Answer
Jul 20, 2016 - 03:16 PM
At its core, PR is about telling compelling stories that matter to a target audience. Most PR tactics work to support this general premise, meaning a program needs to generate strong narratives and assets, and find those key audiences. Most people focus on creating a story and pushing it into media, which is a HUGE part of the value PR delivers, but here are a couple other things that can also help raise awareness and drive leads:
- Contributed articles, blogs or columns – as press pools continue to shrink, outlets are looking for subject-matter experts to contribute content. This gives organizations a unique opportunity to shape a narrative to a target audience. PR can help generate topics, ghost write content, and ensure seamless placement of these pieces.
- Case Studies – Everyone loves to hear how others use products. This is a bigger deal in the B2B world, but can still apply to consumer products on the higher price spectrum. PR programs can help streamline the case study process and work with sales to evaluate leads, reach out to customers, conduct interviews, draft case studies, and finalize them. Once completed, these can be reworked to the press or worked into a content marketing campaign (in email or social media).
- Product Review Programs – Buying a new technology device, kitchen appliance or car? If so, you’re hitting review sites hard to get that unbiased third-party perspective. PR can help manage review outreach programs. An agency can research (or pull from experience) a list of reviewers, help generate review guides, pitch the review, ship, handhold and more, to ensure the best possible result for blogs and publications evaluating your product/service.
- Analyst Relations – For some markets, like B2B technology, analysts are key in the enterprise sales cycle. Therefore, establishing and building relationships is important for ranking high in research reports and in being recommended by that firm to prospective buyers. PR can manage those relationships and track regular research reports to ensure your company and product/service remains top-of-mind.
- Speakingand Award Programs – Speaking at industry events gives your company a grandstand to show your expertise and tell your story. Awards are similar: they allow you to make a case for why your company, product/service, or staff are the best! PR is great at helping to track and execute on these opportunities.
- Content Creation – If you have a PR team or are working with an agency, chances are they have a lot of industry and company knowledge. Don’t let it go to waste. Let them flex their creative muscles and brainstorm ideas for content. This can be in the form of blog ideas, ebooks, infographics, technical briefs, white papers, videos, ads and more.
- Social Media – Sounds like a different beast, but it’s not really. Social networks like Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Twitter, SnapChat and more are just another audience. Your PR team is excellent at telling stories, which means they can probably tell great stories through social media as well. Many PR agencies offer social media services and will generate content, build influencer engagement programs and help drive leads into the marketing funnel.
- Marketing Automation – For those extreme PR agencies that are pushing the marketing boundaries, marketing automation is the new frontier. Some agencies can help you tackle marketing automation and increase your leads. From creating landing pages to email campaigns to lead scoring and more, PR understands the customer challenge and how best to deliver messages that will resonate.
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