Question

Topic: Advertising/PR

Pr Options Depleted?

Posted by Anonymous on 12/4/2004 at 7:02 PM ET 500 Points
Yearly I get product reviews into the Washington Post, NY Times, Boston Globe and others. Sometimes we get a trickle-down to smaller papers. We found (phoning - that's how we do it) magazines are not receptive.

"PR Newswire" works occasionally, as does misc activity with product placements when Googlers find us.

As an annual outbound effort, the stuff WE actually control is those 25 calls to newspapers. That's it. There has to be more.

Is there substantial and immediate revenue from business stories in Newsweek, Inc , Fortune? Or would this be good only for B-B companies - we sell outdoor furniture to homeowners - by Internet.

Have no money to sponsor big events. Small events I'd expect to yield much less then our standard activity. We'll be at 6 home shows in Q1 2005. Haven't seen a PR angle…

Problem is, even if you have a revolutionary trade product (we do)... outdoor furniture is not gonna revolutionize people's lives. We're not Segue nor a new cancer drug.

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  • Posted by Peter (henna gaijin) on 12/4/2004 at 8:03 PM Member
    Getting PR placement in magazines for outdoor furniture should be achievable. But I think you are targeting the wrong magazines if Newsweek and the like are who you are after. For product information type placements, you may want to target DIY and home magazines.

    Even getting in to the Fortunes and Newsweek's and such would be achievable, but not directly with something about your product. Instead, you could get in as part of a case study on something else. For example, if you were using some cutting edge system(someone else's product) which would be the focus of the PR or article - but you would still get the side mention as the company using it.
  • Posted on 12/6/2004 at 6:36 AM Accepted
    You probably already know about this, and I don't know the exact mechanics, but you could probably get a story done in Daily Candy ( www.dailycandy.com ). It's a daily newsletter us gals love. Actually it's all product placement and advertising, but the copywriting is so exceptional that it sounds like your best friend is giving you the goods on what's hot and what's not.

    You could send a media kit about a certain item as well as a promotion that can easily drive the story home. For example, the food&drink section could cover your storage buffet box with a "win a free outdoor party" promotion.
  • Posted by Janet O. on 12/6/2004 at 5:17 PM Accepted
    Here's an idea for your home shows. Develop a pre-show mailer that is sent out to homeowners within a 10-15 mile radius of the show. Include a "call to action" or promotion to get homeowners to visit your website and booth. If time and budget permits, a 3-time mailer spread out approximately 6 weeks before the show would be more effective than a one-time mailer. If you're looking for direct mail lists, you can target homeowners with a specific income level who live in affluent areas. Or you can buy the direct mail lists of subscribers who subscribe to certain magazines. There are pros and cons to Val Pak, Money Mailer, etc.. But they may be worth looking into as they fairly inexpensive, have wide coverage, and have some target direct mail programs available.

    Also, many newspapers have a home and garden section. You may want to see if the major/regional newspapers that are in the area of the home shows will run an article about your furniture prior to when the home shows start.
  • Posted by SRyan ;] on 12/6/2004 at 7:18 PM Member
    I couldn't get to your website with my new Firefox browser. The friendly error message on the big blank page only said, "No web site is configured at this address."

    Then I relented, and tried to go there with Internet Explorer.

    You've got a nice product. Have you approached any of the big apartment builders? That's a BOOMING market here in Houston... and Lord knows we've got the weather and the real estate for vast outdoor recreational spaces.

    No, it's not a PR angle like you've asked about, but I thought it was worth mentioning!

    Shelley ;]
  • Posted by SRyan ;] on 12/8/2004 at 6:01 AM Accepted
    Richard's ideas have hatched another from me...

    You could hire some stealth "product ambassadors" (college kids?) to start showing up early at local football games to do some Xtreme Tailgate Partying. Do it consistently with your best product samples, and you might attract some media attention. Are you in or near a city with an NFL or big university team?

    It wouldn't hurt to give away food while you're there...

    If your typical customer is in the older, home-owning demographic, your tailgaters might need to be more like the Joneses instead of college kids, though. Perhaps you could buy game tickets for existing customers and invite them to come to YOUR tailgate party early to pick them up (and have a beer)!

    Maybe your next question for this forum shouldn't be about PR, it should be to request ideas for guerilla marketing tactics...

    - Shelley
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