PR coverage can perform several functions in one. It can increase brand awareness, and sales, educate your target audience to lead to long-term customers, improve SEO and shape the way the public thinks of your company. If you’re PR isn’t making an impact, it’s likely it's your strategy that’s the problem rather than your business.
Not focused on your values
In February, Airbnb announced that its earnings had surged after shifting its market spending into PR. PR is Airbnb’s “most important channel,” said CEO Brian Chesky. Importantly, the CEO highlighted that educating customers rather than buying them had been a powerful driver of their growth.
PR tells a story. Consumers read an engaging article with your company's key messaging intertwined. Your target audience is engaged and interested in your company without the feeling they have been sold to.
Your PR needs to be intertwined with your values. If not, you may be telling an engaging story but your PR isn’t going to have the same effect. The beauty of PR is that your messaging can gradually and continuously enter consumer’s minds.
Before you work on a PR strategy, you should be confident in what your values are. PR is an activity that can drive impact but make sure you know what type of values you want to be associated with your brand.
Bad marketing
PR is one piece of the pie, but it needs to be supported with other forms of marketing. There is no point in driving traffic to a website that isn’t ready for an influx of visitors or won’t make consumers feel that they can spend with your brand. Even journalists can be put off by a poor and unprofessional website.
PR can be about immediate sales, but it’s also about long-term customer acquisition and loyalty. Therefore, you need to be getting consumers who are interested in you due to PR in your marketing networks. Make them want to sign up for your newsletter and follow you on socials.
An inconsistent marketing strategy is a plan set to fail.
Failing to reach the right audience
Press coverage is great. There’s nothing like the buzz you get from seeing your company (or client) in publications. But the important thing is knowing your customer and the media they consume.
It’s a misconception that the titles with the biggest reach will provide you with the highest ROI. The reason these titles can drive results is because they have more readers which means they will more likely have more of your target audience.
When investing in PR, the background work needs to be done first. If not, you’re wasting money and time.
At Lem-uhn, we offer a deep dive into who your customer is and what media they need to be in to have a real impact.
Not going far enough
The likelihood is someone is not going to see your brand the first time and decide to purchase from you. A customer has to see something several times first.
A PR strategy can’t simply be focused on reaching someone at one point of the month. It needs to reach them in all the different media they consume. PR strategies can often be one-sided but effective customer acquisition is more like a decahedron.
If your PR strategy is failing to create traction for you, you can book a free PR Strategy Audit with us. We’ll analyse your strategy and suggest how it could be optimised.
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