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53% of Irish Companies Fail On-Line Search, Says Captivate Digital (Who Also Cannot Be Found)
Press releases can be a great way to draw attention to your business. A well crafted piece with a catchy tag and good hook will get carried by many of the news organisations. And when that happens you can get some great coverage at little or no cost to your firm.
53% of Irish Companies Fail On-Line Search
How can I not be interested in this article? That title is just a great hook. Ok, maybe I’m not your average reader, but I think that most site owners will be interested in the subject matter. And I know for sure that specific facts and figures are always a great way to grab attention.
The press release was picked up here and here. There are a number of statements made in the press release with which I concur whole heartedly. I know that many Irish web sites do not leverage the true potential of search marketing, and I work to help as many people as I can to get better results from ‘the Google’ in particular. It’s great that someone is drawing attention to this.
But there’s one issue with this PR that gives me some concern.
Can you find Captivate Digital?
The company that released the study is called Captivate Digital. Neither article linked above actually published any contact details for Captivate Digital so I tried a normal Google search for “Captivate Digital” both with and without quotes. The only result I found was the published press release itself. No website. No references whatsoever on page 1.
captivatedigital.ie
According to iedr.ie captiatedigital.ie was registered just this past January:
domain: captivatedigital.ie
descr: CAPTIVATE DIGITAL LIMITED
descr: BODY CORPORATE (LTD,PLC,COMPANY)
descr: Corporate Name
admin-c: ACU792-IEDR
tech-c: ABG704-IEDR
renewal: 05-January-2007
status: Active - LOCKED
nserver: NS1.DNSIRELAND.COM
nserver: NS2.DNSIRELAND.COM
source: IEDR
I cant say for sure that the domain is connected to the company mentioned in the press release, but I imagine the likelihood is high. When you visit that domain you get treated to this:
Another great example of how not to leverage some publicity
I do think it’s great that new companies are entering the Irish SEM space. It’s certainly long overdue, and I believe that increased attention brought to SEM can only improve Ireland’s competitiveness on the Internet.
It’s just that the PR isn’t fulfilling it’s primary function, which I believe was to draw attention to the releasing agent. I’m reminded of the Ordinance Survey Ireland mobile mapping application some time back. But in this case I think the problem is compounded by the fact that the company in question is an Internet marketing firm.
Perhaps it was an error and Captivate Digital pulled the trigger a little too early by accident. I hope they quickly recover and get a site live and ranked.
thanks richard – that made me laugh after a long and boring day!!!
Comment by LT — February 22, 2007 @ 6:44 pm
Happy I cheered you up LT.
The shame is that it’s not really funny. It doesn’t help to promote yourself as an Internet marketing company with this type of practice. *If* this is the same crowd would you be rushing to avail of their service?
Have a good weekend
Rgds
Richard
Comment by Richard Hearne — February 22, 2007 @ 6:52 pm
Yup
I have to admit, it’s a little bemusing to find a company making a big hullabaloo about its “shock” research yet less than able to demonstrate best practice themselves.
They should have a site up (otherwise what’s the long term value of the PR effort?). Otherwise all the publicity just evaporates and people forget/don’t bookmark.
I’d have also released the report in full as a PDF — if it’s as compelling as they make it out to be, the report itself is a great piece of leverage in terms of column inches in the media.
R.A.
Comment by R.A.. — February 22, 2007 @ 7:17 pm
Agreed. I think the report would be a great channel for the brand (if they have one yet). Obviously I’m fascinated by this type of research which I long to do myself some day.
I’m hoping that one JMCC might utilise his not insignificant DB sometime to provide such a report (*wink wink*).
Rgds
Richard
Comment by Richard Hearne — February 22, 2007 @ 7:29 pm
Looks like they released two different versions of the press release.
The one from SiliconRepublic mentions that CaptivateDigital is a new digital media division launched by Starcom Mediavest Ireland in conjunction with the Publicis Group.
Maybe the press release should have come from Starcom?
Or maybe they want to build the anticipation!!!
Apparently they provide (or at least they will…)a range of services such as
- search engine marketing,
- email,
- mobile
- affiliate marketing
- media planning and buying
- measurement and analytics.
I’d recommend they start with a look at http://www.SEO-PR.com and our SES friend Greg Jarboe.
Comment by Peter Cullen — February 23, 2007 @ 2:15 pm
Hi Peter
They could probably do with the advice. Only problem is how do you tell them
Rgds
Richard
Comment by Richard Hearne — February 24, 2007 @ 9:18 am
Unfortunate to see such research technically going to waste. I mean, why did they do it in the first place? Where they commissioned? You’d think a media or marketing company would understand the concept of media piggybacking.
Comment by Dave Davis — February 24, 2007 @ 5:12 pm
Dave
I think I saw that the research was commissioned by Captivate Digital. My guess is that they’re not up and running just yet, and this went out in error.
I’d like to see the actual report but I believe they put an embargo on the news agencies releasing it.
Comment by Richard Hearne — February 25, 2007 @ 9:24 am
[...] A recent example of that being Captivate’s press release that was covered by ENN, then slated by RedCardinal and ENN’s blog! [...]
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[...] cant help but draw attention to those things in life that bemuse me. As was the case in a previous Captivate Digital post where I highlighted the fact that they had released a PR stating that many Irish firms failed [...]
Pingback by Captivate Digital - Still Failing Search | Search Engine Optimisation & Online Marketing Ireland .:. Red Cardinal — June 16, 2007 @ 10:15 am