Congratulations! You have designed a new program, are offering a new product, or have designed an awesome iPhone app. Now you need to get the attention of the media to let the world know! There is a secret to getting your word out there effectively. You first have to find a reporter, figure out the real reason behind your desire to market your product (beyond sales, of course) and create a press kit.
Find a Reporter
Obviously, the first thing you have to do is find a reporter who has written articles within your niche. Let’s say that you are the developer of games for the Kinect game system. Do a search on a well known newspaper, such as the New York Times. You can do this from Google by using the “site:” operator.
So look at one of the articles, click on the author’s name and view his or her other articles. Be sure the reporter you choose has written many articles regarding the topic you want. In this case, we clicked on an article by Seth Schiesel; by clicking on his name, we notice he has written many articles about video games. The NY Times also provides you with the author’s email address. But, don’t email him yet; make a note of his email address, and we’ll move on to the next step.
Research the Reporter
It’s always smart to research anyone you attempt to contact for a favor; reporters are no different! Do a Google search for “Seth Schiesel Biography”. Gather all the information you can find on him; read online biographies, check on Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, LinkedIn and other social networks. Once you feel that you know the reporter well, it’s time to move on to the next step.
Make a List
Think about why you want this reporter’s attention. You can’t say that it’s just to get traffic to your site; otherwise, all you would need is a one sentence deal: “Joe Schmoe has created a great new game for the Xbox 360 Kinect; go buy it!”
Obviously, you want more than that. So list exactly what you want for this article. Include at least 10 specific points you want the reporter to feature in the article; what do you feel people absolutely have to know about this game?
Create Your Press Kit
The last thing you have to do before contacting the reporter is create your press kit. Having a press kit makes you look more professional, and allows you to provide all pertinent information on your business or product in one convenient file. Things go much more smoothly for both you and the reporter if he can read your press release then, if he still has questions, he can ask you; otherwise, there could be a number of phone calls or emails and the entire process would take much longer.
Create a PowerPoint slideshow that includes all the vital information the press would want to know. It should, at the very least, contain the following information:
Slide 1: This slide will be about the CEO/Founder of your company, and should include a short and sweet biography.
Slide 2-4: You may not need 3 slides for this section, but some companies will. Describe your company’s funding sources, whether it was privately funded, or if you started off your kitchen table. Tell the readers who your executive team is; this is especially important if you have someone who is well known in the industry working with you. Share information about who helped you develop your product (in this example, this would be the game developers).
Slide 5: On this slide, describe your target audience, and share how your game helps them with their lives. This information will transition nicely into the next couple of slides.
Slide 6-7: Now you want to list your product’s competitors. Is there another company that has put out a Kinect game similar to yours? Perhaps someone else tried to (or did) use a certain technology in the game that was similar to how you used yours? Include games in the same genre, even if they aren’t exactly the same. Then, on the second slide, describe how yours is better than those of the competition. How did you do things differently?
Slide 8-10: Get a few testimonials; if you don’t have any from end consumers, use testimonials from your testers. Be sure to include photos, to give them more credibility.
Slide 11: This is where you will list the benefits of your game. Don’t be overly technical; a good way to test if your presentation is user-friendly is to invite some friends over that are not knowledgeable in your field. If you lost them anywhere, go back and rewrite that slide.
Contact the Reporter
Now it’s time to contact the reporter. You are well prepared, and are ready to approach them with your idea. Don’t immediately send them an email with an “I have this great game, will you write about it?” approach.
For the initial contact, stroke his ego; let him know that you love reading his articles. You want to make it sound like you worship the ground he walks on (OK, maybe not that strong, but you get the idea). Ask if there is a way that you can subscribe to his posts only, so that you can be notified of any new articles he publishes.
Once you receive a reply to that, follow up with another personal email. Remember all of that knowledge you gained in your research? Now’s the time to use it; point out as many similarities between the two of you as you can. Your goal should be to establish a personal link; do you both like the same music artist? Mention you just went to a concert; or that you just bought the latest CD. Are you both married? Do you both like old cars? Create as many personal links as you can between you and the reporter without it sounding freakishly fake.
Once you have a nice email rapport going, toss something in there about your new game, and mention that you have attached your press kit for him to peruse. The two of you should be, by now, in the middle of a nice conversation; make it a “by the way,” type of insert in the middle of your email, then go back to what you were already discussing.
Creating the perfect rapport with a reporter to get a press release may seem like a lot of work; but when done successfully, can really help your business or sales numbers. Successful business people do these methods every day, only they do them in person. If you think about it, the methods outlined here are easier (especially for people who aren’t good with people) because all the contact is through email.
SEO Revolution Blog
