PRWeb, the online news distribution service of Vocus (NASDAQ: VOCS) today announced it has published a new PR case study (http://www.prweb.com/pr/customer-examples/furnace-mfg.html) on how one small business’ first venture into online marketing began with a news release. Furnace MFG is a 13-year old firm that launched a new line of business in 2009 and for the first time, began promoting its business with online news releases.

“When we did the research there seemed to be two choices: hire a PR agency, or do it yourself,” says Manish Naik, the firm’s chief operation officer in the case study. “We’re a small business and we simply couldn’t afford to bring on additional headcount or hire a firm.”

“This fits in with our business culture of doing things ourselves, testing what works, and then focusing on what works with all our energy,” the firm’s CEO, Eric Astor added.

Naik says he began experimenting with PRWeb in the summer of 2009 – and that his releases earn between 500 and 1,000 page views. He also noted that success tends to have a snowball effect: a little visibility leads to more visibility.

Furnace MFG finds it receives regular coverage in blogs writing about its industry and was even once profiled by the Washington Post. Naik notes that Furnace MFG returns the 2 ranking in Google for a key word phrase that’s important to the business’ marketing efforts.

“This case study on Furnace MFG is an excellent example of small business marketing on a shoe-string,” says Sophie Shiatis, vice president of E-commerce with PRWeb. “Small businesses are often challenged with competing priorities – and PRWeb offers a simple and cost-effective tool that helps increase their online visibility and produces measurable results.”

The complete case study can be read online at: http://www.prweb.com/pr/customer-examples/furnace-mfg.html