Tips for Affordable Beauty PR

As a brand founder you know your products need exposure and in front of consumers. Brand recognition happens through public relations. Often, PR is the last thing small and growing beauty brands think about. And when you do bring a PR firm or freelancer onboard, budgets are tight. It’s incredibly difficult to find hardworking beauty public relations on a budget. We are keenly aware what it is like working with various boutique PR firms and freelancers - we have also been on the brand side.
 
PR Needle in a Haystack
 
One of the reasons we started our own beauty public relations and fashion public relations boutique firm is experience from working with various types of fashion PR over the years. One of our co-founders designs a line of women’s accessories. After working with at least 6 people in the PR industry, she realized that it’s not rocket science. Furthermore, there was only one that was enjoyable to work with. As many know, public relations often comes with a few side dishes of attitude.
 
Our co-founders experience in PR was similar to many small business owners and designers. No one should be treated differently because they cannot afford good public relations, but sadly that’s not always the case. Several freelance publicists were very nice in the beginning, and then after she signed the contract, the attitude was completely different. PR was more than happy to take her money, but later turned rude, because she couldn’t afford what other clients paid on a monthly basis.
 
When you are on a budget, finding good beauty public relations for your brand is akin to searching for the proverbial needle in a haystack. We recommend working with freelancers in the industry or finding a small agency that offers affordable monthly retainer fees.
 
 
Search, search and then search more
 
Good, but affordable beauty public relations is hard to find. We recommend turning to Google. Email as many firms as possible asking for their monthly retainer fees. Most public relations firms work on a retainer basis. This means you pay them a set amount each month. Some PR firms do work on a pay-per-placement fee, but not many. Pay-per-placement means you pay only when they land your business or product a media mention.
 
Oddly enough, Craigslist is also a good site to place a PR ad. If you place an ad on Craigslist, we recommend placing it in NYC or any other large city. Freelancers scour CL daily.
 
fiverr.com is another site to peruse for public relations freelancers. Fiverr is hit or miss as many posting their PR services are not native English speakers. However, every now and then you can find a gem.
 
After emailing several beauty public relations firms, and they respond with their monthly retainer fees, you will notice many are outside of your budget. If any specific boutique firm stood out to you as one you’d love to work with, it’s worth it to extend a reply and ask if they take on smaller brands on a budget. Every now and then, a beauty public relations firm takes on clients at a reduced monthly rate.
 
We often work with beauty brands at a reduced rate if we know they have a stellar product. Once the brand grows and they sell more product, then they can afford our normal monthly rate. We also allow clients to spread out payments over the course of a month.
 
DIY PR
 
If you have time, you can easily handle your beauty brands public relations. So much of PR revolves around pitching via email. Craft a solid, concise pitch, add your line sheets, and email these to editors, bloggers, and style stars. Public relations is not complicated. It’s tedious and a lot of work is involved, but it sometimes comes down to the person on the other end opening an email and responding.
 
Affordable beauty public relations in the beauty industry exists, however, it may take longer to secure an agency or freelancer that is willing to work within your budget. Never go into debt for public relations. Even if it takes longer to find someone to work with, then so be it.