You know how hard it is to develop a product.
It may be a labor of love, but it’s still a labor. And while you’re not out there cracking rocks with a sledgehammer, some might even call it hard labor. That’s okay. Nothing good comes easy. And there’s no question that you’re wonderfully suited for this kind of labor, right? But the challenge comes shortly after you finish laboring on your masterpiece.
What do I mean? You’ve got to jump into the promotional trenches and fight, tooth and nail. Consumers need to know that your product is out there and national media exposure is the best way for you tell them.
Call it the double whammy of product development – as hard as it is to develop a terrific product, it can be even harder to promote it. Which has, sadly enough, turned out to be the death sentence for far too many “could-have-been” best-selling products. After all, how many companies have been great at the first “whammy” only to throw their hands up at the second (and then, tragically, and out of sheer frustration, given up altogether)?
Fortunately, good product promotion doesn’t have to be as mysterious as the pyramids – you can put some little-known (but wonderfully effective) publicity “tricks” to work for you starting this very day. For example…
Is This YOUR Month?
Ever notice how every month comes with “awareness themes?”
Take April, for example. Among its other awareness themes, April is Cancer Control Month, National Decorating Month, Physical Wellness Month, National Humor Month, National Autism Awareness Month, Lawn and Garden Month, National Car Care Month and Alcohol Awareness Month.
And that’s just April. Every month has its own theme list. And you can bet many of those months have themes aimed at your product.
So what’s the strategy here? Pretty simple, really: Tie the message of your product to a month’s theme. Do a good job of that, put your press release right in front of the media’s “nose,” and you could just land several high-profile interviews.
That’s one nice way of cracking into the formerly impenetrable “media fortress.” Here’s another:
Tie into Today’s News
You’ve got to be a bit more agile for this.
Whenever there’s a news story that relates to the message of your product, cook up a strong press release and shoot it right over to talk radio producers, TV news producers and newspaper editors. These people are ALWAYS looking for credible guests with great slants on today’s news.
How long do these kinds of news windows stay open? Not long at all. That’s why, as I said, you’ve got to be quick and agile.
Either that…or you’ve got to enlist the help of a PR professional who is quicker and more agile than you’d ever care to be.
Marsha Friedman has been a leading authority on publicity for authors for nearly two decades as CEO of Event Management Services, Inc (EMSI). If you would like to receive her free Ebook “How to Be a Great Talk Radio Guest” visit emsincorporated.com.