The power of promotion

Another day another dollar. For the past few weeks I have been busy appearing on the celebrity version of ‘The Apprentice' in New York. Seeing how Donald Trump operates at close hand is quite something.

And when it comes to promotion - of himself and his companies - nobody does it better. But whatever your business, promotion has never been more important. The media world, where I was born and bred, is no different - especially newspapers.

With so many media outlets available to the consumer, and so much of it free, media businesses need to be ever more creative about how to attract new consumers and promote their product.

I am a big believer in added value promotions. When I started in Fleet Street, it was all about reader-participant games with big prizes - bingo, spot the ball, and so on. Then it moved to lottery-based games with instantly redeemable cash prizes available.

Today it has progressed to tangible value inside the paper - with everyone spending millions of dollars a year giving DVDs and CDs away. Critics say that these giveaways are a corrosive drug that tarnishes an editorial brand, and artificially inflates sales figures with no real evidence of new reader retention.

But I believe that when these promotions are handled well, they enhance a brand, and are excellent both for attracting new readers and encouraging existing reader loyalty.

For example, the newspaper I write a column for, The Mail On Sunday, made history recently when Prince decided to launch his new album through the paper - allowing 2.3 million readers to have it for free with their Mail. It attracted 600,000 more readers, and Prince got his album to a million more hands than he has been used to in recent years.

Yes it was expensive, but it worked very well for everyone involved. You have to speculate to accumulate. As everyone in the Middle East already knows.

But some great promotions can be purchased very cheaply if you think outside the box. My own favourite one was Mike Tyson vs Julius Francis. US$40k, five knock-downs, all on Sky. While on the subject of marketing, the power of the internet, in particular, should not be overlooked here as a free marketing tool.

On the two TV talent shows that I judge in America and Britain, we regularly leak funny or shocking clips from audition shows to YouTube and other websites - it costs nothing, it stimulates interest, it gets people talking, and it promotes the show.

We're in an age where viral marketing is the game, and if you're not playing it you're missing a big trick. Don't be afraid of the internet, use it just as it uses you.

And if you can't get your promotions right, then there is always the fall back position of simply being sensational. That always tends to work.

The most sensational story I ever published was when the Mirror had a reporter undercover at Buckingham Palace. And kept him there for two months right up until President Bush came to stay.

I remember watching TV news reports claiming that Bush had the biggest security operation ever mounted in London for a state visit. And at that precise moment my man was putting chocolates on the President's bed before filing his copy by text message from behind a curtain - all while dressed as a royal butler.

The story made headlines around the world, but the most amusing part came a month afterwards when I met a senior member of the royal household and he told me:

The worst thing about it all was that your reporter was the best new butler we'd had in years.

Right, that's all from me - I need to get back to being Donald Trump's butler for the rest of the evening.

Pier Morgan is the former editor of The Daily Mirror.

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