In June, I wrote a post for the Business Wire blog called "Rethinking the Customer Press Release: How to Make It a Win-Win." In the post, I discuss the reluctance that many customers have for appearing in vendor releases and the ultimate reason for that reluctance: customers see these releases as benefiting the vendor, but they don't see much in it for them.
That's because most PR agencies issue customer releases using the following model:
- The headline announces, “Customer Chooses Vendor to Solve Some Otherwise Unsolvable Problem;”
- The body of the release takes a case study format of problem-solution-result to show how the vendor saved the day; and
- The cherry on top is a customer quote praising the vendor.
This model makes the vendor the star of the release. A better approach is to flip that model on its head and make the customer the hero.
Idea Grove did that very literally in a press release we distributed today.
The news in our press release is a strategic pivot Idea Grove has taken as a result of COVID. We have shifted more of our marketing focus to attract clients in B2B tech sectors that have been in higher demand as a result of the crisis.
So, of course, our headline could have been the following:
"Idea Grove Successfully Pivots to High-Demand B2B Tech Sectors in the COVID Economy"
But that's not the approach we took. Because that would have made the announcement about us. We'd have made ourselves the star.
Instead, we crafted the following headline:
"Idea Grove Lands B2B Technology Heroes as New Clients in the COVID Economy"
Under this headline is the following subhead:
Leaders in remote learning, global webcasting, healthcare staffing, retail technology and drone-based cleaning solutions join Dallas PR and marketing firm’s client roster as the agency works to promote the technological infrastructure for the new normal.
The body of the press release carried home this message. Excerpts:
COVID-19’s heroes include courageous doctors and nurses on the front lines, as well as grocery store clerks, delivery drivers, fast food employees and mass transit workers, all of whom are exposing themselves to greater risk to benefit society. There are other heroes, too: the B2B tech companies providing remote learning, communication, cleaning and other technologies that enable the United States to remain productive during this crisis.
Idea Grove, a unified PR and marketing agency for B2B tech, is proud to have recently added to its client roster several companies whose work is helping Americans through this difficult time.
Finally, rather than having client quotes praising Idea Grove, we have quotes from Idea Grove praising our customers:
“These companies are heroes to us,” Idea Grove CEO Scott Baradell said. “B2B tech innovators are among those who are building the infrastructure for the new normal. Technology time and again has been the hero for our society. On so many occasions, when we have thought the U.S. economy was in decline, our innovation has saved us and moved us forward. And so it will be in this case.”
When you write your customer press releases this way, your customers will want to participate in them, because you've made the experience a win-win.
You've also told a better story in the process.