VALUING
PR: WHY SHOULD YOU CARE?
By
Rose Maciejewski, vice president, Ruder Finn, and Casy Jones,
vice president, Ruder Finn
Public relations
holds enormous value as a strategic vehicle to influence the media
and analysts and, ultimately, your customers, prospects and shareholders.
Most marketing and communications executives understand this,
but, surprisingly, they sometimes find it difficult to properly
share that value with their companies' top executives. Ensuring
C-level executives understand how to leverage the value PR brings
should be a key concern for every communications professional.
The first
step in leveraging PR is learning exactly what it entails. For
most technology organizations, a comprehensive PR program will
include ongoing "key message" refinement, media relations,
industry analyst relations, customer advocacy and thought leadership,
which involves speaking opportunities, awards and developing bylined
articles.
Though some
of these tactics are more relevant than others depending on the
company, the incremental value of them can be measured in three
distinct ways, each of which appear at the top of your agenda:
enhanced sales effectiveness, credible industry awareness and
creation of employee evangelists.
Making
the Sales Process More Effective
The primary reason you should care about PR is that it can be
a tremendous strategic weapon in the sales process. Favorable
positioning of the brand, product or service relative to competitors
helps the sales function open new doors and close deals. When
used properly, PR can shorten the sales cycle.
Strategic
PR efforts should be focused around sales inflection points such
as product launches and around the end of sales quarters and fiscal
years. When the resulting articles and validation points are communicated
to the sales team in an efficient manner, they can often help
seal the deal with a wavering prospect. A well-timed email with
a recently published case study cannot be underestimated. Prospects
want to buy the products that will give them the best results,
and it's difficult to argue with proven results that appear in
black and white.
Perhaps you
may be surprised to hear that even industry analysts are sometimes
willing to speak to prospects on your behalf. If a company's PR
activities include a strong industry analyst approach, you can
be confident that one of two results is possible: 1) prospects
have already received materials with positive industry analyst
validation for your product, or 2) you can advise prospects to
contact a particular analyst for direct feedback.
Building
Credible Industry Awareness
For years there has been a battle between advertising and public
relations. The bottom line is that PR builds significantly stronger
credibility for a company, specifically because a reporter is
not "paid" to write the story. PR is a facilitator -
at its best, PR is an influencer. PR veteran Thomas Hagley feels
PR results can be boiled down to a key question, "Did we
influence behavior?" If, based on a company's PR initiatives,
a reporter writes a favorable product review that appears in a
leading trade journal read by thousands of potential customers,
then that goal has been accomplished. More importantly, the goal
has been accomplished in an objective way.
PR also affords
you the opportunity to become recognized thought leaders in the
industry. In addition to placing expert commentary from senior
executives in feature articles, strong PR executives can secure
you receive appropriate speaking opportunities and bylined article
placements. It is always impressive to see the CEO of an organization
as the author of an article that touts the latest trends in the
industry, particularly when that article appears in the Financial
Times, an internationally-read publication.
Creating
Employee Evangelists
When employees have a high level of confidence in the company
and in management, morale also tends to be high. This contributes
not only to a more pleasant work environment and general sense
of renewed vigor, but also may contribute in more subtle ways
to the company's brand, reinforcing PR's connection to the sales
process, as proud employees will tout the company to friends and
business associates.
If the company
has been underserved on the PR front in the past or if that perception
exists, beginning to communicate or changing the way PR successes
are shared can be helpful. The simple act of engaging an experienced
PR firm to assist with marketing efforts can have an impact. Chief
executives often see very positive results when employees begin
to realize that the company is committed to building a strong
brand and being aggressive in the marketplace. Everyone likes
to see their company name up in lights, or at least in the pages
of CIO Magazine!
In Summary
Considering the possible effects a strong PR program can have
on a company's sales process, industry credibility and employee
morale, you cannot afford to disregard it as a marketing vehicle.
By leveraging PR results, you will have an entire arsenal of strategic
weapons at your disposal. In addition, a comprehensive PR program
at an emerging or mid-market technology company can be implemented
in a very cost-effective manner. The net result is a win-win situation.
Ultimately, PR is a powerful tool for influencing key constituencies
for the benefit of the entire organization.
Rose Maciejewski
leads the technology practice for Ruder
Finn/Los Angeles. Casy Jones is a senior member of the technology
practice in Ruder Finn's Chicago office. Ruder Finn specializes
in creating cost-effective public relations programs for emerging
and mid-market technology companies. For more information, Rose
may be reached at 310-479-9929 or maciejewskir@ruderfinn.com.
Casy may be reached at 312-329-3976 or jonesc@ruderfinn.com.
