The ethos of Ashley Verma’s company is not to shy away from the truth, so the last thing she wanted for her website launch was a PR firm that would massage her ego and tell her everything was going to be alright.
Having already set up a podcast, Bizzimumzi, a community-based platform to share the highs and the very real lows of parenting, Ashley was looking to grow her business but she was wary of marketing strategies that might lose sight of what her company was about.
Her non-judgemental, non-shaming approach to bringing up children, born out of her own experience of becoming a mum in 2020, convinced her of the importance of ‘keeping it real’ which was often a million miles away from the social media portrayal of parenting perfection.
Ashley Verma talks about her PR experience with the team at Panpathic:
It was so important for me to find a PR that was going to be honest and sometimes harsh with me.
I have been a Broadway performer so I have a bit of a nose for ingenuity. All my experience of PRs in the past had been a bit wishy-washy.
Telling me that I am fab and everything is lovely and fine doesn’t work for me which is why when I was introduced to Chantal the first thing I loved was her blunt approach.
I could see we were very much in alignment. She was a no-nonsense, straight-talking PR and I immediately knew she was right for me.
I was hungry and wanted to expand my brand and get the word out and that is exactly what Panpathic delivered.
Instantly I knew the experience was going to be very different from anything I had known before. Right from the start, Chantal pushed me. There was no telling me I was wonderful, I had to get down to work if I wanted to achieve my goals.
Every month Chantal came up with a list of ideas about things we could promote. She was constantly thinking of topics for me to write about which I would never have thought of myself.
The launch campaign got such great coverage in publications like i-news, FQ (Father’s Quarterly) Pregnancy and Parenting, Asian Voice and even Mr Porter, which I would never have thought about pitching.
Chantal has a real talent for putting a twist and a spin on topics so that they are virtually relevant anywhere.
Our launch was a great success, we had around 40 pieces of coverage with a reach of well over 4 million.
I love how Chantal thinks outside the box. She has had so much experience in the industry and that absolutely shines through. Chantal really knows her stuff and she earns her money hands down.
From my experience anyone launching a business shouldn’t even think about cutting costs by dropping the marketing budget. That should be right at the top of the list of priorities.
You can have the greatest idea or product on the planet but if no-one knows about you then you are wasting your time.
What I learned was you have to work out what makes you different and find a way for people to come to you. It sounds simple but a heck of a lot of work goes into that simple statement. That’s what Chantal did for me. It was an invaluable lesson.
Working with Panpathic on the launch of my website was such a positive experience. Although it’s never easy to quantify these things, there was definitely a surge in traffic every time an article I had written was published. We have had over 100,000 hits in six-months.
And all that time Chantal was pushing me as a writer which I loved, so much so, I am now working on my first book.
I would work with Panpathic again in a heartbeat and I really hope I will one day.
ABOUT BIZZIMUMZI
Ashley Verma is a mom, founder of the Bizzimumzi podcast, and Define London fitness studio. She is a former Broadway performer and celebrity trainer. Through Bizzimumzi, Ashley has created a welcoming community to share the highs and lows of parenting, and inspire others to feel empowered in their journey. Ashely believes the most perfect picture of parenting is simply when you are trying your best. Bizzimumzi is a safe space that helps parents to inspire, educate and support each other to be the best parent they can be.
Web: bizzimumzi.com
Instagram: bizzimumzi
Facebook: ashleybverma
YouTube: @bizzimumzi
LinkedIn: ashley-verma
X / Twitter: @bizzimumzi
Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-bizzimumzi-podcast/id1621084132
