Case Study: How We Helped a Client Increase Brand Awareness by 400%

Posted on June 7, 2023 by Mark Macias

Many potential clients assume MACIAS PR only works with large health care brands. Yes, we have run media and branding campaigns for large tech and health care companies, but we’ve also launched publicity campaigns for boot-strapped startups.

Find Your Trainer is a mobile app that matches consumers with physical trainers. The boot-strapped startup was only 5-months old when MACIAS PR launched their publicity campaign.

Goal: To increase app downloads and bookings for their physical trainers during the holiday shopping season. We positioned Find Your Trainer as a unique start-up that was reinventing the fitness industry – just as Uber and Seamless had reinvented their industries.

Challenges: Find Your Trainer had no media coverage or messaging in place when MACIAS PR took over their publicity campaign. Our team had to identify editorial angles to pitch to the media with little help from the founder. In addition, the mobile app was only in NYC, limiting our media exposure to primarily one media market. MACIAS PR had less than a month to identify the message and get the timely story out to consumers.

Strategy: Position the mobile app as a great gift idea for couples. Messaging: Here’s a gift to help your out-of-shape partner lose weight. We also highlighted how this mobile app enabled consumers to try out the best gyms without pricy membership plans. The founder also gave fitness advice to targeted health sites.

Results: This publicity campaign succeeded with local and national media, securing media coverage with targeted TV, newspapers, magazines and influential lifestyle websites. The founder of Find Your Trainer told a reporter in January that he saw a 400-percent increase in sign-ups from December to January, largely based on our organic media coverage.

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Will AI Replace Publicists? A Closer Look at What the Data Says

Posted on June 6, 2023 by Mark Macias

Nearly 3 years ago, I wrote an article for Forbes that predicted the future of PR and AI.

We’re still in agreement today that AI will make life easier for publicists. Machine learning will continue to help content creators and publicists develop content faster. But at the root of my Forbes article was a bold prediction that AI won’t replace publicists over the next 10 years.

Here’s why I still stand by that prediction three years after making it.

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Client Case Study – Former UN Executive Director on Climate

Posted on May 19, 2023 by Mark Macias

Media campaigns for politicians can be some of the most difficult campaigns to run. Journalists are skeptical of politicians, knowing they are pushing an agenda. No reporter wants to be a tool for propaganda.

This is why every political campaign must have a solid news angle. Not a marketing message or campaign narrative, but an editorial angle.

MACIAS PR has run media campaigns for Congressional candidates across New York, Virginia, Arizona, Illinois, Oregon and California. With all of these campaigns, we secured local and national media coverage for these candidates by identifying news angles that were timely and topical.

In 2022, MACIAS PR took an international jump on the global stage by representing the former UN Executive Director on Climate Change.

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Client Case Study: Health Care Services

Posted on May 19, 2023 by Mark Macias

A health care services consulting firm approached MACIAS PR a few months after they launched their startup. The founder wanted help elevating her brand and introducing her services to social workers and new clients.

Our team developed and executed this publicity campaign from conception to execution. We identified story angles of interest; positioned the CEO as as a leading health care expert; coordinated interviews; prepped the founder for all media interviews; and identified reporter and media outlets of interest.

Goal: To increase brand awareness and generate revenue around the company’s health care services.

Challenges: The health care startup was only a few months old with a founder who was extremely busy building a company. The CEO had no experience dealing with the media, coming from the health care sector.

Strategy: Position the CEO with the media as the health care expert on everything related to Medicaid and Medicare.

Tactics:

Identify solid news angles that resulted in coverage.
Position CEO as strategic thought leader in health care.
Identify key media contacts at relevant publications.
Pitch stories that were timely, newsworthy, and of interest to the targeted audience.
Follow up with reporters, answer their questions, and continue to push relevant new topics for coverage.
Track coverage and measure results

Media Results

This PR campaign resulted in local and national media coverage, including stories with The New York Times, US News & World Report, Forbes, New York Post, CBS 2 and PIX 11 TV in New York. This coverage helped generate growth and services expansion within the first 6 months of working together.

A few months into the campaign, MACIAS PR created a mobile app for the company – The Medicaid app. This new digital tool created a new pipeline for potential clients. MACIAS PR conceptualized the mobile app and created the content that helped families and patients navigate through the complicated government services.

The Medicaid App also enabled us to position the health care services as a tech player, which generated additional media exposure.

Key Takeaways:

Securing stories in the media is an effective way to increase brand awareness and generate positive buzz around a product or service.
To be successful, PR campaigns should be well-planned and executed, with a focus on targeting the right media outlets and pitching stories that are timely, newsworthy, and of interest to the target audience.
Following up with media contacts and tracking coverage is essential to ensure that a PR campaign is successful.

You can see more of the media coverage below. Click here if you’d like to get a PR estimate, or contact us to schedule a call.

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Client Case Study – Private Equity Firm Commercial Real Estate

Posted on May 15, 2023 by Mark Macias

MACIAS PR launched a media, branding and crowd funding campaign for a private equity firm that needed help raising capital for their commercial real estate projects.

The PE firm had specific goals. They needed help funding their real estate projects in Arizona, Long Island and Ohio, and they wanted to target accredited investors. Equally important, the PR firm didn’t have a CMO or marketing team. MACIAS PR worked closely with their CEO to conceptualize story lines, identify media outlets and markets, and pitch reporters.

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Hire a Generalist or Specialist PR Agency? Analysis on Approach

Posted on May 12, 2023 by Mark Macias

MACIAS PR has run media and branding campaigns for clients across industries: health care, technology, nonprofits, real estate, politics. In multiple ways, we have taken a generalist and specialist PR to each campaign – based on the need.

Despite the diversity of clients, one common thread remains consistent. We have delivered top tier media placements for our clients with the most influential news organizations.

It doesn’t matter if our clients are promoting the latest tech wearable, pushing a cause or selling health services to businesses. We have relationships with media outlets and reporters in all of these industries.

Generalist or Specialist PR Agency

Potential clients frequently assume that a specialist PR agency from their specific industry will deliver better results.

In my experiences inside the media and as the owner of this PR agency, I’d say the better framed question revolves around how much each PR agency knows about your industry.

I’ve written extensively for Forbes on what to look for when hiring a publicist. You can read that thought leadership here. And whether it is better to hire an East Coast, West Coast or local PR firm. (Read that insight here)

Regardless of your industry, I frequently tell my friends if I had to hire a PR agency for my firm, I’d always go with the generalist who understands my industry.

This generalist approach always gives MACIAS PR an advantage with reporters. Our team speaks with dozens or reporters and producers on any given day. This exposure gives us more opportunities to repackage and sell other clients’ stories on these calls.

But don’t take my word for it. Instead, evaluate our media deliverables.

You can read our client case studies from different industries on the following links: health care, technology, mobile apps, consumer wearables, real estate, nonprofits, physicians, consumer services, B2B health tech and politics.

If you’d like to see a case study for your industry, just message us and we can share more.

ABOUT MACIAS PR

Marketing peers named MACIAS PR the 2017-2020 Strategic PR Firm of the Year. In 2015, 2016 and 2017, Finance Monthly named MACIAS PR the Financial PR Firm of the Year. The founder – Mark Macias – is a former Executive Producer with NBC and Senior Producer with CBS in New York. City & State Magazine named him a PR Political Power Player in New York.

Client Case Study – Media and Content Campaign for Lending Organization

Posted on May 12, 2023 by Mark Macias

MACIAS PR led the publicity, social media and content marketing for Provident Loan Society from June 2014 to June 2019. Our media strategy introduced their alternative lending services to new and existing clients across the New York metro area.

Over the course of our partnership, MACIAS PR helped grow their customer base among college students, business owners, immigrants and consumers with no credit.

Their former CEO and CMO both credited MACIAS PR with increasing their revenue and growing their customer base by 50 percent among Latinos. You can read their testimonials on Linkedin.

Our media campaigns also introduced their services to consumers who speak Spanish and Mandarin.

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Value Working with Boutique PR Agencies

Posted on May 11, 2023 by Mark Macias

I read this confessional last night from a publicist who described the state of the public relations industry. It’s a candid look at how large PR agencies are lowering their standards and putting the dollar above relationships. The writer also lays out an argument for boutique PR agencies, and why they have a larger advantage.

To paraphrase the article, “There’s a lot of desperation. Not only to keep the lights on, but to keep people, to keep employees.

And what are the challenges? She writes, “[B2B tech brands] don’t often have stories. They’re unable to talk about themselves outside of product features and benefits. There’s zero or very little value based messaging. And too many PR firms will take them on as clients. The reason why they take on these clients is to keep the lights on.“

The article got me thinking about MACIAS PR and the value we bring as a boutique PR agency.

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Strategic Messaging Mistakes by Airbnb

Posted on May 10, 2023 by Mark Macias

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Airbnb plummeted more than 10 percent today.

Every entrepreneur knows when you lose a whale, you must find a replacement quickly or revenue will fall. In the case with Airbnb, it lost its whale in January when New York City banned short-term rentals, and there is no replacement in sight.

I’ll go on a limb now and predict the company will continue to slide for the rest of the year and beyond based on their strategic messaging mistakes. These are mistakes entrepreneurs, CEOs, business owners and marketers can all learn from.

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Client Case Study – Real Estate Industry

Posted on May 10, 2023 by Mark Macias

Imagine what a story in the Real Deal or the international Daily Mail could do for your real estate project. It’s like instantly showing your property or services to millions of new clients in a day.

MACIAS PR has helped realtors across New York and New Jersey get their stories told with the largest news outlets. In the case with Nest Seekers, we helped their broker build momentum for a commercial property that had become stale.

Our targeted campaign secured high profile stories in the Daily News, Daily Mail, Real Deal and others.

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