Search Engine Watch

Search Engine Watch, headquartered in New York City, is a popular interactive search industry site. Its sister site, ClickZ, is dedicated to the interactive marketing industry. Both sites support a global conference series called Search Engine Strategies.

The Challenge

PAN was hired in 2005 to help secure greater visibility for the two sites. After a well-known spokesperson departed in 2007, it became critically important for PAN to establish two new spokespeople as thought leaders for trade show and web properties Search Engine Watch, Search Engine Strategies, and ClickZ.com. Kevin Ryan came on board in 2007 to lead Search Engine Watch and Search Engine Strategies. Rebecca Lieb is the existing editor in chief of ClickZ.

The Approach

To increase awareness of SES and ClickZ.com, PAN made a strategic decision to gain exposure for the client in the mainstream media. While more challenging to secure because of the niche focus of the conferences and sites, mainstream coverage would expand the circle of influence and draw more readers and attendees. PAN’s goal was to secure a minimum of four mainstream business press hits using the Microsoft-Yahoo! acquisition news as a jumping off point.
To that end, PAN sought to position Ryan and Lieb as thought leaders in national business press. Thus, when news broke that Microsoft had bid $44.6 billion to buy Yahoo!, the PAN team had to react fast. They quickly crafted a media alert detailing the availability of Ryan and Lieb to speak to the news and highlighting specific areas of interest they could address. PAN opted to include both names because they believed there would be too much opportunity for either one in one day.

PAN distributed the alert immediately over the wire and simultaneously sent it to their list of top targets. From experience, the PAN team knew that certain business broadcast outlets such as CNBC would need sources quickly. While the Associated Press had covered the story in print, PAN believed TV and radio would be working independently. The team reached out to contacts with whom they’d previously worked at target outlets to determine which reporters would be covering the news.

The Results

The PAN team’s actions resulted in a flurry of media activity, including interviews with CNN and NPR’s Marketplace. The team secured impressive mainstream coverage, including CNBC, Associated Press TV, BusinessWeek online and the Washington Post. The client noted a 15% increase in unique visitors the day coverage appeared.