Meet the member: Stuart from Stuart Gardiner

This week we caught up with the husband and wife duo behind Stuart Gardiner Design on their biggest achievements to date and future PR goals. The Stuart Gardiner brand has achieved some amazing coverage, some of which you can take a look at here.  

Describe your products in 3 words 

Our products have 2 very different styles, so I have 2 answers to that:
Tea towels: Informative, absorbing, colourful
Oven gloves: Tattoo inspired silliness

What was your biggest achievement while running your brand?

I’ve been both stocked and commissioned by some of London’s best shops over the years, such as Liberty, Selfridges & The V&A Shop. I would never have imagined I would work with the like!

One thing you wished you’d known before starting your own PR.

Don’t waste time and money sending fancy catalogues and samples to old press contacts who might have moved jobs. Having up-to-date contacts is a full-time job in its own right, and email contacts are all you need to send them.

What did being featured in magazines do for your brand?

Depends on the publication, but in some cases it has effectively been a free press advert to new customers & instant online sales. Getting the right target audience is key - if the publication’s demographic doesn’t match yours, then you won’t get sales.

What do you think was the most challenging part of doing your own PR?

Putting the time in to find the right contacts at the publications. We were never proactive with PR, and it doesn’t come naturally to us. Now we’re signed to PR Dispatch, we have the right contacts and guidance do it ourselves.

What is your next PR goal?

A national Christmas gift guide. We’ve been featured in them in the past, but through some of our stockist’s PR efforts, sometimes with no mention of our brand. It’d be great to get one which directly links back to our website. 

Follow Stuart Gardiner:

Instagram: @stuartgardinerdesign
Twitter: @stuartgardiner
https://stuartgardiner.com/

 Contacts, community, advice & support. You can find out more about our memberships and join our members who are already pitching their products to press here.