By Laura Mills, PR Account Manager
Identifying the most effective marketing techniques to communicate with your target audience is crucial to the success of your marketing strategy.
Before deciding which method to employ it is essential you fully understand each one and weigh up the costs, work and skills required.
What is PR?
Public Relations (PR) is coverage in media outlets that you have earned as opposed to paying for it. This could include interviews, features, case studies, news or day in the life articles which will appear in the editorial section of a publication.
Alongside not having to pay for this coverage, the major advantage of this in terms of engaging with your target audiences, is that this can position you or your business as reliable, authentic and credible.
Storytelling is essential in PR and helps brings your brand to life, helping your target audience understand your values and establishing that all important relationship with your customer.
However, the organic nature of PR can mean it takes time to achieve coverage and you will need relevant and interesting content to ensure you stand out amongst the competition.
What is paid for advertising?
Paid media includes different types of advertising such as:
- Television adverts
- Newspaper adverts
- Google ads
- Pay Per Click adverts
- Sponsored social media posts
- Influencer marketing
- Sponsored content in any media outlet
Paid for advertising can deliver quick results, gives complete control over the timing and content used and you can be extremely specific identifying specific target customers you want to reach.
However, it can be very expensive and may dilute the authenticity of your key messages as your potential customers know it is a paid for advert.
What is right for our business?
Depending on your business objectives each method can deliver the results you require. In an ideal world you would use a combination of both to communicate with your target audience, establish your brand and ultimately achieve your business objectives.
Whichever method you choose, do your research, speak to the experts and invest in the techniques that will help achieve your goals.
As with any marketing activity employed, regularly monitor and evaluate its effectiveness against key performance indicators such as return on investment, reach and engagement.
We can work with you to identify and implement the most effective marketing methods for your business, visit our website to find out more.
