{"id":44685,"date":"2013-10-03T13:02:34","date_gmt":"2013-10-03T12:02:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/?p=44685"},"modified":"2013-10-03T13:02:34","modified_gmt":"2013-10-03T13:02:34","slug":"maximising-the-lipstick-effect-journalists-prs-and-the-blogosphere","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/blog\/maximising-the-lipstick-effect-journalists-prs-and-the-blogosphere\/","title":{"rendered":"Maximising the Lipstick Effect: Journalists, PRs and the Blogosphere"},"content":{"rendered":"

Worth over \u00a315 billion in the UK alone, the beauty industry is big business. Blame it on the lipstick effect if you like, but the recession hasn’t stopped women from spending, with the industry seeing steady growth each year. So as a PR, how do you influence buyer behaviour and generate that all-important buzz about your product?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"LipstickOnce upon a time, sending out a press release or inviting journalists to a launch might have sufficed. But as any PR worth their column inches will tell you, these days you ignore the power of the blogosphere at your peril. ‘They’ve never been as influential as they are now \u2013 the successful ones are so quick off the mark. They have huge numbers following them,\u2019 says\u00a0Katy Young<\/a>, The Telegraph’s online beauty editor. But does a one-size-fits-all approach work when it comes to bloggers and journalists? Or do agencies need to create distinct strategies to work with the old and new worlds of media \u2013 print and digital?<\/p>\n

\u2018With both bloggers and journalists, it’s about building a relationship. The more time you invest in that relationship the better,\u2019 says\u00a0The Communications Store<\/a>‘s digital director, Simon Sanett<\/a>. And in many ways, communicating with a blogger can be much simpler than with a print or digital publication. \u2018A beauty journalist will always have an editor or a media buyer to answer to,\u2019 explains\u00a0Hayley Carr<\/a> \u2013 better known as blogger, London Beauty Queen<\/a>.<\/p>\n

An independent voice<\/span>
<\/b>The personal reviews and lengthy, product-centric posts you can expect on beauty blogs are quite, quite different to the features and editorials you’ll typically find in any glossy magazine; the blogosphere’s independence is what tends to draw readers in the first place. Lynne Thomas, director of specialist health and beauty PR agency Flipside PR<\/a>, agrees with Carr: \u2018We find working with bloggers can be more rewarding because they are not restricted in the same way as traditional media. Bloggers have a genuine interest in products and because they post multiple times, they have a thirst for news and knowledge.\u2019<\/p>\n

However, beyond their own relationship with a blogger or journalist, PRs should also consider a writer’s engagement with their readers. \u2018Print coverage is about reach. Blog coverage is about engagement with an audience,\u2019 says Sanett. The buzz generated about a product or brand by a journalist and by a blogger is as different as their editorial styles. Whereas a journalist covers the latest products to inform their readers, for a blogger it is often the starting point for a conversation. <\/p>\n

For most, blogging isn’t a paid occupation; bloggers are writing about something they feel genuinely passionate about, meaning that their interest is personal rather than professional. One blog post can result in a flurry of comments or a quick-fire discussion on Twitter \u2013 and we all know the power of social media influence. The fact that PRs can track the digital dialogue around a product is an added bonus.<\/p>\n

\"Hayley

Hayley Carr, London Beauty Blogger<\/p><\/div>\n

The strategic schedule<\/span>
<\/b>The call of the journalist on deadline is one familiar to most agencies, but timeliness is key for bloggers too: \u2018I only want to bring news and information when it’s relevant and my readers can get their hands on it. I like to be able to provide a link to buy straight away, or at least provide a very close date of launch,\u2019 explains Carr. Bloggers may find that an invite to a product launch they can’t tell their followers about or cover on their blog is just as frustrating as missing a deadline.<\/p>\n

\u2018It’s really all about creating good quality content,\u2019 says Sanett. Whether you’re working with journalists or bloggers, the oft-repeated adage of ‘content is king’ still rings true.<\/p>\n

Founder of\u00a0online magazine<\/span>\u00a0Running in Heels<\/a>, Alice Revel<\/a> is a freelance writer and consultant contributing to titles including the Telegraph, Woman’s Hour and\u00a0Civilian Global.\u00a0Journalist contacts and digital outlets can be found in the\u00a0<\/span>CisionPoint<\/a>\u00a0Media Database<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Worth over \u00a315 billion in the UK alone, the beauty industry is big business. Blame it on the lipstick effect if you like, but the recession hasn’t stopped women from spending, with the industry seeing …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":423,"featured_media":44696,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[350,7272,3643,4038,5159,5741],"tags":[129,152,292,7291,816,1225,5160,104,124,125],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44685"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/423"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44685"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44685\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44685"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44685"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}