A significant issue which is driving many enterprises crazy is the time it can take up in order to convert a sales lead into a paying customer. They’re also struggling desperately with getting any manner of response, for that matter. It usually doesn’t occur to sales and marketing teams that is may be a good idea to incorporate public relations activities into the sales process. This is an opportunity which is being missed because PR can be beneficial in increasing response times in addition to the probabilities of closing sales.
Why PR is effective in increasing sales
Public relations may be one of the most effective ways to jumpstart sales. Here’s how:
Draw attention
The major difference between public relations as well as advertising is that there is a lot more effort involved in PR. This means that it is often referred to, in the digital marketing industry, as “earned media.”
Anyone can engage in public relations if they have:
- Time on their hands,
- The know-how, as well as
- The persistence.
It is the great equaliser which can put you on par with the companies that spend millions on ads.
Generate interest
PR can create interest primarily owing to the medium. News stories are, by their very nature, more trustworthy as opposed to advertisements. With the spread of online ads, the average consumer is inundated with marketing messages day in and day out. In fact, they have up to 5 000 exposures every single day. Most of those ads will be ignored. However, owing to the power of the press stories will grab your attention.
Stimulate desire
Stories in the media – which play on the themes of a particular event, scarcity, herd mentality in addition to prestige – can create desire. Other hints that you can use to create desire are the following:
- Utilise case studies or testimonials. A reporter is constantly going to want to know who is making use of your product.
- Focus on benefits. Allotting too much time on features is a widespread mistake. People care about the benefit that you offer them.
- Solve their fear. The converse to benefits is assuaging fear.
- Snowball effect. Good press can lead to more press.
The reason why customer experience has become the top priority around the world, in an age where customers as well as prospects have instant access to a plethora of information and options could be self-evident. What PR adds to the sales cycle is an additional dose of stickiness as well as trust. Sales still reels in the catch however marketing and PR provide the enticing bait.
The abilities that PR provides in the context of the sales cycle include the following:
- Serving as an information channel as well as a resource for contacting a prospect with helpful information outside of sales.
- Acting when necessary as the gateway/gatekeeper to people as well as collateral resources.
- Providing proven recommendations on what to tell a prospect. This includes the manner in which you can to structure something as simple as well as important as an email subject line which will not cause the email to be treated as spam or deleted automatically.
- Acting as a proactive information resource in order to elevate your organisation’s stature in the industry.
Tools that PR can use include pointing out industry awards and recognition from industry influencers, becoming a trusted source on key industry data points such as trends, market shares, white papers and podcasts, and following the latest industry buzz.
Get in touch with the Digital School of Marketing
Want to learn more about sales and PR? If so, then you should really do our Sales Management Course and, in addition, our Digital PR Course. For more information, please follow this link.
