The following is a guest post by Meredith Keller
When you start asking indie shop owners how to market your business, inevitably PR will come up. Shop owners will tell you how they scored loads of sales after getting a write up on a blog like Design Sponge, Indie Fixx or Modish. Look hard enough and you'll even find terrific lists like this, featuring every major blog under the sun that writes about handmade goods. Sounds simple right? Beg these bloggers to feature you and you'll be rich before you know it.
Not so fast. Just because every other indie biz owner is soliciting Modish, Indie Fixx, Poppytalk, Scoutie Girl and the myriad of other well known indie blogs, that doesn't mean you should. By all means, put these blogs on your press list, they're all great. But don't stop there. If you really want to have a terrific press list you're going to have to be a little more creative.
Step 1: Think Outside the (Indie) Box
Expand your press list beyond the indie scene and add publications that are relevant to your business in other ways. Doggy tee designers should reach out to pet related publications. Make products from recycled materials? Reach out to green publications. Make a list of all your potential customer types. Your list might include groups such as moms, men, pet owners, punk music fans, goths, foodies, bibliophiles, yoga enthusiasts. The more types of customers you can think of the better. Think about who would buy your products and why.
Step 2: Make your List
Let's say you make organic tote bags featuring screenprints of fruits and vegetables. You've decided your target audience includes:
Women
Environmentalists
Foodies
Fans of indie design
Vegetarians
Personally, I like to create a spreadsheet page for each type of press I wish to contact. I'd create a separate sheet for women, environmentalists, foodies, indie and vegetarians. Next I'd populate my lists by doing a little research. Maybe I'd start by searching for green websites and magazines. I'd add the publication's name and contact information to my spreadsheet. If I found blogs I wanted on my press list, I'd peruse their blogrolls to see what blogs they read and if any of those belong on my list. I'd search Amazon.com to see what magazines report on green issues and add those to my press list too.
I'd repeat this process for each of my target audiences until I had a press list for each type of person I think would purchase my products.
Step 3: Craft Tailored Pitches
Although pitching is the next step, after you make your press list, I want to just take a moment to remind you that blanket pitches rarely work. If you really want a publication to write about you, your pitch should be tailored to their audience. If you're pitching an environmental blog about your totes, focus your pitch on how your bags make great re-usable grocery totes and be sure to mention that the bags are organic. If you're pitching an indie blog you might talk more about how your bags are screen printed by hand in your home studio. You want to describe your products in a way that makes them relevant to the publication's audience.
Once you send a pitch, update your spreadsheet. Indicate when you sent your pitch, what you pitched and who you sent it to. This will help you keep track of who you've contacted and when. You don't want to send a barrage of repetitive emails to the same publication and come off as a nag.
Step 4: Analyze Your Results
Once you start getting press hits, take note of which ones are increasing your website traffic and sales. You may notice that certain audiences take more or less interest in your brand than you expected. Use this information to decide which sub-lists you want to focus on growing and which might not be worth the effort after all. You can also use this information to make decisions about other advertising and marketing efforts going forward.
Meredith Keller is the brand manager for Ex-Boyfriend, an indie t-shirt company. She also maintains the photoblog Indie Parade and maintains co-op advertising websites for indie business owners. Indie biz owners can find her tips here on Modish and via her monthly Creative Entrepreneurs newsletter.
