Why PR Box Campaigns are a waste - and here’s how to run one successfully.
PR boxes are everywhere online. These promotional packages are normally sent from brands in an effort to promote new and existing product lines. They can be seen being opened across all the social media platforms, where influencers reveal to audiences shiny products under reams of tissue paper. Their popularity plays on that rush we get when we open something new, whether vicarious or real.
There’s nothing new about celebrity endorsements, but these boxes take it to the next level by creating a whole new stream of entertainment. Beyond traditional print ads, these filmed PR box openings, known as ‘unboxings’, play on our craving for something new and shiny. Brands profit when we’re in this state as it makes us highly suggestible to the click through to purchase what we just saw opened on screen. Considering these boxes cost the price of product and postage for the chance to be in front of large digital audiences, it’s difficult to dispute their cost effectiveness. In return, some brands strike affiliate deals to share a portion of any generated revenue.
However for small businesses where every unit of inventory really matters, PR boxes carry a hefty price tag. Sending PR boxes doesn’t guarantee they’ll eventually find their way online. Influencers are rarely in the business of letting anyone use the platform they’ve worked hard to establish and monetise.
If you can’t afford to waste or inventory on pack and praying your inventory to influencers, here is how to maximise your chances for success:
Work with a curated list of influencers
Know who you want to work with and why. There are a range of analytical tools available online to help you assess whether these influencers’ audience match up with your target audience. Use these tools to curate a purposeful list.
Run a PR Box campaign like any other marketing campaign
It’s tempting to send out PR boxes and let influencers do the rest of the creative work, fearing a lack of authenticity. Don’t. Even one-page describing what you’d like said about the product, key notes about availability and other critical information will increase your campaign’s accuracy.
Maintain good and analytics from these campaigns
PR box campaigns are a great source of demographic data for your business. Create trackable lists of which influencers were reliable content creators, what their audience analytics were and engagement on comment walls. These are all valuable data points for your business.
Build good relationships with your influencers
Build a more intimate relationship with your influencers by making a PR Box campaign the start of an ongoing brand relationship. Then mean it!
There are plenty of ways to reward influencers without a fee, such as gifting of products/services of their choosing, creating bespoke unboxing campaigns just for them, and committing to work with them for future paid brand and integration partnerships. The more you build a relationship you can better understand how you can help them as much as they can help you, and probably do so in a more cost-effective way!
These campaigns do as much for businesses as influencers. Businesses benefit from getting eyeballs on their products and influencers can show their audiences they court the kind of attention that has them on these PR box lists, so it’s worth putting in the work to make them a success!