What To Expect From PR

Editor's Note: The following piece is an adaptation from RainToday.com's e-guide, The Professional Services Guide To Online PR: How To Use The Web To Generate Leads, Brand & Free Press.

Few leaders in consulting and professional services would dispute the general merits of generating strong publicity through traditional and online media, and utilizing said publicity and press coverage throughout all your marketing efforts.

I research, write, and speak about service business marketing topics fairly often, and I have the advantage of knowing the details of dozens of service firms' marketing strategies, tactics and results. Still, when it comes to the details of PR's future effect, I don't have a crystal ball. I often get some permutation of the following question from firms new to PR:

Assuming I engage PR as a major marketing strategy for my firm, what kind of results can I expect in terms of new business leads, brand improvement, press coverage, blog posts, and search engine placement improvement from each PR push and from my PR over the long-term?

Asking that question is akin to an entrepreneur asking:

Assuming I write a really good business plan and then get the business started, how fast will I get customers? How much margin will I make? How long will it take to reach $10 million revenue?

You just can't know in advance.

PR can pick up steam quickly and then fizzle. PR can take six months to get off the ground then gain steam steadily over the years. One campaign might generate zero coverage and the next one can land you in the Wall Street Journal.

And you can land a story in the Wall Street Journal and get zero business leads. Then you get a mention in a small trade publication and get two major sales as a result.

In my estimation, the success of PR ultimately depends on a number of factors, including:

• How interesting your content and stories are to media, prospects, and buyers
  
  
• How well you implement each PR tactic (and avoiding mistakes large and small that can derail all your efforts)
  
  
• How intensely and rigorously you implement each tactic with both financial and human resources
  
  
• How long you keep at it
  
  
• Relationships you have (or your PR team has) with media and bloggers
  
  
• The strength of the rest of your marketing (e.g. your blog, your enewsletters, your general marketing outreach, etc.)
  
  
• The strength of your brand (e.g. a publication is more likely to publish a study from Harvard Business School than from Jimbob’s Community College)

Assuming you score well on most points above, you should be in good shape and PR (whether you use a PR firm or not) will work well for you over the long-term. Just don't expect that you can know, in advance, how it's all going to pan out.  You've just got to take the leap of faith and wait for the story to unfold.

Mike Schultz is the Publisher of RainToday.com and an advisor to service businesses worldwide. You can read Mike's latest content on his Services Insider Blog. He can be reached at /664_mschultz@raintoday.com.  

Learn more about The Professional Services Guide To Online PR: How To Use The Web To Generate Leads, Brand & Free Press.