Unconventional Affiliate Marketing Expert Brad Bennett’s ‘6 Ps of PR’
Brad Bennett, Founder BDBCreative
August 16, 2024
Patience plus persistence plus product plus payout plus perspective equals placements.
On episode 234 of the PR 360 podcast, BDBCreative founder Brad Bennett shared his “Six Ps of PR,” a blueprint for building successful affiliate marketing campaigns.
BDBCreative is a boutique performance PR agency that specializes in driving direct sales for apparel and lifestyle brands through tier-one press placements. According to Bennett, his agency secured a whopping 7,908 tier-one placements for 17 clients in 2023 alone.
Bennett’s “Six Ps” strategy is memorable because it’s a tongue twister and all but one word starts with the letter P.
“Patience plus persistence plus product plus payout plus perspective equals placements,” Bennett told the podcast, admitting that he doesn’t take his axiom too seriously. “It’s like a silly thing I think about on like the fourth mile of a run when I'm just like ready to stop,” Bennett said.
Fun summer intern challenge: Can you say the “Six Ps” six times fast?
The Six Ps of PR:
Patience plus persistence plus product plus payout plus perspective equals placements.
1. Patience — “The speed of PR is glacial. It takes a long time. That's okay. It always takes a long time. Don't worry about it.”
2. Persistence — “It's gonna take a long time, but just keep going. If the first pitch doesn't land, go to the next. The next pitch doesn't land, go to the next. If the pitch after that doesn't land, go to the next, it's fine.”
3. Product — “Give away product. Give away more product. Give away more product. Just keep giving away product.” On the podcast, Bennett noted that giving away free products to clients goes a long way in his business. “Editors like stuff,” Bennett said. “That's why they do this for a living. And so, we are happy to facilitate.”
4. Payouts — “You have to have an affiliate program, full stop.”
5. Perspective — “You might not be the most important thing that week. You might not be the most important thing that month. There are 10,000 brands making the same thing you're making vying for the same placements.”
6. Placements — When you have the first 5 Ps lined up, then you get placements, hopefully in top-tier publications. (Did adding “publications” just make that into 7 Ps?)
Bennett may think his “Six Ps of PR” is little more than a fun play on words, but his career in PR is no joke. He took a non-traditional path to success. He started BDBCreative with zero formal training or education in the PR industry. He developed his chops for affiliate marketing as the founder of Well Spent, a blog that highlighted sustainable fashion.
At its peak, Well Spent was a $10 million-a-year business.
“There was just a bunch of clothing nerd and menswear nerds who started writing about clothes on the internet just because they liked it,” he told PR 360. “And there was this new platform to do it. I was actually able to monetize that blog, quit my horrible day job and support myself doing it.”
