Understanding the Value of PR and How Public Relations Helps the Sales Funnel
Public relations (PR) does a lot of uncredited work to boost sales. PR is like the stage manager behind the scenes at a play or the offensive line coach on a football team. The actors and the quarterback may be in the spotlight, but without the manager or coach, they’re less likely to see a successful outcome.
Here are key ways that public relations helps sales efforts, improves a B2B sales process, and helps turn prospects into clients.
The Top of the Funnel – PR strengthens your reputation and establishes authority:
So, how does public relations help a business? What happens when someone is deciding whether or not to work with you? They Google you. PR is one of those tools that may seem like a “nice to have” until something goes wrong, and then a company faces the brand-damaging and sales-shrinking impacts of bad press. The search results on page one can make or break a customer’s decision to move to the next step with your organization.
Beyond internet searches, PR gives you the ability to establish B2B subject matter expertise and authority in your industry. An additional value of PR is that it enhances the sales funnel since it offers a sort of “try before you buy” taste of what your company can provide and piques customers’ interest, so they move to the middle of the sales funnel.
The Middle of the Funnel, Public Relations helps other marketing efforts and drives decision-making:
Three types of PR and marketing content help people make decisions as they move through the sales funnel: owned, paid, and earned. They all work together to strengthen your brand and prime the funnel for sales.
- Owned media includes the assets your company owns and controls, such as your company blog, LinkedIn page, newsletter, and so on.
- Paid media is content you pay to have published, such as advertorials or sponsored posts.
- Earned media is exposure from relevant third parties, such as an industry trade publication or a news outlet, and is the most well-known form of public relations. Examples include a thought leadership piece with your byline published in a trade publication or an interview published in a local paper.
According to a recent Edelman Trust Barometer report, more people trust earned media than any other form of content marketing. You’ll get more mileage out of your other sales and marketing efforts by layering in PR. Without trust, few customers will move from the middle of the funnel to the bottom. Not only does public relations enhance the sales funnel, but it also adds credibility to your brand.
The Bottom of the Funnel, PR shortens the sales cycle:
In the sales process, explaining the value of your company to someone who has never heard of you takes much longer than explaining the value of your company to someone who already has a positive perception of your business. PR can bridge that gap and give customers the confidence in your company to move from the bottom of the funnel to a final sale.
In other words, public relations enhances the sales sales funnel and can shorten the sales cycle. It allows B2B companies and service businesses to move people through the funnel more quickly and with less effort on the sales team’s part. Of course, the faster people move through the funnel, the faster sales teams can move on to the next batch of prospects, backed by the power of PR.
Winger Marketing has decades of experience driving measurable results for B2B companies with public relations. To learn how Public Relations Helps Sales, reach out to schedule a complimentary call.
