Launching a product into the world that sells is not as straightforward as people may think. Marketing campaigns can tremendously influence your product’s presence in the industry and its allure to potential customers. Unicorns like Apple have manoeuvred exceptionally well through innovative marketing over the years, being a prime example of how customers’ perception of the brand can influence their buying habits.
Product launches can include various marketing elements, from basic image posts on social media to complex multi-channel influencer campaigns. Nonetheless, in this post, we will look at how you can develop a top-notch, editor-loved press release for your product. These tips will work for numerous industries and will help shape up your press release.
Find out what makes your product unique
This task should be straightforward. You need to know what is unique about your product; after all the glamour and stunning imagery, your potential customers need to understand why they are paying a premium for your product. Remember, unique elements are not always limited to features. Factors like production location and the sustainability background of your product can also be the unique selling points of your product. By using your product’s unique elements to your advantage, you can grab people’s attention and make it seem new.
Moreover, discovering what makes your product unique will be much easier to market it to editors and thus get featured on a publication, helping you sell it.
Here is a short clip from Mad Men in which Don Draper (Jon Hamm) brings out The Carousel and uses its unique presentation features to sells it through the element of nostalgia.
Write a story from a newsworthy angle
It’s always essential to understand why your product deserves notice in an article. For example, if you are making a clothing brand, could it be reasonable to focus on sustainable fashion and how it relates to your clothing production? As an alternative, if you are developing a tech product, can it help educate people or solve a daily problem recently discussed in the news?
By having a newsworthy angle, you’ll put yourself at an advantage to get your product featured. Writers are always looking for ways to grab readers in, so bring them the content that does that.
Target the correct publications
It’s too easy nowadays to buy a list of press publications, write a crappy press release, and push out a bulk campaign. The truth is it will likely get you nowhere.
We recommend selecting from five to twenty publications suited to your industry and targeting specific writers and editors with your product story. Each email should be addressed to the correct person and should fit in with the rest of the content they post.
Extra tip:Â You may want to mention a previous article they wrote about your product’s topic and why your product relates to it.
Provide exclusivity to targeted publications
Giving exclusive interviews or features can genuinely uplift your chances of being featured. This strategy will also help develop a long relationship with the writers, meaning they could come back to you for comments on their other articles surrounding your product’s topics.
However, whilst exclusive features can be great they can also be daunting for newcomers in the field of press releases. For example, how long should you wait until you move on to another publication for exclusive coverage? Well, we’d normally give them a week but you should be ready to follow up with some personalised messages/calls to make sure the editor has received your initial press release. It’s important to understand they’re probably overfilled with press releases on the daily basis.
Provide quality assets
Providing publications with quality assets is not optional. By assets, we mean images, quotes, biographies, videos and so on. If you’re sending out an email, we recommend adding a link to a shared dropbox folder with all the assets; make sure to include multiple version of images and videos to suit different mediums. Also, have photos of the creators and the people behind the product; writers love using these photos to shape the story.
In terms of photo sizes, we’d include two versions. One that is raw-like and in full size, if they want to edit it or publish it in a physical publication. The other should be optimised for the web in JPEG format. And if you’re not too busy, having a single photo in WEBP format can help too — in case that’s their preferred format.
Have exciting quotes
A common mistake people make is a lack of quotes or, even more importantly, engaging quotes. Quotes are vital to articles about products. Editors want to know what the creators think and how their comments tie in with the product’s story. As a recommendation, I would make the quote memorable, so it could potentially be the title. You want to create a thought catching quote that makes the reader read twice.
Ready to publish content
Lastly and maybe most importantly, your press release should read a lot like an article. Creative language can be acceptable, but it doesn’t belong in the press releases if the editor doesn’t understand it. Highly-technical details should not belong in the leading paragraphs. Your press release should be so well-written that the editor would struggle to edit it without damaging the value of the content. Your press release should be the article you hope is published in its final form.
So, you’ve read all the information above, but you may still have many questions on the yea and nays of writing a press release for a product takeoff. Below we’ve compiled some commonly asked questions by marketeers, publicists and business owners.
Should I use a press release template for my product launch?
While templates are a great way to get started, each product launch is individualistic. A template will be a great way to get started regarding which elements and features to include. However, we’d recommend hiring a specialist (such as us) to prepare and distribute the press release.
Do I need permission from the photographer of the marketing material to use their photos in a press release?
Copyright is a landmine, including when it comes to your product. If you’ve hired a professional photographer to take photos and marketing material, make sure to have a written contract stating that you can use these photos in the press release. It should also mention that you may use these photos across various platforms and mediums without needing to provide credit, as it may affect your other campaigns, such as TV adverts or billboards.
Moreover, we’d highly discourage using unlicensed photos or any that don’t have a bulletproof contract that will protect your brand from any potential lawsuit. Don’t trust royalty free photo websites for your promotions; they can have damaging effects. It would be best to have complete control of any material, including photos you release within your press release.
Will my press release help with SEO?
Press campaigns can be fantastic for SEO. Most publications tend to post Dofollow links to websites regularly when featuring companies meaning they’ll impact your page ranking on Google, Bing and other search engines.Â
If your product is featured and there isn’t a link, we’d recommend getting in touch with the editor and writer for a possible link insert.
