While flipping through cable channels and eating a late breakfast last Sunday I saw a perfect example of how to do product PR / promotion and thought I would share it with you. The concepts covered in this post can be used to promote a retail product, a service, and even an informational product or book…and not just on TV.
The extra fun part is that the product creator, Jen Groover, founder of www.ButlerBag.com (luxury handbags with an organizing “twist”), is local to the Philadelphia area, where I live, and is friends with a couple of my friends (and although we’ve never met, we do follow each other on Twitter – @JenGroover). For more about motivational speaker and author of the recent book about launching a business, “What If & Why Not” go to http://jengroover.com.
Jen’s three minute or so video presentation of her newest Butler Bag® on QVC has all of the right product and promotional “stuff,” and I thought that sharing it with you might help you all when creating product demos, videos, when writing up a product description, or even when describing a service your business provides. See the video here: http://bit.ly/productPRexample. While this example is about a physical product, a handbag/tote, the concepts I discuss also apply to other types of product publicity as well – even book promotion, software, services or an app.
Jen is a professional motivational speaker, and has been promoting her products for years, so she does make this video demo on @QVC look easy. While her skills in front of the camera might take you a bit of time to develop – they are only a part of the picture – good eye contact with the host and camera, smiling, passionate about her product, and looking like she’s having fun, tilting the product to show it’s features to the right camera, and not talking or moving too fast is just the tip of the promo iceberg.
But what she chooses to focus on when she talks about the product is where Jen really shines. (And by the way Jen is not a client of mine – nor is this meant to be a review of her bags – I just thought she did such a great job with her presentation that I wanted to share it with you.)
- The best thing about her presentation – she tells her product’s story in a way that connects with her audience – briefly, and makes it interesting.
◦ She’s just like any other busy woman – but she saw an idea in her home and turned it into a product – she was a new mother and while unloading the dishwasher she saw the organization of silverware tray and she translated that “birds-eye-view” (and her product development expertise at other companies) into a handbag with integrated organizer (and a company) so we can find things easily. But it all started from a busy mom and woman trying to stay organized; something most of us can identify with.
- She showcases the bag’s features and benefits – briefly and succinctly
◦ A feature is the organizer insert that’s built into the bag
◦ The benefit of that feature is that it keeps your items separate, organized and easy to find
- She shows that she knows her audience and their needs and has developed a product that meets those needs.
◦ One key to developing an effective product is letting your potential customers know that you understand their lives and know how to make it easier.
◦ She talks about making it easy to find things in a purse, about fitting in a book or a checkbook, a water bottle – securely, or even turning this into a great-looking diaper bag etc.
◦ Her bag can be see as a “lifestyle solution” – an organized handbag makes some of the frustration of not finding things – go away; and we all know we have too much stuff & not enough time/organization to handle it. Her product solves one of her customer’s “pain points.”
- Then she differentiates her product from the competition, that is, she tells and shows how it’s features and benefits are different from those of other bags, while continuing to connect with her audience.
◦ Jen differentiates her bag by showing how the patented integrated, or built-in, organizer does not slide around or get squashed like other removable organizer inserts that you can move from bag to bag. I had seen those inserts before, and was wondering about them – she handled that question up front.
◦ She also demonstrates the benefit of the 10” shoulder strap feature, in that that it will fit over you shoulder even when you are wearing a jacket. Along with a few others.
Now I have not tried nor used one of her bags, yet, nor is this meant to be a review of this bag. But what I can tell you is that Jen Groover has shown you a great example of how to demonstrate a product, connect with the audience and customers, and how to differentiate a product from it’s competition. The same ideas, with a little work, would also make a great podcast, a written product description, or “services we provide” section of a website. Your homework is to take on of your products or services and walk through those tips above and see if your new demo or description works a little bit better.
By Cathy Larkin, @CathyWebSavvyPR on Twitter
