How to use PR to build trust in your product
One of the many ways PR can help the sales process along is through the ‘know, like, trust’ aspect of the customer journey with you.
The more someone hears about your business and the better informed they are, the warmer they are as a potential lead. In plain terms, this means your customer is closer to working with you than they were when they first heard of you. The customer has to travel along the ‘know, like, trust’ pathway with you to know your products, to like them, and to work out if they will work for them. They also need to trust you, so they will 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 your sales wheel.
Now I say this is for B2B, but it can be easily translated into B2C – it’s just that B2B is my genius zone, so I am focussing here today.
Let’s dive in!
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Full Transcript (unedited)
How to use PR to build trust in your product
One of the many ways PR can help the sales process along through the ‘know, like, trust’ aspect of the customer journey with you.
The more someone hears about your business and the better informed they are, the warmer they are as a potential lead. In plain terms, this means your customer is closer to working with you than they were when they first heard of you. The customer has to travel along the ‘know, like, trust’ pathway with you to know your products, to like them, and to work out if they will work for them. They also need to trust you, so they will 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 your sales wheel.
Now I say this is for B2B, but it can be easily translated into B2C – it’s just that B2B is my genius zone, so I am focussing here today. Let’s dive in!
- Your message needs to be consistent
You need to make sure there’s a consistent message about you and your product over a sustained period of time. Using PR in this way takes strategic thinking. It’s no good just putting content out there. You need to think about how it fits together and what people will be learning from it.
This also means that everyone in the business needs to talk about the product in the same way. Selling and telling are inextricably linked. It’s no good if the sales team is explaining something to your customers in a completely different way to how it is being presented through your business messaging.
- Make a plan of action
What actions and activities do you need to take at this point to help the customers step onto the ‘know, like, trust’ pathway? What do you need to provide as they move along it?
For example, do they have questions about your product? Do they want to see examples of how it works? Do they want to know about how it is different from other products out there? What are their concerns and how can you address these? Do you need to bust some myths?
This is especially true if you are new in the market or have a breakthrough product or service with no track record.
Talk to people and find out what they want to know. Then make a plan for how you are going to share that information and how you can build relationships, which turn your warm leads into paying customers.
- Work out what’s stopping people buying from you?
How many times have we heard ‘we just need more coverage/profile/awareness’ etc?
Just like the media, your buyers want to know what’s in it for them. Why should they pay attention to you?
Start by speaking to people and find out what it is that they don’t understand about your product. What are the barriers? Arthey financial or operational? Do they think the transition to using your product is harder than it is in reality? What do they need to know about how your product fits in with their existing processes?
When you start talking to people, you might find that they have preconceived ideas about your product and how it works. You might need to bust some myths about what you’re offering and what your customers’ perception of it is.
You want to move them from having not heard of you, to knowing who you are and how your product will benefit them. This is all part of PR.
- What can you create to build trust?
Once you have identified the barriers, you need to think about how you are going to overcome them and build trust in yourself and your product. No one is going to buy your product if they don’t believe it’s going to work for them.
You could create a series of videos walking people through how it works and showcasing different benefits. You could use case studies so people can see how your product has been used elsewhere.
- Bring it all together
Don’t work in silos, marketers!
A good comms plan involves a number of elements; sales, marketing and PR, all working together as part of a strategy. You don’t want to set off and say, “we’re going to hold an event,” without thinking about who that is for or how many people you need to convert for it to be a success. Or “let’s do a special media campaign” without understanding exactly who you are targeting with what message and features (you need the marketing guys for that bit).
When I put a strategy together, I follow a process. I look at your purpose, what success looks like, who your customers are, how to get in front of them, what to say to them, and what tactics to use. I also decide how we are going to review and measure the results. This means you know you are embarking on a course of action with a clear goal in mind which is going to appeal to your buyers. You also know how you will measure success. This enables you to see if you are on track and to refine your approach if necessary.
By finding out what people want to know about your product and delivering that in a way that interests them, you can develop a comms strategy that leads to sales.