Every for-profit organisation, crazy about improving sales should prioritise its Public Relations strategy, as much as they do their marketing strategy. Notably, whilst marketing may unlock a customer’s wallet, it is a good PR strategy that will keep it open. 👍👍👍In fact, according to this post by Inc., consumers often base their purchase decisions on a company’s reputation. Since a good reputation is hard earned through consistent PR methods over time, public relations does have a definite impact on sales and revenue.
Is there really a difference between PR and marketing? Read this GuidedPR post, to find out.
PR can boost the bottom-line of your organisation, as it's all about building new bridges and repairing damaged ones. The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) defines PR as "A strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organisations and their publics."
What then is a mutually beneficial relationship?
This is a connection through which all the parties involved get value from each other. Therefore, as in the PRSA definition above, the publics have e.g. their empowerment and financial needs met by the organisation and through that, it achieves increased sales and a high return on investment (ROI).
Wondering if PR is worth the investment? Yes! and No! It depends 😎😎😎. Read this blog post we published to find out why.
Great! 🤜🤛 Now that that’s out of the way, let’s dive into three ways through which creating mutually beneficial relationships with target publics - the core of PR - can increase sales.
1. Employee motivation
This first one is often overlooked as organisations focus more on attracting new customers and creating brand loyalty. Inarguably however, motivated, charged up 💪employees who are passionate about the brand and vision for expansion are your biggest asset. They have greater productivity and drive more revenue than disengaged and unexcited ones. Especially when it comes to your sales team, good employee relations is key. You can make them more spirited by among other things, appreciating them. A pat on the back of those who do exceptionally, makes them feel special, indispensable and makes them a role model for the rest.
Read five ways to truly motivate your team this year in this Forbes article.
2. Gaining new and repeat customers👣👣👣
“Make new friends but keep the old. One is silver, the other gold.” 🔥🔥🔥 Public relations makes your brand visible and credible. This improves brand recall among potential customers and can lead to a conversion into the first sale. However, while conquering new frontiers and customers is important, a long-term customer is more valuable than a one-off customer. Not only does a loyal customer give you free advertising by word of mouth but also, according to this article by Nicereply, a 5% increase in customer retention increases business profits by 25%-95%.
Making every new customer a long-haul partner can be achieved in two ways:
*Keeping track of customer satisfaction
A customer’s loyalty is pegged on the extent to which your product or service satisfies their need. It’s therefore vital to keep track of customer satisfaction. This can be done using follow-up surveys, net promoter score and other measures explained here. By keeping track, you are then able to implement customer feedback for a better service or product.
*Staying connected 🤝
A Bain & Company study found that 60-80% of customers who described themselves as satisfied do not go back to do more business with the company that initially satisfied them. A startling revelation there, and one that has been traced back to a lack of connection, after the first sale. With advances in technology, there’s myriads of ways to have a personal, one on one relationship with every new client. This may involve:
#Sending personalized emails
#Sharing their posts on social media
Whatever the method, turn your silver (new customer) into gold (repeat customer) and you’ll boost your sales!
3. Damage control 👀
Lastly, PR helps in putting out the fire that can potentially burn down all your sales prospects. According to this Forbes article for 50% of consumers, negative customer reviews make them question the competency of a brand and 94% of consumers will go ahead to avoid a business because of negative reviews. As such, any crisis that drags your reputation through the mud, is very likely to take your sales down as well. This is where PR comes in to salvage the relationships under threat. When done well, crisis management is able to make the aggrieved stakeholders and their sympathisers believe in you again. It restores confidence in your brand, and that can push your sales up, once the dust settles.
That’s it from me folks. Enjoy this article? Much more awaits you on our GuidedPR Blog, click away!
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Wanja is an avid reader and passionate writer, living and working in Nairobi. She’s a PR Assistant and Blogger at GuidedPR. She holds a Bachelors in Mass Communication from JKUAT and has accordingly worked within the print media industry and in academia. When she's not researching current affairs and millennial trends, you'll find her on social media, keeping up with what's hot!
Find Wanja on LinkedIn.
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