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Don Crowther’s
GreatPR Newsletter
Published by 101PublicRelations.com
Issue #106
In this issue:
How To Create A Fantastic Publicity Event
PR Planning Case Study - Holiday Gift Guides
What's That Again? Bag of Shoes
How To Create A Fantastic Publicity Event
I admit it, I'm guilty. I have two food-related weaknesses... chocolate, and tomatoes. (A weird combination, I know.)
One side effect of this weakness is a need to have 15-25 different tomato plants growing in my garden every summer, I've even tried growing them inside during the winter (miserable failure!).
I'm still working on growing chocolate plants (where's Mr. Wonka when I need him?)
So, when one of our local garden centers held "Tomatomania" last week, I was all over it.
And what I saw was a powerful example of a perfectly executed publicity event with some resultant learnings that can benefit all of us.
First, let me outline their strategic situation. Imagine that you're a privately-owned player in the midst of a chain-oriented marketplace. The chains have big money that they spend on TV, print and radio ads. Plus, your staple business (nursery items) has been encroached upon by the discount stores, with every KMart, Wal*Mart, Target and Shopko trying to steal your customer base. How do you react?
Most companies in this situation do exactly the wrong thing, choosing the knee-jerk price competition route by running lots of sales and undercutting everyone else's prices. This simply speeds their demise by decreasing their profit margins.
This nursery, called Milaeger's, in Racine Wisconsin <http://Milaegers.com> has done just the opposite of the norm. They have chosen to go upscale, focusing on providing a wide range of gorgeous and unusual plant varieties that you can't get anyplace else. So, when everyone else offers one variety of Kohlrabi (try one, they're in your vegetable aisle and they're great!), they offer six.
They've also developed a catalog business, supplying mail order annuals and perennials all over the nation.
Plus, they've expanded beyond the nursery into a a retail boutique, lifestyle-type company, with upscale yard furnishings and ornaments, some quality clothing, perfumes and the like and a cafe.
But my favorite line addition is their Christmas selection. Since not many plants are sold in Wisconsin winters, they offer this line to as a counter-seasonal offering. They manufacture their own line of Christmas trees, some even pre-lit with tons of lights, all with joints that allow you to store the tree broken down, with the lights still on it. Plus they offer a wide variety of classic Christmas ornaments, like Christopher Radko, Old World, Patricia Breen and my favorite, Polonaise.
Every year they create a Christmas Tree Village, with a room full of trees featuring their high-fashion tree decoration designs, and another room filled with ornaments, trains and collectable villages.
Their stores have become a tourist attraction, with multiple busses pulling up every day during the holiday period, packed with people who all end up buying a few souvenirs (oftentimes to the tune of several thousand dollars) to take home. (Nice strategy... people actually pay to get on charter busses to come and visit your store!)
I go there every year to get my first hit of holiday spirit...
Back to Tomatomania.
It's Labor Day weekend. In Wisconsin, planting's finished long ago, with the exception of a few fall items. Christmas hasn't kicked in yet. This is the classic recipe for yet another low traffic / low sales weekend.
But that's not the way good businesspeople think - for a good entrepreneur, if there's no external factors to drive sales, they create one internally. Thus the birth of Tomatomania.
Tomatomania is a simple concept - give people the opportunity to taste different varieties of tomatoes to determine which ones they personally prefer, in hopes that they will come back next year and buy those plants for their garden.
But its the way that Milaegers executes it that gives us lessons can be learned.
Tomatomania was held in one of their newest greenhouses (with high, rounded roofs) located right behind the boutique portion of their store. As one walked in, we were directed outside through their remaining nursery inventory, featuring lovely blooming roses with signage pointing out that fall is a great time to plant roses.
Walking into the greenhouse we were faced with a u-shaped set of tables, surrounding chairs and additional tables in the middle. On the outside tables there were 83 different plates, each containing cut-up pieces of a different variety of tomatoes. (I had no idea that there even were 83 different varieties!) Each variety was numbered. We were handed a worksheet where we could record our choices (by number only - no names to influence our choices) and a recipe book containing tomato recipes. All of this was accompanied by nice music and a plethora of managers and employees tending to the samples and chatting with the visitors.
When we finished sampling, we returned to a table, where we were given a chart allowing us to determine which varieties we personally preferred, and an entry form for a door prize. That form asked for our contact information, plus a list of the tomato varieties we preferred. This simple door prize entry enabled them to
- Build a mailing list of tomato lovers
- Mail us in the spring, reminding us which varieties we chose, and inviting us to return to pick up our plants from them (which, in my case would have to be from them, because I found that none of my personal favorites were varieties which are commonly sold in other garden centers... another key reason to hold an event of this type)
- Determine which varieties are most preferred by their customer base, enabling them to feature that in their signage next year and to determine in advance how much they should plant of each variety.
From there we were drawn into the middle where they were serving food, cooked by their cafe staff and available either in their store or from their cafe (sampling their products)
Finally, they conveniently set the operation up to draw us from the greenhouse directly into the boutique portion of their store (remember that we already came through the nursery operation, now we're exiting through the clothing, Christmas, and other product lines) where we ran right into the discount racks clearing out inventory at good prices, and catching a glimpse of the Christmas preparations being made on the side.
And, by the way, I heard that they had done a special closed showing the night before for their A-list customers.
In total, they probably pulled in 20% of all of their target households from the community, plus many from outside, who will then probably make a special trip in the springtime just to pick up their personal favorite tomato varieties for their garden.
All in all, it was a great example of how attention to detail can turn a so-so promotional event into a success. Remember, they could have just put out a bunch of tomato slices for us to try. Instead this event featured:
- Good marketing (marketing actually started early spring with flyers given to anyone buying plants at the store) and it was included in all of their promotional announcements throughout the season (they have a regular set of seminars and other activities throughout the year)
- Forced exposure and strong tie-in to their core of the business (it's amazing how often we see events that, though they bring in a ton of people, don't have anything to do with the business that sponsors the event - picnics sponsored by banks, and parades sponsored by insurance companies leap to mind). Remember, they pulled us through the mainstay of their operations either on the way in or the way out of the event, where I'm sure lots of people dropped a few dollars too.
- Participatory - this wasn't just a stand around and chat with a drink in hand, it was an opportunity to interact on a deep and personal level with the product they sell. After all, I was actively (and blindly) choosing my personal favorite tomato varieties.
- Providing an automatic and useful recycling mechanism (I say recycling because the mailing that I'm sure I'll receive in April will recycle me back into their store and future Tomatomania events.) Remember that this mailing can not only be personalized to my address, but to my own individual tastes because they asked me to tell them which ones I liked.
- Providing an upwardly-spiraling promotional loop. This event will feed into next year's sales, which will inspire next year's event, which will increase the next year's sales etc. And keep in mind that though this promotion pulls me into their store to buy tomatoes, I will also walk out with lots of other products during the key planting season next year.
Keep in mind also, that this whole discussion didn't even talk about the media attention received by the event. This was pure public relations, building relations with their public.
All in all, a powerful program that really works. Now, jump back and read this list of 5 criteria for a great event. How many of these types of elements did you have in your last event? What ideas can you implement in your next one?
Want to make that next special event a successful one? Check out our newly relaunched How to Plan and Promote Sizzling Special Events. This 7-CD set and/or ebook features specific advice on how to successfully plan a special event and advice on how to maximize the publicity resulting from that event. It also includes 15 detailed checklists, that walk you through the process of planning and promoting your event in a way that ensures your success! It's available either as a 7-Audio-CD set or as an instantly downloadable ebook, or you can get both at a special discounted price. Check out more information here: How to Plan and Promote Sizzling Special Events
PR Planning
Case Study -
Holiday Gift Guides
I've been working hard on preparing our promotional plan for our corporate gift basket site, Corporate-Gift-Baskets.com for the upcoming holiday season. In doing so I realized that our PR activities would be a great case study for all of you to see. So, from time to time, I will pass along the steps we've taken and their accompanying results.
Basically, the issues we are facing in promoting this site make a great case study, because it has many of the same PR problems that you may also be experiencing:
- It sells products that aren't particularly newsworthy, so there's no built-in reason for the media to want to write about us
- There's a ton of competition out there, not only direct (in this case suppliers of gift baskets), but indirect (suppliers of other items that can be given away as gifts).
Sound familiar? I bet you've been frustrated before because you've felt that your products aren't particularly newsworthy and that there's lots of competition for the limited press space available in your category.
But we do have one advantage - we are the sole supplier of a very unique line of gift baskets. Unlike most gift baskets that get thrown away and forgotten as soon as the goodies are gone, these corporate gifts are based on high-quality art pieces and decorating accessories that the recipient will be proud to display in their home or office, so they will have cause to remember the sender for years to come.
So how does one generate publicity for such a company?
Lots of ways!
As we've been going through the process of putting together our PR plan for this season, I happened to be on the phone with my good friend Joan Stewart, and mentioned it to her. She immediately came up with a wonderful suggestion...
Holiday Gift Guides!
As you probably know, the media creates Holiday Gift Guides to help their audience find the perfect presents for people on their gift lists.
The real beauty of holiday gift guides is that this is the one time of the year when editors are actually looking for products that they can feature to their audiences. So, your product doesn't necessarily have to have a news tie-in, it simply has to be something that catches their interest and fits into their theme.
They're also a perfect PR outlet for gifts that are unique and different.
Products that get featured in holiday gift guides get amazing exposure, implied support from the media source, and can generate lots of solid sales.
After my conversation with Joan, I went out and researched the availability of contact lists for editors of holiday gift guides. Basically, I found two that you should know about. I've acquired copies of each, and recommend both as having good solid information.
The one thing I did discover, is that September 8th is late to start the process of submitting to holiday gift guides. We've already missed the deadlines for many of the longer-lead-time magazines. However, there are still many magazines still available, and most of the newspapers, TV and Radio have deadlines that are still in front of us. I've learned my lesson - start earlier next year!
The advantage of both of the sources that I'll give you is that each of them tells exactly how the editor of each gift guide wishes to receive your information. Most of these sources are looking for some kind of press release (usually via email with attached pictures) or media kits, and in my review so far, most of those who want to see the actual product don't request it until they have a pretty good idea that it will be included, cutting your raw prospecting costs.
I can tell you, however, that this isn't a simple emailing of a press release to tons of people. To get the best success, each of these sources should be handled individually, pitching your product to their specific audience, (using a boating slant for the boating magazine, etc.) and abiding by their specific requests on how they want to receive information and materials.
So plan to do some work. However, I can tell you, this is a great technique, and if you were to pick one of these up today and send out several hundred pitches, you're liable to get a number of good placements.
The Sources:
1. Book Marketing
This first source is focused primarily on those of you who wish to promote a book. However, if your product isn't a book, you can still get value out of this resource (most of the sources are for generic gift guides, not book-specific ones), so I encourage you to at least look at it to determine if it is right for you.
It's produced by Kim Dushinski and Tami DePalma, the people who focus on helping authors get publicity for their books.
This pdf-delivered product contains over 630 different holiday gift guides, compiled through published media calendars. Their contacts focus primarily on newspapers and magazines. Besides the contacts, you also get access to a teleseminar (which will be held September 9th), a sample cover letter, and probably the coolest tool - all of the deadlines in Microsoft Excel format presorted by deadline.
One catch - they're limiting the number they will sell, and they only have 14 of the complete package left (I know, it sounds like a trick, but I just got off the phone with Kim, who told me that this is a real number, so there's scarcity involved.) They plan to offer a lower level of product for the same amount of money after the first batch sells out, but at this point, I can't tell you what that product offering will contain.
This looks like a great tool that you should definitely consider, especially if you are marketing a book. Hurry though...
Check it out here
2. GiftList
It's always good to work with specialists, and creation of the holiday gift guide contact list is one of only two products that Amy Bates Stumpf and her staff does each year. She has a staff of phone researchers who rigorously call every single person on this list on a regular basis, updating their publication plans, checking their contact information, and verifying their preferences on how they want to receive the information. Their database is updated every week from May through September, so you can rest assured that it will be current and accurate.
Amy's product is provided to you in the form of a searchable online database. You can put in keywords, look at categories, check out specific media sources, even dates of last update. One other cool thing is that you can mark your list of targets and record the actions you've taken for each individual contact, which then gets stored in your own personal database (you're the only one with access to that information) so you can keep track of your promotional efforts in the same place where you gather the leads.
Amy spends a great deal of time editing the information, and I found that it's very specific, especially in the area of what the editor wants to receive and how they want to get it.
One cool thing from this product is that it also includes wire services (further increasing your effort / return ratio if you can get in), and top TV and radio stations.
Of course, it's got some areas of improvement. I'd love to see a list of deadlines, and sometimes the searching process doesn't deliver results the way that I think it should, but overall, this is a powerful tool that I definitely recommend to anyone who has a giftable product.
You can get more information about this service here
We'll let you know more about how our efforts work in getting into gift guides, plus the other tactics we pursue as we go forward. Plus, if you have any ideas of tactics we should consider, please feel free to drop us a line and we'll pass the best suggestions on (plus a link to your site) in future editions of this newsletter and on our site.
Let me know about your success too!
What's That Again?
Bag of Shoes
This is the actual text of a want ad placed in Philippi, WV
"Large bag of shoes -- different sizes, no pairs, make offer or trade for a snorkel."
What are the odds of finding someone who actually wants a bag of unmatched shoes, who is willing to either pay for them or who happens to have an extra snorkel laying around, living in Philippi, West Virginia?
But then again, stranger things have happened!
Have a great week!
Don Crowther
President
101PublicRelations.com
See articles from a recent issue of this newsletter:
And from the one before that:
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