Grace Bonny, creator of Design Sponge, writes a great column for Slate.com geared toward small business owners/bloggers/indie designers etc. So far she has tackled topics like discrimination she faces as a young woman in business as well as advice for crafters and designers looking to get their designs into online and retail boutiques. As a former Design PR professional, who now receives hundreds of submissions a day, Bonny offers some great do’s and don’ts for designers trying to get noticed online.
It continues to shock me that so-called spam PR is considered a viable strategy to a maintaining positive, long-term relationships with a bloggers or online sites, however, Bonny’s main complaint is the amount of submissions she receives that simply aren’t targeted to her needs.
She explains, “Despite the fact that I’ve never once mentioned diaper genies I have one PR woman who emails me once a week about her ‘fabulous designer diaper genies’. I don’t write about diaper genies, Jan! Please stop writing me!”
Eye-rolling as it may be to those of us who assume a strategic, targeted approach toward media pitching and promotion, these fashion publicists denegrades client reputation as well as the the PR profession itself by not taking the time to pitch smart.
It is an exciting time for shopping and selling online, especially with e-stores and social shopping hot spots like Design Sponge, Tiny Showcase, Etsy, Sodafine, Rare Device, Relish and StyleHive leading the way. As PR professionals, we would do well to heed the advise of those leading this collaborative shopping revolution.
