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Press Kits on Small CDs Must Die
Ed Kohler
Small CD Press Kit from CES

All technology eventually dies. It doesn't happen overnight, but eventually a smaller, faster, or more powerful version comes along that does a better job solving the same problem.

One piece of dying tech that caught me by surprise with its presence at this year's CES show was the small CD press kit.

Could someone please explain to me why a company would spend thousands of dollars to come to CES where they get to tell their stories first hand to the press and hand out press kits, only to deliver the press kits in an unusable format?

What percentage of CES writers have Mac computers? My guess is 15%, making around 1 in 7 unable to insert the mini-CD. Now add in other computers with slot loaders and computers without an optical drive. I bet that bumps things up to 1 in 5.

Toss in reporters who are afraid of putting an odd sized (some are shaped like business cards) disk in their CD tray, and I bet things approach 1 in 4.

You just lost 25% of your audience by putting your press kit on an unusable media format.

Here are a few alternatives:

1. Use normal CDs or DVDs

2. Use USB drives (these are reusable, which makes them a giveaway at the same time)

3. Put a link to your press kit on your business card

Personally, I prefer #3. It's the greenest, I don't have to carry anything around the show all day, and I'll surely visit your site anyway if I decide to write about your company.

The bonus for you is that you could track your online press kit visits or downloads.




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Comments

1. Posted by: Joel Hairston on January 17, 2008 9:14 AM:

This is the VERY best write up about out dated "stuff".

Jolly Good writting Mate . . . keep up the good work.

I agree with you 100% as to giving a thumb drive or business card to prospective customers, but then there is the "follow-up when you want to make contact with that prospect, so "GET" their business card too . . . duh!!




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