A PR campaign delivering consistent media coverage can put a company’s products or services into the spotlight and introduce them to millions of potential new customers. But is that enough to guarantee sales?
It’s a question we get asked fairly often. Clients want to know exactly how much traffic and sales they will get from being featured in a national news title with a link through to their own website.
But it’s a difficult question to answer because so many of the variables involved are not in our control. A PR agency such as Motive can deliver media coverage and links but we aren’t able to promise they will convert to sales. Factors such as a company’s brand, the quality of its products or services compared with competitors and its wider marketing voice all have an impact.
Poor brands
We only engage with clients we feel proud to represent so a company with a poor brand and disappointing products would not become a client of ours. But even if a brand like that did achieve massive media coverage it is unlikely to move the dial very far in terms of sales.
To put things simply if a product and brand is poor then media attention is unlikely to lift sales significantly. It will put the product in front of a lot of people, but those people won’t want to part with their hard earned cash if the product lacks appeal.
Conversely, if a company has created an exciting brand and appealing products, and if they have tested their own market and are confident in their proposition, then media coverage should deliver an uplift in sales as more people become aware of the brand and its products.
No brand can grow unless its target customers are aware of its offering and this is where a PR strategy can help to drive success. A PR campaign can earn features and coverage in media which a brand’s target customers consume and when that coverage also includes links it becomes very easy for those target customers to click through and visit the brand’s own website. Links also help to grow a website’s authority and traffic and have SEO boosting effects so they are doubly important.
Consistency
When engaging a PR agency to help grow sales it’s important to first be confident in your product or service and to have already done your market research. Don’t expect sales to go ballistic overnight but be consistent in your PR strategy and outreach and be prepared to grow your brand and sales over time as more and more people learn about you and become customers.
PR works best when brands invest in a prolonged strategy so momentum is allowed to build over many months and even years. Click here for a discussion of why a long term PR strategy works best.
To conclude, media coverage alone shouldn’t be viewed as a magic bullet to help products fly off the warehouse shelves. No amount of publicity can help if the product or service is initially flawed and lacks appeal. But if a brand has done everything else right and has an appealing offering then consistent PR outreach over a prolonged period will grow the brand and increase sales.
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