“Ramona Russell is a fierce advocate for important causes that impact the health and safety of our community.
After meeting Ramona, I realized her amazing talent for public relations and communications, and she was a huge asset in helping share my passion for public safety in the Sacramento community.”
Anne Marie Schubert, District Attorney, Sacramento County
“Prior to discovering Ramona, I had spent not thousands – but tens of thousands on press with very little return.
I was devastated and felt like PR was a lost cause. However, I knew my story was good and it was then that I was introduced to Ramona.
Ramona has a take-no-prisoners-attitude, tells it exactly like it is and was able to whip me into shape in the areas I was falling short. With her help, I was able to completely forgo the big PR firms in Southern California and secure media placement on my own. If you want PR with real results but without the bullshit, Ramona is the PR secret you’ve been looking for!”
Christina Samoylov, Designer Vault
“Ramona was a joy to work with! She seemed to intuitively know exactly what changes I needed to make in my marketing and PR strategy, and gave me suggestions and actions steps that I could implement immediately.
This resulted in increased advertising sales and traffic to my website. She went above and beyond my expectations by following up with more ideas for simplifying and streamlining my media kit which helped my sales team increase their closing rates. She is not only talented, but a blast to work with and delivers more than any other marketing professional I’ve worked with.”
Dr. Diane Hayden, Natural Nutmeg
“Ramona has been awesome to work with! She taught what the media is really looking for and also what they definitely don’t care about.
This was especially effective for me as a new life coach because understanding what the big picture goals are (for me, getting noticed and finding my ideal clients) helped me get my messaging really clear. Ramona gives some really practical tools and ideas to help you in that process.
She’s also hilarious and fun to work with – she’s real! She tells you what you need to hear, not what you want to hear. And I walked away feeling even more confident in my story than I ever had before.”
Amanda Hess, Life Coach
“Ramona is a total rock star! I got so much out of working with her!
We dug deep into what makes the Criscara brand unique and which pieces of our story will help us stand out in a very saturated marketplace. I left our call with clear actions we could take to best share our story in an intriguing way – for both our customers and the media. I got more out of our 90-minute phone call than I did out of countless hours and tens of thousands of dollars working with PR firms. Ramona is the real deal, and such a blast to work with!”
Crista Grasso, Criscara Jewelry
“Ramona is a freaking breath of fresh air in the world of PR.
She is genuine, and her quest to help me express my story brought an introvert out proud into the arena in which I work! I totally own my story, and having this time with Ramona really helped me to recognize the value of it and how to express it best to my online audience. I have received so many messages from people thanking me for my social media posts since I started sharing my unique journey with them. People have been looking for someone like me, and now thanks to Ramona, they have found me.”
Shasha Crow, Teacher, Healer, and Spiritual Guide
“After having an in-house publicist for many years suddenly I was on my own.
Enter Ramona Russell and after three calls, I had a full-fledged publicity strategy. Ramona has a fantastic gift for pulling the magic out of your story and teaching you how to serve it to the press in the most valuable way. She’s sharp, resourceful, and very knowledgeable about the ever-changing business of PR. If your brand needs exposure, you need Ramona!”
Tanea Smith, She’s Got Papers
“I have known Ramona for over six years, first as a patient, then as an activist, friend, and finally, marketing/PR specialist.
When it came time for my practice to be promoted and my Web site to be overhauled, there was no one else in the world I would have trusted to make it all happen.
The results were immediate, with new patients finding me through my brand new, video based Web site as well as other types of social media. Ramona is so sharp, and has such incredible vision, that I have no question these results are reproducible, no matter what your marketing/PR needs might be.
If you need to get your business noticed, you need Ramona. No other large marketing/PR company will be able to provide the level of individualization and attention to detail Ramona is known for. All in all, the best money I have ever spent.”
Wilfredo R. Ramos, M.D.
“Ramona’s approach to marketing and PR is an individualized one, which I gravitated to right away.
She thinks out of the box, but does so from a deeply rooted understanding of current practices. For me, she had an uncanny ability to immediately size up where I needed to be and what platforms I should be on.
That resulted in her lobbying for me to become a blogger for The Huffington Post, by first convincing me, and then successfully landing me the opportunity. But that was not the end of it. She followed up with me by suggesting ideas for articles, proofing them and guiding me on their direction. This paid off in a big way with traffic back to my Web site, book sales, and my first two out of three articles featured on the front page of The Huffington Post. This generated thousands of hits back to my Web site, and I now see a steady stream of traffic from The Huffington Post to my company blog.
Ramona is amazingly talented, kind and smart as hell. She has single handedly redeemed the entire PR industry in my mind, after reversing an entire decade of bad PR experiences. She has renewed my faith and solidified my belief in the value of a good PR and marketing professional.”
Jade Teta, ND, CSCS, Metabolic Effect Fitness, Author
“I am so glad I took Ramona’s eight-week course.
I was hesitant at first because as great as the course description sounded, I was not sure whether PR would apply to my field, so I reached out to Ramona before signing up with questions and she really put my mind at ease.
The eight weeks were jam-packed with goodies about PR from someone who really understands this field from the inside out. Don’t be fooled by the simplicity of the weekly lessons and homework. Each is structured in such a way that you get a ton of info and can put what you learned to use right away. Ramona is very responsive to questions and gives great feedback on homework assignments, and there is also the added fun of winning prizes if you do great work. As a writer, I feel much more confident now with finding the right media and composing pitches.
What really helped me was understanding how to pitch the right way and receiving feedback on the pitches I wrote. As a result, I pitched successfully to MindBodyGreen shortly after our course ended and heard back from the editor two days later. One of my articles will be published and I am now working on pitching to other media sources.
I highly recommend this course to those who are committed to expanding their businesses through publicity and media coverage.”
Juliet Tang, Consciousness Empowerment Coach
“I enrolled in this program for two reasons…
First, because I adore Ramona and know she’s the best at what she does. Second, because I wanted to learn more about how I can up my publicity game and gain wisdom on how I can leverage my own PR.
I was so blown away by the amount of detailed tips, secrets and strategies that you just never learn unless you are a publicist. I learned how to make use of social media to gain amazing PR, and how to get your name and your content fabulous exposure online.
What I also loved about the course was Ramona’s fabulous spin on publicity and her beautiful sense of humor! She made me laugh while I was learning on each call! She has a unique gift to teach and entertain at the same time. I absolutely loved the course!”
Leanne Jacobs, author of upcoming book Beautiful Money
“I signed up for Think Like a Publicist for a couple reasons – I secretly want to be Ramona “when I grow up” and any excuse to be around her gets me one step closer to that goal.
But on the real, I signed up because I was in the middle of a career shift from working for a large company to starting my own business, and figuring out the PR piece of my business plan was a major hurdle to successfully making my shift.
All of the lessons were excellently organized to take someone through the complete PR process. The way Ramona was able to take something that seemed like such a gargantuan task (successfully developing and implementing a PR strategy) and simplify it into something anyone can understand and make it sound fun is amazing to me. One of the most valuable things I learned was ‘how to pitch’ to the media. We all think we know how to do it, but being able to hear first-hand from the expert media representative Ramona brought in put it into perspective and gave me valuable insight.
One of my favorite benefits was being a part of the course Facebook group. It was a wonderful place to interact with and learn from other professionals who were working through some of the same issues I was. It was like a support group where no one judged you for wearing your pajamas and drinking wine. The other thing I loved about the course was the phone calls. I loved Ramona’s no-nonsense way of delivering information while simultaneously maintaining her level of approachability.
In conclusion, taking this course was the best thing I did for my career in the past year. I feel rejuvenated and excited again about PR. I highly recommend this course for anyone thinking about hiring a PR firm or having questions about PR, do this first, you won’t regret it. And let’s be real, who doesn’t need a little Ramona in their life?”
Bethany Womack, Creative
“As an online entrepreneur who has been at it for quite some time, I decided this year I wanted to learn all about public relations.
I had the pleasure of meeting Ramona in 2013 and I knew she was my go-to-girl. And just like that, she creates this amazing program, Think Like a Publicist…yes please!
I was all in and I am very pleased with my experience. The content is top notch. Ramona provides a plethora of information on how to go about finding your perfect media platform to how to create a compelling pitch to ensure you get published. On top of all that Ramona was extremely accessible—this is not one of those laptop video coaching courses, you actually get a live coach. She was consistent, available, and creative… and the girl is flipping funny! She made it a fun competition by adding prizes to our weekly assignments; this increased the motivation to get stuff done within the group. And the prizes were adorable, even my Yellow Labs benefited.
Bottom line is this: in a world full of technology that separates us from that human-to-human contact, Ramona went old-school and connected personally with each individual in the group. She delivered amazing content and I learned a ton about PR. I feel more confident about my pitch, and I believe getting published is way more possible than I once thought. Thank you Ramona, you’re the best!”
Maryalice Goldsmith, Business & Lifestyle Coach
“Ramona is the best! I singed up for her course to get an inside scoop about PR, and I got that and so much more!
I had met Ramona a few years ago and her honest and authentic personality really made me connect to her, so when she offered this course I knew I had to join.
This course was full of great information and Ramona was always assessable to help with any questions. Every week we had homework and Ramona would give us feedback and took the time to make sure our media pitches were perfect. She really cared about helping us build our businesses through PR, and made learning fun by giving us prizes. And it didn’t hurt that her laugh is infectious and always made me laugh too!!”
Sabrina A. Sarabella, M.S., Clinical Nutritionist, NASM Certified Personal Trainer
“As a solopreneur, I have to know a little about a lot.
Mastering PR left me anxious and a little terrified – one wrong move could spell disaster. With a limited marketing budget, I knew hiring an expert was not an option. Think Like a Publicist provided an amazing framework for me to get started on being my own publicist. The course is smartly organized and each lesson builds on the last, giving a sensible and thoughtful roadmap to help shine a light on my floral design studio.
Ramona fills each lesson with great examples and makes herself available to help with critical thinking. At the end of the course I realized I had this and now have the confidence to put my story and my business out there.”
Julie Abrera, Beaumont House Design
“Think Like a Publicist opened my eyes to reality.
Working in corporate America for over a decade, I was used to using templates for everything. Don’t you want to save as much time as possible? So what’s wrong with creating a one size fits all pitch?
Well was I totally wrong… Ramona taught me to become human again. That the press is human. When pitching of course your intention is me, me, me. Yet, we need to stop being lazy and do our research. Know your PR why. Know why your doing this in the first place. What’s your goal? Then research the press that targets your audience. Know their deadlines and be respectful. This alone was eye-opening. Thank you, Ramona, for creating this.”
Carolina Romanyuk, Pediatric Sleep Specialist
“I am so glad that I spent time and money with Ramona.
After an hour and a half together, I have a whole list of concrete things to do to make my website and online presence stronger. After the very next email I sent out, doing what Ramona suggested, I had the biggest response from my contacts than I had ever had before. I am looking forward to building my connections with potential clients and increasing my sales.”
Judith Monroe, Artist
“Ramona rocks!
Fast and furious, she got to the heart of what I wanted to say and how to say it. Looking forward to working together again.”
Elizabeth Axelgard, Real Estate
“Ramona is a straight shooter.
She’ll tell you exactly how to improve your existing materials, how to articulate your personal story for PR, and how to raise the bar on your marketing. If you’re looking to jumpstart your story, she’s your gal.”
Jen Briggs, Business Strategist + Life Coach
“Ramona helped me see my story that was right in front of me.
By using some of the tactics she taught me, I learned how to leverage my story and have gotten new followers and email subscribers. Thank you, Ramona.”
Crystal Pecora, Nutrition & Hormonal Fat Loss Coach
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