Understanding PR's Critical Role
The global supply chain imbroglio is vexing for all of us, whether we are a manufacturer, middleman or a consumer simply wanting to buy a sweater or that hot new toy for the littlest family member.
This issue of supply chain got me thinking about public relations, media coverage and marketing: there are striking similarities in strategy, thinking and the stunning, positive impact on market opportunity when the “chain” is flowing smoothly, and similarly frustratingly lost opportunities when things come to a halt. Let’s roll up our sleeves and take a look, shall we?
Supply Chain, Simplified
Earlier this year, Whitehouse.gov released an excellent high-level explanation of how the recent disruptions in the global supply chain came to be. It’s worth reading, regardless of your political affiliation. It provides a basic framework to understand the interconnectedness of international suppliers and consumers.
The Public Relations Parallel
There is a parallel in the world of marketing, the marketing supply chain. It is similarly complex, interwoven, and interdependent.
This collection of people, processes, and principles can accomplish some amazing things in terms of establishing first-round credibility, building awareness and moving prospects and consumers through the marketing and sales process to the holy grail of a sale, or conversion.
Much of the marketing supply chain are almost entirely driven through paid placement – commercials and ads. These paid marketing messages, along with their close cousin content marketing, deliver a precise message exactly when you want with a reach as wide as your wallet. Valuable, but there are limitations.
As soon as the budget dries up, the marketing presence ends. The message is essentially off the airwaves – and out of the marketing “supply chain” as we are describing it.
Unlike the global supply chain and the conversion supply chain, the marketing supply chain has a secondary engine available to help build the brand and deliver the message - public relations.
PR bridges that gap and provides the missing gear in the marketing machine. Editorial written by trusted journalists works 24/7 in the marketplace, engaging and educating consumers.
Once published, it is always on, always visible, always there to serve your market readership. Better yet, the search engines understand editorial is here to stay and ranks not only your website on fresh editorial content, but your presence in search. Indeed, some “mega” publications will rank higher in search for a company name than their own URL.
Marketing is a domino effect and smart entrepreneurs and enterprises ensure they have a smoothly functioning conveyor belt of inter-related tactics supporting their market growth and service goals. This means having positive, impactful messaging available to the marketplace to supplement paid marketing content – or to stand in when the paid campaign goes dark.
To truly harness the power of public relations, a supply chain mentality is needed. PR can do serious lift and service in the marketing supply chain. PR complements the control of paid marketing messages with the sustainability and trust of authentic, third-party credibility – the trust that comes from an established journalist sharing your story with their audience.
The Marketing Supply Chain Summary
In closing, the key to a smoothly effective marketing supply chain is simple} ensuring you have a steady, equal supply of frequency and control (paid messaging) and trust, credibility and digital presence (public relations). To simply select one or the other and leave the other behind is the marketing success manufacturing equivalent of running a machine with no fuel – it may chug along for awhile, but the lack of needed sustenance will hobble it and eventually it will lose its momentum – and the supply chain comes to a grinding halt.
So – ensure successful marketing supply chain with critical components of paid and organic messaging and ensure robust and continuing engagement with your core market community.
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