Fathom’s own Stephanie Pflaum took part in a PR Newswire webinar that reviewed the evolution of the press release. It also revealed “new school” creative uses for online press releases, and discussed ways press releases have driven business results that matter. These online press release tips include three case studies in the legal, healthcare and E-commerce industries.

1. Fathom
Press Releases &
The Digital Marketing Funnel

2. The NEW Strategy
Digital Funnel Management
 SEO
 Social Media
 Paid Advertising
 Video
 Content Marketing
 Shopping Engines
 Email Marketing
 Marketing Automation
 Display Remarketing
 Reputation Management
 CRO
 Analytics
 CRO
 Optimization

3. Where do press releases fit in?
Overview
• Comprehensive campaign
structure and multiple
bidding rules
• Use non-branded keywords
to drive awareness and
increase sales & revenue
through multiple channels
• Brand vs. Non-brand
attribution measurement
• Acquisitions
• Drive new website traffic through compelling story telling
• Build links to support SEO
• Conversion
• Promote special offers, products and contests
• Promote content such as while papers, guides and e-books
• Use creative CTAs
• Nurture
• Promote content such as infographics, new data from research and corporate
goodwill
• Support positive online reputation
Press Releases are not just for reaching news media & publishing sites –often, they’re used to
reach our audience, because we know press releases rank & are visible through different
online channels.

4. PR Case Study 1:
Missouri Law Firm (Acquire)
The legal search space is HYPER competitive -it can be
very difficult to break through organic rankings and very
expensive to show up in paid results.
Press releases help gain more online visibility in a
competitive space to acquire new site visits.
• Communicated their stance on important
legal/political issues.
• Promoted emotional, engaging videos
• Shared powerful client stories
• Press releases have driven about 500 visitors to the
site this year (1% of total visits)
• Visitors stay on the site for 2:59 (site average is 1:51)

5. PR Case Study 2:
Consumer Crafts (Convert)
ConsumerCrafts is an online craft store – it’s an
ecommerce site – the main goal is to increase
sales of Jewelry, Beads & Kids Craft supplies.
Press Releases helped increase conversions.
• Submitted press releases for Black Friday,
Cyber Monday Sales & Back to School
Crafter’s Challenge – included linkes &
CTAs to main category pages
• Saw tangible results from our efforts:
– 35% increase in referral traffic from Pinterest
– Increased Pinterest followers from 750 to 818
– 192 total contest re-pins on Pinterest; 80
Contest “likes” on FB
– 37% increase in overall referral traffic
– $245 in sales directly from press releases

6. Consumers often do research online before
committing to signing up for a health screening.
Promoting positive content and stories about this
brand helps convince customers health screenings
are a good investment and earn their trust.
• Promoted earned media on credible sites
• Promoted positive branded content
– Infographics
– Blog posts
– New research
• Increased authority of positive websites, profiles
and articles to outrank negative articles in the
SERPs
– BBB
– Social Profiles (Facebook, Linked In, YouTube)
• Screening locations frequently submit releases
that rank in local & news results in Google
PR Case Study 3:
Life Line Screening (Nurture)