Scenario

Our client, an online financial information provider, was looking to increase subscriptions through a high impact media relations programme. We identified interesting new angles on business and investment stories that crossed over with areas that our client provided financial information on. Our strategy proved to be a success: over 80 items of positive press coverage were secured in the national media in just nine months!

Strategy

Using our client’s data, Mattison Public Relations carried out simple research projects into aspects of stock market investment and corporate performance that we knew would be of interest to the personal finance and investment press. The findings were used as the basis for press releases.

Examples of topics covered:

• Investor attitude to asset classes and individual shares - based on short selling data
• Do directors think UK companies are undervalued? - based on the ratio between the sales and purchases by directors of their own companies’ shares
• Which FTSE-350 companies’ shares trade at a discount to their book values?
• Which high yielding shares have the safest forecast dividend cover?
• Which CEOs have been paid the highest bonus for the worst corporate results?
• How well do analyst recommendations work?
• Stockbrokers’ confidence in the stock market - based on the ratio of buy to sell notes

Result

The research was regularly covered in all the most influential media such as The Financial Times, The Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Times. In addition, our client appeared regularly on broadcast media as an expert commentator.

Increases in new subscriptions were repeatedly recorded by our client following coverage in the media.

Journalists subsequently asked our client for further data and comment for stories they were already working on.