How To Build Meaningful Relationships with Fashion and Beauty PR Agencies

We’ve talked a lot about the actual pitch process and learning how to get a higher response rate from brands and PR agencies, but what can fashion and beauty bloggers and writers do to strengthen their relationships with people who work at brands?

Most companies tend to operate one of two ways: either they have an in-house public relations team that manages their outreach or they hire a PR agency to outsource that work. And these can change all the time. I was wondering for a few months why I hadn’t heard anything about one of my favorite beauty brands from a PR agency that I worked with and then found out at an event a few months later that they brought their team in-house. Here are a few tips to getting in good with big fashion and beauty PR agencies.

Introduce yourself and what you do

If you’re sending a cold outreach email, introduce yourself and what you do and send examples of the work. In a normal world I would try to set up a coffee meeting with someone from the agency to get a better idea of what they’re working on and potential ways you could help each other but in the age of you-know-what, a phone call or video chat will suffice. Being really clear about your intention can help the person at the agency understand how you may be able to help their clients. If you’re a freelance writer maybe you can mention them in a roundup or if you’re a blogger with a significant following maybe you’ll help boost their clout on social media. PR agencies are constantly chasing down leads and looking for new opportunities to help get their clients noticed so if you sound like you actually want to help them do that, you can quickly become their BFF.

 Reply to their emails

Even if you have to say, “can’t help you here, but thanks for sharing” that gives your contact there something that they can go off of. They have to fire off hundreds and thousands of emails and being able to get one response, even if it’s a no, is a major win for them because it can help them refine their strategy in the future. Networking is a long-term strategy and even these little responses can go a long way.

Support agencies and all of their clients, even ones that you’re not that interested in

This is especially important for those of you who want to go to New York Fashion Week (my complete guide on how to get invited to fashion week is here) because if you just reach out once in the spring and once in the fall and ask to get invited to a show without showing interest in their client outside of that show or anything else they do, you have a much lower chance of actually getting invited. Swing by the event of the smaller brand for 15 minutes or give them a shout in some way that they didn’t even ask for, and they’ll be forever grateful. 

Do an immediate favor

After you have an initial meeting with them or they send out an email about a new launch, try your best to give them an immediate boost of some kind. And guess what—today that is as easy as posting an Instagram story or sending a tweet. Those little things add up and brands appreciate the support, especially during this time.

Check in regularly if they don’t reach out

If you haven’t heard from them since last quarter, no harm in sending an email with a few links to recent work and try to find out what launches they have coming up or what they’re working on to see how you can help. They’ll love you for checking in and the more they see your name in their inbox the more that you’ll be top of mind for events, launches, and other opportunities. 

And as a bonus here are the public relations agencies I work with in the fashion and beauty space and how to get in touch with them:

Beauty 

Tractenberg & Co. info@tractenberg.com

Blue Sky info@blueskypr.com

Alison Brod info@abmc-us.com

YCC Agency ycc@yccagency.com

Purple PR enquiries@purplepr.com or influencerenquiries@purplepr.com

Fashion

Linda Gaunt Communications info@lindagaunt.com

PR Consulting info@prconsulting.net

Mode PR info@modeworld.comand marketing@modeworld.com

HS PR newbiz@hs-pr.com

Wetherly Group info@twgco.com

Negri Firman info@negrifirman.com

Both

Factory PR hello@factorypr.com        

BCPM thavard@bpcm.com

Did you find this post helpful? Let me know in the comments!

yours,

Austen

Photo above by Christina Limmer