"Thanks for all your help. All the great PR played a major role in our success." Rick Faulk, President, WebExOne (formerly Intranets.com)
When PerkettPR began working with Intranets.com in 2003, the company had been quiet for several years as it worked to perfect a service ahead of it's time: online intranet solutions allowing businesses to share applications and collaborate on the Web. Because the idea was relatively new, PerkettPR needed to pitch the concept of "software-as-a-service" to the media so they would keep Intranets.com on their list of companies to watch and help promote the viability of the service to small businesses. Up until that time, Intranets.com had been fairly quiet while it kept its head down in "survival mode" through the dot com bust. The company turned to PerkettPR to help kick off PR in what would be a renewed marketing campaign.
PerkettPR focused first on analysts, knowing that published reports would eventually prompt the media to call upon Intranets.com, as well as product reviews, industry awards and creative proactive pitch campaigns. PerkettPR also monitored the industry for opportunities to present the Intranets.com CEO as a thought leader and established strong ties with BusinessWeek and The Wall Street Journal. These activities planted the seeds for the time when software-as-a-service hit its full stride - establishing Intranets.com as a company ahead of the market curve.
The PerkettPR team also promoted the growth and successes of the company through its survival mode years and consistently pitched creative campaigns around marketing initiatives such as the time when the national Democratic Party convention was held in Boston prior to the 2004 presidential election. Many Boston workers could not get to their office easily in the city during the convention, so PerkettPR promoted the concept of Intranets.com to the media as a way to collaborate from home and help businesses to continue to run smoothly without interruption.
PerkettPR successfully established Intranets.com as a major player in the collaboration space, as well as a leader in the fast growing software-as-a-service industry. PerkettPR accomplished this even without reference customers, screen shots or final pricing until the very last minute of the initial launch. The client discovered that every writer briefed gained a full understanding of its product suite and its target audience. PerkettPR also successfully established the CEO of Intranets.com as an industry leader that the press would call up for commentary, such as when a major competitor was purchased by Microsoft. PerkettPR promoted Intranets.com's CEO for comment on the impact this would have on the market. By establishing Intranets.com as the unrivaled leader in the on-demand collaboration industry, PerkettPR also played a major role in elevating the awareness of the company, which contributed to Intranets.com's eventual acquisition by WebEx in 2005.
Within months of commencing its relationship with PerkettPR, Intranets.com was featured on CBS Evening News with Dan Rather, as well as local broadcasts and print publications, including The New York Times. Since the initial campaign, Intranets.com has been featured consistently in numerous key publications including the Boston Globe, BusinessWeek, CIO, CRN, eWeek, InfoWorld, Intranet Journal, Network World, SearchSMB.Com, Wired, and PC Magazine, the latter of which honored the company with its "Editor's Choice" Award, beating out a top competitor.
PerkettPR also established Intranets.com as a major presence in the local Boston market, securing coverage in key publications such as Mass High Tech and local broadcast outlets, including WCVB-TV, NECN, FOX-TV and WBIX-AM. Additionally, PerkettPR helped Intranets.com win numerous awards, including a ranking in the Top 20 ASP Provider List for ASP News, an American Business Award, the number three spot in The Boston Business Journal's list of top 100 Fastest Growing Companies in Massachusetts, a "Best Places to Work" ranking from the Boston Business Journal and a finalist spot in Fortune Small Business's Best Bosses for two years running.
* Source: Worldwide Software-on-Demand 2004 Vendor Analysis: Top 25 On-Demand Providers Take Shape. IDC, 2005.
