If your company is announcing new products in 2010 and you'd like to be considered for coverage by NaturalNews at Expo West, contact us by emailing press at naturalnews.com.
As always, there is no charge for coverage on NaturalNews. We have always offered free news coverage to our friends in the natural health industry, and we will continue to do so (believe it or not, some other publications actually charge companies to write stories about them).
Our goal is to find and report on the most innovative and health-enhancing products at the show, including nutritional supplements, foods, herbs, kitchen appliances, "green" products and even experimental medicine devices. Because of how tight our schedule will be at the show, I can personally only spend a maximum of 20 minutes with each company. I'll be recording audio and taking notes so that myself and my staff can put together product review stories in the following days.
All of these stories will be published on NaturalNews.com throughout March and April. They will each link back to the original company's website so that readers can learn more about the products and companies being mentioned.
NaturalNews does NOT promote products made with high-fructose corn syrup, conventional soy protein, chemical sweeteners or artificial ingredients. We also do not cover any personal care products or home care products loaded with fragrance chemicals. We reserve the right to decide what is and isn't published on NaturalNews.
Disclaimer: NaturalNews is not affiliated with the organizers of Expo West, and we don't represent them. We're simply attending the show as journalists who will be providing coverage to show exhibitors.
Invitation is open to authors and innovators, too
You do NOT have to have a booth at Expo West to be covered by NaturalNews at the show. At previous shows, I've often met and interviewed people in the press room on the show floor. This has included book authors, product formulators and device inventors. Some had booths, some didn't.If you or your company would like to be included in the NaturalNews press coverage at Expo West, here's what you need to do:
Step 1) Email us at press at naturalnews.com
Step 2) Write in the subject line, "Request for Expo West interview"
Step 3) In your email, describe your company name, website, contact person name, email and phone number, and a short description of any new products you will be announcing there.
WE WILL HONOR embargoes on product announcements, so don't worry about your product news leaking out before the show. We honor your privacy on product launch dates and announcements. Just include any embargo information in the email, please.
Once we receive your email, a NaturalNews coordinator will go through all the interview requests we receive and pick out the ones we believe will best serve the interests of our readers. We will then contact you back to arrange an interview schedule at the expo hall during the show.
The number of interview slots we have available for this show is strictly limited (just by the number of hours in the day). So if you want to be included, please email us right away.
Valuable press coverage
Receiving coverage from NaturalNews at Expo West can be extremely valuable for companies. Just ask Greg Kunin at Ola Loa, or Paul Mamakos from EverythingRaw. Or author Suzy Cohen. These are all individuals we met at previous Expo West shows and then publicized through NaturalNews article reviews and recommendations.Suzy Cohen went on to achieve a huge book deal with a major publisher. Paul grew his company to a major success in the raw foods industry and merged it with another company. Ola Loa continues to be recognized as one of the top innovators in the field of orthomolecular nutrition, and we were able to introduce their products to tens of thousands of new customers. I am thrilled that we were able to have a positive influence on the success of each of these individuals, and I'm looking for more companies to publicize and support this year.
FYI: Everybody in the natural health industry knows that I do not accept money in exchange for press coverage. I do, however, welcome one product sample for myself and the NaturalNews staffers who are attending the show. We like to try the products we are writing about. It helps us write a more credible article based on personal experience.
Bread for a starving writer?
I'm often starving at the show because I tend to work the floor all day long without a bite to eat. There's a funny story about this, actually. Two years ago, after working all day Saturday doing interviews, the show floor was closing and the booths were starting to pack up. I was completely out of energy, my voice was blown out from doing interviews all day, and I was really stressed out from the indoor environment which is full of people wearing fragrance and other synthetic chemicals (funny that his happens at a "health" show, but if you've ever been to the show, you know that not everybody there is actually healthy).With my stomach grumbling, I was desperate to find some healthy calories. That's when I spotted the booth of French Meadow Bakery (www.FrenchMeadow.com) which had a half-open loaf of their sprouted bread sitting on the booth table. I normally never do this, but I was really hungry, so I walked up to the book and simply said, "Hi, I'm a journalist covering the show here, and seeing as it's the end of the day and you're packing up, and I'm half starving, can I please have a slice of your sprouted bread?"
There was a long pause. And then a slow, hesitating "No.... you can't."
My partner and I looked at each other, a bit surprised. I said, "Not a slice of bread for a hungry journalist? Just one slice?"
"No, sorry. We're closing up."
In their defense, it was sort of an odd request. And the guy working the booth probably didn't know who I was, and I didn't want to try to use that anyway. So we thanked him and walked on, exiting the hall.
Just outside the hall I ran into a sample giveaway table for Organic Food Bar (www.OrganicFoodBar.com), and without me saying a word, they thrust five Organic Food Bars into my hands, and that turned out to be dinner for myself and my partner.
I've felt gratitude towards Organic Food Bar ever since. They gave me a healthy food bar when I needed it most, and their booth staff didn't even know I was the Health Ranger.
So just a bit of advice for companies at the Expo West show: I know there are a lot of consumers who run around the show trick-or-treating, looking for bags full of free stuff, and that can get pretty annoying (and expensive). But if you've paid tens of thousands of dollars to BE at the show, to rent the booth, to hire the employees, pay for the ridiculously overpriced hotels and pay the unions to haul in all your stuff, then for god's sake give out a piece of bread to people who want one! If you're not giving out your product for people to try, then what are you there for anyway?
See you at Expo West!
