5 Ways To Make The Most Of Your PR Subscription
Hayley, the founder of Born Nouli, was subscribed to PR Dispatch for 4 months before she was featured in The Style List and the PR Dispatch team received this lovely email...
“So excited! When Born Nouli was just an idea I used to commute to work and dream about my leggings making the Style List!”
The truth is, consistent hard work is the bridge between dreams and reality; PR Dispatch has great results, but its value is only fully realised by brilliant brands who put the work in. We have analysed the habits of our top performing subscribers to identify 5 ways to get the most value out of PR Dispatch.
Manage your contacts
Keep all of your contacts in a database. Add notes on exactly who you contacted, from which publication and what you contacted them about. Comment on how the interaction went and if they responded, what they liked and didn’t like about your product. Add dates to avoid sending duplicate emails. Once you build a large database it’ll be easy for you target the right person, for the right feature at the right time.
Consult Your Calendar
Use your calendar to stay organised and ensure you’re contacting press at the right time. The press follows a calendar that is very different to our usual calendar, often planning for features months before they go to print (Christmas starts in July?!). To give your brand the best chance of getting into magazines, you need to be following the same schedule as the press. Check your calendar every day to give yourself enough time to organise yourself before reaching out.
Allocate Some Time
You’ll get the most out of your subscription if you can set a certain amount of time aside for your PR each week. The more time you can put in the better. If you find that you can’t commit to a good amount of time each week, why not consider hiring an intern or a freelancer? Students often look for internships as part of their university courses and freelancers work on hourly rates. Both are considerably cheaper than hiring an agency and could really help you get to grips with managing your own coverage.
Tailor Your Approach
Remember: your product needs to fit in with the press feature and not the other way round. If you’re contacting a publication about winter accessories when they’re planning a summer feature, you’ll almost certainly be overlooked. Tailor your approach to suit them and ensure your product is a perfect fit for their feature. Use any feedback to perfect your approach. Maybe your price point is wrong or the publications you’re contacting aren’t right for your product. Switch things up and try again. The easier you make it for press to feature your brand, the better.
Be Persistent, Relevant and Smart with your PR
Don’t let any initial lack of recognition get you down. The worst thing you can do for your PR is stop after a few months. Publications get bombarded with hundreds of emails and gifts every day. They’ll quickly forget your brand if you drop off their radar. Make sure you’re presenting a stand-out product that’s relevant to their reader and their feature. Don’t do this once or twice; do this every time. You may need to tweak your email or revise your price point, but don’t just stop all together.
Nothing is guaranteed in PR, even for the pros – but you can increase your chances tenfold. By managing your contacts, sticking to the press calendar and perfecting your pitch you could be seeing your brand in Top UK Press. See the PR Dispatch results page here .
We always love to hear from our subscribers so never hesitate to get in touch with your PR successes, best of luck!
Ready for more PR? We’re here to give you the contacts, community, advice & support you need to get the coverage you deserve. You can find out more about our memberships here.