Hey! I run a PR agency that’s worked with beauty/fashion//apparel brands that were in a similar position to where you are now so I’m gonna do my best to weigh in on this thread despite being a year late to it haha. First off, it looks like you’ve already hit some pretty big milestones by now which is great! It’s clear you’re doing a lot right and not necessarily at the stage of where you’re scrambling for sales. That said, the fact that other marketing agencies are rejecting you sounds a bit strange, especially at the stage you’re at now where capitalizing on your growing market share is of the utmost importance. Now, I might be a bit biased here, but have you considered working with a PR agency as opposed to a marketing agency? At the end of the day, cosmetics and fashion industries are built on trust, credibility, and brand awareness—qualities PPC alone can’t reliably deliver. Facebook and Instagram ads are valid options for other industries but having worked with close to a dozen semi-successful brands in the beauty space, our stats do not reflect PPC as being the highest ROI marketing route within this particular vertical. Every day, new low-cost, private-label brands flood the market with generic skincare and makeup products, spending thousands on Facebook and Instagram ads to push sales. Most of these brands don’t even last. They sell cheap, mass-produced formulas with flashy marketing, rake in quick profits, and vanish overnight, leaving behind a sea of burned-out consumers who no longer trust what they see in ads. These “brands”, often orchestrated by dropshipping gurus, have created a huge problem for real, high-quality brands, making consumers more skeptical than ever. So, when they see a new beauty brand in their feed, their first thought isn’t “Wow, I need this!”—it’s “Is this legit?” That’s sorta where PPC falls apart. It’s not that ads don’t work; it’s just that they work best when consumers already know and trust your brand. That’s exactly why some of the most successful beauty and fashion brands are moving away from PPC and focusing on PR and influencer relations instead. In fact, at Maximatic Media, we’ve helped brands reduce their reliance on paid ads by shifting their strategy toward PR with maximized conversions instead of just visibility. Our agency has had our work in the fashion industry featured in L'Officiel, one of the most recognized fashion and luxury magazines in the world, because we know what it takes to build real brand credibility. You see when your brand gets featured in trusted publications like Cosmopolitan or Vogue, it’s not just exposure, it’s instant credibility. It tells your audience, “This brand is worth your attention.” Think of it this way, when someone reads about you in a reputable magazine and then later sees your ad, it won’t be ‘just another post’ but a continuation of a conversation. They already know your name, they recognize your story, and that familiarity makes all the difference. I’ve seen this phenomenon occur firsthand. One of our clients, a boutique skincare brand, was struggling with Facebook ads, not because their product wasn’t great, but because their audience didn’t trust them yet. They were new, and people weren’t ready to take a chance. Our team helped them secure features in Marie Claire and Byrdie, positioning their brand around its cruelty-free, eco-conscious values. The result was a ripple effect; within a month, their website traffic tripled, and their ROAS on Facebook improved by 28%. Why? Because they were no longer speaking to a cold audience. Their ads were now reaching people who already knew their story and connected with their mission. The key isn’t just getting featured anywhere, but showing up in the right places, telling the right story, and leveraging that story across all your marketing channels. That’s where PR makes the difference, it positions your brand in the same trusted spaces where your potential customers are already looking for answers — but with a different level of authority. It’s why clients that look up our agency on Google (Maximatic Media) get bombarded with articles referencing our company in places like L’Officiel, Daily Mail, Entrepreneur, Rolling Stone, etc. Because at the end of the day, would you trust a PR agency to deliver results for you if they fail to deliver the same results for themselves? Now, anyone can send out a pitch—but getting journalists, media outlets, and influencers to genuinely care about your brand? That requires experience, relationships, and a deep understanding of how to assert authority in a crowded market. Our network, connections, and endorsements give us an edge in this instance. When we introduce a brand, we’re not reaching out cold—we’re connecting with editors, journalists, and influencers who trust us to bring high-quality brands that actually deserve attention. And PR doesn’t necessarily have to be a super expensive endeavor. If you check out our PR Spreadsheet , you’ll see that placements in major publications like MSN and Digital Journal are attainable even for lower four-figure budgets. Some placements even cost just a few hundred dollars if you’re open to targeting smaller, more niche audiences. At the end of the day, brands that rely solely on ads will always be in a constant cycle of spending. But those who invest in PR build lasting credibility, attract organic media, and create brand recognition that doesn’t disappear the moment they stop paying for clicks. Anyhow, this comment became much longer than what I initially planned for but I hope I was able to give you a new strategic POV into PR. Hope it was helpful and I’d be more than happy to do a mini AMA if anyone else is interested in discussing the massive differences between PPC and PR further! - Nikolas Lemmel | Maximatic Media