20 Sep Luxury PR Guide To Winning Big
Getting your news to shine above the rest of the luxury landscape for your short 15 minutes of fame is no easy task. Luckily for luxury brands, your product tends to be nothing short of amazing so all you really need is the right blogger or PR agent to take notice. Sometimes getting that initial push can actually be a lot harder than you’d expect, so I thought I’d share some tips with you to get the ball rolling.
While I will give away some of our secrets, we know that if you don’t have the time to chase the PR dragon, you can always get in touch with us to help. We know that your time is valuable so let us do the dirty work and help propel your brand forward.
Building Relationships Is Key
Before you even need to conduct PR, it’s best you know the influencers within your industry. Relationships are the key to survival in this game so do what you can to know the right people. So how do we find those people without spending hours and hours sifting through social media data?
For Free? Wefollow.com
This is a go-to tool we use here a lot at Luxury Branded and it’s quite easy, and of course free. While it has limited data, it is simple and to the point and will let you get started in a big way. Let’s say we’re looking to connect and build relationships with influencers in the luxury travel industry. Just type in the keyword and within seconds you will be presented with a list of the right people to get in touch with.
From here you can follow them and get started making friends by sharing their content, commenting on their work and anything else you can to get on their radar. Don’t expect much over night, so keep at it and build real relationships.
Visit Online: http://wefollow.com/
Ready To Put Big Boy Pants On?
For those serious about absolute domination of their social landscape, it’s time to bring a nuke to a knife fight. While there are a plethora of features with Traackr, its real time search, its geo-targeting abilities and up-to-date influencer lists make it all worth it.
This software is something the NSA I’m sure is in love with, even though it’s totally legal to use. It’s so damn awesome it certainly gives you an unfair advantage. I would definitely get in touch with their sales department and book yourself a tour of the software so you can see it for yourself first hand.
Visit Online: http://traackr.com/
Finding & Pitching Journalists
This is perhaps the most tricky aspect of the PR game. Journalists get so many pitches on not only a daily basis, but hourly, so how can you push for a higher success rate? Sadly there isn’t a straight forward answer to that question, however, there are ways to increase the odds.
Lucky for you there are a few services that will make life a little easier but still, there’s no guarantee your news will get the wild attention it most likely deserves.
MuckRack.com – This is the first place we go to pitch our clients’ news and stories to the right journalists. This is what the service is for and all it takes is a small pitch message to the journalist to get the news across. The key here is to have something catchy and attention grabbing to say, which should greatly improve your odds. You do however have to pay to play, so expect to break out the company credit card although it ‘s well worth being a member here. Of course, you can also come pitch me here, as I love to write about unique and bespoke brands.
Contently – While this is a place to get high quality content written by journalists, you can usually talk to them about getting it on sites they write for. While we write high quality content as well, you cannot go wrong utilizing the Contently platform. If you do, talk to the writer about how they can help you get your content on authority sites that relate to your business.
HARO (Help A Reporter Out) – This is more so a sit idly by while watching which journalist needs you. Subscribe to their free newsletter that fits your needs and watch it daily for PR opportunities. I’ll be honest in saying we don’t see a whole lot of “action” from this service for our clients but it doesn’t hurt to be alert.
Sniffing Out Journalist Emails – Ah, the good old fashioned way… Well, at least from the early 2000’s anyhow! Places like Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, Business Insider and all the others have directories for their writers. All you need to do is find the right ones and make friends. Give them an email, tell them what you’re up to and generally open up to them about your brand and see how it goes. You don’t know if you don’t try so use Google to quickly find their journalist directories and you’ll be on your way.
Luxury Blogs Are A Brand’s Best Friend
This angle is a little tricky, as a lot of the bigger luxury blogs will cover your news and products if they’re cool/good/unique enough. You can usually pay for it as well, although doing this can be against Google’s TOS and seen as a link scheme. There are ways of doing this without Google snooping in on your business so make sure you’re fully aware before sending any bloggers your money. Google specifically states:
It only takes a quick Google search to find the best luxury blogs out there, and we usually measure their worth by number of social followers, site traffic and even newsletter subscribers. This can really broaden your reach with the campaign and really that’s what you’re paying for… Not the link. Even though Google can be a stickler when it comes to links, just make sure you’re aware of what you’re paying for. If you’re really concerned, you can make sure that any links from the host website are set to “nofollow” which will put you completely in the clear.
Facebook, Forums & LinkedIn Groups
There are only a few ways to easily get your message across to a highly targeted group of luxury lovers. Besides paying for PPC, these three areas are a goldmine if done correctly:
Facebook – There are usually a large amount of open groups readily available for networking and content marketing right under your nose. Just head to the search bar at the top of your Facebook page and start typing in keywords based on your market to sniff them out. Once you get your search results, click on the “show more” link and you’ll be brought to an area where you can sort by groups only.
LinkedIn – Just like any social network, this place offers large amounts of business and industry related discussion groups. Most of them will allow you to share news and get in touch with the influencers in your niche on a more personal level.
Forums – Despite the rise of social networks, user forums are still surviving and thriving and are a great place to find your industry in discussion. It’s not in good form for you or a brand to only partake if your only goal is to market your brand. This is spam and I don’t recommend joining an industry forum for that reason… It will not make you look good. Instead, take active part in the community, make friends and from time to time you will find ways to, without spamming, get your exciting news out there. Also be sure to look for legit advertising opportunities by emailing the forum owner about what they can offer.
Press Release Wire Services
No PR campaign is complete without the use and reach of the many wire services out there just waiting for the latest brand news you have to offer. I will admit that it’s hard to get your press release in front of journalists and have them actually write about it, however, you never know what will happen and not trying is just about the worst thing you can do.
Wire Services We Recommend
– http://www.prweb.com/
– http://www.prnewswire.com/
– http://www.prlog.org/
– http://www.businesswire.com/
– http://24-7pressrelease.com/
– http://www.marketwired.com/
For our clients we usually recommend producing a unique press release for each different wire service we use. You will find that some of these services will overlap in sites they are partnered with. However, most of these wire services also offer access to their huge social media reach. This in itself can help really drive in the traffic.
Going From Here
I know there are a lot of PR firms and consultants out there in the luxury space so I encourage you to comment here and send in your tips. We are always open to hearing from other companies as you folks have a reach that we don’t, and we wouldn’t want to deny a brand knowing about your awesome services and tips.
If I missed a resource you think is crucial in the luxury PR game then please don’t hesitate to leave a link to it in the comments below or email me directly.
