Is Your Publicity and Marketing Working?
If not, why not?!
If you hired publicity and marketing experts in the past and had little results, you are not alone.
A few days ago, I received a call from a small business owner who hired a publicist and received little to no results. They spent thousands of dollars… and nothing happened.
Another entrepreneur e-mailed me to tell me that he had worked with a well-known “guru” who promised him huge sales, thousands of new customers via social media, and more. The results? The “guru” took the $250,000 payment and disappeared.
This bugs me because it gives public relations, or PR, a bad name. Unfortunately, there are a lot of bad publicists and marketers out there.
So, how do you control the situation and actually get results for your money?
The key is to know how public relations actually works so you can make smart decisions.
To start, ask a few questions:
• Are you just sending out press releases and waiting for the phone to ring?
Obtaining media attention is much more than announcing a press release. After all, reporters receive hundreds of these announcements each day. To obtain media coverage, it takes time and effort.
You need to pursue specific media members with targeted story ideas they care about… not just send out a blanket release to hundreds of reporters and hope for the best.
Now, press releases are still important. They can significantly boost awareness for your business online, make you look current and newsworthy, improve credibility, and more. But the best results only come from careful, advance planning, copywriting and tracking.
• Is the story idea interesting and newsworthy?
Does your news or story angle revolve around your products and service features?
Boring! Not many people are going to care.
Instead, it’s essential to talk about benefits and what’s in it for your customers.
How do you help others?
What problems does your business solve?
How do your products and services relate to a current industry trend or news item?
You get the idea. If you want people to listen to your messages, be sure to think about this first before doing any kind of communications!
• What is the ultimate goal with these PR efforts?
Have you set overall goals for your PR campaign, or are you just sending out messages hoping to get results?
Do you know what your PR firm is doing, or did you just hire them and forget about it?
Before starting your publicity activities, it’s essential to set goals and the tactics you are going to use to meet those goals.
Then, you can have your employees and/or outside PR team members follow a set schedule for content and posting, monitor and report results regularly, make changes as needed, and more. You’ll know exactly what’s going on!
PR Can Give You a Competitive Advantage… If Done Correctly!
Good PR can significantly increase awareness and sales and give your business a competitive advantage… cost-effectively. So, if you currently have unsuccessful results, or have had negative experiences with public relations in the past, it’s time to stop and regroup.
Whether you hire an experienced publicist to help you, conduct publicity activities internally or do them yourself, be sure to set specific goals, create a plan to meet those specific goals and then monitor what is going on. This way, you can see what’s working and what isn’t in real-time and make changes to save resources and see better results.
After all, if you are in a media venue news story that caters to your target market, and your competition isn’t, guess who will gain more customers and third-party credibility? Woot! Winning results!
Author Melanie Rembrandt is an award-winning writer, sought-after speaker and content strategy expert who helps overwhelmed entrepreneurs have more time to thrive! If you want to boost sales, awareness and credibility fast with a unique combination of targeted, SEO copywriting and public relations, get more information at Rembrandt Communications, https://www.rembrandtwrites.com.
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