How To Get Your New Product Reviewed by Experts

Credit: DALL-E with editing by Golden State PR.

As promised in my first blog post, today’s post unpacks the sacred, and sometimes precarious, art of Product Reviews. As public relations (PR) professionals, we do product reviews to inject third-party credibility to a product. Your marketing says the new kit is Jesus reincarnate, and people know your paid advertising is biased as such. Thus, once you’ve captured their attention and driven wannabe buyers deeper into the funnel, positive product reviews are imperative for them to SMASH THAT BUY BUTTON.

Today, we’re tackling:

1. How to score positive product reviews.

2. How to handle the negative ones.

If you want my help with getting your product reviewed, hit me up because that’s kind of my thing. But if you just want some free advice, carry on compadre.

PREPARATION

AUDIENCE: As always, KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE. High-end products? Reach out to long-form industry reviewers with tons of experience. Mass appeal? Hit up broader publications and influencers across YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, etc. Tailor your approach to each audience segment and the corresponding content creators—no spray and pray.

PRODUCT: Believe in your product's efficacy. Benchmark against competitors, gather feedback from friends, family, and focus groups. Consider confidential reviews from freelance journalists for unbiased feedback. Bottom line, don't go into a review cycle blind about your product's performance.

MATERIALS: Make life easy for reviewers with comprehensive and personalized Reviewer’s Guides. Here are a few tips for strong Reviewer’s Guides:

• Personalized reviewer’s guides are the gold standard but are not always feasible. Where you can, individualize these materials for the journalist.

• Introduce the product to the journalist in as few words as possible. Focus on the problems it solves, how it solves them and why it was designed the way it is.

• Include the core benefits of the product throughout the document. It’s important to reiterate these values at least a handful of times. Repetition makes messages stickier.

• Provide them with a personalized “How-to” or “Getting Started” guides. Depending on how complicated your product is, give the reviewer the email and phone number of an individual on your team that can answer questions, help troubleshoot and/or tell the brand story.

• In my experience, directing journalists to your Help Desk almost always ends poorly.

INCENTIVES: Entice reviewers with perks like keeping the product, sharing additional gear for giveaways, or straightforward payment for their time (NOT for positive reviews). In today’s day and age, Affiliate Programs are imperative for product review success. Many publications won’t even consider a product for review without some sort of affiliate program in place. Golden State PR will be sharing a separate blog post in the future focused on Affiliate Programs, because that sh-t is important.

PRIORITIZATION: Be strategic about who reviews your product first based on their influence and relevance to your target market. Proper timing and tiered outreach can make or break the initial impact.

• Go to people who know the product/category the best, first.

• Give your first round of reviewers plenty of lead time to try and align their reviews with when your product is available in the market. This is a delicate dance, and something an expert can help you with. I like to touch base with first-round reviewers at least two months in advance of a product rollout.

• I create journalist “Tiers” to help inform who gets product first. Tiers can be based on publication size, knowledge of the industry, product expertise, audience-fit, etc.

• Many think you need to go BIG first. While that can work, if you go big and that reviewer hates your product, you have to swim upstream for the rest of the product lifecycle, which sucks.

EXECUTION

MEDIA: You’ve identified top reviewers. Now, craft and send an engaging email detailing what’s in it for them and why they're a great fit. Again, pitching is an artform and not a science. Keep an eye open for best practices on pitching in a future blog post from Golden State PR.

DELIVERY: The only real advice here is to ensure the product is easy to receive and use. Consider expedited shipping, clear instructions for unboxing, the Reviewer’s Guide, and a personal touch like a handwritten note to enhance the experience.

For large or expensive products, consider a white glove approach and sending a member of your team to meet the reviewer at their location to receive, unbox and set up the product for optimal performance. This is an added investment, but if it helps secure a positive review in a publication important to your consumer, that investment could [literally] make or break a product line, or even company.

CORRESPONDENCE: Maintain communication with reviewers to gauge their experience and offer support. While it's rare, previewing reviews for accuracy before they go live can prevent misinformation. I like to check in with reviewers once or twice during the review process (more if the product is high-end or if the reviewer is super niche). This helps ensure I understand the vibe and if things are going to look good, or not so good.

CELEBRATE: Once a review is live, amplify it through your channels. Sharing boosts both your product's visibility and the reviewer’s credibility.

Here are a few steps to maximize a review, once live:

• Package and share on social media. When possible, tag the reviewer/publication and thank them for their time in reviewing the product.

• Re-package the review in an email campaign and share a few key quotes from the review with your audience, along with a link to read more.

• If the publisher requires permissions to share quotes/logos/etc., ensure you ask that you be put in touch with their advertising department, though many times they’ll approach you first.

• If you have the money, buy the rights to logos/quotes/etc. and use those on websites/packaged materials/social media/etc. as long as possible, usually a year.

HANDLING NEGATIVE REVIEWS

POISE: Stay calm and professional. Publicly thank the reviewer for their feedback, regardless of the tone of the review or any perceived ill will.

CONTROL: Preemptively address potential negative points by understanding reviewer concerns during the reviews process. Prepare counter-messages and be ready to inform your audience honestly about any issues brought to light by the reviewer. Identify what can be fixed, what can’t and how to address certain issues the writer may be experiencing with your product.

Once the review is live, and if it is indeed negative, you can deploy these messaging points to your social media team, customer support team, executive team, etc.

DISAGREEMENTS: Resolve disputes with reviewers privately and amicably. Public arguments are a no-win scenario. Use negative feedback constructively to improve future products and recognize the reviewer for the invaluable resource they are.

Stay tuned for more insights and tips on effective PR strategies for tech and audio companies on Golden State PR’s blog. Thanks for sticking around. Hope you crush your day today and HIRE ME to do your product launch PR, you probably won't regret it.