Transcription
So, question from a viewer. I adore you. Of course you do, obviously. I own a small luxury jewelry business. It's just me and one member of staff. All my stuff is handmade, but I've only been in business for 2 years, so I don't have a lot of money for advertising or promotion. What's the best way to get PR or to get myself featured in magazines or on blogs, in newspapers?
Well, I'll tell you what isn't the best way. It isn't buying an ad in some glossy magazine. You know that sort of magazine where you know you have all of these perfume samples that fall out the minute you open the magazine.
>> Oh, I love them.
>> Yeah.
>> Me too.
>> But.
>> But magazines like that is going they're going to cost you a fortune. And generally speaking, you're going to get three phone calls. Two of those phone calls are going to be from other magazines trying to sell you advertisements and theirs. And one is invariably going to be from a recruiter because recruiters for some reason find you and harass you to death by trying to get you to hire somebody.
>> Oh yeah, they're just horrendous.
>> Um PR though in luxury has never really been about paying to be noticed though. It's it's always been about making yourself seem like a story worth telling rather than anything else.
>> Well, yeah, because that's just it, right? Journalists aren't sitting there going, hm, how can I generously give column inches to a struggling artisan today? They're they're kind of overwhelmed with emails, right? They're most of which is so.
>> Boring.
>> Um, and the ones I think that cut through are going to be the ones that feel like a story and.
>> They've already got one. This person, they've already got a really good story. They're handmade jewelry, a tiny team, only two years in business. That's an angle on authenticity on modern craft and risk-taking maybe. Do you think?
>> Yeah, I do because and I suppose as well crucially scarcity because scarcity always sounds luxurious. You know, you say only one pair of these earrings exists in the world. And even if you know even if the truth is essentially that you haven't made a second pair yet because you've been sidetracked by Gregs, you know, it there's it still has a certain ring to it though, doesn't it?
>> Yes. Although maybe maybe let's leave Gregs out of the press release, but.
>> I don't know. There's a place for Gregs.
>> I mean, there's definitely a place for a sausage roll from Gregs.
>> Um, but that human element is the key bit, right? Because too many um luxury brands try to invent this like big grand origin story where they've come from Paris in the 1800s with a parasol and you know, whatever it is. And in fact, they were maybe founded on Instagram last week because somebody said, "Oh, I really like your buy it." You know, and that's the thing. There's no shame in being new. You've just got to frame it properly, you know.
>> Yeah. Exactly. Because you It's borrowed heritage, isn't it? It's it's ludicrous that you're pretending to be some longlost cousin of Faber when in fact, you know, your dad's a retired accountant from Cuddon or something. But here's the thing, that honesty sells though. If you say, "I left a steady job, risked everything, and now I sit in a freezing workshop all day filing gemstones until midnight." People lean into that because adore David and Goliath story.
>> Yeah, absolutely. And you can attach yourself to the news cycle. So, for example, say the princess of Wales is photographed wearing a catrine uh ring. Suddenly editors are going to run articles about citrine. And if you've got a quote, a photo, or even a quick, here's why Catrine is special, you're becoming useful. And journalists remember people who bail them out at a at a deadline.
>> Oh yeah, totally. Timing is half the game because I mean I once ended up quoted in the Financial Times purely because I answered the phone at 10:00 at night. Now obviously I was barely coherent. I may have had a ginonic or two.
>> Um, but apparently rambling psychologist was better than no psychologist at all.
>> Oh, you are underelling yourself somewhat. But you are right. Awesome. Well, yeah, you are. So, yeah, but you're right though. That point does stand that kind of availability really counts. And if you can make yourself visible, uh maybe by doing things like following journalists on Twitter or or is it X Twitter, whichever we're calling it.
>> X.
>> X.
>> X.
>> Uh or Instagram and if you comment regularly, not like in a sickopantic way, not sort of blowing smoke up bums or anything like that, but enough that when your name appears in their inbox, they already know it and you're not a total stranger to them.
>> Yeah. No, that's true. It's it's networking really, isn't it? It's but it's networking.
>> Online and without the canopy tray. Although, frankly, I I do actually rather enjoy the canopy tray.
>> Me, too.
>> Most of these networking events that you go to any really redeem themselves with smoked salmon and blinies and caviar, don't they?
>> I do enjoy caviar. It's my go-to fast food snack, actually.
>> Paul, it's not caviar is hardly fast food. You can't call caviar fast food. That's ridiculous.
>> Me, it's incredibly fast to open a tin of caviar. It takes no time at all.
>> Oh my god.
>> Okay, you're annoying. But you're also right that kind of local coverage is really underrated. And you people rush to get to Vogue, don't they? And they forget maybe their county magazine. you know, where I am, it's huge, the county magazine, but that those smaller little outlets will they'll happily do a double page spread about a local jeweler and maybe something about that. And you know, that clipping builds credibility. You get social proof from it. And so sometimes those bigger outlets also will lift straight from those stories too.
>> Yeah, they do. And then of course there are blogs now. Some people stare at them.
>> Um, I would be one of those people. Well, because everybody wants to be a blogger nowadays, don't they?
>> But.
>> Money.
>> Well, with the really good blogs though are really good because niche is where luxury thrives. You know, you don't need a million readers. You need, I suppose, the right 500 because if 500 jewelry obsessives see you on maybe a blog called the jewelry editor or something and 10 of them buy, then that's a result, isn't it?
>> I mean, an amazing one. And the trick is always going to be packaging. So, if you're sending something to a journalist, they need it to be um ready for them to be able to drop your words straight into their copy. So, they're like, you know, getting away with it straight away. And instead of uh sending I make rings and like it's my pretty rings like a three-year-old with a picture, you send instead that this necklace was inspired by, I don't know, uh Victorian morning jewelry and it's handfinished in my workshop in St. Orin's and it'll never be repeated. That's practically ready to print for them.
>> Yeah. Is do journalists actually work for magazines anymore? I thought most of them were freelance now.
>> Because magazine budgets and stuff have been slashed, haven't they? So journalists, their time is short. And of course, when you're dealing with journalists, laziness is your best friend.
>> But we can't like you've just insulted an entire profession. You do.
>> No, not at all. I deal with journalists every single day. Journalists know they're lazy. I mean, most of them wear it like a badge of honor. But it's true, you do want coverage that, you know, you can spoon feed them and you can spoon feed them quotable lines and usable images. You know, the the less work I suppose a journalist has to do, the more likely you are to be covered.
>> Yeah. I mean, absolutely. And actually speaking of images, professional photography is the bit, you know, that's the thing where it's worth the investment. Not the kind of glossy, soulless e-commerce shots, but characterful photos of you maybe at the bench, tools in hand, and remembering that people buy people. Show your face, not just your products, you know.
>> And show more mess. I know that sounds counterproductive, but.
>> Very unlike you.
>> I I did I was once visiting a watch maker and their workbench looked like a bomb site. There was tools everywhere. There was dust, there was scraps of metal, the whole nine yards. But the photograph of him hunched over that chaos. I mean, it made you trust him like a real craftsman because nobody really believes a pristine desk, do they?
>> I mean, I'm going to hold that. I'm going to hold you to that next time about my desk.
>> Not you.
>> Okay.
>> But you're right there. It's a really good point because that authenticity thing, it's it's not polished and it's it's just slightly imperfect. And that's the opposite of most pro uh press packs. And they look like um, you know, like those steroid sterile catalog shoots things.
>> Yeah, like the pharmaceutical cataloges. Yeah, you're absolutely right. Cuz you want the journalist to think I like this person.
>> I like this story. I can use it. Not look at it and go here comes another brand pretending to be Cartier.
>> Right. I mean, that's so boring first of all. I mean, thinking about it, there's also um collaboration because if you can't afford PR agencies teaming up with somebody else, so like a handbag maker or a milliner or even a florist, maybe pitch a piece on the like new British makers or young artisans keeping craft alive. Journalists love grouping small names together. It makes the piece feel kind of bigger, you know.
>> That's really very clever, actually. Yeah. Safety, safety in numbers, I suppose. You know, like penguins huddling. And I suppose if one of the group happens to have a cousin of the telegraph, then everybody benefits, don't they?
>> Yes, absolutely. And and that social proof we talked about, that really matters. If you've been featured even once, even in a local blog, like we said, plaster that on your website, you know, it makes the next journalist more likely to take you seriously.
>> Yeah. That's like dating, isn't it? Nobody wants to be the first, but once someone's gone there, everybody suddenly finds you irresistible.
>> I mean, that feels a bit on the nose, but okay. Um, but yes, you're right. Credibility does begget credibility. So I suppose then, you know, the thing is where PR is concerned and where media is concerned and coverage is concerned I think you just have to stop ftting about ad spend and start thinking in stories because your story isn't especially this particular person your story isn't just I sell rings.
>> Your story is actually I risked it all and I craft by hand and I refuse to massproduce. And here's why that matters. So that's your PR story.
>> Yeah, absolutely. It's so much more attractive. And don't whatever you do, don't wait for Vogue, you know, start with that local paper and your regional lifestyle magazine, that niche blog, and each one of those is a rung on the ladder.
>> And for heaven's sake, make it quotable. If your quote is, and I hear this all the time, I strive to make unique pieces, you're done. It's mindn numbingly boring.
>> Boring.
>> So.
>> You know, if if it's every necklace is finished while my dog snores under the bench.
>> That's what's going to get printed.
>> Yeah, absolutely. PR isn't money. It's a good story told well. And if all else fails, you know, maybe just bribe them with caviar.
>> Oh, now you're talking my language. Absolutely.