When an organisation is under financial pressure, the PR and marketing budget is often one of the first to be squeezed. Yet, during difficult times there is an even greater need to communicate and invest in relationships with those who have a stake in the future of your organisation.
Here we state our case for why you should take a strategic approach to your PR and marketing activity.
Information is power
A strategic approach to PR and marketing calls for research and regular environmental scanning. Identifying future drivers for change and their potential impact on the organisation enables you to come up with timely solutions to problems and for your PR and marketing experts to design and implement a supporting strategy and action plan.
An investment in the future
The experience of watching a show or film on a commercial channel is very different from watching it non-stop on a streaming channel or box set. Advert breaks interrupt your concentration so you may lose track of what’s happened, you might switch channels and end up watching something else or you could lose patience and abandon the programme in favour of doing something completely different.
This analogy is what it is like if you take a stop/start approach to your PR and marketing. Once you have lost people’s interest, you have to work so much harder to win it back which takes time and money. A planned and continuous PR and marketing programme is by far the best and most effective approach.
Maintain a steady flow of customers
Worryingly one of the most common reasons we hear for not having a PR and marketing plan is that ‘we already have enough customers’. That’s a lovely position to be in but PR and marketing is as much about maintaining relationships with existing clients as it is about winning new business and enhancing your reputation. If you do not invest in even a low level of PR and marketing activity, how confident are you that you will still have a steady supply of customers in three or five years?
Repetition is effective
Research strongly suggests that messages are more effective when they are repeated. In fact, there is a marketing adage that refers to The Rule of Seven ie if you want somebody to use your service or buy your product, they need to come across you seven times before they really notice you and start to take action.
While the number of times you need to communicate is not an exact science, there is agreement that messages are more effective when repeated so it stands to reason that for impact, your message should be clear and consistent.
Show what makes you different
Over the past couple of decades there has been a steady decline in people’s trust of societal organisations, so the time is ripe for showing what sets you apart.
Be clear about your purpose and ensure it is consistently communicated through the actions of your team, your decision-making and how and what you communicate.
Survival of the fittest
Managing communication and building sustainable relationships between your organisation and your publics requires planning and is not something that should be left to chance.
Contact us today to discover more about our PR and marketing strategy service and take the first step towards ensuring your business has a strong and healthy future.