Southwest Airlines Case Study

Why are press releases important to Southwest's business strategy?

Press releases at Southwest Airlines are widely read due to the SEO tactics employed by their people.

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

February 2004 to April 2005, Southwest Airlines was able to directly track more than $2.5 million in online ticket sales to optimized press releases,

Why are search keywords important to press release campaigns?

Keywords are important because you need to know what people are searching for when they find you. Knowing the words people use to locate you is important to segment your marketing efforts.

How did Southwest optimize their press releases for search engines?

Southwest did not just do the standard metatag that a lot of company’s do, they effectively optimized headlines and body copy subtly for news search engines (LTU)

How did Southwest measure the success of their PR campaigns?

Southwest embedded unique URLs in their press releases that offered further information or linked consumers to the point-of-sale. This link provided a means for tracking sales directly attributable to the press releases. Southwest monitored the PR campaign efforts for 15 months (LTU).

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

JC Penney totally revamped their marketing strategy this year and their sales plummeted. In order to get customers back into their stores, the company offered free back to school haircuts this fall. I am looking forward to the results of the holiday season to see how much the back to school haircut offer impacts business.

Works Cited

LTU. (n.d.). Retrieved September 23, 2012, from myltu.edu: https://my.ltu.edu/bbcswebdav/pid-408624-dt-content-rid-1710049_1/courses/2213-201310_MKT3053_OL/2213-201310_MKT3053_OL_ImportedContent_20120830112045/MOdules/SWA_GoldenRuler.pdf