Public relations Archives

Starting from the Ground Up: PR’s Pivotal Role in Building a New Business

December 4, 2020 By ECPR Team Leave a Comment

So, you launched a new company. Now what? The obvious answer to this question is “sign a client,” or, “build a strong customer base.” But, getting to that point involves a framework of smart choices made within budget. And, if you ask us, one of the smartest and most cost-efficient decisions a start-up can make is adopting a public relations (PR) strategy at the onset of the company’s conception.

To clarify, we are not recommending a fully-integrated, multi-level marketing plan for a start-up or newly launched company as the very first step. Though we’ve been outspoken on the fruitful benefits a fully-integrated marketing plan offers, we understand there is a time and place for everything. And, right now, you are simply trying to launch a company without exhausting your existing, and sometimes limited, resources.

When pathways to funds are narrow, every dollar dedicated to marketing is precious and must be part of an overall plan to achieve brand awareness. Starting with a strong PR plan can be immensely valuable when limited budget is available, but it is important to note that the time to dedicate a budget towards PR for a new company is at the onset. Once a budget is determined, the steps taken to strategically position your new company using PR can be relatively simple. As you kick-off your PR strategy and baseline budget, part of your future roadmap should be preplanning to supplement campaigns and equipping your branding with an enduring budget, both of which can keep your PR efforts on track after you lay the groundwork.

What is public relations, and what makes it so valuable?

Public relations is a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics. For businesses with strategic and well-managed PR plans, ROI includes developing reliable trust and authentic engagement with customers, clients, sales leads, buyers, decision-makers, industry leaders, influencers, the media, and other integral contacts, connections and constituencies.

One of the most rewarding and value-driven benefits a new company can achieve from PR is the early development of trust amongst its target audiences. Earned, unpaid publicity as a result of sound PR activations, such as influencer marketing, thought-leadership events, customer and client retention programs, and more, can act as a conduit of trust in a respective industry. All of this typically more cost-effective than other methods of marketing, such as advertising.

When put head-to head with other marketing options, and judged strictly on their individual merits from the perspective of a start-up looking for the value proposition in marketing, PR emerges as the smart and strategic choice.

According to Nielsen, a global marketing research firm, PR is nearly 90% more effective than advertising. It was found that expert content marketing, which is earned, unpaid publicity achieved through PR, lifted familiarity 88 percent more than branded content, such as traditional advertisements or advertorials.

This data may have one asking why PR yields higher trust and more credibility than paid media. When publicity is secured with a print or online news source as a result of PR, it means an independent party has vetted and verified the information they have received through your PR efforts about your company. It also signifies that they have deemed it valuable information for their readers. With advertising alone, a company’s message is not necessarily vetted or verified through sometimes stringent editorial standards, but rather purchased.

That said, we are not against paid media by any stretch of the imagination. As a matter of fact, uniting traditional PR with advertising can be incredibly valuable. However, in order for advertising to work, there must be an engaging, memorable and repetitious strategy in place. Combining advertising with other marketing components, such as PR, can help when building brand equity; this is because implementing unified marketing disciplines has a record of producing growth and value for companies.

If a start-up company has the available budget at the onset to fund an integrated marketing plan that encapsulates both PR and advertising, we would say such a strategy is more than advisable. But, if a company finds itself with a tighter, more restrictive marketing budget and has to pick between PR and advertising based on ROI alone, we recommend the former.

In practice, how will PR help build brand awareness and establish my company’s identity in its respective industry?

PR allows a company to communicate with its desired audiences in a way that creates value and triggers engagement. If done successfully, PR can help create buzz about your company, which will, in turn, translate to new customers and clients, and build fresh relationships in a respective industry. PR can also help bring in liquidity from new investors and create interest from prospective employees.

A start-up’s first goal should be introducing its product or service to the marketplace. When using traditional methods of PR, one of the most reliable platforms to make this introduction to target audiences is earned media.

When using PR strategy to produce unpaid, earned media, a start-up needs to look inward and answer a key question: What is your company doing better or differently than your competitors that uniquely positions itself in the eyes of potential clients or customers? Once this is determined, companies can leverage this information using a consistent PR program.

If you are a business-to-consumer (B2C) or direct-to-consumer (D2C) start-up, it might be wise to consider launching influencer marketing programs, in which influencers are given complimentary product in exchange for the potential of publicity of your company. In this unpaid influencer agreement, your company could send an influencer the traditional “PR Pack,” which is essentially a sampling of your own product, in addition to some marketing materials explaining who your company is, and what it is you do.

If strategized correctly, the influencer would then post about your product or service on their social media channels; blog about your company; name-drop your product, service or company in a podcast; or simply mention your product or service to another tastemaker in your respective industry. Though the latter is more difficult to track, and you may not see the benefits of such an interaction right away, this word of mouth marketing can be highly beneficial for your start-up in the long term.

The value of reaching your publics through their preferred influencers cannot be stressed enough. Your start-up and brand is completely new to your desired target audiences; it is not uncommon for someone to react with initial skepticism when they are introduced to a brand-new product or service about which they have never heard.

Leveraging the voice of influencers not only puts your new product or service in front of your target audiences, but it allows said audiences to trust that it has been vetted by the influencer. In this scenario, PR can also be aligned with media relations, should any news source pick up a story about an influencer posting, writing or speaking about your product, service or company. These two elements (public relations and media relations) in tandem with each other can be extremely valuable for your start-up, given the double-layer of trust through earned media and influencer relations.

Like any facet of marketing, with PR, it is important to create long-term strategies. Make sure to facilitate dialogues and relationships with various influencers within your industry on more than one occasion, and throughout the duration of a year. This will build lasting trust and consistency with influencers and in turn, your target audiences.

Implementing a strong PR strategy can propel the standing of your start-up in more ways than one; positioning your company in the right place and time through PR can attract investors and talented employees.

Through consistent publicity secured through PR, potential investors can vet the viability of your company. Perhaps one of the most advantageous effects PR has on a new company is making it seem even more established in a given industry. It also enhances its trajectory in becoming a “staple” brand. After all, most investors do not like taking risks with new companies that appear volatile or ones they have never heard of. On the investment front, a solid PR game plan can potentially make a company that has existed only for a few months seem as if they have existed for a few years.

PR is also a great way to attract talent and grow a start-up’s team. Positive publicity as a result of PR strategy can be a huge boost for hiring and getting the right people to seek employment with your company. Similar to investors, the majority of prime job candidates stray away from companies that appear unestablished or are unheard of.

Getting started: Implementing public relations strategy as a new company.

It is no secret that starting up a new business venture is tough, and only the top five percent of all new companies last more than 12 months. However, start-ups with PR programs at the onset have a creative and strategic advantage to companies without the strategy and service support from PR agencies to improve their odds.

As is mentioned in places throughout this blog, we would also find it a wise decision to consider implementing a PR program aligned with other facets of marketing, such as media relations, social media or advertising, that comprise a robust strategy and that is vigorously executed through outreach, campaigns and more. But, of course, this is dictated by the budget allocated towards marketing.

The importance of beginning with a PR agency that offers Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, Threat (SWOT) Analysis and strategic planning cannot be understated. These processes help clearly define goals and evaluate opportunities for success within given market(s). Learn more about our public relations services here, and contact us to get started on your plan today.

A Calculated, but Energetic Race to the Finish Line

September 23, 2020 By ECPR Team Leave a Comment

If there existed a single expression to describe the marketing situation for businesses across the globe right now, it would probably be that “the show must go on.” And, it should.

Backtracking to mid-March, with uncertainty abound, many businesses temporarily froze their 2020 marketing campaigns, assuming they could take up where they left off in a quick two or three months. However, it is now six months later, and businesses now realize the need for enduring marketing communications during what continues (for now) to be one of the most difficult eras for business. Thus, the mad dash to facilitate remaining 2020 marketing initiatives has begun.

If this scenario applies to you, you are not alone. It has been an unpredictable year to say the least, and many other companies are in the exact same situation. After all, no marketing plan for 2020 could have predicted or anticipated our current circumstances.

At Eberly & Collard Public Relations, we are fully confident that 2021 will be a great year for our clients and businesses in general. We see the burgeoning 2021 energy and advanced activities among marketing directors. But, to finish the present year as strongly as possible, it would be naïve to be so far-sighted that one overlooks business and marketing goals remaining for 2020.

For those striving to make the most of their remaining 2020 marketing objectives, we have compiled a short-list of various components that are cost-efficient, creative approaches to generate interest and potential return from your target audiences.

1. Continue concentrating your brand image and increasing your share of voice through owned media.

If unclear, owned media is defined as digital and web-based content of which a company has complete branding control and ownership. Examples of owned media are a company’s email campaigns, blogs, digital brochures, websites, and social media channels. These platforms are streamlined, cost-effective ways to not only improve SEO and increase your online share of voice amongst competitors, but they give your company a combined platform to deliver regular updates to your target audiences and followers during times of instability.

In a less-than-ideal economy, with plenty of distractions caused by current events, generating regular and scheduled content for current and future audiences helps demonstrate your focus on your company’s product or service despite disruptions. It also shows others that you are staying the course despite a sometimes-treacherous business climate.

A simple way to demonstrate this focus is an inward approach to owned media in marketing. Right now, there are a lot of headlines about mass layoffs, failing businesses and more grim news related to company personnel – none of which we need to tell you more about than you already know. So, through your owned media, begin highlighting what is going right for your business, your industry and your clients’ industries. Add to this content about the ways in which you are lending value and support to your clients or customers. Infuse key words your targets use to search for solutions and resources online.

This owned, strategic digital and social media content will not only help generate impactful SEO and further cement your brand image, but it also gives potential clients or customers an opportunity to see where you stand as a business in a distressed economy. “Radio silence,” so to speak, brings assumptions of inactivity, or even worse, dissolution, during times like these.

However, when we have encouraged owned media content development in the past six months, we are usually asked, “Is it appropriate to develop regular social media or other owned content in the middle of a pandemic?”

This question is neither unreasonable, nor is it without warrant. Though, we would say this content is appropriate in theory, any content that may inadvertently address economic issues can be tricky to write for a non-marketer, or anyone for that matter. So, when implementing this example of owned media, one must be sensitive to the needs and attitudes of their own employees, as well as their customers and clients.

If you have been hesitant to develop regular, weekly or daily owned media content for your company’s platforms, right now might be a good time to begin. This effort in Q4 facilitates streamlined, on-brand messaging and can even help align your internal marketing goals as you head into 2021.

When creatively concepting this owned media content, be sure to review challenges your sales and marketing team faced in the second and third quarters to uncover priority messaging as 2020 draws closers to an end. For example, many business-to-consumer (B2C) businesses experienced a decline in brick-and-mortar activity throughout 2020, while markets made an obvious shift in the direction of e-commerce.

Heading into 2021, strategic messaging supporting your e-commerce capabilities remains important, but use the challenge of in-person business as a focal point to motivate your marketing team and prepare for a day when business is not done as much virtually. We will return to a “normal” world at some point in 2021, so concepting a comprehensive, yet approachable, marketing strategy directed to consumer or customer audiences for late-Q2, Q3 and Q4 in 2021 will be beneficial.

2. Persist in the output of ideas and messaging from c-suite leadership through communication channels in public relations.

Good corporate leadership comes with a premium, always, but especially amid an economic and public health crisis. So, it is important your company leadership is strategically positioned through traditional – but modified for current times – public relations.

It has been said that the pandemic has accelerated many facets of business, education and healthcare by about 10 years. Tried-and-true public relations opportunities can still provide company leadership and brands with irreplaceable benefits. Though budgets geared towards event-based marketing have been redirected, there should still be some room left to position your company’s leadership via 2020 digital and virtual events, and 2021 in-person events.

As events began to cancel in and around mid-to-late March, many companies assumed their speaker’s bureau marketing budget was essentially rendered useless. Some companies even transferred the funds they would typically spend on traditional public relations opportunities into different parts of the budget. However, events never went away; they simply moved to a digital platform.

One after another, countless industry events were able to adapt to a digital setting and many featured a lineup of notable speakers. Though it is hard to compare an in-person event with its digital equivalent, many events were able to please attendees with informative sessions and digital networking opportunities. Digital marketing speaking opportunities are one of the most current and timely ways to get your leadership in the eyes of potential clients and/or customers. This strategic positioning is also cost-efficient; when an event has no physical preference, the likelihood of steep travel fees, in addition to spending days out of the office, is very slim.

We also understand that securing speaking or panel opportunities for executive leadership is not an overnight process and may take months of preparation. So, if you have not yet begun planning for 2020 speaking opportunities, it might be too late to both find and secure an event for your executive leaders.

But, this is not a “dead-end” situation for your marketing goals and executive leadership. Situations like these often call for creative solutions, and when trying to be as budget- efficient as possible, sometimes the best strategy comes from using the resources already at your disposal.

For example, consider creating a podcast that gives your c-suite leadership opportunities to keep your company’s shareholders, stakeholders and clients abreast of current as and planned goals as well as remaining activities, resources and news for 2020.

Podcasts are not only another great example of owned media, but they are a relatively low-maintenance, budget-friendly way of vocally and strategically positioning your c-suite leaders amongst and above competitors. After all, the only items needed for a podcast, besides your c-suite’s knowledge, practice, and messaging strategies, are a reliable microphone, a laptop, editing software, and access to an audio-streaming service.

When writing scripts or identifying talking points for these podcast episodes, make sure positive sentiments about the state of your respective industry and business remain the leading theme of the messaging, while still offering real-life, real-time tips and ideas for your clients and customers to attain those final 2020 successes. This accessible platform can be a resourceful asset to your clientele, but it can also help internally codify your own Q4 marketing objectives for streamlined performance.

3. Invest in sustained and increased digital marketing programs and strategic SEO deployments.

This past spring, most of the corporate world went digital. But, just because physical and more traditional marketing components will eventually return to the ways in which we do business, we recommend keeping your SEO game plan at the same pace as it has been (or could have been) throughout 2020. Increasing your digital marketing efforts now, to better define and execute your 2021 SEO strategy, is ranked as one of the most significant efforts a marketing manager should maintain front and center.

We have mentioned this in previous blogs, but screen time is up exponentially in 2020. Though it may be assumed this screen time will edge off in the coming months, we do not think it will decrease dramatically. We believe this to be true even once there is a vaccine for COVID-19. For those with the thinking it will be diffused post-pandemic, think again.

At this point, people have been fully assimilated to a digital world that can be accessed at their fingertips, and they will likely not revert to pre-pandemic methods of marketing and media consumption.

You will want to continue building effective SEO that allows potential clients or customers to learn about your business online. Once they are digitally introduced to your business on the web, you will want to be able to clearly inform visitors of your brand and business, as well as attract new visitors through well-written and developed copy on your website. This is essential if you are looking for a strong finish to 2020, especially when current operations for businesses across the board return to more standard procedures.

Even if your company does not operate brick-and-mortar storefronts or offices, we would still recommend building your SEO for attracting new clients to your business. Right now, as most business is done digitally, a company’s digital and online presence is just as important, if not more important, than its physical presence.

One of the most valuable tools for building SEO at a time like this is through regular, relevant company content posted to your website. This loops back in with our previous point of owned content, but we cannot stress it enough that strategically written content on your website is the top driver of search engine rankings.

Creating a branded digital presence through regular website content can increase traffic to your website. Thus, you will want to create a strong keyword building program to first identify the interests and motives of your target audiences, and then target them through digital website content aligned with their needs.

Once you create an initial schedule for branded website content, it is vitally important to maintain its frequency and relevancy when posted on your website. It is also important to make sure the SEO-driven writing reads naturally and is not too technical for readers.

To win the remaining months of 2020, and head into 2021 with momentum, you could even create a marketing platform that is a hybrid of the points we have outlined in this blog.

Begin creating or adding some form of owned media content, such as a weekly blog or company newsletter, and include well-ranking keyword phrases in your new content. To give this content an impactful presence, have a c-suite leader or the business owner be the author each week or month.

As we have already mentioned, inactivity on digital platforms can make potential clients and customers jump to inaccurate conclusions about your business. By having a company leader echo key messaging about the standing of your business, all the while working in strategic SEO keywords on a regular (weekly or monthly) basis, you are setting yourself up for success to round-out the year and heading into 2021. Not only could this method help you attract and attain new business, it can also allow you to discover the 2020 evolution of your brand identity.

By consciously deciding on a regular basis what your lingering marketing objectives are and how to reenact them, you can essentially materialize remaining 2020 goals that were put on hold or slowed earlier in the year. Plus, what you deem as not an immediate priority for 2020 can be queued for 2021; it is never too early to begin planning a marketing content calendar and strategy.

The year 2020 has been a roller coaster ride for many businesses, and very few sectors of the economy were prepared for or immune to the year’s economic and health woes. However, though it may have felt like it on the darker days, the world did not stop and the need for action-oriented marketing certainly remains a key factor for the all-important annual results.

We are looking forward to 2021 being a great year, along with all the energy and innovation it will likely bring. In the meantime, if you are looking to reignite your 2020 marketing plan to finish out the year strong and launch a results-focused 2021 with more momentum than ever, contact our team today to assist your race to the finish line.

Changing of the Tides: The Rise of the Subscription-based Revenue Model, and what it means for your Brand or Business

August 21, 2020 By ECPR Team Leave a Comment

We are currently living in the era of disruptive innovation. Though this phrase has been attributed to the success of various businesses, people and ideas over the past decade, the idea of disruption has been around for a very long time. And, in some cases, the roots for current disruption have been hiding in plain sight.

Take for example the rise of media companies switching to subscription-based business models from advertising-based models. The idea of subscribing to a form of media, or any product or service, for that matter, is not a new concept. However, magazines and publishing groups across the globe are now using this age-old business model to re-energize their content, engage on a more intimate level with their audiences, and, ultimately, generate recurring revenue.

In our client fields, trade and consumer publications alike are shifting their business structures to better accommodate readers looking for more streamlined, focused content that goes directly to their inboxes or doorsteps. Exclusivity, too, plays a part in assessing the value and the intellectual or social equity that comes with having selected, tailored content for a small fee each month – everyone likes being the smartest person in a room, and paying each month for exclusive content assists them carry this equity with them wherever they go.

It makes all the sense in the world why we have evolved our content delivery preferences to adapt to the current subscription-based world in which we live. After all, millions of people wake up each morning and cook breakfast using groceries they received from Blue Apron or Amazon Fresh; catch up on their preferred cable news programs using Hulu; drive to work with their favorite podcast or music from Spotify; get to work and check out emails from specific industry-based newsletter memberships; and finish the day with streaming-giant Netflix. Sound familiar?

Subscription-based services and media are simply ingrained in our daily lives at this point, and it has been very well documented. Stories about the topic have been examined and re-examined by business and tech publications across the globe, but many of them have failed to address some key questions:

What will this transition imply for brands and businesses still hoping to achieve the benefits of more traditional means of advertising and editorial publicity?

At Eberly & Collard Public Relations, a full-service marketing agency, we continue to advise our clients through strategic ad buys. We are also constantly on the lookout for sound editorial opportunities with publications sold on newsstands and published for free (for the reader, at least) online. Though there has been messaging from top business and tech publications that the failure and demise of advertising is imminent, we would not entirely agree with that sentiment; rather, we expect many publications in the near future to adjust to a hybrid-type model, offering free content with ads and subscription-based content. We also think this formula could be highly beneficial for many types of businesses.

Trends in business tend to be fast spreading, and they often trickle down, so to speak, into other sectors and markets. There are a few subscription-based business model examples that prove this point, like Spotify’s business model. If you would like, you can download the Spotify app for free on your phone, tablet, laptop, etc., and stream music that plays ads every three to four songs. However, you can also create a Spotify Premium subscription account, pay a fee every month, and listen to as much music as you want with zero ads. Not to mention, with Spotify Premium, the user has certain abilities to create exclusive playlists, have tailored music selections generated by Spotify, and more.

You may ask why we are explaining how Spotify works. This revenue model, for businesses whose primary product is content, has found its way to several publications we work with every day. These are publications for which we secure our client’s editorial coverage and buy ads. So, what do we think when one of the most popular and highly regarded consumer interiors publications, Architectural Digest (AD), creates a secondary, subscription-based site, AD PRO?

For starters, we think this is an excellent move by Architectural Digest. And, for our current and future clients in the interior design and residential design products space, what better way to deliver streamlined, exclusive news to a trade audience via AD PRO? Similarly, one can utilize Architectural Digest in tandem with AD PRO to allow consumers to take a look at your newest projects or products by grabbing a print copy of the magazine, with ads, on newsstands. Not to mention, good, subscription-based content from AD PRO can inadvertently generate better content for Architectural Digest and attract new readers to purchase print and read online for free.

The reason being? Subscriptions create a better product. With AD PRO, the editors at Architectural Digest are delivering exclusive, streamlined content and resources without too much outside influence from advertisers. The effect is quality, interesting and insightful content for those who subscribe.

AD PRO’s classification and merit creates an advantageous effect for every Architectural Digest stakeholder, including the advertisers’ content. By paying the yearly or monthly subscription for AD PRO, you are allowing the editors to create high-quality, high-level content at an elevated frequency and accessibility. This, in turn, translates to an increase in the quality of Architectural Digest’s solid content, whether that be free content online, or print content consumers can purchase on newsstands.

Okay, but how does this apply to my business?

Subscription-based content can lead to increased brand trust for your business. It is known that earned, editorial content is trusted at a higher level than advertising content. While this is certainly no revelation of ours, earned media from subscription-based articles comes with a level of trust even higher than traditional editorial coverage. As we mentioned, with subscription-based content providers, you will not necessarily need to worry about competing with advertisers for editorial coverage and space. So, because of this notion, readers have become more inclined to trust stories and news from publications who have switched to, or created, a subscription-based revenue model.

If you are a smaller brand or business with an effective, but small, advertising budget, this transition from advertising-based revenue evens the playing field for securing editorial coverage as well. When vying for page space with a subscription-based publication/website, you will not have to compete with companies who gain editorial traction via large ad buys.

So, how can I begin to take advantage of subscription-based publications or newsletters in my respective industry?

More and more traditional media outlets are making a full or partial transition to the subscription-based revenue model each day. With advertising budgets shrinking as of recent, some publications will need to switch to this model out of necessity. But, the so-called “content machine” is always churning, so despite a lack of ad dollars, do not interpret this shift as publications’ output decreasing.

Publications that can gracefully and successfully make the transition from ad-based revenue will still be hungry for content, and there may even more opportunities for your brand or business to secure editorial coverage. If navigated correctly, this transition, or combination, at least, could end up unlocking endless opportunities for your brand or business to gain exposure and trust alike.

So, start thinking today about how you can leverage this new media landscape to achieve greater exposure to your target audiences. After all, we are living in the “Age of Specialization,” and in many ways the new wave of subscription-based content further cements the notion that more specific, content targeting is one of the most valuable assets a business can have.

If you’d like to learn more about how we’re evolving our advertising strategies to adapt to the rise subscription-based business models in media, and how this game plan could change the ways in which your content is received by target audiences, contact us today.

The Unlocked Potential of Instagram for B2B Companies

July 21, 2020 By ECPR Team Leave a Comment

Instagram’s permanence as one of the key elements of a multi-channel or omni-channel marketing strategy is not undocumented, to say the least. Through a quick Google search using the term “Instagram for businesses,” one can find about 7.9 billion search results; when amending the term to “Instagram for B2B business,” however, results drop significantly, causing some to wonder, should business-to-business (B2B) companies be using Instagram?

If you ask us, Instagram is one of the most accessible ways to reach valuable audiences – even if that audience includes other businesses. According to a recent study, there are more than 25 million businesses on Instagram. Additionally, 71 percent of all businesses in the United States use Instagram. Now, it is unclear in these statistics what portion of the 25 million business accounts are B2B companies versus business-to-consumer (B2C) or direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands. However, it should not (and does not) matter; through the aforesaid statistics, the notion of B2B companies not being on Instagram is simply baseless. B2B companies that could be your next customer or client are using Instagram, and they exist as an audience that needs to be unlocked through a strong social media strategy.

Before we delve further into how to leverage Instagram for B2B companies, we would be remiss if we were to not address one of the common objections to the platform we have heard all too often. It is not false that Instagram’s audience is younger. As of June 2020, the average user of Instagram (whether a personal account or operator of a business account) was 30 years old. Instagram undoubtably is the chosen social media platform for millennials and millennial owned-and-operated companies. But, these facts should not scare you away from using the platform for your business.

Millennials are currently the largest generation in the nation’s workforce, as they likely will be for another 30 years. The very youngest millennial is 24 years old, meaning the vast majority are well into their 30s, approaching their 40s, and beginning to occupy key roles of important companies. So, millennials are no longer a possible target audience to reach for your business – they are, in some ways, the primary target audience. And, what better and more immediate way to reach these younger audiences, now occupying decision-making roles at their companies, than on a platform in which they are familiar?

Beyond adapting to the current media landscape and adopting new methodology to connect with key decision makers, grow your businesses and increase sales, Instagram for B2B companies to immediately inject their target audiences with key information in an extraordinarily cost-effective manner. After all, it doesn’t cost budget to create an Instagram business account and manage its content.

We could go on and on about the value Instagram holds, and will continue to hold, as a key element of each of our clients’ marketing strategies. However, instead of telling you more about the ever-rewarding elements of Instagram, we thought it would be best to illustrate how to use Instagram for B2B marketing by taking a look at a few companies who we believe are leveraging unpaid social media content the right way on this essential social media channel.

HubSpot

HubSpot, a software company that provides other businesses with valuable tools to implement and track marketing campaigns, conduct sales, manage customer service, and more, is a B2B company with a strong and creative presence on Instagram.

In the simplest of terms, HubSpot’s primary service is data collection and Customer Relations Management (CRM). Though, this service is not what keeps customers and clients; there are many B2B companies that provide similar, if not the same, services. For companies such as HubSpot to have a competitive edge over the competition, its leaders find ways to create added value both for their current and future customers.

Instagram is a highly useful tool for this very purpose; it can offer current customers an added value element, essentially offering its services at no cost in a way that is concise and easy to digest, and it shows future customers the quality of work that can be theirs if they used HubSpot’s services.

HubSpot’s use of Instagram Highlights, which can be created using specific topics / genres to archive Instagram Stories that would typically disappear in 24 hours, is especially unique. By posting easy-to-digest, helpful tips that come packaged in creative graphics, HubSpot is delivering to its current customers value-added insight. This additional insight does not cost the customer a penny and is just as accessible (if not more accessible) than scheduling a meeting with a representative from HubSpot. For HubSpot, this extremely helpful function offered to their followers, current customers and future customers does not negatively affect revenue.In addition to HubSpot’s strategic use of Instagram Highlights and Stories, their organic (i.e. unpaid) posts are also a great case study in how B2B businesses can utilize unpaid social media via Instagram. Throughout their feed, HubSpot creates helpful, creative and encouraging content that does not sell their software, but promotes their brand as a whole. The Instagram content is also highly relevant, and not over-the-top promotional content in a less-than-ideal economy.

Jamestown

Another good example of a B2B company leveraging Instagram to retain current contracts while attracting new tenants, is Jamestown, a national real estate investment and property management company. Jamestown’s unpaid Instagram content creation gives potential clients and customers a look at their brand DNA without having to read a mission statement filled with detectably insincere and promotional marketing content.

In all industries whose work primarily serves the so-called “built environment,” sustainability has been, and will be, a major deciding factor for new business. Jamestown appears as a company committed to sustainability as soon as their profile is opened. The user’s eyes are first drawn to their Highlights, where one can view all the steps Jamestown has taken, via their Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility

Report, to ensure their properties are sustainable in ecological and community-based contexts. This is an especially attractive and effectively positioned selling point for companies looking to have aligned views with the people in which they do business.Jamestown’s Instagram also tells a story of how a B2B business that exclusively sells an in-person experience is operating in the middle of a pandemic, when it is recommended people spend their time away from other people in enclosed spaces.

So, how does a commercial real estate and property management company continue to generate revenue and attract new tenants in this socially distanced economy? The answer can be easily uncovered by spending just a minute on their Instagram feed: they do not promote product or service; they promote culture.After a quick scroll, you can easily find that Jamestown is profiling all the wonderful work their tenants are doing – don’t you want to be a part of this culture of innovation by becoming a Jamestown tenant? This is the question Jamestown is hoping you are asking yourself.

In sum, Instagram is a great platform to let others know your company culture without needing to set foot in an office.

Eberly & Collard Public Relations

Our continued use of unpaid Instagram for B2B clients lies within our own success on the platform. At Eberly & Collard Public Relations, we use Instagram for many of the same reasons as the previous examples, but it primarily allows us to provide our current and potential audiences with samples of our expertise in a concise, bit-sized chunks.

The amount of work that goes into each case study we publish on our website is rather immense. The case studies are very thorough and involve various creative processes, such as packaging our data into unique, visually appealing graphics that must be informative, but are not fatigue-inducing.Though these case studies are many times viewed by users organically entering our website, whether through google or another search engine, Instagram allows us another channel to deliver this information to potential clients. And, since these case studies are often lengthy, Instagram gives us a platform to creatively package and deliver them to our followers in a way that is not inconvenient for them to view and is rewarding in some way.

We like to think of posting bite-sized versions of our case studies in the same way an ice cream shop thinks about offering samples; it’s low risk (you won’t go broke giving out ice cream samples) and the reward can exponentially increase revenue (new, and possibly returning, customers or clients). So, take some time to show prospects and customers the top-of-the-line service you’d be able to offer them through creative, succinct Instagram posts that offer a look at what your business can do for them.

Gensler

Gensler’s Instagram feed and Highlights illustrate a trend we think all engineering, planning and design firms should adopt. Every step of the design-build process involves a great deal of collaboration that can rarely be created without an in-person element. However, we live in challenging times, and successful businesses must adapt.

Gensler is utilizing its unpaid Instagram Stories and Highlights to showcase to their B2B clients exactly how well they are adapting to this new way of collaboration, by highlighting the fact their employees’ capabilities are not suppressed from working from home, but rather, enhanced.How could you apply something like this to your own business? Show your clients and customers it has been business as usual by encouraging employees to take pictures of their at-home workspace, tagging your company’s handle and then adding their WFH experiences to your company’s Instagram story.

This gives potential customers or clients an idea of company culture. By visibly empowering your employees by highlighting their capabilities to produce at a high level from home, you are showing key target audiences that nothing, not even a pandemic, can slow your company from delivering high-level products or services.

General Electric

Though some may only know General Electric (GE) as a manufacturer of home appliances, GE’s scope of work extends far beyond a home’s kitchen, and into aerospace, power grid solutions, healthcare, and more. So, B2B sales are a very important and large revenue stream for the company.

As COVID-19 began to ramp up in late-March and early-April, many feared the effects the virus would have on production and the supply chain. Numerous companies that are essential to the U.S. power grid, aviation, etc., were worried some of their suppliers would not be able to produce and deliver vital products.

General Electric, however, made its message of resilience and persistence clear via their Instagram channel. In viewing GE’s Instagram feed, the company has been focusing on the ways their employees have continued to make innovations in manufacturing throughout the pandemic, especially as it relates to healthcare and medical devices.

If you are a manufacturer or supplier, Instagram can be an easy-to-use tool for your company to show your partners and current customers you are still working around the clock to deliver on orders. GE wanted to make clear through their unpaid Instagram content that nothing could slow down their innovation, even while many are working from home.Unpaid Instagram for B2B companies can be a gamechanger in the cost-efficient economy we are currently working in right now. This organic content, which can be created in-house or by a fully integrated marketing agency, is a relatively low-risk, low-cost way to attract new business, and retain current business.

Instagram is no longer a novelty social media platform for lifestyle, travel and consumer brands; it has fully cemented itself as the most influential social media platform for businesses across the globe, some say, even more so than LinkedIn. The reason being? LinkedIn helps individual people connect, but its functionality is not very friendly for businesses. Instagram allows businesses, made up of people, connect with other businesses and people, in a streamlined, and sometimes intimate, manner.

Contact us when you are ready to make a strategic difference in how your business utilizes tools such as Instagram. At Eberly & Collard Public Relations, we guide our clients on an upward trajectory to uncover and harness the power of both paid and unpaid social media to turn internet website voyeurs into real customers or clients.

Which Generates More Sales Leads, Advertising or Public Relations?

January 31, 2017 By Don Eberly 2 Comments

Buying ads in print B-to-B or B-to-C magazines and websites is a good way to tell people the name of your company, mention your products, and communicate your phone number and website address. Doesn’t sound all that bad, right? Well, consider this…

An active and strategic public relations plan does all of this, and more. With public relations, a third party (namely the media, magazines, newspapers, newsletters, etc.) informs your existing and potential customers or clients about your company, often with information that endorses your business and products. When editorial-based articles publish in print or online regarding you or your brand, people are naturally drawn to read and trust the information because it is reported to them by the editors of the publications, websites and blogs to which they subscribe. They trust the content in these print and online publications; otherwise, they wouldn’t be reading them in the first place.

Thus, having an active PR program, including press releases, articles, product photos, new project announcements, bios, company or corporate news briefs, and other branded content being submitted to the media on a consistent basis, is essential.

Ads Vs. PR?

To achieve a successful advertising plan, a budget of tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars is necessary, often reaching into the millions. Purchasing ad space in print publications or online comes with a hefty price tag; and, once the ad runs, your marketing outreach is finished. You then hope for the best. Will the few ads you were able to afford reach the right targets and give rise to new sales? Ultimately, all you can do at that point is wait out the budget year until new ad dollars are allocated to your marketing needs.

Conversely, the primary focus of public relations involves having your company news and thought-leadership information published in B-to-B and / or B-to-C print magazines and online a near-limitless number of times throughout the year, and for a much lesser budget. Since public relations leads to editors and other media members publishing content about companies and businesses, these stories remain relevant (and are read and re-read) far longer and more often than ads are seen and remembered.

After all, when is the last time you looked at a magazine or website and actually remembered specific products, professional services or brands you saw in the ads? However, you can probably recall articles you have read and photos you viewed which featured companies, product stories, project case-studies, development news, and industry professionals. Aren’t the articles and photos the reason you looked at the content anyway? Or, did you pick up the magazine or log onto the website just to look at the paid ads? Not likely.

Putting true public relations to work for your company is highly attainable. It is really just a matter of a strategic program plan and series of publicity campaigns with the help of a professional public relations firm, one that specializes in your industry. Public relations can become an ongoing marketing reality for your business, resulting in a tool that builds media endorsed content about you, your staff and your product or service at double or triple the frequency an ad budget could afford.

Compare Dollar for Dollar

When asking which has more monetary value, advertising or public relations, there is a basic formula to put a dollar value on a specific placement.

Advertising values are determined by the reach of a specific media outlet. The more people who read a publication, view a website, or watch a video or podcast, the higher the value of an ad buy. With this comes usually a very high expenditure since buying ad space is at a premium these days. On the other hand, the worth of public relations takes the value of advertising and builds upon it based on heightened impact and expanded interest on the parts of the readers or viewers.

Since public relations provides editorial and photo coverage of your products, service case-studies or news (published by editors and reporters), the result is third-party validation that your business does or offers what you say it does. The impression or result is considered three to five times higher than that of a paid advertisement.

Example: If a half-page ad (that runs one time) in a trade magazine costs $8,500, a half-page article or editorial in the same publication could be valued at up to $33,500. However, the cost for public relations, per article or placement, tends to be far less than purchasing the same amount of ad space.

PR Influences Sales

In the end, if your article / editorial publishes on the same page as a competitor’s advertisement, which do you think the reader would find more interesting and remember longer? Chances are they would not be able to recall the name of the business or information as seen in the ads. Even if some of do, only a certain level of brand awareness is formed. With articles and other public relations-based media coverage, brand equity is generated, again, because people have trust in the publication or website that reported the information or story.

According to the Public Relations Society of America, 8 out of 10 people remember (and want to learn more about) the companies, brand names, products, and services about which they read in articles or hear or view on air and online.

When a representative or spokesperson from your business is interviewed for on-air radio or television segments about an area of expertise, audiences become familiar with your company and its specializations. Podcost interviews also publicize your concentrations, practices and capabilities, as expressed by you or your appointed interviewee, while being endorsed by the interviewer. Certainly, preplanning and preparation are essential components to these and all interview types.

Which has more long-term value, advertising or public relations?

To answer this question, reflect upon your current sales and marketing situation: If your current ad buys are advancing your sales so much that your sales goals are not a concern or thought, keep buying only ads. But, if achieving the upcoming year’s sales goals and maximizing relationships that can lead to new customers or clients is on your mind this time of year, make a necessary change to the ways in which you market your products or services and begin to reach more targets.

Contact us for a free assessment of your public relations needs. We’ll show you how to utilize public relations to connect with more qualified contacts and build brand equity that generates leads. Learn more: www.ecpr.com.

Which Generates More Sales Leads, Advertising or Public Relations?

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