I just know her as my first stop when a brand or celebrity is in the news for reasons they’d rather not be. Molly is hilarious, warm, and witty and I’m absolutely thrilled and delighted that she’s on the show today, talking about the #1 biggest mistake that brands make before, during, and after a public relations crisis and even dishing with me on my favorite topic — the online business family tree and the curious case of the SEO-optimized friendship (featuring personal brand celebs Rachel Hollis, Jenna Kutcher, and Amy Porterfield).

But, more than anything, I appreciate how Molly always brings us back to our humanity and helps us see that public relations is just a fancy way of talking about human communication.

• Molly's next gig as the star of "PR CSI" and how punctuation can catch a culprit
• The biggest mistake brands make during a social media crisis
• The real reason Bud Light still hasn't recovered from backlash
• How to make a crisis go "poof!" and the 3 tenets of Molly's Indestructible PR framework
• Why Rachel Hollis' brand still hasn't bounced back, 2.5 years after Toilet Gate
• Molly's beef with Amy Porterfield and the online business family tree
• Why Colleen Ballinger (or was it Miranda Sings?) mistakenly believed her ukulele would win the day
• What do Molly's four Gen Z kids think about Mom being a TikTok sensation?
• The difference between social media vigilantes, bullies, and investigative reporters
• The problem with Reddit snark and parasocial relationships
• The other side of the cancel culture coin and the pot of gold at the end of the snark rainbow

Molly reports on crisis communications and breaking news stories with a perfect blend of snark and heart. She has over two decades of experience in public relations, emergency management, and media. As a crisis pro, Molly previously worked at FEMA and as the Director of Communications for the Cruise Line International Association, where she managed media responses during major crises. Today, Molly is a crisis communications consultant, keynote speaker, and TikTok sensation. She hosts the Indestructible PR podcast and recently won the 2023 Adweek Creative Visionary Award for Careers Creator of the Year.

Read the episode transcript, watch the YouTube video, and get the show notes on the Marketing Muckraking website here. 

We also highlighted the 10 elements of the rotten tree. To review: 

1. Prosperity gospel and the "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" myth of meritocracy
2. Mastermind relationships and being "in the room" where it happens with powerful leaders
3. JV partnerships
4. Affiliate marketing
5. Tabloid / clickbait / pain point / shame-based marketing
6. Gaming the system
7. Propaganda, mind control, and hypnosis
8. Cross-pollinating audiences
9. Personal branding and “If I did it, you can, too”
10.  And finally, the idea that you don’t have to cite your sources, fuck your sources. So that the web becomes so tangled, no one knows where any of this came from.

But now, hopefully, you do know.

And our hope is that this series has helped you become a more informed consumer, a more ethical marketer, and that you feel seen and less alone in this jungle of the Online Business Industrial Complex.

To understand marketing history is to understand ourselves and our culture — marketing is the fuel for the engine of capitalism.

But now that we’ve taken this trip through time, it’s time to talk about what to do next and how do we build a better future…

Lisa Robbin Young has 30 years of business experience as a coach and creative entrepreneur: she is an award-winning speaker, best-selling author, and accomplished musician with multiple albums to her credit. You may even recognize her from the Disney+ show “Encore.” She is also the host of the “Creative Freedom” show — I highly recommend her music video parodies. Check out “There are worse things I could do” for a Marie Forleo crossover with Awkward Marketing. She specializes in helping creative entrepreneurs build a business that works for how you’re wired to work.

In this installment, we’re time traveling from WWI and WWII all the way to today, where clickbait, ClickFunnels to hell, and faking it ’til you make it have spread across the branches of this rotten business tree, poisoning the fruits that fall to everyone clamoring for their taste of success.

Remember, this stuff didn’t start on the Internet — it goes back hundreds of years. To understand marketing history is to understand ourselves and our culture — marketing is the fuel for the engine of capitalism. Let’s take a trip through time, so you can be a more informed consumer and, hopefully, a more ethical marketer.

• What ex-employees are saying about Brooke Castillo and The Life Coach School
• How a bro marketer gamed the system to launch a chart-topping country music album (by tricking people into buying it)
• The true story of the country's first famous "snake oil salesman" and how he culturally appropriated his way across the country
• Why we can thank Frank Kern for the CAN-SPAM act and how he still brags about building his business illegally
• That Tony Robbins scene in "Shallow Hal" and how he hypnotized his way to the top
• The appalling truth of ClickFunnels and why Russell Brunson thinks Adolf Hilter is a business leader — while the industry co-signs this concept
• What Nazi leaders learned about marketing from American propaganda
• How Christian nationalist preachers built the advertising industry
• What Jenna Kutcher, Amy Porterfield, and Mel Robbins really did on their Napa Valley mastermind and how they leverage parasocial bonds to sell to your sense of loneliness
• Who monetized her friend's death to boost her clickthrough rate
• Why no one can be Gary V, even Gary V, and the problem with corporations masquerading as people
• How "more good millionaires" isn't the answer to systemic problems

Lisa Robbin Young has 30 years of business experience as a coach and creative entrepreneur: she is an award-winning speaker, best-selling author, and accomplished musician with multiple albums to her credit. You may even recognize her from the Disney+ show “Encore.” She is also the host of the “Creative Freedom” show — I highly recommend her music video parodies. Check out “There are worse things I could do” for a Marie Forleo crossover with Awkward Marketing. She specializes in helping creative entrepreneurs build a business that works for how you’re wired to work.