Situation
Volume Public Relations engaged with Mary Crane & Associates, an unknown human resources consulting firm, to establish them as a thought leader with widespread business media coverage. The media already has countless HR experts to choose from when in need of quotes, advice or counsel.
Strategy & Tactics
With thousands of HR consultants vying for the training budgets of American businesses, Crane’s stated value had to be unique and something that would create a sense of urgency and demand among her target customer base. The timing was the spring of 2007, as corporations and their HR departments were daily hiring fresh Gen Y graduates.
- Ensure that any story quoting Mary Crane would provide the reader with tangible, real world and actionable advice that could be implemented without having to hire a consultant.
- Employ the very unique tactic, which paid off even more than the PR team imagined, of “talking the talk” with the media. VolumePR spoke in its pitches and conversations with the media exactly the way Gen Y was notorious for speaking.
Results
By December 2007, Mary Crane had been featured on CBS’ “60 Minutes,” ABC Radio News, About.com, Training Magazine, HR Professional Magazine, the New York Times (three appearances), the Wall Street Journal, the Chicago Tribune and newspapers and websites spanning the United States, reaching a total number of readers/viewers in excess of 270,350,023. With Crane’s media coverage beginning to be published in late Q1 / early Q2, Crane’s business grew in the following manner:
- Q3 growth over previous year: 59.15%
- Q4 growth over previous year: 42.64%
- Q3 – Q4 growth over previous year: 51.07%
- Cumulative 2007 growth over 2006: 31.5%
This off-the-chart growth is further detailed in the supporting materials, which captures the majority, but not all of the exposure VolumePR developed. Volume Public Relations was a 2009 finalist for the international PRWeek Magazine “Best Business to Business Campaign of the Year” award for their work with Mary Crane & Associates.