It’s fair to say that we have become used to most things happening at the click of a button, with many demanding instant gratification and immediate action. This is something that we see often in our industry, with brands looking for a one-off press release to be written and issued, or for results to be achieved within the first month or so of working with a PR agency.
This ‘quick fix’ or ad hoc approach to PR is unlikely to produce the best results for a business or project, because PR is one of the things in life that cannot be rushed!
As a specialist home and garden PR agency, here we’ve looked at some of the reasons why a long-term approach to PR can help achieve the continued and meaningful results that really matter.
Long-term PR can build up a profile and plant seeds that need time to grow
It’s important to remember that quick media hits often don’t stick. Although reading a positive article about an organisation you had never heard of may make you think of it favourably, this impression will most likely fade quickly. We are constantly bombarded with information, so it’s impossible to retain it all. Repetition is key when it comes to developing long lasting relationships with an audience and this can only be achieved through a sustained approach to public relations. Of course, PR is just one touchpoint of several required to convert a sale, but the more your brand appears editorially in top target publications, the more third party endorsements are generated and the more likely your potential customers are to buy.
This relationship building applies to journalists as well as customers. They need time to get to know a company and its products and to understand what value they can bring to them and their readers. With a long-term PR approach, companies will have a partner dedicated to building their reputation and forging these enduring relationships with the media, planting those first seeds that will eventually bloom into a mutually beneficial relationship between a company and a journalist.
Short term campaigns don’t have staying power
Some companies will only start thinking about hiring a PR firm when they have a specific project or big announcement to talk about. While it is easy to understand this approach, it is not the most effective way to achieve long-term success. By the time your new PR agency is able to communicate all of the details of the company and product to a targeted media list, the project ends!
Profile building and gaining media coverage takes time, and even short-term projects require long-term PR planning. Kicking off a relationship with a PR agency well before a project starts means that by the time the project is due to launch all of the groundwork has been done, with key messages identified and communicated to relevant audiences, providing the right foundation to build on. It also means we truly become an extension of your team and understand the many intricacies of the business and your goals. Don’t just take our word for it, though – one of our longest-standing clients Hillier Garden Centres agrees!
Gaining media coverage takes time
Many print publications have surprisingly long-lead times, often up to three months – so while we’re enjoying our summer holidays, they will already be well in to planning for Christmas! Other publications will have so much content already that it may well take them time to fit other stories into their calendars. Short lead titles and digital publications may need to turn around an article within just a few hours, so it’s vital to have plenty of PR content prepped and ready to go in good time.
For this reason, when planning out PR strategies we need to combine an integrated approach to traditional and digital PR, and start issuing to media at least three months before we expect to see coverage. So, if we want to talk about a new product launch, it’s not good practice to begin talking about it in the same month that it launches!
Results don’t happen overnight, and if companies don’t stick with public relations for the long-term, they may not see all the fruits of the labour.
How we work
Every client and campaign will differ, but we generally look at the initial month of working with a new client as a time for planning, research and developing the brand narrative, really getting under the skin of a client and making sure that timings for campaigns are consistent with requirements and expectations on all sides. By the second month we’ll get into full-on outreach mode, targeting press and leveraging opportunities.
As specialists in the home, garden and lifestyle PR sector, we are able to offer our clients the benefit of our media relationships and background experience to hit the ground running when it comes to earned media! Take the leading plant pot brand elho, for example. Over the past few years, our long-term approach to PR for the B Corp has resulted in over 1000 pieces of coverage, a print reach of over 43 million and over 520 product features generated – and counting!! Check out more of the amazing results we’ve delivered for elho here.
