Done well, PR helps brands increase awareness of their products and services, generate valuable word-of-mouth advertising and position them as industry experts.
Done consistently, PR can accomplish all of that and more.
A long-term approach to PR incorporates strategic planning, which generates results tailor-made to support evolving business goals.
For example, if one of your company’s objectives is to attract more customers in a new demographic, you can design PR tactics to help reach them. You also can customize messaging specific to a particular audience.
Or maybe your organization is trying to increase awareness of a longtime product line whose sales are waning. With that in mind, you can look for newsworthy stories about the products or customers they serve and try to place them in target media outlets.
When PR is a permanent element of your marketing toolbox, you have the ability to tailor tactics to changing priorities and impact your bottom line.
Here are three more ways ongoing PR campaigns can help you achieve better results than one-off PR projects can:
Create top-of-mind awareness
Since consumers have to be repeatedly exposed to information before they take action – like purchasing a product, supporting your cause or attending an event – you have to keep finding ways to connect with them. A sustained approach to PR can do that.
Only when people hear about a brand repeatedly, across a variety of platforms, do they begin to retain some of your key messaging. Repetition is key, because the more times people hear something, the more likely they are to remember and act on it.
Establish credibility
When you consistently share your expertise or otherwise add value to consumers’ lives through multiple communications channels, it adds legitimacy to your brand, product, service or cause. As a result, consumers and journalists alike will think of you as a credible authority in your respective industry.
Credibility, which means the quality of being trusted, requires longevity to achieve. It isn’t something you earn instantaneously with a one-time activity or news release. You have to cultivate credibility over time and work at it every day.
PR can help you continually showcase your organization’s integrity, clearly communicate brand benefits, establish a positive image – all of which add to your credibility.
Strengthen relationships
As the name implies, public relations is about building relationships. Some of the most important relationships you foster are those you have with journalists who can help you reach your customers.
Countless news outlets, social media platforms and blogs comprise the increasingly crowded media landscape, and they’re all looking for useful, quality content that will resonate with their readers, viewers or listeners. PR professionals are perfectly equipped to create compelling content for clients that provides value and makes a lasting impression.
Media contacts will be more receptive to your contributions and story ideas if you’re a known, trusted source, which is another reason to make PR an ongoing effort.
The integrated marketing experts at GYC Vegas, a boutique Las Vegas PR agency, can help you leverage PR to create competitive advantages. We specialize in delivering public relations results that meet your business needs. Contact us today to learn how we can put the power of PR to work for you.