Have you ever wanted to get more understanding about what kind of PR tactics are used to drive growth for aesthetics clinics or launch beauty brands, before investing? Well, look no further! At Kendrick PR we specialise in delivering winning formulas of strategic and tactical PR support to our enviable client portfolio and we’re going to share a few of our industry secrets with you. In this blog, our beauty PR experts explain which PR tactics are essential for building and growing the success of your beauty or aesthetic business – so read on!
The Role of PR
PR – or public relations – is about building trust and visibility, alongside authentic relationships with your target audience which includes everyone who touches your business, from prospective and existing customers, to suppliers and even employees. In crowded industries like beauty and wellbeing there are many voices shouting to be heard. PR is a valuable long-term business strategy used to build and grow your brand visibility, trust and engagement – and of course, sales!
What is PR?
Our favourite PR definition is:
“PR represents what other people say about you when you’re not there.”
It’s not what you say about yourself (this is advertising); it’s about your reputation – how others see you, what people have heard from others or seen in the media – the power of that all-important third-party endorsement. Consider this: how can you influence that conversation about your brand, when you’re not in the room?
What Are the Benefits of PR?
PR has many benefits in terms of building brand awareness and visibility, which can increase sales and grow your reputation. For example, when launching a brand, product or business PR is a very effective tool for generating that much needed ‘buzz’ and instant visibility – ‘new’ news is always a great asset! This initial buzz soon translates into demand and more revenue coming through the door – boosting profits, growth, and opportunity for your business.
Over the longer term, the key benefit of PR is that it’s the ‘convincer’ – why choose YOU over a competitor? If your brand is regularly featured in the beauty press, or a prominent influencer talks about a great experience they had at a clinic, or someone says they’ve heard it’s a great place to work – it helps to persuade others to move from ‘consideration’ of the treatment or product to ‘purchasing’ or engaging with your brand. Deploying creative and engaging PR tactics consistently will keep YOU on the radar of your target customers and help your business to thrive.
5 Professional PR Tactics Which Drive Growth & Sales
1. Be social media savvy
It’s highly likely as an aesthetics or beauty consumer your target customers are going to be active on social media, particularly Instagram, so it’s time to get involved and showcase your expertise and talent.
Don’t forget that social media is called “social” for a reason – it needs to be a two-way dialogue to truly build an effective presence, grow engagement and build that loyal community of brand advocates. Make sure your social channels ENGAGE with your audiences – ask them questions, invite them to like or comment, and most of all respond to their comments and messages in a prompt manner. The old adage was that ‘content is king’ but now, ENGAGEMENT is queen!
2. Know your audience
Simply put, your PR and marketing cannot appeal to everybody, so tailoring your content to suit a particular niche has a far higher success rate than more general content that can easily be hidden and ignored. Having a clear cut idea of your target audience – their age, demographic profile, disposable income, values, likes and dislikes – all this is vital information to use to create a tailored PR strategy that appeals directly to them.
Have you ever read something and thought “Wow – it’s like they are talking to me!” – remember how connected you felt with that brand? Didn’t it make you more likely to go back to them time and again? This is what we are aiming for with your communications – once you tap into this approach, you will soon see your engagement and sales rise.
3. Be smart with Influencer Marketing
Today, influencers play an integral part in PR tactics – especially in the aesthetics, beauty, and wellness industries. Partnering with the right influencer who taps into your target audience is crucial – all too often, businesses are lured by influencers boasting huge follower numbers, but the important stat is their engagement rate – do their followers listen and take action on the things they talk about?
If you plan to give free treatments or products to an influencer, your aim is that their followers will become aware of your brand and potentially purchase themselves. Make sure you set expectations about what outputs you’d like to see from any gifting – be that grid or story posts on their social, a testimonial or video etc. The aim is to create an authentic relationship with influencers which often delivers repeatedly – rather than paying out for #ads which can sometimes lack credibility. If you need extra support to tap into the power of influencer marketing – without the scattergun or mass-market approach – please do get in touch with us!
4. Share newsworthy or trend-led press releases
Coming up with fresh ideas for your press release and marketing campaigns can be tricky, a great place to start is with current and upcoming trends or events. Seasonal PR and marketing is, simply put, a way to adjust your marketing promotions and news announcements to reflect cultural events and holidays – such as New Year New You, Spring, Wedding Season, Valentines, Christmas etc.
By identifying key calendar milestones, you can use them to your advantage and capitalise on the potential they offer, for example, you could run a promotional offer themed around Mother’s Day for your Instagram followers. Linking news, information and offers to ‘environmental’ events that your clients are thinking about, will keep them interested and make your content feel more relevant to their needs. Associating your business to what’s on the mind of your target customer will result in increased attention for you and your business.
5. Host a virtual press or customer event
2020 has not exactly been the year for events but with a little creativity you can consider alternative PR tactics to re-engage with customers and press via virtual (or digital) events. When planned and executed correctly, these can be an effective tool to build your brand and reputation.
Many brands and clinics only consider events around a launch, however, a regular event schedule can be highly successful at building and maintaining your visibility, sales and ‘word of mouth’ value. For example, consider hosting an engaging ‘live’ event broadcast on your social channels (which can be promoted online and via newsletters in advance) and then save this down as an evergreen piece of content to continue to drive awareness and engagement.
Focus on a topic that will be of interest to at least one of your target audiences; customers, journalists, or influencers. ‘Newness’ is always a good starting point, or something in line with current beauty media trends and consumer demands – could you share your opinion or advice? Additional video presenters and participants from different locations/disciplines or expertise, alongside pre-recorded segments and live Q&As will help keep the format interactive and enjoyable.
The aim of your event should never be to sell or appear purely commercial – the goal is to profile yourself and educate on your offering. Always share information in an engaging and creative manner to gives journalists and influencers good content to write about or share on social media, and add value to your customers. This kind of PR activity can strengthen your brand profile, build press relationships, and drive demand from your target customers. For more information about hosting press events read our expert tips.
Is it Time to Level Up Your PR?
Whether you are a brand founder or beauty business, working with a great PR partner will save you time, money and stress. The team within a beauty PR agency have spent years building up relationships with specialist press, influencers, and VIPs – they have an influential and valuable network which you can leverage instantly. By outsourcing to specialists, you can divert your valuable time and resources to building and growing your business. Partnering with the right beauty PR agency can boost your brand exposure, establish your reputation, and increase new customer growth.
Choose an Award-Winning Beauty PR Agency
At Kendrick PR, we thrive on creating winning formulas of strategic and tactical support for premium beauty brands, aesthetic clinics, practitioners and entrepreneurs. We lead with our values: passion, professionalism, and authenticity!
Founded in 2015 by award-winning communications expert Julia Kendrick, Kendrick PR are an experienced and passionate team who thrive on creating tangible success for every client. Since launch, we have delivered outstanding results for some of the industry’s most innovative brands and exciting entrepreneurs, such as ALLÉL, Debbie Thomas, The Private Clinic, Oxygenetix and Medik8 – and we’d love to support your brand. Please do get in touch to book your complimentary discover call with our expert team.