Be Your Own PR Agent (and Run With It) - Chapter 24

I’m not sure where it was that I learned that being my own PR agent was a necessity – but it was something that I set about doing sometime in 2009.

At this point the spa industry was changing. I felt like there were some of us who were breaking the mold. I was making a name for myself as the girl who started this giant company, out of nowhere, with a product that didn’t even have its own category. And there were several others in the industry who were also about the same age, doing big things, and having a blast – just like I was!

At that point there were about 30 copycats to my product.  These copycats were confusing the marketplace, so I had to be even more diligent about standing out.

I am now attending at least 20 trade shows a year.  I am silly, I am easy going, and I have done just about every single kind of marketing available in our industry – so now I have people asking me what magazines they should advertise in.  What trade shows to show at, and how to get free advertising in the biggest Magazines and TV shows.

One of my favorite ways to get free media was to show the products at Celebrity Gifting Suites.  I had attended several of them, but GBK Productions was the absolute best!

Have you seen the gift baskets that celebrities get at Oscars, Grammy’s, Emmys, etc?  This is where they receive them.  But it is not in basket form – they go around and talk to all of the vendors and leave with Thousands of Dollars in gifts.

The owner of GBK, Gavin Keilly, was a great partner to his vendors, and him and I became great friends very quickly.  I was honest with him about not knowing what I was doing and he made sure that I received great advice from his staff.

The celebrity gifting suites were a great success, and for the little money we spent to attend them, we got back in Millions of Dollars in free media placement.  Everybody saw it, and everybody wanted to understand how I did it.  I told everyone what I did.  Why not?

At the same time I became great “friends” with celebrities who either wanted my product, or were asking ME how to get in touch with other brands in the market.  Which made me even more popular and well known in the industry.  I became the “connector.”

One day my cell phone rang and this young girl was talking a HUNDRED miles an hour to me about her lashes.  Finally I said – Who is THIS?

It’s Hayden Panettiere!

She was a huge fan, and her makeup artist gave her my cell number.  This was surreal!  Right in the height of the TV show – Heroes.

This is also when the Kardashians show was still pretty new.  And the kids from Jersey Shores were a hit!  It was almost as crazy as my radio days.  I was back with celebrities. But this time, the REAL power was partnering with their makeup artists.  Much like your own relationship with your hairstylist – the celebrities will do ANYTHING their makeup artist wants them to do.

It was hard to get to a celebrity.It was easy to get to the makeup artist.

And my other secret…. Treat the family who shows up with them better than you do the celebrity.  Word spreads fast!

The family comes in the background with their celebrity children, sister, brother, etc.  They are shy, hang in the back, and try to stay out of the way.

I would say hello to the celebrity – take the quick picture, and then make a HUGE deal about Mom.  I would even have the photographer take a pic of me with mom. I treated them like a celebrity.  The celebrity themselves would be so grateful that their family member was getting attention that they would go OUT OF THEIR WAY to take extra pics, mention my products in the magazines, and run straight to me at the next event.

This worked so well that the other vendors would ask me for advice.  I was partnering everyone in the suites up with everyone else.  I was showing them how they could collaborate together to be bigger.  Jewelry with clothing lines.  Chocolatiers with Restaurants.  Electronics with clothing lines.  Connect... Connect... Connect.  I just walked in to each suite and walked straight up their table.  Asked them a million, sometimes very personal questions about their line.  What are your goals?  Who are your clients.  Ok hold on, I'm going to introduce you to someone....

This turned into a whole other side gig.  I started consulting for bakeries, jewelry lines, clothing lines, and even electronics.  In fact, I started using those 2 days off, I negotiated in my pay cut, to attend OTHER celebrity gifting suites that I would have never attended otherwise.  Connecting with OTHER celebrities outside the beauty arena.  And then teaming them up with smaller up-and-coming celebrities trying to break in to bigger shows.  Or I would hook up one of the vendors with a sponsorship opportunity for an upcoming show.

The crazy web I weaved over the summer of 2009 was getting out of hand.  I had so many deals going on at once that I had to hire extra help for my projects.  Hannah Murray & Associates was in full effect!

And thank god – that Summer of 2009 was the year I FINALLY graduated!  I remember the night that I knew I would turn in my last paper.  Derek and Mia both sat quietly in the house in anticipation. I had promised Mia that we would have a dance party when I was done.  But I lied.

I hit “Submit” on my paper.  I walked in to Derek’s office.  I knelt down next to him, put my head on his knee, and I cried like a baby.

NINE YEARS of going to school.  Nine years of homework every single night.  Saturdays without my child.  All of the hard work, the frustration.  All of those night going straight from the trade shows to my hotel room to do homework until two in the morning, and then back to the trade show the next day.

NINE YEARS!!!!

To this day I consider this my greatest personal accomplishment.  Not because I have actually used it.  But because my back up plan is sealed forever.  I can apply anywhere I wanted to, if I needed to.  And because my daughter saw me do the work.  She saw the importance of it.  She saw me finish.

She is 16 years old now, and I NEVER have to tell her to do her homework.  It is just something she does.  Mission accomplished.

And to top the year off right…. After three years together, Derek and I got Engaged!

Becoming my own PR agent was the best thing I could have done for myself.  Hell... I'm doing it right now! (WAHAHAHA...)I let go of any inhibitions, and rode the roller coaster the best and longest I could.  I made it up as I went, but was willing to do the work in the meantime.

I highly recommend an article that SHONDALAND, by Shonda Rhimes, just recently wrote: How to Brag About Yourself

2009 was a good year...

I had finished school, I was engaged, and my daughter was on the right track.

I had also solidified my place in the beauty industry and the celebrity industry.

Right when everything is going perfectly, is when you have the most to lose.  2010 was the beginning of the end of an era for me…