How 4 phone calls to the newsroom saved a campaign in March

Money thrown down the drain on ads

The client, Mr. Andrzej, who runs a warehouse on Modlińska Street, contacted us on March 12, 2024. He was furious. Throughout February and early March, he pumped money into internet banners and sponsored posts. He spent exactly 14,320 PLN net. The result? Two price inquiries and zero sales. We checked this in practice – people in Warsaw are already so bombarded with ads that they simply don't see them. The mechanism was simple: algorithms took the money but didn't build the trust that is crucial for large construction orders.

The situation was critical because the 450-square-meter warehouse was cluttered with a new thermal insulation system that had to be sold before the end of the quarter. Mr. Andrzej thought the problem was the price. He wanted to make further cuts, which would have destroyed his margin. At Krakowskie Przedmieście Consult, we knew the problem wasn't the product or the price, but the lack of a credible source of information. No one wanted to buy from an 'ad company' until someone more important mentioned it.

Analyzing the campaign reports, we saw that the average contact time with the ad was 1.2 seconds. That's not enough to convince anyone to spend 20,000 PLN on materials. We decided to stop all paid campaigns and return to methods that have worked for years, which many young marketers have long forgotten. Concrete facts on the table: instead of clicking in the ad panel, Marek Twaróg pulled out his contact list for Warsaw newsrooms.

People look away from what looks like a paid advertisement. They look for reliable information in the media they have trusted for years.

Four conversations that changed the outcome

On March 14 at 9:15 AM, we began our work. Marek Twaróg didn't send mass emails to hundreds of random people. He chose four specific people we have been working with since 2018. They were journalists from city and economic portals dealing with the Warsaw real estate and renovation market. There is no fluff with us – every conversation was short and focused on solving a specific reader's problem: how to cheaply and effectively insulate a house before the next season using local solutions.

The first call to an editor from a large news service about Warsaw lasted exactly 6 minutes. Instead of reading a prepared note, Marek provided hard data on how the new technology from Mr. Andrzej's warehouse reduces electricity bills by 22%. It was a bullseye. The next three calls went just as smoothly. By 11:30 AM, we had preliminary assurances that journalists would look into the topic because it fit their cycle on ecological construction in the capital.

In this job, speed and reliability count. Journalists know that Krakowskie Przedmieście Consult doesn't feed them fabricated topics. Every fact given over the phone was confirmed in the technical documentation, which we sent by courier at the request of one of the newsrooms later that same day. At 2:00 PM, we already had confirmation that the first article would be published the next morning. The cost of these actions? Only our time and years of building trust.

The result is visible in the table: a 340 percent jump

The first article appeared on March 15 at 8:05 AM on a popular news portal. The reaction was immediate. By 10:00 AM, Mr. Andrzej's warehouse website recorded more hits than in the entire previous week. At 12:42 PM, the article was picked up by two more industry media outlets. The result is visible in the table: the number of unique users increased by 340% within just 48 hours of the first publication. Most importantly, these weren't empty clicks.

The phone at the warehouse on Modlińska started ringing every 15-20 minutes. Mr. Andrzej had to delegate two additional employees just to answer calls and send offers. The average inquiry value was 12,450 PLN. Within three days, the company closed sales totaling 186,000 PLN gross. Compare that to the 14,000 spent on ads that didn't bring in a single zloty of profit. This is the power of classic relationship-based PR.

By the end of March 2024, the warehouse sold 87% of its stock of the insulation system. Mr. Andrzej stopped worrying about cash flow and started planning next orders. The entire action showed that in a world dominated by algorithms, direct contact with another human – in this case, a journalist – is still the most effective sales tool. You don't need expensive tools for this, you just need to know who to call and what to say.

In 48 hours, sales jumped from zero to 186,000 PLN. That's how media credibility works.

Why automation loses to relationships

Many agencies today offer to send press releases to 500 newsrooms with one click. We checked this in practice: such emails end up straight in the trash in 98% of cases. Journalists get hundreds of such messages a day and simply ignore them. At Krakowskie Przedmieście Consult, we operate differently. We prefer to make 4 precise calls than send 4,000 anonymous emails. This is the difference between spam and professional image consultancy that we have been nurturing since September 2016.

We operate without the fluff. If we see that a client's topic is weak, we tell them straight to their face and look for a better angle. In Mr. Andrzej's case, the success was finding the thread of savings for residents, not bragging about the company's certificates. Building an image is a process that requires patience and knowledge of the local market. Warsaw is a specific place – concrete facts and truth matter here, and any attempt to deceive the media ends in quick failure.

If your company has a great product but no one is talking about it, it means you lack the proper links to the market. Don't look for complicated tools that promise miracles in exchange for a high subscription. Bet on proven techniques. We know how to get your company written about in the media because we've been doing it effectively for over 8 years. You will always find the result of our actions in your sales reports, not just in likes under posts.