Why You Need Public Relations in Marketing
And the 11 Skills Your PR Manager Must Have
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As the digital services specialist for The Associated Press, I strategized for months with my co-workers to create AP Content Services, the content marketing division of the world’s largest news gathering institution. We spent hours deliberating over everything, down to the colors and text placements that would differentiate native advertising content from the news. We built out a content marketing division to deliver on mixed-media content creation and distribution projects for corporate clients. We created a winning pitchbook and began tackling RFPs. And none of our success would have been possible without public relations in marketing.
The Associated Press has a massive following across social media, but only a small portion of that audience is B2B, or brands that might invest in content marketing. So, in addition to running some digital ads and writing vaguely promotional AP blog content referencing the launch, we collaborated with a PR team to expand our reach. I wrote the press release, and together we booked interviews for leadership, guided conversations, and landed numerous prominent press placements.
And it wasn’t until the deluge of mainstream media commentary — from the likes of Poynter, The Drum and International Business Times — that the RFPs came rushing in. (Along with requests for content-based B2B partnerships.)
Why?
The Role of Public Relations Today
Even with the most imaginative content creators and most innovative distribution and promotional strategies, sometimes traditional digital marketing and digital advertising are not enough. Especially during a recession.
Many of today’s smart consumer brands are leveraging influencer marketing and user-generated content to (sometimes exponentially) amplify their reach on social media. But not every viral post leads to viral business success, and not every business lends itself to TikTok shorts. For these organizations, especially, modern-day PR is the best approach.
The facts are there, but I asked 25-year public relations veteran and thought leader Bill Byrne, managing director at Remedy PR, to explain. “No one brags they bought an ad, but they will showcase their PR placements,” and “studies have shown that 92% of consumers say they trust earned media over advertising,” he said.
As performance marketing and digital ad spends continue to become less effective as brands fight for the same audiences, the power of a strong PR program will become conspicuously important.
For Divendra Jaffar, who manages public relations for an innovative brand that builds CX training into the onboarding of every employee, PR can also complement digital marketing and customer experience efforts to improve brand reputation.
“Consumers look at brands they can trust and relate to personally,” he told me, and “PR is one of the most effective ways to engage with the public and humanize a company.”
Parry Headrick, famed PR expert and founder of Crackle, certainly agrees. “Forgoing PR and marketing during a down economy is like going on a hunger strike during a famine,” he shared via LinkedIn messenger.
Meanwhile, the (very popular) featured post on his LinkedIn profile reads:
PR isn’t media relations. PR isn’t writing press releases. PR isn’t writing bylines. PR isn’t analyst relations. PR isn’t measurement. PR isn’t messaging. PR isn’t crisis communications. PR isn’t media training. PR isn’t de-positioning competitors. PR isn’t thought leadership. PR isn’t event management. PR isn’t social media strategy. PR isn’t social media writing, calendaring & posting. PR isn’t a speaking program. PR isn’t an awards program… PR isn’t any one of these things. It’s *all of them* and many more… So the next time some LinkedIn ‘guru’ tells you that ‘PR is a dying industry,’ don’t take the bait.
How PR Works (An Example)
Just like employee experience and customer experience, success in PR relies (and has always relied) on:
- Relationship building
- Storytelling
- “Charm”
That’s why even ‘small brands’ can experience significant uplift from the right PR campaign.
Take Opus 40, for example. By developing the right narrative, illustrating it with the most compelling still and moving imagery, and identifying and communicating with the reporters who’ve covered similar subjects in the past, we were able to secure numerous and varied mainstream placements (such as The Washington Post, National Geographic, Lonely Planet, and HIGHSNOBIETY) for a local nonprofit sculpture park in Upstate New York. And now — with a much larger, international tourist audience and all those media relationships in place — the Opus 40 staff is able to continue the work without me.
As Edward Bernays, the father of PR, wrote seven decades ago:
The three main elements of public relations are practically as old as society: informing people, persuading people, or integrating people with people. Of course, the means and methods of accomplishing these ends have changed as society has changed.
11 Skills Every PR Professional Needs
At a time when consumer trust is waning, and expectations of personalization, empathy and authenticity have never been higher, wouldn’t it make sense to add a PR specialist to your digital marketing team? Yes. The answer is yes. We all need PR.
In this era, though, in addition to public relations and/or media relations experience, your public relations manager better also be skilled in:
- Branding
- Communications
- Digital advertising
- Social media marketing
- Influencer marketing
- Email and SMS marketing
- Content creation, including video (and AR/VR)
- Press releases and pitch scripts/templates
- Competitive and trends research and analysis
- Speechwriting and interview training/support
- Guest posting and backlinking
Need Help?
At Customer Engagement Insider, we specialize in content creation (as well as event planning and hosting) for the world’s most distinguished digital brands. Our goal: to generate leads that convert to high-value customer relationships.
Image Credits (in order of appearance)
- Photo by Bank Phrom on Unsplash: https://unsplash.com/photos/Tzm3Oyu_6sk
- Photo by Jacob Rice on Unsplash: https://unsplash.com/photos/Te-SO4pW9HU
- Photo by Unsplash+ in collaboration with Getty Images on Unsplash: https://unsplash.com/photos/i5JPeM6ee78
