5 lessons in business from Katie Price
By Will Stroude
Back in the early noughties when ‘Jordan’ professed to being a ‘businesswoman’ nobody took her very seriously. In fact we might have gone as far to have laughed.
But fast forward ten years and she has built a successful business empire that includes fiction books, lingerie, jewellery, a reality TV show, perfumes and even an accessory line for horses.
She’s also a regular panellist on Loose Women, put in an iconic Eurovision effort and has had a number of reality TV shows.
Say what you like about Katie, but her net worth is now estimated to exceed over £40million which means that despite her haters she is left laughing all the way to the bank.
In honour of her launching her new single ‘I Got U’, here are five lessons in business from Katie Price…
Build a brand
Katie, then Jordan, shot to fame as a glamour model back in the days when a topless lady on Page 3 of The Sun was commonplace. But of all the girls that must have graced that famous page she has stood the test of time and is still very firmly in the public eye years later.
What made Jordan stand out? It was the way she built her brand around being an outrageous party girl. Did everyone agree with her antics? Perhaps not, but there is no doubt that these got her noticed and in an industry where column inches equate to cash she was generating lots of both for the papers. Part of building a brand is knowing what makes you different from the competition and placing emphasis on that, which is exactly what Katie did.
Continuously evolve
We all remember the death of Jordan. When Katie Price decided to rebrand herself using her own name this was a very shrewd move. This was a time when reality stars getting hammered and “accidentally” flashing their bits to the waiting paparazzi as they exited a taxi outside China White became the new normal and we all started to get a bit bored of it.
Katie knew to stay relevant she needed to change and thus became the bad girl gone good. No more of her wild antics and a stint in I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here showed a different side to her which the public then loved and again made her stand out as different from the other reality stars of the time.
Build a good team
Having a great team around you to help you build your business is absolutely vital and Katie knows how to do this. A good example of this is her books of which there are many, she has six biographies and 10 novels to her name.
Katie has made no secret of the fact that she partnered with a ghostwriter, Rebecca Farnworth, who co-wrote 14 books under Katie’s name but sadly died in 2014. Katie is quoted as saying on an interview on BBC Radio 4 in 2012, ‘So, I come up with the plot, and then we go through each chapter together. [Rebecca] fills out the bits. She’s just amazing how she does it. She really is good.’
By having a ghostwriter Katie was able to add to her business portfolio under her own name and generate a larger revenue under her brand.
Market effectively
‘The Pricey’ is a genius marketer, knowing exactly how to get maximum exposure for each of her business ventures. Again with her books, each time she launches one she dresses up in lavish and over the top costumes that are guaranteed to get her coverage in the mainstream press. Who can forget the bright pink pony costume?
She’s just launched her new single ‘I Got U’ with recent performances on Loose Women and Big Brother’s Bit On The Side which have been widely covered. Katie clearly enjoys the singing side of the things and it’s something she has always done. I’m sure it’s no coincidence though that the launch of the single and these performances also helpfully coincide with the launch of her new reality show My Crazy Life which starts in July.
Diversify
The list of business that Katie has continues to grow and I’m sure there are many more products yet to come under the Katie Price brand. By diversifying her income stream she is generating more and more cash and the beauty of this is that if one doesn’t do so well, there are plenty of others that will. Most businesses start with one core product but then continually bring something else out that is new to add to their portfolio and this is what Katie has done consistently over the years.
Katie, we salute you.
Sanjay Sood-Smith is a food entrepreneur and former candidate on The Apprentice. You can find out more about his business Tuk In, which makes curry-in-a-naan, at tukinfoods.com.
Follow him on Twitter at @sanjaysoodsmith and visit his YouTube channel here.
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