It seems like no matter what industry you are in, competition keeps challenging the sustainability and growth of a business. From big cities like New York, Los Angeles and Miami to smaller markets across the U.S., whether your business is a startup fitness company with its own smartphone app in Silicon Valley or a dermatology practice in Chicago, the challenge to be seen and heard is incrementally becoming more difficult. Today’s marketplace is saturated with strategic communication tools and platforms to pitch yourself to potential clients. However, paid media and social media campaigns are often cost-prohibitive. Enter Public Relations: The most cost-efficient and credible way to promote one’s medical practice or business.
Public relations is earning online, print, radio or TV coverage on a media outlet’s platforms with no money changing hands between you and that outlet. Public relations is the way you enter through the media’s door. As a small business owner, or private practice physician it may seem farfetched to you that your name may appear in an article in U.S. News & World Report or The New York Times, but this is a completely attainable goal with the right PR firm behind you.
Cost-Effective Compared To Other Methods Of Marketing Your Business
For a private practice dermatologist who wants to promote his/her expertise, it may be surreal to think of his/her name in an article for U.S. News and World Report, or a media staple like Huffingtonpost.com but these are attainable features that we secure for our clients consistently. It would cost the same dermatologist three times the amount of money to buy sponsored content in similar outlets to reach the equivalent audience via social media advertising or traditional advertising. In PR, there is no money changing hands. The client is paying the PR firm to amplify your brand, expertise, and key messages in order to build your profile with the media and target customers more directly. This translates to increases in sales, and less costs to get you there.
Reach Potential Clients and Patients Through Content They Want To Read
In advertising, the messaging has only one direction, from you to the audience. Today, people are so blase about ads that they don’t see the services advertised as worthy of their attention. With the right public relations campaign, the messaging and expertise you have is carried to the client through content that they care about, by writers/reports they trust. This allows you to impress readers and viewers directly in a more impactful way. You are also bypassing insurmountable ad fees, and engaging potential customers by answering their questions and giving advice that they are actively seeking. Being featured in top tier media outlets gives you cache and trust that no amount of advertising can achieve. What’s more, when content is posted online, it is shareable via social media, thus enhancing your overall online presence.
Link Building with SEO
Search engine optimization is a technique used to help Google understand your site, and bring traffic over to your online headquarters by ranking you for specific searches. While public relations is not a substitute for a full-service search optimization agency, there are overlaps in our services that can help your ranking on google and bring about more traffic to your site. The main benefit P.R. can offer on the SEO front is strong link building. When a smaller site begins to garner a steady stream of quality link-backs from high authority sites, like the outlets our PR experts work work with on a daily basis, Google begins to see that site as “high authority” as well. This slowly but surely increases google search visibility and can complement any ongoing SEO strategy you may have in place.
Related – Implementing Digital PR in Your Marketing Strategy
Social Proof and Consumer Trust
Studies show that consumers will often choose a business with a media section on their website over one that has no media coverage, Consumers also tend to distrust brands and businesses with negative press coverage over those featured positively in the media. Public relations can help heighten the credibility of your business across news channels helping curate a trustworthy and well-known brand that entices potential clients to use your services or products over competitors who have no coverage.
Community Outreach and Partnerships
PR gives you the opportunity to partner with local businesses and build relationships within the community. Not only will this support local business owners, it will establish trust and credibility amongst community members and will help expand your brand visibility. Partnering with influencers can also help you connect with your target audience more directly, while increasing brand awareness and engagement.
A Subtle Yet Effective Means of Promotion
Whereas advertisements are a rat race to have the longest, loudest spots on television or social media, public relations thrives in subtlety. Audiences can become skeptical about the lawyer screaming at them from inside the T.V. or the realtor with his face on the bus bench. However, reading an expert’s take on a trending topic on a well-respected print, newspaper or online magazine drives trust and helps increase the credibility of that expert. Media coverage is also a strategic means to support the ongoing marketing of your business, no matter what your industry is. Press placements are a calling card for new and established customers alike, but it is so subtle in nature that it never occurs to the general public that the media coverage came about because there was a PR firm behind it. That is part of the magic of public relations.
About KMR Communications:
KMR Communications is a public relations firm in New York City and Miami, Florida. It was established in 1998 by founder and CEO, Katherine M. Rothman. The agency specializes in medical PR, Beauty PR, Fitness PR, and Lifestyle PR.
Ready to increase your brand awareness? Contact our PR firm in NYC to learn more about the importance of public relations to an organization.