Are we all ready to quit 2021 yet? I can’t speak for anyone else, but I’m grateful 2021 was a marked improvement over 2020. I know it was still kind of fakakta and the threat of omicron is ending this calendar year off on a weird note *again* but I’m appreciative of the good things that happened (like vaccines, most of my kids having vaccines, and accepting my in-house ed position at TMBI).
So I’m going to devote today’s newsletter, the final one of the year, to things that build us up in 2022 and improve financial futures. If you have an agency, you’ll find a list of revenue builders. If you’re an account exec or writer, a handful of job listings. Also going to throw in some affiliate insights so hopefully, you can deliver promising results for your own bottom line or a client’s.
Let’s get to it, shall we? In return, I ask that you do something nice for a stranger today. Anything.
Some job listings:
GAP is hiring an in-house public relations manager.
SEEN is hiring a beauty publicist.
Ralph Lauren is hiring a men’s PR lead.
New York Magazine is hiring a features editor.
Conde is hiring a food & home commerce editor.
Revenue builders for PR practitioners + agencies:
First, if you’re not already billing your clients for affiliate management, you’re totally leaving money on the table. As I’ve said a million times before, ALL magazines are heading in an affiliate/e-comm direction. By the end of first quarter 2022, expect over 95 percent of product mentions at major outlets to be affiliate. That means if your client isn’t hooked up to affiliate systems they’re not going to get much press at all. And hooking them up/managing their systems is relatively easy for you to do and can increase your monthly retainer by over 100% …and clients will be HAPPY to pay it. Let me explain.
My gal pal Kaila at KMO was charging $3,500 a month for her PR services. Then she took over affiliate management for one client and partnered on rev share. That ONE client alone is now paying out over $10k a month. Please see her video on that.
Kaila is now offering a masterclass for other PR agencies and mom-and-pop shops to raise their own revenues dramatically with affiliate management. It’s less work than you think. You can sign up for Kaila’s Affiliate PR Masterclass 2.0, a four-week Zoom training intensive hosted by her and Emma Moon of Moonbeam Consulting. More training details here. The training offers how-to-start, scale, and manage affiliate systems for PR clients. The price is normally $2,500 but if you mention you came through me she’ll knock $50 off the price. Email hgerber@kmoconsulting.org to get started. Or I can happily intro you two by email, just let me know.
Second, and still on the affiliate train, I had a good chat with a friend who lives overseas and is making an ABSOLUTE KILLING on Amazon. I mean, bonkers. She told me her Amazon-specific marketing agency is routinely getting their inexpensive products to rank among Amazon’s bestsellers (think hair ties, bedding, sports gear, leggings, etc) and are now big enough that they need small-to-medium-size PR agencies to push these sort of made-up-brands as real, household names. From an editor’s perspective, this is relatively low-hanging fruit. If you hit me with a creative cheese grating device that already has 20k Amazon reviews and tell me we can work together on a story? I’m beyond interested. Anywho, you can reach out to the sellers directly via Amazon. If you need help doing this, I can point you in the right direction. Budgets aren’t massive — think 2 to 6k a month — but for most small agencies that’s pretty jazzy.
Make sure you’re interacting with other eds on Substack and on social media. Not taking the time to build personal relationships is a total biz killer. If you’re already following me here, I thank you. Some other gals I suggest following: my BFF Aly Walansky, fellow TMB team member Jill Schildhouse, and the always prolific Alice Dubin. The three of them alone cover most topics under the lifestyle umbrella ranging from wellness to travel.
Some affiliate insights you won’t find anywhere else:
I think I mentioned that in January I’d be offering a bonus newsletter each week with inside info you wouldn’t be able to find anywhere else. I’m giving everyone a taste of that now so you can better pitch your clients in early 2022. Consider this info good for the next 10 days or so — plenty of time to take advantage.
Pitching products? The best click-to-purchase ratios right now are coming from Walmart, Home Depot, and Dermstore. If you have products selling at multiple retailers, consider pitching from these retailers specifically and letting editors know WHY. Example: if 1,000 people click a link to a lip balm at Sephora but only two buy? Meh. But if 100 people click a link to the same lip balm at Dermstore and 7 buy? Everyone wins.
Booze! If you rep booze on Reserve Bar, the commission structure is over 15% right now which means editors WANT reservebar.com content. If you’re having trouble placing your gin, vodka, etc, include this info in your pitch. IT IS IMPORTANT. Want to really impress an ed? Promise brand social media shares on their article.
Your competition. Want to get an idea of what your competitors are offering? Here are a few top-performing companies and their commissions to give you an idea of what you’ll need to beat. Olay: 36%, Paula’s Choice: 25%, Rae Wellness: 21.8%, NuMe: 20%, Aesop: 19.8%. …that means beauty, in general, is offering high commission rates. Take advantage of that.
That’s it for 2021, friends. I’ll start my bonus insights newsletter in early January and I hope it proves useful to you. If you have special requests, hit me with ‘em. Please stay healthy!
See ya next year! *imagine me saying that in mom voice, mmkay?*
You’re the best!!! Thanks for all this helpful info Bryce!
Thanks for sharing this super helpful intel, Bryce! Happy 2022!