Free PR and Marketing Tips Every Dunwoody Business Can Use
Podcast host Matt (Matthew) Weber sat down with Dori Mendel of Totally PR for a live marketing consult on What’s Up Dunwoody, the podcast about Dunwoody, Georgia. Dori has more than 20 years in communications, and she walked me through the same approach she uses with her clients: start with a goal, be authentic and keep one consistent voice. This is an episode every small business owner should listen to.
In This Episode
- Dori Mendel, founder of Dunwoody-based Totally PR (launched August 2019), shares her approach to PR, marketing and communications.
- Why authenticity beats “fake it till you make it” for small businesses and REALTORS®.
- How to build a marketing plan backward from a goal and use data to decide what to keep doing.
- Why What’s Up Dunwoody never promoted its December 2019 Atlanta Magazine feature, and why awards and press matter so much for SEO and AI search.
- How a community brand can support a real estate business with visibility instead of hard selling.
Who Is Dori Mendel and What Is Totally PR?
Dori Mendel grew up in Florida and has called Atlanta home since 2003. As a kid, she loved anything that put her in the spotlight. Singing, dancing, making people laugh. That love turned into college, grad school and a 20-plus year career in communications and PR.
In August 2019, she launched Totally PR. She wanted a better balance between family and the work she loves. The name comes straight from her love of the 80s and 90s. Trivia, music, all of it. You can see that style in her background if you check out the podcast video.
That first week, she walked into a Dunwoody boutique and picked out a sign for that background. It says, “Don’t be afraid to fail, be afraid not to try.” Seven years later, it still hangs behind her desk.
Dori calls herself an “industry agnostic” practitioner. She has worked with healthcare, sustainability, real estate, senior living, financial services, legal, foodservice and hospitality clients. Her work covers content creation, internal communications, media relations, speech writing, video scripting, award submissions and website copy.
At the end of the day, she says her job is simple. Tell a client’s story in the way that will be most impactful. Her tagline says it too: “It’s your story. Let Totally PR help make it totally impactful.”
I love that her whole business started with a sign from a local shop. That’s very Dunwoody.
Why Authenticity Beats “Fake It Till You Make It”
When I got my real estate license in 2016, “fake it till you make it” was always in the back of my mind. It never felt right. Things got so much better once I dropped it and just started being myself. If you know me and the sometimes stupid stuff I say, you know I’m nothing if not authentic.
Dori agreed right away. “You’re one of one,” she said. All of us are unique, and leaning into that is a powerful selling point for whatever you’re putting out there.
She also made a point that stuck with me. Every buying decision is an emotional one. People want to do business with people they trust and feel safe with.
I think about it like calling an electrician. You don’t want a page of reviews from strangers. You want a neighbor to tell you who they use. That’s trust, and you can’t fake that.
Start With the Goal, Then Let the Data Decide
A lot of businesses treat marketing like spaghetti against the wall. Try everything and see what sticks. Dori pulls her clients back from that.
Her first question is always the same. Where do you want to end up? Then you work backward and pick the smaller tactics that get you there. She compares it to a road trip. You’ll probably arrive somewhere if you just start driving, but it helps to know the destination.
And it doesn’t have to be a huge investment of time or money. Sometimes it’s a few hours on one project. Sometimes it’s a six-month plan.
Once you’re moving, the data becomes your friend. Which podcast episodes, newsletters or posts got the most engagement? Do more of those. Which ones didn’t? Maybe skip that topic next time.
I had to push back a little here. You have to look at the RIGHT numbers. My kids are impressed with YouTube views. But if those views aren’t turning into leads, they’re just a nice number. Dori measures results in clicks, phone calls, tour requests and sign-ups. That’s the stuff that actually moves a business.
Confession: having a goal is never at the top of my list. I see something fun and chase it, then I see something more fun and chase that. So for the rest of us with that energy, Dori is the person who points and says, “Finish over there.”
Is My Brand Confusing? A Live Consult for What’s Up Dunwoody / Top End ATL / Matt Weber
This is where I got selfish and asked for free advice. My brand is Dunwoody and it’s me. But I also have What’s Up Dunwoody, thousands of videos on my own pages, and Top End ATL, which I launched last November. Is that confusing for people?
Dori’s answer was reassuring. She loves a good umbrella brand. The work is mapping it out. Where do the audiences overlap? Where does the content overlap? Where are the chances to connect across channels and collaborations between them?
The glue is what she calls a consistent tone of voice. Say I speak at a Dunwoody event. Someone looks me up afterward, checks my website, finds my social, listens to the podcast and gets my email. They should know it’s the same guy every time.
I’ve been doing some of that but have started to try to make it more seamless. Top End ATL uses the What’s Up Dunwoody colors now, and I use them on my own stuff too. I do a lot of Instagram collaborations so one video can live on two accounts. The bigger stuff goes on the Matthew Weber REALTOR page.
I know how I see it. I just don’t know how everyone else sees it. Dori’s answer? Look at the data. What did people respond to? Do it again.
300,000 Views vs. the Right Views
I brought up an issue I’ve noticed with Top End ATL. The videos that get the most views aren’t always about the Top End of Atlanta.
My most-viewed video is about Mercedes-Benz Stadium getting its sponsor branding taken down ahead of the World Cup. It’s up well over 200,000 views on Instagram. That’s awesome. But I don’t want to reach all of Atlanta. I want the top end of the Perimeter. That’s who I’m trying to reach!
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DS01yWKDMMg
Then there’s the video about the Kroger near Perimeter Mall. That one is Dunwoody. That’s Perimeter. That’s exactly Top End ATL. And it hit about 200,000 views. When one like that works, it feels REALLY good.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DRbZ-McEndb
I also admitted on air that I never made a follow-up to the Kroger video. I should have learned from that one.
Dori’s take is that the big trending videos still help. Tying into timely news gets you in front of a wider audience. Some of those people subscribe, and now they’re around when you post the local content you care about. You just need a smart mix of trends and the topics that matter to you.
The Atlanta Magazine Feature I Never Told Anyone About
In December 2019, Atlanta Magazine featured What’s Up Dunwoody in its Best of Atlanta issue. It was part of a “Meet the Local Media” spread in the Central Perimeter guide, written by Katja Ridderbusch. The headline called us “The Edgy Voice of Dunwoody.”
I was super proud of it. It was something we earned and were recognized for… and then I never really told anybody about. It’s not on the website either.
Dori laughed and said step one was done, because we just told everyone on the podcast (6-7 years later). Then she got serious. This kind of recognition is third-party validation of the brand you’ve built. When you win an award or land a feature, promote it everywhere. Many publications even give you social badges, frames and email signature graphics to make it easy.
She also said to be intentional about going after these. Where does your target audience live, play and read? Be there.
It matters more now than ever. Google looks for these signals. So do AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini. I want What’s Up Dunwoody and Top End ATL to show up in those answers, and third-party mentions are a big part of that. If you’re nominated for something, tell people. Ask them to vote for you. I’m not great at that part, but I’m working on it.
You can read more in my Atlanta Magazine Interview with Katja Ridderbusch.
How Do You Sell Real Estate Without Turning a Community Podcast Into an Ad?
This is the question I’ve wrestled with for years. What’s Up Dunwoody has always been about the community. I talk about Dunwoody real estate a little. But I never wanted someone to join for the local stories and then feel like I’m slinging houses at them. That feels like a bait and switch.
Dori’s answer was “visibility rather than hard selling.” People want to buy from, support and recommend people they know and trust. She said I’ve made that easy by putting real effort and heart into what I put out. A plug at the end of an episode or some targeted advertising can help. But the trust comes first.
I’ve been studying retargeting too. If someone follows What’s Up Dunwoody and loves learning about Dunwoody, they’ve already told me they care about living in Dunwoody. So if a real estate ad pops up while they’re scrolling Facebook, it’s not a stranger. It’s the guy from the podcast.
And real estate is personal. The houses aren’t the product. I’m the product. Buying or selling a home is emotional, and people want someone they feel safe with guiding them. If you’re thinking about moving to Dunwoody, that’s the whole idea.
Dori also talked about personal brands. A former manager taught her that you have one everywhere you go. The grocery store, a business meeting, a party. She teaches it to her kids too. How you treat people IS your brand.
Use What You Already Have
Dori shared a great story from about a decade ago. She was working with a large hospitality, food service and environmental services company. Her team was tasked with raising associate engagement scores. Different sectors across the country were trying all kinds of tactics.
Her idea? Make a video. She wrote a script in a day. They used about 20 people from their own department, plus the CEO. Their scores went up, and the company recognized them nationally for doing something different.
Her advice from that is simple. Use what you have. Get testimonials from your clients. Ask your team for feedback. There’s success all around you.
The same goes for content. Dori tells her C-suite clients that ideas are everywhere. A billboard that catches your eye on the way to a conference. Running into someone from your childhood. A family trip. She’s all about intentional over polished and perfect. People want to relate to you.
That’s how Top End ATL videos got their style, by the way. The format with me in the corner came from sports guys I follow who talk in front of a green screen. It wasn’t real estate at all. It just made me stop scrolling, so I took the style and made it my own.
Then Dori dropped my favorite line of the episode. People think we have a short attention span. “I think we have a short consideration span,” she said. You have a few seconds for someone to decide to click, follow or buy. So be different and be memorable.
What About AI?
I love AI. Everything I do runs through ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini at some point.
Dori is dipping her toe in and sees AI as a great complement to her work. It can streamline and create efficiencies. But she believes there’s real value in a human author driving the storytelling. And there need to be guardrails. You don’t blindly throw everything into AI and push it into the universe.
My kids agree. They spot “AI slop” instantly. So the answer is the same as everything else in this episode. Start from an authentic place, and let the tools speed it up.
For me, the takeaway from this whole conversation comes back to showing up. I’ve posted consistently for years, and that’s what built the trust Dori kept talking about. Now I just need to tell people about it.
Connect with Dori Mendel and Totally PR
If you run a business in or around Dunwoody and want help telling your story, Dori is right here in town. She works on everything from a few hours of strategy to six-month and yearlong partnerships.
- Website: totallypr.com
- Email: dori@totallypr.com
- Phone: 404-804-2446
- Instagram: @totallyprllc
Thank you to Dori for coming on and for keeping me from getting too self-deprecating on air. I caught myself, and I’m working on that.
This episode, and every episode, is brought to you by Dr. Bret Freedman with Village Orthodontics and by Discover Dunwoody.
What Is What’s Up Dunwoody?
What’s Up Dunwoody is a local media platform created by REALTOR® Matt Weber, focused on living in Dunwoody, moving to Dunwoody, and staying connected to the community. It began as a podcast and has grown into social media content, local guides, and two of the largest Dunwoody-focused Facebook groups where residents share recommendations and stay in the loop. Matt has expanded slightly outside of Dunwoody and now covers the entire top end of the Perimeter through his Top End ATL channels.
Matt is a Dunwoody REALTOR® who helps people navigate buying, selling, and moving in the area. Stay in the loop with local updates, listings, and insights by signing up here: whatsupdunwoody.com/email
Who is Dori Mendel?
Dori Mendel is the founder and president of Totally PR, a PR and communications firm based in Dunwoody, Georgia. She has more than 20 years of agency and corporate communications experience across more than a dozen industries, including healthcare, real estate, senior living and financial services.
What is Totally PR?
Totally PR is a strategic PR and communications firm that Dori Mendel launched in August 2019. It helps businesses and nonprofits tell their story through content, internal communications, media relations, speech writing, video scripting, award submissions and website copy.
How should a Dunwoody small business start with marketing?
Start with a goal, not a tactic. Dori Mendel recommends deciding where you want to end up, working backward to pick the right tactics, and using data from your posts, emails and website to decide what to keep doing. It does not have to be expensive or complicated.
What is a short consideration span?
It is Dori Mendel’s twist on the idea of a short attention span. People give you only a few seconds to consider clicking, following or buying, so small business marketing has to be different, surprising and memorable to earn that moment.
Why should a business promote its awards and press features?
Awards and press features are third-party validation of your brand. They build trust with customers, and Google and AI tools like ChatGPT look for those signals. Many publications provide social badges and email signature graphics to make promoting them easy.
Was What’s Up Dunwoody featured in Atlanta Magazine?
Yes. Atlanta Magazine featured What’s Up Dunwoody in its December 2019 Best of Atlanta issue, in a “Meet the Local Media” spread written by Katja Ridderbusch. The article called the podcast “The Edgy Voice of Dunwoody.”
How do I contact Totally PR?
Visit totallypr.com, email dori@totallypr.com, or call 404-804-2446. Dori Mendel is based in Dunwoody and works with clients on everything from a few hours of strategy to longer partnerships.