Will Manufacturers Leave Traditional PR in the Dust as the Demand for “Performance-Based Product Publicity” Revs-up?

John Elliott seldom goes with the flow. For the past seven years, as Founder and CEO of Power PR, he has led this public relations firm that specializes in the industrial sector into a whole new realm of public relations, in fact a whole new category called Performance-Based Publicity. Elliott, not your typical PR man, mild-mannered and soft-spoken, is yet the architect of one of the most significant methodological changes to affect the public relations industry in years. Namely, guaranteed published stories, month-to-month contracts, razor-sharp marketing strategies, and an unusual performance/statistics-driven account management team set-up. Their manufacturing and industrial clients are loving it, getting more bang for their PR-buck than they have seen in a long time, if ever.

“Performance-Based Publicity can bring a company from non-existence into national prominence,” says Elliott. “It can educate prospects about a complex product at a fraction of the cost of display advertising. It can establish credibility for a company and its products like no other marketing tool.”

In the industrial sector, companies are more vertically dependent upon publications for exposure and lead generation. Performance-Based Publicity typically produces its best results in manufacturing environments. According to Elliott, “We have had as many as 450 inquiries in one day, from one article when using product publicity. In fact, we guarantee clients 5 articles per month, which adds up very quickly. Our manufacturing clients clearly see there are real benefits to our Performance-Based Publicity over traditional ‘unsecured’ PR.”

Elliott points out the biggest single reason advertising doesn’t work or pulls with poor results, is because Performance-Based Publicity was not used first. “Done right, Performance-Based Publicity can increase the advertising response rate by 200% or more,” says Elliott. “Performance-Based Publicity is to mass media what word-of-mouth is to one-on-one contact. Its effectiveness is based on the power of objective third party endorsement. Everyone agrees that word of mouth is powerful promotion. Our program is like having thousands of word-of-mouth messages happening at once. Because of the number of stories we get published, it makes a very efficient form of marketing compared to advertising.”

Power PR has the confidence and leverage to offer clients a month-to-month contract, which, of course, is very appealing to any client. The point being that if the program is delivering, clients have no interest in leaving.

“Using traditional PR methods, no PR firm could offer a guarantee or a month-to-month contract and stay in business very long,” says Elliott. “The only way you could do it is to provide a Performance-Based Publicity program.”

Power PR’s Performance-Based Publicity program is not for everyone, however. First, the firm specializes only in product publicity. Second, localized or regional campaigns are not accepted. Clients must be willing to go at least national. And third, Power PR is very selective in what companies it takes on board, with only a limited number of clients accepted at any given time. Frequently, there is a waiting list.

“Power PR can deliver to your organization an audience exposure that is more cost-effective and credible than advertising,” says Steve Johnson, Marketing Director for DPI Labs, Inc., an aerospace manufacturer in La Verne, California. “They have shown a consistent ability to place within industry-specific publications high-quality, detailed articles about our products and services. The result has been our exposure into the minds of prospects and customers—hundreds, if not thousands of major decision makers.”

As more and more manufacturers are exposed to Performance-Based Publicity, and become accustomed to the volume of published stories and the client-agreeable business climate, it is only a matter of time until “traditional” public relations approaches become obsolete.

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