Four Reasons to Include PR in Your 2014 Marketing Budget

If you’re thinking about your marketing budget for 2014, don’t forget to include PR. Why, you may ask, should I include PR? Here are four good reasons:

1)      PR can be leveraged in a number of ways across the marketing spectrum. It can be used to feed social media, to approach prospective customers, to position you as the expert in your field, to raise the visibility of the company, and more.

2)      PR is one of the most cost-effective marketing tools around. Look at what you’re spending on company T-shirts and coffee mugs and maybe reallocate some of those dollars to a press release or some media outreach. Start small and see what the results are.

3)      PR paves the way for your sales force. It validates why your product or service matters. Imagine your salesperson walking in to meet with a prospective customer who’s already read about your company in a trade magazine or the local newspaper. Publicity lends credibility to whatever you’re selling.

4)      PR increases awareness – and awareness increases the bottom line. Even if you have the greatest product or service since sliced bread was invented, if no one knows about it, it can fall flat. PR helps you get the word out to the masses, including your prospective customers.

“If I were down to my last dollar, I’d spend it on public relations,” Bill Gates once said. So consider adding PR to your arsenal of marketing tools, if you haven’t already done so. This time next year, you might be wondering why you didn’t do it sooner.