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Bruce Frymire, Director of Corporate Communications, CyberSource Corporation, recently shared one of the secrets of the company’s PR success: focusing not just on CyberSource services or products, but also on the results of the company’s annual Online Fraud Report.
“CyberSource started doing the Online Fraud survey nine years ago, “ says Frymire. “We asked hundreds of online merchants about their experiences with fraud - and they in turn educated us in the rates of fraud and types of fraud they were experiencing, plus lots of other interesting data.”
The objectives of CyberSource’s survey were twofold—first and most obvious, the company wanted to learn more about the challenges they faced in the business sector. Secondly, the company sought to establish itself as a thought leader in the world of fraud prevention. The Online Fraud survey equipped CyberSource with information that journalists could use—not just immediately—but many times over the course of the year.
Says Frymire, “We believe that as readers took in the facts about e-commerce fraud and then saw the CyberSource name in connection with those facts, our position as industry leader grew.”
According to Frymire, journalists who cover the fraud space—like journalists everywhere—are bombarded with email, phone calls, and faxes and pretty much tune out nearly everything that hints at product promotion. But the survey results were a different animal. CyberSource provided real facts that were, in many cases, headline news about significant and newsworthy trends in e-commerce.
To build relationships with journalists and to garner real press, Frymire adhered to the following PR best practices:
CAREFULLY CRAFT MESSAGES
Frymire worked to develop press releases that would immediately capture journalists’ attention. Instead of writing a headline that stated CyberSource had issued a new fraud report, Frymire developed headlines that journalists would themselves write—something newsworthy for their audience. Last year’s headline, for example, read: “Fraudsters Will Bag $3.6 Billion from U.S. e-Commerce in 2007.”
“And then,” says Frymire, “you have to ensure the body of the press release keeps them glued to the release, sentence after sentence, much like a news article. This can be one of the key challenges of PR—writing something that honestly appeals to journalists, gives them something they can use, but at the same time communicates some key company messages. This is the art of the press release today.”
CONTACT JOURNALISTS WHO HAVE WRITTEN ABOUT THE TOPIC
According to Frymire, it really pays to take the time to discover journalists who have written about topics in a particular space. In his earliest days at CyberSource, Frymire established a list of about 200 journalists who had, through their writing, demonstrated an interest in the topic of internet fraud. They wrote for publications ranging from tiny verticals to major international media.
Along with sending the traditional newswire release, Frymire emailed the 200 journalists who had written on the topic. Keeping in mind the challenge of actually getting his message read among the hundreds journalists receive every day, the email contained little but a one sentence teaser followed by the release itself.
“Don’t fall prey to the temptation to write boilerplate facts about your company in a release,” he cautions. “It’s your job to make what’s important to your company interesting to the press.”
EDUCATE SPEAKERS
Another overlooked element of a PR strategy is ensuring that your employees stay “on message” when speaking at events. Frymire and his team worked with employees who gave presentations to ensure that they properly reflected the company’s messaging.
PR WORK PAYS OFF
Results of CyberSource’s campaign have been impressive and include quotes from key personnel in hundreds of publications over years including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Robes, Fortune, and many others. According to Frymire, by targeting specific journalists and communicating honestly interesting messages to them, the survey continues to generate press, which in turn generates more leads and reputation building.
Another overlooked element of a PR strategy is ensuring that your employees stay “on message” when speaking at events. Frymire and his team worked with employees who gave presentations to ensure that they properly reflected the company’s messaging.
Sums up Frymire, “Fraud prevention is important to our business, but is not necessarily the biggest revenue producer for CyberSource. However, if journalists are more interested in online fraud, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t do our best to make use of that interest. The fraud survey gets our name in front of journalists and enhances the company’s thought leadership position. Because we have successfully positioned ourselves as the experts on fraud, we now routinely receive calls from the media and from conference organizers who ask for expert speakers. We try to be that resource.”
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