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5 Powerful Ways To Monetize Your PR Efforts

If you know how to monetize your media coverage, public relations can become a major profit driver for your startup or small business.


Photo: Heather DeSantis, CEO of Publicity For Good and Press Demand | Courtesy Photo

As a business owner, you’ve probably asked yourself, “Can I increase my revenue with PR?”

This is one of the commonly unanswered questions that prevent a number of businesses from using public relations (PR) to promote their brands.

Yet the reality is that unless you commission consumer research to ask buyers why they purchased your product, it’s tricky to establish a direct relationship between revenue/sales and public relations. However, the objectives of PR are tied with various purchase motivations including a positive brand reputation.

“Some of the main goals of public relations are to create, maintain, and protect the organization’s reputation, enhance its prestige, and present a favorable image,” Inc.com reports. “Studies have shown that consumers often base their purchase decisions on a company’s reputation, so public relations can have a definite impact on sales and revenue.”

The impact of public relations on purchasing decisions is undeniable––especially as it pertains to likeability and consensus. One of Robert Cialdini’s 6 Principles of Persuasion is liking or likeability. Cialdini proposes that people gravitate toward brands or people that they like. Since one of the goals of PR is to build goodwill, it increases a brand’s likeability, and therefore could increase sales.

Consensus, another persuasion principle proposed by Cialdini, suggests when uncertain about what action to take, people will copy what others are doing, especially those who they deem as authorities. This is why influencer marketing is such an effective marketing strategy.

Photo: Mateus Campos Felipe, YFS Magazine

These are just a few of the positive results brands can gain from PR efforts. However, there is a slight difference between delivering ROI and monetizing PR. With ROI, you execute PR campaigns, secure media exposure, and hope it will drive an uptick in sales and revenue. Monetizing PR deals with taking concrete steps after you secure media placements. In short, PR monetization is making a conscious effort to integrate PR into other marketing strategies to boost sales and revenue.

Here’s an inside look at five ways you can monetize PR once it’s secured.

 

1. Leverage logo placement

Let’s say you are featured in a local trade magazine, business journal, or a national media outlet like Forbes or CNN––perhaps you were selected to pitch your business on Shark Tank. This is the type of coverage you would want to highlight.

One of the best and easiest ways to get more monetization mileage from PR is by adding “as seen on” logos to your website. If you can do an A/B test, create two versions of your sales landing page: one without logos and one with logos. This will help you measure just how many more leads, conversions, and revenue you generate by adding press logos to your website.

Pro tip! Don’t limit press logos to your website! Use them on other marketing collateral such as your trade show booths, banners, flyers, etc.

 

2. Add a press section to your website

Why stop with logos? Why not add a dedicated “In the News” or “In the Press” landing page on your website to serve as a gallery of significant media coverage your brand has received? This is a great way for potential customers to see your media hits. It will build credibility for your brand and make your brand more relatable. A dedicated press section gives your brand a unique persona that will make you stand out from your competitors.

 

3. Use past coverage as leverage for future pitches

The media is always on the lookout for the next interesting personality or product that they can feature. Referencing previous media hits in your future PR pitches increases your chances to secure media coverage.

It’s a way of vetting potential features since journalists, reporters, and producers want to work with people who have demonstrated an engaging on-air personality or served as a reputable source in the past. The more media opportunities you secure, the wider your reach. As a result, you earn more media hits, which you can post on your website and other marketing collateral.

 

4. Post press hits on social media

If you’re using social media as an online sales and marketing channel, posting your press hits to social platforms is a great way to amplify the reach of your media coverage. It also increases the shelf-life of your media hits –– making them more evergreen as time passes.

Photo: Charisse Kenion, Unsplash
Photo: Charisse Kenion, YFS Magazine

For instance, if you’re an F&B company you were interviewed on TV for Nutrition Month segment last year, you can repost that interview this year to rekindle interest and illustrate your thought-leadership on the subject. Since you can add link tracking to social media posts, along with the platforms’ analytics, you can measure the impact of press hits on your site traffic, leads, and sales.

 

5. Use media appearances for paid social media ads

Facebook favors video ads over carousel ads or single image ads. A 2019 video ranking update further drives home how important native video is on Facebook, as video ads receive a greater impression share and quite often a lower cost per click.

Social media marketer Damon Gochneaur shares this specific example: “Video is on average 10% of the cost of carousel or single image ads. We pay on average anywhere from $0.15 to $0.50 per click on video campaigns, with single image ads in the $2.00 and higher CPC, for the same audience.”

If you are booked as a guest for a TV show, web series, or podcast, make sure to secure a clip of your interview and use it when you run your next Facebook ad. Not only will you save on your ad costs, but using a video clip of your appearance instantly gives your ad a boost of credibility and authority.

 

PR is a profit center for your brand

PR in itself may not directly lead to an increase in your sales and revenue, but if you know how to monetize the media coverage, PR can become a major profit driver for your business.

As a business owner, it’s your job to squeeze every ounce of monetization opportunity out of your press coverage. Following the tips mentioned above will provide you with a good starting point to ensure your media exposure equates to money in your bank account.

 

Heather DeSantis is a top millennial publicist, Miss Ohio International, CEO of Press Demand and CEO of Publicity for Good, a purpose-driven public relations firm. Heather combines market foresight, strategic timing, and organic interviews to generate millions of earned media impressions from outlets like ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, CNN, BBC, iHeartMedia, Business Insider, Inc, and more. Topics that Heather writes about include: cause marketing, social impact, public relations, and CEO features of CPG companies.=

 

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