What is Public Relations? Simple enough question, but not one that has a simple answer. PR actually covers many different areas – media relations, crisis management, community engagement, thought leadership, communications, and these days, social media. So maybe you should be asking a different question – how can PR benefit my business? The journey towards someone making a purchase (from your company) can often be measured by touchpoints. Whether B2B or B2C, every touchpoint needs to build trust and confidence in your product, in your service, in your company as a whole. It builds the picture of who you are, and sets you apart from your competition. The higher the value of your product, the more touchpoints are generally required. There’s no definitive answer to how many touchpoints there are – 6, 10, 12 – but consistency is important.
PR is the element that gives those touchpoints depth and meaning. Through longer form articles, considered content, opinion leading discussions, conversations and dialogue, PR is crucial to building trust and confidence.
For example, if you have completed a project you are particularly proud of, PR will find a way to make that project relevant and interesting and featured across a range of different media – both traditional media (magazines etc) and social media.
This helps to build a picture of who you are and what you do in a way that is considered less pushy (as advertising can be). Often, if you are using third party platforms such as trade magazines or print media, it also gives you greater external validation – all of which add to that ‘know-like-trust’ that is so crucial for decision making.
There are a few key reasons why so many companies do not carry out their own PR.
Firstly, the time element. To pull together a protracted PR campaign that covers a range of different media, gains traction and maintains momentum is time consuming.
Secondly, a good PR is adept and producing good stories and content out of seemingly thin air. The fact is that many companies do not recognise how newsworthy a particular project can be (often they are too close). Sometimes a natural reticence sets in – a reluctance to ‘brag’ about that achievement. They simply many not know how to frame that achievement in a number of different ways that can multiply the ‘opportunities to see’ and overall number of touchpoints.
The success of PR is often the result of a dance between publications and the PR agent. Advertising is straightforward – you pay your money you get your exposure. Achieving good editorial requires building a good relationship with the editor, recognising what makes a good story, making sure that the editor receives what is needed to match the quality and focus of the publication.
Finally, it's important to understand that PR is NOT lead generation but can lead to someone’s decision to both make that initial enquiry, and ultimately make a buying decision further down the line. If a potential client drops you their details, chances are they are going to stalk you on Google, or across social media. They’ll want to get to know you as a company, what your values are, what third parties are saying about you. If that due diligence meets their own values, any sales objections come tumbling down.
Kate Ashley-Norman is a director for VAST PR, experts in fenestration PR. Kate can be contacted on
