PR THAT BRINGS NEW PARTNERS AND VISIBILITY
TOP TEN WHOLESALE
Background
JP Communications Inc. is the publisher of vertical search engines and directories, including TopTenWholesale.com, Wholezilla. com, OffPriceNetwork.com and WholesaleU.com. The company’s mission is to be the information superhighway for the general merchandise industry and facilitate sales of wholesale products such as apparel, jewelry and novelties with independent retailers, closeout distributors and online auction dealers.
Today, JP Communications has an expansive network that handles the advertising of more than 1,000 manufacturers, importers, wholesalers and distributors, including such giants as Overstock.com. After reaching revenue of over $1 million in its first year, the company now boasts 1,200 active advertisers in the wholesale community and reaches close to 30,000 retailers every day.
While impressive, JP Communications recognized the need to increase its visibility with entrepreneurial, business and advertising trade publications in order to attract key partners to continue its expansion plans. “We’re seeing phenomenal growth over the past few years, but our market potential is even more impressive” said Jason Prescott, CEO of JP Communications. “We needed to get the ears of key industry partners to take advantage of this opportunity, and believed the right PR firm could help us do that. We asked Stalwart Communications to take on that challenge.”
Solution
Finding a voice for JP Communications may appear daunting to some PR firms, particularly with dominant players like Google and Yahoo in the mix. Yet, Stalwart Communications saw an untapped opportunity to promote the company’s competitive advantage with prominent media outlets.
“I suppose some firms would shy away from the test, but we knew we could get the ears of editors by showcasing JP Communications’ significant growth against seemingly overwhelming obstacles,” said David Oates, APR, principal of Stalwart Communications. “Plus, anyone who knows Jason knows him as a man of integrity, passion and drive. He’s a great spokesperson and a terrific interview candidate!”
Stalwart immediately went to work to promote not only the company but Prescott as a key expert in search engine marketing. Within six short months, JP Communications and its CEO were highlighted in prominent articles, including Business Week, Inc. Magazine, OMMA and the San Diego Union-Tribune. Each article highlighted the company’s belief that Vertical Search Engines and Directories were serving certain industries better than the well-known players – and generating significant revenues as a result.
Results
Soon after stories began to run on JP Communications, Prescott began to receive several calls from potential qualified partners interested in investment and other business deals. This put the company in the driver’s seat to acquiring valuable resources to realize the full marketing opportunity at significantly lower costs than hiring business development and/or investment banking institutions.
"Working with David Oates has been the best PR experience I have ever had,” said Prescott. “We consider David and Stalwart Communications a partner in our business. He understands our business model and his strategic insight has provided us great opportunities and results never seen before."
Moreover, with Stalwart Communications’Pay-on-Performance model, JP Communications pays only when the agency can deliver such results. The "R-word" (Retainer) is not in Stalwart Communications' vocabulary. The agency does not track hours, but rather the success of actually producing results, such as securing positive press coverage and acquiring qualified customer, partner and/or investor leads. Fees are aligned accordingly.
