Why invest in PR for long-term business growth

Why does PR matter?

Are you ready to transform your business from invisible to influential? Public Relations (PR) isn’t just about handling the press; it’s a strategic tool designed to enhance your brand’s visibility and influence. Let’s demystify PR and discover how it can deliver substantial returns for your business.

What is Public Relations (PR)?

At its core, PR is about managing your company’s reputation. It’s a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organisations and their target audience.

The strategic benefits of PR

• Opens dialogue: PR is a company’s opportunity to open a dialogue with its target audience, shaping how its brand is perceived.
• Builds brand loyalty: Through building its reputation and, in turn, brand loyalty, organisations can grow their share of voice, market share and establish their core values.
• Market positioning: Do you want to be known as the innovator within your field? Do you want to be the steady, reliable pair of hands that customers can trust? Do you want to diversify and enter new markets? PR is the opportunity to sow these seeds and over time, position your organisation carefully in the areas you want to be known for.

Visualise your brand with a garden metaphor

Think of your business as a garden. With no public relations it is essentially unkempt and left to grow wild with plants or weeds taking root that you’ve not necessarily planted yourself and are out of control.

With PR, you are nurturing your garden, creating the outline of the borders, planting the seeds that you want to see grow and shaping its overall look and feel. Whether you want a wildflower garden, a topiary masterpiece or several parts of your plot that have an individual style but knit together in a seamless, overarching experience, PR has the tools you need to create the garden you want that can go on to bloom and further establish itself over the coming years.

Through a well thought out, carefully executed communication strategy and budgetary investment, PR can be an incredibly strong tool that elevates and distinguishes brands.

Why invest in PR?

11 Enhanced visibiity in crowded markets

In today’s saturated markets, it can be very hard to be seen and stand out from the crowd. But with PR, you can provide valuable insight around your market, your specialism, and your capability to build strong foundations.

22 Authentic AND cost-effective

Unlike advertising or SEO, PR builds genuine connections and engagements, offering a greater return on investment.

You’re not paying for the attention of your key audience, you’re earning trust and credibility by having conversations that they want to be part of, on topics that are perhaps challenging them in their roles and providing insight that could help shape their future decisions. And, when they do make those decisions, they will remember the brand that provided them with that sterling guidance.

33Long-term brand value

PR quietly powers through, delivering hard-hitting results and can help shape the future of a business for years to come. Don’t believe me? Ever heard of Michelin stars? Yep, thought up by the tyre manufacturers to encourage motorists to drive to recommended restaurants within their Michelin guidebooks. The value of the Michelin brand grew and has remained incredibly strong for nearly 100 years based on this simple PR activity.

Why PR is an investment, not a cost

11 Crisis management

Many businesses at some point will require crisis communications. A mention in conjunction with a negative event, misuse of a product or any number of things can trigger the need for crisis comms.

Having established your business and what it stands for over several years gives strength to your brand and an element of protection when it comes to a crisis. Not only will you have established relationships with the media who can proactively come to you for information, but your long-standing reputation can help in such challenging times. The overarching positive profile you’ve built can help withstand any stormy weather.

22Driving business growth

Effective PR campaigns can directly impact the bottom line by increasing brand visibility, driving website traffic, and generating leads. Existing customers or prospects can gain further insight into the breadth of offerings your organisation has, but in addition, PR efforts can contribute to business growth by expanding market reach and attracting investment opportunities.

The risks of neglecting PR

Whilst it’s easier to list the benefits of PR, perhaps it’s more compelling in your decision making to look at the risks of neglecting PR? Such as falling behind the competition, a forgettable brand and vulnerability in times of crisis.

• Falling behind the competition: Competitors who invest in PR will gain a competitive advantage, leaving you fading into the background. Those businesses who invest in their PR will be engaging with your target audience, starting the conversations that you want to be having and building their reputation.
• Brand ambiguity: Without a proactive PR strategy, businesses can lack distinction, with their brand not being associated with any industry or product and target audiences struggling with brand recall. Your brand could just blend in with the countless others if no communication channels have ever been opened up.
• Vulnerability to crises: If no investment has been made in establishing your brand, and solidifying what you stand for in your market, you are more exposed to crises and negative PR. A lack of recognition of your organisation means you’re more susceptible to negative publicity and rumours, which can tarnish your reputation and erode consumer trust.

Investing in PR is about more than just managing news cycles; it’s about building and sustaining relationships with various stakeholders, including customers, employees, investors, and the wider community. These relationships are crucial for shaping how these groups perceive your brand. This requires investment of both budget and time and the benefits cannot be overstated.