When you take marketing classes, learn time-tested strategy techniques and conduct research, it’s pretty easy to calculate your expected ROI for most marketing investments. However, as valuable as these practices are in our industry, it’s important to know when to take a risk—when no ROI is guaranteed.
Including public relations in your marketing mix is one of the best decisions you can make, but it can be a gamble. There is no guarantee that your efforts will equal scheduled speaking engagements, more likes on your Facebook page or mentions in a trade publication. But, in time, you can equate the coverage or speaking opportunities you do book to ad dollars you didn’t spend—and can ultimately result in a fantastic deal.
Besides financial success, there are other perks to the PR route. When a magazine picks up your editorial instead of you buying an ad, you’ll benefit from the publication’s credibility it has with its audience. Also, the relationships established between your business and PR outlets allow for you to reach your audience more easily and more frequently.
Recently, we launched a direct mail campaign for one of our clients. The goal was to reach high-level executives on their prospect list. We developed a box with a prepaid cell phone inside. Recipients could call the number we programmed in, which directly dialed the CEO of the business we represent. We put fewer than 50 of these in the mail, and although the project was expensive to produce, the calls our client received made it a worthwhile investment. One even landed them a new customer!
Although careful calculation of ROI is integral to the growth of any company, it’s occasionally rewarding to throw caution to the wind and take the PR risk. It’s not guaranteed that you’ll establish credibility, build relationships and receive incredible deals on advertising—but you just might!