PR Agency Strategies
The world of beauty and fashion changes in the blink of an eye and in a competitive market, it’s crucial to stand out amongst the rest. While there are many strategies to effectively grow a business, the Push the Envelope team has your back in identifying the non-negotiables you need to consider, along with the services a PR Agency can offer to help flawlessly execute.
BUILDING HUMAN CONNECTION
Out with Zoom, in with in-person. As we step into a post-pandemic world and are witnessing the emergence of AI, we believe human connection is the biggest need and missing link from the last few years. Creating experiences that deepen connection and relationship building is a specialty of any PR agency, and necessary in growing your business and building your brand from the ground up.
Eventing: Now that IRL experiences are back on, they are even bigger and better than ever. However, it’s not enough to create a fancy dinner with free swag. Influencers and editors alike are looking for an event that will cater to their personality and heartstrings – especially since they have to pick and choose the events based on their schedule. The best events have meaningful conversation and deep connections. As a brand founder, consider your presence and take the time to get to know the guests on a personal level. Don’t be afraid to share your journey and vulnerability in-person. That authenticity can take you further than you realize.
Editorial: Relationships are always important between editors and a PR Agency. These relationships will make or break whether your brand is featured on an editorial piece and constant, authentic, and honest connections are at the heart of their clients getting featured in articles, award features and listicles. A great PR Agency maintains connections and understands their editors like friends. They’re able to pitch a creative angle that aligns with the editors’ needs to bridge and create visibility for the brand to their intended audience.
RECRUITING BRAND ADVOCATES
Your brand’s reputation grows even more with word of mouth. Brand advocates are those who proactively share about your product or brand to their network and audience. The right brand advocates can influence others to purchase well beyond advertising spend, especially if it’s an ambassador who has a lot of influence and pull. There are many types of advocates that you can recruit that can range in cost, but start local and work your way up as you need.
EMPLOYEES
Simply put, your employees are there because they believe in the brand and product. No better way than to appoint people who work closest to the brand to share why they love it. Encouraging them to share via friends and family sales, featuring them on social posts, help clients feel like they’re in the kitchen with you, becoming even more invested in the brand and people behind it.
CLIENTS
No better advocate than customers who use the product and share their love. Everyone wants a voice and for that voice to matter, so allowing customers to share their experience is the best type of advocacy for your brand. This can look like product reviews, blog posts and Instagram posts. Validating their experience and appointing your top purchasers by giving a like or comment, continues this cycle and empowers customers to feel like their opinions matter. It’s an easy way to get them coming back for more and sharing to everyone they know.
INFLUENCERS/CELEBRITIES
If you have the budget to truly invest – seeding celebrities and mega influencers can bring major pull to your brand. Celebrities left and right are being pulled as Brand Ambassadors and create major buzz and interest in brands. Examples include Reese Witherspoon for Biossance, Olivia Rodrigo for Glossier and Jennfier Coolidge for E.L.F Beauty. If you’re just starting and it’s a bit too far out of reach – a pool of influencers ranging from nano to mega status might be more your scene. Incentivizing influencers in different ways can create a connection and relationship to the brand that will have you on their lips throughout both of your journeys.
GENEROUSLY GIFTING
A PR agency will tell you that gifting is a must in your strategy. While it may feel like you may be giving away too much, think of gifting as a boomerang. Throw yourself out there for people to try and experience – with trust and patience, it’ll return. Every brand has cracked the code that gifting is a non-negotiable, but influencers and recipients are receiving TONS of PR every day in their mailboxes so it’s most important to stand out against the rest with a few of these tips.
Custom & Personalized: Do your research with who you’re gifting to – instead of something cookie-cutter generic, consider a handwritten note and include something unique to them as the reason why you’re gifting in the first place. Find the right people to gift to who fit your brand and what you stand for or offer something that might be a solution to something they recently shared.
Quality over Quantity: If your budget allows, gift to the right people instead of casting a net to everyone. This way, the recipients feel special and not just someone on a generated list. Quality recipients and those whom you foster a strong relationship with will show their appreciation and love in ways you wouldn’t expect.
It’s also important to remember that a gift is just that – a gift – with zero expectations. The intention should be to allow your recipient to enjoy and receive. Remove the attachment to them sharing with their followers as the outcome and instead trust the process.
CREATING COLLABORATION
As a brand who might be killing it as a lone wolf, consider how much stronger you could be when collaborating with a partner brand that aligns with who you are. Co-ops not only save money, but also introduces you to an established audience that will likely vibe with your brand and its products. The opportunities are expansive and elicits more creativity to create unique, limited-edition moments that clients and influencers will love. Since a PR Agency works with so many trusted brands – you may be able to find the perfect partnership that mutually benefits everyone.
HOW OUR PR AGENCY CAN HELP
These are just a few of the necessary strategies to grow your business and partnering with a PR Agency is integral to execute with ease. Our team at Push the Envelope PR has over 16 years of experience in fostering amazing connections to create advocacy, win pitches with reputable editors, execute unforgettable events, gift with purpose and find optimal brand partners. We’re excited to get your strategy up and running and are happy to share our tools of the trade to get your brand booming in no time.