Three cornerstones of a successful reviews programme

At Spark, we’re well known for securing top results across our corporate comms and thought leadership campaigns, but we’ve also got experience running product reviews programmes.

For the past year and a half, Spark has been working with Poly to promote its range of premium audio and video products in the UK. We've seen great results, including product coverage in national and tech publications such as the Evening Standard, Tech Radar Pro and IT Pro. In PR, running a reviews program is hugely rewarding – not least for all the cool technology you get to demo. But there is also plenty of groundwork to be done, including posting products to journalists, organising collections and maintaining a stockroom of products.

Here are three key elements of a successful reviews programme:

1) Think outside the boxes

It's important to consider how to make your product stand out from the rest. Tech publications want to review devices that interest their audience. This involves looking beyond a device's features and considering its benefit to their readership. The first step in securing a review is asking why readers would want to buy one for themselves.

For example, if you’re pitching to a consumer-oriented publication, are you pitching a Bluetooth speakerphone, or is it a device that ensures clear audio during your work-from-holiday? Working together to brainstorm different angles has been key to some of our biggest successes so far – such as this review of music speakers in the Evening Standard, which included Poly’s Sync 20 Bluetooth speakerphone.

2) Run a tight ship

One of the most important lessons in PR is keeping everything organised. When running a reviews programme, this is especially important. With the team pitching different products, sending out demo units to journalists, and continually looking for new targets for reviews – rigorous management is critical, or things could get complicated. This includes keeping a well-stocked, documented, and managed inventory. This applies to all aspects of the programme, including ensuring logistics are executed to perfection. With journalists working to tight deadlines, ensuring packages are sent out and collected in a timely fashion can go a long way in building a relationship and maintaining a positive brand image.

3) Know your product

It might seem obvious, but one of the most important steps is getting to know the device itself. How can you be expected to ‘talk the talk’ if you can't talk the tech? Journalists conducting reviews are bombarded with hundreds of pitches a week offering wildly different products. Taking the time to learn the ins and outs of each product can go a long way in making the benefits and use cases clear to journalists, and landing top coverage. We have drawn on expert knowledge from across the agency, including Spark’s resident reviews guru, Hamer Reviews.

This often involves trying the devices out for yourself. As part of our work with Poly, I’ve been able to demo a range of their work-from-home technology – including some of their high-quality personal meeting displays, personal speakerphones, and noise-cancelling headsets. This is one of the best parts of product PR – my Poly Voyager Focus 2 headset is now the first thing I pack in my bag in the morning!

These three cornerstones have helped us achieve some great successes, and as our work with Poly has shown, the transition to hybrid working has shifted the needle for workplace technology, meaning people expect more from their kit than ever before. This means there’s arguably never been a better time to run tech reviews programmes – get in touch if you’d like to find out more.