I was recently speaking to a CMO of an established agency in New York who said despite working with an external PR team, the agency continually struggles to highlight its expertise — especially as it relates to its industry and competitive advantage. As the marketing landscape continues to evolve for his company, the CMO noted that his executives should be driving the conversation. After all, his team members have a wealth of information and years of experience, he explained.
Many executives and marketing teams share similar concerns about content production and relationship development outside of what PR firms provide. Thus, they don’t have enough collateral to educate and nurture their client bases and sales leads.
This is a common problem most companies face, especially when they lack newsworthy announcements suitable for press releases. PR serves as a great place for driving traffic quickly and obtaining viewership. However, maintaining that relationship with your target audience (outside of those areas) is invaluable for brand awareness and helps to showcase a company’s core expertise.
Where PR Falls Short
Done right, PR can help amplify your message in the form of announcements, partnerships, and product updates. But many times, PR fails to create a community and serve as a resource for both clients and prospects. PR falls short in the following areas:
1. Creating a ‘loyalty loop’ between your company, client base, and prospects.
This “loop” requires consistently delivering educational, relevant, and engaging content. Through these efforts, your audience develops trust and loyalty for your company. Articles, blog posts, whitepapers, e-books, and case studies all serve as examples of resources your audience can utilize.
For instance, if you boast a social media SaaS platform, providing insights and turning them into best practices or actionable takeaways is what your target audience is looking for — it’s your job to deliver that information.
2. Providing a shareable, informational piece of content.
When reading a press release, your audience isn’t discovering content they find truly engaging. Thus, they won’t share it with their networks. Press releases tend to be written as pitches for other publications to pick up, rather than content that can be directly shared with others. Your audience is only going to share information that truly resonates with them — this is hard to deliver in a promotional piece of content.
3. Offering the opportunity for a company to tell their story.
Relying on others to write content — especially if they’re not heavily involved in the company — can fail to capture your brand voice. Rich, engaging content written by the experts in your company, on the other hand, offers a deeply rooted knowledge of your industry. Consider this: If you were an engineer, would you hire an accountant to write a piece about your industry? Probably not. It’s important for information to come from a credible individual who is a domain expert and understands the pain points of the industry.
Justin DiPietro is the co-founder and COO of SaleMove, a software program that enables retailers to have in-person customer experiences online. I spoke with his team recently and got their thoughts on where PR stands in terms of building relationships with an audience:
“We believe a press release is a good way to generate top-of-the-funnel traffic to our website. However, press releases don't always contain the most valuable information for prospective clients,” DiPietro’s team said. “In our opinion, the best way to do this with written content is through thought leadership. This can include best practices, testimonials, and other knowledge that may not fit the mold of a ‘newsworthy’ press release.
“Our company is extremely mission-based because we believe we’re creating the future of online commerce. PR plays a strong role at the top of the funnel when we have real news to break, but it does not fit in the same bucket as website content. The goal of content is to help future — as well as current — customers understand our mission, as well as see how SaleMove will add value to them.”
Drive the Conversation Through Thought Leadership
In the age of information, audiences are looking for more content to digest before engaging with companies to understand core values and competitive advantages. In fact, 80 percent of business decision-makers prefer learning about companies through a series of articles, not advertisements. Therefore, companies who welcome this transparency and dedicate resources to developing their strategies are able to remain top of mind and to display thought leadership.
As a leader of a company, you have a number of experiences you can share with your audience. Displaying this thought leadership through bylined articles — whether sharing insights about your industry or company — can be turned into content and be used in a number of different marketing verticals:
- Social media collateral: Use content as fuel for your social media presence and share it with your followers. You can get promoted in front of new audiences while networking at the same time.
- Lead generation: Using content, shrink the sales cycle while also engaging with leads and prospects. Sharing thoughtful, engaging content is an excellent way to educate your audience and help them work through pain points they’re experiencing. Simultaneously, you’ll build trust.
- Marketing materials: Consider repurposing content for various materials your marketing team creates. This could include adding it to your company newsletter or drip campaign.
- Media opportunities: When you start contributing externally, and others see you as a leader in your space, you may be picked up in other media outlets or have a greater chance of being asked for commentary on industry topics. This opens the door for press opportunities and potential speaking engagements. Many of our clients have been offered their own columns in publications due to their consistently engaging content. This is the perfect opportunity for proving your expertise and building a repertoire in your industry.
- Partnerships: In each piece of thought leadership content, you can target a specific audience and speak directly to their needs and wants. A press release lacks this connection. Thought leadership content not only starts the conversation, but it also serves as a great resource when others are looking to work with you. Further, it strengthens your credibility within your network, inevitably boosting referrals as well.
Relying heavily on PR to deliver core messages is causing many companies to miss opportunities to nurture, educate, and engage audiences. Start the conversation with your target market through engaging content; discover its value in long-term business success.
