Most Americans must see several media placements before visiting a tech company’s web or mobile site

SAN FRANCISCO—October 13, 2016 – Bospar, the boutique PR firm that puts tech companies on the map, today announced the results of the Bospar Consumer PR Effectiveness Study. The study polled 1,010 American adults in September to determine how likely people were to visit a tech company’s website based on media coverage. Bospar used Google Consumer Surveys, with results for respondents and demographics weighted by age, gender and region.

“We commissioned this research to illustrate what tech companies can expect during a typical PR campaign, realizing, of course, that there’s no such thing as anything typical,” said Curtis Sparrer, a principal of Bospar. “In this noisy media landscape, we discovered that there were certain early adopter demographics that marketers can expect to visit a company’s web or mobile site immediately after seeing the first stories post. Our research shows that for a company to be successful in the media, a strategic, sustained PR program is required over time to win over consumers with multiple placements.”

By gender

A majority of American men will check out a site after repeatedly seeing media placements, with nearly 1 in 5 guys saying they will check out a site the very first time they see an article. A smaller group of men (16 percent) will head to a company site after seeing several (2 to 5) media placements. Nearly 1 in 4 men will visit a company site after seeing the story more than five times.

Women are a harder win: 41 percent of American women say that if they keep seeing a tech company in the media, they will eventually visit the company’s site, but only 13 percent will visit a site after seeing a single placement, and only another 11 percent will be convinced after seeing 2 to 5 placements.

“I’m not surprised about the different reactions between men and women when it comes to seeing technology companies in the news,” said Ebba Blitz, CEO of Alertsec. “Men have long been encouraged to embrace technology and to be early adopters. However, with a new emphasis on ‘women in tech’ I hope to see that trend change by the time my daughters enter the workforce.”

By age

Unsurprisingly, the internet generations were most responsive to tech press. Gen Xers (age 35-44) were most likely to visit a tech company after just one press story (24 percent), and 20 percent of Millennials (age 18-34) were most likely to visit a site after seeing the company in the news 2 to 5 times, while 63 percent of seniors (those 65+) were the least likely to visit a company site after seeing it in the media.

“This data echoes what we have seen with the launch of our company and first app,” said Sal Arora, founder of Aleya Labs, which recently launched Contempo, a political news comparison app. “Millennials and Gen Xers are the primary demographics reading tech publications. Once a company breaks through the noise and makes it into the mainstream press it is more likely that a wider audience will start visiting their sites.”

By income and locale

The Bospar Consumer PR Effectiveness Study also found that, by income, those who make between $75K-$99K per year are most likely to visit a tech company’s site the first time a story posted (29 percent).

However, more stories again yielded more compelling results: 40 percent of those who make $150K+, along with 29 percent of those who make $100K-$150K and 18 percent of those who make $50K-$75K, said they would visit a company’s site after seeing 2 to 5 pieces of coverage.

When it came to region, those Americans most likely to visit a company’s website after seeing a single placement were in the South (19 percent), while the sweet spot for the Northeast was 2 to 5 placements (16 percent).

“In my experience working with companies, successful PR programs are not ‘one and done’ but require a cadence to engage people and turn leads into customers,” said Ram Gupta, a Silicon Valley board member of several high-tech companies. “This research demonstrates that any successful marketing program will need to be both strategic and long term.”

About Bospar

Bospar is a boutique tech PR firm featuring a team of highly seasoned professionals who exist to put tech companies on the map. Bospar’s principals include a longtime PR and tech industry guru, a former broadcast TV producer and award-winning media maven, a standout PR agency manager from the corporate side of a leading global law firm, and a seasoned executive with both large agency and public company credentials. Bospar’s larger team includes experts in both social and traditional media as well as recognized influencer, financial and analyst relations and public affairs gurus.

For more information, visit Bospar.com.