How to Promote and Build On Positive Reviews

 

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The real value in a review, product announcement, or news story is not merely its immediate impact on the publication’s readers. It is the impact you create by subsequently sending reprints of that article – the next day, the next week, the next year – to anyone you choose: your dealers, salespeople, new leads, potential customers, outside contacts, venture capitalists, colleagues, and even other reporters who may ask to see what’s already been written about your product or company.

Reprint every good piece – it helps build momentum.

You can include the reprint with a cover letter, your ad, or other company literature that you send to dealers, distributors, analysts, opinion leaders, new business prospects, current clients and financial backers. When you send reprints of third-party opinions of your products, you build the credibility of both your company
and your products.

Reprint Rights

To stay on the right side of the law (and the good side of the publications kind enough to review your product), you must contact the publication to obtain the rights to reprint the article. Some magazines will reprint the article for you. Prices range from very expensive to less than you could get any printer to do it. By contacting the publisher immediately after the article appears, you may find that they still have the plates on hand, and can produce copies quickly and at a very reasonable cost. Normally, the more you have printed, the lower your cost per copy. Other publications allow you to buy reprint rights so you can have your local printer print as many copies as you need.

If possible, it’s a good idea to have reprints printed front & back, with the cover of the magazine issue on the reverse side of the first page of the article. This adds to overall credibility, and is especially important if the article on your product is referenced on the cover of the magazine.

Be sure you order enough reprints – depending on your company or organization’s size, you may want to consider producing several thousand reprints of an article that drew a strong response in terms of sales. Reprints of this kind continue to have the same impact on people who didn’t see it in the original publication, and can lead to a sustained sales cycle long after the magazine is off the newsstands. Plan ahead when you order reprints through the publication, because if you run out, having film work redone can be costly.

Here is a sample letter requesting rights to reprint. Customize it for your needs, and print it out on your company’s letterhead. Be sure to include the issue, page number, title of the article, and your purpose for the reprints. You may want to call in advance if you are unfamiliar with the publication’s reprint policies and prices.

Template to Use:

Letter – Reprint Request

June 15, 2016
Jane Thompson
Marketing Services Department
ABC Publications
600 Main Street
Anytown, USA 99999

Dear Ms. Thompson,

We would like permission to reprint an article that appeared in
Inventions Today in the June issue on page 33.
The article was entitled “Handy Scanner is a Bargain.”

We have enclosed a copy of the article for your reference.
Also enclosed is a check for $35 for the rights to reprint the article.
We plan to use the reprinted copies for promotional purposes.

Please sign below to confirm our permission to reprint this article,
and return this letter to me in the envelope provided.

If you have any questions on this request, please contact me directly.

Thank you very much,

Name
Title
Enclosures

Reprint Permission Granted:

______________________________
Signature