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By Derek Lothian (Twitter: @dereklothian)
Ever wonder how much a front page story actually does for your bottom line? According to a report from one media monitoring firm, the answer may surprise you.
MediaMiser, a prominent Ottawa-based consultancy and trusted CME partner, examined the US media coverage of automaker Toyota between January and May 2011. Analysis showed a direct correlation between the number of mentions and corporate sales figures.
"This case study demonstrates the influence media still has over consumer demand," says MediaMiser President, Chris Morrison. "We all know the importance of relationships as they pertain to business outcomes; companies have to start viewing media in the same context."
In January, Toyota appeared in approximately 60 articles. During the same time period, the company sold 90,000 units. Two months later, in March, coverage peaked at 140 articles, while sales also jumped to a 150-day high of 140,000 units.
Frequency of mentions and overall tone of the articles, meanwhile, appeared to have no significant impact on revenue.
"It's not to say any publicity is good publicity, because there are other dynamics to the equation that may impact customer retention and – ultimately – profitability," says Morrison. "But, in the case of Toyota, despite headlines dominated by product recalls and the disaster in Japan, media hits still matter."
To read the full report, From news to numbers: How media coverage affects sales figures, visit http://www.mediamiser.com/resources/reports/Toyota_Report.pdf.
