Most companies today are pursuing some sort of business to business marketing endeavor, probably one of the usual stand-bys such as advertising, direct mail or trade shows.
Some are even dabbling in new techniques such as optimizing the company Web site. However, if you were to take an informal survey of key executives across a broad spectrum of industries, you would also find that most feel these techniques a) are too costly, and b) are not providing very many qualified leads.
Fortunately, one marketing technique that is proving successful in lead generation is a hybrid of marketing and PR called
marketing publicity. Although hardly a secret on the marketing scene, this approach is often considered only after the "usual suspects" listed above. Whether this is the result of ignorance or worse, laziness, it only takes a good hard look at the bottom line to see that marketing publicity works where many other techniques fail.
Marketing publicity involves promoting a product or service through the mass media. By writing feature articles, customer testimonials, and new product releases and getting it placed as editorial in consumer or trade publications (online and print), marketing public relations firms can generate a large quantity of published articles over time to build brand awareness and generate a large quantity of superior leads.
The power behind marketing publicity is in its objective, third party endorsement. First, these articles are often laden with positive customer testimonials. Second, the fact that the publication has published the article as editorial is also a form of third party endorsement. These factors add up to a level of credibility that is difficult to achieve with other business to business marketing techniques.
The ultimate goal is to drive in qualified leads that can be turned into sales. With an abundance of qualified leads, your sales increase, even if your margins are rather large. With enough sales, at hefty margins, your profits increase. When you expand consistently, month after month, you have money for things you need. You have money for people you need. Problems go away.
Marketing publicity will not only generate a volume of leads, but also improve the quality of lead. These leads are often superior because after reading an article prospects typically are more educated about a product on first contact with sales staff; view the information with much more credibility; and are more willing to accept the company as a legitimate player in the market.
With this
business to business marketing technique you can communicate to potentially millions of prospects at an extremely low overall cost per prospect. With a large quantity of published articles generated and repeated over time, you can build a mass awareness for your product and a large quantity of superior leads will result.
Author, John Elliott, founder and president of Power PR, Inc., has been an authority in public relations and marketing for more than 36 years. As a public relations executive, he has been instrumental in landing hundreds of pages and hundreds of hours of radio and television coverage for his various local, national, and international clients and employers, and has secured press coverage for political, art, sports, telecommunications, manufacturing, medical, scientific, and many other organizations. More information can be found at www.powerpr.com. Power PR is located 3711 Lomita Blvd., Suite 200, Torrance, CA 90505; (310) 787-1940; fax (310) 787-1970.
