PR and Marketing: Peeping Out from Behind The Scenes
Solution Factors • December 3, 2020
I’ve spent more than 20 years providing PR and marketing services to companies and charities. Simon Badman, an associate, recently suggested that I write a blog post to explain how I help make success happen from behind the scenes. I’ve always got away with putting other people in the spotlight rather than myself. But now the time has come for me to step out and take a bow, to introduce my updated, redesigned website… It even includes my photo.
I unashamedly publicise my clients’ successes using my PR and marketing services, over my own public profile.
Marketplaces are like theatres
Simon Badman, who designed and built this website, really made me think when he said the star of the play is often the set designer/builder. He likened set building to being a PR and marketing management consultant. Coincidentally, I worked in set design for a while when I was younger, and I can see the wisdom in his comment.
The only difference between a set designer/builder and a PR and Marketing Management Consultant
is that I also find the audience members and draw them into each performance.
How do you attract your target audience?
First impressions count. As part of providing PR and marketing services, I often write copy for clients, such as websites, brochures, email campaigns, proposals and all manner of sales pitches. I also support
people when they appear on TV or podcasts or speak on radio.
Your offering has to be relevant to your target audience, otherwise they won’t engage. It’s vital to use language that they can relate to and that radiates confidence in your product, service or cause.
What happens to your audience when the curtains open?
When the curtains open, your audience has confidence in your abilities – otherwise they wouldn’t be looking at the stage, eagerly anticipating your appearance. When lit up (by promotional campaigns), your set (your offering) needs to look better than those of all your competitors. Your set pitches for you before you say a word.
That’s how PR and marketing works: your brand, your strength and your appeal are pitched to your target audience.
If your PR and marketing material
makes a strong impression, you will have your audience’s attention. When the lights go down and the performance starts, if the set is below par, you risk disappointing prospects, meaning they are less likely to become customers.
During the show, your PR and marketing stage set has to remain spotless and strong. If anything goes wrong, your audience could leave with a negative impression of you – an impression that will last.
The quality of the act
The quality of the act itself is down to the actors. Similarly, PR and marketing builds up your offering and positions it to stand out and compete. Post-sale delivery is down to your team. Your audience must walk away happy and contented after each transaction, if they are to return.
How does this translate into real-world PR and marketing?
I’m writing this blog because, over my years in the industry, I’ve met a steady stream of people who, have been unable to see their organisation through their customers’ – and prospective customers’ – eyes. It’s a little like directing a theatre production without having the opportunity to watch a rehearsal from the auditorium.
This is rarely down to naivety; I think it’s human nature. When I was employed full-time, in-house, heading up PR and marketing to grow a business, I had to work hard at maintaining a realistic an external perspective. You need an independent person, one without a vested interest or obligation, to help you and your colleagues achieve this.
There’s a measurable cost if you don’t have good, independent marketing experience onside.
What is the cost of not having an independent, experienced Marketing Management Consultant?
I’m going to use anonymous real-world examples
to illustrate the value of an independent marketing expert.
Unfortunately, I’m sometimes asked by organisations to pick up the pieces when situations have gone wrong. I’ll use websites as an example, contrasting the costs to small and large organisations.
These costs could be avoided if an independent Marketing Management Consultant
had been engaged to provide input to early budgeting and website design/build briefing decisions. Early engagement doesn’t dilute your decision-making; it simply ensures that you’re making properly informed decisions.
Start-up example:
One start-up engaged a family friend as their website designer/builder. They accepted a quote to design a logo and design, then build, a website. Unfortunately, the website designer missed a series of deadlines, and it became apparent that an approval procedure was not in place. The experience and some of the skills needed to build this website were missing. The start-up pulled out of the project but the website designer/builder insisted on charging the full price.
Engaging somebody like myself early to manage this would have saved them up to £2,000. The start-up then asked me to step in and prevent this from happening again. I set a realistic budget for designing the start-up’s website, and I have talented suppliers to bring about simple, but highly effective, solutions in such circumstances.
Large example:
A large organisation had formed a committee to temporarily revamp, rather than rebuild, its website. Managers had collectively started to believe that the work would cost them more than £40,000. They could not believe my guestimate of £20,000 for early budgeting purposes – until this had been verified by companies with the skill sets to bid for the project. A saving of
£20,000.
These scenarios show that not having enough in-house marketing knowledge and experience can cost companies dearly. And these are not isolated cases; I can think of a wealth of examples spanning more than 20 years of marketing and covering almost 200 companies.
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