I’ve been working in beauty for more than ten years and beauty PR has been one of the key services that VLIV Communications offers. My team and I have worked with some incredible beauty brands, both established and emerging, including Codex Beauty Labs, Ouidad, The BrowGal, Mai Couture, Roots Rose Radish and TAILA Skincare. We’ve worked with clients to secure impactful press placements in outlets like The Zoe Report, InStyle, TODAY, Fashionista, Allure, and countless others. You could say we know quite a bit about beauty PR!
We’ve picked up a few Beauty PR Do’s and Don’ts when trying to secure press coverage for a beauty brand. Keep these in mind for your next beauty product launch to boost your chances of success!
BEAUTY PR DO’S
DO make sure that your beauty product is ready for market!
To launch a successful beauty PR campaign, you’ll need samples, high resolution imagery, pricing, retailers and brand messaging all locked in place. There is no point in pitching editors your product if no one can even find it yet!
DO be willing to give it away – your beauty PR samples that is!
While giving away samples can be costly, it’s a key part of a meaningful beauty public relations campaign. Editors need to test, touch, and smell the products to convey the benefits to their readers.
DO make sure you have a compelling story behind the beauty brand
Editors love to connect with founders and hear how they got their start – it’s important to convey the human aspect of the brand. When putting together a PR strategy for a beauty brand, dig deep and find something relatable. Maybe that’s a founder that grows the ingredients on their farm, a finance pro making a life change, or a celebrity make-up artist who wants to bring their A-list secrets to the general public.
DO make sure you know what sets you apart from your competitors – and lead with that!
New beauty brands are popping up nearly daily – it can be difficult to stand out amongst such a saturated market. Dig into what makes your brand different from others in the market and emphasize it in your outreach. For example, do you use biodegradable packaging when nearly everyone else still uses plastic? Do you use an ingredient most brands haven’t incorporated into their products yet? Are you an expert in your field or have a certification? Highlight what makes you special!
DO set up affiliate networks or Amazon
Many media outlets these days will only consider brands that sell on big retailers and through affiliate networks. If you’re not selling at big retailers such as Amazon, Nordstrom, Target or Skinstore, you’ll want to adjust your sales strategy. Target these retailers or establish your brand on an affiliate network such as Rakuten, Share-A-Sale, or Skimmlinks. This can be a make or break decision for digital editors when featuring brands – give yourself every advantage possible!
Beauty PR Don’ts
DON’T wait until the last second for a beauty PR product launch
There’s almost nothing worse than having an amazing new product that is launching but not giving editors advance notice! When creating a beauty public relations campaign, account for the lead time that editors work on. When working with digital outlets, you’ll want to start outreach about 4-6 weeks before launch. With print magazines you will be pitching 3-4 months in advance – sometimes more!
DON’T bombard editors with huge email attachments or incredibly lengthy emails
Editors and writers are absolutely SWAMPED – they often receive hundreds of emails a day from beauty publicists. They don’t have the time to sift through long, wordy emails or to wait for enormous images to download. Either of those will often get your email sent to the “trash” folder pretty quickly! Keep emails short and pithy – bullet points are your friend! Embed a couple of low-res images that show the quality of the product but don’t have a long loading time.
DON’T ask for changes to be made after the article has been published
Did you realize after the fact that the editor left out an ingredient you wanted them to mention? Unless there is a factual error, don’t ask writers for revisions after the story has published. Their time is valuable and they often can’t access the back-end to make these edits. Include all the relevant info upfront to make it as easy as possible for the editor to include.
DON’T get discouraged!
Above all else – have patience! Editors are swamped with pitches and may not always respond right away. If you’re hearing crickets, give the pitch a little time or go back and make some revisions. Sometimes it’s timing or sometimes the first pitch just doesn’t resonate. If you have a good product and approach editors with respect and brevity, you will land quality placements. Now get to pitchin’!
