Years ago, brands would engage PR agencies to secure placement of their products across popular magazines.
These products would be shown in the upfront pages of magazines – with titles such as ‘Our top picks this month’ or ‘Best beauty buys’ – or across fashion or home-decor spreads. PR consultants would be proud of the thick ‘clippings’ reports they would deliver to clients each month.
The digital transformation of our media landscape over the last decade, together with the growth of social media – resulting in a shrinking pool of print publications – has made it more challenging for PR agencies to secure traditional product-placement opportunities.
Brands and PR agencies have had to adapt their strategies to ensure their products still receive adequate exposure.
The phenomenal rise of social media influencers has offered brands with a wonderful – albeit more costly – opportunity for product exposure. Influencer marketing has allowed brands to leverage the reach of popular influencers who can showcase products organically in their content to their large volume of followers on Instagram, YouTube or TikTok.
But a little-known tactic that The Ideas Suite offers is a very cost-effective way of achieving outstanding product exposure: media promotions.
What are media promotions?
Media promotions are usually in the form of product giveaways – and they cost nothing other than the product giveaway itself!
If your brand sells popular products or experiences that are of broad appeal to the general public – such as hotel accommodation, packaged snacks or non-alcoholic drinks – you have a good chance of securing promotions in popular FM radio outlets and online media. All without paying for advertising.
At The Ideas Suite, we strategically develop a ‘product package’ and key messages with our client and offer these to media outlets whose audiences align with the brand’s target audience. The most effective outlets will be popular FM radio stations and online consumer media outlets.
Armed with the product package, radio programs will create the giveaway and usually promote it multiple times on air and through their social media platforms. If the radio outlet often goes out on the streets through their ‘truck’, the product can also be given away to the public in this way, with images captured on social media.
To get editorial cut-through in print and online consumer media, The Ideas Suite also organises smaller promotions for these media outlets.
Case study: HotelsCombined
For +hemp – Australia’s first hemp water – we organised 2 NO COST radio giveaways of its products.
KIIS FM Sydney:
- 4 x non-exclusive product mentions in the KIIS Thunderbird crosses (Kyle & Jackie O Show) –
valued at $1840 each - 3 x non-exclusive Instagram story posts –
valued at $2250 each - Total value: $14,110
Hit105 FM Brisbane:
- 5 x brand mentions in Black Thunder crosses in breakfast
- 5 x Instagram story posts to its audience of 38.5K
- Total value = $10,845
Case study: HotelsCombined
For HotelsCombined, we secured NO-COST radio promotions to leverage HotelsCombined’s sponsorship of the Hobart Hurricanes
When Hotels Combined entered into a sponsorship agreement with the Hobart Hurricanes cricket team for the Big Bash, we organised radio giveaways of shirts, bats and hotel accommodation.
KIIS FM Sydney and Melbourne:
- 20 x Live or Pre-recorded Sydney and Melbourne Breakfast Credits – valued at $8341
- 5 x Pre-recorded Credits in the lead up to the Summer Fling Show – valued at $2,775
- 2 x ‘Birthday Wheel’ credits – valued at $1070
Total value: $12,186
Triple M Hobart:
- 80 x 30 second promotion pointers (20 x across 3 days out of each game)
- 24 x live breakfast announcer promotional mentions + 12 x workday announcer mentions
- 4 x Facebook posts on Heart 107.3 (branded content posts)
- Minimum 16 x posts on Triple M Hobart Instagram
- Website exposure
Total value: $10,694. Plus, 18 x Instagram posts with more than 6400 people reached and 5 x branded Facebook posts reaching more than 53,000.
Learn how to incorporate this effective tactic into a broader PR strategy
At The Ideas Suite, we design no-cost promotional campaigns to help brands achieve outstanding product exposure without the high costs of advertising.
By strategically partnering with radio and online media outlets, we ensure that your products reach the right audience at the right time.
Contact us to see how we can help you maximise results.
