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Public relations (PR) is essential to a successful strategic marketing plan, but is your business making the most of its PR efforts? We don’t just deliver the news. Plus, optimized PR feeds into all your other analog and digital marketing efforts, helping your business connect with your audience wherever they are.
Why PR is powerful
Even in the age of digital marketing, PR activities are based on selling to the media. Just a few years ago, PR professionals focused exclusively on print and broadcast media. They are now expanding their efforts to include online-only publications and major bloggers.
Our goal is simple. A PR professional works with journalists and other content he creators to add credibility to the brands they represent. Media coverage does more than just generate brand exposure. It also adds a layer of credibility and trust beyond what other elements of a brand’s marketing strategy can provide.
according to Public Relations Research Institute, audiences consider so-called earned media to be more reliable than other sources. This credibility is important for brand development, whether you want to increase your brand recognition or establish thought leadership in your field. Earned media is the result of effective PR.
The importance of PR is Continued industry growthPR revenue is expected to grow from $88 billion in 2020 to $129 billion in 2025. The US PR agency said he made $14.5 billion in revenue in 2020. PR grew during the pandemic when the entire advertising and marketing industry shrank.
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How to optimize your PR campaign results
To optimize the results of PR campaigns and maximize PR benefits for brands, marketing and PR professionals need to recognize the strengths of PR. Online and offline news coverage can support brands in the short and long term, but PR thrives over time. Additionally, PR campaigns have a greater impact when combined with other elements of a company’s marketing strategy.
long term perspective
Establishing successful media relationships takes time. PR professionals understand which publications are interested in covering which brands and consistently pitch relevant stories to media representatives. They understand that not all journalists cover every press release or feature proposal. Instead of emailing press releases en masse, PR reps understand the interests of the most relevant journalists and pitch stories that are more likely to be adopted.
Efforts to build relationships and consistency are rewarded with brands gaining prominence in local and regional media, and ultimately national media attention. Industry-specific publications are also a great starting point for PR campaigns.
PR is best used as a medium- to long-term component of a brand’s marketing strategy. Setting aside time to establish and nurture media relationships is a PR strength. Of course, there are times when urgent emergency contact is essential to protect your brand reputation. But in most cases PR is a good part of a long-term strategy.
Combining PR strengths with other marketing efforts
Despite its undeniable strength, PR alone is not enough to meet all of a company’s business goals. It’s unrealistic to expect a single PR campaign to build credibility, drive web traffic, establish sort his leadership within the industry, and drive foot traffic to local branches.
When marketing teams combine their PR efforts with other strategic marketing efforts, they say they get immediate desired results. For example, PR can be combined with a consistent brand message to improve brand awareness for your audience.
Public relations doesn’t always lead to immediate sales, but stories pitched to the media can effectively educate the public about a particular product or service. Many online publications are happy to accept companies to link to his website, which helps with search engine optimization (SEO) and local search rankings.
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How PR, Paid Advertising, and Social Media Work Together
While PR is ideal for long-term brand image improvement and connecting with audiences through third parties, paid advertising offers short-term, data-driven opportunities.
A strategically planned paid advertising program can instantly increase brand and product exposure. Since the advent of digital marketing channels, it has become easier to reach targeted audiences, making campaigns more effective. Real-time campaign performance data allows marketers to iterate on message and campaign design on the fly, further improving the effectiveness of their approach.
High-quality visual content, including images and videos, can be attractive to local newspapers, broadcasters, and online channels. By streamlining advertising and PR messages, paid and earned media work together to start reaching users in publications they already enjoy and, more importantly, trust.
Social media is the latest addition to the selection of channels for marketing teams to connect with their audiences. Like traditional media, social media offers a variety of opportunities including paid, earned and owned coverage.
While earned coverage maintains the highest level of credibility on social media, a company’s owned media channels offer another opportunity to share the results of its PR efforts. By sharing published stories about brands, marketers can reflect the third-party credibility of those stories on brands.
Existing followers feel comfortable with your brand’s followership choices, and sharing stories from trusted sources can help you engage new potential audiences.
RELATED: How to leverage public relations without sacrificing your own story
put it all together
Marketing success depends on a solid strategy that combines the strengths of PR and other marketing efforts. By combining PR with the power of branding, content creation, advertising campaigns, and social media outreach, businesses can generate the marketing results and overall business growth they seek. PR is powerful on its own, but when combined with other marketing efforts, PR becomes unbeatable.