This blog has been inspired by all the posts I see on LinkedIn with a PR, Marketing, Social Media flavour.
It’s also been inspired by the myriad of job roles of the people posting PR, Marketing and Social Media related content.
When I say inspired, what I actually mean is ‘really fucking confused’. So if I’m confused by an industry I work in, as a Founder, CEO or MD, how the hell are you navigating the comms landscape?
BACK TO WHERE IT ALL BEGAN
When I first started working in the PR industry, back in 2004, there were three very distinct ways that brands could communicate with their customers, clients, fans and prospects:
➡️ PR
➡️ Marketing
➡️ Advertising
All three of these disciplines had one aim: to raise the profile of the brand and communicate about it externally.
All three of these disciplines had very defined roles in terms of their function, working alongside each other to drive the brand forward.
All three disciplines fed into the overall growth strategy of the business.
THE POWER OF THREE
Back in the day there were three main channels of communication:
🗞 Print publications
📺 TV
📻 Radio
Then the internet exploded and the game changed 🔥🔥🔥
All of a sudden there were more editorial opportunities for brands
All of a sudden advertisers were offered other opportunities to advertise to their key customers at a much more affordable price
All of a sudden marketers were offered a new way of attracting leads into a business and a new way of nurturing those leads.
For years, ‘traditional’ channels and ‘modern’ channels worked well alongside each other.
Not everyone is an early adopter of new technology, but by creating a digital presence alongside the traditional print and broadcast channels, brands could dominate the market and use all platforms available to them, to communicate to their key customers, attract new leads and create superfans.
THE NEW KID ON THE BLOCK
Then social media disrupted the narrative and the game changed again 🔥🔥🔥
This must have been in 2011 or 2012 and I was working at a London-based PR Agency at the time.
We’d always been a PR & Marketing Agency, but when social media made an appearance we had a dilemma on our hands: should social media be the responsibility of the marketing team, or the PR team?
We decided that it would sit with the PR team as we were better suited to communicate with customers and create relationships while simultaneously building trust and brand loyalty.
(Plus, we would also be able to use our PR strategy to drive the social media strategy, ensuring that media coverage was shared externally via social media as well as through specific marketing campaigns created by the marketing team.)
CREATING A SEAT AT THE TABLE
The juggernaut of social media meant that brands would work with specialist social media teams. It had earned its own place at the table. But the question still remains: does social media fall under PR, or marketing?
From my perspective, it straddles both, hence why it’s been able to carve its own place at the table, but it still needs to be strategic. The social media strategy needs to plug into the PR strategy and Marketing strategy if it’s to maintain or improve a brand’s market position.
CONSUMING CONTENT
With so many opportunities online there has been a massive shift in how we consume content
As such, anyone has the ability to become an ‘expert’
Anyone has the ability to make more sales
But if you’re builing a busines, this approach neglects the one thing that you’ve spent years building: your reputation and brand loyalty.
GLITCHES IN THE MATRIX
As the spiders web of communication expands, naturally you’ll encounter glitches along the way.
New channels bring fresh opportunities, but they also shine a light on weaknesses and uncover new threats to your business too.
Many businesses put a huge emphasis on social media to deliver their growth goals, forgetting that the point of social media is to be social.
✅ It helps you to connect and communicate with your key customers and clients
✅ It helps bring new leads and enquiries into your business
✅ It helps you make sales
But does it build your reputation and brand loyalty?
Is it really driving the growth that your business needs?
Is it driving those needs sustainably? Or are you constantly spending money acquiring new customers because you haven’t built the loyalty needed to keep existing customers?
THE MESSY BIT
While PR, Marketing, Advertising and Social Media still have very defined roles, the chances are you’re not using them strategically within your business.
If you’re a sole trader, or work with a small support team, chances are you’re focussing heavily on Social Media to drive the growth of your business because it’s fast, cheap and easy.
You may also rely on a few marketing tactics, such as an email newsletter, but the success of this relies on the size of your email list and it being full of your ideal clients.
It’s why I’m such a uge fan of the PESO Model as it shows you how to use each comms tactic to your advantage (I’ve written another blog on this, which you can read here)
NOTHING REACHES ITS FULL POTENTIAL IN SILO
Each comms discipline can only take your business so far when they’re used in silo, but by bringing them all together to work towards the same end goal, you’ll remove at least 65% of the friction currently going on behind the scenes of your business.
And before you tell me that you haven’t got the budget to invest in all the comms tactics available to you – how do you know unless you look for the right support for you?
You know what happens when you assume, right?
I’m going to focus on PR for a sec…..mainly because it’s my specialism, but also because this is where things start to get complicated and confusing.
EVERYTHING YOU SAY AND DO IS PR!
PR is short for ‘Public Relations’, which, in a nutshell, focusses on communicating about your brand, products and services, internally and externally.
If you think about it, marketing and social media also help you to communicate to your audience to create a public image of your business and your reputation.
Public Relations is often misunderstood. Founders, CEOs and MDs believe that PR is all about securing media coverage (AKA publicity).
Publicity plays a role in PR, but they’re two very different disciplines (you can read about the differences here)
If PR is everything that you say and do, then every channel and every tactic that you use to communicate to your key customers, prospects and superfans falls under PR.
However, few decision makers want to give the power over to their PR team, so instead of the PR team overseeing the implementation of all internal and external comms and driving the business growth strategy, each discipline gets to create its own strategy.
(If you’re a sole trader or SME you’re probably not creating a business strategy, a comms strategy, a PR strategy and a Marketing strategy, but you need to have a business strategy as a minimum – otherwise how do you know what’s driving growth and revenue?)
KNOWING WHAT WORKS
At this stage I’m assuming that you do have a business strategy, or a plan for want of a better word, otherwise how do you know what you need to do to reach those goals?
How will you know what metrics to measure and how to use data to drive decisions?
If you’re relying on Social Media to drive the growth of your business, how often are you analysing the data provided to see if it’s doing what you need it to do?
How often are you considering other comms tactics to see if they can move you closer to your goals?
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result – yet it’s all too easily done if you take your eye off the ball and don’t regularly audit your business.
FOLLOW YOUR NORTH STAR
If you don’t have a strategy, or a plan, at least have a reason for doing what you’re doing. That reason (or purpose) then becomes your North Star – the one thing that you continue to focus on, during the good times, the bad times and the hard times.
If you continuously check in with your North Star, you can assess whether or not you’re making progress, or getting distratced by dead-ends that are moving you further away from what you want (no shade here btw, I’m guilty of doing this a lot)
In an ideal world, you would focus on all of the comms tactics available to you, which may not be realistic right now, but at least have a clear vision of your North Star and a plan that will help you move closer to it.
That way it’s so much easier to focus on the tactics that will propel you towards your end goal (and what you want to be known for)
UNSCRAMBLE YOUR BRAIN
Strategies aren’t sexy. At least that’s the vibe I get when I mention the word ‘strategy’ to my clients 😂
I can often see them phyiscally recoil when the word passes my lips. But here’s the thing; they can be sexy, and fun and create the motivation you need to drive it forward with a high five and a ‘fuck yeah!’
I know it can sometimes feel daunting and overwhelming to create a strategy, especially if you’re neurodivergent or creative – you hate the idea of being confined to a strict programme as you love going with the flow (this is also me btw!)
Which is why I try and make my Strategy Sessions as fun as possible.
SENSUAL EXPERIENCES
As a Taurus I inject my love of sensual experiences into your Strategy Session.
I’ll remove you from your everyday environment and create a sensual experience for you – whether that’s meeting at a gorgeous venue with sumptious food and delicious wine, or taking extra time out to enjoy an overnight spa and strategy day at a Champneys spa of your choice.
As a business owner, you rarely make time for yourself OR you feel guilty for prioritising rest, so this delivers the best of both worlds.
You get to work ON your business, with someone with over two decades of experience, while also treating yourself in the process. Win-Win! 🙌
To find out more about how I can strategically support your business, schedule a consultation call with me here.
I’ll assess where your busines is at, listen to the challenges you face, then suggest the best option for us to work together on a strategy that feels good and makes sense to you.
