on Jul 12th, 2007Pressed for Press
Every designer wants press. It’s exciting. I remember when I saw my first client’s editorial in Lucky Magazine. So exciting…and ironically it was of a bathing suit she happened to name after me. However, even though it was a pretty big picture with her name and website as big as day, I don’t remember an influx of orders after that publication hit. Or really a difference at all.
Hmmm….what happened? Lucky is read by thousands and thousands of potential customers but it seemed like only about 5 had even taken notice. One of which was the designers mother….but I digress.
So it made me wonder. Press is really great…but at the end of the day what does a feature in Elle or a product mention in Marie Claire really mean?
Financially that is….?
Over the years I’ve learned that editorial mentions don’t necessarily equal cash dividends. You have to make them work, and a big part of that work happens long before the magazine even hits the newsstand.
Here are a few tips on making editorial mentions work for you…..
Build Customer Relationships….
If you’re a designer instead of giving editorial credit to your website, why not give your biggest selling retailer a call.
Tell them you’d like to use their name or website address to send customers to their stores from an upcoming editorial piece. They’ll be thrilled!!
On the short term you may have been able to make money….if you sold the editorial piece at your retail price online. However if your core business is wholesale…nurture it. In the long term you’ve just built a bridge that could increase wholesale sales for seasons to come.
Get an Active Edit……
If you are directing customers to your Ecommerce site. Inquire with editors to become featured in interactive sections of their mag such as Lucky Magazine’s Lucky Breaks.
I’ve witnessed Lucky Breaks specifically, increase visitors and sales by the double digits.
Plus promos like this can add hundreds of new emails to a marketing database.
When customers have some type of incentive or action step oriented with the edit you’re likely to receive a much higher response rate.
Don’t discount the .com counterpart…
Being featured in the .com version of your favorite mag is typically easier to obtain and can lead to immediate click through’s hence immediate online sales. Make sure your PR person takes online editors as serious as the offline ones.
So again, Yes…. press works. But only if you work it. If you need some help contact me at rh@glossmarketing.com and I’ll email you some more tips.
Ralinda Harvey is owner of Gloss Marketing and an adjunct marketing instructor at the Los Angeles Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising. For more information you may contact her at rh@glossmarketing.com.