the perils of finding time and resources. “Many spa directors,
general managers or owners are excellent spokespersons and
brand stewards but to find the time and resources to really
focus on developing the ideas, plan and then execute is a
stretch at best. There is plenty to do with creating and managing an ongoing PR and marketing plan while running a
business. It comes down to time and talent.”
In the long run, when PR is put on the back burner in everyday operations, it may turn out to be more costly than the
actual investment of hiring someone who can focus on the
work. The real cost of DIY PR beyond the financial investment,
says Glover, is “a lot of time, work and research.” “PR is an art,
so if you don’t have the expertise or time to focus on this
aspect [of your business], it needs to be outsourced or steered
by an experienced consultant who can advise you on the best
measures and help control costs. With this being said, no PR
usually translates into little to no business; however, bad PR
may translate into lost business.”
“After winning Prevention
magazine’s Defy Your Age
Beauty Award’s Best Day Cream
with SPF, PR Manager Elise
Hamamoto (inset) is brought
on board HydroPeptide’s
in-house PR team.”
IN-HOUSE PR
While generally more costly, hiring an in-house PR staff makes
sense for spas or businesses with an extensive annual PR plan
and a fairly substantial amount of business that could help
justify the expense. Having a dedicated person with a deep
understanding of the brand and vision as well as a specialized
knowledge about your spa or product also means having onsite reliability 24/7. “The main advantage of in-house PR is
having an extensive product knowledge to draw from and
incorporate into pitches. For example, our PR Manager, Elise
Hamamoto, was able to fulfill a beauty editor’s time-sensitive
request for anti-aging products by obtaining an expert quote
within minutes from the company’s Director of Education,
Kristina Valiani, and [shipping] a product sample overnight [to
the media],” says HydroPeptide’s Director of Public Relations
Justin Dotterweich, adding that while the skin-care company
worked with a PR agency briefly, they eventually opted for a
full-service in-house PR in order to get more of the personal
touch.
Dotterweich initially handled all of HydroPeptide’s PR work,
but after the brand won Prevention magazine’s Defy Your Age
28 PULSE
■
March/April 2012
“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].”
—Leslie Glover, president of Aspen Spa Management LLC
Beauty Award in 2010 for Best Day Cream with SPF, market
buzz around the brand required the hiring of a PR manager.
“Our scope of work ranges from responding to skin-care questions from one of our 26,000 Facebook fan page followers to
producing a news video to announce a new product,” he says.
The greatest challenge to being a lean in-house PR team,
admits Dotterweich, is simultaneously handling all the press
inquiries while in the middle of a new product launch.
Good internal communications is key to keeping a lean team
efficient. Dotterweich says that top management in
HydroPeptide has an open-door policy and encourages face-toface communication. “At our most recent sales meeting, our
COO and previous Lauder Company executive, Annette Rubin,
announced that our 2011 sales numbers doubled [compared to
last year’s figures]. With that said, we currently do not have
plans to outsource any of our public relations [needs]. Our
focus is on breathing even more life and creativity into our PR
plan for 2012 and beyond,” he says.
FREELANCE AND PR FIRM CONSULTANCY
Hiring an off-site consultant, whether a more affordable freelance consultant or a big-name PR firm, both have their share
of pros and cons. According to Marshall, two of the most
common mistakes spas and businesses commit when hiring
one are bargain-hunting and selecting one without strong PR
experience. “[In more ways than one,] when it comes to public
relations, you get what you pay for,” she says.
While cost is obviously an important factor, Marshall suggests looking closely at key qualities like “tenacity, track record,
ability to tell a good story and what’s news for the media as
well as media contacts specifically for your market.” “Ideally,
your PR consultant should follow a motto: Underpromise and
overdeliver. Talk is cheap, results aren’t.”
Marshall also suggests giving the PR consultant a timeframe
to assess clearly whether he or she is delivering the results.
“Plan for a six-month campaign for a launch, a remodel or a
special project/event. At the end of six months, you should
have new or updated press materials, an agreed upon language
and a set of comprehensive visuals,” she says.
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