There is always a lot of excitement when a new product is set to launch and be unveiled to potential buyers. One marketing activity that should be at the top of your list when a launch plan is imminent is Public Relations.

New products are considered “newsworthy” for only so many weeks after they launch, and some new varieties of fresh produce are only in season for a short period of time. That’s why getting ahead of the news and having a game plan in place to share your news with the right people at the right time is so imperative.  As you prepare for sharing your company’s big news, use these tips before you launch that new product.

3 Ways to Get Your New Product Noticed by the Media

1. Keep Your Trade Media Contacts Close

Ahead of any launch, it’s important to keep trade media updated on the goings on of business news and product information. Having a press release crafted and ready to distribute when launch day arrives is imperative to ensure buyers and retailers are informed.

Our industry publications rely on companies distributing press releases to tell their story and announce new products. At DMA, we receive an average of 8-9 placements per press release and have even heard feedback of those releases directly leading to sales. With an industry as interconnected as ours, all it takes is a buyer seeing a new product launch in publications like AndNowUKnow or The Packer to reach out and place an order.

Pro Tip: Including high resolution visuals of the new product and your company logo with the press release will help the writer craft a more detailed story to pique their reader (and your buyers’) interest.

2. Be Strategic with Consumer Media

Public relations with consumer media outlets can elevate your product on a national scale with placements in magazines like O, The Oprah Magazine, Real Simple and Women’s Health. You may be thinking that these are totally out of reach, but our team is in weekly communication with editors from these publications and more. We’ve coordinated placements in Rachael Ray In Season, EatingWell, Taste of Home, to name a few in recent months and we know what it takes to get your product noticed.

When considering reaching out to consumer media, first create a targeted media list of writers who would genuinely be interested in hearing more about your new product. Once the list is created, you now have your target recipient list ready for your big pitch.  Ready to work with an individual media outlet on an “exclusive” story?  Great!  The following statistic supports this decision.

75% of journalists say they are more likely to cover a story if they are offered an exclusive according to a 2020 study by Muck Rack.

What is perhaps most important to note here is the story must actually be relevant to the audience of the publication or media outlet that you’re pitching to be worthy of an exclusive.

For a new, revolutionary product that is healthy and tastes great, this is totally feasible!

Pro Tip: Give our list of tips and tricks for pitching to consumer media a quick review before you begin to begin writing.  Think your product is pitch-worthy?  Think again.  Review this checklist to help you determine if your product is ready.

3. Add Flavor & Experience to Your Pitch

A great way to get your product into the hands of consumer media is to offer up samples of the new product ahead of the launch, or the moment it comes in season.

Editors want to be able to try the product firsthand before they can include it in any of their editorial to ensure they actually want to promote it. Before you decide to pitch to trade or consumer media, be sure you can supply samples that will WOW an editor and make them want to include in a story. You want to be able to garner as much interest from an editor as possible, so sending polished samples is key.

91% of reporters noted in the study above also stated that they find PR pitches are useful at least sometimes. And why is this?  Because the pitch was right, the product meant something to the writer and the pitch was likely relevant to the reader’s interests.

As you’ve surmised by now, investing in public relations can reap major results for your brand when it comes to launching a new product. Whether you’re crafting a succinct message to alert the media or determining who to send a press release to, public relations may be just the answer you’ve been looking for.