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March 30, 2005
Capitalizing On News Stories: Lessons Learned From A Poncho
Trivia Question:
What are two of the hottest hobbies out there and what does a poncho have to do with this craze?
Answer:
Knitting and crocheting. And the fact that Martha Stewart was wearing a poncho as she was released from prison knitted by a fellow inmate has kicked the popularity of these hobbies into an even higher gear (actually it was crocheted, but for some reason the media doesn't get the difference).
Now, whether you're a knitter/crocheter or not, there's some interesting lessons to be learned from this situation.
The key learning for us as PR professionals comes as we see how several different companies jumped onto this story and used it as a way to get more publicity for their company while generating some positive customer reaction at the same time.
Let's take Lion Brand Yarn for example. Here's a timeline of how they tied into this story (with a few side comments thrown in, because I can't resist teaching a lesson or two along the way):
- March 4, Martha is released from prison wearing the crocheted shawl
- March 9, Lion Brand Yarn sends an email to their customer base, saying in part:
"After receiving the largest number of requests ever for a single pattern, Lion Brand is creating a Homespun® pattern to match the poncho that Martha Stewart wore for her return home this week."
They added that they were working as fast as they could on the pattern and they would email out a copy as soon as it is ready.
Posted at 11:21 PM
How To Get Publicity For Your Products
Have you ever noticed that a large amount of the publicity you see is for events?
But what about products? Can you get publicity for products?
Of course you can! It just involves using the same skill set a little differently.
One of the first major keys to a successful PR program around a product is differentiation - what is it that makes your product different than everyone else's? Without some sort of differentiation, not only will your sales suffer, but it's going to be tough to find a newsworthy peg upon which to hook your story.
Another key is to pre-condition the market before your actual product launch. As David Yale notes in our new Training Manual How To Get Publicity for Your Products, preconditioning consists of clearly communicating and actually amplifying the need that your product fulfills before your product (which will then be a white knight that resolves that pressing problem) is even announced to the marketplace.
As public relations executive Bob Seltzer explains, "If you're going to come out with a new contact lens cleaner in six months, you would be very smart to get articles about the problems of cleaning contact lenses in the media - now. These stories don't even require that your product is mentioned. You're educating the marketplace about a problem, so when your product launches, you've made your audience more receptive. Publicity does not work as effectively if you wait until the product comes out to build awareness."
Posted at 03:27 PM
What's That Again? Ads We Enjoyed
Here's a few ads we liked:
"Wooden casket hand made, solid, heavy, turns into a picnic table."
I can think of more appetizing ways to maximize the value of my purchases...
"Electric double bed, hardly used (no one died in it). $1300."
No comment's necessary.
"Heating Oil
$1.79/Gallon
We always beat our competition's prices, in most cases."
Really, that's what the ad says!
and finally,
From a grocery ad:
"Cheese Hurls
99 Cents"
Sounds like a spring break kind of ad to me...
Posted at 09:36 AM
March 29, 2005
Google News Sources
Ever wonder what sources Google uses to get their news for http://news.google.com?
Google won't give us the list.
What's pretty clear is that there is only a small group of sites that's approved to have their articles show up on the homepage of Google News.
John Elliott decided to figure out what sites Google uses. So he wrote a script that captures the news page every 15 minutes then logs which sites are actually showing up with linked articles on that page.
Posted at 11:03 PM
Instant Access To PR News and Commentary
Every once in awhile, we do something (with all modesty) that's really cool. This is one of those times!
As a professional, it's always important to keep up with the news and buzz in our industry. But, I, like you, just don't have the hours in the day to sort through and read everything out there.
After struggling with this for awhile, I've come up with a solution.
I have created a program which compiles short snippets of PR, Marketing and Publicity-related news and commentary from around the world, all into one place.
So now I can spend 2 minutes, skim the headlines, and have a pretty good idea of what's going on. If I wish to pursue a story deeper, I can click on a link to be taken to the original article.
It's saving me 30-60 minutes per day, plus I'm more informed than ever.
Posted at 04:28 PM
