Note that the headline for this blog, wasn’t ‘how PR increases sales’!
PR is not a sales function, it’s a communications function.
Note to the CEOs in the back row, PR is not a dollar out dollar in scenario. It’s an investment that builds and sustains reputation to help turn businesses into enduring brands and stabilise their long-term viability.
PR increases brand by cultivating good reputation, awareness, connection and customers. This over time, absolutely has an impact on sales and the ability for that business to become an enduring brand but the impact of PR on sales needs to be measured over the lifetime of a business and not as a result of a one-off PR campaign or project. PR is an infinite function, which walks side by side a business like a good friend does through life.
PR not only attracts more fans to your business and grows and connects your community it helps you to attract better clients. Without strategic and thoughtfully executed PR you can be interacting with all sorts of people that were never potential clients in the first place; they walk through the door because they think you’re something and then once they get to know you they realise you’re quite something else.
These customers were never meant for you in the first place. What PR does is minimise the gap of uncertainty (*time wasters) and customer misadventures through messaging and brand positioning. PR helps you attract the right people to your business in the right way at the right time.
Here’s how PR grows community and customers:
- PR Brings the Humanity to Business
PR gives your business a human side – it’s what connects humanity to business and it functions like a friend who is telling another friend about how much they appreciate you. Customers like to do business with people they know, like and trust. PR makes sure that the people in and around your business are showing up, seen and heard for your business and its community in the right way.
- PR Builds Brand
Branding is not what signifies a brand. It’s not the logo or letterhead or website that’s not branding. Branding is what people say about your business. Branding is influenced by PR. - PR Ensures Your Messaging is on-Point
When a business is saddled in the right tone-of-voice and communicating consistently with value at the heart; it builds community. PR makes sure all of this happens. PR demystifies what to say, how to say it, where to say it and how often.
- PR Makes your Ideal Customer Insanely Clear
PR power includes being able to help businesses answer this question; why should anyone care? PR helps to build community brand and customers by identifying and aligning your business to the people who need what you’ve got most.
- PR Unearths Your Differentiation
PR is the art of discovering the most wonderful things that make someone or something beautifully unique. You know that Dr. Zeus saying, ‘there is no one more YOU-er than YOU’. The point of difference, the differentiation; this is what brings about remarkability. PR done well is to focus on being different not being the best. This is what builds a brand.
The five most important steps to PR, is one – know your customers, two – know how to speak to them, three – know what you’re going to say, four – know your point-of-difference, five – know where you’re going to say it. And they all do together is build community, customers and brand.
