Case Study – Media Campaign for Nutrition App

Posted on September 25, 2023 by Mark Macias

When MACIAS PR started working with Lifesum in the summer of 2019, the nutrition app was nowhere on the national radar. Their US office in Los Angeles had only 3 people – and no one was in PR or marketing.

This lean US operation enabled us to run as a PR firm, especially as their leadership team in Sweden gave us the green light to pursue creative ideas.

Our first media placement for the nutrition app was on Channel 11 in New York City. The TV segment compared the price and offerings of Lifesum versus their bigger, more expensive competitors. It was an objective look at what the various health apps offer and which provided the best value. Lifesum scored at the top of this analysis. Our TV segment also featured a Lifesum user who talked about how she lost weight and got healthier with the app.

Bringing more exposure to this story, MACIAS PR worked to get this story syndicated with the Tribune network. It’s an insider strategy we used based on our founder’s experience with the NBC, ABC and CBS affiliate feeds. The TV segment introduced Lifesum to a national audience.

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Forbes – How to Measure the ROI of PR

Posted on July 9, 2023 by Mark Macias

Business owners always ask me how can they measure the ROI of PR. The question inspired a recent thought leadership article I wrote for Forbes, which you can read here.

Contrary to what many business owners and entrepreneurs think, you can measure an effective PR campaign. Here are 5 approaches that I broke down in my Forbes article. You can read that article if you’d like to hear more in-depth on these approaches.

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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.

Case Study – Health Tech Startup Launch

Posted on April 25, 2023 by Mark Macias

MACIAS PR has run media campaigns for many large digital health companies – like Noom, WellRx and Lifesum – but we’ve also launched publicity campaigns for smaller health tech startups.

A few years ago, the Israeli startup, MDAcne, approached MACIAS PR for help with raising the profile of their mobile app in the US. The founders said they wanted to increase their downloads and establish new B2B partnerships with dermatologists.

It was a challenging campaign from the start because the digital health company didn’t have any employees in the US. Their two founders were father and son, busy running the business, so the entire media workload and strategy was on our shoulders. They also didn’t understand the complicated US consumer market and didn’t have a spokesperson.

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CASE STUDY – Media Campaign for Digital Health Brand

Posted on April 20, 2023 by Mark Macias

Many consumers have heard of the popular weight loss program, Noom, but back in 2016, the brand had little name recognition. But that began to change when MACIAS PR took over their publicity after their previous PR agency failed to deliver.

This case study looks at how MACIAS PR helped elevate the digital health coach via the media. It details the challenges we faced from the start and the deliverables we secured over our 3+ year relationship. You can also read a Linkedin testimonial from the CEO and co-founder of the company on his experiences working with Mark Macias.

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Forbes Analysis – Do Press Releases Lead to Media Coverage?

Posted on March 22, 2023 by Mark Macias

By Mark Macias

If you do any research on the different PR newswires, it’s very easy to believe that their distribution lists will lead to media coverage. Unfortunately, it’s a bit misleading.

These days, Google is picking up fewer of these press releases. Even more challenging, many news publications are now burying their press releases on their websites.

I recently wrote a story for Forbes – Do press releases lead to media coverage? You can read my article here to get a deeper assessment on when press releases are most effective. If you’re short on time, you can get some quick advice by reading on.

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Can AI work with PR? Forbes Editorial

Posted on February 28, 2023 by Mark Macias

A few years ago, a friend and co-founder of a major retail startup asked me a question over dinner: Why can’t AI be used in PR?

He explained how AI was helping his startup sell products by predicting which products would be best sellers. If AI could help sell shoes and clothes, why couldn’t it work to sell news stories?

That conversation inspired a recent article I wrote for Forbes: Artificial Intelligence in PR: Is it Science Fiction. You can read that story here but if you’re short on time, here are the quick takeaways.

There’s not enough Big Data in PR to Use AI

You need billions of data points for AI to learn, grow and predict over time. But more importantly, you need quality data. If AI uses incomplete or unreliable data, it will never be able to learn and develop.

PR is nowhere near gathering this kind of big data for news coverage. But even if we did have big data on news generation, it wouldn’t have the critical thinking and creative mindset to create new enterprise stories from scratch. More important, this data would likely be outdated every 24 hours, meaning billions of new data points would need to be created from scratch every day.

Journalism is an Art – AI is Science

Micro journalism is one of the reasons why viewers can turn on the local news and see many stations starting with the same two or three news stories. But as the newscasts continue, that’s when micro journalism becomes more apparent.

News selection will begin to mimic its editors over time, and as editors change, so will the news selection. If AI pushed stories in the media, the ideas would all be the same since it’s trying to generate coverage that is most likely to be covered. If it’s that obvious, the story will already be in the news by the time AI suggested it.

Best PR Campaigns Leverage Critical Thinking and Creativity

AI doesn’t have the critical thinking or creativity to create enterprise news angles from scratch. And based on my experience inside the newsrooms, I don’t see that developing in my lifetime. Another reason why I don’t see AI running PR campaigns is that it is difficult to conceptualize abstract ideas into a news story. Even the most experienced publicists have difficulty consistently placing stories across different sectors and media outlets. This craft gets even harder once you start factoring in the different editorial anglings of the local, national and trade mediums.

So if you hear new buzz about AI entering PR, put up your critical thinking and ask the solid questions that machine learning has yet to think of.

About MACIAS PR

MACIAS PR was founded in 2009 by Mark Macias – a former Executive Producer with NBC and Senior Producer with CBS in New York. The top tech and healthcare PR firm uses strategies that stem from this background inside the media.

Which PR Newswires have the Best Reach

Posted on February 3, 2023 by Mark Macias

Don’t fall for the spam that promises media coverage with a press release. It doesn’t work like that with the PR newswires. Press releases won’t get you on the news or TV, regardless of how much you pay for distribution.

No reporter is going to the PR newswires looking for story ideas. However, there is a role for press releases with content marketing and SEO.

Entrepreneurs frequently ask me which PR newswires are the best.

Technically, the major PR distribution companies all use the same technology so in theory, there shouldn’t be an advantage with one company over another. (I know this because we researched it).

If that’s the case, why do some press releases get more traction?

Search engines are tricky, and Google never reveals its algorithm. However, Google openly admits it places a priority on good content. If a press release is written well, and has a news peg, your chances for online exposure grow dramatically.

Writing Style and Quality Content Play Pivotal Role in Exposure

Press releases can get more exposure when the writing style is solid and not filled with grammatical errors. This includes style errors that are flagged with the PR distribution companies. If you don’t take those guidelines seriously from the beginning, it doesn’t matter who publishes your press release. It won’t get traction.

For example, a press release can’t be in first person, and quotes should be in the AP style. A poorly written press release will get buried with the search engines.

It also helps if you organically share the press release with editors. In the case with our PR agency, we always push the press release to targeted editors. This not only increases our potential for media coverage, but it introduces our story directly to the writers.

Here’s another look at when press releases can help your brand.

Get Announcement On The Record

When clients have big announcements, like a spike in users or a new partnership, press releases can get it on the record. Every time our PR agency wins an award, we put together a press release. And it’s led to new business.

A few years ago, I worked with a digital health client that was weeks away from receiving full recognition from the CDC for their virtual diabetes prevention program. We prepared a press release in advance so the company would be ready for the announcement.

Today, if you research this company online you will read how it was the first CDC virtual provider recognized for the diabetes prevention program. That exposure wouldn’t have been possible without a press release.

About Mark Macias

Mark Macias is a former Executive Producer with NBC, Senior Producer with CBS, and frequent contributor to Forbes, CNBC and Entrepreneur. City & State Magazine named him to their PR Power 50 list in New York. He founded MACIAS PR in 2009. The agency has led B2B and B2C media campaigns for brands across healthcare, tech, politics and nonprofits.

Forbes Analysis – Emerging Customer Behavioral Trends

Posted on January 27, 2023 by Mark Macias

January is always a great month to assess business goals and trends. Forbes recently reached out to me and other entrepreneurs, asking for some insight on customer behavior trends. What are the big trends we can anticipate this year?

You can read here. If you’re short on time, here are some of the bigger trends I think we will continue to see with consumers, staring with the advice I offered Forbes.

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How to Gain Traction after the Media says “NO” to your Story

Posted on December 19, 2022 by Mark Macias

Every publicist or entrepreneur will experience it at some time or another. You pitch an idea to reporters and hear crickets in return.

So what should you do when the media ignores your ideas or worse, says no?

The above podcast episode provides some insight on what our agency does in this situation. A lot of these tactics come from my time in the media when we had to salvage a story that went south.

If you’re on the go, you can subscribe to our Always Fresh PR podcast by clicking here. You can also read more tips on re-framing your story for coverage by clicking here.