It’s
not easy devising a PR and marketing strategy when all your competitors are
bigger and have larger budgets.
But
effective PR needn’t cost the earth, and can simply rest on being able to tell
the better story.
Take
Homer Simpson. His wisdom suggests that,
once he retires from cartoons, a career in PR beckons.
Weaseling out of things is important to learn.
It's what separates us from the animals! Except the weasel.
Having
a PR strategy to underpin commercial or marketing objectives isn’t an add-on
option. In today’s inter-connected
world, it’s fundamental. However, even
with the rise of social media, traditional media remains influential. While the ink-based media is in decline, it
still holds sway. The simple fact is
that if you have a good story to tell, there are media outlets willing to
listen – whether through media interviews, press releases and articles, or
thought leadership strategies.
PR is
not that hard. It’s about utilising a
broad range of promotional techniques that generate both favorable publicity
and, using social media channels, create a higher level of constructive two-way
engagement. But those platforms have to
be integrated into one cohesive marketing and PR programme.
It takes two to lie. One to lie and one to listen.
Actually,
PR is all about transparency. Tell your
story, without embellishment. In a
buyer-led world, content is king. You
need to attract the right customers and lead them through each stage of the
sales cycle. Creating that great content
and placing it where buyers are looking doesn’t happen by accident. It takes a good content strategy, research
and expertise – but no spin and flannel.
You don't win friends with salad.
It
may be healthier but it doesn’t grab attention.
In PR terms, decide what makes your company or its products and services
stand out – in other words, what are the benefits for customers. What are your differentiating factors? The new PR is no longer just about press releases and
media contacts (although those are still important). It’s about engaging with stakeholders and
consumers in new ways, with an immediacy that was unthinkable even a handful of
years ago.
Most individuals searching for products or suppliers first turn to the
internet. It means that companies have
to have a good SEO strategy and populate Bing and Google etc with compelling
content. (Most searches start and finish
on the first page of Google). That means
talking to bloggers as well as the media, and integrating pictures and links –
providing target audiences with a rich mix of useful information.
The intelligent man wins his battles with
pointed words. I'm sorry - I meant sticks.
Words
and images are better PR tools. But why
stop at those? Why not populate your
website with videos? Or send out a regular e-newsletter? It’s a simple and effective way of regularly
updating customers and prospects on company news. They can carry embedded video and
infographics to engage constructively.
Not only that but you can see detailed metrics of who has opened what
page and how long they have visited a website – invaluable marketing data.
They have the Internet on computers, now?
In the new world of PR, everybody and every
company is also a publisher – whether that’s your website, a regular blog or
social media. What’s changed is the speed in which a press
release or article can be posted, found by news aggregators, and spread
worldwide. As an agency promoting
clients internationally, I’m still surprised by the speed and reach that a
well-crafted press release or article can achieve.
You may think it's easier to de-ice your
windshield with a flamethrower, but there are repercussions.
A
good bit of PR advice is to know when to shout from the rooftops (“new mousetrap
invented”) and when to tread more carefully (“slightly better mousetrap
developed.”) One of the biggest
journalist bugbears is to receive press releases loaded with hyperbole, full of
bull***t words such as revolutionary,
or unique or fantastic. Use words like
those, and your fine words will be heading towards the bin. And if you use them on social media, you’ll
undermine your credibility with customers, who are wise to the ways of the
internet…and no longer fooled.
They didn't have any aspirin, so I got
you some cigarettes.
Modern
PR is about interaction. It’s about
listening to customers, and engaging with them.
It’s no longer just about selling, because the internet and social media
has changed the relationship between companies and customers. Now, it’s about being helpful, willing to
respond to comment – good and bad – not forever pushing a sales message. Remember, the marketing buzz phrase is now
“pull marketing” – attract potential customers to you, rather than just push
out sales-speak. In other words, if they
want aspirin, give them aspirin.
People can come up with statistics to
prove anything. 14% of people know that.
Okay, then how are these.
For example, nearly £6
billion in UK sales annually is now attributed to social media. Also, visitors to a website are some ten times
more likely to make a purchase if they have come from social media. And it’s not just the likes of Facebook. For example, 40% of brands now use Instagram
for marketing.
Commercially,
nearly 80% of B2C companies and over 40% of B2B companies found customers from
Facebook. Indeed, a majority of social
media users now prefer to connect with brands through Facebook, and over 50% of
Twitter users recommend companies or products via Tweets.
A
fool and his money are soon parted. I would pay anyone a lot of money to
explain that to me.
The good news is that using a good
agency to handle all or part of your PR and media strategy is usually money
well spent!
Charlie Laidlaw is a director
of David Gray PR and a partner in Laidlaw Westmacott. We are specialists in national and
international PR strategy and delivery.
You can contact us at +44 (0) 1620 844736 or Charlie@davidgraypr.com or connect with us on LinkedIn or Facebook.