Maximizing Results for Press Releases and Editorial Programs

By Jack Forsberg
President
Forsberg Group, Inc.

In the past I have run into many firms that have a standard answer as to what kind of results they have achieved from their press release and editorial programs.

“We really don’t know”

When you ask what kind of a budget they have allocated for press releases and editorials they are also a little fuzzy on an accurate figure. This is because many times it is a start and stop process. This means they had a major event and they generated press releases to develop publicity for the event, and when it was done they stopped for several months until something else happened that was newsworthy.  Afterwards the typical comment may be, several people said they saw our release.

Developing A Measurement Process

After working closely with editors of magazines and newspapers for many years our ad agency felt it was time to set up a very structured monitoring and measurement system to evaluate the results of a concentrated press release and editorial program.

The Challenge

How can you generate a press release and editorial program that will keep your clients name in front of potential customers on an on-going basis, provide new, fresh information that editors will notice and run in their publications? What kind of guidelines will allow you to monitor and measure results so you can be confident your program is working .

We found we were actually looking at five different ways of evaluating the effectiveness of  a press releases and editorial program. These included:

• Savings generated …by lowering the cost of ad space
• New business inquiries
• Building strong name &  product awareness
• Increase in overall product & related sales
• Building believability and product acceptance

Fluid Control Instruments

For examples, I have selected two very different clients. The first is a designer and manufacturer of flow control products. Each product in the entire line can be held in one hand. This firm is an original equipment and replacement instrument firm. The firm serves a broad range of industries from off-shore drilling to large processing plants and special applications. They were not using press releases or editorials in the past as part of their advertising mix.. The firm faced the challenge of finding new markets for their products. They had several strong competitors.

For the fluid power instrument line we concentrated on developing unusual press releases that highlighted the market the product was designed for…such as off -shore drilling, large processing plants, and niche markets that our competition had not yet discovered. We downsized our ads from half page to one fourth and one third page ads. This lowered our overall budget and allowed us to develop a good budget for a press release program, which was a major savings in space costs.

A Research and Sales Tool

The press releases provided us with a great research tool. By placing press release space in a large number of magazines we could evaluate which markets had the best potential. We could evaluate which magazines pulled the most inquiries and by testing different headlines and copy, we could test different ideas for presenting the product to potential customers. We even alerted the editors as to what we were doing so they
placed our press releases in better locations. They knew if our press releases produced good results…chances were good that we would place ads in their magazine, which was true.

We set up a chart system to monitor and evaluate the results. This included comparing each ad with each similar press release and comparing overall results of both the ad program and the press release program. The results were interesting.

The Results

• In most cases we received more inquiries off the press releases than we did with the ads…with no quality difference.
• What worked in the press releases, worked in the ads.
• We were able to substantially lower the ad budget and increase the number of sales inquiries.
• Name and product recognition improved.
• We were able to research and explore many new markets and develop sales without competition in some markets.

Overall it allowed us to generate more sales for less cost and reach a more diversified number of markets, cost-effectively. The charting system of results helped us to identify which products were capable of generating the best results so we could put more emphasis on those products. (more press releases and more ads)

Molding Machine Equipment

The second product line was a revolutionary new line of molding machines for the foundry industry. The company was an international firm with a strong reputation in the foundry business, but had not used press releases or editorials except on a short term basis. The foundry market is covered by two major trade    magazines….long term competitors in their market.

New Product Introduction

In the foundry magazines we reduced full page ads to one-half page island ads and one third or one fourth page ads. The new ads were very product focused. We used full page and half page island ads only for special events, large trade shows or directories. We developed a PR program to replace this ad space with press releases and editorials that were focused on product testimonials from customers. This was testimonial style copy that came directly from product users on the plant floor. Many editorials were developed with an in-depth story of product use results. This proved exceptionally effective. The machine costs were over a quarter of a million dollars, so it was a major purchase for a plant manager. They always wanted confirmation from other users as to the effectiveness of the machine.

Results: Increased Sales, Product Recognition

The press releases placed on a monthly basis in both magazines generated on-going sales leads. The in-depth editorials on customer testimonials on product performance became the key to product acceptance. Many new customers would go to other plants and ask if everything they read in an editorial was true. When they found out the facts were the same, they almost always purchased the product. The editorials were reprinted and used as direct mail and as hand-outs at trade shows. The editorials were designed to tell a good story about the foundry as well as about the new equipment so foundries were asking, “when are you going to tell our story.” One to two page editorials in the magazines generated good sales inquiries. The press releases were put out soon after a machine was installed, This also opened doors to other plant equipment supplied by our client.

Within two years the new product became the number one seller in its class in the foundry industry. We finally ran a full page ad in the major foundry magazine with about 60 people in front of the products announcing “Thanks for making us number one.” We are currently running nearly the same program with another new foundry product and the results are about the same.

One key factor we found was that a well designed press release and editorial program opens up new sales opportunities by identifying new markets.