By Melissa Davis of Ruby Press
1. As I always say, a PR agency’s calling card is the work they do for their clients. It’s how about 99% of our clients have found us. Ask your clients to keep their press pages up-to-date and make it easy for them by keeping copies of their press placements in case they can’t get their hands on them themselves. Make it easy for potential clients to see what you’ve done for your clients. Nothing speaks louder.
2. Meet people! Go to events, get involved in local charities. The more networking you are able to do, the better. (And tell everyone what it is that you do.)
3. Create a great website! I’m amazed at the amount of PR agencies that don’t have a website- or just have a bumper page up. And make sure your site reflects your company’s brand. Don’t get so caught up thinking about your clients’ brands that you forget about your own.
4. Draw people to your site. Keep it updated and fresh. We added a blog to ours in February and it’s been a great way to communicate with editors and bloggers. Just don’t create posts when you have nothing interesting to share…people can see right through that.
5. Play up what makes your agency special. Do you have an interesting background? (For example, I was a fashion editor in NYC for 8 years and for 4 years in SF. That shows that I know how to work with the media from the inside out, so we make sure people know that.) Do you have an impressive client roster? Show it off. What type of PR do your specialize in? Make your agency stand out in a sea of PR agencies.
More about Ruby Press…
Ruby Press founder Melissa (McElhatton) Davis got her start in the fashion industry at Harper’s Bazaar under the direction of Liz Tilberis. She followed her time at Bazaar with a position at Mademoiselle, as Senior Fashion Market Editor from 1995 to 2000. As a fashion editor she worked very closely with the American women’s wear designers. She covered New York Fashion Week, identified and interpreted the trends, generated fashion story ideas, chose appropriate clothing for the magazine, and styled several fashion features.
Melissa moved from New York City to San Francisco in 2000. She worked as a Contributing Editor with Lucky magazine for four years, and as the Fashion Editor at San Francisco’s 7×7. She also created and appeared in fashion segments for TV stations such as KRON and KPIX on behalf of Lucky magazine.
In 2001, Melissa started fashion PR agency, Ruby Press, representing designers and fashion-related businesses based out of the San Francisco Bay Area. In 2003, her husband Sam Davis joined the company as her business partner. Since then, the company has expanded to work with fashion and lifestyle brands around the globe.
To learn more, visit www.rubypr.com
