Following is a Q&A with Ellen Cagnassola, the Soap Executive Officer (SEO) of SweetSoaps, a maker of custom soap products based in New Jersey. Ellen’s been on our radar for some time now (we’ve blogged about her in the past) and we found her on Twitter doing everything successful entrepreneurs do - make a good product, make good connections and make people aware of her. And just like professionals use social media to get PR, Ellen also focuses her efforts on social networking to build awareness that leads to good small business public relations.
In our PR Toolkit for small business we teach entrepreneurs how to get creative to find good story angles for their companies. We’ve also helped many entrepreneurs see the value of developing a compelling press release that gets media attention. Ellen’s a great example of this with her most recent small business public relations campaign: “I feel like bacon love” line of bacon soap. We love this soap campaign because, quite frankly, it grabs your attention right away. As you’ll read later on in the Q&A Ellen went after big publicity by simply targeting specific media and letting them know about her. Did she get every story she went after? No. Did she make lots of effort and eventually secure a spot in Cosmopolitan magazine? Yes. Read on because SweetSoaps is the story of one woman growing her business and having the confidence to spread the word through Twitter and PR.
1) Where did you learn to do PR for yourself?
A) I started my business in 1998 and I quickly saw how small I was. Naturally how do you get your word out without paying big advertising dollars? You make yourself story worthy. A creative mind knows no bounds.
2) What kind of PR activities are you doing (press releases, story pitches, etc.) and how much time investment are you putting in?
A) I am not on an organized story pitch schedule. If I come with a really fantastic product that I know is easy small business public relations I will write a press release and send it to a small targeted group of magazine editors. Example: I created a press release on the fly for Valentines Day “I feel Like Bacon Love” and while I was too late for a Valentine’s issue I did get a feature in the June issue of Cosmopolitan, OMG! Slam dunk.
3) Other than budget is there anything keeping you from hiring a PR representative?
A) I realize that someday I will either need to hire a PR person or I will become one.
4) Where do you get your PR ideas from?
A) Ideas come from many places. All forms of media, pop culture, fashion, home fashion, social media, other creative friends. Put them all in a blender and there is your answer.
5) How often are you turned down for a story? How do you overcome?
A) I pitched “I feel like bacon love” to 60 magazines and Cosmopolitan is the only one that jumped on it. There is no overcoming there is only moving on.
6) Now that you’ve tasted PR success, is the process what you initially thought?
A) It is actually easier for me now because I have been around for 12 years. People know me, my brand and I am also pursued at time for stories. I am always coming up with new products so I have endless pitch ideas on each product. I think social media also makes it easier as well. Blogs are much bigger this year than last, and I think it’s the new print media. I care as much or more that blogs find me newsworthy.
7) What was the biggest learning curve in doing your own small business public relations?
A) There is an art to crafting a pitch. Timing is big, ideas are as important.
What advice would you give to other entrepreneurs looking to do their own PR?
A) There are places online that you can sign up for free PR leads. Some of them are decent and some are really bad. Don’t waste your time trying to pitch to media that has no interest in your service or product. If you think you are newsworthy to them, you need to show them.
If you’ve got a story to tell and would like to share how you did marketing or public relations for your company, please email us so we can tell your story.
And if you want to learn how you can get PR for your company, download the PR Toolkit today and check out how we can help develop attention-grabbing press releases for your small business.
{ 2 trackbacks }
{ 0 comments… add one now }