PR tricks & tactics

[Adam Cox]

Hi, I'm running a new online business selling a kind of luxury sticker which is going really well so far. I'm getting asked every other day for free products for events - PR for me and a goodie bag insertion for them. I'm worried I'm not doing enough to capitalise on this - PR effectiveness is so hard to measure and sometimes it feels like I'm giving stuff away and that's the end of it, I can't see the return.

I'd be grateful to hear any advice for maximising my exposure/impact with this kind of thing. I already use promo codes for discounts on the site and always make sure they have plenty of leaflets/business cards etc. I also seek out any pictures from the event and share weblinks. Any other tricks I should be using or anything in particular I should demand in return for £100's of stock?

Thanks in Advance
Adam

 

[marketingquotes]

Hi Adam,

Were you considering doing the PR yourself, or using a PR specialist that has worked in your industry?

Regards,

Marketing Quotes Support

 

[GraemeL]

Hello Adam,

You sound very positive, which is refreshing!

Without knowing what the labels look like, I am assuming that they refer back to you somehow?

 

[Richard Glynn]

Hi, I'm running a new online business selling a kind of luxury sticker which is going really well so far. I'm getting asked every other day for free products for events - PR for me and a goodie bag insertion for them. I'm worried I'm not doing enough to capitalise on this - PR effectiveness is so hard to measure and sometimes it feels like I'm giving stuff away and that's the end of it, I can't see the return.

I'd be grateful to hear any advice for maximising my exposure/impact with this kind of thing. I already use promo codes for discounts on the site and always make sure they have plenty of leaflets/business cards etc. I also seek out any pictures from the event and share weblinks. Any other tricks I should be using or anything in particular I should demand in return for £100's of stock?

Thanks in Advance
Adam

Can you tell us a little more about the labels? What's unique about them? Who are you targeting? Who are your competitors? etc.

 

[Adam Cox]

Thanks for the replies. I won't go into the exact product but to clarify they're a fun novelty sticker item and I attach them to an instruction leaflet carrying all my shop info.

I'm really looking for any advice on how I can follow up and maximise the results from this kind of pr - should I be tweeting about it immediately afterwards? Should I be insisting on certain coverage from the event? That kind of thing.

Thanks

 

[GraemeL]

The first step is to send me a couple of thou for assessment and evalu..... just joking.

Without you knowing who has received the fun novelty sticker items, not sure how you can follow up at all?

Sorry if I am missing the point but it is a bit vague - or its me being dense. My mates used to call me PB at school. Never got over the sinking feeling it gave me.

 

[PayPoint net]

Thanks for the replies. I won't go into the exact product but to clarify they're a fun novelty sticker item and I attach them to an instruction leaflet carrying all my shop info.

I'm really looking for any advice on how I can follow up and maximise the results from this kind of pr - should I be tweeting about it immediately afterwards? Should I be insisting on certain coverage from the event? That kind of thing.

Thanks

If you are giving out freebies then try and get as much inclusive exposure as possible! Every event tends to have a PR department / press office so I would contact them prior to any event to see how you can work together.

Have they got a news section that you could be included in? Do they have a blog? Also ask if you can get your logo or link to your site from the event website. I would take photo's, tweet (use the event hashtag), put it on your blog (if you have one). Try a competition on twitter or facebook for people at the events photographed or tweeting the sticker.

If there is room on your sticker you could use put a special phone number so you know that any referral comes from that sticker, or include a URL to a landing page.

Best of luck with your promotion
Siobhan

 

[Deleted member 74679]

I've never really seen the advantages of contributing to goody bags, if your product is a one-off type of purchase (you haven't told us enough to know if that's the case or not with your stickers) - the people who get the item in the goody bag now have the product so won't buy one, and no one else will see it (I personally doubt whether the organisers will do anything with the business cards/promo materials you supply once they've got their hands on their 'goody'). You'd be better of doing something more targeted with your samples, where you know they will generate referrals - sponsor giveaways on blogs or create a twitter competition http://competwition.com/ which gets you hundreds of new followers.

I'm personally a big fan of blog product reviews and I've found it is a very effective marketing strategy:

1) you get the review and hopefully some click-throughs if you target appropriately
2) you can tweet the reviews
3) you can add the reviews to your testimonials/reviews/press page
4) you get the SEO value of the link back to your site. (this relates to your question "should I be insisting on certain coverage from the event?" - with product reviews (and I get several offers a week to review my product) I've recently starting insisting on an anchor text link, rather than a standard link, back to my website.)

Apologies if you are already doing all this!

 

[sludgate2]

Always a tough one to measure.

When I put stickers of my company on leaflets etc I put a code on each sticker ...which instructs them to either bring this into store or quote it when ordering to gain a discount ......if the stickers offer a wee promotion then anyone who has one is bound to mention it .
If i dont hear anythin back in ref to the unique code from that event I then presume its a failed return

 

[Adam Cox]

Thanks you lot, exactly what I was after. I like the twitter competition, very good idea. Maybe I'll pick my events a bit more carefully and insist on certain accreditation.

Sorry to be vague, last time I posted on here I had a couple of people PM me with suspicious questions (I think a few people are after business ideas to steal, boo.)