Each brand has PR goals, whether they know it or not. Everything you do related to your brand is PR. So, how do you best tackle that and create a story that will represent you and lead to sales? Joining host Hayley Foster is Jaime Maser. Jaime is the woman behind Maser Communications. She is a powerhouse publicist with more than 20 years of experience in the industry. Today, she shares the importance of PR for any business and why you should be investing more into it. Tune in as Jaime shares tips to help you make the most of your PR strategies.
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In It For The Long Game: How To Tackle Your PR Goals with Jaime Maser
Welcome back to the show. I am here with Jaime Maser, who is a PR professional and an amazing woman. I'm super excited that she has agreed to be on the show. Jaime, welcome.
Thank you.
You're welcome. Give us a little background. You can probably do better than I can. I like to leave it to my guests to do their intro.
I'm a publicist for many years, although I'm sure that my parents would say I've always been a publicist and had a knack for storytelling and making connections, which is essentially what PR is. I had my own company for several years. I've been out on my own in 2014. We specialize in beauty, working with brands big and small. Indian niche, luxury and mass. As long as there's some element of beauty, that's what I get involved in. The brands I'm working with right now all happen to be female-founded, EU formula compliant, clean beauty brands, which has become a real sweet spot for me. That's the very quick abbreviated.
I discovered the beauty counter a couple of years ago, and it's been a game-changer. I mix in beauty counter with Botox.
Don't we all? That's the truth. There's nothing you're going to buy over the counter that's going to do the job that a needle does. I'm right there with you.
As women, it's like what are we putting in our bodies? What are we injecting into our faces? Who's judging? I'm not judging anyone for that.
You do what makes you feel good and that's the joy of it. It can be nothing or it can be everything as long as you feel good about yourself, more power to you.
You got to do what works for you, as we're all entering this ripe old age of whatever that is. I love the whole conversation around women pursuing their passions and jumping into their entrepreneurial journeys. My question for you is, how did you get started doing this? What was the impetus for you to jump in here?
I always say that I had this great history in PR. I'd been doing it for about fourteen before I went out on my own. PR, you can be in-house, which means that you work for a company or you could be an agency where you manage a bunch of different accounts, and I had done both throughout my career. In the position I held before I went out on my own, I was VP of Global Communication for La Prairie, which is a luxury Swiss beauty brand. It was a fantastic position. My boss is still my mentor. I loved the company. What's not to love about LA Prairie?
I loved my colleagues and the work I was doing, but it wasn't anything public relations. It was all protocols, postures, procedures and PowerPoints, but nothing pitching or public relations, and that's where I shine and excel. I thought I'm going to take a chance and go out on my own. I've now been doing this for years. I've gained enough knowledge and experience, had enough meetings and been in charge of handling enough of the tough questions that I feel comfortable doing on my own.
I always think what's the worst that could happen. If it doesn't work out, and so I go back and I get a job. At the time, my long-term boyfriend was my fiancé and then my husband, and he said, "Now's the time to do it before we start a family. Why not go and try it?" I have a great relationship in the industry. I have given my company three months' notice. When I gave my notice, my boss had said, "We'll become a client of yours. I had my first client within ten minutes of giving my notice."
Years later, I had clients since then. It's all been word-of-mouth, referral, and fortunately, have had a strong business since I went out on my own. The impetus for it was I missed doing the actual PR, the pitching, the storytelling, and new business proposals. I missed it all and being in the meat of it and not being so far removed as overseeing strategy and not executing.
Make sure you say no to things that you won't enjoy. It’s fine to say no to something if it’s not paying you what you ask or it's just not your jam.
Did you always know that you were going to be in the PR world? I started my career in advertising, marketing and web development. I went to the online world. My first company I started in 2001 was a promotional marketing company. We were working with a ton of PR companies to find the item that was going into the mailing that was going out to the press. That's where we got started, but we were always working with PR agencies. My partner in that company came from the PR world. She had also worked in the luxury, beauty and fashion PR world.
We were business partners who started together. We were working with a lot of PR agencies. For me, I look back and I know that I was always meant to be an entrepreneur. I have it. It's in my blood. My dad had it in his blood. My brother is an entrepreneur. It's in the family. I wonder, you are of such a PR personality, and that's not a bad thing. You're high energy, dynamic and it's not even salesy. You've got that pitch personality too. How did you end up in the PR world?
I'm one of the few publicists. This is what I ended up going to college for. I don't think many people go to school specifically to be in public relations, but I studied Comms at BU. I originally was studying Advertising. I thought I wanted to be the character from The Facts of Life. She ran her ad agency. Judith Light, I loved her character.
I thought, "That's what I wanted to do," and I learned very quickly what the difference was between advertising and PR. Instead, I swapped majors in my first semester of freshman year. I did Public Relations and I loved the idea of storytelling versus paying to be in an advertisement. That was so forward-facing and in your face and obvious that it was an ad.
I liked being part of a bigger story and telling a brand story that way versus paying for a piece of the page or a 30-second spot or something like that. Since I was a late teenager, I knew I wanted to do it. I always knew I'd be good at it at this. I was always good at fostering relationships. I used to think when I was very little, I wanted to be a journalist and a writer, but I changed direction. There's such a big part of PR that is writing and storytelling, so I get to do it in that way. Instead, get to work with multiple clients and instead of creating characters, I'm creating stories about these brands and helping pitch them and tell their stories to customers.
You always do that. This is what you wanted to do. What's been the biggest accomplishment so far since having your own company?
I would call it pessimistic. I never tried to think of the last accomplishments. I feel like you can't rest on your laurels. You get a huge hit, huge story or huge win, but then two seconds later, it's gone on to the next. You very rarely get to sit and enjoy the wins because the new cycle is ever moving and there's always the next launch or iteration of something.
You very rarely get to sit and enjoy the fruits of your labor. It would be difficult to name the biggest accomplishment. For me, I'm proud that it's been years and that I'm still doing this and I'm on my own. My reputation is pretty unmatched in this industry. Everyone that has come across my path, whether it's in the media capacity or a client capacity, I've maintained great relationships with.
I feel proud about that. It's a sustained accomplishment rather than in a one-note that I can call out and say, "That was the biggest thing I did." For every client, I've had major wins in the press, huge stories that have changed the course of their business or have helped them get into new retailers. I hear random strangers when I'm at Target talking about their brand because they've read about it in a certain magazine. That was me.
Those have all been wins along the way, but I'm most proud that I've been doing that. I've been doing PR for a long time and it's like ancient in the PR world when everything is like young and fresh and new. I'm proud of the fact that I'm still doing it, still relevant, have adapted and adjusted. Between all of the changes in media and the landscape, I'm still here.
Several years in a business is quite an accomplishment.
I've been on my own for those times. It was years before I went on my own and now I've been doing it. I always think it's strange when people give exact years. I would say over 20, rather than like 21 and a half years. I was thinking the half makes me think of I have a four-year-old. Over twenty years, I should say. I feel good that I'm still doing it. I went out on my own in February of 2014 and now it's however, whatever month or years later, and I'm still here. I didn't have to go to plan B and go back and get a job somewhere else. I've managed to stay on my own, which I'm very proud of.
What's been the biggest hurdle for you?
It's human nature to be nervous that there's not going to be something next, but there will always be something next.
Now we're in a house, but for many years we were in an apartment in Manhattan. I joked it was me and my plan. Whenever I had an issue, I was like, "This plan is thriving because I talked to it so much." When you're at an agency or a company, you can pop your head over to someone else's office pre-COVID, or you have a team that you can like call a brainstormer and do it. When you're on your own, you're legit on your own, and you have people you can talk to and your peers, you could text and ask a question too, but the day to day, you have to go with your gut and trust in that, and the fact that you're a professional and an expert.
In the beginning, the hardest part was getting used to that after years of being surrounded by other people and having teams. I'd never had an ego about it. It wasn't like, "Packing boxes, it's hard." I've always packed a box. I always said to girls that used to work with me, "You should never get too big to remember how to do a FedEx form. I am doing FedEx forms all day and I've been doing this for a long time."
It was not the menial tasks or doing clips or all the other small parts and PR that was difficult. It was getting used to doing it all, and also saying no but now I'm great at saying no and managing expectations. That was probably at the beginning of starting your own business. You feel like you have to say yes to every opportunity because you never know what's going to come, and then you realize very quickly do not say yes to every opportunity. Make sure you say no to things that you won't enjoy, they're not paying you what you ask or it's not your jam. That's fine to say no.
One of my favorite lines is, "For every no, you're opening the door to exponential yeses."
It's human nature to be nervous that there's not going to be something next, but there will always be something next. It might be like a little more next than what you thought. Maybe it's a month instead of a week, but there will be something. I've found that's what happens, and so I go with that.
Are you still flying solo?
Initially, I thought I'd build this into an agency, and I'll make this boutique agency so small. I never want it to be big. I thought maybe I'll have a handful of girls or men working with me that we take on the bigger agencies in New York that maybe had their heyday and have since gone to the wayside. I thought that's what I'd initially do.
I'll take major communications. I'll make it like that. One year went to 2 years and 2 became 4 and then 4 became 8 and now, what am I doing? I've done it all solo. I hire interns because I miss having that young and bright mind that wants to learn, grow and is so excited and naive about the industry. I love working, helping and mentoring that way.
Usually, I have an intern working with me and I'll outsource work if I need to. I am very good at saying what I'm good at and not good at. If a client is looking for something that is not my cup of tea, then I'm happy to outsource the work and make an intro to someone that's what they do, but otherwise, I've remained independent. I think at this point like, "This is the path."
I don't think I was meant to have an agency. It would become more human resources and public relations. It would be HR and PR. I started this all those years ago to get back into doing the actual PR. I don't want to walk away from that. I've decided to stay independent and fly solo and do everything from the smallest tasks to the larger, bigger strategies.
It's important to know that's your thing. I've been at this for several years. I've done it on my own. This is the first year that I've made a push towards finding somebody to do the things I don't want to do and hiring to do that as opposed to being like, "I can learn this and figure it out." I don't want to figure it out. It takes a little while to get there. I coach people to do this all the time, but I'm like the shoemaker's child, that I ever wear shoes ever.
This was the year for me to say, "I'm going to hit the refresh button, which is my word of the year, and I'm going to bring in people that can do the stuff I don't want to spend my time doing." That's a huge part of being on this journey, is knowing what you want to do and don't want to do. I had this conversation. I found that I've been so focused. You and I talked about Clubhouse. I've had been so focused on Clubhouse. It's been an amazing tool and resource for me in terms of finding my tribe and my people. I've also been spending a ton of time doing the creative for my Instagram and my social media stuff.
I sat back and I did a mid-year review. You and I are talking about this in June 2021. In June, I did a mid-year review and I sat down and I was like, “What happened for the last four weeks?” I realized I wasn't doing the revenue-generating activities for my business. I took a step back and I was like, "I need to stop doing some of this stuff and do more of this stuff." As an entrepreneur, we need to realize what those things are and what are the things that bring home the beacon.
I don't think there's no shame in outsourcing. I have friends that are solopreneurs or what not to do their own QuickBooks. I'm like, "I'm good with that. Let me pay someone to do that.” I don't have to pay someone. Fortunately, my husband does it, but let me have him do it because he knows how to do it and he can manage this.
It's not going to make or break him. I will have seven breakdowns trying to learn the stupid network. Let me outsource what I can and save my sanity and my soul, and also do what I'm supposed to be doing that is going to generate the money and not spend all this time sitting there trying to figure out a damn finance program.
When I started my last company, the first person we hired was a bookkeeper because I was like, "I can't do this. I should be selling and doing other stuff." I'm spending my hours at night and during the day, trying to figure out how to run a cashflow report.
You find what's most important. We talked about this. Even getting the time to talk. The two of us, I said, "I spent so much time focused on my clients. My business takes the back seat because people are paying me to get their stories out there, not for Jaime Maser to be out there.” I have learned too, what can be prioritized. My clients come first and foremost, that's that. The stuff that I need to do for myself will get done, but it likely gets done after the part that is paying my bills gets done. I'm fine with that. My stuff will usually get done at a later cadence than theirs.
That's how we roll as entrepreneurs. We put our things sometimes on the back burner to serve others. What else can we learn about Jaime? What do you want the readers to know?
I don't think there's much in terms of the background or anything. That's why I never do this forward-facing stuff, and I'm like, “What was the good thing that I discovered?”
The story is exciting. There's a lot of women out there that probably want to leave the PR world and a big agency to go do their own thing. It takes a lot to do it. What would you say was the foundation that helped you? You said your boss gave you a client before you even signed your party papers.
I had this intern that worked for me. She started her agency at 24. I didn't have the balls. What do you know? You've worked for two years. She's a very successful agency and I'm like, "Good on you." She partnered with someone senior, and she was like, "I can do it as good as everyone else that's out there." It's a generational thing that's different to start with. A lot of these girls, other solopreneurs are ten years younger than me, and they went out on their own. I didn't feel good about going on my own until I felt I could answer any question that was coming my way.
I simply didn't have that experience many years out. It took until I had worked for La Prairie in a global capacity that I understood how different things were working with Europeans, APAC or the little nuances that come when it comes to even how you phrase things, how you introduce yourself for a brand. I didn't feel like I could make that leap until I had garnered all of the experience and looked at the previous companies that I had. On one hand, these girls are out of the birdcage that they do it so soon. On the other hand, I'm like, "I wish that I had those balls. I wish that I thought, 'I'm going for it.'" There's something very refreshing about these girls in and I have to tell you that I'm doing it, and so what?
It's a different generation. I'm at Clubhouse. These girls were 26 and starting businesses. I was 30 and I probably could've done it earlier, but I always say like, "I wouldn't be able to do what I do, which is consulting women to start their businesses and follow their passions. I wouldn't be able to do this, had I not done it on my own.” For when young girls are like 24 and they're like, "I'm a coach." It's like, "What?"
Experience paves the way for a lot. I don't think I wouldn't have been in a position to be where I am had I not worked for multiple bosses, had exposure to countless companies, brands, different working styles and environments. Different paper in general. The different contracts, negotiations and what's considered doable or what's considered not.
I simply wouldn't have been okay to go out on my own and start that had I not had all of that prior. I probably could have started a little sooner, but I didn't feel like the timing was right, and then when the timing was right, if my husband were here, he'd say, "That's you in life," but I feel like I'm not ready until I'm ready, and then when I'm ready, I'm like, "Let's go."
I feel it was ready to like, "Let's go. I've gotten back from my honeymoon." Right before I went to my honeymoon and I gave my notice and I was like, "I'm going to start my own, and it was February 1st, 2021.” I was like, "My last thing will be January, whatever that Friday was, and then that Monday was when I was going to start my business." I remember this feeling of nervousness about like, "What am I going to do with all of this?”
It happens, one day becomes a week, then your month becomes a year, and then now you're sitting here and you're like, "I don't even remember what it was like to use to work in an office." Now all of these people have started to become adjusting to working from home during COVID and you're like, "What's so weird about it? This is what I've been doing.” Tying is that weird thing where it flies in the next thing, you're sitting here talking to someone and you're like, "It has been all these years."
The work from home thing. Everyone says to me, "Were you working from home before COVID?" I'm like, "Yes, I was." I'm used to having the kids being around. They're three about to run in my house. The perfect ending here, which is the whole work from home thing, is I love that so many more people have figured out how to do this and companies are now accepting the fact that this could be a new reality for their businesses.
You have to think of everything you’re doing as some form of PR.
The companies are accepting it and I always feel like there's no lip stuff for now. They're saying that they'll change when people have a very hard time changing drastically. I wonder if in two years, will it even be like this or will things have gone back to how they were in 2018, 2019?
Who knows? We'll see what happens. This has certainly been a year of change for everybody. Thank you for doing this. This has been great. I appreciate your time.
Thank you for chatting with me.
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A lot of the women I work with are on an entrepreneurial journey. Something we touched on is that when you're running on the treadmill or the hamster wheel of doing your business and doing all that stuff, there are a lot of things that you don't get to focus on in your business like PR. I would love to use a couple of minutes of our time together to get some tips and tools that you might have that we could share with the people that are reading that could help them, even if it's like a couple of small things, some nuggets that you could give to the people reading, little things that they could do from a PR perspective. For me, I never even think about PR for my business, but in some sense, my show and social media are partly PR. Things I post online obviously fall into the PR category, but what would you recommend to people reading in terms of what they could do to boost their public relations?
There are a lot of similarities in what you tell your clients that you're coaching and what I would say. Even when we spoke, you were looking at my LinkedIn profile and you'll have these small little tweaks to make. First things first, I would say is you have to have all the assets. Anytime I onboard a client, I say to them, “Let's do an asset audit.”
What do they have in terms of press release, visuals, headshots of their bios and, for the founders, fact sheets about products? Do they have that? If not, then we need to create it because a huge part of getting the information out there is having information to give and to service. For people and businesses, it's important that you have that information.
It might be your website. It could be your social media, Clubhouse presence and whatever it is that you're using to promote yourself. It's super important that you have clear messaging and that it's the same throughout that there are these consistencies if someone looked you up on one social media, they'd see the same things on the other social media in terms of the look and feel of you.
If you have your professional headshots, I always think that's better than some selfie, something along those lines. You have to get your assets together. To your point, yes. Everything you're doing is your PR. How you're getting your name out there is by doing your podcast and by being on your social media or sharing stories on LinkedIn, on Facebook or connecting the dots between people and places.
You have to think of everything that you're doing as some form of PR and you can be your own best or worst publicist. It's also knowing where do you make sense and where don't you make sense to pitch yourself, to be part of a story or in front of someone. I have a child and he's trying to figure out shapes right now. You see him trying to put the circle in the square box, like the Melissa & Doug wood box. Sometimes you aren't going to fit in that space and that's okay. There's a different space you will fit into. Know that not every story is meant for you. Even if you think you're perfect for the story, there are probably 3,000 other people that are perfect for the story.
Dust yourself off and move on to the next. Don't dwell on the fact that maybe you didn't get the piece you thought you were going to get or you should have been in. A lot of times, publicist makes sense, but it's a hefty line item. Smaller businesses, sometimes it doesn't make sense that time. Also, PR is a long game. There is no quick hit. It's not a quick fix. You invest in PR because PR tells stories, stories lead to awareness, awareness leads to sales.
For small businesses, it's expensive. If you get someone who's good and worth it, and you are wondering where the payoff is and you might not see it right away. Not every business warrants a publicist, as much as you might think it does, or find a different publicist that maybe works more along the lines in your budget or for what your goals are rather than saying like, “I need this. These are the moon and the stars.”
It's like, "Let's start small, and maybe I want a story in a local paper." Do I find someone who is local and has those connections that maybe could help me get that, or do I need someone to help run my social media because I'm looking to be booked on more podcasts and everyone who's booking podcasts needs more of a social media presence?
You don't have to jump the gun right away. Take a step back and say, "What am I trying to get out of PR to begin with? Am I trying to elevate my profile, push a sale, get into retailers, or get partners?" What are you thinking you need a publicist for, and then find the right publicist for that, or cater your story accordingly? The other thing is everyone wants to tell it all and you don't need to do that.
That is super helpful. One of the things that I have talked to a lot of my women about is to get on HARO, which is Help A Reporter Out. I do you recommend that to people at any point.
I always say I give a small asterisk with that. Help a Reporter Out is great because it's a free platform. There are great opportunities on there, and then there are podunk blogs out of someone's kitchen that are like, "Is it going to move the needle for you?" It's good for smaller brands that maybe don't have the budget or have a publicist on staff as a way to pitch yourself.
I also always say social listening. Editors are constantly putting it out on their social media. "You're looking for a brunette who's decided to become a blonde, or looking for a female entrepreneur who started a business during the pandemic." They are looking for real people. It will be on stories, on Twitter or even on LinkedIn.
You have to do a lot of social listening and see if that's out there. The best way to do that is by following editors whose byline you often read and like, and they might put things out there on their social that way. It's okay to leverage connections to a certain extent. I'm not the person that's like, "Let's pour yourself out to every connection you have."
There's a time and a place to call in favors. If you happen to know someone who might know someone, then it's okay to ask them if they're comfortable making the introduction. Also, sometimes it's a little bit of a lark, but your random email every now and then, that's the email that breaks through. If you happen to admire a writer and what they're doing, and you write a sincere but succinct because their inboxes are flooded, giving them a little scoop on yourself on what stories you liked. They might keep that in the back of their head for the next time they are looking for a first-person interview or a subject or something like that.
People are inundated in boxes or bananas. You never know if you're going to break through, but what's the harm in trying or sliding into their DMs? What's the worst that happens is they don't respond. Move on to the next. It's key to have a succinct message. People tend to go over and it's like under is better. Think elevator pitch if you're contacting someone.
That's so important. Is that something that you work with your clients on, is putting together like a very succinct elevator pitch? I know a lot of people have a hard time with that. Even for me, I've worked on mine. It's an evolution and it's constantly changing, but it's a hard thing for people to write themselves.
I don't recommend they write it themselves. Have someone else because you need someone else who has a different perspective. You're so close to it when it's yours. I write a lot for a living. I had two of my writer friends do my bio because they were able to say it better than I can say it. It's better to outsource. We were talking about outsourcing. Outsource that. Have someone do it for you. It's like a therapist. You're paying someone and they tell you what you're already saying, but they're saying it in a way that you understand and that's different. That's the same thing.
Business owners, oftentimes they're so in it and they live, breathe it and are so passionate about it, which is wonderful and probably why their business is successful, but it's hard to take a step backward and look at it without any bias and say, "Your brand is great, but there's probably 200 other brands out there that have similarities."
What can we say that will stand out? Half the reason you have a publicist is we know what will stand out. My job is to know what media will respond to or not. You might think it's this product and I'm going to tell you, it's not that product. This is the product that they're going to respond to so we might need to pivot slightly and focus on this because they've seen 7,000 of this, but they haven't seen something like this. That's the other reason that it's always good to have someone who's a professional or has expertise in that to give you that perspective. It's not always the easiest to hear, but that's why you hire a professional.
That's important. There's a woman that I met in Clubhouse. She does messaging for people. She calls it making it sticky.
It's very hard, but then once you have something that you like, it pays off in spades. You use it all of the time. I tend to think in bullet points and I don't even know what the status now, what people's attention span is. I imagine it's far less than what it used to be, but you have to give them a nugget that they can digest, and they either respond to or they don't rather than go overboard.
The long answer is yes. I think social listening are helpful. Leveraging some relationships is helpful and then a lot of times, the bulk of it tends to be PR. Half the reasons that my clients get stories, yes, it fits into the story, but it's also because I have a relationship with the editor. I cut through the noise of the millions of other brands and pitches they're getting, and they're like, "Jaime emailed me. Let me open this and what is she talking about." If you have the right PR partner, that helps spread your message even more.
Finding the PR partner that has the connection. You work in a certain niche and it's specific as to clients you take on because of who your connections are.
There is a publicist for everything and everybody. Everyone has their own beat, from dog food, electronics, lighting, make-up and skincare. There is someone who specializes in that field of communications. Don't look at what's bright and shiny and because this brand or this agency has a stellar reputation.
It might be all smoke and mirrors, so get to know who would be working on your account or who would be working for you. Do you guys vibe or not, because that's the key? Yes, they have to be very good at their job, but you also want to trust in this person and what expertise they're offering you and not to second guess any directions they're giving you to go in.
What are you seeing in terms of how much of what you're doing these days is digital versus print?
The media landscape is such a cluster. I don't even know if I would call it the media landscape anymore. Everything is considered press or some media now. Even Instagram captions are some social media, people are doing that and using it as long-form to write almost stories or short little first-persons. The evolution, unfortunately, as sad as it is for me to say this because I personally love print, but we've all seen the writing on the wall and it's slowly but surely fading. There will always be some element of print. I don't know that there's going not to be any newspapers or magazines, but there's certainly going to be less.
Digital isn't far bigger of a priority for a lot of brands than it ever used to be, also because you can track sales that way between the backlinks and figuring out how long someone's on your site and how are they directed to your site. Everyone loves those kinds of nuggets and information. Oftentimes, it's sites that you might not have thought have translated. We used to say, "Everyone's dirty little secret was Us Weekly or the New York Post that someone would be reading the times on the subway, but tucked into the times was the post.”
It's oftentimes those kinds of pubs that might translate to bigger sales, but people want the authority or they love the sexiness of a legacy mag like Town & Country or Vogue. They may or may not translate to sales for you. The other thing is to keep an open mind and realize that maybe it's not the sexiest publication or site, but that site could move some serious numbers for you.
Digital is a focus, especially now that more people are pushing D2C or pushing online and eComm. The print will always be important because there's something chic about saying like, "I was featured on the pages of Allure.” That hasn't gone away. People are wising up and realizing, "I was featured on the pages of Allure but I was also in Refinery or I was in PopSugar. I was in XYZ this month.”
You can be your own worst publicist.
What's your stance on any PR is a good PR?
I'm different than my colleagues. For the most part it is. Some PR is better than no PR, but you don't need to be a PR whore. Sometimes it's okay to sit that one out. If you don't think it's the right fit or you don't get a good vibe, it's okay not to have a huge presence. Brand awareness is clutch though. It might not be a huge mention, but if you get your name in there, the more that they see Hayley Foster, the more they could equate you as, "This is a female entrepreneur expert who understands coaching businesses."
The other thing is sometimes people poo-pooed getting one quote in there and I'm like, "Don't do that."The more that people see your names, it increases awareness, and increased awareness leads to increasing sales, but that's what I meant when I said the PR is a long game. You don't hire a publicist because you're like, "I'm going to make millions tomorrow off this."
You're investing in this publicist to tell your story and break through the noise that's out there in whatever world you're in. The beauty world, it's inundated with brands. Every day there's a new brand coming up. You hire a publicist because you want to help your brand stand out, get new customers, increase awareness, and then you will get your sales, but you have to invest. It's not a quick fix.
These are tremendous nuggets to be dropping for my readers. Thank you. I appreciate you jumping back on here and giving me some more time. Thank you very much.
I hope it's a good rest of the day.
Thank you so much, Jaime. You too.
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About Jaime Maser
A natural-born storyteller and consummate conduit known for her hustle, Jaime Maser Berman is a powerhouse publicist through and through, with over 20 years of experience on the agency and in-house side of the business, representing some of the most beloved beauty and lifestyle brands in the world.
Praised by the press for her infectious energy, ability to anticipate needs and detail-oriented service, and by clients and colleagues alike for her tenacity, intuition, personalized touch and innate understanding of the beauty and wellness marketplace, Jaime is a crucial communications asset to help story tell, expand awareness and engagement, drive business and increase consumer reach.
Under Jaime’s direction, Maser Communications is well-versed in securing earned media across various platforms, honing in on where the target consumer is and delivering messaging that matters to them.
Prior to founding Maser Communications in February 2014, Jaime spent five years in-house with La Prairie, the luxury Swiss beauty brand, first in a North American Public Relations role then seguing into Global Communications, driving the worldwide brand communication strategies and tools to support La Prairie’s business initiatives, image goals and product launches for 90+ markets globally. Jaime has also held various communications roles with Paul Wilmot Communications, Sue Devitt Beauty, Kaplow Communications and Manning, Selvage and Lee.
A lifelong East Coaster, Jaime is a graduate of Boston University’s College of Communications and lives with her husband, three sons and two rescue pups in Westfield, New Jersey.
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