Comparing the Effectiveness of Two Types of News Releases: Smart vs. Multimedia

1. Rutgers Business School
Executive Education Case Study
Greg Jarboe
SEO-PR
Dec. 15, 2015

2. SEO-PR and Rutgers CMD published five case
studies on PR measurement from 2010-2012
• 2010 Rutgers Center for Management Development (CMD) case study:
• An optimized press release and blog post generated 116.9% more landing page views than an
un-optimized press release and online newspaper article.
• 2011 Rutgers CMD case studies:
• Distributing press releases on Thursdays generated more release views and link clicks than
distributing them on other weekdays.
• Optimizing and distributing 10 releases cost $23,230 and generated $198,870 in incremental
revenue from 52 registrations, providing a ROMI of 8.6X in 90 days.
• 2012 Rutgers CMD case studies:
• Cutting the PR budget “saved” $21,000, but cost more than $225,000 in lost revenue in 90
days.
• Press release with a photo got 20% more views and 63% more link clicks than an identical
release without a photo. (This case study won an SNCR award).

3. Rutgers CMD Mini-MBA courses are now in 2
separate executive education departments

4. Rutgers Business School Executive Education
(RBSEE) is launching a new program in 2016
• Rutgers Business School Executive
Education is launching an accelerated
certificate program that will explore the
impact of the Internet of Things (IoT) on
the next generation of supply chain
strategy.
• The Mini-MBA program on the Supply
Chain in a Digitized Network will be
offered June 13 to 17, 2016 at the
Heldrich Hotel, located in New Brunswick,
N.J.
• The program, which costs $4,995, will be
led by a team of top industry experts and
faculty from Rutgers Business School
Supply Chain department and will present
a new business model for Supply Chain in
a Digitized Network.

5. RBSEE distributed a press release with a video
on Thursday, Oct. 8, 2015, via PR Newswire

6. SEO-PR used keyword research to see which
relevant topics interest the public and press
Unoptimized press release
• Keywords: Rutgers (135,000), next generation
(8,100), supply chain (14,800), supply chain
strategy (390), supply chain strategy program
(0)
• Headline: 8 words long
• Subhead: None
• Body copy: 527 words long
• Links: 6
Optimized press release
• Keywords: Internet of Things (49,500), supply
chain (14,800), Rutgers Business School
(4,400), executive education (1,000), Mini
MBA (590), Mini MBA program (30)
• Headline: 18 words long
• Subhead: 24 words long
• Body copy: 699 words long
• Links: 5

7. We used the Google Analytics URL Builder to
add parameters to URLs used in press release
• You can use the URL builder for email,
social media marketing, or PR campaigns.
• When users click one of the custom links,
the unique parameters are sent to your
Google Analytics account, so you can
identify the URLs that are most effective
in attracting users to your content.
• We recommend using the Chrome
browser to use the URL builder form.
• Fill in the form and click GENERATE
URL to create URLs for Custom
Campaigns for website tracking.
• The form will return a URL you can then
copy and paste into your press release
links.

8. SEO-PR distributed a release with a video on
Thursday, Oct. 22, 2015, via Business Wire

9. Two hours after crossing wires, commercial
newswire services reported different results
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
Unoptimized Optimized
151
886
Release Views
• PR Newswire distributed the unoptimized
press release to 189 websites.
• Business Wire distributed the optimized
press release to 197 websites.
• PR Newswire reported 151 release views.
• Business Wire reported 886 release
views, 146 multimedia views, and 29 link
clicks.
• PR Newswire reported 1 tweet about the
release by a person with 924 followers.
• Business Wire reported 19 tweets about
the release, including ones by @debraruh
with 111,000 followers, @edaccessible
with 65,400 followers, and @TheIoT with
40,100 followers.

10. Public could find the optimized release in
Google News and Google’s “In The News” box

11. NUVI reports optimized release generated 144
conversations in social media from Oct. 21 to 28
• Volume: Conversation peaked (36
mentions) on Oct. 22 at 7 a.m. EDT.
• Sentiment: 6% positive and <1%
negative.
• Influencers: Eduardo Meza-Etienne
(score 81), Debra Ruh (score 78), and
Internet of Things (score 64).
• Location: The highest number of
mentions originated from New Jersey,
California, and Kansas.
• Conversations: 135 mentions (94.4%)
shared “supply chain”.

12. Press can find Business Wire’s video content
from the optimized release on AP Video Hub
• AP Video Hub is used by 350 of the
world’s largest digital publishers, news
portals, and broadcasters in 100
countries.
• A key advantage of the AP Video Hub
is its one-click downloads direct to
desktops.
• News organizations no longer need
the technical infrastructure to handle
terrestrial and satellite feeds.
• 80% of Video Hub clients use it on a
daily basis and average user time for
the platform is just under an hour.

13. The optimized release has 5,172 total views,
1,588 multimedia views, and 108 link clicks

14. Supply Chain Matters blog ran a guest post
with additional information from Gartner
• New title includes Internet of Things
(49,500) and supply chain (14,800).
• We added an additional 463 words to
the content of the 699-word long
press release, creating a blog post that
is 1,162 words long.
• The additional content cites Gartner’s
“What Supply Chain Leaders Need to
Know about Industrie 4.0,” which was
published Sept. 10, 2015.
• Gartner approved the use of a quote
and its research in two business days.

15. Dave Schatz of New Brunswick Today talked
with program manager, Margaret O’Donnell
• Schatz reported that Rutgers Business
School Executive Education had
announced the launch of a $4,995
certificate program slated to explore
the impact of the “Internet of Things
(IoT)” on the future of supply chain
strategy in the business world.
• He interviewed a number of people
for his story, including Margaret
O’Donnell, the RBSEE program
manager.
• He included her phone number and
email address in his story, but did not
include links to the RBSEE website.

16. Susan Fourtané of EBN interviewed Glen
Gilmore, an instructor in the new program
• Her article included links to Rutgers
Business School Executive Education
(RBSEE), and Glen Gilmore, an attorney
and social media strategist, who is one of
the instructors in the new Rutgers Mini-
MBA: Supply Chain in a Digitized
Network.
• Her article also included links to two
other programs of interest for supply
chain professionals: the Rutgers Mini-
MBA for Engineers and Technology
Managers, and the Mini-MBA: Business
Management for Military and Veterans.
• It also mentioned that Rutgers Corporate
Programs “can bring our faculty and
subject-matter experts directly on-site.”

17. PR Newswire generated 12 sessions by 9 new
users at RBSEE site from Oct. 1 to Nov. 30

18. MarketWatch generated 12 sessions by 6 new
users at RBSEE site from Oct. 1 to Nov. 30

19. Yahoo News generated 11 sessions by 11 new
users at RBSEE site from Oct. 1 to Nov. 30

20. Business Wire generated 96 sessions by 67
new users at RBSEE from Oct. 1 to Nov. 30

21. theferrarigroup.com generated 4 sessions by
1 new user at RBSEE from Oct. 1 to Nov. 30

22. EBNOnline generated 7 sessions by 2 new
users at RBSEE from Oct. 1 to Nov. 30

23. Optimized press release generated 3.1 times
more sessions and 2.7 time more new users
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Unoptimized Optimized
9
6
11
67
New Users
PRN MW YN BW EBN SCM
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
Unoptimized Optimized
12
12
11
96
7
4
Sessions
PRN MW YN BW EBN SCM

24. RBSEE measures results by multiplying 6 new
registrations by $4,995 and dividing by $2,323
• The optimization and distribution of
the press release as well as blog
outreach, which were provided pro
bono, would have “cost” Rutgers
Business School Executive Education
$2,323.
• The program generated 6 registrations
at $4,995 per student, or $29,970 in
incremental revenue.
• This is a short-term return on
marketing investment (ROMI) of
12.9X.
• That’s even better than the 8.6x ROMI
that Rutgers CMD averaged in 2011.