Frédéric Fekkai. Jonathan Antin. Ken Paves. Chris McMillan. Today, these celebrity hairdressers have practically become celebrities themselves— appearing on TV, shot by the paparazzi and quoted in major fashion magazines. But they didn’t start off that way. Through talent, hard work and an understanding of the press, they’ve built their careers over the years to super success. Media exposure helped them on their way up and it can help you, too. You don’t have to live in New York or L.A or have a big salon to begin building press contacts. A salon profile in your newspaper or a feature on your charity cut-a-thon on the local news will raise your profile, bring in new clients and start you on your way to becoming a darling of the press.

The Write Stuff
A press release is a written statement about a product, service, event, person or organization. It’s sent out to journalists with the hope they’ll use the information for a magazine, newspaper, television or on-line story. You may think that press releases are only for big companies. Not so! A well-written press release can help any-sized business get noticed in their local community and beyond.

Grab attention with the headline. The title and subtitle of the press release should answer the five Ws—who, what, when, where, why—if possible.

Convey all important information in the intro paragraph. Journalists don’t have a lot of time and will not read the whole release. Get them hooked early.

Keep your press release brief—no more than two pages. Use the body of your release to expand your information, adding quotes or more details.

Include your contact information. Ensure that journalists can reach you for more information by adding a contact name, phone number and e-mail address. You can put this at the upper left of your release or at the bottom.

Check out press release samples. Like resumes, press releases have standard formats. Research the internet or the library for examples. Companies such as Your Beauty Network (ybn.com) offer tools that allow you to simply fill in the blanks with your information.

What Makes You Different?
Now that you know the basics of writing a press release, you have to decide what you want to promote. The good news: Journalists, editors and reports want and need stories. What you have to remember: Your services, products and events have to be newsworthy to get coverage. Spend some time thinking about what makes you and your salon different. For each idea you have, ask yourself “What makes this interesting” and “Why should people care?” before moving forward. Some ideas to get you thinking:

Highlight seasonal beauty trends. Position you and your salon as experts on the latest cuts, color, makeup and fashion trends.

Promote a new service or product. For this to be successful, the service has to be truly innovative such as eyelash extensions or sleep treatments.

Become a makeover expert. Hold a contest for potential clients with a makeover as the prize or offer makeovers for charity and send in the results to the media.

Host a charity event. Let the press know ahead of time so they can list your event in their “Calendar” section and help you build attendance. Encourage journalists to stop by, ideally with a photographer, the day of the festivities in the hopes of a post-party story.

Making Contact
You have your release written. Now, who do you send it to? Consider your target market and the publication’s lead time. Make a media contact list and be as specific as possible. Send your press release to the appropriate editor so it won’t end up in the wastepaper basket. Magazines work months in advance; newspapers one to two weeks, and local news shows two days. As for following up: Journalists are extremely busy so you don’t want to be a pest. Email contacts and gently remind them about your story. Let them know you realize how busy they are and don’t be pushy. Otherwise, they may say no just to get rid of you. Another great tactic is to invite the press to your salon at their convenience to try your services and products. This gives you a chance to build a relationship with journalists and let them know you are available as sources for any stories they are working on.