Summary:

Fishman Public Relations and Franchise Elevator PR are the premier integrated public relations agencies in the franchise industry. Over the years, the sister agencies have helped build awareness and preference among potential franchisees and customers for hundreds of franchises throughout the United States.

At the heart of the agencies’ success has been their ability to get the word out about opportunities and the benefits of franchise ownership through strong media relationships and strategic, results-driven brand awareness campaigns. Press releases covering franchise news play a critical role in those campaigns.

The agencies wanted to ensure they were creating releases that would have the greatest impact and results for their franchise clients. They turned to PR Newswire for press release distribution best practices with the goal of increasing engagement and visibility.

QUICK FACTS

Industry: Public Relations

Company size: 11-50 employees

Headquarters: Chicago, IL, USA

Products Used: PR Newswire Distribution and Custom Content Workshop

Customer since: 2011

Results

336%

increase in engagement on press releases for PuroClean

270%

increase in click-throughs for Pet Supplies Plus

38%

increase in total pick-ups for Batteries Plus

The Challenge

Creating a Better, More Effective Press Release

The Fishman Public Relations and Franchise Elevator PR agencies produce hundreds of press releases every year. “The creation of those releases was becoming formulaic,” says Debra Vilchis, president of Fishman. “We were following practices established years before.” The formula was successful, but agency staff wondered whether there was a better way to get the word out and generate more value from the releases.

They had questions such as “Are there new techniques to explore?” “What about including multimedia in the releases?” “How can we boost metrics such as views and hits and click-throughs?” “What’s working and what isn’t?”

Facing tight budgets in today’s economy, the agencies’ clients were also asking about the value of the releases and how to boost their effectiveness.

The Approach

Putting PR Newswire Expertise to Work

The two PR agencies engaged PR Newswire for press release distribution services and workshops. That gave the agencies access to 500,000+ newsrooms, direct feeds and subscribers, including 400,000+ journalists and influencers and 11,000+ web sites and digital media outlets.

It also gave the agencies access to PR Newswire Visibility Reports and content workshops to assess the state of their campaigns. “The workshops have been really great in teaching people how to write differently—more effectively with SEO terms and best practices,” says Vilchis.

One recent workshop was a “game changer” for the agencies, according to Vilchis. Working with PR Newswire’s content experts, agency staff explored best practices and topics including how to create more effective headlines and body copy, the importance of adding multimedia such as photos, national versus local coverage, and even which days are better for posting releases—based on the extensive distribution experience PR Newswire has across industries. After the workshop, “the performance of our press releases jumped significantly,” Vilchis says.

 

The Results

Supercharging Press Releases

The game-changing workshop helped boost press release effectiveness and performance across the agencies’ client list for all metrics: total pickup, views and hits, engagement, and click-throughs. There were even some pleasant surprises.

Applying what they learned in the workshop, coverage of a Batteries Plus low-key news event (having a booth at a conference) turned into a messaging hit, performing better than any other previous release for the franchise. “They got lots of clicks to their site,” says Vilchis, “and leads for people who wanted to buy multiple units of Batteries Plus stores.”

That release not only was a winner for Batteries Plus, it also boosted Fishman’s reputation with the client even higher.

Pushing Success Higher

PR Newswire helped Fishman and Franchise Elevator achieve even more success. The teams now regularly:

  • Apply effective SEO/message best practices
  • Increase pickup, views and hits, engagement, and click-throughs of press release content
  • Enhance client and staff satisfaction

About the Client

Founded in 1991 with headquarters in Deerfield, Illinois, USA, Fishman Public Relations specializes in integrated marketing campaigns for the franchise industry. The firm has been ranked by Entrepreneur Magazine as the top agency in its field. Fishman’s mission is to “increase the number of small business owners and the success of entrepreneurs throughout North America.”

Currently, the agency has around 125 clients, including restaurants, retail stores, fitness centers, cleaning services, and salons, each with hundreds to thousands of locations. The locations are independently owned and operated but run system setups and marketing through a corporate office.

 

 

“While we do brand awareness to help drive customers to franchise stores, we’ve become known as the leading specialist in helping a brand attract people who want to own a franchise,” says Vilchis. That goal is accomplished through national and local public relations, influencer relations, content marketing and digital marketing services.

The sister agency, Franchise Elevator PR, was created by the founders of Fishman PR to serve emerging franchise brands. Franchise Elevator is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, USA.

To learn more, visit www.fishmanpr.com and www.franchiseelevator.com.

Debra Vilchis
President
Fishman Public Relations

 

“The workshops have helped us put out highly effective releases on the wire with improved results. They've also helped our agency as a whole feel even better about the product we produce to benefit our clients."

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