News Archive

Release the power of the press

In theory, press releases are the most cost-effective of all promotional techniques. If you have a genuinely newsworthy product, even without having recourse to Max Clifford and his ilk, you can invariably titillate a few eager business editors into picking up your story and running with it, generating dozens of valuable column inches on your behalf.

In practice, however, it’s rarely that easy to manage your press coverage. Even at the ever-reliable “P & J Business Desk”, new product press releases have a depressing habit of coinciding with important new North Sea energy announcements or headline-hogging PLC annual reports.

So, if it’s as difficult as that with local new, what chance have you got trying to publicise your products in a new overseas export market where you don’t even have any friendly press contacts?

Low-cost service

The surprising answer is that it’s actually a fairly easy and inexpensive process, established PR scheme called “New Products from Britain” (NPFB), operated by the COI Communications on behalf of UK Trade & Investment, the national export promotion and development body.

This highly cost-effective scheme, which can cost as little as £100, is designed to obtain targeted editorial coverage overseas for innovative British products, processes and services.

COI’s staff professionals draft (and, where necessary, translate) your press release, produce accompanying prints and, once you have approved the content, arrange for the pack to be forwarded to a diplomatic UK post in the country where the publicity has been requested.

The commercial staff in these posts use their knowledge of the local trade press and their editorial contacts to draw up a media list for distribution, a reference copy of which is returned to the source company in the UK.

How to qualify

NPFB operates in around 100 different overseas markets. To qualify, your product or service has to be British, and new to the market which you wish to target. The first single country press release costs £100 plus VAT, plus £50 for each subsequent market. In addition, there are “multiple markets” like Latin America which offer group publicity in a number of countries for a rate of only £200.

As a testimony to the COI’s professionalism, the service offers a higher than average “strike rate” – about 70% of all the stories are carried at least once, while in certain markets like Germany, over 90% of stories are successfully carried.

NPFB stresses the importance of eye-catching photography, and can arrange for subsided industrial photography if required.

And, as with all good PR, COI stresses that companies using the service must demonstrate their ability to field enquiries generated promptly and professionally.

Contact: Simon Holder
COI Communications
Tel: 020 7261 8422
Email: simon.holder@coi.gsi.gov.uk