Tag Archive for: consumer pr

Today’s PR Trends: Emerging Techniques & Tactics for 2024

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What’s happening in PR that you need to know about today? PR is a dynamic and powerful tool that can be leveraged for almost any audience, whether they be buyers, investors, or consumers; every one of them is influenced by the media. It’s important to know PR trends’ emerging techniques and tactics, but it’s also important to know whether those trends apply to you. Our clients are ambitious, incredibly so. Businesses that are in hyper-growth are often growing so fast they can’t hire fast enough, and that may be a reason why they’re hiring an agency. So, while understanding trends is important, it’s more important to understand where and how PR trends apply to them.

 

Content Platforms

Expect lots of new content launches attempting to fill the vacuum left by media layoffs and newsroom cuts; there are already many new and different ways to use content today. There are native and sponsored content options in some extremely prestigious outlets, and Substack has taken on a new life. Influencers are using the platform with affiliate links and journalists are using it to source ideas, data, and contacts, and companies are using it to reach the early adopter crowd. Is Substack the new Medium? Possibly. Medium, while not the darling it was a decade ago, still (as of this writing) has a place in the content ecosystem, especially for Silicon Valley – the Substack reader is a little harder to nail down right now and swings dramatically depending on the author.

Stay open to new ideas and places, but think through the ROI of investing in a content strategy on a new outlet too early. There are reasons to be an early adopter and disadvantages as well; be conscious of the pros/cons and include mitigations in your plan for the cons.

Data-Driven PR

This is one PR trend you can’t ignore. Newsrooms at even the largest titles are dangerously understaffed due to massive media layoffs. Setting aside the existential nature of this fact, this presents an opportunity for prepared, well-informed companies to support journalists with information and data the journalist might not have access to or hasn’t been approved to purchase from an expensive research firm. This is especially critical if you’re advocating for a point of view, an idea, or a trend. Data creates validity and context to your claims. It’s simply not enough to make a statement and assume people will believe you. Your press releases, media pitches, and social media need relevant data to back up your claims; anything without third-party validation is just an ephemeral idea.

Spend time considering what data you need to support your claims and ideas, and then put that data into an easy-to-understand context. And find conflicting data or other data to support yours so you can open the door to a deeper conversation about why the data matches or doesn’t. Data points don’t have to be statistics; they can be before/after photos or videos and be reviews and case studies. Think about all the ways your ideal buyer would like to see data articulated.

But press releases aren’t the only place where data is essential. Your PR strategy needs to be data-informed, too. You’re already behind if you’re not using all the technological tools at your disposal, including AI, for key messaging and media opportunities. Revaluate the data every six months to ensure your strategy keeps pace with the data and shifts as needed.

A data-driven approach has other advantages as well:

  1. Competitive Intelligence: Data-driven PR extends beyond internal metrics. It includes monitoring competitors, industry trends, and market sentiment. This competitive intelligence enables us to position our clients strategically, capitalize on market gaps, and stay ahead of evolving industry landscapes.
  2. Budget Optimization: PR budgets are valuable resources, and data helps us allocate them efficiently. We can optimize budget allocation for maximum impact by identifying high-performing channels and tactics. This ensures that every dollar spent contributes to overall campaign success.

Brand Authenticity

This isn’t as much a PR trend as it is an expectation. What do you stand for? What do you stand behind? What are you willing to stake your reputation on? Today’s media is suspicious of big claims. From sustainability to authority, if you’re staking your ground on a big claim, it’s best to ensure your business practices can defend these claims. It’s increasingly OK to say “we’re trying,” that’s the point of many annual ESG reports – to document the process. Audacious claims take time, and the world will give you space to accomplish those huge goals if you are simply transparent about the process.

This PR trend, to some degree, replaces “purpose-driven PR” as a trend. Why? Because it’s still expected that businesses will be good actors, but simply being a purpose-driven company isn’t enough anymore. Companies are expected to have built-in from the inside out and to implement this purpose beyond the PR advantages.

Your press releases and website are key areas where you need to create trust most because they are the two most prominent ways people new to your brand will find you. Every item that comes up in the first five results during a brand search is critical to your reputation; it should feel consistent and reinforce your brand authenticity.

Employee moral benefits from brand authenticity as well. Your corporate communications should reinforce your brand authenticity as well. 2023 was the year of “return to work demands from CEOs.” Businesses have lots of reasons to demand employees return to the office, and employees have lots of reasons to hate it. This automatically makes this communication divisive. While there were hundreds of thousands of “return to office” initiatives, only a visible few made news. Why? They typically made news because the tone was antithetical to the brand or there was a threat attached to the change in policy.

If your brand is divisive and threatening and the culture is anti-employee, then this is on brand, and you may proceed accordingly. If that’s NOT your brand, then communications like this need to be handled consistent with your company’s values, authentically.  It’s not that a company can’t change policies – they do it all the time, but when those policies don’t match the brand promise, internally or externally, expect backlash.

Laser Focus vs. Bucket Outreach

Today’s PR firms have access to thousands and thousands of journalists at their fingertips. We all pretty much have the same access – it’s not whether you know the journalist; it’s WHAT you send them that differentiates the pitch and determines its success. Not that they were ever appreciated, but gone are the days where you could blanket the press with a pitch and expect any premium outcomes. That’s why we advise our clients to look at press releases differently than in the past.

Today’s media relations experts know that every single outreach is a reflection on themselves, their agency, and the brand, and they take the time to treat journalists like humans rather than a transaction. Does media coverage get broken down into stats like reach, views, and authority? Yes. But the “relations” part of media is what makes it happen. A journalist never looked kindly upon a brand (or agency) that spammed them with irrelevant updates. Never has it been more off-trend to send mass emails to journalists. If your PR firm does this, they’re damaging your reputation along with theirs. But it’s not just the negative consequences of an impersonal pitch; the advantages of a personalized one are really valuable.

  1. Stand out from the crowd: A personalized pitch stands out amidst the sea of generic emails. It shows effort, thoughtfulness, and a genuine desire to collaborate. This distinctiveness increases the likelihood of the pitch being noticed and considered for coverage.
  2. Respect is always good PR. Journalists have tight schedules and limited time for sifting through pitches. A personalized pitch respects their time by presenting information concisely and directly relevant to their needs. This efficiency is appreciated and increases the chances of your pitch being read and acted upon.
  3. Human Connection: In the world of media, establishing a human connection is paramount. Personalized pitches enable a genuine connection between the pitch sender and the journalist. It transforms a pitch from a mere business transaction to a conversation between individuals, fostering trust and engagement.
  4. Relevance and Customization: Personalized pitches allow for tailoring content to align with the journalist’s interests, beat, and previous work. This customization ensures that the pitch is not only relevant to the journalist but also demonstrates a clear understanding of their preferences and areas of expertise.

AI is a Fairweather Friend

Unpopular PR trend opinion. Guess what? ChatGPT and any generative AI are excellent tools for many things; your brand content and press releases are not among them. Sure, you can use ChatGPT to give you ideas, but anything that ChatGPT gives you has already been written because ChatGPT is just a giant internet scraper. So if you’re looking to differentiate, create a memorable connection or a news-breaking idea – use ChatGPT as an idea starter, not a complete solution. While we’re at it – remember that not all information on ChatGPT is accurate anymore, and it doesn’t do a good job of contextualizing the source or timing of information. So ChatGPT for content is a valuable tool, but you must understand its limitations.

AI is a fairweather friend not only for content but also for research. Unless you’re paying handsomely for AI research, it’s probably outdated and possibly inaccurate. Free AI simply isn’t good enough yet to be used in business planning or PR research.

  1. Lack of Human Touch: PR is inherently about relationships, and a crucial element of successful relationship-building is the human touch. AI, by its nature, lacks the emotional intelligence and nuanced understanding that human interactions require. The personal connection, empathy, and intuition essential in PR can’t be replicated by algorithms.
  2. Understanding Complex Narratives: PR often involves conveying complex narratives, brand stories, and nuanced messages. AI may struggle to fully comprehend the intricacies of these narratives and might simplify or misinterpret key elements. Executive-level PR professionals can navigate the subtleties and adapt messaging to resonate effectively with diverse audiences.
  3. Adaptability to Dynamic Situations: PR is dynamic, and strategies often need to be adapted on the fly based on real-time events and changing circumstances.  PR professionals excel in their ability to think on their feet, pivot strategies swiftly, and make decisions considering the broader context—an agility AI currently lacks.
  4. Creativity and Innovation: Crafting compelling stories and innovative campaigns requires a level of creativity that AI hasn’t fully mastered. The ability to think outside the box, generate fresh ideas, and adapt creative strategies to suit specific clients or situations is a uniquely human strength.
  5. Ethical Considerations: PR involves ethical decision-making, and judgment calls that go beyond data analysis. PR professionals are equipped to navigate ethical challenges, make value-based decisions, and uphold the integrity-and authenticity- of their clients. AI lacks the ethical compass that humans possess.
  6. Unpredictable Stakeholder Interactions: Stakeholder interactions in PR are highly unpredictable and can vary widely. Human PR professionals excel in building relationships with diverse stakeholders, adapting communication styles to different personalities, and navigating the complexities of human interactions, which can’t be replaced by AI.
  7. Contextual Understanding: AI may struggle with understanding the contextual nuances that are crucial in PR. Humans excel in interpreting cultural, social, and industry-specific contexts, tailoring communication accordingly. This contextual understanding is vital for effective PR campaigns.

Crisis Planning is Essential

Never has it been more important for companies to clearly define what a crisis IS (and isn’t), and what will happen in the essential minutes if there is a crisis. In a world where millions of messages can spread around the world in an instant, crisis communication planning is required for any company looking to grow.  It isn’t just enterprise companies that have crisis communication risks. When Silicon Valley Bank crashed, thousands of startups were caught in the crosshairs of a heavily covered media crisis, and very few of them had any plans or resources to react. What about crisis planning for an influencer meltdown, or a product recall? What will you do if a competitor goes on national TV and slams your brand or if a TV personality publicly slams your brand?

Crisis communication planning isn’t just a precaution—it’s a strategic imperative. Here’s why we emphasize the vital role of crisis communication planning:

  1. Proactive Reputation Management: Crisis communication planning is a proactive approach to safeguarding your brand’s reputation. By anticipating potential crises, developing response strategies, and establishing communication protocols, you are better positioned to manage and mitigate the impact on your brand’s image.
  2. Timely and Coordinated Response: Time is of the essence during a crisis. Having a well-thought-out communication plan ensures a swift and coordinated response. This agility is crucial for addressing issues promptly, minimizing misinformation, and maintaining control of the narrative.
  3. Building Stakeholder Trust: Trust is the bedrock of any brand. In times of crisis, stakeholders—including customers, employees, and partners—seek transparency and authenticity. A carefully crafted crisis communication plan helps you communicate openly, demonstrating accountability and a commitment to resolving issues.
  4. Navigating Media Scrutiny: Media scrutiny can intensify during a crisis, and having a predefined communication strategy enables you to engage with the media effectively. Whether providing accurate information, managing media inquiries, or disseminating updates, a well-planned approach helps you navigate media challenges confidently.
  5. Protecting Employee Morale: Employees are a crucial asset, and their morale can be deeply affected during a crisis. A clear communication plan ensures that employees are kept informed, reducing uncertainty and anxiety. This, in turn, contributes to maintaining a cohesive and resilient workforce.
  6. Legal and Regulatory Compliance: Crises often bring legal and regulatory implications. A comprehensive crisis communication plan considers these factors, ensuring that your communication aligns with legal requirements and regulatory standards. This safeguards your organization from legal ramifications.
  7. Learning from Past Incidents: Effective crisis communication planning involves analyzing and learning from past incidents. This iterative process allows organizations to refine their strategies, update protocols, and continuously improve their ability to handle crises.
  8. Preserving Customer Relationships: Customers are quick to react during a crisis, and their loyalty can be tested. A well-executed crisis communication plan helps you reassure customers, address their concerns transparently, and maintain a positive relationship even in challenging times.
  9. Preserving Market Value: A poorly managed crisis can have lasting effects on market value. Crisis communication planning is an investment in preserving and, in some cases, even enhancing the market value of your brand by demonstrating resilience and a commitment to responsible management.

Buyers are Craving Certainty

All B2B and B2C buyers crave certainty, stability, and trust. It’s been a wild and wooly five years, and this being an election year, there is a lot of uncertainty in the air. While inflation is starting to improve, buyers are still getting used to the “new prices” on items that have essentially stayed mostly flat for a decade or more. In exchange for their hard-earned dollars, buyers want to feel their purchase has been valued and that it’s with a company or product they can trust. Your company needs to be firing on all cylinders to secure new revenues, and buyers simply won’t tolerate actions that create instability or a disconnect between themselves and the brand.  This is another reason thought leadership still plays a crucial role in today’s PR.

This goes for actions big and small. This is why crisis planning is essential, but it’s not just a highly visible PR crisis that brands must stay alert to. If your CEO reschedules meetings regularly, that’s a red flag for potential business partners and media; it makes any and all PR more difficult to get lifted.

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Consumer Brands Experts: Prepare for the Holiday Season Now

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A couple of times a year, I reach out to my network of consumer brand experts and agency owners to ask them what they’re telling their clients right now. As consumer brands prepare for the holiday shopping season, my SEO, PR, Content, and Web Development colleagues are urging their clients to give themselves an edge given the competitive nature of the fourth quarter.

1. Prioritize and Plan

Organic & SEO do take a bit of time to kick in, -Jason Berkowitz, Break the Web

Given that organic & SEO do take a bit of time to kick in, starting on this fully now allows you to get the heavy lifting out of the way, without stressing when the season hits.

“If an increase in non-branded organic traffic is a marketing goal, then strategizing the plan of attack today,” says consumer brand expert Jason Berkowitz.

-Jason Berkowitz, Break the Web

“Paid media …doesn’t need to get started until September.” -Steve Krull, Be Found Online

Consumer brand digital marketing expert Steve Krull is urging brands to review their content and SEO strategy now. “There are two things I will typically work with clients on as we approach the holidays – Strategy & SEO with Content. Paid media …doesn’t need to get started until September.”

Krull recommends reviewing your holiday strategy to ensure it’s keeping up with the latest online changes, and your brand’s evolution. For a well-defined strategy, start with the questions:
Define your goals & metrics?
Identify your best revenue channels?
Ask: what’s different about this year?
Are there new ideas or channels you might test NOW in order to be prepared?

For SEO, update your existing content. If you’re an eCommerce or DTC brand, update your Category & Sub-Category pages as “Pillar Pages” to attract and distribute users and organic traffic.

-Steve Krull, Be Found Online

 

2. Improve UX with the Latest Data

Data-backed strategies can make a big difference during the holiday season in 2023. -Travis McAshan, Glide Design

Travis McAshan is wildly passionate about the consumer shopping experience, “As someone who spends my days thinking about user experience design, I have a few recommendations to consider as we gear up for the holiday season in 2023,” he says.

“While there’s a list of usual suspects you’d typically hear about – improving site performance, enhancing the user-friendly aspect of your consumer brand design, focusing on mobile-responsive elements, dialing in your site security, refining your CTAs, simplifying the checkout process, and so on, I’d rather shed light on a few often-overlooked, counter-intuitive aspects,” McAshan continues.

 “From understanding decision-making behavior to using design elements strategically, each of these less obvious, data-backed strategies can make a big difference during the holiday season in 2023.” McAshan encourages consumer brands to update thier website using data and improving the UX experience with these seven tips.

1) Limit Choices: According to Hick’s Law, decision-making time increases with the number of choices available. A study by the Neilson Norman Group supports this, showing that you can improve conversions by curating your offerings instead of overwhelming users with options.

2) Emphasize Negative Space: Google’s research found that visual complexity negatively affects user perception. An ’empty’ or negative space can make your website feel clean and draw attention to key elements, improving the overall user experience.

3) Intrigue Users with a Delayed Reveal: Consumer brand experts love to leave them wanting more. A Harvard Business School study discovered that adding a slight delay or hurdle before revealing a discount or special offer increases user engagement and satisfaction.

4) The Paradox of Image Size: CXL Institute’s A/B test found that smaller product images can sometimes outperform larger ones. They allow users to see the product details and the purchase button simultaneously without scrolling.

5) Design for the Impatient: A study by Columbia Business School revealed that customers tend to choose options that promise shorter waiting times, even over more beneficial alternatives. Optimizing your estimated delivery times can, counter-intuitively, boost conversions.

6) The Psychology of Colors: Maxymiser’s study found that ‘warm’ colors like red used for CTA buttons can increase conversion rates. Color choice is more than just aesthetics – it can drive actions.

7) Leverage Social Proof: The principle of ‘Fear of Missing Out’ (FOMO) can be powerful. Software company Figleaves, for example, increased their conversion rate by 12.5% just by showcasing how many people were currently viewing a product.

 

-Travis McAshan, Glide Design

 

3. Prepare for the Holiday Season: Integrate Operations, PR, and Social Media

 

Prepare and stay flexible; that’s what Jive PR and SEO’s consumer brand experts recommend. Brittany Robertson and Jalila Singerff recommend these five steps to prepare for the holidays for consumer brands.

Anticipate and prepare for potential challenges, – Brittany Robertson + Jalila Singerff (Director of Social Media + Director of Public Relations), Jive PR Digital

1. Evaluate Objectives and Past Performance: Assess the brand’s current objectives and review the performance of the previous holiday season. This analysis will help identify successful strategies and areas that require improvement, allowing the brand to align itself optimally for success.

2. Engage in PR Activities: From a public relations perspective, prepare for holiday press placements by pitching to print press in July. This aligns with the time when editors are sourcing products for their holiday issues. Pitch to other channels such as online, broadcast, podcast, and radio during the fall leading up to the holiday season.

3. Assess Social Media Presence: Review the social media presence of competitors during the previous holiday season and evaluate your brand’s social media performance. Analyze what strategies worked and what didn’t, and implement improvements for the upcoming season. In particular, leverage influencer marketing as a crucial component to generate sales and create gift-related content. Plan budgets and identify key products for collaborations with influencers to ensure an effective campaign.

4. Optimize Website and Social Media Channels: Update the consumer brand’s website and social media channels to be optimized for the holiday season. Create new content and promotions to attract new customers and keep existing customers engaged. This can include refreshing product images, conducting lifestyle shoots, incorporating user-generated content, and utilizing influencer-driven content.

5. Prepare for Potential Challenges: Anticipate and prepare for potential challenges such as supply chain disruptions or staffing shortages. Develop contingency plans to mitigate any adverse effects and ensure that the business can continue to operate smoothly.

-Brittany Robertson + Jalila Singerff (Director of Social Media + Director of Public Relations), Jive PR Digital

4. Create SEO Advantage with Long-Tail Content and Lesser Celebrated Holidays

 

Ross Johnson, SEO expert for consumer brands is recommending  ambitious consumer brands use these six tips to stand out in search.

While long tail keywords have lower search volume individually, they often have MORE search volume in aggregate. -Ross Johnson, 3.7 Designs

mobile shopping continues to grow, especially during the holiday season. Ensure that your website provides a seamless and intuitive mobile experience, allowing shoppers to browse and make purchases easily on their mobile devices.\n\n6. Don’t sleep on lesser celebrated holidays\n\nConsumer buy presents for Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Chinese New Year, and even Thanks Giving. These Holidays typically have much less competition while still having high purchase intent.\n \n"}” data-sheets-userformat=”{"2":641,"3":{"1":0},"10":0,"12":0}”>1. Consumer Brand Experts: Start your content marketing now, update later

You could publish articles on Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and other holiday buyers guides now and update them as you get closer to the holiday season.

2. Optimize for holiday-related keywords

Incorporate the following keywords into your content article titles,  for example: Cyber Monday 2023 Gifts for New Fathers.

– Holiday Gifts 2023
– Black Friday 2023
– Cyber Monday 2023
– Holiday Shopping 2023
– Gift Ideas 2023

3. Focus on long-tail keywords

In a competitive niche, it’s challenging to rank for generic keywords like “shoes” or “weighted blanket.” Instead, aim for more specific and detailed phrases like “colorful running shoes for women” or “gifts for people who love weighted blankets.”

While long tail keywords have lower search volume individually, they often have MORE search volume in aggregate. Be aware that this approach requires publishing significantly more content than generic keywords.

4. Leverage non-text media

Holiday shoppers are more likely to search for images, videos, Google shopping, local search, and podcasts. Optimize your images, create video reviews or buyer’s guide videos, explore podcast interviews, or even launch your own podcast to engage with your target audience through different channels.

5. Optimize your mobile experience

Prioritize optimizing your mobile experience as mobile shopping continues to grow, especially during the holiday season. Ensure that your website provides a seamless and intuitive mobile experience, allowing shoppers to browse and make purchases easily on their mobile devices.

6. Don’t sleep on lesser celebrated holidays

Consumer buy presents for Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Chinese New Year, and even Thanks Giving. These Holidays typically have much less competition while still having high purchase intent.


-Ross Johnson, 3.7 Designs

 

5. Make Your Brand Differences Your Consumer Brand Strength

Brand expert Chris Lam reminds consumer brands to polish up their brand. Lam says two of the most important ways consumer brands can prepare for the holiday season is understanding the customer and their pain points.

Incorporate your competitive advantage into existing content and copy -Chris Lam, Chris Lam Connects

  1. Brands really have to understand their customer. We hear this all.the.time, and there’s a reason for it. What exactly are those pain points that customers are facing and that your service or product can provide a solution or ease a pain point? (It’s not always literal or point-blank obvious.) Take the time to get to know your customer. Poll them. Engage them. Ask them. Get that feedback from the people or orgs that use your product or service.2. Emphasize How You Help the Customer. I also think consumer brands also need to remember what their competitive advantage is against their competitors and highlight it, especially if it appeals and (again) alleviates a pain point for their customer. Among all the other brands that a consumer can go to, why should they choose your brand? Flesh that out, maybe even consider this as a campaign by itself. Or incorporate your competitive advantage into existing content and copy.

-Chris Lam, Chris Lam Connects

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How People Discover New Brands?

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You have a new product to launch. How can you ensure consumers find it when they’re shopping? Marketing experts say the average person sees between 4,000 and 10,000 ads in a single day; everyone of them claiming to be perfectly targeted to your ideal customer. People tune out most ads. But for DTC brands, the ad addiction is real. Why? Because it’s easy to establish direct ROI. Even when brands know the ROI isn’t great, they can’t seem to get off the treadmill because they know what to expect.  And with AI emerging, there is likely to be further disruption in the consumer industry. You’ve worked so hard to create a great brand and a great product. So, if not for advertising, how do people discover new brands today?

 

Give Them a Reason to Talk About Your Brand

Because we’re so inundated with signals and ads, buyers rely on friends and family for suggestions more than ever to help them filter through the choices. Every consumer brand understands the value of reviews, but referrals from friends and family are even more essential. 27% of consumers rely on trusted sources like friends for new brand discovery. Also, the older the target customer, the more likely they are to rely on advice from friends, with GenX (30%) and Boomers (35%) relying most heavily on friends and family.

But giving your advocates a gentle nudge and a reason to share your info with friends is even more important. We see this a lot with referral codes. Still, when a customer wants to advocate for you, or want to tell a friend about you, they aren’t likely going to go digging around for a creepy referral link that makes the receiver think their friend is only recommending a brand so they can save $10. It’s icky.

Instead, think about your content and social proof. For example, write tangential content that’s interesting and useful to your customer, not just about your brand. For example, if you’re a food brand, then write content about your favorite cooking tools in your test kitchen.

Also, when you secure consumer press, celebrate it with your customers. This IS a good time to offer a promo code because it’s one more reason to say to a friend, “hey, this is the skincare lotion you asked me about; it’s on sale,” AND it comes right next to the social proof that backs up your customer’s choice to share your product.

 

Search Engine Love

31% of consumers find new products on search engines. Consumers use search engines during two buying phases: the research phase and the buying phase. You want to be present for both, because that’s how people discover new brands

First, assuming your website is well constructed, and your product pages are well designed, your next step is to embrace the reality of the internet: content marketing. With the latest advances in AI-generated content, creating content for your website has never been easier. Just be sure to review your content and ensure the quality is there because content is often a consumer’s first exposure to your brand. There are countless ways you can use content marketing. Look at the way Sarah Blakely was always the #1 brand advocate for Spanx.

Second, if you sell DTC, use Google’s product review advice to help you build content that matters to customers. Our annual guide has many tips and hints about building consumer content that will help you stand out in search engine results.

But it’s not just owned content that customers love. When potential customers search for products, they’re in the buying phase, and that’s when they’re looking for reviews that jump out at them from search results: reviews by trusted media outlets. This is really important because publishers have massive amounts of content and SEO, so their product reviews are highly visible. And it doesn’t seem to matter if the press outlet uses affiliate links, so long as it’s disclosed. We’ve had clients sell out warehouses full of product due to affiliate links. Notably, affiliate links from friends might seem creepy, but product review affiliate links from media outlets are perfectly acceptable. Why might that be? When you learn about how people view lures and rewards, that’s another reason you must allow your marketing and PR to work together when considering your DTC consumer.

Influencers Gonna Influence

We can’t really talk about DTC PR without talking about social media influencers. It’s not just younger generations turning to TikTok for product discovery. And social networks catch buyer in all three phases – the awareness phase, the buying phase, when they’re researching a product, and the curiosity phase. Ensure your influencer campaigns work for both those phases, and be conscious of how impulsive your customers are when strategizing campaigns with content creators, because buyers are increasingly impulsive on platforms like TikTok.; 65% of GenZ and Millenials make impulse buying decisions at least once per month, compared to 38% of GenX and Boomers.

 

Using these modern PR tips to capitalize on how people discover new brands and tactics will make your investment pay for itself much faster.

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Mastering the Art of Consumer PR

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The idea behind public relations is – publicity, as in establishing a company’s credibility (and its owner). It helps by predisposing potential customers to believe the brand when a new product or service approaches. In essence, consumer PR agencies work in the same vein as marketing agencies but are more focused on building a positive image for a brand and building the brand’s image with stakeholders like journalists. Mastering the art of consumer PR means capturing the imaginations of key audiences.

What is Consumer PR?

So, what is consumer PR? The debut of Facebook marked a watershed moment in the media and communications industries. Social media has evolved as a legitimate platform that has given consumers a voice during the last five years. PR experts began to make little moves towards making it a standard practice in the field. Simultaneously, social media played an essential role in global political events such as Barack Obama’s campaigns, solidifying its position as the public’s voice.

Over time, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram evolved into forums for consumers to discuss the companies they used and liked. The flow of information changed from being controlled by the media to peer-to-peer. Brand communications evolved from a monologue to a discussion. This compelled the public relations business to realign and innovate.

Several brands conducted customer surveys during the time to develop impactful campaign tactics, but the sample size needed to be bigger, making the insights ambiguous. However, technological advancements gave the sector a digital-led data trail with a sample size of millions.

We could now analyze consumer trends, assess their reaction to advertisements, comprehend public opinion, and adjust the discourse accordingly. Data has evolved as a medium for clearly identifying the appropriate method to use with the target audience, with data-backed insights constituting the foundation of every plan or campaign.

The internet was now the primary platform for generating brand-related dialogues. It resulted in new communication channels, such as webinars and podcasts, which brought brands and customers together on a single platform.

Today consumer PR has evolved into a spider web that enables us to construct several communication layers. Owned social media channels and content creators that advance the topic through authentic branded content can supplement traditional public relations by providing live material, such as webinars created by consumer PR agencies, to reinforce the brand message.

Some new business owners may wonder and think why they should devote money from their marketing budget to public relations. They may believe their tech firm needs more significance to warrant full-fledged public relations, or they are considering adopting a PR strategy to save money. However, public relations is not a luxury or a nice-to-have for today’s tech firms. Every organization, regardless of size or stage of development, must promote strong ties with the public.

Strong consumer PR allows brands to create the narrative in discussions with customers, prospects, investors, and existing and potential employees, in addition to assisting the organization in gaining positive publicity.

Audiences can be either active or passive. Different methods will be required to appeal to each kind. An engaged audience is interested in the company and receptive to the message.

The passive audience isn’t looking for anything and may need more time to prep for the carefully planned message, making reaching it more challenging. However, the approach should be genuine and human when dealing with a receptive audience. For that, a deep dive is required before establishing a strategy, mainly because there’s no such thing as a one-size-fits-all message. A consumer PR campaign agency can create customized messages to be successful because communication is the key to corporate success.

Consumer PR vs. Marketing

Even industry pros can readily cross the borders between public relations and marketing. Public relations and marketing departments’ aims, goals, and strategies may closely relate to today’s environment.

In short, marketing is concerned with increasing sales by promoting products, services, or ideas through platforms such as social media. Public relations primarily involves maintaining a favorable reputation for a company, brand, or individual through the media.

While public relations is concerned with reputation management and increasing the reach of news items, interviews, and announcements, marketing teams are concerned with acquiring new buyers, maintaining current consumers, and storytelling.

Both are profoundly ingrained in developing brand equity, consumer loyalty, and good brand impression. Generally, there is a distinction between the audiences for whom PR and marketing teams create communications.

The audience of a marketing agency is based heavily on consumer insight research, which enables marketing companies to target specific demographics who are more likely to be interested in one particular service or product.

It means the target demographic of marketing teams is those potential customers who will purchase based on the marketing message. Marketing teams are likely to engage in digital advertising, ABM, and email marketing for segmenting and targeting specific consumers to achieve that.

On the other hand, consumer PR is a broader initiative that depends on the primary goal of a specific organization or campaign. For instance, a press release intends to introduce or inform current and potential customers about a product launch or event. In contrast, the company’s financial report or white papers are for investors and journalists. So, while marketing and consumer PR employs tactics that may be similar, they are focused on achieving different goals, which is why PR and marketing are distinct from the same department.

Major differences:

Daily Activities: Marketing and public relations specialists use their time differently. PR experts mostly for earned media and media partnerships. Marketing experts devote their efforts primarily to paid media. Both marketing and PR have a role in product launch preparation, marketing campaign creation, and client research.

Target Audience: Another distinction between the two departments is the audience they reach. Depending on the organization’s desire, the PR department addresses various audiences. They may generate a good outreach with the media, firm stakeholders, or even personnel. In comparison, the marketing department is primarily concerned with reaching out to customers and prospects.

Metrics: Another important distinction between marketing and public relations is how both departments judge success. PR professionals assess whether they successfully create a positive buzz for the firm. On the other hand, marketing might consider whether a product accomplished its sales targets or the ROI from a recent campaign.

Goal: The public relations and marketing divisions approach their duties with different objectives. PR is concerned with projecting a positive image of the firm and cultivating positive relationships with the company’s numerous stakeholders. In contrast, marketing is concerned with reaching customers and prospects and growing sales, bringing us to the next obvious question, “what is the differentiation between consumer PR and B2B PR?”

Consumer PR vs. B2B PR: Explained

In public relations, there are two major categories: business-to-business (B2B) PR and business-to-consumer (B2C). Both types of public relations entail advertising a product, service, or company to a specific audience, but there are some substantial variations between the two. The target audience is likely the most crucial distinction between B2B and B2C public relations.

B2B PR is concerned with reaching out to other businesses, whereas B2C PR is concerned with reaching out to individual consumers. The target audience in B2B PR is often a blend of company decision-makers who have the authority to purchase on behalf of their firm. B2C PR, on the other hand, aims to reach the daily consumer interested in a particular product or service.

Relationship building is vital in B2B and B2C PR since it is necessary to develop trust and credibility with other firms or customers. PR agencies prioritize long-term relationships with industry influencers, journalists, and other essential players in their target market. They may also attend networking events such as launches, trade exhibits, seminars, and fairs.

In the case of B2C, PRs typically focus on creating buzz and enthusiasm about a particular product or service. Consumer PR agencies may often work with influencers and social media celebrities to generate buzz around a product launch or promotional event.

Types of Consumer PR

The role of consumer PR agencies is to plan coordinated messages that help a brand achieve its objectives instead of just passing on information for the sake of it. You could invest in the following major consumer PR types.

Social Media and Online Communications

In today’s world of instant communication, brands must possess a solid online presence to stand out from the crowd. With an increasing consumers turning to online sources to research products and services before deciding, brands must get out a positive image via their online and social media communications. As a brand, hiring the expertise of a top consumer PR agency means you get your vision out on the best social media platforms.

Targeting Influencers and the Press

When promoting a new service or product, the consumer needs to get the information they deserve, meaning there should be a mailing list of influencers and media outlets that can help get a business the boost they need when launching a new product or service. The longer the list, the better the chances of reaching a wider audience.

Targeting press and influencers can be divided into specialty, local and national categories. Only experienced consumer PR agencies can gauge which social media influencers and media reports specialize in particular products or services. It is also common for consumer PR agencies to create influencer collaborations and partnerships to produce specific content for a brand.

Consumer PR is about more than just engaging an audience and boosting visibility; consumer PR agencies act as the translator between what the company is saying and what consumers hear. Keeping that in mind, only the top consumer PR agency will be able to work its messages in a way that complements the brand and helps it reach its goal. In today’s highly competitive business environment, consumer PR has become the most critical asset for organizations that want to position themselves for success.

Hiring the Top Consumer PR Agency

Ever since Henry Ford was a little tyke getting news on the latest in the automobile and technology relied heavily on advertising. Besides the high cost, the words of an authority figure in the niche were (and are) arguably the most influential. It’s the reason why stars such as Jay Leno and Jeremy Clarkson have carved a niche as the motoring enthusiast’s TV shows and newspapers turn to for communicating brand differentiators.

In short, their opinion sways the decisions of motoring enthusiasts across the world of automobiles. The same motivation for the connected car is also responsible for the connected consumer, who can now determine the right choice from an array of news, views, and reviews on their mobile device. In a fragmented world where the sheer number of opinions available makes it harder to distinguish the truly committed, consumer PR agencies work to shape the narrative.

More influencers, reviews, and opinions will undoubtedly exist in an increasingly connected world. Still, more messages are needed, which is where hiring the top consumer PR agency can make all the difference. AdRoll has its finger on the pulse when it comes to consumer PR. The company helps marketers and business owners do more with less when reaching the consumer. Find out how you can create, manage, and analyze display, FaceBook, Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok, and email campaigns, all from a single platform.

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Why Hiring a Cannabis PR Firm Matters

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Ask anyone who works in the cannabis industry: it’s different from any other industry. It’s not “just another CPG” product. It’s a highly regulated, heavily watched, extremely volatile industry. Our firm handled the first cannabis product recall in California, and we can tell you it’s not like other product recalls. We’re deeply engaged in the cannabis industry through our NCIA leadership and we proudly spearheaded the Best of 420 Clio Cannabis last year. The cannabis industry, which started in 2012 when Colorado and Washington legalized recreational use, has a history and patchwork of regulations even though it’s an emerging industry. Navigating these waters takes strategy, foresight, and the ability to read the tea leaves, which only comes from experience – that’s why hiring a cannabis PR firm matters.

 

The Cannabis Industry is Not The Green Rush

The ACTUAL gold rush was famously unregulated; it was a bonanza of rebels who swarmed government lands with impunity. Or the tech industry, whose ground-breaking innovations in media, medicine, and technology happened without major government oversight for decades, giving time for some of the world’s most profitable companies to take root.

The cannabis industry is on fragile ground. Even the most basic of business tools, the bank account, is challenging to secure for plant-touching cannabis brands. Unlike the surge of other emerging industries which merged into hypergrowth businesses, from the very first, the cannabis industry has been highly regulated. No startup industry has managed so many regulations, taxes, and hurdles early in its growth.

Why does this matter when hiring a cannabis PR agency? Because there is a more significant responsibility to consider and more to lose for cannabis brands. Anytime a bad actor lands in the cannabis industry, legislators can point to the irresponsibility of that single company as representative of the entire sector – fair or not. Cannabis brands must take the reputation of the whole cannabis sector seriously. Cannabis owners have the opportunity to be cultural leaders, and that’s a heady but consequential task that a cannabis PR agency knows how to handle.

If the cannabis industry is to change its federal legalization situation, then it must take the reputation of the cannabis industry seriously; that’s why hiring a cannabis PR firm matters.

 

Building a Brand Matters More in Cannabis

There are only a few ways for cannabis brands to differentiate because of the limitations on cannabis brands. Therefore, cannabis brands must use the marketing and communication tactics that are open to them, strategically.

While a cannabis connoisseur may be able to detect the subtleties of your flower’s terpene profile, the average U.S. consumer is still blissfully unaware of what a terpene is. It’s essential to meet your consumer where they are and celebrate their lives through the articulation of your brand. People are rarely drawn to a brand because it educates them; educational content has its purpose, but as a cannabis brand, you must know its purpose and place more than other consumer brands. And when I say brand, I mean every touch point from cannabis packaging to website. If your website looks amateur, then it doesn’t scream luxury or lifestyle; it screams “cheap, and uncommitted.”

Don’t kid yourself into thinking your digital presence doesn’t matter because traditional e-commerce isn’t available to cannabis brands. The fact is, search is one of the most powerful marketing tools you can leverage, and PR and content are critical to successful cannabis SEO.

It’s more important than ever that brands articulate clearly WHO their customer is. This is true of all consumer brands – but for the cannabis industry, where it’s even more challenging for the consumer to differentiate between brands, it’s even more critical that you tell them. No successful brand is everything to everyone right away. It took decades for Coca-Cola to be a brand that crosses generations and lifestyles, and even with that, Coca-Cola is continuously adding new products and new campaigns to reinforce its connection to segments of its audience. No cannabis brand has the history or the budget to operate the way the world’s biggest brands do – and that’s OK. You can’t be ubiquitous, but you can be niche.

But being a cannabis company doesn’t make you a cannabis brand-a brand you must build. And PR is a vital tool for emerging industries and ambitious brands for a reason.

Today’s cannabis brands have a multitude of strategies for their future. Some want to create generational family businesses, some want to be acquired, and some want nothing less than world domination. All those things are possible when you build a cannabis brand and that’s why hiring a cannabis firm matters.

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Can Growth Marketing and Public Relations Work Together?

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Can growth marketing and public relations work together. Growth marketing is about customer acquisition and retention, often through paid media, with relentless iterations and deeply engaged knowledge of the consumer. Public relations is reputation management of a company’s image, often through earned media and deep understanding of broader cultural and media trends. So what do they have in common? On the surface, not much, but when you dig deeper into the tactics and the metrics, we can see where together growth marketing and public relations can work together successfully.

Suppose the business objective for a consumer product launch is to increase sales through decreasing competitors’ market share. In that case, a digitally savvy PR agency knows how to do competitive research of the entire digital landscape and media landscape and use that data to determine the opportunities to overtake a competitor, while a growth marketer is reviewing how the company attracts customers and retains customers. But where do growth marketing and public relations work together?

Data Driven KPIs

Today’s modern PR firms and PR campaigns should be tied to business goals and identified public relations metrics that support and funnel up into that goal.  While growth marketers are developing ads, PR agencies are developing ways to capture the target audience’s imagination. PR agencies may present a word-of-mouth activation or a targeted quality over-quantity earned media campaign that overlaps targeted audiences. A PR agency might also recommend content which can boost SEO and support brand values that interest and retain customers.  Just like a growth marketer, a modern PR agency is tracking metrics. What metrics might a PR agency track in the above scenario?

  • Mention Quality
  • Article Reach
  • Brand Placement in Article
  • Share of Voice
  • Domain Authority

All of the above PR metrics are measures of awareness and credibility. These metrics support top-of-funnel AND bottom-of-funnel customer journeys and can support growth marketing efforts with a keen eye on target audiences and messaging which supports growth marketing.

The Digital PR Toolkit

For growth marketers, the digital tool kit is primarily paid (but not exclusively); for growth marketing PR, the digital tool kit is primarily owned (but not solely). But there are a few areas where growth marketing and growth PR connect. One of those is SEO. For the growth marketer, SEO provides opportunities for retargeting and organic acquisition, growth marketing PR adds value to both. With a savvy eye on keywords and quality inbound links, PR supports growth marketing objectives to funnel into business objectives.

That’s not all; PR agencies working with media outlets to build revenue opportunities can help growth marketing with a high domain authority on inbound links as well as excellent reviews from credible media outlets, which send potential new customers searching for the product. These reviews could be in gift guides or hero reviews where the consumer product receives an in-depth study that meets Google’s product review update recommendations. Meanwhile, growth marketers will typically focus on reviews from influencers or existing customers. And a brand with positive customer reviews gives a journalist further confidence in a brand and a product.

Today, PR and growth marketing can use some of the same tools, they use them slightly differently:

  • Inbound Links
  • Owned Media
  • Credible Review Acquisition

Credibility: Where PR Fills The Gap

I often tell our clients PR creates the awareness and solidifies reputation; ads are the conversion driver – that’s how they work together, and they both work better. Why? It’s simple: earned media from credible media outlets is more trusted than paid ads. But few journalists look at it as their job to write conversion-focused marketing copy. The journalist’s job is traditionally to create the content that keeps you on the pages. From a longer tail and more strategic point of view – PR also builds brand credibility on the corporate level, trusted brands have faster aquisition and they have longer customer retention, meaning growth marketing is even more influential.

So when someone sees a great review of a product, and THEN they see the ad, they get the trigger to purchase the product, or maybe they sign up for a newsletter, or maybe the look for more reviews and do a Google search that lands them on another referral site. The pathways are endless, but they all come back to one thing: supporting the brand’s business goal.

I’m a fan of understanding and maximizing the media environment for our clients. The Avaans Media client is ambitious and goal driven, so understanding how our jobs support overall marketing strategies and business goals is essential. When we evaluate the landscape for our clients, we find a distinct point of view, and because our tools are different than growth marketers, we can glean insights and data that drive new insights. To be honest, I’m not concerned with being a purist about owned, earned, and paid. It’s the job of a digitally savvy PR agency to know what levers to pull when and how to shape campaigns that create success. That’s our job – and that’s why growth marketers and public relations can be best buddies.

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