PR for New Products
When using PR for new products and launches, it’s important to establish a strong plan that achieves key goals and business results. A strong PR plan for product launches goes beyond strictly sharing the announcement or issuing a press release. You need to craft a strong story that ties into timely news trends and key pain points that your audience is facing. Otherwise, reporters will not be interested in covering you new product and you will fail to generate significant awareness to drive sales.
Benefits of PR for New Products
When executed effectively, PR for new products can generate significant business benefits and buzz for your company. These benefits include:
- Establishes Credibility: Third-party reviews and write-ups mentioning your new products instantly establish credibility among key audiences. It also helps you build rapport with reporters and increase the likelihood that they will turn to you when they need a source on a similar topic.
- Reduces Purchasing Risk: If you are a go-to industry source and constantly provide a relevant and interesting perspective on the latest trends, your audiences will view you as an expert in your field and feel more comfortable purchasing your product. When you can point to well-known media sources like the Wall Street Journal or TechCrunch mentioning your company and products, consumers will have a lower perceived purchase risk.
- Raises Awareness of Your Products: Top-tier media coverage puts your products front and center among thousands of key audiences and qualified buyers who may not otherwise hear about your brand and products. You can also share and promote media placements via social media, on your website and through search marketing techniques to reach an even larger audience.
- Generates Leads: Positive product reviews and mentions in influential publications, blogs and forums can translate directly into leads. With advanced tools and insightful reporting, companies can see how much website traffic and conversions resulted from your product launch PR campaign.
- Attracts Investors and Analysts: Reporters are not the only important audience of influencers you can reach with PR for new products. Well-known and niche analysts serve as a popular resource for prospects who are considering purchasing decisions.
How to Use PR for New Products
You can’t expect to generate meaningful results and media coverage if you wait until the day before you product launch to create your PR plan. This approach will be sure to fall flat among reporters and your target audiences. Instead of waiting until the last minute and assuming your product will sell itself to the media and customers, be proactive and take these critical steps to make a larger media splash:
- Generate awareness of a market need well ahead of your product launch. This can incorporate thought leadership pitching and interviews to highlight the important pain points your new product will solve.
- Create supporting content and narratives that emphasizes your key messages and the critical issues you are solving. This can include white papers, contributed articles, blog posts and search-optimized website content.
- Continue the post-launch momentum by telling your product story to trade publications, analysts and business press as it relates to larger industry conversations. You can also develop a post-launch data study to keep up the volume of media placement and keep your product top of mind among prospects.
By following these steps and developing a documented PR plan for your product launch, you can increase the impact and results from your PR for new products. Are you preparing to launch a new product to the market and need PR support? Call us today at (312) 235-6171 and learn more about our comprehensive product launch PR services and results.