Four Reasons to Add PR to Your Marketing Mix in 2014
Thinking of trying something new next year? Ready to try or expand your Public Relations initiatives? Here are four reasons PR needs to be part of your marketing mix in 2014!
1) Visibility: Get seen and get heard! Gain media exposure in the new year. You have a lifetime of knowledge to share. There are people in your community who need that knowledge (and you!) in order to make life-changing financial decisions. The problem? They don’t know you exist. Even if they’ve seen your name in an ad, they haven’t looked at you as the knowledgeable expert resource that you are. The solution? Gain a media platform to share your knowledge and expertise. Show the public you truly are the expert that your ad or website claims you to be. Talk about today’s financial news stories and explain how they impact people in your community. Make a commitment to gain editorial coverage and visibility in front of the people you can serve!
2) Credibility: With increased exposure comes enhanced credibility. The media has vetted you and by using you as a resource, are confirming that you are the quality expert that you claim to be. Establishing credibility through media exposure can happen in a few different ways. It can be done through the quantity and variety of media interviews you have participated in in recent years. (The key words here are recent years!) It can come through the quality or size of the outlet that you appear in. (While your prospects might not see a national news placement, by leveraging it correctly, it could dramatically boost your credibility!) And it can come in the form of frequency. If you’ve been selected to be a monthly contributing columnist for your local paper or are the regular “retirement expert” on a local news program, this helps build credibility too. Ultimately, though, a media placement must be leveraged for credibility to be maximized.
3) Searchability: It’s a digital world, and both the media and consumers are on the web! Each time you are quoted in a paper, interviewed on TV or radio or sourced on an internet site, your name and business can come up in an internet search. The more quality hits, the more visibility you receive and the more credibility you earn – from both groups of people. Media sites often come up at the top of search engine results. If SEO is important to you, then this is an optimization strategy you can’t afford to miss.
4) Profitability: PR is a branding tool. It’s used to get your name out in the community over and over and over again, creating visibility. By being in the media regularly, it builds credibility. By leveraging your media placements via your website, at a workshop, on your wall, in a prospect appointment, with your centers of influence and more, people become more comfortable with the idea of doing business with you. We’ve heard some of our clients say “it reduces the barrier of resistance” when meeting new prospects for the first time. If multiple media outlets say you’re a good advisor, then why would a prospect disagree? Earn more of their business faster with quality publicity in 2014!
