03rd Jun 2014 by

10 Yetis Insight Blog – How to Successfully Launch a Product Using a PR Campaign

All types of companies use public relations campaigns as part of their wider marketing activity to increase brand awareness and, in turn, boost sales. Those businesses or individuals with a product to launch should seriously consider PR as an effective tool to use to get the word out there.

Whether it’s a new type of energy drink, a new gardening gadget or a new range of makeup, there is plenty that can be done PR-wise to successfully launch the product. Product PR is fairly straightforward, but it does pay to be creative with your activity. If you aren’t going to enlist the help of a PR agency that has experience in product PR and product launch PR, make sure you do some research before attempting it yourself, as you don’t want your pitches to be ignored.

Here are a few ways to successfully launch a product using a PR campaign:

1. Samples
One of the best ways to get your product media coverage is to send out samples. Create a list of the key journalists that you think would be interested in the product you are launching; for example, a list of beauty editors at newspapers, magazines and websites if it’s a new makeup range.

If you can spare some products, send them out to journalists so that they can review, photograph or test the item(s) out. Be creative with the way you package the product and be sure to include a press release about it so they know what they’ve received and have all the information they need if they were to end up giving you media coverage. It’s never a good idea to send out samples that you hope to get back from the journalists, because you don’t want to create work for them!

2. Competitions
Media outlets are always on the lookout for competition prizes for their readers, whether it’s a prize for a competition feature in print or a social media giveaway. If you’re launching something new with a product PR campaign, you should contact journalists at target media publications to find out if they’d be interested in using your shiny new product as a competition prize. If you have the stock to spare, this can be very good exposure. You could even try to negotiate with the journalist to receive the data from the competition entries afterwards, so that you have more potential customers to mail information to.

3. Videos
It’s always worth thinking about creating a video to go alongside your product launch and the PR activity surrounding it. Yes, a press release will give the journalist everything they need to know about the item in question, but being able to send them a video (whether directly about the product or something a bit more quirky to promote it) will definitely help to peak their interest. If the video is too promotional, don’t expect them to run it within an article about the item, but never say never!

4. Images
You can’t send a sample of your product to a journalist and then expect them to do all of the photography themselves. Always be prepared and have high and low res images to send to the journalist along with the press release or any other information you have (such as a product description and price information).

Make sure the images don’t look naff, because a media outlet isn’t going to run something about your product if they photos are awful. Stylish lifestyle shots are the best way to go, as well as a few simple photos of the item against a crisp white background. You’ll thank yourself for sorting these shots out when you launch the product, because any journalist that’s interested in running something for you will ask for them. You don’t want to have to explain that you don’t have any!

5. Stunt
Sometimes, a simple press release about your product with some good strong images will be enough to grab a journalist’s attention (don’t forget to include an eye catching, but not misleading, headline). However, unless your product is particularly innovative or a world first, product launches can often get overlooked.

Don’t forget, journalists are receiving hundreds of press releases each day, if not more, and yours needs to stand out. Therefore, it can often be a good idea to build a PR stunt around your product. Think big (within your budget, of course) and ask yourself whether the stunt idea is visual, unique, funny, clever or a conversation starter. If yes, you’re probably on to something good.

6. Celebrities and Goodie Bags
Sending samples to journalists is a great start, but if you have even more stock to spare then consider sending some out to celebrities, or to be included in gift/goodie bags at events. If you can get a celebrity to tweet about your product because they like it, the influence they have on their followers is huge and it’ll hopefully result in some nice sales for you. Look for the celebrity’s publicist or agency and try to send the products through them.

7. Launch Event
Product launches sometimes call for a launch event. This can be a really good opportunity to unveil your product in a good setting, whether you hire a bar or a public space. Invite relevant journalists to the event and make sure you send invites out in plenty of time. Don’t be surprised if not everyone can turn up though and never hold the event in the middle of the day when journalists will be too busy to attend. A short after-work event is usually best.

8. Gift guides and product pages
Make a special note of any sections within newspapers, magazines or on websites that you can imagine your product being mentioned in. If your product would make a good gift for someone, pitch it in time for Valentine’s, Christmas, Mother’s Day or Father’s Day and there’s a high change it could make it in. Bear in mind that some magazines (e.g. monthly publications) have very long lead times and often start working on Christmas as early as July! Also, there is huge competition for these spaces.

So, there you have it; a few things to consider when looking to successfully launch a product using a PR campaign.

Before I leave, let me offer a word of advice for those thinking about going down the launch event route. This is how you'll feel when your event started 3 minutes ago and no journalists have turned up yet...


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