Maximizing Media Coverage During Most Popular Week for SMB Product Launches

95% positive media coverage sentiment

75% of homepage referrals earned from media coverage

100+ media placements in 1 month

Overcoming Competing Announcements

Every year in early May, the U.S. Small Business Association celebrates the contributions of America’s 30.2 million small businesses across the country during National Small Business Week. To capitalize on this observance, many technology providers debut SMB-specific solutions at this time, often oversaturating media that caters to entrepreneurs and independent businesses. When ARPR was approached by an incubator inside an American multinational technology company to launch a new SMB product during this timeframe, we knew we needed to develop an integrated launch strategy that would cut through the clutter and earn media and social attention - with conversions from small business decision-makers the primary objective.

Sticking to Message with Media

To get out ahead of other product announcements happening during the official time frame of National Small Business Week, ARPR consulted with the client to officially launch the product on the eve of the observance. Then, after leveraging our Panorama Approach to develop messaging that would resonate with key buyer personas, ARPR mapped out a proactive media relations strategy for launch that could penetrate five target verticals, general SMB outlets, and national tech and business publications. We then leveraged product and brand messaging, FAQs and pain points identified during the persona development process to draft a compelling launch press release, a post for the global tech provider’s owned blog channel, web copy and blog content for the product’s website, and developed a social strategy inclusive of both paid and organic efforts to correspond with the launch of the product.

Continued Coverage Drives Awareness & Conversions

ARPR earned more than 100 media placements in less than a month, of which 85% published by the end of National Small Business Week. Our airtight messaging and thoughtful preparation of media materials resulted in over 95% of coverage being positive or neutral sentiment. Overall, media coverage made a significant impact on achieving conversions and overall awareness, as nearly three quarters of the product’s homepage website referrals came from media coverage during the first month after launch. Once we launched the product’s social accounts, organic social efforts accounted for 40% of total conversions from our combined organic/paid social media marketing strategy. Our paid digital strategy also proved to be particularly effective, especially in video ads, which drove over one million 15-second views within the first two months of launch. Ultimately, ARPR successfully launched a SMB tech product during one of the busiest times of the year for small business-specific product announcements thanks to its strategic application of the Panorama Approach.