American historian and Pulitzer Prize winner Daniel J. Boorstin once said, “Some are
born great, some achieve greatness, and some hire public relations officers.”
There is no denying that, whether you serve as your own “PR mouthpiece” for your spa
or business or hire someone else to “talk the talk,” in this day and age when messages
could become viral by a single tap on an iPad screen, the role of public relations in any
business has never been more relevant and needed.
It is critical then to determine which PR type—whether “Do-it-Yourself or DIY,”
in-house, freelance or large PR firm consultancy—best suits your spa or business needs.
Define PR for Your Business
When deciding which PR type to consider, the first question is
not “Which PR type to have?” but “Why is there a need for PR
for your spa or business?”
“Assessing which type of PR [suits your business best] is
done by first identifying what exactly it is that PR means [for
your spa or business],” says Leslie Glover, president of Aspen
Spa Management LLC, a spa consulting company that provides
turnkey services to clients, including PR assessment needs. In
the context of your small day spa or business, for instance,
does PR primarily mean to get local media exposure? Or do you
define your PR need as tapping into expertise to help you
launch a new product on a national scale?
Evaluating existing resources and current brand presence are
part of the early stages of the PR definition process. According
to Natural Resources Spa Consulting Inc. President Kimberley
Matheson, it is imperative to look into your existing resources
like finances, time, talent and infrastructure. These are key
factors that would eventually help you narrow down your
choices.
DIY PR
Often, owners of small or start-up day spas or businesses opt
to do their own PR, not because they feel they have the expertise or media contacts, but because they don’t have the budget
to hire an in-house PR staff or an external consultant.
According to Glover, this may not be entirely a bad thing, especially since no one knows your business more than you do and,
with a lean payroll, doing the work yourself helps keep overhead expenses in control.
When doing public relations on a budget, keeping your
message on target to the right audience is critical. “Don’t spend
money on trying to reach markets or areas which are not your
target demographic. Utilize your location and offer incentives
to local shop keepers and stores in the area,” says Glover,
adding that piggyback marketing is a great way to spread the
word and save on costs. “Some of our clients who have a boutique or free-standing spa have been successful by following
our strategic marketing plan and doing it themselves; however,
this can only be done for a small location which is focused on
a very local clientele,” she says.
As for freelance PR consultant and founder of The Marshall
Plan, Kim Marshall, whose roster of clients include Kerstin
“The main advantage
of in-house PR is having
an extensive product
knowledge to draw from
and incorporate into
pitches.”
— Justin Dotterweich, HydroPeptide's director of public relations
Florian, Starwood Luxury Collection, The Ritz-Carlton, to name
a few, it is essential to invest in professionally taken spa or
product photos. “Remember, we are a visual society. Your
images are your reputation and visual ‘brand’ to the public.”
Matheson, on the one hand, thinks that, no matter the size
of your business, allocating at least three percent of your gross
revenue to PR, marketing and advertising allows you to sufficiently develop a working program. She cautions, however, of
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