Maintain Salesnet's competitive stance and the perception of its senior management as thought leaders in the market at the same time a large competitor prepared to announce an IPO. Although the situation represented an obvious major news opportunity for the competitor, PerkettPR capitalized on the fact that when a competitor announces an IPO, the media often wants to know what the important industry leaders and primary competitors think. PerkettPR made sure the media turned to Salesnet as the competitive resource for comment.
Over several years, PerkettPR had already established Salesnet's senior management as subject matter experts in the on-demand CRM industry. This achievement stemmed from consistent and persistent branding, industry awards and coverage driven by PerkettPR, including an average of 11 media interviews and 30 pieces of coverage per month. Now, PerkettPR poised Salesnet for additional industry recognition and traction by leveraging existing press and analyst relationships and offering the Salesnet CEO as the expert for comment on the pending IPO and what it meant to the industry as a whole. This was achieved by promoting CEO's experience with the IPO process as well as the Salesnet's success with the on-demand model, competitive position and expertise in the CRM space. PerkettPR also offered compelling comments in advance of interviews, which helped secure interest in a more detailed interview.
During the month preceding the competitor's IPO, PerkettPR launched a campaign to obtain media interest in speaking with Salesnet executives about what the IPO news meant to the market. By the time the competitor went public, Salesnet capitalized on the event by securing interviews with 17 key media contacts that resulted in 46 pieces of coverage - maintaining the position of Salesnet as a key competitor to watch and its executives as experts and thought leaders in the market.
Coverage appeared in key industry trade publications and national business outlets including IDG, The Economist, Reuters, CNET, USAToday, The New York Times, MSN Money, ABCNews, CBS Marketwatch, Investor's Business Daily, and the Wall Street Journal.
