How to PR your products to the fashion press

“How do I get my designs into a fashion magazine?”

This is a question I’ve been asked many a time. It’s quite a drawn out process that takes patience, creativity and brilliant communication skills.

Some journalists can be quite difficult to deal with, others can be helpful, enthusiastic and brilliant. They are busy people who receive hundreds of product submissions, press releases and phone calls a day.

Understand that and try and stand out from the crowd without becoming a pain.

Material

The material you send out to the media is of utmost importance. In most cases it is the first thing the magazines will see.

You’ll need a good press release, there are hundreds of guides that will explain to you how to do this. However, it is often a good idea to talk to a professional about press releases.

Although a PR agency my not be appropriate for the whole project getting one in to write and design a release is a good idea.

If you feel confident in your writing skills and think that the products will be doing most of the talking then write your own. This is a way of keeping costs down but make sure you proof read thoroughly.

You’ll need a good set of images. Cut outs of your product and some model shots. Make sure you have these as low-res, for emailing, websites, blogs etc. and hi-res for print publications.

Targeting

There’s no point in trying to get Harpers Bazaar to showcase your £2.50 plastic bangles. Think about the sorts of things you favourite magazines tell you about. Find where your products fit in and target those magazines.

You might find that generally your range is in one category but other lines and designs you bring out might fit in with other magazines. For example if you have a limited edition range or a budget range.

Gathering contacts

There are a few ways to get contacts for media.

In magazine you will find a page, somewhere at the front that gives details of the journalists, how to advertise and a few contact details. From here you should have all you need.

There’s usually no point going straight to the editor of a fashion magazine, find out who the journalists are that deal with similar product to yours and contact them.

Sometimes you might be able to find a journalist name on the front panel or you could find their name next to a relevant article.

Gather all the information you can on different publications, fashion journalists, blogs as well as email addresses, phone numbers etc. Keep these in a spreadsheet or database.

Make sure you update accordingly when you speak to journalists, they may tell you someone else deals with product submissions or that your release needs to be sent to a different email address.

If you can’t find any names or email addresses then call the general number for the magazine or publishing house. The switchboard should be able to point you in the right direction.

First contact

There are a number of ways you can do this. I’d recommend emailing your press release (include your contact details, web address and a few low res images.) Make sure the email size isn’t bigger than a megabyte, maybe two.

Send it out to everyone on your list for whom you have an email address. Ensure that you either email them individually or put the list of emails in the BCC field and email to yourself. Although journalists know that they can be on mailing lists they don’t want to see that their email address is showing up to the other 100 or so recipients.

When you first start this you probably won’t have a whole list of journalists to send to. I would advise doing personal emails when you have the time. Address them by name and be friendly and professional.

If you have the names of journalists but no email address then call them (if you have their number.) Explain where you are from and that you want to send over some information on a new product.

If you don’t have their number then call the general switchboard and ask to speak to the journalist.

Follow Ups

You must then follow up by giving each journalist a call. This is where you need to put on your business hat and really sell your product. Don’t come across as pushy. Just be friendly and create a rapport with these people. Most of them will be more than willing to hear what you have to say.

You’ll find that in most cases your email hasn’t be received, it has been passed on, needs to go somewhere else etc. Deal accordingly.

If a journalist has seen the release they may ask some questions. Feel free to offer to send them samples and press loans.

Make sure you keep following up, without being a pest, until you get a yes or no. If it is a maybe (journalists are good at being non committal) then follow up asking if they need hi-res images.

Some might tell you that it’ll be perfect for a certain feature they are running in six months time. Find out when the deadline is and call a month before. They’ll be needing images and other info around this time.

If you have the stock then send out the product then follow up with a call. The journalist might have fallen in love with your product but hasn’t got around to calling you.

News worthy stories

This PR world is all about creating stories that are news worthy. Are you designing a dress for someone well known? Let the relevant publications know.

Charity connections are a very good way of getting into the press. Maybe you could sell your product via a local charity shop with all profits being donated.

Or perhaps you could create a specific range that is ethically made or especially for a certain charity.

The options are endless for creating brilliant newsworthy stories. A good way of gathering ideas to do is go through your favourite, relevant, magazines and see what they like to write about.

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If you have any questions on this subject then I am more than happy to help. I’ll be posting fashion business articles a bit more regularly now so hopefully I’ll be able to answer some questions there.

Drop me an email: jess@feelingstylish.co.uk

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