When Strategy Meets Sales: 6 PR Tips for Driving Sales

Someone once said, “it’s not your customer’s job to remember you, it’s your obligation to make sure they don’t have the chance to forget you”.  As the online landscape continues to change, making your mark and achieving greater sales is more challenging than ever. With the drive to attract and retain consumers becoming more competitive, PR firms are working harder than ever to strengthen the relationship of companies with their consumers.

Being visible in a competitive market is all very well, but without strong strategies and innovative campaigns, converting potential consumers to loyal customers is unlikely. Using integrated, media savvy PR campaigns can make a tangible difference to your sales, bringing results and rewards to all parties: you, your brand and your customers.

So what PR tips can we offer to help you drive sales and get more out of your campaigns? New PR methods are always emerging, but here are six solid strategies to sustain and strengthen your sales.

Embrace Social Media

Social Media is a critical element of a strong marketing campaign. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram…the list of instant media options is long and the potential is limitless. Whatever your brand, whatever your product, creating compelling social media content can lead to a loyal fan base and burgeoning sales. Integrated marketing campaigns are simply not complete without utilizing the power of social media, and using it to the full is always the best option. Integrated strategies allow PR campaigns to reach audiences and drive sales more successfully than ever.

Being innovative and creative is key, especially as the digital landscape changes rapidly and attention spans continue to shorten. You don’t have long to grab someone’s attention, but when you do, keeping it is just the start of what can be a profitable relationship.

Social media marketing is also cost effective, with all kinds of free accounts available and a ready-made audience to tap into. Though gradual, steady social media success is expected, the potential to reach millions is real. Aim high, there’s no telling what you could achieve.

Build Your Brand, Build Your Bottom Line

Let’s be honest, building a brand in a competitive marketplace is not easy. But it’s not impossible, either. In an image obsessed world, where a picture can go viral in minutes and posts can be read by millions in a day, getting across who you, as well as what you are, is critical if you are looking to sell more.

From your company logo to your corporate image, connecting with your target audience is a major part of brand awareness and a key component of improved sales. Clarity is also critical when making this connection, especially in a world where information is so readily available and the competition for brand loyalty is so fierce.

From a PR perspective, crafting a carefully considered image is the springboard to success and knowing who your audience is, and what they are likely to warm to, is a seminal part of this process. Brand building is about more than just your logo, it is about credibility, honesty and reliability. If your image is built on these foundations, PR campaigns are sure to help your brand stand out in even the most crowded marketplace.

Blog, Blog and Blog Again

Writing blogs may sound simple, but getting the content right can be challenging. It’s always good to remember that anything and everything you right doesn’t just reflect your company, it shows what you know, who you are and how you operate.Where your website is important to introduce who you are and what you offer, a well written, on-point and industry savvy blog can tell them much more about you.

As a PR strategy, a blog can help connect you with your audience on a more personal level. Writing in a way that shows your human face in a corporate world is likely to engage the reader and engender a loyal following. Sometimes, the pen really can be more mighty than the sword.

Engage, entertain and educate, you can do all this in a blog, offering a conversational insight your company’s character, while forging a meaningful and lasting relationship with your audience. Regular blogs also show that you have your finger on the industry pulse, keeping you relevant and your customers informed.

Research, Target, Reach your Audience

Marketing is not just as simple as filling any available space with adverts, videos or promotional content. Online ads, print promotions or video versions of your message all need to be read by your desired audiences, not just arbitrarily thrown at anyone who may be online or reading a magazine.

Part of a good PR campaign is researching not only who your target audience is, but finding out their tastes and preferences; where they spend time online, what they read, how they take in information (online, print, television) and where they are most likely to respond to your advertising. Misplaced ads are often a waste of time, reaching the wrong people and missing your audience by a mile.

With genuine research, usable data and a well thought out strategy, however, you can maximize your exposure among your actual audience. Hoping for the best is one thing, but creating a campaign to achieve the best is much more beneficial…for your brand and your audience.

Reputation Matters, Manage Yours

Strong sales can be a result of many things. Innovative marketing campaigns, brand awareness in the marketplace and, of course, strong leadership in your sales department. It can also be a result of a strong reputation, something which can take a long time to build, but only moments to destroy.

This is why it is imperative to manage and control your online reputation, avoid a reputation crisis and always be ready to answer, diffuse and remove undeserved criticism about you or your brand. If it posted without reply or left to garner more attention that it warrants, one bad review can quickly overshadow hundreds of glowing references.

In the current climate, reputation matters more than some appreciate and protecting, as well as enhancing yours is important for your bottom line. As any good PR company will advise you, reputation management can be an important a part of any campaign.

With consumers’ ability to write instant reviews on your site, offer consumer reviews on third party sites, send our tweets or posts about your brand, staying aware of what people are saying and responding appropriately is critical.

Promote with Precision

In a world when consumer attention spans seem to get shorter by the day, keeping the attention of even your most loyal customers can be tough. Promotional marketing, done well, is one way of ensuring that your social media output or marketing materials do not go stale or lose audience interest. The days of blanket promotion are over and the time for precision promotions is now.

Of course, there is a fine line between well timed, enticing brand promotions and bombarding your customers with unwanted messages or mail blasts. As any PR expert will tell you, sales can thrive with well executed campaigns but dive with poorly judged tactics.

As with any PR campaign, timing and balance can be everything. Loyalty to a brand, however strong, can always be strengthened but it can just as easily be diminished. Knowing your customers likes, dislikes, preferences and pet hates will enable you to use promotions without overextending their goodwill. With so much data available, a good PR campaign should be able to promote with precision and achieve greater results.