Initially it has been viral growth as users tell their friends. Plus, we work hard at choosing the right keywords for the iTunes App Store. These two things have combined to give our apps the explosive growth we are experiencing. We've just put out a press release for WorldLiveShopper and have started getting glowing reviews of the app.
I credit a lot of my success to working with one of my very first clients, Right Bank Babies, who found me online shortly after I had launched. They were also launching and had an adorable reversible dress that had just been photographed on Heidi Klum's daughter Leni. Together we worked on promoting their children's clothing collection to the media, quickly landing in the pages of Child, Us Weekly, Wondertime, Parents, and even the Today Show. Right Bank Babies has grown tremendously and is now sold at major department stores, exclusive boutiques, online, and in their new mail order catalog. As my clients grow and expand their businesses, my business also grows and flourishes. A large portion of my business comes from people asking my clients "Who's your publicist?" at trade shows when they see their huge press books. It's rewarding to work with a group of likeminded entrepreneurs with innovative, beautiful products who see the value in public relations.
We have grown through word of mouth and by focusing on being the authority in the best products and educational classes for new moms. We consider ourselves to be peers of the moms, so we get as much out of the classes and information as our clients and we really understand what they need. As a mom of twins (Risa), it has been great to reach out to the other twin moms who often feel isolated and overwhelmed, because I can really relate to what they are going through. We take a lot of pride in the relationships that are born out of our Big City Mom events with new moms meeting other new moms. These moms have a great experience and they tell their friends.
Right now I have 50,000 subscribers to SheFinds’ and MomFinds’ newsletters and get around 10,000 unique visitors per day to the sites. I have built this by creating great content and great relationships. I have content syndication deals with MSN, Comcast, Yahoo, and Real Simple. I also blog for the Huffington Post and I do a lot of cross promotion with like brands. The goal is to get exposure and then capture them on my site. My ultimate goal is to have 3 million good unique visitors; I would rather have quality over quantity.
I own a PR agency and started a Facebook page to start posting PR opportunities that were coming from my journalist friends. I was shopping in Duane Reade, and Profnet called and accused me of stealing their leads. I said to them, “If a journalist gives you a lead and me a lead at the same time, how is that stealing your lead? Maybe you are stealing my leads.” I would have never launched if they hadn't made me so angry. In two days I created a website and emailed my friends of Facebook to come over, got a bunch of press about it, and here I am. I have a 96% open rate for my emails, and journalists tell me they get a much more targeted response than with Profnet.
