The Importance of PR: 7 Essential Benefits (and Signs You Need PR Help)

When you think of the press, you might imagine glamorous events, high-profile celebrities, and glossy magazines.

While that might be true in some cases, PR isn’t just about publicity stunts and high-profile Instagram campaigns - it’s a crucial tool for businesses of all sizes to create relationships with their customers.

It's easy to picture PR as this elaborate, expensive endeavor that only big corporations can afford. When you see massive campaigns with the faces of Hollywood stars, it's natural to assume that PR is a luxury only available for the well-heeled.

But the reality is that PR is just like every other form of digital marketing and communication. Brands of all sizes and budgets can benefit from its reach and reputation-building potential.

Does PR really impact your business?

We're going to give it to you straight: PR significantly impacts your business, for better or for worse.

Good PR can take your image from good to great, and beyond.

Today's consumers don't trust big businesses to tell them the truth anymore. One of the biggest differences in PR vs. advertising is that PR allows customers to hear about you organically, from a source they trust and respect.

Good PR makes you more visible, both online and offline. When potential customers are looking for what you have to offer, your presence in the news or on blogs can make all the difference in getting their attention and driving them to learn more about your brand.

Plus, when people hear good things about your brand, they're more likely to become customers, remain loyal, and advocate for your brand.

Bad PR can tarnish your reputation overnight.

Just as quickly as good PR can build your image, bad PR can undo all of your hard work.
As much as people trust organic sources to tell them the truth, they also remember negative stories more than positive ones.

When you get mentioned in a negative light - whether it's because of a controversial decision or an embarrassing error - it can be difficult to recover. And if you fall victim to dark PR or predatory smear campaigns, you need to have a plan that helps you navigate these issues.

Therein lies the value: You need it to help you stay ahead of potential pitfalls, address issues quickly and efficiently, protect your brand from potential damage, and ultimately, keep you in the public eye for all of the right reasons.

5 Signs Your Brand Needs Some PR Help

In a sense, everyone can benefit from PR. But some brands need it more than others.

The team at Influize has put together five signs it's time to add PR to your digital strategy:

Lack of creativity

Creativity drives marketing campaigns, product development, and your go-to-market (GTM) strategy. Especially as PR trends move toward more visual and interactive content and process-driven strategies become less common, you need to be able to come up with unique, eye-catching ideas that get your customers' attention.

If your branding and messaging don't stand out, you're losing out on potential customers - and that's where PR can help. By adding a creative spin to the way you communicate with your audience, PR can help make sure that new and existing customers take notice.

Slow brand growth or lack of awareness

Brand awareness familiarizes potential customers with your company and products. If you have a hard time reaching new people, it might be time to consider some PR help.

PR activities can be one-time events like bylines, press releases, trade shows, and other press mentions. But ongoing activities like influencer marketing campaigns can also help you distribute your narrative over time, which can help you build your reputation and increase brand awareness.

In the case of both long-term and short-term PR strategies, the end result is brand growth.

Bad reviews or a lack of credibility

It happens - you can't please everyone. And you definitely can't control what other people say about you.

But your response to negative reviews or adverse news can make all the difference. By taking a proactive approach and addressing issues before they spiral out of control, PR can help mitigate damage to your reputation and credibility.

Your brand may also lack credibility altogether. According to the surprising findings of a recent PwC survey, there is an enormous disparity between the amount of trust business leaders believe consumers trust them (87%) and how much those same consumers actually trust them (30%). As for employers and their employees, there's an 18-point gap.

What this means: Tons of businesses are completely unaware they're throwing money at marketing and sales, but their lack of credibility is actively blocking them from maximizing their ROI. A PR strategy can help you become more transparent and foster customer trust.

Poor SEO performance

If you're investing in SEO the right way, you're playing the long game. But slower-than-average results could mean several things:

• Google doesn't see your content as valuable or authoritative.
• Your content isn't optimized for key search terms or voice searches.
• You're missing out on potential customers because of outdated website design and user experience (UX).
• You have no brand mentions or backlinks from authoritative sources (e.g., major publications and news outlets).
• Not enough people are talking about or linking to your content, so nobody is using a search engine to look for it.

We hate to break it to you, but SEO isn't a magic bullet that will solve all your marketing woes. PR can help you drive up organic search results by creating attractive content and engaging in outreach that targets key influencers, publications, and other authoritative sources.

Not enough sales

It's nice to think that great products and services will always find their audience. But in a saturated market, it's essential to stand out.

PR can help you increase visibility and reach new customers. By leveraging PR to create buzz, you can drive people to your website and social media channels, where they will learn more about your business and products.

In other words, PR can help turn regular browsers into interested prospects - and interested prospects into buyers.

Why do I need to invest in PR?

Now that we've gone over a few signs you might need the help of a PR campaign or strategy, let's take a step back and review why it's important in the first place.

You'll gain trust and loyalty (and you'll keep it).

Most of the time, brand owners don't even realize that it's PR, not advertising or marketing, that's influencing how their customers perceive their company.

People tend to trust other users and their authentic experiences over companies' advertising claims. In fact, in Nielsen's Global Trust in Advertising Study (which surveyed 40,000 consumers across 56 different countries), 88% said they're more likely to trust word-of-mouth over any other form of marketing messaging.

PR mentions are earned because the influencers, media hosts, writers, publishers, and other people that PR teams work with independently choose what to say and whether to run the story at all. This gives them extra points in the customer's book compared to another ad saying, "this is why we're the best."

Take Patagonia, for example. Their PR strategy goes beyond just “good press.” They’ve made bold moves, like pausing ad spend to take environmental stands or telling customers not to buy their products unless they really need them.

That kind of authenticity? It builds long-term trust. People don’t just wear Patagonia. They feel good wearing it because they believe in it.

You can promote your brand values and connect with those who identify.
From taking action on social issues to promoting sustainable practices, consumers are increasingly interested in buying from brands that share their core values.

In a world where buyers have everything under the sun in terms of where they can shop, what they can buy, and who they can support, it's more important than ever for companies to stand out and make a statement.

When a brand decides to hire a PR firm, it can help them in more ways than one:

• Public relations professionals can help brands highlight their core values and create campaigns that resonate with their target audiences.
• A PR team can help brands make meaningful connections to industry leaders and thought influencers who may ultimately support the company's mission.
• Press release distribution services can support your brand's message by helping it reach a wider audience, sparking conversations, and generating interest in your product or service.

By connecting with these important people and organizations, companies can gain valuable insights into their own business while amplifying their core message in a way that resonates with their target audiences.

Your brand reputation will improve.

Every media interview, social post, bylined article, press release, and community initiative contributes to your public image. PR helps you control that narrative instead of letting others define it for you.

When your reputation improves, every aspect of your business also does:

• Talent acquisition: Today's workforce is increasingly focused on working for companies with positive reputations. With the high cost of hiring employees and the competition for the best talent so fierce, having a good reputation helps you attract and retain top-notch employees.
• Sales: 81% of consumers conduct online research before making a purchase. Most of them will look for reviews, ratings, and positive brand mentions across the web. If you want to improve your sales metrics, you need a positive brand image.
• Marketing: As your brand awareness and reputation improves, the results of your other marketing campaigns will start to convert more. A company with a good reputation is more likely to be included in industry lists and may even benefit from word-of-mouth referrals.
• Customer loyalty: In the age of increasing competition, customer loyalty is more important than ever. Improving your PR game can help you build stronger relationships with customers and gain their trust, leading to improved loyalty numbers.

We always point to the example of Airbnb. Early on, they faced backlash over safety concerns and regulatory issues.

But through consistent, thoughtful PR (including CEO interviews, news updates on policy changes, community investment stories, and open communication during crises), they rebuilt trust.

Thanks to a carefully planned and executed PR strategy, the company is now known and respected as a global hospitality innovator that 150+ million people feel comfortable using.

PR activities increase social media engagement.

There are several types of press releases:

• Product launch announcements
• Awards
• Events
• Research findings and studies
• Media coverage stories

When brands have something eye-catching and noteworthy to put out, people will take to Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and other social media channels to discuss it. This heightened engagement leads to increased reach, an improved brand image, and better customer relationships.

Moreover, when you combine PR with social media marketing efforts such as influencer campaigns, sponsored content, or targeted ads, you can further expand your reach and drive more qualified prospects to your website.

Our favorite examples of this are the fast food restaurants and snack food brands that use social media to connect with their customers in a lighthearted and funny way. Wendy's, for example, posts funny jokes and criticisms of other popular brands via X (Twitter), which often leads to great engagement, retweets, and conversations.

Wendy's, for example, posts funny jokes and criticisms of other popular brands via Twitter, which often leads to great engagement, retweets, and conversations.

Slim Jim's TikTok account has a whopping 20% engagement rate just because they are hilarious (as is the uncanny concept of Slim Jim saying these things). In fact, their commenting strategy has been so effective that it inadvertently created a trend of influencers, meme makers, and everyday TikTokers making posts asking, "Will Slim Jim comment?"

And Slim Jim keeps the momentum going by actually replying.

This is the exact type of exposure that gets more people to love your brand, talk about it, and, in plenty of cases, produce UGC with your product.

PR works hand-in-hand with SEO.

If link building, guest posting, and forum activity are the building blocks of SEO, then PR is the mortar that holds them together. Press releases are great opportunities to build backlinks to your site, which helps strengthen its reputation among search engines and makes it easier for people to find you.

Plus, press releases often get picked up by major news outlets like The New York Times or CNN. While links from these pages are usually rel=”nofollow" (meaning they don't pass on link juice), they can indirectly boost your SEO rankings. And they'll definitely get you more organic traffic.

And if other journalists and bloggers hear about an exciting new development at your company, they might be compelled to write about it or even feature you in an upcoming article (which would be rel-"dofollow").

How we'd do it at Influize: We'd start by pitching a thought leadership piece to an industry site with a nofollow link back to a key product page. At the same time, we'd optimize that page for conversions and high-intent keywords so it captures and converts traffic from both the media mention and organic search.

You can use PR to attract your target market.

When done strategically, PR can help you establish yourself as a thought leader in your space while getting you noticed by potential customers. Many forms of PR (e.g., media relations) are less targeted compared to other marketing methods. But that's why it's important to make the distinction between media vs. PR.

When you work with an agency like Influize, we optimize for both reach and audience targeting.
We:

• Pitch stories to industry-specific outlets, not just general media. A feature in TechCrunch might impress SaaS investors, but a piece in Built In or SaaStr would actually convert users.
• Tailor your messaging so it speaks to your buyer's pain points, not just your company’s features.
• Time your outreach around moments your audience cares about, like product launches, industry shifts, new regulations, or even seasonal cycles.

That way, the focus is on securing placements in outlets and stories specifically geared toward the people you're looking to attract.

PR provides long-term lead generation.

Think of it like this:

• Paid marketing is like renting a house. It puts you where you need to be, but once you stop paying for it, it's gone.
• PR is like buying one. You own it, and with proper maintenance, it is an asset that will increase in value over time.

Like SEO, PR is a long-term game. Sure, you can use PR services every once in a while to draw attention to your brand, but staying active with PR long-term can result in more leads and better conversion rates.

Paid advertising methods like Google AdWords, email marketing, paid social, and display ads certainly have a time and place. But as soon as the money stops flowing, the leads will dry up.

Where to Get Good Publicity

There are two ways to go about getting publicity for your brand:

• Do it yourself by pitching story ideas to relevant publications and media outlets, or building relationships with journalists, bloggers, and influencers in your niche.
• Hire a PR agency or publicist to take care of all the legwork on your behalf.

If you decide to go with the former, you will run into a few challenges.

First, the cost of hiring an in-house PR manager can be prohibitively expensive (not to mention the PR tools you need to purchase). And if you don't have an existing network of publishers, journalists, and media insiders, it will take a lot of time and effort to get the ball rolling - and there's no guarantee that your pitches will be accepted.

On the other hand, outsourcing PR to a firm can help you maximize efficiency, lower costs, and have more control over the end results. Plus, PR agencies have access to bigger networks and have more established relationships with journalists, so they can often get you more press coverage.

As a general rule of thumb, managing public relations mostly in-house is best for big companies and celebrities with large budgets and constant streams of newsworthy stories. For smaller brands, outsourcing PR to specialists is always the way to go.