So you’ve set up your sustainable fashion brand and you’ve been doing your Instagram and Facebook for a while but now you’ve decided to gear up to pitch to the media and get even broader reach.
Pretty much every mainstream fashion media publication now has dedicated sections to sustainable and ethical fashion, but these are a starting list of magazines and blogs specifically dedicated to championing sustainability and ethics in fashion.
In terms of making the approach to media you have two choices – you can either engage a PR company who have pre-existing relationships with journalists and can design a full media strategy on your behalf, or you can make the approach yourself.
Reaching out to journalists yourself might feel intimidating but it doesn’t need to if you approach it the right way. The main thing to keep in mind is that journalists LOVE new things. Their job is to provide content that is fresh and interesting and keeps eyes on their pages. If you can give them something new, then you’ve given them publishable news and made their job a whole lot easier. In return you get a whole bunch of people who have just learned about you and your product.
To approach a journalist you need a couple of things:
THE CORRECT NAME AND ADDRESS
Editors are busy people who typically receive a ton of unsolicited emails every day. If you’ve sent information about your shirts to the beauty editor they’re highly unlikely to forward your email to the fashion editor. Most likely they’re going to hit <Delete> super fast and feel happy that they’ve reduced their in-box by one.
Take the time and do the research to figure out exactly who to pitch your story. When you send the email, make sure you personalise it. ‘Dear Sarah’ will give your pitch a better chance of being read than ‘To whom it may concern.’
- Go to the About Us page of the publication you are looking to contact and find the fashion editors
- Note the by-lines on stories you like and pitch to that journalist
- Check out journalists’ social media to get a feel for their style
- If you can’t find a direct email address don’t be afraid to call the publication and ask who is best to direct your pitch to
- Try DM-ing the journalist and ask them directly if they are comfortable sharing their email with you but if they don’t reply, let it go and find another way to contact them. You don’t want your first interaction to come across as stalker.
A MEDIA STATEMENT
If you are making the pitch yourself it’s especially important to attach a media statement so you present as professionally as possible. You’ll write the introductory email along the following lines:
“Dear Sarah,
I’m very pleased to introduce you to my brand [Alexandria Main]. Please find attached a Media Statement and a couple of images for your interest. Don’t hesitate to contact me if you require more information or if you would like me to provide samples for any purpose.
Kind regards
Roxane.”
Be sure to include your web address, social handles and a phone number in your email signature. You want to make it AS EASY AS POSSIBLE for the journalist to find out more about you and your brand.
Your media statement is a one pager (no more than a page or you’ll lose the journalist’s interest) that gives a quick and snappy introduction to you and your brand. Write it in the third person but include a couple of grab quotes (your words) that a journalist could use in a story. It’s always useful to get someone else to do a proof read to make sure there are no typos. Make sure you include the following:
- Logo at the top
- Who you are
- What you sell
- Why it matters
- (most importantly) What it is that makes you different from everyone else
- Your contact details (include your brand’s web address/ Etsy address, social handles, phone number and email address)
Here’s an example of a media release I wrote when I first launched my brand (now closed):
PROFESSIONAL PHOTOS
You might be seeking to save some PR money by doing a media pitch yourself but unless you happen to be a professional photographer on the side you should never look to skimp on product photos by doing them yourself. Professionally taken photos are one of the best investments you can make. They will need to be high resolution but sent in medium or small res. It’s best to send just a couple of your pics in the first instance rather than linking to a whole dropbox folder. Always remember you are pitching to a busy person – your job is to make their job easy.
PRODUCT
I always think it is worth including product as part of your marketing budget and sending samples to media.
When I’ve worked in magazines we LOVED getting product. Not only did it make it easier for us to feel/see/smell the product than just seeing images or words, it was exciting to receive and open a package which gave us a good feeling about the brand even before we knew anything about them. Having product also meant we could photograph it in a way that best suited our magazine’s style.
The other advantage of sending product is that it gives you can excuse to have two points of contact, i.e. send an email with attached media statement and photos, then arrange to send product plus media statement and hand written note shortly after.
POST PITCH
You’ve pitched your brand. Now what? Sometimes a journalist will contact you to ask for more information/ more photographs. Sometimes they’ll just use your information in a story without giving you a heads up. Set up a Google alert with your name and your brand’s name so you get alerted to any media piece on you.
If it’s all silent you might want to send one more email, forwarding the original information, just to check whether there was any more information you could provide the journalist. If they don’t reply, let it rest. The timing might be wrong, they may have just written an article about hand-woven cotton or whatever it is you are selling, but they might have added to a content plan in a couple of months. Don’t harass. Just keep doing what you’re doing and when you release your next range, send through your information again.
Connecting the Asia Pacific ethical designer community 