Unlike ads (which are pretty easy to recognize) public relations efforts often affect our perception of tech products – and sometimes do it in ways that are too subtle for us to notice.

Public relations firms have developed many new strategies and tactics in order to draw the attention of consumers to products and services without relying exclusively on traditional advertising channels. The importance of public relations has increased dramatically since the introduction of new technologies like social media. A large number of the efforts that are being used today were derived from the wildly successful Apple campaigns in the last decade that introduced consumers to a completely new class of products and then made those items household names.

Strategy: showcase “normal” people using the product
One of the most successful recent strategies has been to show products or services being used by people who are just like the consumer. Samsung is currently using this strategy as part of a massive campaign that started in 2011 with the introduction of the Galaxy line of products. The company created excitement about the Galaxy tablet and phone months before the launch. When the tablet actually launched it was accompanied by a massive event in New York City that featured a celebrity endorsement. The product was then sent to thousands of different events and locations so that regular consumers would see the Galaxy in everyday use. The Galaxy was distributed to several childcare locations so that parents and employees could see it being used by children to play educational games and music. A brilliant campaign featuring an Elephant using a Galaxy Note even surfaced in March (video here: http://youtu.be/KBrmaE82uY4).

The result of the campaign is that the Samsung Galaxy tablet and phone received a combined 3.3 billion appearances in the media. That number continues to rise even today. Future advertising campaigns showed regular users on the street outperforming competing devices because of the new or better features of the phone. The overwhelming presence of the Galaxy as well as the large number of average consumers who were exposed to the devices throughout 2011 provided legitimacy to the company. This massive public relations campaign was very successful since Samsung tablets increased in sales by 100 percent. It reduced demand for the Apple iPad by 16 percent in late 2012. The Samsung Galaxy lines of phones became the most popular devices on the market. They are currently outselling all other competitors including Apple. This success is largely contributed to the guerrilla placement of the product as well as the good reception of the device by celebrities, media personalities and average consumers who actively use the devices in public.

Bing vs Google
Another example of how public relations efforts to convince consumers that friends and family are already using a product or services comes from Microsoft. The company has had public relations successes for a long time. It had a relatively decent launch for its Bing search engine, which increased Microsoft’s market share over its predecessor, Live.com.

Bing It On
A very recent public relations effort has further helped to increase public perceptions and the use of the Bing search engine. Specifically, the campaign that Microsoft launched had employees marching around San Francisco and other cities near Silicon Valley offering pedestrians a challenge. A special Bing website compared the results of the Microsoft search engine to the ever-popular Google search engine.

The results were turned into a marketing campaign that encompassed every outlet from television to social media. Regular users were encouraged to visit Bing and complete the challenge. This was coupled with other efforts such as the appearance of the search engine as the main information resource in a blockbuster movie. Microsoft also made certain that every Surface tablet and other product clearly displayed Bing when shown in advertising pictures and videos. What many users who did not take part in the interactive challenge saw were real-time results of the campaign that seemed to indicate that more average people preferred Bing to Google. This left the impression that a public consensus had formed around the search engine by late 2012.

The public relations effort was successful in several ways. Microsoft increased the positive perception of the company by the public. The positive perception and awareness of the Bing search engine also increased from 10 percent to 17 percent. Still, Bing’s share in the search engine market has only increased to around 15%, which is very low compared to the behemoth that is Google.

Microsoft has continued to create new public relations efforts to sell the search engine. The search engine itself is now being used as a public relations tool to give consumers the impression that friends and family are using the service. Searches on Bing now bring up recent social media postings from actual users who are not associated with Microsoft or the search term. This is giving users the impression that the search experience is an interactive and social activity. This is having some short-term success although it is still too early to see whether this public relations strategy will be effective.

About the author:
Molly Cutler is COO of the Cutler Group Startup PR and tech PR agency. She is an avid technologist and food junkie. Her favorite apps are Waze and WhatsApp, and she loves anything to do with Apple.