How to Maximize PR Impact in an “Era of Less”

If you’re wondering how you’re going to meet your marketing targets this year, you’re not alone.

“CMOs are living in an ‘era of less’,” according to Ewan McIntyre, Chief of Research for the Gartner Marketing Practice, with budgets slashed by 15% on average.

Marketing leaders are feeling the heat as they attempt to drive maximum value out of minimum budget. Faced with this reality, how do you make sure you’re focusing on the right activities and generating maximum value from your PR program? And how do you measure ROI when PR impact can sometimes be difficult to quantify?

Understand the Opportunities

When resources are limited, it’s more important than ever to focus on the right activities. In flourishing times, it’s possible to execute with every tool in the shed. When budgets contract, you are forced to limit activities to ones that are absolutely essential and those that move the needle the most. 

So how do you prioritize when you are under pressure to focus on short term performance yet understand the value of maintaining long tail brand building? 

Pace Yourself

If you stop PR cold you don’t just lose momentum, you actually slip backwards. Since PR is most effective when you maintain a steady drumbeat with a broad range of activities, consider spreading out activities over a longer period of time. When you cannot execute a multi-pronged strategy simultaneously, you can:

• Focus on media outreach in months when you have newsworthy announcements and prioritize opinion articles, sponsored content, and other content when there is little or no news. 

• Maximize impact of conferences by applying for related awards and speaking opportunities  and reaching out to attending reporters and analysts for meetings.

Narrow down award and speaking applications on your hit list to reduce application fees and event travel. But don’t put the brakes on the entire program. Applications are due months in advance so if you stop applying now, the implications will last for six months or more.

 Wondering how to maximize PR impact? Book a free strategy consultation

Measure What Matters

It’s essential to make sure that the PR results you seek dovetail with your business and marketing goals. One of the biggest mistakes companies make is relying on cookie cutter measurements when evaluating the impact of PR…measurements that don’t actually reflect whether or not the activities move your company closer to achieving its goals.

That means B2B companies should set different impact measurements than B2C companies and early stage startups should differ from mid-stage or late-stage. 

Start by asking what you want from PR. Are you trying to establish your brand? Overtake a specific competitor? Set the stage for an IPO? Leverage PR to recruit and retain talent?

For B2C companies, impact is often directly connected to sales. When we land our clients’ consumer products in numerous gift guides, they see a spike in website traffic. B2B companies, where sales cycles are long and require far more touchpoints, require completely different measures.

Curious where you stack up against the competition in terms of brand awareness in the media and Share of Voice? We can help with our Brand Pulse™. Learn more.

The Bottom Line

Marketing leaders are under tremendous pressure as they are expected to secure ambitious results with smaller budgets. The key is to zoom out and determine which activities are most relevant for achieving your company’s specific goals. If you need help aligning your goals to maximize results, book a free strategy consultation with our team.