The Visionforce L.E.A.D.S. System to PR Success

L is for Leverage

A vital element of any press relations campaign strategy, Leverage considers who we need to influence, how we find them and the best ways to stimulate their interest.

Why? 

A little word but a big question and one that should always come first. There is no point running any sort of PR campaign (or indeed any kind of marketing activity) until you are sure of how that fits in with your overall marketing strategy and business aims.
Be as specific as possible in your aims. Objectives such as building brand awareness, enhancing credibility and boosting company profile are all important but can also be difficult to quantify, so make sure your aims also include specific quantifiable objectives that can be reviewed as the PR campaign unfolds.
Consider how many sales enquiries you would like to generate based on the investment in the campaign and the value of your products or services.
For example, one of our clients generated 300 enquiries in less than five months, meaning an average enquiry cost 12p for products worth between one hundred to several thousand pounds.

Who?

Who is going to want to buy your products or services? An obvious but vital question if you want to determine which newspapers and magazines they are likely to be reading. One regional newspaper or trade publication can be read by tens of thousands of key decision makers and there are often several regional business publications and tens of trade publications that can be relevant to your business area so make sure you target all of them!

 

How?

The next thing to consider is how you are going to encourage those key decision makers to contact you after reading your press release or article.
Firstly, nobody is going to have even noticed your press release unless you make sure the headline grabs their attention and the initial paragraph sustains their interest.
Don’t make the classic mistake and ‘bury the lead’ half way down the press release. Hit the reader with what’s most relevant to them first. Highlight what is new, unique, exceptional or imminent, then go on to give more information in descending order of importance.
Always include a quote from a client where possible as this adds an important element of credibility and never forget to close with a call to action and your contact details.

Next month we will look at Stage 2 of the L.E.A.D.S. System to PR Success with top tips on how to Explore the best publications and PR opportunities for your business.