HLN Meets: Pay-as-Hugo

YOU’VE RECENTLY LAUNCHED YOUR NEW (BRILLIANTLY-NAMED) ENDEAVOUR, PAY-AS-HUGO – TELL US ABOUT THAT.

Pay-as-Hugo provides PR and marketing ‘snacks’ for your brand. These are essentially contract-free, fixed-fee brand building options. By making Pay-as-Hugo a standalone e-commerce website, we’re allowing our clients to browse and order easy-to-digest versions of our PR, social media and content marketing services, which are all available to be purchased individually or as part of a bespoke package.

When I launched Harvey & Hugo in 2009, our USP was our Pay-as-Hugo offering which made our PR services accessible to everyone. Harvey & Hugo still offers retained services too, which work better for building brands long-term, but its ’little brother company’, Pay-as-Hugo, is a good stepping stone for start-ups and smaller businesses to develop their brand how they want to.

You split your process into categories: Create; Share; Report; Care. What exactly do these mean?

Essentially, this is how I see the entire PR and marketing world in a really simple way. First, you need to create high-quality content: whether that be written, photography, video, animation or design. You then need to share it, whether that means with the media, via social media and influencers, on search engines or directly with your audience. It’s important to measure the results of your actions to improve, hence the need for reports. And it’s no accident that ‘Create, Share, Report’ spells out the acronym CSR [a common acronym referring to Corporate Social Responsibility’] – our care element is very important to me. I believe we must give back where we can and how we can, even as a small business.

It’s now harder than ever for brands to stand out from the crowd. What are your top tips for entrepreneurs?

You’ve got to be bold enough to be different. Always challenge the ‘standard way’ of doing things and develop a really strong brand story that sets you apart from the crowd. Most importantly, always be consistent in telling that story across the various media channels that your audience use.