BEAUTY & THE MUSE
GREAT PR TOOK BEAUTY BUDDY FROM UNKOWN TO KNOWN
Finding the right PR partner is a vital part of launching into a new country. With an introduction to MUSE Communications, we could see that they truly understood what goes into securing word-of-mouth wins and building brand awareness across multi-media platforms.
‘The main reason I hired PR was I had no meaningful relationships within the media to pitch the Beauty Buddy story into,’ reveals Wendy. ‘Nobody had any reason to do anything for a business that was unknown to them. Previously I had experienced bad PR where I realised they had little or no contacts within the beauty or tech industry. Essentially I was paying someone to cold call on my behalf.’ Wendy Slattery
MUSE was introduced to Wendy by an insider in the beauty industry, giving her confidence to hire an agency for a second time. ‘From the first meeting with Linda Land and Cemo Imamzade co-directors of MUSE Communications I immediately felt the difference,’ says Wendy. ‘Their passion for the industry and the importance for the entrepreneurs they work alongside to succeed was palatable – it was exciting.’ Having worked with leading beauty brands, MUSE was equally thrilled to collaborate with Beauty Buddy. ‘For us, beauty tech such as apps have changed the cosmetic industry,’ says Cemo.
‘What drew us to Beauty Buddy was the integrity of honest consumer reviews that weren’t influenced by paid partnerships.’ Furthermore, MUSE could see the layers – whether it was tech, data or founder related and how they could play out across many platforms and areas of interest. ‘Beauty tech is the next big thing with evidence of brands doing AI, apps and interactive consultations,’ observes Linda. ‘It challenged us to pivot quickly to service this account and forced us to educate ourselves and learn about a new space in the beauty industry. It was stimulating.’
‘Very quickly MUSE felt an integral part of the Beauty Buddy team and articulated our story better than I could,’ says Wendy. ‘I fast became an insider, rather than an outsider within a space I’d be fighting to get recognition in – beauty.’ Unlike past experiences, I didn’t have to consistently ring the PR and ask what was going on. I was updated regularly on immediate openings, opportunities in the pipeline and strategic brainstorming exercises. I felt in the thick of it.’ ‘It’s crucial to initially work with clients to identify key messages, mission and vision,’ states Linda. ‘You have to be aligned as a team in your messaging output. Sometimes clients haven’t got a clue how to position themselves and distinguish themselves from their competitors, and we can help with that.
Far from just virtual pitching, MUSE have the PR power to get journalists out to events – no mean feat. ‘MUSE arranged a couple of press days where I was rubbing shoulders with journalists and publications I could only have dreamed of a few months ago,’ explains Wendy. ‘And it was obvious they turned up because of the relationships they had with MUSE and the way they pitched in the Beauty Buddy story.’ Known for not blanket bombing random media in the hope of a throwaway mention, MUSE cherry pick and put a lot of thought into the contacts they reach out to for each placement. ‘Ideally, it has to be beneficial for both client and journalist,’ says Linda. For Beauty Buddy, MUSE cast their mediasphere net wide. ‘We looked not only at beauty contacts, but business and start up publications and podcasts – the goal was to push out Wendy’s founder story and the two- pronged narrative of the app for consumer and brand data across print, digital and audio.’
Angling the stories for each platform with the universal tag line of ‘TripAdvisor for Beauty’ it translated as a multi-media catch-all. ‘The beauty of the app was that we were able to provide trending data to journalists, so inspiring them with leads which was fantastic,’ reveals Cemo. We could also spoon feed them data they were asking for. For instance, one publication asked for top celebrity fragrances, and during the summer heatwave we were able to provide stats on the increased sales of SPFs.
Organic PR is one of the most credible forms of brand awareness and highlights what you’re doing is newsworthy. Pieces that have had Wendy jumping for joy are being named as one of the 12 new beauty trends for 2023 in Sunday Times Style and a mention in Hello! Magazine ‘both wow moments’, says Wendy, as well as a prolific profile in Start Up
Magazine that was used as a means to reach out to investors in the tech space.
So, what was the wisdom Wendy took away from MUSE? ‘Firstly, it’s a partnership and secondly, they made me understand you have to develop the courage for you as a founder, and your brand to be authentic, and that’s enough,’ says Wendy. MUSE agrees. ‘Wendy is an incredible and genuine founder with a great start up story, so once that was honed, she just had to be herself,’ says Linda. What makes us different to work with is once we secure the business, we won’t disappear, you will always be dealing with either myself or Cemo as senior counsel. Ultimately, we’re not fluffy – whatever Ab Fab tells you, and we combine the best of old school PR with modern sensibilities. You can be assured we leave our ego at the door.’
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