Rise PR in action – using consumer research to create news
Posted by Paul Allen on 30th May 2014 / 0 comments
Using consumer research to create news is a pretty tried and trusted PR tactic. We’ve done this many times at Rise PR, whether that’s a national piece in The Daily Star for charity Cat’s Protection that shows how owning a cat can make a man more attractive, or trade coverage in UK Fundraising for software firm Blackbaud that looks at people’s motivations for online charitable donations.
The particular research campaign we’d like to highlight today though, was conducted on behalf of our client Mirakl. Mirakl is a retail tech startup that provides online marketplace platforms to some of the world’s biggest retailers.
Consumer research for business-to-business PR
Mirakl launched in the UK last year and while there have been some interesting news stories since then, they haven’t always been regular. So in the time between strong news announcements, Rise PR recommended using some consumer research to highlight a business need. The key to successful research of this nature is not to make it too obvious – so a story that says ‘80% of people express a need for product X, says maker of product X’ would not cut it. No journalist would run a story that is quite so self-serving.
So with this campaign, we wanted to get across that when it came to online marketplaces, Mirakl was a thought-leader and had a deep understanding of how consumers use marketplaces. This would play well in the retail press, Mirakl’s main target sector.
The research highlighted how many people had bought from an online marketplace and looked at their motivations for shopping online. As you might expect, it was mostly about finding a bargain, something that online marketplaces, with their mix of third-party sellers, can offer.
Punchy copy, knock-out results
We packaged the results up in one press release, sticking to the PR staples of an impactful, attention-grabbing headline - Online shoppers have an eye for a bargain, as new research reveals price is the main factor when choosing where to buy online – and punchy copy to bring the story to life.
With a targeted and focused sell-in, we are able to achieve some great coverage on the day of launch, with highlights including Retail Times, Real Business, Ecommerce Week and Retail Technology Review. The research findings were also deployed throughout the rest of the year, with stats used in feature pitches and by-lined articles.
A quiet news period successfully filled and a client positioned as a thought leader in some of its key target media – done well, research can be a really valuable PR tool.
No comments as yet.
