In this episode, I wanted to share how using PR strategically can help build credibility with customers in your sales pipeline and help generate warmer sales leads. If you are not using PR this way, you are missing a trick!
Most businesses are selling something, and one of the many things that PR can help is building the ‘know, like trust’ aspect of a customers’ journey with you.
I reveal one way you can do this in this week’s 10 min episode.
Before you go…
Get a FREE copy of seven simple steps to communication activity with impact
https://mailchi.mp/henbe.co.uk/me4aassrqp
You can also;
Leave me a review on Apple Podcasts or my FB page @commthatworks as it helps others find the show, and subscribe to be the first to listen each week.
Follow my Facebook page for daily tips and advice.
https://www.facebook.com/commsthatworks
DM me on LinkedIn emmadrake or Twitter @_emmadrake or info@henbe.co.uk
EP 15 Full Transcription:
I wanted to share with you how using Public Relations tactics and tools strategically can help you build more credibility for customers in your sales pipeline. And if you’re not using PR this way, you’re actually really missing a trick here, it can ultimately help generate warmer sales leads.
So why is that?
Well, we talk about exposure, and we talk about profile and brand awareness. But most businesses are selling something ultimately. And one of the many things that PR can help with that has the potential to help the sales process along is with the what we call ‘know like trust’ aspect of a customer journey with you. So that’s all the interactions that customer has with you more informed sales leads mean that they’re what we call warmer. So in plain terms, that means your customer is closer to working with you than they were when they first heard of you. This is the know like trust pathway.
And it’s just one that the customer has to travel with you to know your products to like them or work out if they’ll work for them. And to trust you and choose you over the other options that might be available out there. Using PR this way can influence your lead generation and become an essential cog in that sales wheel. Using it this way takes some strategic thinking and not just putting content out there.
But it needs you need to be making sure that there’s a consistent message over a sustained period of time. And I’ve talked about this previously in previous episodes about PR, but having a sustained effort over a period of time means that in the long run, you will actually reap the benefits. Pr Of course can also help promote your customers once they do business with you through things like case studies, and ultimately your own PR activities.
So it’s putting them right in the spotlight too. So it’s a real Win Win, really.
So here are some tips and an example of how to use PR as part of your sales strategy.
Let’s dive in.
First of all, everyone has to be aligned with what the goal is. So easier said than done, right? So business development teams must understand that selling and telling are intrinsically linked. So it’s no good if the sales team are explaining something in a completely different way to your customers to how you are as a business through your messaging. So that’s the first thing is connecting your selling to your telling. So this means bringing the sales team on board with your campaign planning, and making sure that they’re part of the process. If you’re a smaller business, and you’re maybe one or two people, then this is clearly much simpler well in theory.
So next, we want to be thinking about how to approach the tasks. And depending on what your goal is, will depend on what actions and activities you need to take at this point to help the customers within know like trust.
So you need to speak to customers;
What what is it they don’t understand? Where are the barriers?
What are the barriers?
Are they financial operational?
Do they think the transition is harder than it than it is in reality?
Or do you need to bust the myths potentially with what you’re offering, and what their perception is of it?
As an example, I worked with a startup in the housing sector in the UK, that had experienced a lot of interest in its products. But not many converting to customers at that time, or conversion was actually quite low, considering the numbers in the pipeline. So the goal here was to help potential customers really understand how to make the move from using traditional products and methods, the tried and tested methods to new and improved methods and processes.
I had to identify where the pain barriers were, and help these customers by busting these myths surrounding the new and modern methods. So this is quite something and identified early on that one of the barriers was that the customers didn’t truly understand the steps they needed to take to transition. So they didn’t really understand whether it works specifically for them. And how they would specifically benefit from making the effort to transition Aside from the obvious reported differences. So it was really more about how it would actually work for them. So the classic sort of what’s in what’s in it for me situation really, the company involved also did not really have a long track record at that time. So this is a big ask, right? You want people to change their entire process. You want them to work with a company that has little track record. So there’s no proven cases or studies or long term research available Actually, it’s so new. Yeah, this is this is tough. And the reality is not everyone is going to buy a truth bomb. Not everyone is going to buy. So first of all we have to get over that point.
But clearly there were a lot of people on the edge on the fence. And these were the people we wanted to help So to build the know, like trust, the team and I designed a PR campaign that had at its heart, a thought leader paper or white paper.
Now this white paper explained all of the pros and cons, the steps needed to transition, it was a bit of a guide, really, where the cost benefit kicked in. And it was endorsed by people already using it. So there were a few people using it the product.
And it was also endorsed by industry bodies that had certified it. So there were some certifications the product needed to go through. And we talked to the people responsible for that. And we managed to get the voice of the Certification Authority into the white paper is really important. This is like the expert view.
So people will trust an expert, an independent expert, if you’re a new company, and you haven’t got much track record trying to get those third party endorsements are incredibly important. So included some simple graphics, and most importantly, an honest review really, of who it would work for, and who really wouldn’t work for where the sweet spot was. And therefore what type of companies probably could transition easier. Now, this was a big piece of work.
And it took a long time to collate the interviews and translated to copy with infographics and quotes, etc. And, you know, it may not work for you this honest approach where you have to get third party endorsements, and you have to talk really openly and honestly about your business and where it works and where it doesn’t. You know, this is about niching down. And this is a really important factor of businesses. So you’ve got to be able to understand who those customers are that are most most likely to buy from you. And these are the ones who were trying to convince these were the ones who were just trying to nudge them over the extra step that they needed to help with that trust factor. So it’s a large piece of work, and it takes some investment, but actually it will pay dividends in the end. It gave us something to launch. And we did this at a major industry event where lots of people would be watching, we were able to build a campaign around it using face to face meetings, talks content online to drive people to the paper.
We partnered with industry known professionals so that they would effectively endorse the product as well. It resulted in being a really effective sales tool that demonstrated a high amount of value. And the best bit is that it could be chopped up or it could be repurposed use, again, and used in component parts as well for content for infographics for social media, or the quotes could be used in presentations, for example, it was sent to all customers in the pipeline, and alongside the sales team’s efforts it saw or it helped convert some of those people that are on the fence. So more qualified leads, effectively warmer leads, people that wanted to go into that next stage of buying.
It also opened doors to people who were ready to buy but hadn’t quite heard of the company or didn’t really understand their route. So it was really good from that perspective. The result was a piece of contents that had many years of shelf life, and it’s actually still going strong. But also as a sales tool to help potential clients understand the product in more detail.
As I said, it’s become a bit of a Bible of how the product works with customers when they can use it and how to get the most value from a from a know like trust perspective, this paper was essentially a tool to help customers along that important journey.
Today, you’ve learned how to use PR strategically, as a cog in the sales will give you it learned one way, I’ve explained one case example of how you could do that there are many ways that you could do this.
If you want to get in touch and talk more about this topic, then feel free to get in touch with me emma@henbe.co.uk or say Hi on my social channels
Transcribed by https://otter.ai