On this month’s profile, we are talking with Cassie Lawrence, Senior Director of Public Relations at JSA+Partners.

As one of the first 10 hires at Dollar Shave Club, Cassie spent 5+ years building Dollar Shave Club’s brand, launching grooming products, and leading comms initiatives. She now conducts proactive media strategy and builds thought leadership programs for clients in digital media and consumer tech.

Read below for the entire interview with Cassie:

1.) Tell us a bit about your day-to-day and what it's like being the Senior Director of Public Relations at JSA+Partners.

My favorite part of PR is that no day is the same. Whether we're gearing up for an announcement, drafting crisis messaging, or presenting a strategy, each day keeps me on my toes.

2.) What's the best pitch of yours that resulted in coverage and what elements made it successful?

I have found that the most challenging and rewarding time in PR is when the client doesn't have any news and we need to get scrappy and tie into trends. We were working with a B2B drone company and a major piece of FAA legislation was rolling out throughout the entire country. We did localized business and trade pitching to demonstrate how this FAA legislation was going to impact those regions and industries and we ended up securing some great pieces that moved the needle for the client. It was both unique and timely, which made it a successful pitch.

Here's the actual subject line and pitch that worked:

Subject Line: LAANC - Flying a drone in CA gets easier June 21st

Hi XX,

I wanted to see if you’re planning on covering the FAA’s June 21st rollout of LAANC (Low Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability) in much of California and parts of Nevada and Arizona. If so, I thought you would be interested in talking to [NAME], [TITLE] of [COMPANY], about what this means for his LA-based startup and clients.

Since [COMPANY] works with companies from world-wide enterprises to smaller businesses across real estate, insurance, telecom, construction, and media, [NAME] can speak to how LAANC has positively impacted both [COMPANY] and their clients. [NAME] has been following the drone industry since he was a Marine Infantry Officer serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. He has grown the company to allow any client big or small access to aerial imagery and data through [COMPANY]'s global Pilot Network across all 50 states and 70 countries.

Let me know if you're interested in speaking to [NAME] for more information. Thanks for the time!

Best,
XX

3.) What makes a good subject line? 

I always like to be very explicit about what I'm trying to pitch. Whether an embargo, exclusive, or resource, I make sure that it's reflected in the subject line.

4.) What information do you always make sure to include in a pitch?

I make sure to include why this story is relevant to that specific reporter and what makes this story timely.

5.) What's been your favorite campaign you've worked on and what made it successful?

My favorite campaign that I've worked on is back when I was at Dollar Shave Club. We teamed up with Colon Cancer Alliance for the month of March, which is National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month. This put our butt wipes, One Wipe Charlies, on center stage for a great cause. Along with messaging to our members about the importance of getting a colonoscopy, we live-streamed our Founder and CEO's colonoscopy on YouTube. The hilarious connection of butt wipes and colonoscopies was both unexpected and made sense.

6.) What's your best tip for measuring PR? What's the most valuable KPI to track in your opinion and why?

This is the multi-million dollar question. I like to track number of stories, message pull-through, quality of stories (feature vs mention), UVMs, and year-over-year growth. My least favorite is UVMs because the numbers can get a little ridiculous, but we do some sort of number for our analytical marketing counterparts.

7.) How do you maintain relationships with journalists when you have no news to share?

I like to interact with them on Twitter or LinkedIn.

8.) What’s your #1 tactic for building relationships with journalists?

Being quick and upfront.

9.) What’s the best PR advice you’ve received or given to others?

Your language has to mean something. I notice that younger colleagues like to use language that just sounds good, but when you get to the bottom of what they're trying to say, it doesn't mean anything. It is always going to be more impactful if you get to the core of what you're trying to say.

________

If you're looking for more tips from PR professionals, check out our entire PR profile series highlighting some of the top PR professionals in the industry!

Like this series and have a guest you think would be a good fit? Shoot us a Twitter DM or email us at info@onepitch.co and let us know who you’d want to see featured next! PS: you can recommend yourself too.

Want more blogs like this?

Click below to subscribe to our newsletter and receive weekly emails with the top blogs from The TypeBar!