How to Market Your Product on Radio & TV Without Buying Advertising Time
Posted: Friday, January 15, 2010
by Marsha Friedman
EMSI, Event Management Services Inc
Here's the situation. You have a great product and YOU know it. But just like the "better mousetrap," it doesn't mean a thing unless your market knows it too. TV and radio are great avenues for promoting to the masses. They are dynamic media allowing consumers to visualize and hear you enlighten them (the way only you can) to the great value of your offering.
What you may not realize is that TV and radio talk shows are always looking to interview quality experts who will help them entertain and inform their audiences. Regardless of the product you'd like to promote, with the correct PR strategy you can land these priceless interviews, and when you do, it's pure marketing gold!
Why are these interviews so valuable? You see, when you or your spokesperson is on the air, you're on as part of a regular show with a host the audience has come to trust. By interviewing you, the host is giving an implicit endorsement so the listeners believe you - they're hearing about you from their trusted friend. And they tell their own audience in turn.
If you think your product isn't interesting enough for TV and radio interviews, in and of itself, you're probably right. But keep in mind you won't be invited as a guest to deliver a commercial. You'll be there as an expert to discuss an important issue which of course your product provides a solution to.
Let me share an example...
We had a client who was CEO of a life insurance agency. Now, I don't think it will offend anyone if I say that life insurance is a pretty boring topic. An angle was needed that would generate interest from the media so they would have him on as a guest.
We created a very effective headline for our pitch: "Can You Afford to Survive without Your Spouse?" The interview focus was about the need for spouses and children to be protected financially after the death of the family breadwinner. In effect, it became a human interest story instead of a boring interview with an insurance salesman.
The CEO appeared on numerous radio shows, as well as on local and national TV shows, speaking to the vital issue of financial security for women and families. The result? The highest number of new leads the company had ever experienced, for any type of promotion.
We've had similar success arranging interviews for clients promoting everything from anti-fungal liquid to a book on ridding your home of termites!
The reason we're so successful in arranging media for most any product is that we understand the formula needed to gain the media's attention and interest in our clients.
Two crucial points we keep in mind when approaching the media:
1. We never pitch the client - we pitch the issue on which he/she is an expert.
2. We never pitch the client's product - we talk instead about the problem the product addresses and how it ties in as a solution.
No matter what it is you're promoting, publicity is a valuable marketing tool you should make use of. The possibilities are endless, so get creative!
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