Southwest Airlines Case Study

My task today is to voice my opinion on Southwest Airlines’ PR methods and discuss their business strategy. The particular time period I will elaborate on is from January 2004 to April 2005.

Question 1: Why are press releases important to Southwest’s business? 

Press releases are important to business because consumers can search for them directly. Since millions of people use search engines, it was in Southwest’s best interests to edit their press releases to optimize their presence for popular search engines.

Question 2: How does Southwest track sales directly attributable to their press releases?  

Southwest was able to track their sales by embedding URLs in the edited press releases. The purpose of the URLs was to provide other information or links to the “point-of-sale”.  Southwest used the links to track which sales were the result of a particular press release. The PR team was able to determine how many individuals clicked on a specific link and what actions they took. In many cases, the releases would link consumers to a place where they can benefit from the special offer mentioned in the release.

Question 3: Why are search keywords important to press release campaigns?  

Keywords are important to press releases because they are a representation of the terms customers often use when utilizing search engines. Companies also use keywords because they are often relative to what is trending in the world.

Question 4: How did Southwest optimize their press releases for search engines?

One modification Southwest made was adding specific keywords into three places: the title, the first paragraph, and a few more times in the body of the press release. Secondly, they utilized special hyperlinks by regularly placing them at the end of one of the first two paragraphs for the modified press releases. Next, Southwest distributed their press releases using their standard wire service. They eventually added a second wire service that allowed the ability to insert images that can be displayed in results. Southwest tested their optimization by testing the effectiveness of three press releases: Philadelphia Launch, Spanish-language launch, and PR Hell Day (July 15, 2004).

Question 5: How did Southwest measure the success of their PR campaigns?

Southwest was able to measure success by evaluating how many dollars in sales were generated as a direct result of each press release. For the Philadelphia launch, $80,000 in ticket sales was recorded. Southwest was also mentioned in multiple stories, published in over a dozen of media outlets. The Spanish-language launch generated $38,000 in sales. The third launch, PR Hell Day, consisted of four press releases being sent out on the same day. Among them was a press release promoting “22 new daily nonstop flights…starting at $29 one-way.” This particular promotion resulted in over $1 million in ticket sales. Based on these results, Southwest has implemented a way optimizing press releases that has produced increasing revenues with each new release.

Question 6: How can PR campaigns influence or be influenced by other events involving the company? Give an example outside of the Southwest case?

PR campaigns can influence or be influenced by events depending on the topic of the news. If the topic comes across as intriguing, people will want to search for more information about it. In Southwest’s case, the announcement that its CEO abruptly resigned provided a spike in the number of searches about Southwest Airlines. Another example of a company whose PR campaigns were able to influence be influence is British Petroleum (BP). When the oil disaster happened in the Gulf of Mexico, BP had to do damage control with their press releases. Initially, the press releases were probably more intended to restore a tarnished image rather than generate sales. Eventually, once the cleanup process began to take shape, the press releases focused on keywords that related to “a cleaner environment” or “helping to rebuild.” Although I do not know how effective their press releases were in generating sales, it was clear BP used press releases as damage control over a disaster they were responsible for.

Reference: “You Are Now Free To Link PR and Sales” courtesy of The Institute for Public Relations, http://www.instituteforpr.com.