Public Relations Should Precede Marketing

Article provided by: Joe Weigel, Weigel Strategic Marketing

I speak with many people in funeral service all the time; even when I’m not “on the clock”. On occasion, the subject of public relations and publicity comes up and commonly it turns out that many of these folks have a basic misunderstanding of the relationship of PR to marketing and social media. If fact, some highly regarded funeral professionals confuse the two subjects altogether.

PR is the fuel that runs your digital marketing campaign. Among the many benefits of incorporating a comprehensive earned media program into your online marketing efforts is that it creates all-important credibility by:

1. Enhancing the perception of your firm. PR gives you a step-up on the competition: you will win a warm spot in the hearts of your families, thus improving your overall reputation in the market.
2. Lowering your cost per lead. An informed consumer is easier to find and to build a relationship with.
3. Increasing your social media ROI (return on investment). Public relations has a wide reach and can penetrate your market by publicizing your story and your good works.

PR does what marketing cannot do. If done right, it saturates every media channel so that your digital marketing program can be executed without the emotional barriers that inhibit families from calling, or doing whatever else you want them to do. To be blunt, if those emotional barriers are removed, your social media can work better.

Everyone wants their online marketing to take the firm to new heights, but PR should be there first to ensure that your marketing efforts don’t go to waste.

What that means is that PR lays the foundation, so that people are more receptive to and will better respond to your marketing efforts. PR properly done creates credibility for your company, services, and products as well as creating a sense of familiarity with your firm or company.

Being well known and perceived = people listen to you.

Once you have those things in place, the content you create in social media can get through much more easily to your families.  PR makes marketing much more effective and thus increases your results.

 

Joe Weigel is the owner of Weigel Strategic Marketing, a communications firm focused on the funeral profession that delivers expertise and results across three interrelated marketing disciplines: public relations, branding and communications. You can visit his website at weigelstrategicmarketing.webs.com. He also can be reached at 317-608-8914 or joseph.weigel@gmail.com.