In-house PR - advice needed!

[Squidgy]

Hi all,

We're starting a new silver jewellery brand, and thinking of hiring a PR in-house to help gain press. The sales channels will be website and B2B (ie: jewellery shops), and they all want press coverage before they'll consider a new brand, so the first year is going to be a real struggle.

The sector itself is very crowded, so it's hard to differentiate unless you go for a very distinctive look (love it/hate it - or get it on a celebrity-> everyone loves it! ;-)).

From the companies/freelancers we've spoken to, it looks like it's going to be very tough for anyone to gain coverage, as there isn't much that is inherently PR-able. This is true for most brands in the sector. It feels like it's going to be a really hard slog, requiring constant effort - and agencies/freelancers will only be able to devote a few days a month - hence the thought of hiring in-house.

We'd want them to:

- Brainstorm angles/ideas for press releases
- Put those releases together (maybe with a bit of help initially)
- Contact targetted retail (glossies, weeklies, newspapers) and trade media to gain coverage. We'd also target regional papers.
- Contact bloggers to gain coverage
- Manage/update the social media accounts (twitter, pinterest etc)
- Work with us to plan ideas/product/tie-ups to further exposure
- Manage/maintain samples sent to press
- Perhaps organise a press launch day - Not sure if this is a good idea with a new brand, as am not sure why they'd turn up (unless we can come up with an interesting angle). Could do this when launching a new collection (eg: AW14) after we've had some coverage?
- Help around the office!

The budget we'd have for a person is max £18k, greater London area. This is really for someone who'd be very motivated - a self starter - and could be amazing for their CV, as built XYZ from scratch IMHO is pure gold. I have no illusions they'd disappear after a year, but we'd have learned alot in the interim as well.

What kind of person do you you think we could get at that price, and with what (if any) experience? Really need someone tenacious! Business is tough.

We'd also have subscriptions etc on top of that. Any recs for our industry (eg: Features Exec, Fashion Monitor etc appreciated - apparently some are better than others by sector)

In terms of Celebrity, to be honest have no idea how that would work - I remember someone talking about the "Red book" or similar ages ago? Don't mind giving away some jewellery, as long as we get a pic or something out of it.

Argh, sorry it sounds so muddled... too many thoughts.

Any input appreciated!!

 

[yasinwebfold]

I highly, HIGHLY recommend you actively seek the person you're looking for. I know that sounds obvious but let me explain...

Go to graduate events in the London area, attend CIPR Student events in London.

Mingle with the students (a lot will be graduates) and especially with any lecturers that will be there.

Talking to students you will get a strong understanding of what they are (in general) capable of and once you talk to enough you will know when you have that person with the WOW factor.

Talking to lecturers will give you access to their best students. Good lecturers know their students well and they'll know which students are hot prospects and which are perfect for your industry.

You may think no way not a student what do they know but there are the few who are talented, passionate and go getters. I was one and thanks to the company that hired me I was made a Marketing Exec before even graduating!

Actively seek out your ideal candidate. Don't leave it to a recruitment company, don't leave it to adverts.

Do some research on Fashion PR students who have their own blogs, find them, suss them, talk to them.

Most of all, because you're a start up do not hire someone unless they live, love and would die for your brand. I'd sooner take a less experienced person with utter passion for my brand over someone with the experience but sees it as a job rather than a lifestyle.

I hope I make sense, I'll keep my eyes and ears out for you.

Don''t give up and don't rush in to anything but the best even if it takes you 6 months to find that somebody!

Hope that helps and I'd personally love to hear how you get on so do PM me with your progress

 

[ethical PR]

For that sort of salary in London for a full time position you would be looking at a graduate trainee; if you have a good knowledge of PR and social media and can provide them with support, training and development, this might work for you. However they're not likely to have the industry knowledge and contacts you are looking for.

You may be better considering a part-time position perhaps at Senior Account Executive level, who will be able to be more self-supporting.

I would suggest advertising on the CIPR/PR week jobs site; which is one of the most widely used in our sector. You can also promote the opportunity through your social media.

Good luck.

 

[XanderMarketing]

Why are you looking for someone inhouse rather than using an agency or freelancer? For that budget you could get a graduate PR person (or similar) who's unlikely to have many contacts.

Or for £1,500/month (maybe more if you include the NI, benefits, computer etc you'd spend on an employee) you can work with a decent PR company that ideally has personal relationships in your industry. Whilst they won't be full time you are likely to get a lot better results that way.

 

[eventdomain]

The budget we'd have for a person is max £18k, greater London area

For any new company - start-up WILL be tough. But for PR - you dont want to waste 18k on a freelancer when you can do it yourself. Even using Graduates at low-cost is a waste, as picking up the phone to Journalists isnt difficult and firing off 50 press release emails is easy these days.

If you dont want to DIY, then hiring a good small agency will cost far less than 18k for an entire years professional service - plus they'll do everyting for you - trust me, you can get very cool agencies for less than £5k a year. And as you say, if an 18k p.a does a runner after 12 months - you just lost a ton of cash anyway.

There are agencies out there who will do good work for a few hundred, that will get you 'something' - far cheaper than 18k.

 

[adamjames]

Hi Squidgy,

A lot of good sense given by previous posters. If you hire either an experienced freelancer or a small PR agency you are significantly more likely to get better value for your money.

A good professional can spend two days on your PR and get better results than an inexperienced in-houser might do over two months.

Good luck + hope you have found some of our advice of use.

Adam

 

[youronlinestuffcom]

with PR you are only paying for someone to save you time
PR people would like to have you think they have 'special connections' etc.
but journalists i've talked too all say they treat all solicitations the same

what PR involves is:
researching relevant media outlets
finding out who to contact and how you contact them
creating 'news' that is relevant and useful to them
sending it to them and doing any follow up such as calling people

you can do all this stuff yourself, you would only hire someone because you don't have the time.

the PR people who do actually have 'special connections' are prob too busy working for celebrities, big business and political groups

 

[sodirect]

I agree. I'd go direct in the first year. That's £1,500 a month + oncosts of Tax and NI. Focus on someone who can demonstrate what they will deliver (measurement).

It's easy to research the bloggers and forward features, you can get press releases written from a variety of sources and pay as you go distribution out to all major news outlets which will also generate links to your pages.

For example, it's Festival Fashion time coming up so pics of great looking girls in their designer wellies wearing your jewellry that you can place in the style sections.

Also, think guerilla marketing - you don't always need to have big budgets to gain coverage. Leverage off a bigger brand. Find out where the Made in Chelsea stars hang out and offer one of them some pieces if they will wear them in the programme, for example.

It's just a question of thinking outside the box to gain the coverage.

Offer one piece as a high profile charity event auction that would cost less than a month's salary and make a great PR story and would feature in the society pages for the auction event.

Get comments on how great the jewellry is - run promotions and competitions using Facebook to drive the 'buzz' and drive traffic to your site by organic/viral marketing techniques.

Partner with chic hairdressers for their training evenings; video it, load to You Tube so you get the higher profile brand associated with yours. In this way you then will start to get the power and jewellery shops will be asking to take a sample of your range.

I would not pay for someone full-time inhouse at this stage, too many other costs for a small business to bear and cleverer ways you can achieve max. results at lower cost.

 

[Conrad Emmett]

Personally agree with much of the above - don't write off £18k on a graduate. They have a lot to learn and although there are many bright sparks they might not know the ropes. I think they need to learn in an agency environment or on a mag/newspaper first.

I would outsource if you are at the level of having 18k to invest but find the PR that can see the angle in what you do. It could be the PRs you have spoken to are great with suited and booted business but don't know the first thing about fashion. Trust me when I say there are plenty of PRs who understand the fashion market and will dig a niche for you and get your name out there.

But whatever you do remember every bit of your PR should be paying for itself - don't do PR for its own sake because you hope to be on a particular website or shop eventually. Forget about those people demanding you have appeared in the glossies before they grant you an audience for a minute. What sort of PR will ensure your product will sell now.

 

[Nochexman]

Why are you replying to a question posted more than three years ago?