Researchers suggest that businesses only have 2.6 seconds to make a good first impression in the digital world. In an age where everything is on-demand, the internet has fast tracked word-of-mouth, and it’s easier than ever to share opinions, irrevocably changing how Public Relations (PR) and marketing operate.
PR and marketing were once perceived as parallel departments within an organisation, however in the digital age it’s hard for one to be successful without the other. PR is about managing and influencing the perception of an individual or organisation through the strategic sharing of information whereas the aim of marketing is to drive sales through engaging audiences and maintaining relationships through effective value propositioning. Being able to wear multiple hats is the key to successful business in the 21st century.
People buy stories
At the heart of PR is story telling. Promoting these images establishes solid foundations for building trust with customers. People buy your story before they buy your product, therefore utilising marketing helps to ensure these stories reach customers. Skilfully creating content that is both inspiring visually and conversationally is what marketers do best. Avoiding bland content is essential to converting potential viewers into customers. Being able to perform the role of PR to design and craft your brand story and then shift gears into marketing to promote that story across social media, company websites and blogs, helps build your brands digital presence. If your company is not participating in the digital conversation, it’s failing to grasp the most valuable opportunities which ultimately can be damaging.
Make light work
When creating PR content, always consider the end goal – visibility. A key job within marketing is Search Engine Optimisation, which is the process of building website traffic through emphasising key words to make your site more relevant in Google searches. These two go hand in hand. Make work easier for yourself by ensuring the PR content contains those vital keywords that are used frequently in web searches in relation to your company to make the optimisation process easier. The more searches your website appears in, the more likely website traffic is going to build – a blog or news section where publications can be reviewed can assist with this. Perhaps the easiest shortcut to optimising PR content is including a call to action which can draw potential customers onto your website – don’t lose them when they’ve finished your piece. Give them a reason to visit your website or to provide their email address for a newsletter, continuing the relationship into the future helps build your customer base.
Analytics shape the future
The ultimate end goal of marketing is making a sale. Consequently, a large part of marketing is obtaining analytics to understand the customer journey and how they arrived at the point of sale. Understanding the numbers in PR can help processes and strategies to be revised, which can lead to obtaining a positive market response more easily in the future. Similarly, it can help to understand which stories trend well. Being able to grasp your audience’s attention makes it more likely that your organisation will get noticed – generating a bigger conversation to build trust with consumers.
In a world where we’re connected to consumers more easily than ever, the silo approach to business must be thrown out the window to ensure effective collaboration. Being able to understand how to manipulate marketing in a way to boost PR campaigns is fundamental, therefore the development of an interdisciplinary skillset has never been more important. Don’t be afraid to upskill, being able to wear multiple hats builds your personal value proposition.
As an integrated strategic marketing and PR agency with over 25 years of refining our skillset, Taurus’ no bull approach to crafting strategies is second nature. If you’re interested in using our unique and integrated TaurusBullseye© Methodology to ensure you to are taking a holistic approach to business, reach out to us today at [email protected].