Things To Think About When Doing Luxury PR For Smaller Brands

A while ago, I finished up a strategic communications plan for a luxury boutique hotel. You can imagine that the experience was very rewarding. However, it was my first dabble into the world of PR for a luxury brand. So, I wanted to share what I learned.

1. You have to get creative.

Luxury PR really tested my creative capacity. I've done a communications plan for CVS and a crisis communications plan for Pepsi. Yes, this also requires a level of creativity, but when it comes to luxury PR it's a different story. Luxury PR can be a hard market and I think this goes for fashion brands, hotel brands, and more! With any kind of PR, you want to cut through the clutter. This can be easy for a huge brand but slightly harder for smaller brands. Bringing super creative ideas definitely helps your luxury client.

2. You have to take risks.

As mentioned, luxury PR requires you to cut through the clutter. As a result, you have to be able to take risks. I think this really scares brands because you're going into unknown territory. However, many of the PR campaigns that have been memorable have been campaigns that took risks to stand out. Now, you may be asking yourself how do you get a brand onboard? Well, one way is to weigh the pros and cons with them. Some brands even want to make a big splash! So, as PR professionals, we have to make sure that we're balancing both sides: what the client wants and our own recommendations.

3. Always utilize the digital.

I cannot stress how important social media is for public relations. It is just undeniable that influencers are a huge part of luxury PR, especially for smaller brands. In fact, I've seen really great results with social media promotions at $50/day. However, it comes with some downsides. When utilizing the digital space in your promotions, you definitely have to think about avoiding a crisis situation. Things can spread fast and get really nasty, which means the PR professionals have to be very careful.

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Photo by Joshua Rawson-Harris on Unsplash