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Like a lot of other industries, the PR industry has also adapted to the digital landscape. With many media publications having a strong presence online and with podcasts and video platforms becoming more and more dominant, PR has moved from the traditional TV and Newspapers media coverage to a much more dynamic environment. This environment has a set of new strategies, tactics and implementations that are more detailed and advanced, setting forth a new way to do PR at scale. A lot of CMOs (Chief Marketing Officers) are used to the old ways of doing PR and are still tracking and analyzing their PR efforts based on irrelevant data that has nothing to do with the actual results and effectiveness of their campaigns. In this article, I will list 5 key points that CMOs need to consider when running a Modern PR campaign effectively.
In modern PR, quantity is as important as quality
When a CMO approaches me for PR services, usually they have already tried out doing PR. If they raised a nice amount of money, they probably even got some nice media coverage in places like Techcrunch or VentureBeat. The thing is that they thought it was enough. The expected one or two articles in major news sites will make a huge difference to their business. Although you can get a nice number of website visitors from a Techcrunch article for a day or two, it is not enough to stand out and gain sufficient brand awareness in such a noisy landscape. Your company needs to constantly be featured for a PR campaign to work. Not every article needs to be on Techcrunch, and diversifying between demographics, outlet size and audience segments is a very powerful way to actually gain business results from PR.
Related: 7 Must-Know Public Relations Strategies for 2022
Thought Leadership is more important than news announcements
In my PR agency, we refer to some startups in the ecosystem as “Announcement Enthusiasts.” Basically, these are startups that love announcing fundings, hirings and how many ice cream machines they have in their offices. Although I am not against making funding announcements, it is not enough in order to actually provide your ideal audience with the info and value needed for them to inquire about your product or service. That is why thought leadership articles and interviews are so important because they give you and your startup a chance to communicate key product and technology features, as well gain a competitive market advantage. Also, thought leadership is much more sustainable, and it also brings value to the media publications that can offer their readers extensive insights that they can’t get elsewhere.
Related: How To Win the Thought Leadership Arms Race in 2022
When in doubt, amplify
Sometimes I hear CMOs who say: ‘We have just shared the article about us on Monday, let’s wait for next week to share the new article we were mentioned in”. Dear CMOs, please realize that you need to constantly be publishing and sharing things in order to stand out and cut through the noise. Tech is competitive. You need to be very dominant with your PR. Also, sharing is caring, so when you share, you also help the journalist who wrote the article, giving him an incentive to write more about you. So, don’t wait a week until you share another article.
Advertising as insurance
Often, CMOs come up to me and say that they want to hit a super detailed audience. They lay out a very specific job title or two in a small niche. The only way to do that and make sure you are hitting your niche-level targeted audience is via LinkedIn ads. That is the only platform out there that can guarantee you to hit specific job titles in specific companies. If you are earning media coverage, set an advertising budget to show your earned articles to your ideal target persona.
Related: Publicity Is Not Free Advertising. Don’t Destroy Your Efforts to Get Press By Slipping Into Sales Mode.
PR is a long-term investment
The powerful thing about media coverage is that once you get an article featuring your startup, it is always there, syndicated in Google. It is not like an ad, where once you turn it off, it is no longer converting prospects. With PR, your content is always one click away from providing you with a big client, partnership, or deal. That is why you should be looking at PR as a long-term strategy that can prove your ROI for a more extended period of time than other marketing activities. Also, the trust authority of your brand is elevated once a prospect googles you and sees that you were featured in high-profile media publications.