By Sharon Esche Irving —
  Cosmetology Leads Among Respected Professions.
Those of you that chose the career of ‘cosmetology’ can hold your heads up even higher these days. We know you have often had to endure annoying public opinion, comment, and yes … even sarcasm about having chosen to be a hairdresser. Well, now there’s some solid career data to make a strong case for just how ‘smart’ a decision you made to those who would have preferred you became a doctor, a lawyer, or a teacher. Someone has taken a highly credible approach to analyzing careers that you can place on the table that [...]
… Continue reading Seize the PR Moment!
By Alexander Irving —
 Today was unusual.
We got a hand-written card in the mail.
It stood out in the pile like a sore thumb. Hand-written, imagine that. Different … That took time.
We went back into the house where we usually toss the mail on the kitchen table for opening later, but not today. We stayed together and opened that piece. We looked at the return address. How ‘old-fashioned’. We left all the other mail for later.
It was short, sweet, and thoughtful. We commented on it and discussed that person and (I assume both) thought to ourselves, ” Gee, they found this [...]
… Continue reading PR at its Best: Simple and Old-Fashioned
By Alexander Irving —
 Help for the Unemployed is News – Catch the Wave!
Maybe you should think about catching this wave. With unemployment a daily headline, human interest stories about people helping people who have lost jobs are sure-fire regional and local TV, print and internet news coverage.
Industry icon and former Vidal Sassoon Artistic Director Maurice Tidy and friend Gina Caruso recently launched their “HAIRCARE” Live to Give charitable organization with a national kick-off event hosted by Maurice’s former Sassoon colleague Daniel Rizzardi at his Secrets Salon in Charlotte, North Carolina. Along with approximately 25 Charlotte NC stylists volunteering their services, the [...]
… Continue reading HAIRCARE Live to Give – Damn Newsworthy!
By Alexander Irving —
 Being Consistent.
“Look to make your course regular, that men may know beforehand what they may expect.” – Francis Bacon
Consistency means you are there, appearing at ‘regular intervals’ in the lives of your clients, and in the eyes of local editors and writers. You are someone they can “count on” seeing and hearing from. You are a part of their world … consistently.
Consistency alone can make a huge difference between you and the ‘other guy’.
People experience your consistency in a number of ways. Clients, by the fact that they have the same memorable ‘experience’ every time they [...]
… Continue reading Consistency Counts
By Alexander Irving —
 We were going to post earlier, but Sharon was in New York and unlike the song, time was not on our side before the Easter weekend. Sorry
We know you’ve been tapping your fingers waiting to find out who receives our free PR planning package. We won’t keep you in suspense much longer, (you could skip to the bottom right now if you just can’t wait) but we’d like to share the thinking and doing process of PR planning for those of you that didn’t win this time. What exactly did our winner win? How can you develop your [...]
… Continue reading Announcing Our ‘PR Planning’ and Free Press Releases Winners!
By Sharon Esche Irving —
 No Matter How Busy You Get With Other Things, Keep Your Sights on the Local Press – And They’ll Keep Their Sights On You!
It doesn’t matter how many salons or spas are in your town – you need to stay creative in keeping in touch with your local newspapers, magazines, anchors, and TV segment producers. Keep up that great consistent effort on your part to keep showing up in clever, relevant ways that keep them turning their attention your way. Notice that I said ‘consistent’ … not ‘constant’ when it comes to sending them one-page press releases (max) or [...]
… Continue reading Keep Local Press Focus On You – 10 ‘To Do’s & ‘To Don’ts’
By Sharon Esche Irving —
 As a ‘beauty PR pro’, I pray that businesses in the beauty industry don’t cut down on public relations when cutting down on expenses in this crazy economy. Imagine my ABSOLUTE DELIGHT to hear three top beauty professionals in the last couple of weeks literally answer my prayers (looks like I won’t have to quit my day job after all <g>). What are they saying?
“Whatever you do, don’t cut down on your PR effort…don’t mess with your ‘image’ and ‘credibility’ in front of the consumer! Keep your PR intact and if you have to cut anywhere in communications, make [...]
… Continue reading Cutting Expenses in a Crazy Economy? “Don’t Cut Your PR!” Say Beauty Experts
By Sharon Esche Irving —
 As a salon owner or independent contractor you grow your salon or spa business by bringing new clients into your fold. Local personal networking is a powerful tool to do that … if you do it right!
Networking Has To Be ‘Real’ To Be Right!
OK, I admit it. Even though I’m a publicist, I’ve never been big on networking gatherings and cool, chic mix-and-mingling events (all right … I hate them!). These ‘get-togethers’ always feel so contrived, put together so complete strangers can ‘act friendly’ (as if they really care) to manipulate you into listening tirelessly about their business [...]
… Continue reading ‘Real’ Networking: Your New BFF in a Bad Economy
By Alexander Irving —
 Are You a Catalyst for Change?
Back a while we posted Good PR in a Bad Economy. We looked at ‘catching the wave’ specifically relevant to consumers looking for ‘value-added. But, there are trends galore for you to capitalize on. You simply have to recognize them early on.
If you’re seriously interested in gleaning more media attention (and clients), you must be prepared to feed both of them what they are looking for. The media wants to know “what’s new” for the same reasons you do. In your case it’s to fascinate and keep your clients. In their case it’s [...]
… Continue reading Trends – Launching Platform for Both PR and Salon/Spa Growth
By Alexander Irving —
 I Never Really Understood Blogging
Our industry community got a later start with computers in our businesses and lives. That’s not a criticism, just a fact. It took our beauty industry sector longer than most others to adopt computers and use the internet as a daily part of salon/spa business and personal life. I speculate that’s because creative people are right-brained, and technology is not the first place right-brainers are drawn to for solutions and/or entertainment.
Back in the early 80′s, it took me (literally) two years to convince Sharon to set aside her trusty IBM Selectric typewriter for [...]
… Continue reading The PR Power of Blogging for Salons
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