Are you reaching out to reporters and newsrooms about your Black Friday & Cyber Monday sales? It's a powerful way to exponentially grow your revenue this holiday season. Let's talk about how to do it effectively.
Most entrepreneurs are focused on paid advertising for their Black Friday/Cyber Monday deals. However, this is just half of a good outreach and growth strategy. If you're going to spend money on TV, social media or print ads, you should also get organic news coverage on your business. Here's why:
News placements are FREE, yet they also give you the opportunity to reuse advertising materials including videos and photos, making your paid content stretch further.
News has a much higher conversion rate because information about your product is coming from a trusted third-party source.
Most news outlets already have a larger audience than you do so just a single news feature can exponentially grow your customer base.
Here's how to get news coverage on your deals, sales and products this holiday sale season:
Listicles & Gift Guides To Get Your Product Featured
One of the easiest ways to get your business featured is in the thousands of listicles that will be published in the coming weeks. These are articles with headings like: "X Black-owned businesses to shop at this Black Friday" or "X Products to Buy Your Dad."
This puts you right in front of your target audience yet requires very little work from you, besides your website and product descriptions. Keep in mind that you're being featured among many similar brands, so take a second to write outstanding, captivating copy and make sure your product images pop. It can make a huge difference in how many final sales you get!
You can find requests for listicles on HARO and similar sites where reporters solicit products. Or you can pitch your sample to newsrooms across the nation to be included in upcoming coverage. Almost every outlet offers some form of gift guide- from tiny blogs to major national newsrooms.
Related: Are you struggling to get media coverage for your brand? The holidays is a great time to change your strategy and get the coverage of your dreams! Our Full Press Strategy includes a unique strategy to get you in headlines, 3 FREE press alerts (written just for your brand)– and more than 50 dozen tips and tricks to help you stand out!
Features or Coverage on Your Unique Product/Deal
Features can be a bit tougher to get than round-ups but they can provide an even bigger boost in revenue. In fact, the holidays is one of the easiest times of the year to get earned media coverage so take advantage of this! Reporters are less likely to be swamped because major institutions and political offices close for the holidays– or have at least slowed down.
If your product has a powerful news hook like improving mental health or giving back to the community, you can often get a reporter to develop this into a full feature on just the product and your brand. You can take further advantage of this "slower time" for newsrooms right now by pitching to multiple outlets and landing "swarm coverage," or several features.
Features on You as the Biz Owner
Sometimes, people will purchase from a business just to support the owner. If you have a powerful story, take ownership of that and use it to propel your brand further.
Maybe you've overcome major adversity like childhood poverty or a difficult birth and you're re-entering the workforce- or you just have insight that other people should hear. Either way if you offer more than just a product, capitalize on that for your brand.
Often, reporters are looking for powerful or feel-good stories to report on! Again, you can use HARO to find reporters soliciting feel-good stories or cold pitch your story to a relevant reporter. Quick tip: research their recent articles to be sure they actually cover this topic.
Related: Struggling to write an effective press release? Just not sure where to start. Don't worry we can do it for you!
If you're going to spend time and money on paid advertising this holiday season, don't forget to extend its reach by taking advantage of earned media coverage. The right interview can help you land a five-figure or six-figure month.
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Report Back: Did you try getting press coverage this holiday season? Tell us how it went in the comments!
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