OFF-MUTE 🔈
🔽 The marketing funnel might be linear but the buyer’s journey isn’t.
💬 Finding the right touchpoints — or moments — to reach your core audience takes serious thought and empathy. And it’s not just marketing’s job to generate demand.
🚪💡 PR plays a role in each stage of the funnel — from awareness to consideration to advocacy. Consider a mix of different tactics to create those doorways (remember from last week?) that open your audience up to new ideas or points of view.
🤔 What do they not know that they need to know?
🤔 What do they think they know that they don’t?
📖 Storytelling has the power to educate, increase awareness and even inspire someone to take action. Know your audience (and their intentions) and plot your PR course.
🌌 ICYMI: Our version of the buyer’s journey looks more like a constellation than a straight funnel.
🌱 Here are 7 ways PR can nurture and convert leads:
#1: Earned media. Positive earned media is still the best way to establish credibility, which is a gating factor to any new product, organization, or idea. Plus it builds awareness and offers third-party validation of your story to your customers and prospects.
#2: Amplification. If a media outlet runs a story, does anyone read it? Today, the lifecycle of a news story is minutes, hours if you’re lucky. Amplification allows you to extend the value and impact of a media placement and other content to drive actions such as click-to-purchase and thought leadership initiatives on social media.
#3: Owned media. The content you create is one of the most powerful PR tools because you get to control the message. Remember to be authentic and show people how you think, not what you do. The goal isn’t just growing an audience, but building a community. And if you’re confused about your earned vs. owned media mix, read this.
#4: Content marketing. The quality of content is paramount, but it's all for naught if you don't know how to properly leverage it. Always consider how you can measure the performance of the content with quantifiable metrics.
#5: Events. Whether online or offline, events are still one of the best tools to generate new leads or nurture existing ones in a B2B setting. No matter if you’re a speaker, sponsor or attendee, events are full of networking opportunities with experts, peers, customers, prospects and media. Nothing compares to a solid word-of-mouth referral!
#6: Case studies. While events bring in leads, case studies convert them. Take the time to identify the right customer case studies to share with your audience. An existing customer's advocacy for your product or service speaks volumes and can influence buying decisions. Sharing positive testimonials or customer reviews can move your prospect further down the funnel, and may even help close the deal.
#7: Influencers. Authentic evangelists create believers. Influencers can create the bridge between awareness and trust, and they aren’t just celebrities and YouTube or Instagram stars. They are people with smaller, but more engaged followings — industry analysts, bloggers, community leaders, even teachers — anyone who has the ability to shape brand perception and purchasing decisions.