We meet Rosie Davies-Smith, Founder of PR Dispatch

What is PR Dispatch, I hear you ask? Answer: The UK’s only platform that merges DIY PR with contacts in the press. At just £53 per month, this is the kind of financially friendly choice you want to make if you’re a small business looking to drum up some press interest. It’s an investment for the greater good (as those country folk in Hot Fuzz would say, although they loved it a little too much). Chatting to Rosie who has a wealth of PR knowledge, it’s clear to see how such a simple idea has done so well. Check out our interview below!

What was the main idea behind PR Dispatch? Have you always worked in the PR industry?

I never could have predicted I’d end up in PR when I finished my Textile Design degree, I didn’t even really know what PR was. I ended up interning for an independent knitwear brand called Lowie, and on my first day I was handed a pile of magazines and told to email them about featuring Lowie products. Once they had shown me the basics, I started emailing and a few weeks later, started to see the results with Lowie products in major, national publications. Ever since then, I’ve loved PR and the adrenaline rush you get from a great piece of coverage. 

Because of how I started, knowing nothing about PR but having gorgeous products from an amazing independent brand, I knew that other small brands could DIY their own PR too - if only they had someone to show them how. I just wanted to give smaller brands the ability to compete with the big names when it came to getting press coverage that could help transform their business. 

You are also the founder of LFA PR agency, was PR Dispatch something that you felt the PR industry needed after starting LFA?

Absolutely. At the agency, we’ve always worked with independent brands but it was through LFA that I realised just how many smaller brands there are out there, creating amazing products but that just can’t justify the costs of a traditional PR agency. And if a traditional PR approach didn’t work for small brands, it meant there had to be a way of creating a system that would.

We listened to what small brands wanted and then combined it with our agency PR knowledge to create a platform that really worked for them and gave them access to our PR experts for any questiosn they had. We’ve tweaked and developed it as we’ve gone along and as their needs changed, and we’ve created a platform and a community that I’m so incredibly proud of.

What has the feedback from your members/brands been like since you started PR Dispatch?

We’ve been really lucky with all of the member’s at PR Dispatch, we even have some like The Completist, Moxon London and Hex and Ginger who have been with us since day one. Some of the best feedback we get from our member’s, is that we’ve helped them realise that PR really isn’t that scary and less daunting than they thought. That the press aren’t all Miranda Priestly, but actually great journalists who want to be showcasing smaller, independent brands and new products to their readers. 

I also get a little kick whenever a brand tells me that they’ve worked with a PR agency before but have actually seen way better results, for way less money, through following the PR Dispatch platform, thats how you know our model is really working for brands.

As a young female entrepreneur, how has your experience been as being the big boss? Are there any particular challenges you’ve faced in the workplace?

Well I always knew that I wanted to be an entrepreneur. My dad ran his own business, so from the age of 6 I knew I wanted to as well. I was really lucky to have him as an example and he’s still my go-to man if I have any business questions that I want some really honest answers on.  

I think my biggest challenge was probably juggling so many roles and being ok with the fact that I didn’t know everything and that I had to learn on the job, especially in the early years. No one tells you, not even dad, that when you run a small business you’re not just the founder, you have to be the HR department, social media manager, payroll, website builder, office manager, the list goes on. So I had to figure out how to do all the things that are integral to a business but that you never really think about until you’re a business owner. 

I can’t even tell you how many books I read, podcasts I listened to and how many ‘can I just pick your brain’ coffees I went on to get to where I am now. Luckily, the team has grown over the years and I’ve been able to delegate some roles to other people, though I still like to be pretty hands-on.

As an owner/founder of two companies, and a mother, how do you fit time in to work and do everything else?

When I figure it out, I’ll let you know. I think having juggled the two companies for a few years, I became a great multi-tasker and can go between different tasks for different companies pretty easily, but everything changes once a baby arrives. 

Since having Sloane, I have gone part-time, so I only work Monday-Wednesday whilst she is at nursery and make sure I get all of my big tasks done in that time. I’ll still check in with the team when she’s napping or my husband is looking after her on my days ‘off’, but if you’re a business owner you know that there is no such thing as ‘off’. 

That being said, one of my key goals after having Sloane was making sure that I was truly present when I was with her and making the most of my time with her whilst she is so little, so when she’s with me, she has all of my focus. I have a really competent team and as long as I’ve gotten my big tasks out of the way when I’m on office hours, the little things can wait.

What have been the biggest highlights since you launched?

One of our biggest highlights was this year when we launched our Christmas Gift Guide Membership in July. We’ve launched it every summer for a few years now but this year was our biggest success; we sold more memberships in the first 30 minutes than we did in the first week last year and we were sold out within a couple of days. And, of course, when all of the Christmas press starts to come out, its amazing to see all of the brands who have been putting in the work, who were pitching Christmas jumpers back in a heatwave, getting the results and press coverage they deserve.

We’ve also been incredibly lucky and had some great recognition, like Enterprise Nation’s Top PR Advisor of the year 2019 and ELLE’s 30 under 30, which is always lovely to know that your industry is recognising what you’re doing, but it’s the member’s successes that really make it. We actually had an email from one of our members the other day saying that the coverage she has had this month meant she had been able to smash some of business goals for this year, which makes me so so happy.

How has COVID-19 affected the way that both PR Dispatch and LFA work? Have you found adaptation methods?

We were hit really hard by COVID at LFA; we lost around 80% of our revenue in 72 hours, with many clients having to cut costs in order to avoid making redundancies - we had to do a big pivot to survive. I had also just given birth to my first child when COVID really hit the UK, so it was definitely a stressful time. 

However, it feels strange to say, but COVID actually proved to be a great opportunity for PR Dispatch. Brands weren’t able to afford a big PR agency anymore, but an affordable PR platform that had already seen fantastic results for its members was exactly what they needed. We saw a big increase in the number of new members, especially once the press started to do more and more features specifically highlighting small and independent brands that would normally get over-looked. 

Luckily transistioning to working remotely was relatively easy for the team and I. From the beginning, we created the platform so that it could be accessed from anywhere at anytime (we had a team holiday to Spain last year and worked with our members for the whole week, so we know its true) and because of that, it meant we adapted a lot quicker to the new way of working. LFA has also always been more of a digital agency, with not holding samples to help keep costs low for our clients, so we did not have to change too much to adapt.

The main thing we miss is being together as a team! We’ve been having fortnightly Zoom drinks and quizzes and a LOT more slack messages than normal, but it’s not quite the same.

What other women inspire you?

Sharmadean Reid, founder of WAH Nails and Beauty Stack, has been a business idol of mine from Day 1; when I got to do an event with her a few years ago, it was a big career highlight for me.

Orla and Henrietta, the founders of Rixo, are amazing too, I worked with them a few years back and they are just so inspiring and fun to work with. I really love whatever Pippa Murray, of Pip and Nut does; its delicious products and a great business.

And also Pip Jamieson, who is the founder of The Dots which is basically LinkedIn for the creative industries. She has created an amazing platform with loads of success but still feels really approachable and like I’d love to go have a drink with her. She also has dyslexia, which I really struggled with as a kid, so it’s great to see another business woman succeed despite that hurdle.

How has starting your own business impacted your mind being, mental health and stress?

I think stress comes hand-in-hand with running a business unfortunately. You invest so much time, energy and money into something that, if it were to fail, could be devastating and when we have years like 2020, stress is inevitable. However, a key way I try and manage my stress is by always trying to have a 3rd party perspective; if I didn’t have an emotional investment in my businesses, how would I handle this situation? What would I be doing? It helps me to see a situation and its solution in a more 360 way, rather than being focused on and agitated by one aspect of the problem.

And as I mentioned, I can find it hard to switch off as there is always something that I can be developing or tweaking or improving and that hasn’t always gone down well with my friends and family. Through having Sloane and delegating more jobs to the team, I’m a lot better at keeping work to office hours, although that doesn’t mean you won’t find me going through emails in the early hours every now and then.

If you could invite any three people (alive or dead) to a dinner party, who would they be and why?

Number one would be my grandma who died a few years ago. I want to tell her how well PR Dispatch is doing and that I added another powerful female to the family. Maybe even two more, but I can’t confirm that until April 2021!

Then Michelle Obama. Because, Michelle Obama.

And number three, I’d probably say Taylor Swift. I’d love to pick her brains about how she constantly rebrands herself and has created a global brand that still has a really clear identity through that. And who wouldn’t want to end a good dinner party with a bit of entertainment from Taylor?

What does PR Dispatch have in the pipeline for the future? 

Lots of exciting things! This year we’ve added a Food & Drinks membership and had our biggest ever service launch for our Christmas Gift Guide Membership, so we want to keep building on that. We’re launching a new package next spring to help small brands understand and work with influencers and we’re looking at ways to take PR Dispatch international. We know the model works, but whenever we try to find businesses similar to ours in different countries, they just aren’t there. 

Plus, we’ll be welcoming another PR Dispatch team member in April, so watch this space!