I just got off the phone with a bright new friend of mine, Jodie Gastel, who's recently done a great job of identifying a market need, creating a product that fulfills it, promoting it in a very clever way, networking well, and scoring 27 radio interviews and a Wall Street Journal writeup in just the last few days.
Here's her story...
Jodie's been running http://www.virtualattache.com for awhile now, becoming more and more frustrated with the concept of selling her time for money.
So she was looking for an idea. And sure enough, as happens so often when one has seeded their mind with the need for an idea, her subconsious worked on it until it put a bunch of little pieces together.
Then, as the subconcious mind oftentimes does, it presented her with that idea in a most inopportune moment (great ideas rarely come when you're sitting there with a pencil in hand - they come in the shower, the car, anytime your mind is unoccupied, so the subconcious can get a word in edgewise.)
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"This idea hit me at 1:00 am and I sat bolt upright in bed." So, to Jodie's credit, she got out of bed, sat down at the kitchen table and wrote until 6:00 am. In the end, she had a well-fleshed out idea and some copy to get it started.
The idea was simple - (I hope this doesn't offend anyone) one of the reasons men don't get enough of what they want is because they don't give women enough of what they want. (I'm hoping that you get my drift.)
So her idea is to supply great "girly gifts" to the guys to give to their women. In short, guys sign up for a service that every other month sends a plain package to them containing something they probably would never think of (and would hesitate to shop for even if they did think of it), wrapping materials (think a gift bag and a couple of sheets of tissue, not gift wrap - remember these are guys, most of whom don't wrap!), and a card with just enough room for them to say "I love you" or some other short message on it. In return, she gets to automatically hit their credit card for $47. The gifts are all very tame and sweet actually; from hand-poured chocolate, to silk scarves, from make-your-own mini rainforest kits to wishing stones.
"I spent a great deal of time studying guys, how they think, talk and act, so that I could write to them. I subscribed to several "how to get a girl" newsletters, read sites, and men's magazines." (Great insight here - if you want to sell, you've got to write in the language of your customer!)
In the end, she wrote a site that unquestionably has a personality and a voice, clearly not beating around the bush. You can see it here http://www.scorebrowniepoints.com "When I talk to my women friends, "Jodie continued, "they thought 'oh how nice, romantic flowers, sweet sayings.' But that's not the way guys look at this. So I wrote it for the guys." As a guy, I can tell you, she did well, I'm subscribing...
So how did she go from the setup to the WSJ and radio interviews?
"You've gotta schmooze and that's what I did. I've been schmoozing a publicist in an online chat now for a number of months. As it turns out, she had just finished a book for guys on what women want. The Wall Street Journal interviewed her, then asked if she knew anyone else who had other information on the subject (sound like something we've been telling you in this newsletter?). So she referred them to me."
"That was so exciting that I hired a publicist to get me some press. I didn't choose just anyone, I wanted one who knew the men's marketplace and how to talk with them. She proposed that I do an exclusive with Wireless Flash to announce the site. I wrote a press release, then she rewrote it to speak to the audience."
Since this is a case study, here's the actual email that was sent. (We've made alterations to a few of the words so that this message will actually get to you.)
SITE LAUNCH: September 25, 2002
NOTE: This announcement is EXCLUSIVE TO WIRELESS FLASH.
CONTACT: Lorilyn Bailey (Publicist) (919) 878-9108 Email: lorilyn@newsbuzz.com NewsBuzz, Inc. PO Box 40304 Raleigh, NC 27604
ScoreBrowniePoints.com Helps American Men Get More S**X
VICTORIA, B.C. (Sept. 18, 2002) Jodie Gastel, the founder of ScoreBrowniePoints.com, says one of the s**iest things a man can do for a woman is to buy her an occasional hand-wrapped gift and a card to show he's thinking of her.
Unfortunately, Jodie says, not many men are good at shopping for the women they love. Even the most thoughtful of men can be intimidated by the lingerie, perfume or jewelry aisle. He’s under pressure to get something she likes, that fits, and that she doesn’t already have.
Jodie says that her new service, ScoreBrowniePoints.com can help.
An online subscription service providing appropriate gifts for men to give women, ScoreBrowniePoints.com officially launches September 25, 2002.
For a modest subscription fee, ScoreBrowniePoints subscribers receive periodic packages at their workplaces. Each package contains a gift, easy-to-use gift wrapping, and a note card. After wrapping the gift and signing the card, the man takes it all home to delight his wife. He looks like a hero, and increases his chances of having a romantic evening. An example of a recent gift is a bouquet of chocolate roses.
"Most men either don’t know what a woman might want, or don’t know how to shop for the things she does want," Gastel says. "ScoreBrowniePoints takes the guesswork out of that process for men, because all of us have a hard time remembering to bring home a gift occasionally. We like to remind men how much the women they love appreciate their ‘thoughtfulness,’ which can lead to other, um, ‘rewards’ for him later. Women need to know that they are in their man’s thoughts regularly. This is a great ‘love reminder.’ She’ll eat it up."
The service is currently available only in the United States. For details, visit www.scorebrowniepoints.
Within 45 minutes the phone rang and the next day she was published.
Now here's where the power of a great story angle comes in - one of Wireless Flash's subscribers is on a dj news feed. He liked the story angle so much that he slapped it on that feed. The result - 27 interviews in just a couple of days. Not bad for starters! Jodie's comment: "All it takes is one person to think it's newsworthy and to put it on a newsfeed and whoosh - you're out!"
Is she a millionaire yet? Not quite, but things are looking great for Jodie and her business.
Now let's debrief this from a PR perspective. Here's several key learnings that I took away from Jodie's work and some resources to help you do the same:
- The story angle is key. And it doesn't always have to be new, sometimes it just has to be a unique spin on an age-old (in this case literally) problem. (See How To Identify Story Ideas Within Your Company or Organizationand How to Snag Free Publicity For Your New Business )
- Networking works. Sometimes it takes monthns, sometimes years, but it works.
- Exclusives work. Just make sure you choose the right place to do an exclusive.
- Speak with a voice in your marketing. People, and the media appreciate a breath of fresh air. Check out her site, you'll see that coming through loud and clear.
- Be bold. Aggressively approach the media. (See How to Get Booked on Radio Talk Shows, Give a Great Interview and Get Invited Back and How to Make Your Story Pitch Stand Out in the Email Jungle )
- Be lucky. Yep, luck played a role in this. But it tends to reward the prepared.
- Don't be afraid to aggressively push your company or website. If you get the story angle correct, you'll get results. (See Powerful Ways to Promote Your Web Site to Draw Traffic and Boost Sales )
- Write press releases that invite interviews, rather than spilling all of the beans. (See Public Relations Disasters: A Dozen Press Releases From Hell and How to Fix Them )
Posted July 01, 2004
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