A flurry of recent client wins has seen the Sport & Fitness team onboard several new sports tech, fitness and lifestyle products. The team have been busy planning their approaches and drawing up their media targets.
But, with a multitude of brands and products claiming to be the most innovative, the most technologically advanced, how can you stand out in a busy market place?
Be an expert
To be able to sell a product at any level, it’s imperative that you first understand your product inside out. By having an in-depth understanding of the USPs of the product, its journey and the latest innovations you’ll put yourself in prime position to educate your target audience effectively.
With client, SIXPAD, we did just that by trying out the product first-hand. This allowed us to drill down into the science behind its EMS technology, providing us with the platform to build a complete understanding of the key messages we wanted to convey in our outreach.
Be strategic
The number one thing you must identify first in your outreach is your target audience. You want to leverage your product with the goal to drive sales, so you have to make sure you’re getting your product in front of the right people.
With clients such as OPRO and dryrobe who cater for such varied and sometimes niche audiences, we’ve shown an aptitude to do this time and time again, but it’s only achieved by a meticulous level of planning in the initial instance.
Once you’ve identified your media targets, it’s naïve to think the job is done. In what is a constantly changing media landscape, as a team we conduct regular audits of the media to identify new opportunities for our clients.
Finally, it’s important to look at the bigger picture when planning any product focused outreach. What events can I tap into to get the product recognised in the media? What are the key sales windows for the product?
With mouthguard provider OPRO, we always use events such as the Six Nations to get media engaging with the product.
For SIXPAD, we helped them increase store sales by 98% in December compared with November 2018. During January, SIXPAD saw three times as many online sales on Amazon against October’s numbers.
Tell a story
In an environment of ever-increasing competition, if you can tell a story through your product this will only give your campaign another dimension.
With OPRO, we’ve done this to great affect achieving widespread coverage across the national business media including BBC News and Forbes.
Treat yourself as an extension of the business and take the time to understand how you can use that business’ assets to maximise brand exposure.
New partnerships announced, both on a corporate and ambassador level are an opportunity to engage with media. By looking for the talking points within these, you will only unlock further opportunity.
With OPRO ambassador and England Rugby International, Vicky Fleetwood, we used International Women’s Day and the recent Six Nations to generate some incredible exposure for the brand across national media.
Within each piece of coverage, in order to inspire more girls into sport we communicated OPRO’s ethos to reinforce that point.
Be meticulous
To secure this level of detail, you must be meticulous in managing each opportunity you secure. This starts right from the initial approach to media.
Think about how the product can excite them and how you can tap into the emotions of the writer and your target audience.
Never lose sight of the goal
Finally, never lose sight of the goal of the campaign. Evaluate success regularly and use it to shape your approach.
If you’re interested in finding out more about what our team could achieve for you in the press, or you’d simply like to know more about our product placement expertise please reach out today. We’re here to help you achieve your business goals.
