April is here which means Earth Day is around the corner – and with that is the perfect opportunity for brands with eco-friendly/natural hooks to tie-in to editor’s stories. While Earth Day is a great angle, you want to make sure you’re maximizing your pitching strategy by providing credible facts about the products you’re pitching and staying honest and transparent. My agency has worked with many natural beauty and fashion lines and successfully placed Earth Day stories using the following tips – read below for more info!
The FDA doesn’t regulate terms like “natural” or “green” – leaving brands to make claims about how clean their products are without being able to back it up. Editors and influencers are incredibly savvy and know what ingredients are potentially harmful – don’t mislead them if your product uses something potentially controversial. While there are certain cases why brands might use a potentially “blacklisted” ingredient for a good reason (ie certain preservatives as a natural one may interfere with the product make-up), you need to be completely transparent. When in doubt, don’t make the claim that a product is natural. Editors will respect and appreciate your honesty!
Particularly with beauty but sometimes with fashion as well, people often fear that “all-natural” means forgoing results and that the products are less effective than their conventional counterparts. You’ll want to prove that notion wrong by providing solid evidence about why the product works – is there a hero ingredient that’s a replacement for something more harmful? Do you have studies about why certain ingredients work and what exactly their benefits are? The most information and reliable studies you have to back up your product the better – and as always, stay transparent and honest. Don’t make claims that you can’t prove.
With so many brands claiming to be “green” it helps to have a stronger hook to differentiate even more. If your brand/client gives back to a charity (particularly an environmentally-friendly one) then definitely note that to media. Make sure to include how much the brand gives, if it’s for all purchases or just select products, and if they give back year-round or just as an Earth Day specific initiative.
When brands promote themselves as natural, they need to be mindful of the packaging and materials they use. Is a T-shirt line calling itself eco-friendly being dishonest if it comes packaged with a lot of plastic wrap? Or is a “green” beauty line misleading customers if it uses plastic and a lot of wasteful boxes? It depends on who you are speaking with and the ultimate message the brand is looking to put out, but if there is excess/potentially harmful packaging or the manufacturing process isn’t as sustainable as it could be, you’ll need to be prepared to address that when speaking with media and influencers.
The natural beauty market is set to increase by more than 14 billion dollars by 2025. The demand for clean beauty and eco-fashion is steadily growing, but April still reigns supreme for brands in these categories to be given special focus in the press. Keep these 4 tips in mind and get those pitches out ASAP!
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