Jeanne Krieg of Savage, Minnesota writes:
“DryMate is a manufacturer in Minnesota with a line of absorbent and washable mats for home, pets, autos, hunting, garage and outdoors. We even sell a mat that goes under your Christmas tree stand to catch spills, dirt etc.
“Since our product is made from a fabric with a bonded backing, do we want to reach textile editors of publications? Or category-specific editors? Or both? To whom do we send pitches and press releases?
“And can your Hounds suggest ideas on how we can pitch our product to either consumer or industry publications?
Happy New Year, Joan, from a faithful Hound!
Something that immediately differentiates DryMate from competitors’ products is that it is manufactured in America, an important plus in light of the quality problems that many people have experienced with imported, cheaply made products.
Right now, on the DryMate website, you have only a little flag signifying American manufacture. Why not create a box, say 1/8 of the home page, that focuses on the American manufacture? You could even have a video showing American workers proudly making a great product. The video would highlight the high quality of manufacture.
Another approach DryMate might try is to tie in with a realty company — get them to buy a large amount, and give them as gifts to purchasers of new homes. This is a tough market to sell real estate in, and you could develop a number of cross-promotional ads.
Yours,
Laurie Morrow
mADwoman Advertising
Montpelier, VT
Happy New Year to you Joan, and to Jeanne Krief of Savage, MN. Jeanne, I looked at a lot of the products on your site and because they provide solutions for so many areas, I would consider picking the top three publications in each area to do a special, custom publicity promotion to. For example, the garage auto mat could be promoted to the top two auto care/accessories magazines and also to the national publication for Porsche owners, or other exclusive car club members. At the same time, the outdoor blanket/mat could be promoted to camping and outdoor magazines. You get the idea.
And I see multiple potential partnering opportunities. For example, for your pet products, why not contact the Humane Society or ASPCA and see if they will help cross-promote your products in exchange for a per-product percentage donation?
Good looking products. Best of luck to you in 2010.
Regards,
Christel Hall, APR CBC
PRowrite Public Relations
http://www.prowrite-pr.com
I am friends with the Vice President of PIG mats which has the same concept but they are more industrial. Despite the fact that they are somewhat of competitor, I think some kind of a relationship could be formed where they could promote your line of more household mats and you could promote their heavy duty industrial mats. I truly believe cooperation can be better than competition.
I would suggest using trade shows, conventions and the internet also has advertisers that hire bloggers to write up reviews about products that are provided for their personal use. I would suggest looking for a high profile blogger to do the review. Good luck! 🙂
Just wanted to say that this looks like a great product, I hadn’t heard of it before. Wow — for cars, pets, home — I can’t wait to buy one.
I think a video – demonstrating your product – posted on your Web site and on You Tube to illustrate the product would be great. Then use it in pitches too.
Healthy New YEar to all Hounds, am late at this because of non healthy weeks late in 09…We live in Florida, so hurricains and stormy weather means power shortages and deep water walking. My friend buys trays of new sod for lawn repairs and keeps them in hr garage during this season. One tray every two days in the kitchen was the first ever I heard of simple doggie go do in bad weather, and now here is a product…We get our exercise walking our pets in our beautiful weather and scenery, so wouldn’t use it all the time. However, now, this new product can be stockpiled by folks in stormy weather locations and eliminate the storing and disposal of sod trays. So be sure to advertise in locations where seasonal needs apply as well as during hevy winter storms up north.Ginny
This comment was emailed to me by William Georgi:
(1) Could it be possible these would be useful to cruising sailors who have pets? I could even see one on my boat when day sailing with my dog… A sailing magazine like SAIL would likely be interested in new product information…
(2) Do they have a capability for absorbing hazardous materials? Petroleum from bilges? Another maritime use…