By Melissa A Vitale 

If you're a CPG brand, one of the first questions out of your publicists mouth is going to about available samples to press. 

With any level of marketing, product sampling are a huge staple of public relations. Unlike gifting products to consumers or store reps, gifting to press can result in your brand being included in outlets like Glamour, Fast Company, GQ and Vogue. 

PR mailers can be done in a number of ways:

• General PR sampling: This comes from a publicist, the branding of the packaging matches that of the PR firm. The cards are signed from the publicist. Depending on how long you've been with the brand, your product may be included among the publicist's other clients. Which is great! It means you only have to spend the cost of one product for a journalist to be spoiled with a whole range of complimentary products. Publicists won't send two of the same product. So if your brand creates a face oil, it may be in a package with a mask and a topical balm. Journalists and editors love to be spoiled so a package with a variety of goodies will always go farther than a small package with a single product. 
• Brand Introduction sampling: If you just started with a publicist, they'll want to meaningfully introduce the brand to their contacts. As press is not decided in advance (aka when we sign, I don't always know what specific stories Marie Claire is working on) its good to give key editors a range of products to consider. One editor can write about face products, wellness products and fitness products so you'll want to make sure they know about every product in a brand that is relevant. 
• Themed Mailers: For brands in the cannabis space, 4/20 mailers are popular in March to keep brands up to date with all the latest products for 4/20. Vibrator brands have done champagne and flowers for international women's day. CBD brands have done Self Care Kits with robes and sleep masks. These can make a meaningful impact on an editor and open up the product to be included in stories like "Best products to empower your selfcare" that they would not have been included in before. 

You don't need to gift the entire line to every editor. Typically they just want to make sure the brand is a good brand and if they need to try out a specific product for a story they will request it. 

When a product is in the hands of an editor it does more than my pitches can ever do. First, while I've made a reputation as a reliable source, every publicist needs to be taken with a drop of salt. Of course we're going to say great things about our clients. MAVPR only works with brands we love and are proud to support but every publicist needs to pay bills. Editors know this and need to test products themselves before featuring. 

Not only does a sample sell an editor on a product, but it also keeps it at the front of their focus. You know the phrase "out of sight out of mind"? Very true for brands and samples. Once I emailed an editor about 8+ gift guide pitches but it was only after using a client's product that AM did she remember to include it in her gift guide. Editors get so many pitches that just stories and words won't always do it. Sometimes you need to get the product in their hands. 

MAVPR maximizes samples and budgets to make PR attainable to vice startups. 

By Melissa A Vitale 

​I really wish I had balls the size of some of the people who seek me out for PR services. I've never gone to buy something, was quoted and asked to either get the item for free, or with promises. The new one I've gotten recently was being asked to pay in a different way than I quoted. 

My public relations agency, as it every one of the 7+ firms I've worked for over my tenure, bills retainers upfront. To be under publicist representation means your brand can be in rooms with editors at places like New York Times, Forbes and Rolling Stone in a matter of days. If you want to retain the services and representation of a publicist, you need to pay their retainer. 

I was recently asked if I could forego my retainer to pay milestones. Supposedly I would still get the same amount of my monthly retainers in these milestones but understanding that those milestones could take months to cultivate, wanted me to work pro-bono until those milestones are hit. 

I don't go into a store, buy something and then when I hand over my payment say "Hey, can I test this out first and then I'll pay you later once I like it?" If you want something you have to pay for it. 

There are many creative avenues where you don't pay until you get the results. Public relations is not one of those fields. Public relations agencies already have meetings set up with journalists and editors before a client signs on board. We also have tons of tracking programs, email programs and other physical and digital supplies that make our press strategy possible. Many firms also have employees. 

Rent, program subscriptions, supplies of mailers, tracking programs and media databases typically charge monthly. Employees have monthly salaries. When a client signs with a PR firm, they get added to these systems on day one. 

Paying in milestones leaves the door open for a brand to abandon a campaign with no cost to them. 
​
If you want the representation of a publicist, you need to pay for it upfront. Say I had three potential clients who said "oh we can pay milestones, just rep us we'll pay when we see results" it means I'm footing the bill for these brands' desires for public relations. 

 By Melissa A Vitale 

Absolutely no brand is immune to slow coverage cycles. Well, unless maybe you're working with Elon Musk, an A-List celebrity or you have unlimited budgets for PR stunts. (And if you're a VICE brand and that applies to you, please contact me ASAP - we can do some GREAT work together). 

I always make it a point to mention that PR is not immediate. Even though a brand pays my retainer, we're not giving anything to journalists. They maybe get a free sample. Journalists and editors are humans too. They have lives outside of their jobs.  They have families, friends, other projects, side jobs, vacations and commitments. They don't exist to cover brands for their marketing goals. They serve their audiences and advertisers. 

Just because a brand wants press coverage doesn't mean the editor, outlet, or journalist has time or resources to cover the brand. A journalist may be excited about a brand today, but won't be able to profile them for six months. Every outlet is beholden to advertisers and audiences for dictating their coverage. Not publicists and brands they represent. Sometimes, outlets are only allowed to cover niche subjects like VICE industries once every six months! If a particular magazine covered cannabis in June and a CBD brands starts in July, they may not have potential to be considered for four months at that specific publication. 

Another thing to consider: budgets! It's no secret subscriber-ship has decreased across the board. There's only so much money to pay journalists & there's only so many editor salaries a publishing house can afford. Sometimes, editors love a brand, but already planned out their commission budgets for the coming months and need to pause on evergreen brand profiles. 

It's the publicists constant pitches, calls, networking and schmoozing that keeps a brand relevant in the time between coverage opportunities. (Read more about how PR can take so long)

There are certain times of the year, Summer and January mainly where coverage can slow down. This does not mean that your campaign is failing. In fact, these months are often some of the most crucial to a campaign. One story could take 6 weeks to cultivate. So a placement in March means the end of January was when it was secured. I once had a brand with two placements in July and August but 11 placements in December... many of those placements in December were secured in July and August. The brands that are consistent with PR are the ones that will overcome slow months of coverage with explosions of press mentions in surrounding months. 

Okay that all makes sense. But if I didn't get any results this month, do I still have to pay my publicist? 
Unless your contract states that you do not have to pay without results, withholding payment from your publicist will hurt your campaign. Many publicists stop outbound pitching efforts if payments are overdue past a certain time. This could put a stall in the traction. 

Even if you're without results one month, you of course need to pay your publicist! The results in PR are held in the hands of editorial departments. So if newscycles are slow one month, that doesn't mean your publicist doesn't have to or doesn't deserve to eat. They still did the work. If you're only paying when there are results, than your publicist is investing in your PR plan. 

Unless you've gone 3+ months with results below the expectation, I would suggest talking with your publicist about what's going on but if it's a slow month sandwiched between stellar results, this is just the PR game and is very typical. 

A slow month of results does not mean a bad campaign. PR is like a duck, on the surface, clients see results but there's a lot of hard work going on beneath the surface. Slow months just mean your publicist is working extra hard. 

​For Vice Brands looking to explore cost effective public relations packages, learn more about MAVPR’s services via: melissaavitale.com/services.html 

By Melissa A Vitale

As the head of a boutique PR operation, one of the biggest parts of my job is to manage my clients expectations on their PR campaign. 

One of the biggest conversations I hate to have is the "I want more results, but I don't have the ability to increase the budget." 

From the perspective of my company, it may seem against my : I opened MAVPR in an effort to make top tier media relations accessible to startups and vice brands. So isn't that embodying the same ethics of the PR Agencies that don't provide certain services to clients that don't meet a certain budget? 

In all of MAVPRs proposals there's a set expectation that should be expected for the monthly retainer. I've figured out how many hours of pitching is required for vice brands in order to see results. I've also formulated a scale of my services for different budgets based on my hours and the amount of revenue I need to bring in each month to keep the lights on. 

Typically in a PR retainer, you are paying for representation, pitching and strategy (aka everything that makes a press placement happen). A publicist is not a slave so having a publicist on retainer does not mean unlimited work. It needs to be capped somewhere. 

Every story takes hours to pitch and even longer to see through to publication. The more people on a PR team, the more hours and people who can cultivate these individual stories. 

When you look at a big PR agency like Edelman or 5W, you see minimums in the tens of thousands. You also see top tier results that dominate headlines. While my results can be compared to similar results of these big PR firms, they blow me out of the water in the volume of results. If you work with one of these big firms, you're going to be in so many more relevant areas of coverage than working with a boutique firm. 

These big firms have 5+ people on a team cultivating relationships on behalf of the brand every day. PR comes down to man hours and when there's more people on the team, there's going to be more results. 

It should go without saying that unless there's an increase in budget, there cannot be an increase in services. If an account is expected to have 2-8 placements a month and a client says the account is under-performing with three placements in a month, it means they're expecting their minimum number of placements to be DOUBLE what they've agreed to pay. It may be two placements, but if one placement takes 10-20 hrs, that client just asked for up to 40 hrs of free work. I don't have an extra 40 hours in my month unless you don't want me to eat or sleep (which if you expect your publicist will physically harm themselves for your campaigns you should probably never work with a publicist). 

While I have the reports and tracking that I am one of the best options for vice brands without a big-agency budget, you shouldn't come to MAVPR or any boutique PR firm with the expectations of the same results of an agency with double my minimums. 

You don't go to Kate Spade and at checkout, ask the cashier where your Chanel bag is. You get what you pay for. If you want the results of a global agency - you need to seek out a global agency. 

In public relations, the more money in your budget, the more hours can be spent on cultivating the relationships that lead to top tier coverage for your brand.

Brands looking to maximize their startup budget can find a boutique firm that specializes in telling impactful stories in their industry.  

For Vice Brands looking to explore cost effective public relations packages, learn more about MAVPR’s services via: melissaavitale.com/services.html 

By Melissa A Vitale 

Okay here’s the scenario. You are scrolling through social media and see an article about a brand you’ve worked with. You click on the article and WOW: There’s your photo! You either took the photo on behalf of the brand or you were at an event of the brand’s where there was photography. You’re not upset about being featured, but damn, you want to be credited.
 
Totally understandable, especially if it’s a big outlet. That exposure could be so monumental to your brand or business.
 
Before we get into what happens in this scenario, you need to first understand that as much as I like to think I’m a powerful woman, there are many things in media that I as a publicist absolutely cannot control. (Shameless plug to one of my previous blog articles, quite literally titled “Things a publicist cannot control”). Does not matter how many times you ask me, or if you threaten me with consent violations to try to make your point--which yes has happened--this is an area where even my hands can be tied.
 
There are a lot of people involved in every story that gets published. For every single story published, there’s usually a writer, a section editor, a site editor and a photo editor involved. I get into the specifics more in this blog. This is why you can see mistakes in a published piece. The writer may know your name, but the 3rd editor making a pass at the article doesn’t have the same first-hand information as the writer (something like they wouldn’t know if your name was “Vitaly” or “Vitale”). The photo editor usually is the one who finalizes the image choice. They usually get sent a link that was provided by a brand which images to choose from.
 
I slipped that sentence in there so you may not have even noticed it. The brand provided the image to the photo-editor; Even if there were paid photographers, paid models, personalized props, typically the brands pay to have the photos available to them for use. Often times, the publicist and editorial team won’t always know who took the photos or what’s going on in them. They just know they were provided on behalf of the brand.
 
I’ve even had photos labeled “Must be credited to PHOTOGRAPHER NAME” but still credit was not given to the photographer in editorial. WHY? Why is that? Do journalists, newsites, publicists and journalists hate creatives so much they won’t give them credit for their work?
 
Obviously, this is not the case. Every, single, time, I’ve asked about additional credit, the writers and editors (and myself the publicist) will ask until we’re blue in the face about credit. We’re creatives ourselves. As a publicist my entire job is doing work that I don’t get credit for. A good publicist is known by brands and journalists, and everyone else doesn’t know I exist. Every day my clients tag work and are praised with getting the attention of big-name outlets. Even non-clients who get a placement from my network will forget to credit me; the only reason why they had that coverage was because of my relationships yet does my business get that credit? I know how absolutely frustrating this can be. So I don’t ignore these requests. Writers often freelance and understand how crucial credit can be so they also almost always will submit the request to their editor.
 
This is where the rope comes around our wrists.
 
We’re usually hit with one or the other reasons: site capabilities or editorial guidelines. Sometimes in order for a magazine website to be able to have video popups, interactive ads, newsletter signups, the web team is limited on the other functions of a site. For brand stories, often times, photography credit is limited to a handful of words. That’s not an editorial guideline. Photo captions can be limited to a few words because of the website’s limitations. This is a big “something a publicist cannot control”. I cannot ask Business Insider if I can try to code their backend to try to get someone, who was already paid for their work on behalf of a brand, credit on an already published piece.
 
Sometimes, in places like Forbes where many of their articles are self-submitted by contributors, it’s nearly impossible to go back and change crediting.
 
So let’s go through what can happen if you were not credited in a photo you are a creator of in some way.

1. You can ask the publicist that you’d like to be credited. To make our lives easier, please put the requests in all at once. Provide the link you’d like to editors to include, and correct spelling of your name. Also let us know what to do if we cannot add credit. Do not follow up excessively with the publicist. This falls very low on the To-Do-list of editors and journalists and a publicist won’t risk her relationship to follow up aggressively on this matter, therefore following up with the publicist during her workday won’t do you any favors.
2. When you make the request, be aware that there is a very high probability that you cannot be credited for something we cannot control. If that is the case, please let the publicist know what you would like in that instance. Often, this means either accept the credit for the brand that the work was done on behalf of, or have your image removed. Telling us beforehand will make the request more seamless for the editors aka more likely to be considered. 

I know this sounds harsh. Again, I understand how hard it can be when you’re not the one whose name is outlets like Forbes and Allure. I know. I know. I know. It's literally my job to do work I don't get credited for. If you don't want to be included without credit, that's okay! We can have your image replaced, often times they replace with a stock image. Until I have one of the biggest PR firms in the country and every media outlet knows my name, there’s not really much I can do when I’m told no.
 
Because many of my brands are startups, I’m often in this situation where brands work with tons of creatives in their network to create their media assets. Even when the magazine cannot credit the photographer, those involved with the article will tag everyone who made the article possible. Press hits always take a village and we love to credit those involved in whatever capacity we can.

If you have a credit request, please submit it to [email protected] and we will give you an update about what to expect once the request has been received by editorial.