Creator of Huge Lips, Skinny Hips Lip Gloss (at Space NK, Scoop and b-glowing.com), Karen Robinovitz takes us through the trials and tribulations of creating a beauty brand from scratch.

Life was stressful. To say the least.

I was a one-woman company, figuring out how to manufacture, manage the finances of it all, deal with the legal aspects and now I was beginning to think about sales and PR.

On the component front, I placed an order for 30,000 (5,000 of each color). I knew I would have to cut a big check, but there is major difference between knowing you have to write a check and actually writing one! And it was -- cha-ching -- time to pay the fiddler. I owed at least half -- 12 k! -- when you're a new client with no credit, you pay half up front and half upon delivery.

Now I had to wait about 12 weeks for the components to come.

This was fall of last year and the launch was slated for spring. Patience... not my strong suit. But for some instant gratification (and to jump ahead for a sec), you can find my products here now!

In the meantime, I worked on the press kit, which is what is sent out to all editors, writers and media in order to introduce them to the product. To get into "long leads" (PR lingo meaning the monthly magazines who work three, four, sometimes even more in advance of the publishing date), I had to start seeding the beauty editors by February. And before I could write a press kit, I had to hire a PR firm. (By the way, did I mention that during all of this, I had a full-time job? Mama needed a salary!)

Remember, I am not a trusfundafarian!


If there is one thing I believe in, it's the power of PR. I would much rather spend on PR than traditional advertising. PR drives brand awareness and the more you see a brand show up in publications, on television and all over the dot-com destinations, on the radio, etc., the more it registers in your head as something to think about buying.

Friends pass it on to friends -- and so on and so on. I have seen PR lead to sales, albeit over time. (Don't tell me you've never bought a T-shirt because you saw it on Sienna Miller in Us Weekly!) And I spent the last three years heavily entrenched in online marketing, working with a company called Brickfish, a sophisticated social media solution that enables brands to penetrate ALL of the social media – blogs, communities like Facebook and Myspace, Twitter, bookmarking sites, email, etc.

There, I was Fashion & Beauty Director, and I got to work with Lauder, Coach, Saks, TRESemme, NeXXus, YSL, Smashbox, Victoria's Secret, some of the most inspiring brands out there. We put together amazing programs online – from designing a handbag for Coach (the winning bag was made and sold!) to sharing a breast cancer survival story (such a powerful campaign that was) to becoming the "beauty guru" for Smashbox where a girl won the opportunity of a lifetime: to develop a palette for Smashbox Mercedes Benz LA Fashion Week!

I saw how these campaigns influenced consumers online – and the brands. They spread like wild over the Internet -- complete with maps to track it all. Amazing, what you can do now! In my personal life, I embrace the Internet like a 12 year-old girl - I am a Twitteraholic (you may say I could use Twehab!), a Facebooking fool (just look at my wall – full of nonstop updates), a bookmarking buff, a Flickr-ista and an all around app-enthusiast.

We are living in a world where consumers have become the media – they're just as important as the well coiffed ones in the corner offices of the glimmering publishing houses. For me, the perfect PR firm would have an understanding of both sides – traditional and new media. In my case, Whisper PR. I called Karly, a principal and beauty specialist, and we went to work, penning collateral.

For the record, a press kit should entail:

1. Press release on the product

2. About the brand

3. Bio on founder(s)

4. Product sheet, detailing ingredient benefits, claims, price, where to buy

5. Other details (in the case of Huge Lips Skinny Hips, there is a page for each color along with the story of its inspiration)

6. Celebrity list (if applicable -- obviously, I didn't quite have one of those yet, though when I had one of my first samples, a friend gave one to a style icon of mine who lives in my neighborhood and has the most envious of closets – and she looooved it and kept asking for more, but I am not allowed to say who or I will get in trouble!)

7. Contact sheet

Okay, the process of doing the press kit called two things to mind...

A. I needed to find a retail partner. No magazine or media source will cover you if you don't have a place to buy the product for their readers.

B. How much would this thing cost at retail?

C. What would the actual press kits look like?

More of the dirty details next week!

Mwah!
Karen
Purple Lab Creatrix