How To Get The Best PR Coverage For Your Next Launch
It’s easy to dismiss PR as a bit of a mystery and adopt a, ‘let’s just see what happens’ approach when you’re launching a new product. However the truth is that there are many things you *can* control to maximise coverage.
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In this blog post, we’ll cover what you can do before, during and after your product launch that can influence your overall success.
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Great PR Coverage Requires Preparation
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There are so many thing to do when you’re launching your product that it can be easy to let PR slip to the very last item on your To-Do list.
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You can never be over prepared when it comes to PR.
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Even though you know your product is amazing, and the incredible impact it will have on your industry and people’s lives once they buy it… the media still needs a little bit of lead time to match your level of enthusiasm.
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And, once you have their attention, you will increase your coverage success by working consistently and creatively to keep your brand at the forefront of a journalists’ mind.
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Let’s get down to it…
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The Four Phases of launch coverage
- Be a tease… New products don’t magically appear out of thin air… there’s months, sometimes even years of work that goes into development, testing and tweaking. Use this to your advantage and post teaser content on your website, social media profiles and blogs. That way, when you reach out to the media for coverage and they head to the web to check you out, their curiosity will be piqued by your progress updates & photographs, making them more likely to resonate with your brand.
- Start talking early… The earlier you make contact with journalists, the more lead time they’ll have to fit you into their editorial schedule. Bigger publications rarely have the ability to add something in ‘last minute’ – simply because they often go to print weeks in advance of their release date! The earlier you make contact with the media, the greater your chance of getting published. Sure, local press may be able to fit you in on very short notice (particularly if you’re hosting a local event to celebrate your launch) but for national mags and blogs, the key is to prepare well in advance.
- Get personal… If you have a physical product that you’re launching, try as best you can to send samples to your target journalists to strengthen your position and improve your chances of getting coverage. Nervous about sending out too many expensive products? By all means send fewer samples of more expensive products but get really creative with your delivery and message to make it really personal and special for the recipient. Focus only on the top publications in your niche, and really do your research on your target contact there to tailor your package to them personally. Follow up with a phone call and personalised email with more details about your range, brand and your story.
- Shout from the rooftops… Once you get coverage, share, share, share! It’s easy to think that one piece of coverage will do all your work for you, but honestly, that’s just the beginning. Write a blog post about your coverage, share it on your social media sites, send it to your email list… anything and everything you can think of to get more mileage out of your PR. Why? Because PR is a valuable form of social proof, and when other people see you being featured in magazines and newspapers, they are more likely to pay attention to you, and go on to visit your website or shop and long-time loyal customers.
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To your Product PR success!
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