Off topic: PR at its finest

I thought I'd write something a little off-topic today just because I'm such a PR nerd and I don't care who knows it.

I’ve recently discovered this blog that I’m absolutely in love with and have been reading non-stop (it appears I have a lot of catching up to do considering she started blogging in 2009). It’s a fashion/beauty blog written by an English girl named Zoe. Her blog is called Zoella. Zoe writes reviews on different makeup she’s tried, posts photos of her clothes and outfits, and simply writes about her thoughts and views in general. It appears I’m not the only one who loves her blog either as she has almost four thousand followers.

Zoe is not a PR student like me, and until she had her blog, I’m sure she didn’t think much about PR at all. As you can imagine, the number of followers she has really puts her on the map as an influential blogger and as a result, cosmetic companies (or PR agencies representing cosmetic companies) send her samples to review all the time. She even gets invited to parties that companies like The Body Shop throw so that she can have a sneak peek into their new products in hopes that she’ll mention them in a positive way for her many followers to read.

With that said, this post she wrote fascinated me and I had to really hand it to the PR people she wrote about (FYI – the store is called Zuneta and it’s based in the UK). What is the number one rule in PR? Know your audience. And know her they do. They would have had to take the time to sit down and read several blog posts to get to know Zoe. They knew the way to her heart and she explains what she loved about them in her post. She also explains what she doesn’t love about other PR people – how they can be lazy and just send her generic, formal letters asking her to review her products. She’s still a 21-year-old girl. I’m sure she doesn’t want to be told what to do, especially from some stiff, boring business man.

What did they get out of it? An extremely positive review about them as people and a positive review of their product. What more could a PR guy ask for?