4 ROIs from PR
Most community banks, credit unions and their business partners have a marketing person of some level, but very few pay heed to public relations. It’s often lumped in with the duties of the marketing person, who may not have the background.
Considering a trustworthy reputation is the foundation of your business, it’s time to rethink this scenario.
The management and distribution of information through earned media has a measurable effect on achieving your business goals.
Earned, Owned & Paid Media
Each has its place and value and provide powerful communications programming when on brand and wielded in coordination.
*Public relations or earned media can include news and information outlet interviews, opinion piece placement, press releases, third-party social media shout outs and other channels of information you do not control no have paid for placement.
*Owned media are information delivery channels you control, such as your website, newsletter, social media, podcasts and other elements.
*Advertising or paid media is simply that. You pay the outlet’s advertising rate to control your message in the allotted space for a specified period of time.
Elevating your expertise within a target community to build trust. One of my public relations clients recently signed business based on an article we’d pitched for a trade publication late last year. Most of the time, the line isn’t that clear or direct, but this particular credit union called my client and said, ‘do for me what you did for them.’ Leads are not uncommon.
Building relationships with editors and reporters in a target market, so they also see your experts as legitimate news sources for articles they are working on. As you gain their trust, they’ll start coming to you for ideas and information that can expand your brand reach and trust.
Mediating bad press. No matter how great your organization is, bad things happen. Robberies, fraud or data breaches to name a few very real possibilities. Having a pre-existing relationship with the media won’t keep them from publishing negative news, but you are far more likely to have the opportunity to get your side of the story in.
SEO. Often organizations don’t necessarily expect their press release to get picked up for a larger story, so they will distribute it on a wire service for valuable search engine optimization. SEO is what helps people find your organization when they’re googling around for car loans or artificial intelligence service providers. It will help to increase traffic to your website, increasing brand awareness and potentially more.
So, what is the ROI of public relations?
ROI is an accounting metric. Gains – Cost = ROI
Not every investment has that easily quantifiable a return. For example, just last month, I had to put together a crisis PR plan for a client. As we rolled out the first stages of the execution of the plan, it became apparent the potential PR crisis was dissipating. What might have been the cost if it hadn’t? How invaluable was that crisis PR plan to my client if this situation had blown up?
For all the CFOs out there, you can try measuring increased traffic to your website, especially referral and organic search, around the time of the public relations work. Potentially you’ll see an increase in leads for B2B business partners, which often have a longer sales cycle, or a boost in business relatively for consumer-facing companies. It is difficult to pin down the exact reason for an increase in leads or sales, whether the consumer saw a public relations article and then googled the company or simply heard about the company via word of mouth. Another option is a quick, ‘how’d you hear about us?’
The return on public relations is not easily measurable but the value of public relations is readily apparent.