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Acer America
Acer America Corp. is a computer manufacturer of business and consumer PCs, notebooks, ultrabooks, projectors, servers, and storage products.

Location

333 West San Carlos Street
San Jose, California 95110
United States

WWW: acer.com

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News

May 27, 2009 |

Cheap Buzz!

Creating a buzz with free publicity enhances and legitimizes your formal advertising and word-of-mouth marketing. Here’s what you need to do it. By Carolyn Heinze

Cheap Buzz!

Creating a buzz with free publicity enhances and legitimizes your formal advertising and word-of-mouth marketing. Here’s what you need to do it.

By Carolyn Heinze

An important part of any marketing campaign is creating a buzz, and the more your name is out there, the easier you make it for people to consider you as the go-to resource for their IT needs. While advertising is a powerful tool for achieving this goal, it’s expensive, and word-of-mouth marketing, while effective, takes time. Both are important components of the overall strategy to gain exposure for you and your organization, but when combined with free publicity, the legitimacy of your message becomes that much more, well … legitimate. And the only thing it costs is your time.

“When it comes to advertising, people know that the space has been bought,” says Bill Stoller, a PR professional and creator of PublicityInsider.com, a Web site offering PR tips and resources. “With publicity, it has the endorsement of that media outlet.”

Every geographical locale presents opportunities to take advantage of free publicity, through local newspapers and radio and TV stations. The journalists working in these organizations are constantly on the lookout for news, and as knowledgeable experts, channel partners have the potential to offer up everything they know about IT. The trick is to transform your news into information that’s topical and valuable to your target audience.

FOCUS ON YOUR TARGET
Ramon Ray, technology evangelist and editor of SmallBizTechnology.com, advises that when assessing the local market for publicity opportunities, narrow your options to three or four media outlets. “It’s important to identify where your customers go for their information to be most successful in your media outreach,” he says. “Resellers may focus on ChannelPro, but if you want to stop preaching to the choir, you have to think about getting a quote in The Times or whatever your customers are reading.”

It’s also important that the story you pitch is actually interesting to the outside world: The fact that you signed a new customer may be a big deal to you, but it may not be as exciting for readers, listeners, or viewers. This is where case studies are useful. “Highlight the uniqueness of your customer, and how you contributed to their organization,” Ray advises.

A LUCKY BREAK HELPS
TAB Computer Systems Inc., based in Hartford, Conn., got its big break back in the 1990s when, as a regular advertiser with a local radio station, the company was contacted to participate in a three-minute spot on a radio program that was discussing the launch of Windows 95. “Because they had been reading ads for six or seven months, the host said, ‘Let’s get those TAB guys to come and talk about it,'” says T.J. Benoit, the company’s president. That single opportunity led to a gold mine of free exposure: Today, Benoit co-hosts “Computer Talk,” a weekly radio show on Farmington, Conn.’s WTIC, with colleague Erik Semmel.

Benoit has also written columns for community weeklies and continues to send press releases announcing new hires and promotions to get his company’s name in print on a regular basis. He notes that participation in charity events and toy drives sponsored by local media outlets is another good way to gain exposure. “Once you become that de facto expert in the area, all of the other news outlets are going to try to go to you as well,” he says. For example, TAB was invited to do a spot for the local ABC affiliate, and soon after, the company was receiving calls from Fox and CBS. “It feeds on itself,” Benoit adds.

Receiving the opportunity, however, is only half the battle. When the media contacts you to participate in an interview-be it for print, radio, or TV-you had better be prepared, because if you mess it up the first time, chances are you won’t receive another call. In radio and TV, the spots are extremely short, which means that your responses must be succinct. “This is especially true in television. They are going to ask you three or four questions, and they want 15- to 18-word answers for each one of them, and that’s it,” Benoit says. If you’re invited to talk about something you don’t really know about, it’s better to refer the journalist to someone capable of furnishing them with the answers they’re seeking.†

RELATIONSHIPS RULE
Ray emphasizes that gaining free publicity requires relationship building, so that journalists eventually identify you not only as a local expert, but as a handy resource as well. “I tell journalists to feel free to call me and not quote me because I want a relationship with them,” Ray says. “They will call me on a deadline and say, ‘We don’t want to speak with you, but who can you point us to?'”

This requires that companies resist the temptation of being overly selfish in promoting themselves, Stoller says. “Sometimes, I will send information to a reporter that may not have anything to do with my business, but with the industry in general,” he says. “That’s when I’m trying to establish a relationship with a journalist. It’s not always going to be based on myself; it’s going to be based on an industry trend.” This tells the reporter that you’re not just out to plug yourself, which establishes confidence that you are a reliable source.

All of this is part of building trust, and it pays off. “Getting to journalists can be a long-term strategy to building loyalty among your current customers and gaining an edge over the competition for prospective customers,” Ray says. “It’s just great branding.”

CAROLYN HEINZE (carolynheinze.blogspot.com) is a freelance writer/editor.


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