PR can be an effective strategy for gaining the attention of both consumers and B2B professionals, new surveys reveal. There’s a catch, though. The most successful PR campaigns involve repeated media placements. The “one-and-done” press release holds little chance of success. The secret to PR success is repetition of earned media placements with essentially the same messages.
The Consumer PR Effectiveness Study by boutique PR firm Bospar polled 1,010 American adults and found that most men will visit a company’s website after repeatedly seeing media placements. Almost 1 in 5 men will visit a site after seeing just one article, and 16 percent will the website after seeing several (between 2 to 5) media placements. Nearly 1 in 4 men will visit a company site after seeing the story more than five times.
Women are a tougher audience for tech PR. Only 13 percent of women say the first story is enough to merit a visit to a company’s website. After seeing several stories publish, 11 percent of women say they will visit a company’s site. Almost half of women say they’ll visit a website if they see enough placements.
“These results confirm what the best marketing and PR professionals know from experience: A single launch event, no matter how elaborate, is never enough,” writes Cheryl Snapp Conner, founder and CEO of SnappConner PR, in Inc. “People need to see multiple media placements before they are compelled enough to check a company out.”
A Survey on B2B Media Placements
Another Bospar survey found that marketing executives pay more attention to PR than consumers. The survey polled over 500 marketers, including chief marketers, vice presidents of marketing, marketing directors and marketing managers.
While the survey focused on marketers, it’s reasonable to presume that other B2B professionals closely watch news announcements to learn of competitors’ actions, find new clients, and products or services that can help their businesses.
Over half of the CMOs and vice presidents of marketing (52 percent) surveyed as well as 43 percent of marketing directors 20 percent of marketing managers said they would visit a company’s web or mobile site the first time they see a company in the news, writes Bospar Principal Curtis Sparrer in the company’s blog.
Seeing a story several (two to five) times in the media prompts visits from another third of CMOs and VPs (35 percent), another third of marketing managers and another 14 percent of marketing directors. Four percent of marketers said no amount of coverage would motivate them to visit a company site.
The Challenge of Crafting a Compelling Message
Marketers said they carefully consider the content of the announcement before deciding to visit a website.
“A news story can introduce me to a company in a way that makes me think I should know more about it,” Jill Byron, senior vice president of U.S. marketing, Adyen, told Bospar. “What catches my eye is a disruptive category, a cool new product, amazing clients, fast revenue growth or an upcoming competitor.”
Here’s an important revelation. An overwhelming majority (79 percent) said they would consider purchasing a B2B product or service after seeing it in the media. However, only four percent said media coverage was “very likely” to push them to purchase what they read about. The rest said they were “somewhat likely” to buy.
Just 16 percent said they were “somewhat unlikely” to buy a product based on media coverage, and five percent said it was “very unlikely” that PR would lead to a purchase.
Bottom Line: Most consumers and B2B professionals say they’ll visit a company’s website because of earned media placements, surveys show. However, many must see several news mentions. The results prove that effective PR requires an ongoing effort.
Added Thought: In earned media placements, PR should include a link to a unique URL in order to prove that the media placement generated the visit and the sales lead.
William J. Comcowich founded and served as CEO of CyberAlert LLC, the predecessor of Glean.info. He is currently serving as Interim CEO and member of the Board of Directors. Glean.info provides customized media monitoring, media measurement and analytics solutions across all types of traditional and social media.
