In the fast-paced world of startups and small businesses, understanding the pivotal role of public relations can be a game-changer. We’ve gathered insights from CEOs and Marketing Directors to spotlight the key reasons why PR is essential. From aligning your brand with consumer values to attracting audiences to refine products, explore eleven expert perspectives on the power of effective PR.
- Align Brand With Consumer Values
- Enhance Trust Through Key Quotes
- Boost SEO and Online Presence with PR
- Shape Public Opinion Through Strategic PR
- Increase Visibility and Credibility via PR
- Yield High Return on Investment
- Maximize Advertising Impact with Cost-Effective PR
- Manage Crises and Protect Brand Reputation
- Build Awareness in Competitive Markets
- Influence Consumer Purchasing Decisions
- Attract Audience to Refine Products with PR
PR Aligns Brand With Consumer Values
Public relations is crucial for promoting the brand image and values of startups and small businesses. It serves as a key channel for communicating what your brand stands for to your customers. This alignment with customer values is critical, as a significant 89% of consumers report they remain loyal to brands that share their values.
For instance, if you prioritize excellent customer service, integrating a call center provider can ensure that every customer query and issue is addressed promptly and satisfactorily. It’s essential to genuinely embody the values and image you project to your customers through your PR efforts. This not only builds trust but also prevents any potential discrepancies that could lead to issues later on. This approach has proven essential in maintaining customer loyalty and enhancing brand reputation.
Patrick Beltran, Marketing Director, Ardoz Digital
PR Enhances Trust Through Key Quotes
PR is a trust factor; when organizations, or even customers, search your business, you want it to show quotes from other key news sites relating to your niche. For example, if you work in marketing, having quotes from Forbes, Entrepreneur, and Upwork is key. If your niche is kids’ toys, you want quotes from Toys “R” Us, Amazon, etc.
Ross Jenkins, CEO, DigitalME
Boost SEO and Online Presence with PR
PR efforts can significantly boost a startup’s SEO and online presence. Media coverage often results in high-quality backlinks to your website, improving search engine rankings. For instance, a small e-commerce business we worked with saw a significant increase in organic traffic after multiple features in online publications. This not only drove more traffic but also improved their overall online visibility, demonstrating how PR can effectively enhance digital marketing efforts.
Marco Genaro Palma, Freelance CMO and SEO Consultant, GenaroPalma.com
Shape Public Opinion Through Strategic PR
PR influences public opinion, which is crucial for startups and small businesses. It plays a vital role in shaping how the public perceives a company and its products or services. By strategically communicating, telling compelling stories, and building relationships, PR professionals can positively impact public perception and foster a favorable reputation.
PR experts use various channels and tactics to spread positive information about a company. For example, they might contact journalists to pitch stories about their clients. When successful, their content gets published, but it must be incredibly compelling and offer real value to end readers; otherwise, editors won’t choose it for publication.
What the PR team produces differs significantly from marketing material because editors need to ensure what they publish benefits their readers, rather than serving as just another company advertisement.
Erin Hendricks, President and Owner, Sammy’s Milk
Increase Visibility and Credibility via PR
One key reason why startups and small businesses need public relations (PR) is that effective PR can significantly boost brand visibility and credibility. This increase in visibility not only helps attract potential customers but also establishes the brand as a credible and trustworthy player in its industry. Customers are more likely to purchase from a brand they recognize, whether that’s for their next pair of shoes or the ERP software of a large corporation.
PR provides a cost-effective way to compete with larger companies with substantial advertising budgets. For startups and small businesses, securing earned media and generating buzz through PR can be more affordable and impactful than traditional advertising.
It also provides validation and a sense of social proof that advertising does not. By properly leveraging PR, startups and small businesses can gain a lot of brand awareness and loyalty in an authentic way, while hopefully not breaking the bank.
Courtney Dang, Intern, Achievable
Earned Media Yields High Return on Investment
Public relations is a cost-effective way of marketing a business. The return on investment in PR efforts is higher than that of traditional advertising, despite a lower investment. It is also worth noting that the exposure startups and small businesses get from earned media is more extensive, without any of the high costs associated with paid media.
Small businesses and startups can also leverage PR to generate a buzz and attract attention to their ventures. In the social media age, this buzz can help them attract investors and get customers and potential business partners interested in what the business has to offer.
Clooney Wang, CEO, TrackingMore
Maximize Advertising Impact with Cost-Effective PR
As a small startup, budgets are tight, and you need to get the most bang for your advertising buck as possible. There are very few growth tactics that can have the same effect as a good PR piece about your company. If you do it right, it is very inexpensive and can get a ton of eyeballs on your company. Trying to replicate that kind of exposure is either a very slow or very expensive process.
Adam White, SaaS Growth Consultant, Landing Page Whisperer
Manage Crises and Protect Brand Reputation
PR manages crises. In the unpredictable world of business, crises can emerge suddenly, threatening to damage hard-earned reputations and create chaos for brands. It’s important to understand that public relations plays a critical role in managing these crises and protecting reputational integrity. Crises often occur at the least opportune times, making swift and effective communication essential.
Luckily, PR professionals are adept at crisis management, equipped to respond quickly, evaluate the situation, and develop a strategic response. By guiding timely and transparent communications, PR helps to control the narrative, ensuring that accurate information reaches stakeholders and minimizing the spread of misinformation or rumors.
Lydia Valentine, Co-Founder and Chief Marketing Officer, Cohort XIII LLC
PR Builds Awareness in Competitive Markets
As part of the PR team for Farah & Farah, I’ve seen firsthand the critical role that public relations plays in the success of startups and small businesses, including law firms. One key reason why PR is so important is that it helps build brand awareness and visibility in a crowded and competitive market.
In the legal industry, there are countless firms vying for the attention of potential clients who have suffered personal injuries or are facing legal challenges. PR helps small and startup law firms stand out from the crowd by generating positive media coverage, establishing thought leadership, and highlighting unique value propositions.
For example, at Farah & Farah, we regularly engage in PR activities such as issuing press releases about significant case wins, authoring guest articles in legal and consumer publications, and participating in local events and sponsorships. These efforts help keep our firm top-of-mind with potential clients and referral sources, and position us as a trusted and respected leader in our field.
Another compelling statistic that underscores the importance of PR for startups and small businesses is that media coverage can drive up to 50% more traffic to a company’s website than advertising alone, according to a study by BrightEdge.
In other words, by generating positive earned media through PR efforts, small law firms like Farah & Farah can attract more potential clients to their website and online properties, where they can learn more about the firm’s services and expertise. This increased visibility and traffic can translate into tangible business growth and revenue over time, making PR an essential investment for any law firm looking to establish itself in a competitive market.
David Sides, PR and Marketing, Farah & Farah
PR Influences Consumer Purchasing Decisions
As the saying goes, “If no one knows about your startup, it doesn’t exist.” One key reason startups and small businesses need public relations (PR) is that it helps build brand awareness and credibility.
According to a study by Nielsen, PR is 90% more effective than advertising in influencing consumers’ purchasing decisions. PR helps startups establish trust with their target audience, differentiate themselves from competitors, and attract potential investors and customers. Without PR, it can be challenging for startups to gain visibility and traction in a crowded market.
Oleh Sorokopud, Head of Digital Marketing, Softjourn
Attract Audience to Refine Products with PR
Many tech startups and small companies with innovative products launch in a beta phase where numerous business hypotheses are being tested. PR strategies play a crucial role in attracting a larger audience, which in turn helps these businesses quickly refine and improve their products based on user feedback.
The wider the audience startups attract, the quicker the startup team can fine-tune their product or service to meet market demands and establish a solid foundation in their respective markets.
Yuliia Antoniuk, PR Supervisor, Jooble