Why you should approach PR like you approach networking
originally posted to www.carnsight.com
If you go along to a single networking event and expect to walk away with a handful of clients, you’ll be disappointed. Yes, it could happen – but most likely, you’ll walk away with a number of new connections. In time, these will then lead to opportunities. A group provides the start of a conversation, not the conclusion of one. Here’s why PR should be thought of in the same way.
In marketing speak, touch points are the multiple points of contact that an organisation or its people have with customers or prospective customers. These might be physical, digital, or both. You generally need upwards of eight touch points before you convert a prospect into a customer. Just as a networking event provides a touch point, so does a piece of PR coverage. Rarely will a client feature in an article that directly leads a prospect to get in touch and buy their services (although it does occasionally happen). Generally, an article helps to build the story about a company, and provides its audience with a positive touchpoint.
Formats vary, but generally speaking, you’ll be expected to pitch your business or services at some point during a networking event. That could be formally during part of the session, or informally over a drink. Even if you’re not working to a time limit, the punchier pitches are always the most effective. It’s best to get to the point quickly and make it clear, using language that resonates.
The same rules apply in PR. Being able to talk about your business and what it offers in one or two lines is invaluable. The elevator or party pitch idea is useful – if someone asks where you work and what you do, and they’d expect you to tell them clearly and relatively quickly. If you’re emailing a journalist, you need to be able to explain it in a scannable way. And ditch the jargon.
In the words of Angela Roberts, who runs Cotswold Networking, a fast-growing networking group in our area: it’s not always the people in the room that you’re reaching through networking. It could be their wives, cousins, colleagues or friends. Good networking is about making connections, earning their trust and understanding that they can also connect you to others.
The same power of connection is true of PR. This ecosystem works in a number of ways. For instance, many journalists are now freelance and they work for multiple publications. Giving commentary to a journalist for a business site could easily be a gateway to them asking for comments for a future consumer opportunity (as it did with one of our clients, who ended up in Stylist magazine recently).
Equally, having comments featured in one article could lead to your expertise being sought for another one, by a separate journalist. When researching, journalists will often look through previous pieces on similar topics to find potential commentators. That happened to us when some initial comments in Raconteur on alternative Christmas parties led to a piece in the i Paper and two live BBC radio interviews. The strength and depth of the ecosystem shouldn’t be underestimated.
As someone who tries to treat others as I’d like to be treated, I’d like to think I’m generally helpful and responsive. And helpfulness is a real focus for us in our work at Carnsight Communications. If we can connect people through our networks, all the better. It’s gratifying when we’re able to put the right people in touch with each other.
Translate this into your PR approach, and it will pay dividends. If you can connect a friend who needs PR with a journalist who needs their expertise – do it. Don’t expect payment or plaudits (although a thank you is always very welcome!) Helping out both parties only serves to strength your connections and build trust.
Finally, networking for networking’s sake is like PR for PR’s sake – it won’t land. There are good reasons for doing both things, so make sure you’re clear on your goals.
Always start at the end – what do you want to achieve? It doesn’t just have to be new clients – with networking, it could be making connections with partner businesses, it could be about meeting people in a new area or it could simply be about socialising. For PR, it could be about recruitment or increasing your authority in a certain area. we’ve written more about the many things PR can deliver for your business in our blog.
And sometimes, happily, networking and PR collide. Here are some of the networks we belong to and contribute to editorially:
Bristol Creative Industries – content site and articles.
Cotswold Networking – via its online magazine.
The Business Exchange – through its magazine and online.
At Carnsight Communications we create strategies and campaigns to showcase our clients’ brilliant work through PR, content and social media. We help them get noticed by the right audience, at the right time. We specialise in creative agency PR.
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