Remind Prospective Customers Why They Need You
Prospective customers need to be reminded why they need you
Nothing gets more visitors to your Web site than product publicity, where the editor has chosen to feature your product’s problem-solving capabilities in his publication, and/or on his publication’s Web site as a non-paid for editorial item for the purpose of informing his or her readers. To rely on search engines only to drive traffic to your Web site presumes that your prospect is aware that they have a problem, or a need for your product or service. With product publicity, the editorial feature informs the reader and creates awareness that they may have a problem or a “need” for more efficient way to approach a task. It also creates "brand awareness" and illustrates your company's ability to provide solutions.
According to leading industrial and technical magazine publishers today, when a reader is interested in an editorial item, the vast majority of them will visit your Web site. As Bob Glanville, President of Westfall Manufacturing Company in Bristol, RI said, “We have noticed a significant increase in ‘hits’ on our Web site after each of the product releases submitted to the various magazines has been published. This is validated through the use of Urchin Software which lists the web addresses of all visitors to our Web site.”
Another huge benefit of product publicity today is that it enhances Web site positioning with search engines by promoting “link popularity.” When a publisher features your product on a magazine’s Web site and links it to yours, it helps push your Web site towards the top of search engine listings. This is referred to as link popularity and the most popular and widely used search engines view links very positively; especially those links coming from high quality Web sites such as a publisher’s Web site.
With the ever-increasing popularity of the World Wide Web, product publicity is an integrated marketing tool that can accomplish a great deal. Here’s what product publicity can do for your company:
- Provides print magazine and Web exposure which drives traffic to your Web site
- Creates needs to make prospects aware of solutions that your products provide
- Gives prospects a reason to visit your Web site and you can monitor where they came from
- Enhances search engine positioning by promoting link popularity with other Web sites
- Produces measurable results for each Web site in terms of traffic
- Enhances “pay-per-click” programs with effective, integrated marketing
- Identifies media where advertising will be most effective
- Produces conventional sales leads via phone, fax, and “bingo cards,” and
- Motivates your employees and community because of positive news coverage.
It has traditionally been assumed that the “value” of publicity is about four times that of paid advertising. That is because the editor gives your message credibility. Second only to a “word of mouth” recommendation from a respected colleague, the best way to encourage more visitors to search out your Web site is to get your products featured in the news pages of the leading industrial and technical publications that are of interest to your prospective customers.
If you have a worthwhile product story to tell, give editors a chance to tell it for you. If an editor is impressed with your product and its ability to solve his/her readers’ problems, and chooses to write about it, readers will have a reason to look for your Web site. Since product news is editorial coverage, it generates the most sales leads. After all, we read magazines and Web sites for the news and information. It is only incidental that we will see the advertising.
