If you are new followers and have not read my very first blog post then you may not know that my goal is to one day open my own business, some sort of boutique. I feel my degree in Strategic Communications can really help me in achieve this future goal.
I stumbled upon a very inspirational post on PR Couture that gave me valuable insight on making my dreams come true: http://www.prcouture.com/category/fashion-pr-tips-strategy/fashion-pr-designers/
-In the article they outlined how Tiny Devotions started as an idea and became a brand.
Tiny Devotions is a Bohemian jewelry line. It consist of mala beads which are inspirational beads that have different meanings for whatever you are experiencing in life. This line was created by Diane Charabrin while living in Bali as a yoga instructor.
She had a vision to turn the sacred mala stones into beautiful jewelry.
How She Started
Diane started by creating a Facebook page for Tiny Devotions and she was able to make sales through her page for free. At this time she was producing all the jewelry, providing customer service and handling the shipping all by herself. Her business was growing and becoming very prosperous.
Branding
Today companies put so much money into advertising hoping it will increase their revenue. Diane watched her business grow with zero advertising. She did this through social networking and creating a brand that does not represent the people. Instead they found key people in the community that represents everything Tiny Devotions believes in. They encourage others to live and to be inspired by posting inspirational quotes on their website and giving to charities.
After having read the story on Tiny Devotions I have been inspired to open my own boutique. Starting out small I know there will be room to grow as long as I can create a strong brand that people can live by and believe in.
I just need to follow these three tips from PR Couture:
- Reach out to people without expectation
- Be generous- give out free products to key people in the community
- Just starting out – instead of approaching people like Oprah- approach smaller blogs with significant audiences instead as you will likely have more of a chance at success.
click here >>http://www.lovetinydevotions.com/ find out more about mala beads!
Fear not, you can change this any time. 
Very cool! I think owning your own boutique would be awesome! What items are you looking to have (just out of curiosity)?
I think tip #3, “approach smaller blogs with significant audiences”, is a great idea for how to receive free pr. It would be much easier to contact people witting these smaller blogs and build a brand relationship with them. Also, people writing smaller blogs are more than likely writing about ideas or products not as a seller but a user. Appealing to a customer base in this way is very smart; educate them about the brand instead of sell them a brand. I personally hate when I feel like I’m being sold to so I can relate.
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