If you decide to use a giveaway as a method of attracting eyeballs, the temptation will always be to give away copies of your own product. You’ll be able to control delivery, and the costs will be minimal. There’s nothing wrong with doing that, and I do it often. But giveaways of your own product appeal mostly to people who already know you and already know that they want your information. It excites your main market, but it can leave people who don’t know you cold. Because they don’t yet understand the value your information will bring them, they’re not certain that they want to invest the time required to enter your giveaway and read your book.
Give away something that everyone wants, and you’ll attract attention beyond your core audience. Gadgets, especially Apple products, always seem to do well, and I’ve picked up plenty of responses by offering a Flip Mino video recorder. Passing out products that are related to the subject of your information product whenever possible is also a good idea. That will get your promotion discussed among people who might not know you but are interested in your subject.
One of the criticisms of Moonfruit’s campaign was that although it attracted attention to the company, it wasn’t quite clear how many of those new users were interested in actually building a web site. As an advertising campaign, it was powerful but inaccurate. When a publisher supports an information product about tiling your own roof or earning money with pet photography by offering a free roofing hammer or a year’s subscription to a photo hosting company, that giveaway is much more targeted.
Giveaways like these benefit your audience, but you can also add sparkle to your launch by giving things away to others. I once organized a tweetathon to mark a product launch, spending a day streaming live from my office as I chatted with other marketers and special guests. We raised a fair amount of money for WaterIsLife, had a great time, and also attracted quite a bit of media attention. The press love writing about businesses working for charities, because it makes them feel that they’re helping charities, too. And audiences like taking part in charity events because it’s such an easy way for them to give back.
Best of all, you actually do get to give back. A successful product launch makes you feel good, but actually doing good makes you feel so much better.
Finally, the preparation for just about every product launch will usually involve a press release. It’s as traditional as tinsel on the Christmas tree and, too often, about as useful. The problem isn’t that publicity isn’t a valuable part of a product launch. In fact, it’s an essential part of a product launch. It’s that too few people understand how a press release works and how to use it.
Reporters aren’t interested in telling the world that you have a new product. That’s what their publication’s advertising space is for. They’re interested in telling their audience about things that are going to affect their lives.
When you come to write your press release, don’t announce the launch of your new book or your new DVD course. Instead, write a press release that announces the changes that your new release will cause. If you’d created an information product that explains how to telecommute, for example, then your press release would sell the idea that no one need sit in rush hour traffic ever again. That would be the hook that would bring the reporters in. Quotes from the author of a new book, e-book, or course on telecommuting would prove what the reporter is saying—and give your product the publicity it needs.
Figure 4.7Freelance writer Robert McGarvey looks for help on Twitter—and hands out an offer of free publicity to companies with the knowledge he needs.
Press releases like these are certainly useful, and you should be looking to shoot out a batch of them to support your release. But they aren’t the only way to get publicity, and you shouldn’t rely on them. There are also lots of reporters on Twitter who are looking for stories and sources, and connections with them can also be valuable routes to a newspaper’s pages or even a television station’s airtime (Figure 4.7).
The key here is not to pitch to them directly. No one likes being pitched to on Twitter, and waving at reporters in public is likely to turn them away. Instead, in the weeks leading up to the launch, add journalists to the lists of people you’re following on the site. Listorious (www.listorious.com) will help you to find them; you can see lists of reporters broken down by region and even by newspaper. Join their conversations and be sure to answer any questions they might have. Reporters on Twitter also occasionally ask for help with sources, giving you easy interview opportunities and a chance to build a lasting contact. Make sure that you lend a hand whenever you can.
The real secret to winning tons of free publicity is very simple: Be successful.
Reporters are rarely the first to notice when something happens. They only notice the behavior of people who have already spotted it. My iFart app, for example, didn’t cause a ripple in the press when it first came out. It was only after it had sold thousands of downloads and reached the top of the app charts that the press began paying attention.
When you want to attract the media’s attention, try waving at your market.
All of these things will help to prepare your market even before your product becomes available. It ensures that potential customers already know you, like you, and trust you, and that they’re ready to pay you as soon as you launch. On launch day—and in
