're really kind of wastingyour money there, aren't you?
Tiffany Muehlbauer (05:25):
Absolutely.
Authenticity is 100% key and wereally say you know, do good
and talk about it, Because ifyou're not doing good things
then it's going to be a littlebit tricky.
I mean, you can be a spindoctor and you can, you know,
probably talk good things out ofthings that aren't great.
But if you're already a greatbrand, a great company with
(05:47):
great people and great products,then it's easy to be talked
about, right, and it's not aboutthe visibility, isn't about
vanity, right, it's aboutinsurance.
So, you know, you really justwant to build things up when you
can, when it's a little calmer,before those storms hit.
Tom Mueller (06:04):
You know, this seems to me like it's easier for
bigger companies with lots ofresources to put energy and
effort and budget into buildingup that brand value.
But you know, most of us aresmall companies, right, and we
have limited budgets.
So you know, what's the sort ofthe pebble in the pool for
(06:27):
smaller companies orentrepreneurs that are just
starting out?
Tiffany Muehlbauer (06:31):
You know, you can really take just one
small slice every week and makea difference.
So one of our companies ourclients was a government affairs
company.
They had a lot of history ofresults.
They had done good things, butthey were never really talking
about it.
They didn't have a website,they didn't have social media.
They didn't have social media.
They didn't really evencommunicate with anybody outside
(06:54):
of their direct clientcommunications and they really
weren't marketing their businessin any way, shape or form.
I mean, they were talking aboutdoing strategic communications
for some of their clients, butthey were totally not doing it
for themselves, which isunfortunately a very common
problem when you're anentrepreneur or a business owner
, because you often will go offand focus on those other
businesses but you often don'tcome back.
(07:15):
So we set up a very simple planto get them started and it was
literally we highlight oneclient win a month on your
website.
We do one newsletter that goesout once a month to your key
stakeholders and your clients.
We do one LinkedIn post a week.
That's where we started and sixmonths later they were getting
real results.
They had people writing,reaching out.
(07:38):
Oh, I didn't know, you didthose services.
I appreciate that you sharedthis story.
You know it was very explosiveresults for them and they got
leads immediately from just alittle bit of effort.
So it's really not about, youknow, immersing and doing 17
posts a week on social media andbeing present everywhere.
(08:01):
Figure out where your audienceis present first and then go out
to that pool.
That's part of what we talkabout in the book is really
about.
Okay, yes, you have to createmovement in various spaces, and
maybe that's, you know, publicrelations and having media, or
maybe that's joining your localchamber of commerce, but it's
about also figuring out what isthe size of your business.
(08:23):
How big does that pool need tobe?
And then you know where do youneed to be active?
Because, let's be real, likeyou said, we have very limited
time and resources every day, sowe cannot do everything, and
even though we would all love tohave unlimited budgets and hire
as many you know personalassistants and items, and then
just roll that out and beconsistent with it, because then
(08:44):
people will see it and knowwhere to look for you.
Tom Mueller (08:58):
Well, linkedin seems to be sort of a natural
and easy platform to do that, weknow.
You know the social media spaceis, you know, is sort of ever
evolving and it's, quite frankly, scary for a lot of small
business people who, you know,don't understand it well, unless
(09:22):
you're a very youngentrepreneur starting out Right.
And it's like there are so manyoptions.
Should I be on Instagram?
Should I be on X?
What about Facebook?
Are there others?
So there's a lot of anxietythat can come from all of that.
Tiffany Muehlbauer (09:43):
How do you make sense of that for a small
enterprise.
Yeah, I mean, you don't wantthat fear to overcome, because
no motion at all is a problem.
So it's about figuring out whoare you trying to reach.
A lot of these platforms havevarious age groups where they're
very well linked in.
If it's a younger demographicthat you're going after, then go
to TikTok.
(10:03):
If it's you know that 25 to 45range, predominantly females, go
to something like Instagram orPinterest.
Right, every platform haspeople, types of businesses or
you know types of individualsthat may fit better into your
avatar that you've created forwhatever you're going after.
So it is a little bit of youknow refinement of figuring out
(10:26):
where it's good for you to be.
But then once you figure outthose places, you know again you
don't have to be active on likeFacebook and Insta and like X,
and X is like one of thoseplatforms that you really have
to be active.
You know 10, 15, 20 times a dayposting if you want to make any
headway.
(10:47):
And obviously most people don'thave that kind of you know
resources time whatsoever.
So you know, sometimes you justyou don't need to be everywhere
, especially if you're a brandjust getting started.
Tom Mueller (10:59):
You know, as I think about resourcing for the
social media aspects of it, tome it's always a bit daunting.
So if somebody wants resourcesto do that, they could hire a PR
firm or a communications firmto help with that.
But is there an efficient wayto do that?
(11:20):
It just feels like somethingthat might spin out of control
in terms of budget and all ofthat.
Are there some guidelines youcan put in place to help manage
that effectively and not scareyourself?
Tiffany Muehlbauer (11:33):
I know you have a lot of shows where you
guys have talked about AI, butthere are a lot of resources out
there that can help anentrepreneur or somebody with
limited resources plan aschedule for calendars, for
example, and even brainstormtopics of what they could talk
about.
Chatgpt is an amazing tool andresource if you, you know,
develop some insights in writingprompts and you know how to
(11:57):
formulate the right questions toget the right answers right.
So, you know, for some peoplethat are really looking for ways
to just, you know, speed uptheir time and really, you know,
increase that creative thinkingprocess, a tool like ChatGPT
can be great.
I think that generally, itinvolves a little bit of
planning and foresight.
Even if you're going to hire asocial media company, you, as a
(12:20):
company or as a brand, shouldknow what it is that you think
that you're going to have to sayon these platforms, because
undoubtedly they're going tocome to you and say, okay, so
what are your thoughts and ideas?
Platforms, because undoubtedlythey're going to come to you and
say, okay, so what are yourthoughts and ideas?
And it's really just aboutfiguring out okay, what am I
interesting about?
And social media is a lot of it.
They just want to see peoplebeing people.
(12:40):
It's not about selling yourproducts hard, because that
generally doesn't sell well insocial media, so it's the
ability to promote your productswithout promoting your products
right.
So for everybody that's alittle bit different, but
generally it's about not justhaving a dialogue of like buy my
stuff, buy my stuff, buy mystuff.
(13:01):
It's finding ways to tellpeople about why your products
are interesting, or why you areinteresting, or why you're doing
what you're doing.
What is it that makes youunique?
And, you know, add somepersonality to that as well,
especially if you're usingplatforms like TikTok or
Instagram, or even YouTube.
Tom Mueller (13:20):
I'm a big fan of Shark Tank the show right for
entrepreneurs and of course oneof the things you see regularly
on that show is companies thathave a real social vision, a
giving back vision thataccompanies their company and of
course that becomes part andparcel with the brand.
Have you seen examples of that,or clients that have sort of
(13:47):
taken that approach?
Tiffany Muehlbauer (13:48):
Sure, To identify with a specific brand,
and then it just becomes part oftheir culture, so to speak.
Tom Mueller (13:55):
Yeah, the sort of, you know, tying your brand to a
giving back.
Right, there's a sock companythat for every pair of socks
somebody buys, they're donatingone to somebody in a needy
country somewhere, right?
Or you know the kind bars whereyou know they're donating money
for I forget what they donatefor now, but you know that every
(14:24):
bar you buy is having somesocial value behind a company
profiting from it.
So that feels like a good thingto do, but I don't know, is it
easy?
Tiffany Muehlbauer (14:32):
I mean, I've had clients that you know that
part of that giving back processis like almost their entire
business.
Some of them are, you know,very much, nonprofits that just
support, you know, acts ofkindness, for example, like you
know, just randomness, sort ofthings.
But one of them supports women,or like young ladies who are in
high school age and encouragesthem to go out into the
(14:54):
wilderness and hike, and that isher business as well, as you
know her foundation, and so inthat realm you know she's
launched a movie from it.
She's done all kinds of thingsto build awareness of the fact
that.
You know, sometimes young womenfind themselves in a situation
that they think is helpless,even though they have a massive
potential, and so she's kind ofrescuing these girls that are in
(15:16):
hardship situations.
Tom Mueller (15:18):
Yeah, that's so important.
Tiffany Muehlbauer (15:20):
Life can be different and you don't have to
just follow the path thateverybody else takes you and you
know she'll take them to Peruon a hike and show them
literally you can take it yeah.
Tom Mueller (15:30):
Well, the mentoring aspect comes in there and then
just, and the human contactwhich you know, if you're
touching people individually,wow, what a joy and what value
you're bringing to that life andthat's really terrific.
Hey, are there, are thereexamples that you've seen of
company that have made mistakesin this area, and is there an
(15:53):
example you could cite from forthe rest of us not to follow in
terms of how we position andbuild our brand?
Tiffany Muehlbauer (16:01):
There's a lot of situations that arise
sometimes for businesses, andsometimes visibility isn't what
you want.
So we had a client thatunfortunately was in a situation
where one of his drivers strucksomebody on a bicycle while
driving in a corporate truckhome from work one day and
unfortunately that pedestrianwith a bicyclist was gravely
(16:24):
injured.
This went into the news.
It was, you know, kind of amajor thing.
It became some somewhat of anidentification for that business
because previous to that theyhad not built up their
reputation very much online atall.
They didn't really have socialpresence.
It was an older generation thatwas leading the company.
So when that happened, prettymuch the only news about that
(16:47):
business that came up on theinternet was the fact that
someone had been struck by oneof their drivers.
The person recovered,everything was fine, but it was
very damaging for them.
So we worked with them to, youknow, reestablish a whole
thought process of you know howcan we get out there and be
present without discreditingwhat had happened?
(17:10):
Right, because you know it wasa real moment in life that
happened and it was a veryunfortunate moment, but it was
very much a learning experience.
At the same time, a generationwas switch, was happening inside
the company.
So, you know, we were reallyable to pick up and say, okay,
you know, things are completelychanging in within the structure
of this company and so, youknow, we just really poured on
(17:32):
the the changes that the companycompany was going through and
the great things that they weredoing.
And you know, not to say thatwe were trying to bury that news
, but we were just trying tobring realization to all of the
amazing things that this companywas doing, instead of just this
one bad thing that had, youknow, struck their calendar of
events.
Tom Mueller (17:52):
What kind of timeframe do you need to correct
that public perception of thisthing?
Tiffany Muehlbauer (17:58):
You know it's somewhat variable, but
typically it's a multi-monthprocess, not just like an
overnight sort of thing.
I mean, yes, you can probablyfind some sources where you can
buy your way onto, you know, newsources to flip the story and
maybe offer some op-eds andthings of that nature.
But you know it's a question ofresources.
(18:21):
In that case, right, if you can, if you have a lot of money,
you can do a lot of things.
If you're trying to do itdynamically with SEO,
That's more organic.
It's a multi-month process.
Tom Mueller (18:32):
Right, it's the advertising program that's out
in your face, versus the subtlesocial media and other
communications, building a blogpost yeah, exactly the things
that can take a little bitlonger.
Tiffany Muehlbauer (18:43):
They have a longer lasting effect, but they
might take longer to go intoeffect.
Tom Mueller (18:50):
Sometimes, if your company's in crisis, it's worth
your while to allocate somemoney toward an advertising
budget to kind of help reallypush the messaging out there,
(19:10):
but that's not a substitute forthe longer wavelength sort of
good works and authenticactivities that your company's
undertaking.
Hey, I want to jump back to thebook here for our last few
minutes and just kind of askwhat do you consider the most
impactful part of the book?
Or, if you were going to pick achapter of that, what would be
the you know, sort of thehighlight of your content?
Tiffany Muehlbauer (19:29):
Well, I've tried to make the book
informative and interesting andrelatively reactive.
So it's really more of ahands-on tool than just a book
to read.
It's educational.
It has a lot of stories ofthese types of, you know, real
world stories of mostly largerbrands, but some of our clients
as well.
But it also is filled withworksheets and things like that.
(19:50):
So if you're in a place withyour company and you're not
creating hundreds of leads a dayor you're not where you want to
be with visibility, then weinvite you to look into these
worksheets and to complete themso that you can get to a place
where you want to be with yourbusiness.
Tom Mueller (20:07):
All right, I know the book is available on Amazon.
Is that kind of the easiest wayto get a hold of it?
Absolutely, you can also visitthepooltheorycom.
Tiffany Muehlbauer (20:14):
That's our website.
Is that kind of the easiest wayto get a hold of it?
Absolutely, you can also visitthepooltheorycom.
That's our website, and that'salso where you'll find the links
to download our free worksheets, called the Starter Toolkit, to
get you going with your ownpool.
Tom Mueller (20:28):
All right.
Well, Tiffany Muehlbauer, thankyou so much for taking time to
visit with us and best of luckwith the new book.
Let's hope for gangbuster salesand more business on the
backside of it.
Tiffany Muehlbauer (20:42):
Thank you so much, Tom.
I really am looking forward toit and, you know, I look forward
to hearing from any of yourlisteners who might have
questions or want to tell meabout their own experiences
building up a pool.
Tom Mueller (20:53):
All right.
Well, we'll include a link forhow you can reach Tiffany and
also a link to the Amazon sitewhere you can buy her book.
And that's going to do it forthis episode of the Leading in a
Crisis podcast.
We do thank you for joining usand spending a few minutes of
your day with us.
We appreciate that and we lookforward to seeing you again soon
on another episode.
Take care.
Hi everyone and welcome back to the Leading in a
Crisis podcast.
On this podcast, we talk allthings crisis management and we
like to do that by sharingstories from experienced crisis
leaders.
I'm Tom Mueller.
Thanks for joining us.
We're glad to have you backwith us again today.
Hey, if you want to email theshow, you can reach out to me
(00:33):
via tom at leadinginacrisiscomand would love to hear from you.
In fact, we heard from alistener down in Fort Lauderdale
, florida.
Claire wrote in recently andtook issue with our attitude
toward lawyers.
Recently and took issue withour attitude toward lawyers and
because we tend to all have alittle bit of a negative view of
attorneys on this podcast justbecause of our past life
(00:54):
experience.
But Claire wrote in to stand upfor those attorneys who are
hardworking folks just trying todo their best and, claire, we
appreciate you sharing thatperspective with us and keeping
us thinking positively about allparts of our incident
management team.
So thanks very much for that.
(01:14):
On today's show, we're going totalk about how to prepare for a
crisis before it ever hits yourcompany or your agency.
Our guest is Tiffany Muehlbauer, who has a new book that just
launched last week that focuseson some particular theory that
(01:34):
she has for helping companiesprepare for crisis and to
improve branding and positioningin the marketplace.
Tiffany, welcome to the podcast.
Tiffany Muehlbauer (01:46):
Thank you so much.
It's such a pleasure to be here.
Tom Mueller (01:50):
Do you mind just taking a moment and giving us a
quick thumbnail of sort of yourlife experience and what you're
about today.
Tiffany Muehlbauer (01:59):
Absolutely I would love to.
So the last few decades of mylife have been heavily involved
with public relations andcommunications specifically for
my clients small businesses,medium-sized businesses and even
publicly traded companies, formy own company, armour
Communications.
And really over the years we'venoticed a recurring theme, and
(02:22):
that theme is that organizationswait until it's too late to try
and get a message out, and atthat time the message is being
written without anything,without their help whatsoever.
People will just drawspecifically from what they find
on the internet about youalready.
So we've created a littlesomething called the pool theory
(02:43):
.
So we've created a littlesomething called the pool theory
, and the pool theory is reallyabout not about shouting louder
in the room, but aboutvisibility.
So it's about creating momentumin your brand presence and then
(03:04):
when disruption does hit, youdon't, because you know, in a
still pool even a pebble willmake waves, but in a dynamic
pool you can drop a cannonballin there and it barely splashes
or goes snoticed.
So that's really what it iskind of in a nutshell.
Tom Mueller (03:18):
So it sounds like your theory is really about
building up that bank ofgoodwill ahead of time, building
up your brand value so thatwhen something goes wrong and,
let's face it, good thingshappen to bad companies all the
time.
Effort and time to build upthat kind of goodwill in your
company and brand.
(03:38):
What's your guidance forcompanies as they're setting out
on that journey?
Tiffany Muehlbauer (03:58):
Well, a lot of times we are completely
overwhelmed as entrepreneurs, weare almost always under
resourced, but you don't needmore noise around you.
It's about finding a goodrhythm, something that is you
know that you can be consistentwith that, you can keep up on a
regular basis and just startwhere you're at, because you
(04:19):
undoubtedly have things to say.
So you know.
Remember that communications isnot just about that information
flow.
It's about building up trust.
So it's you know, talking aboutall of those wins that are
happening in your business, nomatter where you're at in your
business, and finding ways tobuild that personality behind
(04:39):
the brand or the company itself.
Because, let's be real, allcompanies have people behind
them somewhere and maybe we willmake mistakes, maybe we'll have
great successes, but at somepoint people will start to
research what are you about?
And you know Google is veryrevealing, so you can craft what
is being revealed or said aboutyou, but if you don't say
(05:01):
anything, then the rest of theworld is going to create that
message for you.
Tom Mueller (05:06):
You know, there's an issue that springs to mind
here and that's aroundauthenticity, because you could
invest a lot of money and timeand effort trying to position
your company one way, but ifyou're, the values don't sort of
ring true to how your companybehaves.
You're really kind of wastingyour money there, aren't you?
Tiffany Muehlbauer (05:25):
Absolutely.
Authenticity is 100% key and wereally say you know, do good
and talk about it, Because ifyou're not doing good things
then it's going to be a littlebit tricky.
I mean, you can be a spindoctor and you can, you know,
probably talk good things out ofthings that aren't great.
But if you're already a greatbrand, a great company with
(05:47):
great people and great products,then it's easy to be talked
about, right, and it's not aboutthe visibility, isn't about
vanity, right, it's aboutinsurance.
So, you know, you really justwant to build things up when you
can, when it's a little calmer,before those storms hit.
Tom Mueller (06:04):
You know, this seems to me like it's easier for
bigger companies with lots ofresources to put energy and
effort and budget into buildingup that brand value.
But you know, most of us aresmall companies, right, and we
have limited budgets.
So you know, what's the sort ofthe pebble in the pool for
(06:27):
smaller companies orentrepreneurs that are just
starting out?
Tiffany Muehlbauer (06:31):
You know, you can really take just one
small slice every week and makea difference.
So one of our companies ourclients was a government affairs
company.
They had a lot of history ofresults.
They had done good things, butthey were never really talking
about it.
They didn't have a website,they didn't have social media.
They didn't have social media.
They didn't really evencommunicate with anybody outside
(06:54):
of their direct clientcommunications and they really
weren't marketing their businessin any way, shape or form.
I mean, they were talking aboutdoing strategic communications
for some of their clients, butthey were totally not doing it
for themselves, which isunfortunately a very common
problem when you're anentrepreneur or a business owner
, because you often will go offand focus on those other
businesses but you often don'tcome back.
(07:15):
So we set up a very simple planto get them started and it was
literally we highlight oneclient win a month on your
website.
We do one newsletter that goesout once a month to your key
stakeholders and your clients.
We do one LinkedIn post a week.
That's where we started and sixmonths later they were getting
real results.
They had people writing,reaching out.
(07:38):
Oh, I didn't know, you didthose services.
I appreciate that you sharedthis story.
You know it was very explosiveresults for them and they got
leads immediately from just alittle bit of effort.
So it's really not about, youknow, immersing and doing 17
posts a week on social media andbeing present everywhere.
(08:01):
Figure out where your audienceis present first and then go out
to that pool.
That's part of what we talkabout in the book is really
about.
Okay, yes, you have to createmovement in various spaces, and
maybe that's, you know, publicrelations and having media, or
maybe that's joining your localchamber of commerce, but it's
about also figuring out what isthe size of your business.
(08:23):
How big does that pool need tobe?
And then you know where do youneed to be active?
Because, let's be real, likeyou said, we have very limited
time and resources every day, sowe cannot do everything, and
even though we would all love tohave unlimited budgets and hire
as many you know personalassistants and items, and then
just roll that out and beconsistent with it, because then
(08:44):
people will see it and knowwhere to look for you.
Tom Mueller (08:58):
Well, linkedin seems to be sort of a natural
and easy platform to do that, weknow.
You know the social media spaceis, you know, is sort of ever
evolving and it's, quite frankly, scary for a lot of small
business people who, you know,don't understand it well, unless
(09:22):
you're a very youngentrepreneur starting out Right.
And it's like there are so manyoptions.
Should I be on Instagram?
Should I be on X?
What about Facebook?
Are there others?
So there's a lot of anxietythat can come from all of that.
Tiffany Muehlbauer (09:43):
How do you make sense of that for a small
enterprise.
Yeah, I mean, you don't wantthat fear to overcome, because
no motion at all is a problem.
So it's about figuring out whoare you trying to reach.
A lot of these platforms havevarious age groups where they're
very well linked in.
If it's a younger demographicthat you're going after, then go
to TikTok.
(10:03):
If it's you know that 25 to 45range, predominantly females, go
to something like Instagram orPinterest.
Right, every platform haspeople, types of businesses or
you know types of individualsthat may fit better into your
avatar that you've created forwhatever you're going after.
So it is a little bit of youknow refinement of figuring out
(10:26):
where it's good for you to be.
But then once you figure outthose places, you know again you
don't have to be active on likeFacebook and Insta and like X,
and X is like one of thoseplatforms that you really have
to be active.
You know 10, 15, 20 times a dayposting if you want to make any
headway.
(10:47):
And obviously most people don'thave that kind of you know
resources time whatsoever.
So you know, sometimes you justyou don't need to be everywhere
, especially if you're a brandjust getting started.
Tom Mueller (10:59):
You know, as I think about resourcing for the
social media aspects of it, tome it's always a bit daunting.
So if somebody wants resourcesto do that, they could hire a PR
firm or a communications firmto help with that.
But is there an efficient wayto do that?
(11:20):
It just feels like somethingthat might spin out of control
in terms of budget and all ofthat.
Are there some guidelines youcan put in place to help manage
that effectively and not scareyourself?
Tiffany Muehlbauer (11:33):
I know you have a lot of shows where you
guys have talked about AI, butthere are a lot of resources out
there that can help anentrepreneur or somebody with
limited resources plan aschedule for calendars, for
example, and even brainstormtopics of what they could talk
about.
Chatgpt is an amazing tool andresource if you, you know,
develop some insights in writingprompts and you know how to
(11:57):
formulate the right questions toget the right answers right.
So, you know, for some peoplethat are really looking for ways
to just, you know, speed uptheir time and really, you know,
increase that creative thinkingprocess, a tool like ChatGPT
can be great.
I think that generally, itinvolves a little bit of
planning and foresight.
Even if you're going to hire asocial media company, you, as a
(12:20):
company or as a brand, shouldknow what it is that you think
that you're going to have to sayon these platforms, because
undoubtedly they're going tocome to you and say, okay, so
what are your thoughts and ideas?
Platforms, because undoubtedlythey're going to come to you and
say, okay, so what are yourthoughts and ideas?
And it's really just aboutfiguring out okay, what am I
interesting about?
And social media is a lot of it.
They just want to see peoplebeing people.
(12:40):
It's not about selling yourproducts hard, because that
generally doesn't sell well insocial media, so it's the
ability to promote your productswithout promoting your products
right.
So for everybody that's alittle bit different, but
generally it's about not justhaving a dialogue of like buy my
stuff, buy my stuff, buy mystuff.
(13:01):
It's finding ways to tellpeople about why your products
are interesting, or why you areinteresting, or why you're doing
what you're doing.
What is it that makes youunique?
And, you know, add somepersonality to that as well,
especially if you're usingplatforms like TikTok or
Instagram, or even YouTube.
Tom Mueller (13:20):
I'm a big fan of Shark Tank the show right for
entrepreneurs and of course oneof the things you see regularly
on that show is companies thathave a real social vision, a
giving back vision thataccompanies their company and of
course that becomes part andparcel with the brand.
Have you seen examples of that,or clients that have sort of
(13:47):
taken that approach?
Tiffany Muehlbauer (13:48):
Sure, To identify with a specific brand,
and then it just becomes part oftheir culture, so to speak.
Tom Mueller (13:55):
Yeah, the sort of, you know, tying your brand to a
giving back.
Right, there's a sock companythat for every pair of socks
somebody buys, they're donatingone to somebody in a needy
country somewhere, right?
Or you know the kind bars whereyou know they're donating money
for I forget what they donatefor now, but you know that every
(14:24):
bar you buy is having somesocial value behind a company
profiting from it.
So that feels like a good thingto do, but I don't know, is it
easy?
Tiffany Muehlbauer (14:32):
I mean, I've had clients that you know that
part of that giving back processis like almost their entire
business.
Some of them are, you know,very much, nonprofits that just
support, you know, acts ofkindness, for example, like you
know, just randomness, sort ofthings.
But one of them supports women,or like young ladies who are in
high school age and encouragesthem to go out into the
(14:54):
wilderness and hike, and that isher business as well, as you
know her foundation, and so inthat realm you know she's
launched a movie from it.
She's done all kinds of thingsto build awareness of the fact
that.
You know, sometimes young womenfind themselves in a situation
that they think is helpless,even though they have a massive
potential, and so she's kind ofrescuing these girls that are in
(15:16):
hardship situations.
Tom Mueller (15:18):
Yeah, that's so important.
Tiffany Muehlbauer (15:20):
Life can be different and you don't have to
just follow the path thateverybody else takes you and you
know she'll take them to Peruon a hike and show them
literally you can take it yeah.
Tom Mueller (15:30):
Well, the mentoring aspect comes in there and then
just, and the human contactwhich you know, if you're
touching people individually,wow, what a joy and what value
you're bringing to that life andthat's really terrific.
Hey, are there, are thereexamples that you've seen of
company that have made mistakesin this area, and is there an
(15:53):
example you could cite from forthe rest of us not to follow in
terms of how we position andbuild our brand?
Tiffany Muehlbauer (16:01):
There's a lot of situations that arise
sometimes for businesses, andsometimes visibility isn't what
you want.
So we had a client thatunfortunately was in a situation
where one of his drivers strucksomebody on a bicycle while
driving in a corporate truckhome from work one day and
unfortunately that pedestrianwith a bicyclist was gravely
(16:24):
injured.
This went into the news.
It was, you know, kind of amajor thing.
It became some somewhat of anidentification for that business
because previous to that theyhad not built up their
reputation very much online atall.
They didn't really have socialpresence.
It was an older generation thatwas leading the company.
So when that happened, prettymuch the only news about that
(16:47):
business that came up on theinternet was the fact that
someone had been struck by oneof their drivers.
The person recovered,everything was fine, but it was
very damaging for them.
So we worked with them to, youknow, reestablish a whole
thought process of you know howcan we get out there and be
present without discreditingwhat had happened?
(17:10):
Right, because you know it wasa real moment in life that
happened and it was a veryunfortunate moment, but it was
very much a learning experience.
At the same time, a generationwas switch, was happening inside
the company.
So, you know, we were reallyable to pick up and say, okay,
you know, things are completelychanging in within the structure
of this company and so, youknow, we just really poured on
(17:32):
the the changes that the companycompany was going through and
the great things that they weredoing.
And you know, not to say thatwe were trying to bury that news
, but we were just trying tobring realization to all of the
amazing things that this companywas doing, instead of just this
one bad thing that had, youknow, struck their calendar of
events.
Tom Mueller (17:52):
What kind of timeframe do you need to correct
that public perception of thisthing?
Tiffany Muehlbauer (17:58):
You know it's somewhat variable, but
typically it's a multi-monthprocess, not just like an
overnight sort of thing.
I mean, yes, you can probablyfind some sources where you can
buy your way onto, you know, newsources to flip the story and
maybe offer some op-eds andthings of that nature.
But you know it's a question ofresources.
(18:21):
In that case, right, if you can, if you have a lot of money,
you can do a lot of things.
If you're trying to do itdynamically with SEO,
That's more organic.
It's a multi-month process.
Tom Mueller (18:32):
Right, it's the advertising program that's out
in your face, versus the subtlesocial media and other
communications, building a blogpost yeah, exactly the things
that can take a little bitlonger.
Tiffany Muehlbauer (18:43):
They have a longer lasting effect, but they
might take longer to go intoeffect.
Tom Mueller (18:50):
Sometimes, if your company's in crisis, it's worth
your while to allocate somemoney toward an advertising
budget to kind of help reallypush the messaging out there,
(19:10):
but that's not a substitute forthe longer wavelength sort of
good works and authenticactivities that your company's
undertaking.
Hey, I want to jump back to thebook here for our last few
minutes and just kind of askwhat do you consider the most
impactful part of the book?
Or, if you were going to pick achapter of that, what would be
the you know, sort of thehighlight of your content?
Tiffany Muehlbauer (19:29):
Well, I've tried to make the book
informative and interesting andrelatively reactive.
So it's really more of ahands-on tool than just a book
to read.
It's educational.
It has a lot of stories ofthese types of, you know, real
world stories of mostly largerbrands, but some of our clients
as well.
But it also is filled withworksheets and things like that.
(19:50):
So if you're in a place withyour company and you're not
creating hundreds of leads a dayor you're not where you want to
be with visibility, then weinvite you to look into these
worksheets and to complete themso that you can get to a place
where you want to be with yourbusiness.
Tom Mueller (20:07):
All right, I know the book is available on Amazon.
Is that kind of the easiest wayto get a hold of it?
Absolutely, you can also visitthepooltheorycom.
Tiffany Muehlbauer (20:14):
That's our website.
Is that kind of the easiest wayto get a hold of it?
Absolutely, you can also visitthepooltheorycom.
That's our website, and that'salso where you'll find the links
to download our free worksheets, called the Starter Toolkit, to
get you going with your ownpool.
Tom Mueller (20:28):
All right.
Well, Tiffany Muehlbauer, thankyou so much for taking time to
visit with us and best of luckwith the new book.
Let's hope for gangbuster salesand more business on the
backside of it.
Tiffany Muehlbauer (20:42):
Thank you so much, Tom.
I really am looking forward toit and, you know, I look forward
to hearing from any of yourlisteners who might have
questions or want to tell meabout their own experiences
building up a pool.
Tom Mueller (20:53):
All right.
Well, we'll include a link forhow you can reach Tiffany and
also a link to the Amazon sitewhere you can buy her book.
And that's going to do it forthis episode of the Leading in a
Crisis podcast.
We do thank you for joining usand spending a few minutes of
your day with us.
We appreciate that and we lookforward to seeing you again soon
on another episode.
Take care.
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