One question we get asked a lot is ‘why PR?’ It’s a good question – for a typical buyer, usually a marketing or business leader – there are an abundance of ways that you could spend your, possibly fairly limited, marcomms budget, and there is a lot to do.
So why spend that money on PR over investing in advertising, or social media, or paid ads?
Everyone has heard Bill Gates’ ‘if I was down to my last dollar, I’d spent it on PR’ comment. But there’s a reason Bill said that; he knows what he’s talking about.
Advertising has its uses, but the modern-day consumer is far savvier and more cynical than those in previous generations. There’s good cause behind this. We are now bombarded with more information than ever before, and you need to be discerning in order to avoid being overwhelmed. However, that means that those well-intentioned organisations that are simply trying to promote their products and services using traditional advertising methods are often overlooked.
What’s really needed to win the hearts and minds of your customers is the ability to influence. And that’s where PR and media relations can be so effective.
The aforementioned cynicism does sadly extend to the media (that’s a separate topic in itself). However, having your brand voice featured in trusted third-party media provides a degree of accreditation that’s impossible to replicate in advertising.
There are other factors why you should choose PR over the other elements that form the marcomms mix:
PR boosts your brand visibility and awareness
84% of marketers believe that PR activities directly contribute to sales by increasing brand visibility. Consumers are more likely to select a familiar product (or recruiter) over an unknown one, emphasising the importance of PR in making a brand name recognisable at the point of purchase.
PR builds trust
65% of consumers trust earned media (which includes PR) more than any other form of marketing. This means having positive news stories, articles, and mentions can significantly boost a company's reputation.
PR helps to drive sales
A Nielsen study found that PR is almost 90% more effective than advertising in driving sales conversion. This shows that earned media can significantly outperform paid media in influencing purchase decisions.
PR helps you stand out
At last count, there were nearly 40,000 recruitment businesses in the UK alone. That means that you are operating in a heavily crowded market, and differentiating your organisation from the dozens of others in your space should be the focus. You can do this by being better than everyone else, or cheaper, but you can also achieve this through effective and creation communication.
PR for what?
You might be reading this thinking, ‘we don’t have anything interesting to share’. But that’s not true; hiring firms and in-house talent teams have greater access to their clients and customers than businesses in almost any other industry. Recruiters speak to their customers and gain unparalleled insights into trends and what’s really going on at ground level. You’ll also likely be sitting on a potential goldmine of data. The media is interested in data-backed, people-led stories, and provided you can craft messaging that aligns with what journalists are looking for, and is of interest to your target audience, your business and its insights are probably of far greater interest than you might imagine.
It isn’t necessarily easy; journalists at even small, niche publications will receive hundreds of emails and pitches all day, every day so finding a way to break through the noise can be challenging. Much of modern-day PR is heavily relationship-based. Sadly, as we outlined in a recent blog, it’s not quite the Ab-Fab dream it used to be, and the days of boozy lunches are largely a thing of the past. Instead, modern day journalists – who, remember, have far broader roles than they ever have had in the past – want credible information, data and stories that add value to their readers.
This means that partnering with a specialist should be your priority. If you’ve got this far then PR is clearly something that you’re considering pursuing. If you would like to find out how we can help develop a communication strategy that helps you stand out from the crowd, and put you on the radar of key decision-makers in your markets, then speak to our expert team.
With over a decade’s experience in PR, marketing and communications, Bruce develops and executes media relations, content and social media strategies for firms in the recruitment and hiring industries, as well as suppliers to those sectors and other organisations both in the UK and internationally.
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