Fashion PR Firms and PR Agencies

For nearly two decades we have worked and advised many fashion PR firms and agencies. Large, medium, or boutique sized, Edith Press has experience in nearly all types of fashion public relations. We have a deep understanding of PR from the ground up. In fact, we often advise small fashion labels to tackle PR on their own - it’s not that difficult. You see, so many in the world of public relations try to spin it as difficult. Is PR a lot of work? Yes. Is it difficult compared to science or medicine? Absolutely not. What people don’t want to discuss in PR, and one thing we are incredibly open about, is that garnering press for a brand is often based on hard work and also luck.

Editors are inundated daily with hundreds of email pitches. Even if they vaguely know you through PR, chances of them deleting your email without reading are high. Their goal at the end of the day is to have a clean and tidy in-box. Actually, it’s the goal of many and I don’t blame them. What a better way to have an organized email then mass delete. It happens each day. Over the years, we constantly encourage and champion public relations to keep pitching, but don’t get let down when they don’t immediately hear back from a writer. Most of the time you won’t.

Honesty

Lack of response from pitches is often the most disparaging factor for fashion PR firms and their beauty publicist . Through our mentoring, we encourage PR to be up front with their clients. Let clients know that sometimes pitches simply go unanswered. Further, state that placement cannot be promised. This may sound counterintuitive as fashion public relations should build up their brands. However, honesty is the best approach when it comes to product and brand placement. All too often we have heard from Fashion PR clients that their agency promised a lot of placement within the first month and it never came to fruition. When you make promises to clients, you are only setting them up for disappointment.

Fashion PR firms and beauty agencies must in grain into their publicists that working with clients is a long game, not a short one. Of course everyone, brand and publicist, want immediate placement; sometimes the agency is lucky and it happens, but usually not. Honesty - always honesty.

Update from the Social Media Front

For the past decade, social media has been the topic - even before Instagram. Print magazines are folding and they love to lay the blame on social media and online outlets. The truth is that many are going through social media fatigue. Blogs and fashion sites online are seeing lower readership. Instagram users are tired of sponsored posts and endless selfies. However, Fashion PR firms and beauty public relations agencies are still hung up on social media - specifically Instagram. What they don’t realize is that brands working with influencers doesn’t necessarily result in positive ROI. What does this mean? Let’s say a fashion PR’s client pays several thousand or maybe even $30,000 to work with an influencer and this is just for one post. When that post goes live, the brand probably won’t receive the return on investment. Eighty percent of the time throwing money at an Instagram influencer is a waste of money.

When Google changed Instagram’s algorithm, many posts were buried and not seen in certain feeds. This means that when a brand pay an influencer, not all of said influencers followers see that sponsored post. It’s not to say that working with influencers in 2019 is entirely negative or void of ROI. Working with influencers does raise brand awareness, but it doesn’t necessarily lead to more sales.

Fashion PR firms and PR agencies need to see through the smoke and mirrors of social media. A small brand cannot afford to spend their last $20,000 for one sponsored post that may not even be seen by all of an influencers followers.

Fashion and beauty public relations needs to be honest and open about media placement, social media, and the changing retail landscape.

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