Using PR to Get Qualified Sales Leads Today
Best Leads Come From Best Use of New Media, Facebook and Twitter
Aug 12, 2009
To say that thetactics of the public relations world have changed in the 21st century is the understatement of, well, the 21st century. The tactics have changed right along with the technological jolts that have made of shambles of mainstream media.
Marketers deploy PR operatives today to engage in very specific discussions with equally specific groups of customers and prospects, as well as the old-school influencers like analysts and industry watchers and a dwindling number of increasingly overworked editors and reporters.
All of this was described in a recent webinar by Todd Defren, principal of Shift Communications of San Francisco and Boston. Defren’s thesis is that good PR has never been about column inches, airtime or, more recently, web hits. It has always been about growing your sales line. And, to do this, attracting qualified prospects who want to talk to your sales reps.
Quantity Is Not Quality
For too long, many marketers confused quality with quantity, believing that more was always better. In fact, acquisition of qualityleads is the only thing that precedes the acquisition of customers. The best sales people know this. This is why they don't want unqualified leads, much less spend time following up on them.
The good news is that the technology that created social media networks enables marketers to generate higher quality leads.
What this means today is not all that different from what it meant a generation ago. At least in the strategy formulation stage. Step one is to DEFINE who it is you’re pursuing in terms of a customer. Then, the PROFILING begins. What is about these customers that makes them a perfect match for the value proposition of your product?
And now that you know everything knowable about them, the next step is to determine where they congregate. Do they commiserate and share tips in Facebook groups? LinkedIn? Twitter? Obscure blogs and discussion groups? None of the above? Once this is determined, the “art” kicks in.
Six Tips for Driving Web Traffic
Defren’s take is compelling and relevant. Just like a good value proposition. He cites six things, at least one of which today's savvy PR practitioner must do every day. They include the following:
1. Write a blog post, or start a dialog on a relevant blog. The key: say something useful and informative, something that readers might share with someone else or pass along to groups of people.
2. Contribute relevant content (see above) via social networks such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.
3. Pitch a new idea to a journalist or blogger.
4. When you do arouse the interest of an editor or author of an influential blog, make it known far and wide to other relevant media and bloggers.
5. Analyze the traffic to your your own site and tweak your search-engine optimization (SEO).
6. Play reporter yourself: Attend an event and "broadcast" what you're seeing and experiencing live from the venue.
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