Driving Measurable Results from Your PR Strategies

For years, public relations was considered the most effective way to “get your name out there” for a business. Unlike advertising, PR is earned media placement, and to this date is still a powerful strategy to help your business get noticed. And yet, today, “getting your name out there” requires a multi-channel approach that includes leveraging traditional media as well as digital media. Furthermore, with the technology available, if you’re focusing only on trying to “get noticed,” you’re falling short of the full potential you have to drive meaningful leads to your business. After all, isn't that why we market our organizations? To drive new business? If you're saying "yes!" read on.

Your PR and marketing strategy can be split into four important stages: Attract, Convert, Engage, and Close. Taking a closer look we can see how all four can work together.

Get Noticed (Attract)

For most businesses, their approach to attracting new prospects begins and ends here — and yet today, it’s really just the beginning. Tactics such as public relations, advertising in traditional media (i.e. television, radio, print), pay per click or online advertising, trade shows, etc. are common approaches to marketing today. Perhaps your business is engaged in one of these tactics. While the effectiveness of each tactic varies, they are all different ways that business try to get noticed. At StoryTeller, we believe content marketing is the most effective way to get noticed and to build trust with the prospect. Regardless, in today’s economy, having your prospect or customer see your ad or read an article about your business is likely to inspire one main action — to check out your website. Is that level of awareness worth your money, or are you hoping for more?

Drive New Contacts (Convert)

In a perfect world, what would you like someone to do when they visit your website? Are you hoping they click on the “Contact Us” button and call you to place a big order? Or would you consider it a "win" if they simply remember who you are for when they have to make a buying decision?

What if you treated your website as the primary conversion point for someone who is looking for information on your organization?

What if you offered helpful information that solves an important problem for the visitor in exchange for an email address? Not run-of-the-mill promotional content, but the type of information that you consider to be valuable as part of the sales process. They receive information that draws them closer to your organization and you earn the privilege to send them meaningful emails.

Solve your prospects' problems (Engage)

Of course, that person may not be ready to make a purchasing decision, especially if it requires a substantial investment. However, you now have their email address and have received permission to respectfully engage with them. So, like dating, you begin the courting process and you send notes with more helpful information. Your goal in this stage is to provide insight, expertise, and assistance so they trust your organization and begin to understand how you can help them. Remember, this is about their needs, not about your sales goals.

Drive new revenue (Close) 

Once you’ve earned their trust by answering important questions with your helpful and thoughtful emails, videos, blogs, and downloadable guides, you may have also earned the right to ask for a meeting and possibly their business. At this point, once your prospect has become a customer, you can trace their journey through the entire buying cycle and determine what went right and what needs refining.

This is how you can drive real impact from your traditional and digital PR strategies. Most public relations initiatives end after the target audience has been reached through earned placement. The agency or representative validates their work with impressions and demographics reached, however, their ability to move those prospects through the sales cycle falls short. What’s more, the ability to demonstrate true return on investment is non-existent. 

The world has changed, as we all know. Think of how you make significant purchasing decisions in your life. Chances are, you search for answers to your questions online, you research companies that seem to have answers to your questions. You develop a sense of trust based upon how information is presented and you will ultimately reach out to make a purchasing decision when your questions have been answered. This is how you operate and make your buying decisions, and I'm willing to bet your prospects do the same.