I’ve attended a few sales and marketing events of late where the topic of Public Relations has gotten some really valuable airtime. In open discussion it invariably leads to the questions “Why do it?” and, “if I do, how can I really measure it?”. Both important questions, and both ones that are not as impossible to answer as it seems at first blush.
I wanted to delve into the topic a bit more here, but then realized I wrote a guest blog for the wonderful folks over at my former agency – Cohesive – earlier this year, which seemed like a good start.
In it I bang that ol’ drum that apparently still needs banging about why do (good) PR and, more importantly why it is really not about counting column inches or share of voice. Maybe that approach ticks a marketing box or two, but it rarely adds to your bottom line, directly builds pipeline or influences the market.
And that’s a bit of a waste.
Good PR is a significant part of an integrated sales and marketing strategy and it’s always purposeful. I know it’s not always that easy in practice, of course, but it’s certainly the core objective with which we should all embark on any Public Relations activity.
As for the age-old problem of measurement, I’m a firm believer in the right amounts of data-driven focus. I meticulously track conversion rates across our client acquisition and retention cycle, contributions to CAC and RoI, but I do so to extract insights and outputs that produce real opportunities. The industry obsession with PR measurement, however, has sometimes taken a different ‘check-box’ tact. I’ll explore as to why that is in my next blog, but for now – here’s more on the why, and some real-world PR outcomes.
The below is a slightly abridged version, you can read the original guest blog post in full on Cohesive’s blog here.
Three Reasons Why Good PR still Matters
It’s really noisy out there. In an age where everyone can play at self-publishing, anyone can claim to be a social commentator and Google rankings are revered above all else, it’s no wonder many fall into the temptation of writing more and shouting louder. Let’s not add to the din. In this brave, new, content-led world, let’s all agree that good PR matters more than ever…
Whilst still a highly skilled and specialised discipline, it’s been a long time since PR has stood alone as a business strategy.
Good PR goes beyond just column inches today; it can also inform content marketing strategies, support web optimisation and increased findability; it can fuel intelligent outbound campaigns and help substantiate, validate and endorse sales and product propositions. And it really should.
So, outside of the usual get yourself heard in the media and tell the word your story goodness, I wrote about three really good things that can happen when you do good PR:
1. The people-that-matter understand why you matter
Being heard is important, but good PR helps you become understood by those that matter, and further still, gain influence. As we’ve established, shouting loudly and often doesn’t cut it in today’s content-driven world. Listening, responding and adding real value does.
Good PR is rarely about you. Rather it positions and communicates how you fit into the wider world, the world of those-that-matter.
When someone else discusses why you matter, you matter more. Your audience recognises the independence in a journalist’s article, your market relevance in an industry panel debate, and your real value in a customer’s endorsement. They know you’ve earned it, and that makes a difference.
2. They know where to find you (as does Google)
Good PR also helps those people-that-matter notice you and your website, and when they’re there, find all your other influential and valuable content too. This is not about link cloaking and hyperlinking every other word in your newswire press release, it’s about getting referenced elsewhere, talked about, and published independently to heighten your findability.
This independent signposting is invaluable, and the 3rd party validation of the content increases its currency manyfold. When working in tandem with paid and owned content, this trusted earned publishing serves up your story as real, relevant, organic search results, which can also help Google take more notice (that’s another blog for another day). Importantly, consumers get it. They know the difference between PPC and organic results, between an advert on how great a product is, versus an independent review doing the same, and their click through habits show it.
3. You earn and build their trust
Practicing good PR keeps you honest. In order for your ideas, content or news to be of any interest to third party publishers of any note, it’s got to be authentic and its got to be valuable. In this sense, it’s a pretty good gauge for any self-publishing you’re planning too.
We should all count ourselves lucky in the UK to have a technology and business media that is, for the most part, highly investigative, informed and healthily skeptical. To gain their interest, and that of their audience, you cannot be stagnant or sales-driven (or shouty for that matter). On the contrary, your story or view will only be worthy of consideration if it is refreshing, genuinely insightful, and tailored to their readership.
Think on the long term
Building communications and content strategies on good PR means you’re building relationships with your audience for the long term.
Whether online, offline, social, digital, above the line or below, I believe that traditional PR principles stand true; good PR is always meaningful, thoughtful and purposeful for the audience. It doesn’t shout or tell, it listens and responds; doesn’t compete with your self-published content or advertising, but complements it; doesn’t aim to just get you heard, but noticed, understood and trusted.
However, I also know first-hand that every business, market, vertical, will have a different approach to extracting value from their PR activity and strategy (and rightly so), but the common need of aligning with marketing and customer acquisition strategies is clear. And this, I think, is what makes a real difference when it does come to chasing the elusive PR RoI – measuring “influence” or “impact” doesn’t make much sense or provide much insight if its purpose is audience/ reach metrics alone.
It’s a toughie. It’s easy to be opinionated on the subject, but in practice we all need to report, we all need to demonstrate value, and we all like the path of least resistance. So, on that note, I’ll be reading and researching more on the measurement question in the coming weeks – there’s a tonne of best practice out there and some of it rather good – with the hope to share some thoughts on ways we can all find metrics that may mean something.
Jen Manning | Go-to-Market Blog and Services 