Beautiful PR: Finding your brand’s heartbeat for authenticity in communication

By Sophie Attwood

'Navigating the world of PR is no easy feat - but this book is an indispensable guide to doing just that' Francesca Ogiermann-White, Health and Beauty Editor-at-Large, Tatler

A more beautiful way to connect with customers

PR and marketing have traditionally been seen as deceit and spin: Beautiful PR offers a new manifesto rooted in integrity. Discover how to find your true brand voice so that you can create a clear and compelling communication strategy that connects with your customers at an emotional level.

In a heavily filtered world, building a communications strategy based on honesty and authenticity is more important than ever before. Elevate your reputation and secure your place in your industry by identifying and amplifying your authentic brand heartbeat, for a more beautiful way to grow.

Sophie Attwood is an award-winning global communications expert specialising within the beauty, wellness and health sectors. Having curated a portfolio of successful PR campaigns with exceptional brands, she has become a leading voice of authority for the communications industry.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Practical Inspiration Publishing
• Release date: Nov 6, 2023
• ISBN: 9781788604826

Sophie Attwood

Sophie Attwood is an award-winning global communications expert specialising within the beauty, wellness and health sectors. Sophie founded global communications agency Sophie Attwood Communications Ltd in 2017, curating a portfolio of exceptional brands representing trailblazers within their industries. The full-service communications agency has now a garnered a steadfast reputation for developing creative strategies to enable clients to take their communication strategy to the next level. A leading authority on all things media relations and PR, Sophie is now a highly sought-after strategist for multiple brands, having worked as a Creative Partner with many household names including St Tropez Tan, Marc Jacobs and Colgate. She not only succeeds in gaining first-class coverage for her clients, but her ethics and integrity are paramount – meaning that she works to advocate industry guidelines and act as a positive influence in a sector which often comes under negative scrutiny.

Book preview

Introduction

PR, or public relations, truly is beautiful. It’s the art of storytelling which, carried out in the right way at the right time, can light up a scintillating gallery of moments that can enhance your brand beyond measure. These moments, no matter how small, can change the way a consumer feels and, what’s more, they can leave an impression on the world that truly stands the test of time. This long-term business strategy offers creative, strategic and effective PR moments that can encourage organic engagement, elevate your position within the marketplace and, ultimately, increase sales.

All that said, the world of communications has changed. Big-budget advertorials in glossy magazines and photoshopped images on billboards have lost their impact. And strategies focused solely on influencer marketing and celebrity endorsements are seemingly dwindling too.

In what is a very heavily filtered world, showcasing your brand’s natural beauty has never been more important. Building a communications strategy based on solid foundations of integrity and authenticity truly is vital for long-term success. As technology advances with social media, augmented reality, AI (artificial intelligence) and the coinciding temptation to hone in on an altogether filtered marketing strategy, brands are now at risk of suffering a significant disconnect from their consumers. You see, consumers are now not only more educated, but, in what is very much a transactional relationship, they require an emotional connection to be made with a brand before making that all-important purchase – before letting that brand into their world.

When all is said and done, there can be no brand success without first defining, and listening to, what I like to call your brand’s heartbeat. In my work as an award-winning PR consultant, I have helped brands across the world to listen for their pulse. And only then, when that heartbeat is palpable, do we redefine and elevate it to the next level with a harmonious communications strategy.

I have worked with countless brands within the health, beauty and wellness industries and, each time, albeit in a myriad of differing ways, I’ve taken this same approach. And I’m going to teach you how to do the same now, in this book. I will explain why the premise for PR success must always be underpinned by a communications strategy based on honesty and authenticity in order to elevate a brand’s position within the marketplace and succeed. I will give you the vital tools needed to style your brand in a way that enables its very soul to shine through, helping you to connect in a way that truly means something to its consumer.

Regardless of your brand’s size, its industry and its story, as you read through these pages I will lead you on a journey of self-discovery. And by the end of this book, I know that you will fully understand your brand’s identity. Perhaps more importantly, you’ll have the tools to communicate it in a way that sees really beautiful things happen for your brand.

As you read this book, you will see that the beauty of PR blossoms from building authentic relationships with your target audience and a steadfast communication strategy which is based on the perception and perceived value of the product or service. Be aware that what the product means to consumers matters, at times, more than the actual product itself. And by consumers I mean everyone who meets the business – from prospective and existing customers, right through to suppliers and employees. In the right place, at the right time, with the right emotional connection at the heart of its message, PR can perform miracles in the most unexpected of ways.

You’ll learn about my belief that what lies at the centre of any brand’s success is its ‘heartbeat’: a heartbeat which inevitably sees a brand attracting a consumer’s highly coveted trust and, in the long term, consistent business growth. This isn’t about changing what you’re doing; it’s about re-framing the messaging behind it so that it means something to the people who mean most to your brand. You will see that any product can be re-fashioned and re-framed to attract your dream target market and convert this to sales.

You will understand what makes a business ‘PR ready’ as I teach you how to find and communicate your brand’s ‘heartbeat’. You will see how to reach a broader audience in a way that maintains your brand’s values, but also captures and retains audience interest. I’ll define ethical PR and I’ll share with you multiple ‘Pulse Point’ examples of PR campaigns that triumphed – so that yours can too.

By the final chapter of this book, I want you to fizz with fresh ideas and believe in the magic of PR – like I do. You see, there is absolutely no reason at all why your biggest publicity dreams cannot become a reality. I want Beautiful PR to be your guide, your inspiration, your notebook and your sounding board in one. And while it may go against the grain, I want to see scribbled notes in the margins, sticky notes peeking from each chapter and dog-eared pages where you’ve jumped from idea to idea. One day, I hope these notes make you smile as you remember the very beginning of your journey to real PR success.

Having run my own successful PR agency representing some of the trailblazers within the beauty, wellness, health and medical aesthetics industries I thought that it was time to share my own discoveries.

I have worked with a plethora of coveted clients from internationally acclaimed medical experts to household names within the skincare industry – and helped all of them to find their heartbeat and then amplify this with a beautiful PR campaign that works.

We have spearheaded campaigns that changed legislation, turned unknown founders into acclaimed industry leaders and set the national news agenda. We’ve sparked trends, fuelled conversations and placed brands in front of billions of consumers.

And in doing so? We created PR moments that stood the test of time.

As someone who has launched and indeed relaunched countless brands to the market, initiating exciting communications strategies that have enabled a multitude of brands to engage with their target demographic, I can tell you, it’s never too early or too late to seek outstanding press exposure – the kind that will really ignite your brand.

I’ll start by telling you a secret: there’s a huge misconception that the brands with budget always get it right. While many have a significant advertising spend and a big team at their helm, I have seen that many miss one of the main points when it comes to what really matters. One of the biggest mistakes made is that they’ll throw money at campaigns then sit, with fingers crossed, and hope something will stick. But the first thing to learn is this:

Successful PR isn’t about shouting until consumers listen.

Today we live in a new era of digital marketing and communications. We’ve moved on from a world of photo opportunities and paparazzi shots. In this 24/7 era of information, businesses must do something different to succeed: they must connect with their consumer. And, this is why finding your brand’s heartbeat is imperative. As we go on this journey together, I need you to approach this with an open mind, a willingness to dig deep and a retained curiosity about doing things differently.

I hope that the chapters in this book are just the beginning to help elevate your brand to the next level and continue its evolution. Whatever your business size, genre or shape, these pages will aim to enlighten, inspire and set up the pathway to success – a success that truly is limitless when the beauty of PR is involved.

As you read, have a pen at the ready… I really hope that my stories will spark ideas. And no matter how big your brand becomes, I hope you’ll revisit these pages, little and often, as they will always remind you of your brand values and your raison d’être. They’ll remind you to pause for a moment in quiet – and listen again to that small drum from which the heartbeat of your business started to boom.

Chapter One

The beginning

So often people are working hard at the wrong thing. Working on the right thing is probably more important than working hard.

Caterina Fake, Co-founder, Flickr and Hunch

Every week, my telephone rings and emails land in my inbox with the same searching questions.

‘Sophie… Why is my competition getting all of this media attention but we’re not?’

‘Why are my social media posts not converting to sales?’

‘How do I become a leading voice in my industry?’

By the time clients reach out to contact my team, these incredibly talented business owners have more often than not hit a brick wall. They see their competitors in the press and know that they deserve that recognition too, but feel overwhelmed, confused and in desperate need of clear-eyed thinking.

I always listen to what they want. Then I ask them to pause and take a breath. And I’ll ask you to do the same before you read on.

All problems can be solved with a little sprinkling of good PR, but before this happens we really must return to the absolute basics. Before we even start to draft a press release or contact an editor or producer, your brand must be, as I often refer to it, ‘PR ready’. Any business, big or small, needs to have a solid foundation before the benefits of PR can help to build the brand. I need you to know who you are and what your purpose is before taking things to the next level of sourcing press coverage – and then incorporating this into a wider communication and marketing strategy.

Now, please be reassured – every single brand has to go on this same journey. There is absolutely no secret formula here: your brand is as unique as your fingerprints, and your communications strategy must align with this. This journey takes deep thought and asks many basic questions that lead into several more. Take your time with this and answer as honestly as you can. But don’t worry if you don’t have all the answers yet; remember, dog-eared pages are most welcome.

I need you to ask yourself:

• Who…? Who are your customers and why should they care about your brand? Who are your biggest competitors and what can you do to stand out?

• Where…? Where does your brand sit in the market and where will your journey take you?

• What…? What is your brand’s story and why did it begin? What really matters to you in business?

• Why…? Why do you get up in the morning? (In other words, what is your brand’s purpose?)

• How…? How do people interact with your brand? How does your brand make consumers feel?

Think hard about these questions; you owe this to your brand. This will provide the foundation that will help you to really hone in on the things that will take your brand to the next level.

Common types of brands

There are a number of categories within which your brand may fit. These are the most common:

• Personal brand: As the name suggests, this brand is built around a person. It could be someone who is an expert in their professional field or a brand founder. The person will market themselves as the face and thought-provider for the product.

• Product brand: The importance of the product’s purpose is key. Again, as the name suggests, a business sells its goods or commodities through this product branding.

• Service brand: This can be a service provided and needs careful planning on how to sell successfully. I do find that a niche often needs to be discovered, especially if the service is a common one. For example, a hairdresser who wants to revive their brand needs to dig a little deeper and ask what really sets them apart from the competition.

• Corporate brand: This is a business that usually makes up a big organization and is often global. While corporate brands may cross over into the other categories too, corporate brands such as Lloyds Bank market their company brand as their primary marketing strategy. Though corporate brands sell many products, customers tend to trust the company more than the products.

• Celebrity brand: Of course, as more