Literature as News

Sometimes, some kinds of customer support literature can be as much a candidate for publicity as a "cash crop" product.

White Papers.

One avenue is to create a White Paper, an expert treatise on any matter of pertinent and timely interest that you are, as a result of your professional activities, in a position to prepare. The White Paper is itself merchandisable and publicizable, and helps establish you as an authority. The tone of a White Paper is slightly on the sophomoric side of conversational, somewhat on the personable side of academic. It's intended as a briefing for the uninitiated on a topic you would be expected to know all about.

Fan mail.

Your "fan mail" may prove a continuing source of good story seeds. Make a point of going through your correspondence now - even favorable comments on warranty registration cards. You may find interviewable end users with wonderful application (case history) stories to tell.

News in numbers.

There may also be news in your numbers and trends. Check your unit and dollar shipments for this month and this three-month period versus last month or three months ago or a year ago. Are dollars up? Are units up? Try dividing dollars by units: if that's up, it means your customers are spending more per product, or opting for your more expensive products; if it's down, it means your customers are finding you more economical and a better value, or that customer response to your less expensive products is up. Are more of your sales now coming from a particular geographic region, or a particular product or product line, or through a particular channel of distribution? Any of these are seeds for new publicity.