Blog posts tagged PR

How to promote your business with a killer case study

Case studies are stories describing how a customer’s business has benefitted from using a product (or service). They can be in written, podcast (audio file) or video format.

Aside from actually talking to potential customers, case studies are a great way of showing off what you do well and getting your business noticed. They can be used on your website, newsletter or brochures, but I want to focus on using written case studies for public or press relations (PR) because getting coverage in places like websites, magazines and newspapers is a fantastic way to generate leads and build brand awareness.

What makes a good story?

Marketing case studies are often too ‘hard sell’ for putting in the media. Editors like a subtle approach with only one or two direct references to the product and the story tightly focused on the customer’s experience.

A good case study needs three basic elements: a business challenge faced; the solution found; and, most important, the benefits gained.

But you must also engage your readers and tell a story with a strong angle. Find something topical, like Polished Bliss who has flourished in the recession, or Stinkyink.com who overcame online fraud problems. Maybe combine a business interest with a human element, such as fulfilling a lifetime dream, or how a company overcame a major obstacle as The Cake Store did when it beat off competition from local supermarkets.

Having decided on your ideal customer and storyline, ask if the company is happy to co-operate – explain the mutual benefits, such as free publicity.

Who should write the case study?

You can always hire a freelance copywriter, a PR specialist or journalist who knows your field. They may cost a few hundred pounds, but it’ll be money well spent. To find one, ask for recommendations at networking events or on social media sites – you’ll be inundated. Always ask for samples of a writer’s work, to check their style. Ensure that one rewrite is included in the fee. Not even an expert will get it right first time.

Once you’ve chosen a writer, give them a clear brief. Tell them the length/word count (typically 500-750 words); the product(s) you want promoted; and the benefits you want highlighted. Fix a deadline for the first draft and then introduce the writer to your customer personally. After that you can leave it to them to arrange the interview.

Of course, if you want to write it yourself, if you have the ability, it’s a great way to get to know your customers. Once written, get someone you trust to check it over, because we become blind to our own mistakes. Try not to be upset by any criticism; ask if the piece ‘reads well’ and makes your point.

DIY writing tips

• Case studies can be in the first person (“I”) or the third (“he/she”), but if you use “he/she” pep it up with quotes from the customer, to make the story easier to read.
• An alternative style to prose is using a question and answer format, as in this piece on Plain Lazy’s use of social media for marketing.
• Give it a strong title that encapsulates the story, such as: “Acme Co grows customer base by 100 per cent using Nuclear Plastiwidgets”.
• Use statistics to show the difference the product has made and the benefits gained. Ballpark figures are fine.
• Avoid jargon and terms such as ‘market leading’ and ‘unique’ – no one believes them! Write out any acronyms in full the first time followed by the abbreviation in brackets, for example, Internet Service Provider (ISP).
• Include your website and contact details for more information.
• Show the case study to your customer before you send it off, both as a courtesy and to check the content is accurate. Maybe they could use it in their own marketing?
• Many editors like to use ‘boxes’ highlighting the key facts, for example, industry sector, size, location, date of founding and the benefits covered in the story in condensed form.
• You need good photography. Ask your customer if they have any “high-resolution” photos (ie 300 dots per inch). You need interesting angles and not just boring, front-on headshots. Look at photo libraries online for inspiration or (if you have enough budget) hire an experienced professional photographer. They’ll cost less than the writer and a good picture makes people want to read on. If possible, give the editor a choice of pictures.

Where to publish

Your target is the publication most relevant to your real audience: your customers and prospects.

Write a summary of your key points and email it to the editor. Only approach one publication at a time, to avoid being accepted in two places. You can try the story in more than one place, but only if you target titles in different sectors using different angles. Editors want “exclusive” stories. 

Once accepted, you may be asked to shorten the piece to suit the space available.

Now it’s over to you…

Don’t forget to put your case study on your own website and refer to it in your customer communications. If you’re on Facebook or Twitter, post a link.

Now go out and find a satisfied customer – one who’s happy to talk about the benefits your product has given. Let me know how you get on.

Jane Lee from Dexterity is an independent PR consultant specialising in IT companies and small businesses.

Olé for Mole!: Turning PR and marketing activities into sales

A few months ago, I got an Innovation Support Grant (ISG) from the Food and Drink iNet. The purpose of the grant was to help me improve my marketing and PR. Here are some things we did with the ISG grant:

• we engaged a web designer to develop our website www.ricomexicankitchen.co.uk (with sections still under construction, but almost there);
• we improved our packaging and included suggestions on how to use the products we make;
• we worked with a PR agency to hopefully help us get some editorial coverage in magazines and newspapers...and yes, we were in the Editor’s feature section of my favourite magazine, BBC Olive.

This is a small mention but I hope we can build from here.

The best thing about this grant was its emphasis on working with experts so we learned the tools required so we could sustain the work they had funded. And yes, I learned lots about copywriting for the website and packaging. I also learned that if you want to be in magazines, this is a labour of love and perseverance: you need to contact each magazine, phone the right person, agree to send them samples, then the samples get lost, you follow up, and start again.

Imagine what I felt when I opened the magazine in the shop... and yes, there it was, the article “Olé  for Mole” feature and a photo of our Mole (pronounced Moleh, a wonderfully rich Mexican cooking sauce). I got on the train and I wanted to show everyone the feature, but I resisted the temptation.

Now we are going to appear in some glossy magazines, the question is: How can we turn these articles into real, tangible outcomes, e.g. sales?

Well, as it happened, I was visiting our newest stockist, Partridges of Sloane Square in London. He said he would stock salsas, but not the Mole sauce because people wouldn’t know what to do with it. I showed him the Olive magazine and he suggested I laminate it and place the article by the chiller. Perfect. However, I won’t be able to do this everywhere, so the question comes again, how do we use these articles and turn them into sales?

Do you have any suggestions for Marcela? Add them to the comments section below.

You can find out more about Marcela on the interactive business website www.inafishbowl.com

And the bank said...

Well, guess what. I have finally heard from the bank, after 3+ weeks. Inefficiency? Procrastination? Well, whatever it may be, the bank said no. At this point I could U-turn and get a job, a salary and pack it all in. But I KNOW there is something out there that will work, a stone that has been left unturned.

This is a hard knock on my fundraising effort. We have gone so far. Larger contracts have been placed and I can’t develop new products without the funding I was counting on. What next?

I spoke to my neighbour, a successful, experienced builder who is going through a difficult time at the moment. He said exactly the same thing. He needed bank support to make a new project a reality. The equity was there to secure the loan but the bank said they didn’t want to make him homeless- can you believe it? I’ve no words to explain my frustration.

I have been speaking with a couple of investors but they want to take their time and my time is now. How do I say “now”, not later? How?

I think you’ll agree with me that opting to run your own business means NOT settling for the easy option. There’s a huge degree of resilience required, which one needs to develop along the way to cope with the difficulties. As the bank said no to lending to the business, we moved on to (another!) personal loan.

Now it’s all about moving forward... due to a grant we got from the East Midlands Food and Drink iNet, we were able to have a PR agency work with us for a few months. This means we were able to write our first newsletter and we also sent loads of samples to magazines and newspapers. I've had my first interview with a glossy magazine which will hopefully mean that there will be more awareness for the products nationally. We’ve had interest from other national magazines, and a large food magazine is talking about writing a feature on us which would be fantastic.

You can find out more about Marcela on the new interactive business website www.inafishbowl.com

Are you with the wrong PR agency?

At one of my PR seminars a while ago, I asked how many people had used or were using a PR agency. Half the audience put their hand up.

When I asked them to keep their hand up if they were satisfied with the results, I wasn’t surprised when most people lowered them again.

Some PR agencies are their own worst enemies. They fail to set clear expectations for their clients, they don’t keep them fully up-to-date with developments or provide regular written reports on actions and outcomes.

There is a perception that buying PR is a risk, but it doesn’t have to be that way, if you pick the right agency. Here are five signs that you might be better advised to find a new PR agency.

1 It’s staffed by PR ‘luvvies’ rather than former journalists. I may be a PR person now, but I was a journalist for 13 years. I get really annoyed when I meet PRs who don’t understand what it’s really like to run a business or what stories appeal to journalists. Effective PRs are results driven, they’re focused people. They understand what your business needs to achieve and what role they need play to aid your success. That’s why I prefer PRs who are former journalists. They understand what journalists really want and cut through the waffle that PR luvvies frequently add in.

2 It charges lots of expensive add-ons. If you ask for something unusual that costs your agency money, then fair enough, but doing day-to-day PR for your business shouldn’t create exceptional costs, certainly not without prior agreement. Basics such as media monitoring should be included in a pre-agreed fixed fee, not charged for as expensive extras.

3 It doesn’t understand there must a direct link between your PR and revenue – or how to put it in place: The most effective PR is direct response PR. That’s where you have a system to turn media attention into leads and those leads into sales. Without a system like this, you’re wasting your time. Most PR agencies claim there’s no direct link between PR and revenue. They’re so wrong it hurts.

4 It claims it’s all about contacts and press releases. Total nonsense. You don’t necessarily need a book full of media contacts or expertly crafted press releases to get coverage. Often you just need a good story and some basic knowledge about how best to bring it to the attention of the right editor.

5 It’s stuck in the past. I interviewed a potential employee recently who said the PR agency at which he worked focused only on getting clients into the newspapers. Still a powerful way for many businesses to get good publicity, agreed, but if you’re going to do direct response PR, you must also secure online coverage. In the modern world, for many businesses, it’s crucial. Many PR agencies talk about online PR, but don’t really understand what it is or how to do it effectively.

Paul Green, Publicity Heaven