Local PR for CPG Brands & Beyond
Local PR for CPG Brands & Beyond
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This week, Emily chats with Delaney Vetter, an independent consultant specializing in PR and copywriting for brands in the Food & Beverage and CPG space. In this episode, Delaney discusses the evolving landscape of PR, her approach to securing press opportunities for brands of all shapes and sizes, and the power of storytelling in brand messaging.
Tune in for topics like:
[1:33] Delaney’s journey into CPG food & beverage PR
[7:33] The two clients a PR professional is always balancing
[6:48] How to approach PR when you’re an emerging brand
[11:52] Why you need to be on an affiliate platform
[13:16] PR Strategy for local brands
[17:26] Benefits of PR beyond sales
[22:41] The power of founder-led marketing & PR
[26:14] Current PR trends you should know about to leverage for your brand
[30:35] Three things you can do today to build awareness locally for your brand
Listen to this week’s Local Marketing School conversation!
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Emily Steele (00:01.326) Well, I'm so excited to have you here Delaney on the local marketing school podcast Why don't you dive in and tell us a little bit about yourself?
Delaney Vetter (00:10.053) So excited to be here and to chat. Hi, everybody. I'm Delaney. I'm a copywriter and PR strategist based in Brooklyn. And my work primarily is with CPG food and beverage brands. So snacks, pantry staples, beverages, ice cream, all the things. Those are the brands I work with.
Emily Steele (00:37.29) Yeah. OK, how does one get into this world?
Delaney Vetter (00:41.917) I was always obsessed with food since I was little. I would, I obviously watched Disney Channel, but I also spent a lot of time watching Food Network. So, Ina and Giada and all of the competition shows, I would force my sister and my friends to do that with me all the time and like film it on our iPad. So I was always very excited about food. And at the time, this was kind of before Food Network and magazines and that was really it like we didn't really have robust like YouTube and content creators like that wasn't really a thing yet and when I went to college, I was very undecided on what I wanted to study because I liked to do too many things and Ended up being a comm major so studying communication at school
Delaney Vetter (01:42.151) I did a lot of journalism in college, was an editor for our paper, and did that whole deal. And thought that maybe I'd go that path, but realized with my lovely advisor for the newspaper that you don't really, and as you should, don't really get to write those features and those interviews and those like juicier stories until much later. And I think that's awesome people who love journalism for the sake of journalism but for me I was like oh but I just want to talk to cool people and preferably about topics I'm really interested in and that I don't know if that's for me. And I ended up in Portland, which is where I went to school, that had pretty much all food and beverage and hospitality clients. So big legacy CPG brands, but in the natural food space. So Bob's Red Mill, Dave's Killer Bread, like all of the fun ones that you probably have at home.
Delaney Vetter (03:01.845) and it was great. I was their only intern and they really let me kind of run wild a little bit. They're like here's your syllabus for the summer but you let us know what you want to do. And I had a wonderful mentor there who every two weeks she'd sit down with me and say like what do you want to learn? What do you want to work on? So I could say I want to get on a client call or with recipe development or work on newsletters or pretty PR sample boxes that I was seeing on Instagram at the time because that just sounded like so much fun to me. Actually such a pain getting those stickers on those boxes. I was like, nope, not for me. This is hard work. Like getting hand cramps, writing the letters. But yeah, but it was really fun.
Emily Steele (03:39.19) Yeah.
Emily Steele (03:47.612) I'm out.
Delaney Vetter (04:01.879) the business and work with all these different clients and also a big part of my job was Consuming food media every day so I would get to work. I would read the Wall Street Journal and I would send a report I'd read the Wall Street Journal in New York Times and I'd send a report to whoever it was someone account director on like what the news was of the day specifically in the food section and Then I would go to our like library and grab magazines for inspiration or for contacts like for my job. I'm like this is not something someone should get paid for.
Emily Steele (04:38.69) Yeah, this is too fun!
Delaney Vetter (04:42.553) Yeah, so that's a long winding way of that kind of opened up the door to me that working in food media, or working in food, doesn't mean I had to work in a restaurant necessarily, didn't mean that I had to go the traditional journalism path. Yeah, so it just kind of opened the door and then...
Yeah, basically I can get into more of the how this all now, but that's a longer story too. But yeah, basically started freelancing after college and in a different space. It was kind of on accident. It was a friend said they needed help on something. That person referred me to someone else. All that word of mouth good stuff. And then I was like, no, if I'm going to do this, I really want it to be in food.
Emily Steele (05:41.614) All food and bed, all the time. That is so cool. You just right out of college, start freelancing, really finding where you excel, focusing. I think a lot of people in the freelance space, it's like you kinda take whatever you can get and I'm sure maybe you had that phase, right? When you're early into it and you're figuring it out, so how cool now that you can really focus and serve a very specific vertical because then you gather that expertise, which is obviously why we have you on the show, to tell us a little bit about that in the comm space and what is going on in the CPG industry,
Delaney Vetter (05:52.941) Yeah, totally.
Emily Steele (06:11.588) And I'm excited to dig into your expertise in PR and how we think about PR. So talk a little bit about that. We'd love to understand how you approach PR with different types of CPG brands.
Delaney Vetter (06:27.949) Yeah, I think something I always say to brands, or like new brands or younger brands when they come talk to me about PR, is that you could ask 10 people, like 10 different PR people what PR is, and they would all probably have a very different answer for you. And part of that is just like personality and style, but also because PR's changed so much over the last few years, even in the last three.
Delaney Vetter (06:58.483) there's so many pieces to that like affiliate and kind of the state of media and just so many things but for me PR my job is to have two clients and the client one is media and journalists and editors and all that good stuff and then the second client is my actual client like the brand and so my job is to bridge the gap between both of those and really provide value to both using what
Delaney Vetter (07:27.783) whatever my client is bringing to the table. So for example, if you know a client of mine is an organic peanut butter company, when I'm reaching out to editors, yes the goal is to get stories that are going to increase brand awareness for that brand and help build their brand affinity and all kinds of good stuff, but it's also to make sure that we're doing that in service.
I'll reach out to them and say, hey, we have this great peanut butter and we know that your audience like cares about XYZ. I would love to send you a sample of this for you to try and see if it's something you're interested in. And then yeah, it kind of stories can come from there. That's obviously like such a small example of how it can come to be, but it's just like a two way street. Editors come to me and they need something and brands might have different goals too. Is it the traditional PR route, which is kind of what I just mentioned, which is more digital print media broadcast, podcast, stuff like that? Or are we taking a little bit more creative approach? Are we doing brand partnerships and maybe more collaborations with different creators? Are we doing a special flavor, like bigger campaigns? So that is where the lines of PR and advertising and marketing like all get kind of blurry, but
Emily Steele (09:04.108) Yeah.
Delaney Vetter (09:04.391) It's just all the stuff that's gonna help get the brand's name out there and get their story out there too.
So when you think about the different clients you work with, I'm sure you see people in so many different phases of growth. So maybe people who are in X locations, in X regions of the country, and then some who have like more of a national or global presence and a budget to go with that. So I'd love to hear like how would you approach someone who is like newer in the CPG space? They're just getting products on shelves like in a specific area. Or what does that typically look like when someone's newer in this space and how you advise them? I have clients across the board. I have clients that are in, you know, every major retailer all across the country, and then some that might only sell on their website and to a select, like, group of independent stores in their area. And a lot of it depends on kind of what they're hoping to do. Are they hoping to get attention of buyers so they can go more national? Are they hoping to get attention of investors?
Are they hoping to get people to, like, locally to come visit them? Or do they want that national audience? And I think the first thing I always ask brands is to get really clear on what those goals are.
Delaney Vetter (10:27.749) Because I think some brands come to me and they know that they need, they know that they should invest in PR or someone told them that they should invest in PR. And so that's the idea they have. And they might not actually know why they want to do that yet. And that's okay. But I say no to brands all the time because they're not ready. And it's not worth it for me to have a brand that probably has limited resources already to be investing in PR.
Delaney Vetter (10:57.743) not going to be a good fit for them. And for a brand, like you were saying, like that's maybe kind of just getting started. And let's say they're based in Nashville or something, and they have a website, they have their products on there, and they're selling in some local stores. First thing I would tell them is if they want national press, they need to get on an affiliate platform, like share a sale.
Delaney Vetter (11:24.457) it's become a necessary evil of PR. Just part of the puzzle. And it's not that expensive to set up. You can, I won't get into too much of the weeds of it because it can get a little bit confusing sometimes, but essentially you're paying a commission if someone buys your product when they see it on a website like Cosmopolitan or Food and Wine or Bon Appétit
Delaney Vetter (11:54.311) publications do not have as many ad advertisers but to have that revenue and it's a way for you to even though you don't have that wide of distribution yet to get the attention of some of those bigger publications because people can purchase you anywhere. The number one thing is if you want national press people have to be able to buy you nationally you know whether that's in store or online so and it could be on Amazon it could be on Thrive Market
Emily Steele (12:17.887) Right. Yeah
Delaney Vetter (12:24.391) there are so many other options too if having your own D2C site is like too much for you.
Emily Steele (12:28.81) Yeah, totally.
So you would go, okay, so I am a CPG brand, I'm in Nashville, I've got a few outlets, and I'm on share a sale, and would you go local PR first just to be like, hey, have you gotten in your own backyard? Because I imagine there's always kind of like the founder, the born and raised in Nashville angle. So would you approach it that way first before you're like, let's try to get the New York Times talking about you, or whatever it is, how do you think about that? Oh, cool.
Delaney Vetter (12:47.405) Yes.
Delaney Vetter (12:57.177) Sometimes I do it all at the same time and it kind of just depends. I mean, if they don't have any distribution anywhere else and they're really, really local and maybe they don't even have their website up yet, maybe they're not even on share sale, then yes, we're going on, okay, all the local newspapers, all the local magazines, let's send product to the bloggers that are local that are talking about what's happening in the city. Let's, you know, talk to the producers at these morning shows in your neighborhood that
Delaney Vetter (13:27.391) want to have you on and just really like leveraging the local and regional press too because yeah you're totally right there's so many first of all they want stories they want story ideas they want people to talk to and if there is a really strong local angle that sets you apart from something else
I kind of do it concurrently. Like it sometimes if the product is really awesome there could be a national opportunity that comes up that we can then leverage for local. So they kind of work together and the opposite is true. A lot of major national like for broadcast if something is at you know a station in one city that's a really great segment they might pick that up a couple weeks
Delaney Vetter (14:18.119) So to me they all work together and kind of depending on the client and what their goals are the amount that we're putting into each of the buckets can be a little different. But yeah, I really spend the first month of my project with all my clients like really figuring out.
Delaney Vetter (14:39.033) What, beyond just the press, are your goals? Is it getting into that new retailer? Are you really wanting to go really deep into your community? Or do you want to be a more national brand? So yeah, that's a good question though. But yeah, so many options.
There are, and I think it's like some may be a little bit slower from a national angle. It's like the right story at the right time, where sometimes in a local environment, it's like, oh, you're someone with a cool positive story, like a great addition to add to a local publication in so many ways, so it's interesting how you think about it and how you set people up, because also PR's never guaranteed, too, so I think that's always like a, you can't promise a story's gonna get written about you, but because you have such a strong network with people,
Delaney Vetter (15:31.009) Yeah and it is something and I think that's something that's really hard for smaller brands and I get it that you know when you're putting money out there and you don't know 100% like what the outcome is going to be like I'll say and I think most of my peers are the same. We're not going to take you on as a client if we are not confident we can get you press but it just
Delaney Vetter (16:01.143) and you know I always say really takes three months to see like three months of pitching to see the kind of like fruits of your labor and then really ideally you're working with whoever your PR team is for at least six months to kind of make sure you have that momentum going. But yeah that can be that can be that can be tough sometimes if you're a brand with a limited budget
Delaney Vetter (16:30.823) It's a lot of education and patience and all that good stuff.
Emily Steele (16:33.096) Yeah, which is what you get to reinforce here. I know, it's like if people don't have the appetite for patience, well I'm like, you're probably working with at early stages, like a founder of a team. So it's like, we already know, like, this is all a bet. Anyway, like, we're building something from the ground up, like, okay, we got some initial traction, but it takes time. So I think PR, and you think about like the world of SEO, like that's always the thing too. People are like, we can do this, but like, you're gonna, like, it might take some time to start ranking. Like PR is kind of a similar, no, it's not performance marketing.
Emily Steele (17:04.804) So I guess, yeah, kind of on that topic of what do clients kind of start to see after they get PR? What are the things they say back to you or what do they feel or what do they, I'm sure it varies across the board, but I'd love to hear some examples.
Delaney Vetter (17:21.821) Yeah, I mean I think the thing that people expect is, oh it's going to be like so exciting to see those clips and be able to you know use that logo on our website and prime our credibility and all those things which are totally true. Those things are awesome. But then there's some other things that happen that I feel like don't get talked about as much that my clients have told me that are honestly like a way bigger deal than
Delaney Vetter (17:56.567) going to these trade shows or you know being on a call with a buyer for you know a major retailer and having them say oh we saw you in so-and-so and that's why we're interested or one of my clients was finishing a fundraising round last year and two of their investors well and would-be investors were on the fence and my clients sent them like a good housekeeping story that
Delaney Vetter (18:26.487) what their investors said kind of sealed the deal for them and it was kind of that final little like cherry on top which I was very excited about I was like ooh tell me more but he said like stuff like that too so it's getting the attention of the right people and credibility obviously is great you know there are so many brands out there and there are a lot of brands that are doing similar things you know if you're an olive oil company there's you know you at Whole Foods and it's like dozens. So if you can set yourself apart with the press you're getting, that's huge. If you look at any of the really trendy CPG brands right now a lot of their success is due to PR. It's because they're the one that people think of when they think of that category, even if they weren't the first one, even if they aren't the best one. So I think that's an important piece too. It's like part of it is about being seen in places that you want to be associated with too.
Emily Steele (19:34.686) Yeah, yeah, I totally like I can scan the brands in my brain who like showed up and
Delaney Vetter (19:39.993) Yes, I know. I'm like, do I say them?
Emily Steele (19:43.678) Yeah, it does it does make sense like the cultural relevancy and I think so much about PR like as a former PR Comms major like it's so much about social proof I've thought about PR like when we think about it for our company even I'm like It's like that validation someone else is willing to write about you. So you must have something there, right? Like I think that is so hard to quantify But when you think about human behavior and how we make decisions like we're always looking for a reason not to do something like I'm skeptical of this
Emily Steele (20:13.632) done this? Like, is this really right?" And so when everyone else, like through testimonials, through PR, like through these stories, like validates you, it just eases your mind as a consumer or a buyer to be like, okay, they did it. So maybe I could do it. You see that and hear that too.
Delaney Vetter (20:26.137) Yeah, and I don't remember what the, there's like some psychology number where you have to see something like seven times to make a purchase or something.
Emily Steele (20:37.078) Yeah. I think it's like even more at this point, but yeah, it's somewhere like that.
Delaney Vetter (20:40.033) Don't quote me. But I talk about that with my clients a lot where, you know what, like, yes, there are top tier publications and there are all different kinds, you know, that go between them. But for me, you know, this depends on the client and a lot of different conversations. But even being in a more like niche publication that maybe is a little bit smaller, the right person, if they see you there, then they
Delaney Vetter (21:09.927) Instagram influencer campaign, then they see you on the shelf at their store. They're gonna be like, oh, like all of these people that I trust are telling me that this is cool. Yeah, because it's one thing anyone can say we're the best, but having someone else say it is just always gonna be better. I mean it's why people read reviews before they buy things. So it's the same thing.
Emily Steele (21:34.254) Absolutely. Yeah, I heard a...quote, I don't remember, I'm sorry, I can't give credit to this person, but it's like, different is better than better. And being different is so interesting, like how do you be different as a brand, and like where do you show up that's a little bit different than your peers, competitors, and what does different mean for your brand? It's just such a fascinating time to really think about that because consumers are looking at things so differently, like they wanna have alignment with the brands they choose. Okay, what does that mean for a company?
Delaney Vetter (22:05.389) They care what you founded, they might care what your founder is like and is your brand founder facing or not? And it's yeah, so many things.
Emily Steele (22:11.841) Yeah. So many things. Have you leveraged that before for some of your clients to kind of go more of the founder message versus brand?
Delaney Vetter (22:23.141) Yeah, and it depends on the client. Like I love working with founder-led brands that have like forward-facing founders because it's so much better for brand storytelling to have a person behind it. It's not necessarily something that I know some friends that it's like a hard and fast rule. Like they won't work with brands that aren't founder-facing. It's never been a rule for me, but it's something that...
Delaney Vetter (22:49.561) more and more I'm like maybe that should be a rule for me. Just because it does make a really big difference you know I mean yes is someone at a grocery store like an average shopper going to you know, pick up two different sauces and say, this one's women owned, so I want this one. Probably not, because it's hard to sometimes tell just at the store level. Um, which is, I mean, a whole other thing for packaging copy, and why you should have things like that. Um, but, you know, it's the people, there are people that do care and people that do care, really care. And so, differentiate you, you know, if there are two nut butters and one is from this, you know, conglomerate CPG company that's been around forever that just pumps out a bunch of different products and then there's one that, you know, they donate the proceeds to some amazing charity or they use a special process or they have like adorable packaging and a really cool founder like that is going to get
Delaney Vetter (24:04.967) up a little bit. Also it just opens up the kind of stories that I can pitch because there are only so many there are only so many people that write about yeah that write about like food products and so but there are a lot of people that write out business or founder stories and so as much as you can expand like your potential for coverage the better. So I always encourage for the brand, the front of the brand. Some of them don't want to. Some of them would rather be behind the scenes or they don't really want to do podcasts, but I usually can convince most of them to do some things.
Emily Steele (24:46.418) You're like a podcast if there's no video can be kind of behind the scenes, you know? It's like a step towards that. Yeah.
Delaney Vetter (24:49.801) Yeah, I'm like, hey, so this is a really big deal. Yeah, a lot of them will tell me they're like, well, if you really think I should do it, I'll do it. I'm like, okay, so that I just that I'm just vetting the opportunities, you know, I mean, I'm always doing that. But, you know, for those clients, I'm making sure that the first podcast they go on is maybe more lifestyle II and a little bit fluffier and not this like really hard hitting business interview that might stress them out.
Emily Steele (25:20.15) That makes sense. Oh, thanks for diving into that. I've always been so curious. As a founder who does a lot of founder-led marketing, I think the only thing I get nervous of, you just put yourself out there in front of a huge audience so then you feel like it's easier to be critiqued and it's like, I don't really want that in my life, but also I see the pros over the cons. It's just a whole dynamic, especially for female founders. I find our lens is just a little bit more critical, but that's okay.
Delaney Vetter (25:40.898) Yeah. Totally.
Delaney Vetter (25:47.617) 100% and it's gonna be, but my thing is, you know what, like it's hard enough to be a founder anyway, so you might as well like make it a little bit easier on yourself by hopefully like giving yourself a leg up in certain PR opportunities, but yeah, it's tough sometimes.
Emily Steele (26:00.694) Yeah. Yep, yep. Yeah, I'm like, oh, just make it fun. OK, I would love to hear, are there any trends happening in PR that you're noticing that could give people ideas on, you know, how to try themselves or work with you to try it?
Delaney Vetter (26:17.669) Question. Yeah, I mean, I think the thing that's interesting about PR is it just depends on what area we're talking about. But I think, I mean, affiliate is, I think beyond a trend at this point. It's become essential and I think people are really noticing that this year there were a lot of, you know, agencies and PR friends that really didn't really know how affiliate stuff worked. And this year I'm seeing a lot more, you know, where can I learn about this? Like how can someone help me set this up for my client and a lot of the groups I'm in and just people really seeing that this is not something that you can opt out of anymore. And so I would encourage brands to be, I mean, I don't even know if it's an early adopter anymore, but as this younger brand, adopt that early and just start. It's not that hard to figure out once you get it, but just to get comfortable with that, even before you invest in PR,
Delaney Vetter (27:26.479) and that way you can connect with editors and be like, we're on an affiliate network. And they might be like, oh, awesome, cool. I think something else that I've heard a lot from editors lately is, well, which one to do first? One I'll do first. Is the importance of having a social presence to back up your brand and doesn't mean following but having an Instagram that looks like you've put some time into it I guess is the best way um you know to say it.
Delaney Vetter (28:06.629) it's tough because there are so many brands out there and while a lot of editors do sample things before they include in stories like sometimes if they're doing a gift guide really quickly they might just be using their inbox as you know their database which a lot of them do to search you know chocolate and being like okay i'm working on chocolate list here are some pitches i got about chocolate i'm gonna pop them in. You just need to make your brand look legit because there are some companies Like, you know, we don't want to post this in our story if this is not good or you know, whatever. So, um, just like making sure that that's something that I've heard more from editors lately, which I don't think was always the case. Um, but for a lot of publications they're like, yeah, we want, obviously they want it to be like an aesthetically pleasing product and all these good things, but, um, a lot of them are checking social for brands too. Um, that's one thing.
Delaney Vetter (29:06.283) And then let me think of another one. I don't know if this is necessarily a trend but just like a pattern I've been seeing a lot is there's obviously been a lot of changes in the media world lately and there's layoffs and union strikes and all these things and that can be like super disheartening I think sometimes for people because they're like well you know who's gonna write about me and whatever so it just means that there's
Delaney Vetter (29:44.771) And what I found is that because there is a need for content still, but maybe leaner teams, a lot of these freelancers are being assigned a lot more stories than they're used to. I've had a lot of friends of mine that, you know, I was chatting with a writer friend of mine the other day and she was saying she used to pitch, you know, two to three stories every week. And now she's barely pitching.
Delaney Vetter (30:14.351) because she's just getting assigned stories all the time. And so because of that, it means you have to be a little bit more creative and scrappy with how you're pitching those people because they might not be pitching. So it's just figuring out how you can squeeze in to what they're already working on.
Okay, my final question for you, as someone's listening, kind of the local marketing angle, I think it's so interesting to think about, okay, if we're talking to someone who's really trying to think about driving local behavior, get that local awareness, we touched on the local PR thing, but if someone was like, okay, I'm gonna give this a try, I've got my product, I'm in Des Moines, Iowa, let's say I've got something new and I want people to know about it in my own area, what are three things they could do today, or working with someone like you to get the word out and start getting a little bit of awareness and momentum in their own backyard.
Delaney Vetter (31:13.417) I love this question. Okay, um, cause I do, so this is also something that I do in different cities with brands that might not even be in that city because they might be, you know, let's say they're a brand in Philly, but they're going into a retailer in Portland, Oregon, and they really want to drive that local interest. So this can be applied kind of across the board too, but something that I really recommend doing and it obviously always depends on budget as all things do.
Delaney Vetter (31:44.551) But if you can, I would make a list of local influencers in your area, specifically TikTok, I like for this one, that are doing coverage on whatever your product is. So like, let's say, let's say I'm trying to think of an example, let's say you're a granola company and you find someone that does a lot of either like food content or like restaurant specifically, reaching out to them to do a campaign with you that's centered around it being local. Um, an example of this is, um, you know, there's a couple different creators in Portland that I use as an example for my client that was launching in Portland. I'm like, you should do something like this. Um, where they hosted a dinner party with their friends and did a cute Tik Tok about it, but it was a collaborative post with this local grocery store. And so an example for a brand would be being like, okay, and be like, hey, we just launched in XYZ local store or local company. We'd love to, you know, work on a post with you where you can host a brunch for your friends. And you know, in the video, you can have them go to the store, have cute little like grocery cart content of them picking up the granola and bringing it home and setting up this beautiful spread and people love that content because it's fun and pretty to watch because people love to watch pretty things.
Emily Steele (33:19.332) Mm-hmm. Yeah, obviously. Ha ha.
Delaney Vetter (33:22.119) But also it's a great way to show first of all the use cases for the product and how versatile it is and also where to find it. So that's one example. It's kind of a long example, but that one is something that I really think is a cool thing for brands to do. Another one is getting connected with your local.
Emily Steele (33:30.774) That's so fun.
Delaney Vetter (33:48.109) pick insert here, you know, magazine or newspaper. Usually every city has like one or two, especially with this even a smaller town, like even have that. So reach out to them and get connected preferably with a lifestyle editor or a food editor if they have one. Just reach out, introduce yourself, offer to send samples. That's a great way in the door.
Delaney Vetter (34:17.253) and yeah and you'll never know like have a little bit of a blurb about your story i could go on and on about like the best practice for pitching but just keep it short and sweet you know link to your website people forget to do that linked to your website linked to your instagram um you know a little tiny blurb about you know i'm local this is my company here's where we're sold like give them the basics it can even be bullet points they love bullet points So that's something I would do. And then the last one, and I think, can I give two more? I'm gonna give two more. Ha ha.
Emily Steele (34:53.959) Absolutely. Give us all the knowledge you have.
Delaney Vetter (34:56.397) So one, the second to last one is events are a really awesome way to get that local interest. Obviously, you know, a lot of this is going to come down to budget as it always does, but this is a great opportunity to partner with someone. So like, let's say there's a coffee shop in town that is going to have your granola in their little grab and go section.
Delaney Vetter (35:25.791) We'd love to host, you know, this little breakfast event or something and people can come and get, you know, a free little smoothie on us or whatever. And then they'll get to sample their granola. And for those type of events that are more consumer focused, those are also a really awesome time to invite press to and turn them into kind of media events. I think it is really great to have a media hour or media half hour where you know let's say the event starts at 9 a.m. or whatever. Well I'll have it start at 10 just for earlyness. Have the event start at 10 and then you tell media and influencers that you invite we'd love you to come at 9 and join us we'll like buy you breakfast and you can sample and try and it's a time first of all for them to try the product but also for you to have face time with them.
Delaney Vetter (36:25.811) people want to buy from people, people want to write about people, and so that's awesome. I think that's a great way to do it and having it be a collaboration with another small business is a great way to like have a little bit of a lower cost. You're not like doing a full party planning situation. Yeah, so that one's fun.
Emily Steele (36:33.006) I love that one.
Emily Steele (36:42.992) Mm-hmm. Yes. Such a good idea. I was like, oh my gosh. I'm like, I would love if a granola brand would like to go to the coffee shop over here. Just how my street. I would come. OK.
Delaney Vetter (36:53.929) Yes, I, yeah, well, and I, and I see all the time in New York where brands pop up in different places here all the time. Like there's a bakery right by my house that I love that they do like specialty croissant flavors with different brands. So they did one with this, this is going to sound not very appetizing, but it is mushroom chocolates, but they're like functional. They're like more of like a supplement.
Delaney Vetter (37:22.713) So it's got a really cool brand called Alice. It's my friend's brand. So I love them. But I know the sound mushroom chocolate doesn't sound as tasty, but they did like a mushroom chocolate croissant. And it was like a collab at this bakery with this brand. And the line was out the door. Like it's really, people love that stuff because it's kind of the cool brands leveraging each other. And so I see that happen here a lot, but I think it's an opportunity in markets where maybe there aren't you know 1000 events happening every weekend. So if you can be something where people are like oh I want something fun to do on a Sunday like awesome.
Delaney Vetter (38:04.645) So I think that would be a really fun one. And then the last one is kind of connected with the other one, but brand collaborations locally or nationally are amazing. But if you can, you know, let's say you are that granola company and you reach out to a really popular, fun influencer in your area that's focused on local content, you know, someone that's, you know, a lot of their content is around things to do in your area.
Delaney Vetter (38:34.459) do like a custom flavor like limited edition with them. That's super fun. Or with a brand. Yeah, if there's a coffee company, do like a little coffee flavored granola with them. Like that is kind of my favorite little like adjacent PR thing to do because you just get to kind of like lift each other up in a way that's fun. And the product is yummy.
Emily Steele (38:56.138) Absolutely. Yeah, and you're like, and my product is different. It's like that limited time offer thing, right? I just like, I am so about that too. Like as a consumer, and I'm like, they're gonna pop up and do breakfast sandwiches? They never do that there. I will be there. I will be there in line. I know there will be a line. I think that's always so fun to get consumers doing new and different things. So I love these pieces of advice. That is so helpful. Yeah.
Delaney Vetter (39:21.109) And it builds some hype around it too and makes it like not just this and not that there's anything wrong with these brands because I love these brands too, but not just the brand you buy at the farmers market that you don't know who the founder is. You know, like make it something that people can get behind and get excited about and look forward to the next time you do an event.
Emily Steele (39:39.262) Yeah. Yes, yes. I think that is such a good place to wrap because I'm so inspired. Now I'm like gonna be looking for fun collaborations happening in my own backyard. And share them with you and be like, what do you think?
Delaney Vetter (39:48.453) I know, I feel like there needs to be like a database or something, because I feel like I always miss things here.
Emily Steele (39:55.922) I know, I'm like, there was what? And then I would like, we'll be outside and see a huge line outside of Lachelle's, like a burger place. They do some interesting like little pop-ups or things and I'm like, what's going on there? You know, get so much. Yeah, I have FOMO all the time. This was so helpful. I would love to tell listeners where you're at, where they can connect with you. Tell us all the things.
Delaney Vetter (40:05.689) So fun. You're like, wait, do I need to change my dinner plans? Ha ha ha.
Delaney Vetter (40:19.225) Yes. Um, well, and if you're in New York, you can come say hi. We can go grab a croissant. But I, I'm on Instagram at Delaney Vetter C-O-M-M, which is a store for communications, which people sometimes thought that was my part of my last name. It is not, it's just for communications. And you can follow me there. I post some fun client stuff, and then not as often as I used to, but I post a lot of food related things on my stories. So that's fun. And then I'm DelaneyVetter.com for my website. It's very cute.
Emily Steele (40:56.894) It's so cute. Absolutely. Yes, I love that.
Delaney Vetter (40:57.211) so you should look at it on desktop. My designer is the best. And then also try to think of other things. Oh yeah, and then you can email me at hello at delaneyvetter.com if you have questions or want to chat PR. But yeah, I love working with emerging brands in the space and getting to chat and connect with cool founders. It's always so much fun.
Emily Steele (41:21.654) Yeah, well, sounds like you have an incredible network. You have amazing ideas. Like you're so in the know for this space that why wouldn't people come to you? So everyone listening, please get in touch with Delaney. She's obviously amazing, but thank you so much for being on the podcast today. Thank you.
Delaney Vetter (41:31.36) Thanks!
Delaney Vetter (41:38.297) Thanks, Emily! Have a good rest of your week!
