Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Hi, everyone. I`ve been gone a while formulating and implementing my new biz plan. (More on that when I update my profile) Now I am looking to regain some momentum on the old to close out that chapter. Sorry if this post gets long, but I feel I need to fill you in.

I found a great giveaway blog who wants to feature one of my products (from my old line - the inventory I want to sell and be done with) on Sunday. Her target audience is people who already buy on Etsy, which has a fairly low average sale price. My giveaway is a $178 bag which I think should generate buzz in that market - Etsy buyers and crafters are my new market by the way. My new focus is $12 sewing patterns.

I see this particular venue as being great for expanding my audience on Etsy, and I think it has potential to re-ignite interest in the bags themselves that I am also selling there. In order to maximize the effect of the giveaway, I need to bring people into that blog from outside the current Etsy market, people who do spend $78 - $178 on a bag.

My thinking is that the giveaway, coupled with a well written press release on the web could do that. My news item may be something along the lines of: "When times get tough, find the free stuff."

Any thoughts?
Do you think it is illadvised to cram 2 agendas into one?
Is there anything about it that wouldn`t work in your opinion?
Would you suggest a different title for the release?
Do you have personal experience with participating in giveaways?
I`ve used PR Web before and it was great, but for this one I am looking for free press release sites.

Thank you, Cherie

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Warm Regards,
Cherie

Quality accessories for you and baby, made in USA
Studio Cherie

Alot of questions...  First I think that giveaways work well.  When I had my agency,  we worked with some fashion companies and giveaways through popular blogs resulted in some pretty significant buzz amongst target consumers.  The only problem is that depending on how frequently the blogger blogs, the post about the giveaway can be buried quickly.  Also, to create a sense of urgency, I would put a short timeframe around the giveaway depending on how you are going to manage it. 

Once the give away is done, it is also helpful if the blogger does a quick interview with the winner or at least follows up on the giveaway to keep the buzz going.

As far as the title, my opinion is that the title should always contain a few keywords, especially if you want it picked up in search engines.  Here`s a link to an article on how Southwest Airlines used free online PR... it covers some cursory information on how to use keywords in your press releases. 

To address your last question / statement, there are quite a few ways to get free press releases online, a few of which I have used.  Free-Press-Release.com is one place that I know of where you can submit free press releases.

Good luck and let me know how it goes.

http://handmadeshowcase.blogspot.com/2008/09/giveaway-contest-studiocherie-cognac.html

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Warm Regards,
Cherie

Quality accessories for you and baby, made in USA
Studio Cherie

The blog is interesting, although rather busy.  How are you going to have people register for the giveaway?  Are you going to be able to capture their email addresses or mailing addresses for future followup?  If you can get any information about those interested (which was typical in the fashion giveaways I mentioned above - espeically those online) it would be great and help you market. 

For the release, I think to maximize your benefit you want to feature how you are giving something away for new parents.  It should tie into your product line.  However, I do think that also talking about Etsy would be helpful since it appears to be a relatively commonly searched for term in Google (gets a few hundred thousand searches per year).  Having a keyword like this included will help your chances of having your press release found in search engines. 

Hope this helps.

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Warm Regards,
Cherie

Quality accessories for you and baby, made in USA
Studio Cherie