Why Startups need to make early investments in PR services?

Getting Public Relations (PR) done for their businesses is preferably the last task that the startup owners have on their bucket list. In those tough, early days of the business, it’s all about products or services, employee/customer acquisition and managing the HR & sales department lies on the entrepreneur's head. So, why communication & PR activities are undervalued in the startup environment? This is because many of the startups rely on the old funnel marketing approach and believe every lead, online advertisement and campaign are for more revenue generation. This would only lead to a few benefits but an early investment in communication and PR could result in a plethora of opportunities for the company to utilize even in the long run. 

Following are the advantages of having communication services from PR agencies:

Expert PR professionals help in shaping the brand story

Most of the startups prefer a Band-aid approach to leverage their communication with customers and emphasize in recreating and reinventing their website, investor pitches and other marketing collateral from time to time. But, it isn’t of much help to match the market competition. To make a mark, it’s essential to know the taste of the audience and having communication with them accordingly. For this, PR firms in India and around the world connect their clients with media. Once a startup gets to interact with the media, it should better know the needs & demands of the target audience which will further help the brand in building relationships with all stakeholders, especially customers. Media pitching and published stories can prove to be a communication goldmine for the startups which can significantly bring the brand closer to its prospects. The expert PR team ensures that the brand story is tailored as per the target audience’s interests and ethos.

The media coverage serves as the best testimonials

A good brand can’t survive on self-promotion alone, it needs other credible sources to tell the stories with authentic endorsements. The main purpose of the PR experts in getting media coverage isn’t only about sales, but about ensuring that the brand awareness and image is created. The strong media presence of a startup arranged by its PR agency leads to instant brand recall and interest from top talent in the industry. Valuable media coverage gained from trusted medium and platforms could inspire a great number of customers to follow you.

Media gives your startup an edge over the competition

Media validate the authenticity and reliability of brands before featuring them in their stories only to ensure that no fraudulence or suspicions are involved. While making a choice of startup businesses to highlight or articles to publish, media firms are validating the startup's ideas and indirectly endorsing them. If your brand’s name isn’t in the news, and your competitors are, then you are certainly way behind and need to wake up before it’s too late. Simply doing SEO won’t help your startup’s website won’t help you to rank up on google results for long but some authentic media links will ensure the same. Be it investors or the customers will themselves show interest in your startup once the PR pitches of your business get space in the related media space. Even a small interview and quote on latest technologies related to your business in a good publication or channel can deliver a timely push to your brand over the competition.

4 quick and easy metrics to measure the success of PR campaigns

For many years, the word measurement would send shivers to the Public Relations (PR) & communication professionals. However, things have been extremely changing in the last few years and there has been a growing demand for strategic value communication and ever growing demands for budget justification needing to be linked to business impact. A good measurement scale as a whole includes adequate process, methodology, standards and clear taxonomy of the industry. In case a PR agency in Delhi, NCR or in any part of the world is showing low interest in adoption of a clear measurement framework this means that the PR outputs as discussed don’t hold the guarantee of being delivered. The following ways will help the PR professionals to adequately measure the PR campaigns’ effectiveness:

1.    Domain Authority

At least once or twice in a month, the client domain’s website gets update by Moz and if the content publishing trend is consistent on it slow but steady increase can be easily delivered each month. As the professional course of working on the client’s website increases also increases the rate with which the targeted audience is coming up on the website and preferring the client’s products & services. On an average the constant domain tracking and content delivery can provide about six points per year—or half a point rise every month.

2.    Visitors from owned and earned media

The website visitors are never tapped on from one place, they are arriving on the website from numerous sources both owned and earned mediums. While discussing on the cost of the plans mentioning the clear list of the owned and earned contributed content pieces helps in better negotiations and dealings. Keeping a close track of the media placement links backed to the website will help you in getting on these numbers right.

3.    Count of Email addresses

If the published content is doing its job then a steady stream of email addresses are there for you. If you are getting click-through to your site, but those visitors aren’t signing up for your email list in exchange for a lead magnet then it’s time for the PR professionals to rethink their target media list. No matter how popular the media outlet, if it’s not driving qualified traffic to your site; it’s not a good fit.

4.    Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

The Google results as per the primary keywords need to be kept in check at least quarterly, and the content maps are to be adjusted accordingly. But this tracking should be done only through the incognito window as it will provide more accurate reflection of how a prospective customer might see the client in google results. If the tracking is done through regular window then the search results might get affected by the personal search results of the professional.

Unwritten Rules for Every PR Professional Working in PR Firms in Delhi

Having been in the industry for quite a long time, nearly half of PR consultants in Delhi admit the fact that skillful in preparing content does not mean you are competitive at targeting it. True that we can be just brilliant in writing content, but targeting it to the right audience using the right channels is just too much to boast for. All those working in PR companies in India are maestros in networking and persuasion. They are quite good observers also who easily understand the body language of their counterparts and accordingly deal with them. For example, they know when a client is sitting in a relaxed posture, he might not be very worried or very much into the business proposal. PR agencies in Delhi enjoy a widespread network of media journalists and clients. So when they know what favor they need, they persuasively seek it from the concerned person.

But for all those who have just kick-started their careers as PR professionals, the handy-dandy list of some tips and advice below should be of good use.

1.    Understand your role in the company

Working in one of the PR agencies in Delhi, you never get the authority to sign a letter or media invite. It’s only the CEO or the president of your organization who can sign such official documents. Therefore, always be humble during the meetings with clients, and seek your senior’s approval before taking any step of importance.

2.    Turn the light of intellect on

Thumb rule of an easy survival in communication industry—bring your brain to work and use your networks. Be it PR companies in Delhi or the individuals offering PR management services in Delhi, there lies a great potential within them to alter an organization’s public image for good and bad. All this depends on the extent of power and knowledge of the people doing PR. It’s just that you should know when to use what and how.

3.    Converse with people

The job of a PR professional is to open the doors for the organizations to reach their target people, to allow them to speak with them, and guiding them the way to understand them. And for this, you should give equal attention to making phone calls to the right people as you do to copywriting and content. The more you’ll be able to understand them on calls and meetings, the better you will be able to create content for them.

4.    Mind your approach

Diplomacy and politics exist everywhere, and so must be in your organization. It does not mean you also have to be a part of the herd. You should always stick to the institutionalized office protocols and professional ethics at work. One wrong word for addressing potential clients or approach for taking the deal can prove to be vulnerable to your career. Therefore, try to always control your mouth and mind your approach.

Why should PR professionals master the Art of Persuasion?

A successful PR campaign heavily relies on the mutual communication between the business brand and its target audience. If both are able to communicate well, foster a good opinion of each other and most importantly, trust each other— the job of a PR practitioner is done exceptionally well and right. So, what does a Public Relations (PR) person do? Call him an information provider or a partisan; he paints a picture of an organization with loyalty and builds good relationships with the customers.

The Art of Persuasion

But, every relationship sprouts from the mutual likeness and persuasion between the two parties. The more each party is benefitted, the stronger becomes the relationship between them. In the case of Public Relations, a PR company hands out an interesting story for his client that could be an organization or an individual, to the journalists. The interesting story can be an article, a press release, product announcement or any vital information which would help to create a positive public opinion for the client. And, the client returns the favors through the ample payment. But, this relationship of mutual understanding or favor is heavily based on the art of persuasion. That’s why PR professionals in Delhi consider that everyone PR practitioner should learn the art of persuasion because not only the clients are to be persuaded, the journalists and publications should also be convinced.

How to Master the Art

In many PR companies in Delhi, the PR newbies are given the specialized training in persuasion. In the training, they are taught how to look for PR opportunity, how to explore the common interests of the clients, and how to find a loophole and propose the solutions. Psychologically, whenever one finds the things interest others, a talk or opinion on common interests is initiated and trust is fostered.

The characteristics of a PR expert include attentive listening skills, confident eye contact, and good posture. He should be attentive to the thought processes of others. Always be curious in exploring more around him to ignite new ideas and solutions. He has to be artistic in his profession so that he can see the challenges and problems from a different perspective. All these things end up nourishing our persuasion skills.

During the meetings with PR clients or journalists, the PR professionals must be skilled at underscoring their credentials, qualifications, experience, and networking. The certified PR agencies in Delhi always establish their authority by the means of their credentials. Whenever we depict our qualifications in fixed numbers or figures, the standard of the endorsements automatically upgrades. Every PR client or a media journalist would want to finalize a deal when they know that the PR practitioner is the best in his field and amazing at his job.

PR companies in Delhi are observed focusing more on their social presence. A PR professional working at such PR agencies in Delhi has to double-ensure that the brand they represent is not only effective in driving results but is also ethical. And, billboards, social media, pamphlets, magazines are all such means to emphasize the company’s credibility and ethics.

The Art of Persuasion does not simply refer to the principles used in achieving the success. The persuasion is not only limited to the oral or written communication or presentation. It stretches up to the authenticity and integrity of the firm. Unlike marketing, PR is all about establishing the long-lasting relationship with clients, media, and the consumers.

Creativity is the must-have ingredient of successful PR Campaigns

Public relations (PR) is  a marketing tool managing and optimizing all activities related to media relations, crisis management, corporate affairs, events, social media, SEO, CSR, etc. But despite of providing the clients with one-stop solution for all their online and offline PR requirements PR professionals haven’t been praised enough for their creativity in the marketing world. They are not just planting stories here and there vaguely, instead take very calculative steps and only pitch stories in the media portals which can get the best of client’s visibility within the given piece of time. Creativity in PR is about creating a story that touches the heart and soul of the readers and stays in their mind even in the long run. In the contemporary times, PR tools are not just concerned about providing media releases, conferences and events but also include the creativity to raise attention and engage in more target groups and stake holders.

Creativity is the must-have ingredient of the PR business. If looked at the concept of creativity, it usually holds different meanings for different people. Used in every organization and industry as a tool for enhancement of work, creativity holds a preconception with most of the people looking out for PR services in Delhi and around the world. The preconception is that creativity in PR is only required for the promotional side of the business. But, instead the reality is that creativity plays a vital role throughout the PR process. Be it product launches, events, announcements, promotional activities or any other related activities can all make a greater appeal to the media and the target audiences when worked on with a degree of creative thought.

Along with the aforementioned activities, creative thoughts are also crucial for strategy development, internal communication, client and media relationships and crisis management. At every stage of a PR professional’s career they musts be savvy for information and knowledge, to deliver the clients with creativity that do wonders for their business.  Only those PR experts are good for a business that always carry the unsatisfied hunger to deliver more successful results to their clients. There is no limit to being creative; the key to success is just to make sure that the creative thoughts are used in a right way. The correct usage of the creativity in PR campaign can take the client’s reputation to great heights or can bring it to shambles if the usage goes wrong.