Publicity
This podcast features Alana and Jared Mitchell. Alana is a licensed esthetician and creator of Alana Mitchell Skincare, a product line blending scientifically proven ingredients with natural and organic formulations. During her performance publicity campaign with Annie Jennings PR, Alana was booked for a rare product showcase TV segment on a major morning show in Los Angeles, as well as prestigious online placements reaching more than 43 million unique visitors.
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Real PR Story: “Make Sure You Are Ready For Annie, She Will Exceed Expectations!”
How did your publicity help ramp up your social media engagement?
Before working with Annie, we noticed that our social media followers had been falling asleep. They were tired of the ‘same old same old’. But then, when we were able to post all of the activity going on in PR, the excitement around our firm and all the buzz going on in the media, we noticed our followers got re-invigorated.  Our community got excited and we had a lot more engagement. People were reaching out to us, texting and emailing. Our publicity definitely stirred up a lot more engagement as well as impacted other avenues of connecting with our firm.
How else has #publicity with Annie Jennings PR benefited your business?
Jared says “I have been thoroughly impressed with Annie Jennings PR’s service. First of all, working with Annie gave us the correct perspective. We use the ladder strategy.* It gave us freedom.”
*Annie created this Ladder Strategy approach to the media marketplace as it is packed with meaningful benefits the client needs to achieve their highest potential with the media.
Jared adds, “when you think of hiring a PR company you think you have to hurry up and be on Good Morning America. But Annie taught us her Ladder Strategy and that helped us relax. The ladder strategy uses each media hit to create more attention from other outlets and from your followers. For us, it has made the whole experience more fun and very useful. It has revived sleepy followers or brought previous customers back.”
How did you find out about #AnnieJenningsPR for your #publicity?
Jared says “I would consider myself to be a digital marketing nerd.  We determined we had to start publicity efforts after we had finished rebranding and repostitioning our products and coming out with new trending products. When we are hiring someone we always do an expansive search.  We start by asking people we know and trust. And that’s how we found Annie. Annie was a referral from a very trusted source.”
Jared adds, “we have a rule that we always interview several agencies at the same time – to get an idea of the terminology, the politeness of individuals on the phone. We look at the firm’s resume and all of the things they have accomplished. We knew within about 10 minutes of speaking with Annie that we were going to hire Annie Jennings PR.”
When we got on the phone with Annie Jennings PR it was a clear yes. You can just tell.
What was special about Annie’s publicity?
“I got the impression that Annie would be the first person willing to tell us if we were not a fit for her company. She did not appear to just be selling us to get the money in the door.”
What was it like working with Annie’s performance publicity division?
“Sara’s (Alana and Jared’s performance specialist) approach is like Annie’s approach,” says Alana. “They are very honest but they don’t belittle you. They walked us through every step of the way. I thought our hands were held appropriately throughout the process. Sara was right on it for us . She jumped in. Sara is a hustler and she was going fast.
When we were in NYC, Sara actually told us an earlier time to arrive at one of our media bookings anticipating that we would need the extra time. She knew that it was our first publicity hit in NYC and she knew before we did that we would be running late. She knows when you have segments scheduled and is available during the segment time should you need it.
We ran late. We called Sara. She was on it. But she told us that she built in extra time by giving us an earlier arrival time so there were no worries. WOW! I appreciated the support the day of and the time of the booking. Sara is there for you.”
What would you tell others about working with Annie for their publicity?
“When I think about working with you guys and with Sara, I think about a company that under promises and over performs. We have been hiring agencies in PR and marketing firms for over 13 years. We all know the tale – generally these other firms, through the sales process they sell you – they sell you up. You are on board. But with Annie it was different,” says Jared.
“As Alana said before, Sara hustles. It’s rare to find a company that hustles. Sara was firing media at us right away. It turned into a thing where we had to literally tell Sara to slow down as we are selling through so many products that we were spending all our energy, money and heart in just keeping our products in stock. I guarantee you all, that working with Annie had a major part in our increase in sales.
So my advice is to just make sure you are ready as Annie Jennings PR will exceed your expectations. They will create a lot of good work for you.”
You can learn more about Alana Mitchell and her skincare products at www.skincarebyalana.com
