10 Yetis Insight Blog: Product PR – The Ins and Outs

Product PR can be one of the trickiest PR campaigns to undertake, purely because there’s a fine line between pitching a journalists a press release or feature idea on a topic linked to your product without coming across too salesy and advertorial. Being a full-service digital agency we’ve been fortunate enough to work on some fantastic product PR campaigns.; chocolates, make up, gifts, nail polish – we’ve covered something in all sectors.

Having worked on a few product PR campaigns myself, I’ve picked up a few tips and tricks along the way to boost my campaigns and ensure my clients get the best coverage…

Get to know the product, inside and out

You’re going to get all sorts of questions about the products you’re PR-ing. For example, if it’s a makeup product you may get questions about the ingredients used and whether or not it’s been tested on animals, if it’s a food product you may be asked if it’s suitable for vegetarians, coeliacs, diabetics and so on. If you’re unsure of the answer it’s completely acceptable to find out and get back to the person asking the questions, and it’s far better than panicking and assuming you know the answer when you may be wrong.

Freebies

Speak to your client and see if they’re willing to give away a few freebies. They may not like the idea of giving their product away for free, and it doesn’t have to be a lot, but think about it; the first thing we do when we purchase something or are gifted something is take a photo and upload it to social media. The same works with bloggers and journalists, except you also get coverage either online or in print reviewing the item you’ve sent them.

Any beauty and nail bloggers that haven't reviewed @nailbox that would like to? Get in touch. Limited samples left #bblogers
— Sam Summers (@SamSummersPR) June 5, 2015

Bloggers

Influencer identification and influencer outreach is key, particularly when it comes to bloggers. Put a few hours aside to search the internet for bloggers within the product sector; check out their blogs, check out their social media accounts and following, and get in touch with them to see if they’d be interested in receiving and reviewing a product, or if there’s anything that they’re working on, such as themed posts, that you may be able to provide them with products for inclusion.

It’s easy to forget about bloggers, particularly when you’re so used to approaching journalists and getting coverage on online and print media, but actually bloggers can be highly influential for the company you’re working with as they have a dedicated following who hang off their every word.

Some bloggers may ask for a payment in order to review your product and write a review, but the majority won’t, and as this is their full time job they’d love to hear from you and be the first to hear about something new.

Journalists

Before embarking on a product PR campaign you’ll want to ensure your media lists are up-to-date and you’re approaching only the journalists who have an interest within the sector. It can be tough to get journalists to run a review on your product, or to get them to run what looks like a promotional piece, but if you spin the right angle on the press release or feature they’ll be more interested in the content than how promotional it may be for your client.

Social media

One of the quickest ways to advertise a product is by word-of-mouth, and the best way to do that these days is via social media. Using key words, images and hashtags can take a post from being seen by only a few people to being seen by hundreds, if not thousands. Remember who your target audience is and speak the way they speak, upload posts that will catch their interest and DON’T post 100% about your product.

If you would like any help with your social media, get in touch with A Social Media Agency – the team will be more than happy to speak to you about your needs.

Don’t be afraid of stunts

It can be hard to pitch to journalists when it comes to product PR, purely because they’ll see it as an advert for your client and they may either shoot you down or try to fob you off to their advertising teams, but this is where you need to get creative. We’ve done some awesome stunts over the years, including arranging for a tank to be driven through London and offering up a romantic weekend away for three.

There you have it… some great tips to start off a product PR campaign.