Visier Gains Awareness in Top-Tier Outlets With Data-Driven PR Program
Robust PR program secures coverage in high-value media outlets and supports workplace analytics company’s continued growth.
Overview
After a successful first year partnership with Walker Sands, Visier generated momentum from a $125M Series E funding round led by Goldman Sachs Asset Management. As the newly minted unicorn moved into its next stage of growth, it needed to take its PR program to the next level with coverage in top-tier media outlets.
In response, the Walker Sands PR team developed a reporter engagement strategy that leveraged proprietary data and delivered a steady cadence of thought leadership to targeted workplace reporters. This integrated approach helped Visier achieve record media coverage numbers over the course of a yearlong campaign.
total media placements
data-driven pieces of coverage
top-tier placements
The Challenge
Walker Sands’ first year of partnership with Visier ended on a high note. Now, the workforce analytics software company needed to accelerate and mature its PR program to match the momentum of its growth trajectory. The goal was to enhance the quality of media coverage with a specific emphasis on securing more media coverage in top-tier trade and mainstream publications. To tell stories capable of attracting the attention of trade and mainstream media, it would be critical to showcase Visier through a data-driven approach.
The Solution
Walker Sands focused on two key elements: (1) refining the program by incorporating more compelling data into the strategy and (2) positioning Visier as a key thought leader in the future of work.
1. Executing a data-driven PR strategy
With topics like the Great Resignation and the burnout epidemic trending in the media, Visier needed to offer a unique perspective to stand out in the crowded HR technology market. Fortunately, Visier had a secret weapon: anonymized and standardized workforce data from its more than 15,000 clients and their tens of millions of employees. Armed with this proprietary data, Walker Sands set out to strengthen Visier’s position as a thought leader through a series of data-driven assets.
Right out of the gate, Walker Sands proposed a quick poll on the topic of gender equity in the workplace. The quick poll would position Visier as an HR tech expert and include third-party data to back it up. “Women on the Move?” featured a 22-question survey and resulted in a 1,600-word blog post on Visier’s website that posited a new theory in the HR space around the “workplace mothering effect.”
With media buzz continuing around news of the Great Resignation, Walker Sands worked with Visier to launch two proprietary data reports on the topic. The reports, which were based on standardized, anonymized data from more than nine million employee records at the 4,000+ companies that use Visier’s platform, provided insights about which employees were most at-risk for quitting, providing valuable data for capturing reporter interest.
The next quick poll focused on burnout in the workplace and the causes of the Great Resignation. A 23-question survey and data analysis resulted in a 1,900-word blog post that drove coverage in top-tier media outlets by uncovering several unexpected findings, including the revelation that taking time off doesn’t typically relieve burnout.
2. Positioning Visier as a key thought leader
As the Great Resignation continued as a trending industry topic, Walker Sands leveraged the insights from the research to position Visier and subject matter expert Ian Cook, VP of People Solutions, as experts in the market.
In addition to aggressive media outreach, Walker Sands developed multiple bylines for Ian and placed them in top-tier outlets. Positioning Visier as a thought leader required additional marketing initiatives outside of PR to promote visibility while building credibility. Along with creating dozens of blog posts for Visier’s Outsmart blog channel to support the campaign, Visier also launched a national advertising campaign which included digital ads, sponsored content, billboards in key markets (NYC, Boston, San Francisco and Chicago) and webinars featuring customer success stories.
Additionally, Visier created an entirely new suite of products called Visier NOW that focused on the talent retention challenges created by the Great Resignation, extending Visier’s position as a leading voice in the conversation about employee retention.
The Results
By developing a comprehensive top-tier reporter engagement strategy, taking advantage of timely data reports and maintaining a steady stream of thought leadership, Visier successfully landed 225 total placements throughout the yearlong campaign in outlets including Vox, Quartz and The Wall Street Journal. Of these 225 placements, 126 can be attributed to the data assets and 83 landed in top-tier outlets.
- The “Women on the Move?” quick poll netted 6 media placements — two of which were in top-tier outlets — and a contributed article in Fast Company.
- The “Burnout” quick poll earned 32 media placements, 19 of which were in top-tier outlets including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes and Business Insider.
- The two data reports on the Great Resignation garnered a total of 74 placements, including placements in high-value outlets like Bloomberg, CNBC, Fortune and Harvard Business Review.
The Visier PR program is a great example of why a diversified media mix –– a data-driven approach combined with thought leadership, company news and newsjacking –– is critical to a successful PR program.
