Bas Krijsman's company, EventInsight, is running at full speed. Until coronavirus rears its head, nearly all events are immediately cancelled, and interest in an application that collects data from events and provides useful insights to clients dwindles at the same pace. However, Krijsman and his team don't sit still and quickly make a major pivot. A complete turnaround: the entire company - including partners, children, and pets - goes into quarantine together. In Drenthe. For two weeks. The goal? To launch the new platform Let’s get digital, which turns events into a digital experience.
Fast track
A press release about the unusual work situation and brand-new app follows and is distributed via Presscloud to relevant journalists. Minutes after sending, the first interested party reports in: Dagblad van het Noorden. "A great start," Krijsman says, "but then it seemed like the message was picking up speed fast." De Telegraaf quickly followed with a major article. Later, the story made it to Hart van Nederland. Once a press release gains traction, publications can rapidly follow one another.
From small to large
It's a pattern we often see: a press release first getting placed in regional media and then finding its way to national outlets. This can be a deliberate dissemination tactic. First sending out your story to local newspapers where the likelihood of publication is higher in order to catch the attention of the national editors. Editors from major newspapers, radio, and TV programs look for noticeable stories from the region.
Result
Krijsman's press release nicely demonstrates how you can get your company into the media without focusing on your product or service. Making the quarantine with colleagues the core of the story intrigued EventInsight to delve into the extraordinary report. Being able to mention your brand name in passing is, of course, a nice bonus. Krijsman: "We are now performing better than before the outbreak of COVID-19!"
