PR plays a crucial role in the business sector. A well-functioning PR firm acts as an intermediary between you and your customers, can help communicate new initiatives clearly with your target audience and help achieve or maintain a competitive advantage. There are many ways a PR agency can create long-lasting and positive impacts on your business—here are a few of our favorites.
1. Brand Awareness Leading to Improved Brand Image
Today’s customers do not experiment a lot. They prefer staying loyal to brands that are already socially accepted, have good reputations, and produce good products consistently. PR can help new companies trying to break into crowded markets with better brand recognition.
Work on full-funnel PR campaigns before, during, and after product launch to ensure consumers are aware of your product’s attributes and differentiators. Great campaigns can also underline the credibility of new products. For example, if you are a candle company and your new candle launch was featured in The Washington Post then consumers are going to feel more comfortable purchasing than if the article hadn’t run (i.e., “If the product is good enough for The Washington Post, it’s good enough for me!”).
2. Attracting Target Audiences
Targeting a specific segment of the entire population is challenging but necessary for every business. In fact, it is one of the basic requirements of good marketing! As a business, you need to know who will buy your products (primary consumers) and who might buy them in the future (potential consumers). PR firms can enact highly targeted campaigns to reach specific audience segments, including retargeting primary consumers and building brand awareness with potential consumers. They do this with thorough research and leveraging their relationships with the media and content creators covering your company’s niche.
3. Brand Loyalty
A PR firm can generate brand loyalty by creating a reliable and trustworthy image. PR pros are incredible at crafting honest, authentic campaigns that manage to set companies apart from the competition and attract consumers in the process. Exceptional brand messaging, which is often created with current consumer behavioral trends in mind, will help maintain customer loyalty and build credibility amongst target sectors.
4. Improve Financial Health
Unless you’re operating a non-profit corporation, making money is always going to be an important goal for your business. PR firms that build campaigns reaching consumers in all stages of your marketing funnel—from brand awareness to consideration to purchasing—can help drive increased sales and grow your revenue. This is not a quick or simple process, but with a little patience as well as proper audience and publication targeting PR can help your business achieve financial success in the long run.
5. Change Negative Positioning
Not only do PR agencies build a good brand image, but they can also help brands with a negative reputation reposition in consumers’ minds. For example, if a customer has a bad experience and leaves a negative review on your company’s Facebook page, a crafty PR team can draft a proper public response and assist in making things right privately with the specific consumer. Consistent positive coverage and a high level of attentiveness to customer requests can turn things around for most brands experiencing a dip in consumer sentiment.
How Will I Know When It’s Time to Hire a PR Firm?
PR agencies can help improve business functions at any stage, from building plans with start-ups to coordinating community outreach and customer care for well-established corporations. PR firms’ functions are beneficial to businesses of all sizes, and they can scale with your business as you start to grow and expand. If you’re interested in connecting with a PR agency, reach out to our team at any time.