How Public Relations Can Turbo-Charge Your Marketing Campaign

Say you saw a commercial on a local TV segment or you read an ad in a local magazine that featured a physician. The ad or commercial told you why the physician is so wonderful, what he or she specializes in, the services offered, etc.   Now let’s say you read an article about a different physician in the same field. The article profiles her and tells you about how great she is with patients, her success rate and tells you her story. Which one would impress you the most, the news story or the paid commercial or ad?   My bet is that the article, the news story is the one you’d pay the most attention to.

Why? The ad is informative, but we all know it’s paid for and the physician either wrote or okayed the copy and the images. The article is a news story. It is a third person account. It has been vetted by a writer and an editor.  It’s the news and therefore carries with it validation and credibility.

So how do PR and media relations help turbo charge your overall marketing campaign?  It is perhaps the most effective way you can build your brand.  An effective public relations campaign offers you:

1) Prominence By Association – Suppose you are being featured on an evening news segment.  Your interview could be placed in between an interview with a major political figure and a feature on a new, life saving medical discovery.  You are now in the company of the newsworthy, and because of that association, you have suddenly leaped ahead of your competition.  You and your company are now news.

2) Mass Communication – You and your message will enter homes and businesses, not as an ad or commercial, but as news story.  .  You will not be viewed as a hard sell, or as simply another commercial or ad to ignore. And, by being featured in the media, your business, service, or product will reach (depending on whether the story is local, regional, or national) hundreds, thousands, and possibly millions of people.

3) Validation – Anyone who sees your interview, or reads your feature in print will perceive you as an expert.  Instead of being viewed as someone who is trying to sell them a product or service, you will be perceived as an authority.  When people seek you out, they will be seeking you out as a specialist, as someone who the media deems important enough to be featured in the press.  Not only have you avoided spending thousands of dollars in advertising, you have gained something no amount of advertising could ever buy you – credibility.

You can now utilize your PR coverage in your other marketing efforts from social media and blogging to direct marketing and advertising.  It will bring the credibility and validation that only public relations can offer.

Copyright © Anthony Mora 2012