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Lulu Cheng Meservey was formerly head of comms at Substack (where I host my newsletter and podcast) and is currently the Executive Vice President of Corporate Affairs and Chief Communications Officer at Activision Blizzard. She also writes one of my favorite newsletters, \u201cFlack,\u201d where she shares tactical advice for company comms, PR, and messaging. In today\u2019s episode, we dive deep into the world of PR and comms. We discuss why taking risks is crucial, how to gain attention as an underdog, and why it\u2019s important to have a super-specific audience. Lulu outlines several frameworks I\u2019d never heard of before, including a concentric circles framework for identifying your audience, the cultural erogenous zones, and even a physics-based framework for comms.

Find the full transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/navigating-comms-and-pr-lulu-cheng

Where to find Lulu Cheng Meservey:

\u2022 Twitter: https://twitter.com/lulumeservey

\u2022 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lulu-cheng-meservey/

\u2022 Newsletter: https://www.getflack.com/

Where to find Lenny:

\u2022 Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com

\u2022 Twitter: https://twitter.com/lennysan

\u2022 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/

Referenced:

\u2022 \u201cBinders full of women\u201d: Mitt Romney\u2019s four words that alienated women voters: https://www.theguardian.com/world/shortcuts/2012/oct/17/binders-full-of-women-romneys-four-words

\u2022 Bill Bishop\u2019s newsletter on Substack: https://www.sinocism.com/

\u2022 Hamish McKenzie on Twitter: https://twitter.com/hamishmckenzie

\u2022 The Network State: How to Start a New Country: https://www.amazon.com/Network-State-How-Start-Country-ebook/dp/B09VPKZR3G

\u2022 How to increase virality: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/increasing-virality

\u2022 Ryan Petersen on Twitter: https://twitter.com/typesfast

\u2022 Brian Armstrong on Twitter: https://twitter.com/brian_armstrong

\u2022 Palmer Luckey on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PalmerLuckey

\u2022 Pirate Wires: https://www.piratewires.com/

\u2022 NYX: https://www.nyxcosmetics.com/

\u2022 Gates of Fire: An Epic Novel of the Battle of Thermopylae: https://www.amazon.com/Gates-Fire-Novel-Battle-Thermopylae/dp/055338368X

\u2022 The Last of Us on HBO: https://www.hbo.com/the-last-of-us

\u2022 Notion: https://www.notion.so/

\u2022 Lex: https://lex.page/

In this episode, we cover:

(00:00) Lulu\u2019s background

(04:36) What helps an idea spread

(06:17) Mitt Romney\u2019s \u201cbinders full of women\u201d

(07:19) Advice for coming up with contagious phrasing

(08:36) Lulu\u2019s esoteric reference that left her Twitter followers confused

(11:08) The importance of taking risks, and Lulu\u2019s thread on standing for free speech

(12:53) An example of another sticky phrase

(14:40) The cultural erogenous zones framework

(16:08) How Kamala Harris made people care about education

(17:29) How to get attention as the underdog

(20:25) How Substack used the concentric circles framework to spread information

(21:32) Understanding the layers in those concentric circles

(25:44) How to get started figuring out your concentric circles

(27:03) An example of aligning messaging with people\u2019s values\xa0

(28:19) Lulu\u2019s mathematical formula framework for comms for a purpose

(28:54) A physics-based framework for comms

(35:56) How Balaji Srinivasan used the concentric circles approach with his book The Network State

(39:46) The importance of a super-specific audience

(41:12) Reasons your comms are failing

(42:40) Why you should focus on one direct communication channel at first

(46:58) Why not every founder needs to be on Twitter

(48:02) Who LinkedIn works better for

(49:23) Examples of messaging with a human voice and hopping on trends quickly

(51:11) Reasons for direct comms\xa0

(53:52) How to get started setting up a direct channel

(56:09) Why consistent, good content is better than trying to go viral

(59:28) Lightning round

Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.