Celebrity Gifting.... Unoriginal or Great Marketing Strategy?

Celebrity gifting is a HUGE topic for discussion amongst small companies.

I once read on a marketing blog, ‘Gifting your product to a celebrity?  How unoriginal! Find a creative and original way to market your brand’… Unoriginal? Maybe, but effective… yes!  As a small mom-owned business, advertising is less of an option. While the ad rates are probably the lowest in years, it still isn’t helping the budgets of small mom-owned businesses.  We rely on word of mouth, referrals and any press reachable for promotion {usually from our kitchen HQ's}. 

Blogs are huge nowadays with reviews of your products and then a giveaway to put it in the hands of someone in a whole new target area with the hopes of continued promotion and referral business.  So, why not ‘giveaway’ a product to someone who has a ton of following, media attention and when they ‘speak’ it is a ‘golden opportunity’ for promoting your product?  I still say the cheapest way to ‘advertise’ your product and company.

Building your brand takes time, and people buy what a celebrity likes, wears, has, etc… while you are working on pitching your product to retailers, media and other avenues, showing that response a celebrity has made about your company and product helps open the doors a little further.  It is not guaranteed that your ’gift’ will be acknowledged publicly, but atleast you can be assured you’ve promoted it out to another target audience you didn’t have before or thought you could reach.

 
There are many ‘unoriginal’ celebrity gifting companies out there that small businesses turn to, but I found that making the direct connection and reaching out to your intended celeb of interest is the best way to see if they are open to your product and/or gifting.  This will ensure you know you are not wasting your time/money if it doesn’t even make sense to promote your product to them.

I do offer celebrity gifting support within Kt Steppers under our department, Kt Giftings. This department is strictly for gifting purposes and not a full-service marketing or pr opportunity, but Kt Giftings will help promote your product and company within a special gifting basket.  I set this up after receiving many questions about the ‘how to’s’ of how I have many celeb ‘kudo’s’ (you can see some here: www.ktsteppers.com/Customer_Celeb_Kudos ) The amazing responses I've received have definitely resulted in orders, press, and referral business from that celebrity's assistant or them ordering direct as well.

Another company that offers a full-service promotion to celebrities and 100% supports Women and Mom-Owned Companies is Womentorz (www.womentorz.com/celebrity) with Celeb Hoopla gifting program. Not only can you become a member of Womentorz but their Celeb Hoopla gifting opportunities are promotion of the highest degree, unlike any celebrity gifting company I’ve dealt with.  Their team (yes, includes myself) confirms the celeb recipient in advance and actually ‘promotes’ your product!  What a concept, when that is the whole goal, right?  Not your typical gifting company practice. Their fees are reasonable and you can partner with any other Womentorz member (or company interested) to split the costs and still get the same promotion opportunity with Celeb Hoopla.  How amazing is that.  Check out Celeb Hoopla and Womentorz and join in the fun.  The opportunities are endless!!

I encourage all my fellow 'preneurs' to use the most cost effective marketing strategies that work for them and fit their target audience.  Don't feel there is only one avenue or company to work with, your looking to build your brand and when something works, promote away!!