“As a former marketing professional I know that PR initiatives are the foundation to really building a brand following. In my experience, traditional PR with an agency, can be really expensive and unsatisfying. Ideas are pitched, perhaps there’s follow through or placement sometimes there isn’t, and then it’s often a mention in a publication that is old news by the time it makes it to print. When I started Soap Cauldron in 2011, I knew we needed PR but my budget was bare bones. When I found The Artisan Group I immediately knew this was our answer.
This evolution of the traditional PR Agency into a PR Cooperative is really brilliant. It allows the small entrepreneur to be able to set and meet an affordable PR budget while getting real results. PR is only one aspect of a marketing plan but it is a critical one. We joined in 2012 with what our budget could afford, celebrity gifting and press gifting. By 2013 we could afford to do a table top event with celebrity gifting. The results were good, our store accounts liked our creating buzz about our brand and we were able to leverage that momentum to additional store placements. Eventually we succeeded in getting into Whole Foods as well as several gift accounts and smaller natural food chains.
We maximized our efforts by utilizing social media to extend the conversation around our brand. We love being part of a cooperative and being able to participate affordably in at least two events per year. While it’s easy to feel the “spend of product and participation” at the moment, when viewed over the course of a year it’s really just a few hundred per month. I’ve never had such great PR on such a modest budget. The Artisan Group has great events and keeps it’s identify fresh with so many different artists. People want the gift bags and that says a great deal. My company has grown consistently at over 40% a year since we opened shop and I honestly feel that the PR by The Artisan Group has been a central aspect of that. For us it’s go big or go home. Here are some of the great placements we’ve had as members.”
