Lingerie PR

What happens when you are still passionate about your business but absolutely sick of talking about it? You break down and hire a publicist...

I still love the lingerie business. I still think my offerings are going to knock your socks (and hopefully your Hanky Pankies) off. I am just sick of telling you about it. Besides, we are past the sexy part. If you are my friend in real life or just on Facebook, you probably have already seen web site mocks, you heard all our globe trotting stories about the the great pieces we have found, you have seen logos and brand identity images. But now I am mired down in Fed Ex paperwork, projection forecasts, and accounts receivables. Trust me, you probably don't even want to talk to me right now. I am officially no fun. So I am hiring a publicist to be fun on my behalf.

I will let her tell you all about the differences between American and English lingerie, about why you deserve better than rayon and why your bottom will be writing us thank you letters after being softly caressed by our silk panties. I, frankly don't have the time. She can go though the motions of teaching men to stop buying crotchless panties for Valentine's day via media outlets while I simply roll my eyes and write them off as hopeless. See?! This will be better for the both of us.

Since I have the honor of being based in NYC, I can't swing a chanel bag without hitting a PR girl in her well coiffed and often blond head. But the question is, can I swing the monthly monetary commitment that it will take to get her to extol the virtues of Dames and Broads to all the glossies and blogs?

Don't get me wrong, there is money in the D&B coffers but the salesperson in me is only interested in marketing that directly results in sales and my inner control freak is terrified to hand over our brand identity to a stranger. But perhaps it is time to relinquish my grip on my wallet and let's somebody else do the talking. Anything that would allow me just a bit of time to shut up...

Web Design: Quick to make a decision, Slow to Spend Money

Over the last 4 months, I solicited 10 different price quotes from web designers and developers to build DamesandBroads.com. From the recommended, the unknown and the infamous, I was quoted anywhere from $3500 for a complete e commerce site built from scratch to 15k+ for just logo design. Each one told me how I could not live without wish lists, pagination, dynamic product reviews and all this other stuff I had never heard of. Each additional suggestion was additional $$$ and an additional headache. After awhile I no longer knew what I needed and what I could do without. I had absolutely lost the ability to prioritize.

I had web designers telling me the most important thing was how the site looked ("No one will buy anything if the site looks a mess"), web developers telling me that site functionality was paramount ("no one can buy anything if the site does not work"), publicists telling me that press mattered above all else, ("no one will buy anything they have not heard of"), and lingerie manufacturers who had their hands out (hard to sell anything if you do not have a PRODUCT). Not to mention a few things called site hosting, e commerce platforms, search engine optimization, and search engine marketing. These people were making me tired. I ran out of breath just making a list of things to do.

But research and desperation have led me to two things that are going to make my life a lot easier: Volusion and Alondra. Sound like super heroes don't they? The former is my e commerce platform that provides all of the fancy bells and whistles of a great online store (zoom, the ability to integrate any of your product offerings onto facebook/ myspace/ etc, and coupons) at a great monthly price. The store comes ready to go, you just upload your products. My second great find is Alondra, my new web designer who will be manipulating Volusion's templates so that my store looks anything but standard. She is quick, gifted, and from what I 've heard, beautiful. Everything I am looking for in a savior.

Two more obstacles avoided... One million more to go.

xoxo,
Dames and Broads