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."
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You can also publicize a product before it’s available to create a dramatic awareness that gets the media and the public looking forward to its introduction. A great example of this occurred several years ago when Seltzer’s public relations firm, Porter Novelli, "... launched the Gillette Sensor Razor with an announcement in October - even though it would not come out until January. The object was to build anticipation and expectation. Every year Fortune magazine does an article on the 10 best products of the year. The Gillette Sensor was actually named one of the 10 best products for 1989, even though it wasn't even introduced until 1990," according to Seltzer.
That's an interesting way to look at the world, isn't it? Publicize your product, possibly without even naming it, before your launch, so that your potential customers are very aware of their unmet need and foaming at the mouth to get it solved when your product gets launched.
Want more information on how to generate publicity for your products? Check out our brand new training manual, just released today, How To Get Publicity For Your Products
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