Is a celebrity an influencer? By that, I mean someone that falls into the category of influencer marketing? Or is celebrity endorsement a category in and of itself?
I tend to classify celebrities as different because they’ve earned their influencer for something other than being an influencer. Even if a content creator illustrates expertise or talent, they are building influence themselves, not through sports or the media or movies or television.
That definition aside, though, celebrities do have influence. The point of my exploration of influence marketing, through my new book and my podcast, is that we have to reframe our thinking to steer away from filtering everything through influencers … with an R … and influence, which is the action you’re trying to achieve. And celebrities can help you achieve influence over an audience.
Sarah Shaw has made a career out of leveraging celebrities to enhance both her own brands … she started a handbag company that got big thanks to celebrities showing up with them … and those of her clients. She joined me to talk about the art and practice of getting real celebrities, not just online influencers with a lot of followers, to try, use and even endorse your product. And often times, it happens without having to pay them. Sarah says it’s easier than you think.
You can connect with Sarah at Sarah Shaw Consulting or on LinkedIn.
This episode of Winfluence is made possible by Podchaser Pro, a media database that is solely focused on podcasts. Find and prioritize podcasts for media planning, public relations or influencer outreach and discover each podcast’s audience size and demographics. It’s about time podcasts — which reach over 100 million Americans each month — had proper media planning information available to brands and agencies. Now they do. Go to PodchaserPro.com/falls to sign up and reach more and more relevant customers through podcast sponsorships and outreach. Be sure to go to the URL PodchaserPro.com/falls so they know you heard about PodChaserPro here.
Winfluence Transcript – Sarah Shaw – Sarah Shaw Consulting
Jason Falls
Hello again friends thanks for listening to Winfluence – The Influence Marketing Podcast. Let me start with a question: Is a celebrity and influencer someone that falls into the category of influencer marketing, or is celebrity endorsement a category in and of itself? I tend to classify celebrities as different because they’ve earned their influence for something other than being an influencer. Even if a content creator illustrates expertise or talent, they’re building influence themselves not through sports or media or movies or television or some other channel. That definition aside, though, celebrities do have influence.
Jason Falls
The point of this show and my book Winfluence is that we have to reframe our thinking to steer away from filtering everything through influencers with an R, and instead through influence, which is the action you’re trying to achieve, and celebrities can help you achieve influence over an audience.
Jason Falls
Sarah Shaw has made a career out of leveraging celebrities to enhance both her brands and those of her clients. She started a handbag company that got big thanks to celebrities showing up with them. Sarah joins me to talk about the art and practice of getting real celebrities not just online influencers with a lot of followers to try us and even endorse your product and oftentimes it happens without having to pay them. Sarah even says it’s easier than you think. So we dug in to find out just how easy it is celebrities and product placement. One way to achieve influence is up next on Winfluence.
Jason Falls
So you like podcasts? Why would you be listening if you didn’t, lots of people like podcasts In fact, podcasts reach 100 million Americans each month, your business or if you’re at an agency, your clients business should be exploring podcasts as a possible place to reach customers, but there’s no good place to see media and audience data about podcasts. Until now, Podchaser Pro is a media database that is solely focused on podcasts. I’ve used it to find listener accounts and demographic data for my clients. And you know, I work with clients in the spirits industry, right so that age demographic is critical, and I can find it with Podchaser Pro, pod chaser pro helps me identify great podcasts by topic, prioritize which meet my audience targeting needs an even contact the right person to discuss either a media buy or to pitch a guest. It’s invaluable for media planning and Uber useful for public relations and influencer outreach. Yes, podcasters are influencers targeting podcasts is smart marketing, not just because over a third of Americans listen to them, but because most podcasts are about very specific topics. You can hyper target very certain interests, making your media spin more efficient. I mean, you’re listening to a podcast on influencer marketing. That’s pretty specific. The cool thing about Podchaser Pro is that the regular Podchaser platform is used by podcast fans to find great podcasts that is free to use. You can sign up now and go browse podcasts right now without paying anything when you want to dig into a podcast and see its demographics, audience numbers and all that important decision making data sign up for pod chaser pro and make smart decisions for your business. Go to PodchaserPro.com/falls. That’s PodchaserPro.com/falls. Use that URL so they know you heard about it on Winfluence. You love podcasts, there’s a good chance a lot of your customers and prospective customers do to find the ones they listen to and reach them more effectively. PodchaserPro.com/falls.
Jason Falls
Sarah I think every business owner that has a consumer product would give their left arm to have an A list celebrity endorsed that product but most would probably give at least part of an arm to just have you know one visibly show up with it somewhere. In fact, here in Kentucky the fact that a picture of Christy Tiegan’s kitchen showed up and there was a bottle of Bulleit Bourbon there actually made news, or Bulleit Bourbon did a nice job of pitching it as a new story recently here. Why is the mere insinuation that a person endorses a brand or has a brand Why is that so powerful?
Sarah Shaw
I love that you asked me that and I love that it’s Bulleit. I happen to have seven my cabinet. So so the one one thing that I think really sets things apart. Especially like let’s just use that Christy Tiegan photo right? Is people want to be like her. So the people who are her fans who want to be like her and want to drink the same drink have the same look right? Dress their kid the same dress like her, you know, whatever it is, they want to be like her. So when there is a photo of her doing whatever it is, it it sells because people immediately react to that kind of guttural, you know, desire, right? I want to be like her, and and then they end up purchasing whatever it is that she’s taken a photo of herself with.
Jason Falls
Yeah, you know, and I use the word ins … insinuation somewhat intentionally, because in a lot of instances, these celebrities may not know anything about the product or the brand itself, my guess is that oftentimes, the products are given to them to try and as long as they don’t dislike it, there’s a chance it winds up in the background of a photo or being worn or carried by them while paparazzi follow them around or whatever. Am I am I off base in that thinking is are most of these instances where a celebrity is seen with a product, it’s like, they got it for free. And they just happen to have it with them.
Sarah Shaw
Often, but they do actually purchase things from people’s websites, too. I mean, when I when I had my handbag company, I had some products in a store in Los Angeles, and they let me know that Cameron Diaz came in and purchased a bunch of my bags. And so we quickly went to InStyle magazine to tell them about it, right. And then a woman who I work with now, when COVID broke out, she started making masks like many brands were doing with their leftover fabric, and a picture of Lady Gaga showed up wearing her mask, just a random photo. And then she went back, you know, and looked and realized that it was one of her assistants that had purchased it. So it wasn’t purchased under Lady Gaga’s name, but it was her product. So you know, things are not always sent its ex, it’s extending gifts is a great way to get products to celebrities. Because a they also they want to see new products, right, just like a magazine editor would write, they can’t see everything in the world. But to have something that’s new and different. That isn’t going to be you know, the next Suzy celebrity shows up wearing the same thing or using it gets to be embarrassing for them, you know, like they have in US Weekly, like the who wore what, when right, and they show the three or four pictures of the same dress on three or four different celebrities and you know who’s wearing it best. So nobody wants that to happen to them. So when when you do send gifts to celebrities, it’s actually usually very welcomed, especially if they end up really liking it. And if you do your research, and you get to sort of know who the person is and what they like, look at a lot of photos for them or see what their lifestyle is like if you can really match something that you have that you want to give them. often they’ll end up using it or wearing it or doing an unboxing video on Instagram or something.
Jason Falls
Well, and the reason you know this is because you’ve successfully built, you know, a business or two out of promoting products to A-list celebrities. Technically now I would label that as something bigger than influence marketing. That’s celebrity product placement. I think it has its own category. But it’s a tactic to achieve influence, which is a broader definition and is what this show and my book are kind of centered on. What does a brand need to have in order to get a celebrity to try or use their product in a way that gets them exposure, what do they need to bring to the table to make that kind of thing happen?
Sarah Shaw
It’s a lot simpler than you think, really. Here’s the here’s the here’s the little secret. Most people just don’t do it. So so that if you are someone who really wants to go after a list celebrities, because if they do show up wearing your product, you know, in a prop … paparazzi shot or post it on Instagram, or do an unboxing video or whatever they could do these days with social media behind them, it can make such a huge difference. And all you really need is a good product that that person will like. I mean, it’s seriously as simple as that, then you need to get in touch with their gatekeeper. They all have gatekeepers, right? publicists, managers, agents, you know, attorneys, and you need to get past them to get the okay to send it on to the celebrity because if you can get it to one of them, they will, you know, they’re gonna acknowledge through email that they’ll get it to that person or they’ll get you in touch with their assistant like these days more with COVID and everything. A lot of offices have been closed. So we’ve been sending a lot of product directly to celebrities assistance, because they’re in touch with them all the time and see them so they can easily get it to them. Because a lot of the agency offices in LA and New York are closed right now.
Jason Falls
So the gatekeepers is an interesting challenge for me because I have maybe I’m just a skeptic, but I have this this mind’s eye view of reaching out to, you know, a manager or an agent, something like that. And one of two things happens, either they say, yeah, send it along, and then that person takes it and uses it themselves or never gives it to the celebrity. So that’s one thing that I think might happen. The other thing that I think might happen is they immediately say, well, you can send it to him, but they won’t use it unless you pay me, you know, his $20,000 fee. And so am I, am I wrong? do those things not happen? Or am I am I just sour?
Sarah Shaw
I think you’re sour. So I can’t guarantee obviously, that the people keep the product. But usually, when we get emails, that’s why we never send it unsolicited. So you could just easily find out, you know, who represents you know, whatever, Suzy celebrity, and just send it to the office, you know, random gift, you have no way to track it at that point. Right? You don’t I mean, you can obviously see if it was delivered by the delivery service, but you don’t know if anyone opened it, gave it gave it to the maid, right? Whatever, threw it in the garbage. So we like to go directly to the gatekeepers send an introductory email, hey, we’d love to send this to so and so because of these reasons. Could we send it to your office? Sometimes, here’s the best way is when they write back and say, Oh, let me check. Right? Because or let me check with their assistant or this sounds great. I’m not sure what color Let me ask someone. And that way, you’re starting this engagement with them that ties them to you more, because then you know, three or four days later, you can send another email, Hey, have you heard back on, you know, which color we should send? Or if they want to test out our, you know, whatever, cream or something, right? And as long as you’re getting the engagement with the gatekeeper, it’s more likely that they’re going to say yes, right? Sometimes they just write back right away and say, Sure, send it here, we’ll get it to them, then we always we track it, obviously, we see about three days, four days after it’s received by the gatekeeper, then we send a follow up and just you know, super casual, hey, just want to see if you got the package we sent for Suzy celebrity. You know, saw it was delivered a few days ago, just wondered if you’d had a chance to get it to her yet. You know, and sometimes they’ll say, Yep, it’s already been sent over, it was picked up. You know, especially now these days when we’ve been sending it to the assistants, a lot of times because they see them pretty much on a daily basis, it’s been a lot easier to get the positive response. And then it’s really just a wait and see at that point, right? It’s sometimes you can if it’s something that’s consumable, not doesn’t have to be food, but it could be a candle or cream or face cream or shampoo or something like that, then it’s easy to get in touch with them again, maybe if you gave them a 30 day supply, right, get in touch 30 days later, hey, you know, just wanted to see if she liked the shampoo. And could we, you know, if she wants some more, we’d be happy to send some more out. Because if you can get someone to reorder from you, essentially, right, that that builds a story. And then you can go out to this, I mean, you can go out to the celebrity magazines, and say, Hey, so and so has this, but it’s these days, it’s harder to get them to write about it if there’s no photo. So obviously if they post about it on social, you know, screenshot the photo, send that to the celebrity magazines, but if they order again, that starts to make it more of a story that you can say hey, we sent this to Suzy celebrity she loved it so much she or you know, got another 130 days later or whatever. And, and then it makes it more newsworthy, because it’s more social proof that they liked it enough to get more.
Jason Falls
Right. So I love the fact that your your current focus, I think is on helping women get their clothing or accessories exposure. And but I love the fact that it’s not limited to just the celebrity thing. You also are, as you mentioned, you’re working the angles of you know, leveraging the celebrities to get those products featured in magazines even placed in probably TV shows and things like that. Are there are there avenues that entrepreneurs with products can use to get that product placement on TV shows and in magazines without the celebrity angle? Or does it kind of require that?
Sarah Shaw
No, not at all. I mean, if you have a favorite show, TV show, for example, you can if you wait till the show, you know gets to the credits at the end, you can slowly slow it down and look and see you know if it’s clothing or accessories then obviously you’d go to the costume department. If it was home goods, you’d go to set decoration if it was you know, little knick knack II things or a backpack or something that the actors carry in their hand that actually falls under Prop master and so you know, even like watches and rings actually fall under Prop Master, for anyone who’s listening has got watches and jewelry. So anything that they might take off or put down, it would be considered props, not costumes. And so you can just look and see who those people are, because their names are in the credits. And then you know, if it’s let’s just say it’s whatever TV show is produced by Warner Brothers, you can call the Warner Brothers studio main number, which you can get from Google. And I was gonna say, 411, but I don’t think that exists anymore.
Sarah Shaw
I’m showing my age, right? And my kids are like, 411, what’s that? This copy mean the same thing as Xerox mommy? And so you can call the studio and say, Hey, I’m looking, is I needed the production office phone number for such and such TV show, then they’ll give you that sometimes it’s there at the studio, sometimes it’s off the lot somewhere. Could be in Atlanta, who knows? Right? They shoot a lot of TV shows in Atlanta now. And they’ll give you the phone number, you can call that production office, ask for whichever department head you need, that you saw their name in the credits, and then you can say, Hey, I have something I want to send to you guys, can I get an email address, you know, I have this thing that I think would be great for so and so or would look good in their house or whatever you’re pitching. And it’s not that hard to get stuff on TV shows. I mean, they have limited budget, you know, believe it or not. So they are always looking for freebies or to buy stuff at wholesale or cost. And there’s no reason that they would say no, unless, like, No, we don’t even want to see it, right. Unless the the actor just wears one thing for the entire show. Right? And it’s never going to change, or they never go into the into their home, right. But you have to watch the show. That’s the whole way is like you have to train yourself to watch a TV show, from the perspective of how would my stuff look in there right on the screen. Like if you sell shoes, unless the person puts their feet on the desk a lot, not a good thing for television, because mostly it’s waist up. So you know, you want to kind of you want to really look at it with a different eye than you would have just like kicking back with a beer and watching it.
Jason Falls
So you focus a lot on women’s clothing, and accessories, is that just a result of your contacts or can can a business that has products for men leverage your expertise too.
Sarah Shaw
Oh, totally I do I work with I have a lot of male clients. They don’t necessarily have male centric products. But it doesn’t matter to me what the product is, to me a product is a product. You know, it can be anything, it can even I mean, even one person I’m working with makes a hand sanitizer. And it’s a special, something that’s special and unique. And only they make it in the whole world. And so we’re thinking of pitching it to TV shows to us on the set, like just for actors and people to sanitize their hands with because even that something like that, if if you’re willing to, you know, give them some to try, right, you might have to send I don’t know, 50 of them to, for them to put it around for free. And if they like it, then they’ll purchase it from you. And but that’s a cool story to pitch to a magazine. Right? So it’s this kind of thinking about the different angles and sort of working, you know, thinking outside the box, really, and how can I work it into the into the life of celebrities, even if it’s not going to a specific celebrity, because maybe the celebrity who’s the star of the show is someone you feel is a draw for your clientele. You know, so you don’t want to go after either celebrities or TV shows or even magazines, whatever it is. You only want to go after the ones that your clientele is going to be impressed with. Because that’s the whole idea, right is build credibility, impress your people, get them to take out their wallet, buy your product.
Jason Falls
Right. So let’s say I’m launching a new line of I work in the spirits industry a lot. So let’s say I’m watching a new line of bourbon. And for the sake of continuity, let’s say it’s going to be a bourbon positioned for women. That’s a whole different podcast episode. And I’d probably get in trouble for expressing my opinions on how the industry does not do that. But anyway, I digress. So what kind I mean you’ve you’ve talked about it’s you know that you’ve said this is a lot easier than you might think. And you’ve talked about sending product but I’m curious if I’m a brand manager or I’m an entrepreneur, what kind of dollar investment does it actually take to pull this off? I want A-listers with my bottle in their home at their home bar or enjoying a cocktail with my brand and visible spaces. What kind of budget do I realistically need to have at the ready for this?
Sarah Shaw
Well, it depends right if you are looking for a 100 percent guaranteed photo of them like standing in front of their home bar with three bottles behind them right of your brand, that could be a quarter million dollars, could be more depending on who it is. But if you have done your research, like I’ve never paid for a piece of press ever in my entire life or paid for a celebrity to have my product. And so if it was me, jump me to tell you what I would do. So I would Google and find celebrities that like whatever the type of bourbon is, right? And there’s all kinds of information there. And then I would say, oh, look Susie celebrity, I don’t want to use any specific names, because I don’t know who likes bourbon. But so Oh, wow, she loves this, you know, and I think my customer would dig her. So I’m going to contact her people tell her you know, I’ve done I’ve seen photos online of you know, Suzy celebrity drinking bourbon out bars, obviously, she’s just hanging at home right now. You know, we’d love to send her a brand, this brand new brand, you know, that we have that we’ve created, here’s a little bit about it, this was made yada yada, and would love to see what she thinks of it, we’d really value her opinion. And I would just send, if they say sure, yeah, she’s willing to try it. Right? I would just send it over. And then of course, I would follow up. And here’s the thing, if she really is a big bourbon drinker and really likes it, chances are, she’ll show a photo of herself, a pouring a glass or have it have it on the bar with a glass or something. And you can even say that in the letter, you know, we’re a new brand, it’s hard to break into, you know, kind of the man’s world of alcohol, right? And we would love it, you know, if she, if she enjoys this, you know, we’d love to partner with her if she wants to be our spokesperson. We’d love to get into conversation about how we could push this together if she’s interested, you know, because she may just say, Hey, I’ll do a photo, I’ll take a photo, put it on Instagram, and I want 30% of sales. Right? I mean, you know, it’s kind of like some people go on Shark Tank and I when I’m watching it, and it’s like, they’re they asked for 10%. And then they get some huge person right there sitting in front of them. Who says I’ll get I want 25% but I’m gonna, this is what I’m gonna do. I’m just like, screaming take it take it. Like, Are you dumb? Right? So you know, because it’s better to have a smaller, you know, 25 or 30% is not that big to give away, if someone’s gonna help you make millions versus the 100 grand that you’ve sold. Right? Exactly. You know, you have to kind of look at the bigger picture of right, what is this going to bring me in the future? You know, and there’s been a lot of celebrities that have been in the alcohol world, right? And they’ve done really well with it and sold their brands to big companies. And, you know, maybe there’s some women who want to get in on that. Because it’s this big man.
Jason Falls
That’s very true. That’s very true. You know, you you you mentioned earlier you you launched your own handbag business. And and as I understand it, you you basically, you know, kind of got big doing this sending handbags to celebrities. Tell us a little bit about that story. How did you kind of revolve in or evolve into that?
Sarah Shaw
Well, this was way back in 1997. Before dinosaurs roamed the earth, and there was no internet, really, I mean, people were just getting online, like match.com was like the only website I’d never heard of. And, but no, you know, like, we couldn’t go online and search for celebrities or you know, anything like that. And so, I had worked in the film business as a costume supervisor for many years before I started my handbag line. But it never occurred to me to give celebrities products, right. I met dinner one night with a costume designer that I had worked with for many years and she’s complaining to me that she’s being forced by the studio to use Donna Karen clothes in a movie. I stopped listening my head I’m like ding ding ding idea if Donna Karen is putting her clothes in movies, why aren’t I putting my stuff in movies like this is so seem so simple, I never thought of it. So I went to the office the next day, started calling the agencies because that’s the only place like, you know, CAA and William Morris Agency and all the places where the actors agents work because I didn’t know how else to find like their publicity firms or management companies, and was just saying, hey, I want to send a gift to so and so I make these bags and I think she’ll really like it. And they were like, Okay, and so I just made I think I was, I don’t know, I’d never seen anyone do it before. Right. So and then I had a couple friends that were working on TV shows still so, you know, it’s like, Hey, can I come by at lunchtime and throw my bags out on a table? You know? Sure, come on over, you know, so I’d walk on the Paramount lot with some bags, and the security guards would laugh at me and called me the bag lady. And I’d go in, I’d lay my bags out, you know, and I got a couple of celebrities that way. And, and I just then I thought, Okay, well, I’m just gonna start pitching it to the magazines, you know, so but this was when, of course, magazines weren’t on email either. So yeah, I had to print a picture and put it in an envelope and mail it to them, and call them call them up. And like, Hey, did you get my letter, you know, and but the very first celebrity that was ever in a magazine of mine was totally random. And remember, Party of Five? I don’t know if you’re old enough.
Jason Falls
Yes, I do. I’m probably older than you. You’re talking about PR tactics that I was doing when I was in like college?
Sarah Shaw
Okay. All right. So maybe you got a few years I’d be so Liv Tyler Wright was the star, one of the stars of Party of Five. And she showed up on the pages of InStyle magazine wearing a bag that I sent her going to a movie opening. And it was just I mean, I used to scour the magazines, because I never heard back from anybody. You know, I would call and like, Hey, you know, I sent a bag for Sarah Jessica Parker. Oh, yeah, we gave it to her, you know, but then I’d never hear anything, right. And so I couldn’t follow up by email. And there’s obviously no social media. And so it was just, you know, these random pieces that would show up in magazines that, you know, somebody brought Kristin Davis to one of my sample sales. They were friends from college or something. And I’m staring at her. And I was like, God, that girl looks so familiar. And then it was like you ding dong. She’s insects in the city. And I was like, Oh, my God, you know, she got my house. And so it was one of you know, and then then I saw her I was in someone’s office waiting to go to a meeting to talk about putting my bags on this big channel thing that they were creating and never happened. But I’m reading Us Weekly while I’m sitting in the waiting room. And there’s a picture of Sarah Jessica, I mean, Kristin Davis holding my one of the bags, she bought it my sample sales. That’s good out. So it just it for me. It happened a lot organically like that in the beginning, because I had no way to track anything. And it was really like then I started to think you know, because my friend had was telling me about the Donna Karan placements and films. So then I started calling film studios and saying, hey, do you have any movies that could use my bags? And I went and gave a bunch of bags to Legally Blonde, not knowing anything about the movie? They’re like, Oh, yeah, at some college kids need bags. And I was like, great. And so I threw a bunch of bags at them. They picked out what they wanted, and I left. And then the publicity shot for the whole movie happened to be the shot of Reese Witherspoon sitting in her lounge chair with my bag right next to her on the ground. You know? And so that was pure luck, right? I mean, and you couldn’t have asked for more. Right? I didn’t pay to be in that. I just gave them like 20 bags, who you know, who even knows what that cost? $1,000 or $2,000 3000? Who knows? But, I mean, I got a huge $120,000 order from Nordstrom. From that photo. Yes. So and then Sony loved it so much. They were so excited about Nordstrom ordering them that they made many movie posters and gave them to Nordstrom to put it because it was all sold online. They want a website, it was 2001 at this point.
Sarah Shaw
And so Nordstrom sold them online and included a little mini movie poster with all with the bags that they bought. And so you know, so things can really start to build, right, you build the credibility, I was getting my best stuff on TV shows, I was calling just like I was telling you how to do right, call the TV show, find out who the costume designer is, or whoever you need pitch your stuff to them. I mean, I would course, but I was mailing it to them not email. And I mean, I when I think about how much postage we probably spent in those five years, you know, $30,000 and so, you know, so because it was you know, every time you want to send out a press kit or whatever it’s, you know, 400 envelopes that costs $4 each to send, right. And plus all the beer and pizza for your stuffing parties. And so, you know, so I think that if, if, you know, people started to catch on after I started to do that, and more more people like people I knew in the fashion industry at that point. You know, we’re like, hey, How’d you do that? I want to do it, you know, and so I would start sharing with, you know, friends that had lines that weren’t, you know, competing with me jewelry lines and things started telling them how to do it. And you know, and it was it, it was kind of I look at it as like a game. Right? How many people can you get it to? How many people are gonna show up in a magazine? Or is a magazine gonna write about it because you got it to a celebrity. You know, when sometimes they’ll write about you, if you just have an email, right? Say, Hey, I love this. Thanks so much or something, right? And they’ll put it in a little blurb in a magazine. But those little blurbs can be, you know, amazing. And you don’t need to have a celebrity to get into magazines. Right? I mean, you couldn’t just pitch your products to magazines, and, you know, just they’re always looking for some the next bread slicer. Right? They always want something new.
Jason Falls
You said earlier that, that there’s not a lot of people doing this, I would imagine there’s a lot more people doing it now than there were when you started, how competitive is and how hard is it to get your products to celebrities and or in TV shows movies these days?
Sarah Shaw
Well, I think getting it to TV shows and movies is a lot easier because most people don’t know how to do it. Like everybody that I have never met a person, I should say, in the last at least five years, who’s told me that they’ve contacted a TV show, and got their products in it. And most people that come to work with me, have never tried to pitch their products to celebrities. They love the idea, but they don’t know how to do it. They’re afraid to make the wrong move. They they want the guidance, you know, they don’t want to screw it up. Because you know, you only have one chance to make a first impression.
Jason Falls
That’s true. That’s very true. So have you ever encountered a product that just doesn’t fly? Because I know you do this with more than your own handbags? Now you do it for you know other folks? I’m wondering if there’s something out there that just is like a lead balloon just kind of sits there and people are like, nope, no thanks.
Sarah Shaw
I’ve seen products like that I’ve had people ask me to help them. But if I don’t believe in a product, I could never take somebody on as a client. You know, and there’s there’s so many people I talk to so many people every month about their products, either you know, people who need some help or want to inquire about my services or something. And there there are a lot of very few and far between I have to say of things that are just sort of off that you just don’t really understand how anyone but that man their mom think it’s cool.
Jason Falls
I know, I know a lot of entrepreneurs who only them and their mom think their thing is cool. Okay. I get I get what you’re saying. Well, just real quickly. Before we go here, I just want to let you know, you know, you’re talking about having you know, pizza and whatnot have the envelope stuffing parties. Yeah, so my mother and stepfather owned a quick print shop when I was in high school. And my job I would work on the weekends sometimes was to gather friends to come down to the print shop and co late game programs for high school football and basketball game programs and or stuff, envelopes of various mailers and whatnot that they were handling as well. And I’ll do you one better I’ll throw a an old PR trump card at you. Back in the day in in college when I was helping the the public relations department at the athletic department at the University where I went to school, I would take the halftime and final box scores from basketball games that were on mimeograph paper, and we would load them into the mimeograph machine, and I would hand crank the mimeograph machine to get how many ever copies we needed to distribute to the media? How about that?
Sarah Shaw
Wow. I I did help my parents stuff envelopes for their business when I was a kid. And I was just telling someone the other day that I probably put stamps on the straightest of anybody in the world. Because my mom was such a stickler about that. My kids have seen me do it. And now they try to copy how straight Oh, Mom, look how straight I put this. And I have lived through the dinosaur era. And it’s so funny. I always say to people now you don’t know how easy you have it right? There’s contact any celebrity calm is a website where you can go find the contact information for any famous person in the world, right, what I would have given to have that, you know, back in 1997, you know, or even in 2000, right? I mean, and, you know, so and just to be able to, you know, put a digital line sheet together a catalog and just send it to you know, 500 editors in 30 seconds, right? It’s, it’s the ease of the modern of modern technology. You know, to me, I’m like, you guys have no idea how easy it is now.
Jason Falls
Yeah, that’s very true. I can’t I can’t tell you how many times I worked until one or two in the morning, getting things done after a sporting event that could have been done if it were done today. It’s done in like 45 seconds. Now it’s it’s just finished. Ahhh. Such is life. You live and you learn and hopefully that hopefully we can you know, let the the young people out there know that they should they should count their their blessings and their lucky stars that they don’t have to go through. That that uphill in the snow both ways is a bitch, isn’t it?
Sarah Shaw
Yes. It sure is.
Jason Falls
Sarah, Sarah, where can people find you online if they want to know more or perhaps inquiries as to how you can help them? Sure you can find me at SarahShawConsulting.com. And at Instagram @SarahShawConsulting and Facebook @SarahShawConsulting. And if you go to my homepage of my website and you feel like I maybe could give you some help or you want to chat about see if I can there’s a book a call now. Big Huge button. So feel free to do that and I’d love to talk to you.
Jason Falls
Awesome. Sarah, thanks so much for the insights. This is a really interesting sliver of influence marketing and one that I’m happy that we got to talk about on the show.
Sarah Shaw
Me too. Thanks for having me, Jason
Transcribed by otter.ai
The Winfluence theme music is “One More Look” featuring Jacquire King and Stephan Sharp by The K Club found on Facebook Sound Collection.
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