The global economic landscape remains uncertain midway through 2023, amid concerns about inflation and the rising cost of goods and services continuing to rise. How can businesses meet pressure to grow and keep their sales funnel healthy while being challenged with the need to maintain or trim expenses?
In the face of challenging financial times, for businesses seeking to reduce overhead, marketing budgets – in particular, external agencies are often the first place to go. And yet, at a time when it is more important than ever to attract new customers and keep a steady revenue stream and manage a reputation, PR is the marketing discipline that is potentially the external expense to keep on in order to weather the storm. Here's why:
Buyer behavior has changed
It is a known fact that modern consumers will only engage with brands that resonate with them on a personal level and share the same ethos or ethical standpoints. To stay competitive, businesses must build a valued brand message that reflects their product, their people and their raison d’etre. More than that, they must get their message across to raise brand awareness throughout the different stages of the customer purchasing process and actively demonstrate their product or service value.
The AIDA model is a well-known marketing model that demonstrates the customer journey through the stages of the purchasing decision-making process:
Attention – The consumer becomes aware of a product or brand
Interest – The consumer becomes interested by learning about brand benefits and how the brand fits with their lifestyle
Desire – The consumer develops a favorable disposition toward the brand
Action – The consumer forms a purchase intention, shops around, engages in a trial, or makes a purchase
Engaging with a PR Agency to showcase your business’s knowledge of the industry, brand values and product prowess interestingly and educationally will go a long way in attracting leads and guiding them through the decision-making process.
Relationships matter
Human relationships are the building blocks for business success. Hiring a PR Agency means buying into the agency/journalist relationship nurtured over time. A journalist that has worked with an agency on mutually beneficial pieces historically is arguably more likely to read an email from those contacts rather than from unsolicited sources.
Additionally, a business’s relationship with its PR Agency can provide significant industry expertise, allow for a certain objectivity over content and recommendations, and provide the agility that might not be possible with an in-house team. Finding a trusted partner that can provide expertise while allowing your employees to focus on their roles is always a valuable alliance.
The results are measurable
Proving the ROI for media relations can be challenging since it's not always easy to directly tie media coverage to specific business outcomes. However, by choosing specific measurable goals, you can prove the value of your PR Agency.
For example, web analytics tools can track website traffic from unique links in your coverage where included, and using media monitoring tools can provide statistics on the reach of media coverage.
Also, calculating advertising value equivalency (AVE) can estimate the value of earned media coverage for comparison with the cost to purchase the same amount of advertising space or time.
Similarly, conducting surveys can help demonstrate the impact of media coverage on awareness, attitudes, and behavior by providing comparable statistics over a period of time.
As businesses continue to navigate this tough economic climate, there will be tough choices to make to balance the books. Those who want to attract repeat and loyal customers must provide them with holistic and continual evidence as to why they should sign up — using a PR Agency is the best way to do this.
- Caroline Brunton, Senior Account Manager