PR, marketing, and sales are sometimes uneasy bedfellows. They can speak different languages. Their definitions of success may, in some cases, feel incongruous. This shouldn’t be the case. It goes without saying that, ultimately, all these disciplines, functions, and professionals have a single and shared goal: Commercial success for the business(es) they serve. In the case of PR, we’re talking about reputation. Building it, defending it, and contributing to brand value as a result. That’s quite easy to say, but sometimes more difficult to explain in commercial terms. Particularly terms which have meaning, and clear value, in the context of ‘traditional’ financial metrics for commercial success such as revenue growth and sales.

Reputation value

This is interesting, because brand and/or reputation damage is frequently cited as one the most significant threats facing businesses (see Aon’s report for example). Meanwhile reputation, including as an aspect of goodwill, has been analysed to account for a significant proportion of company value (see Echo Research, along with many others such as RepTrak and Brand Finance). Furthermore, numerous insurers now have specific products to cover reputation damage (and to help fund recovery measures—like working with a PR expert). Reputation, clearly, has value—even though sometimes this is only fully realised when it is at risk of being lost. The old saying, ‘you don’t know what you had ‘til it’s gone’ rings true here. And, when reputation is under threat, including in scenarios like litigation, the role and value of effective communications is widely understood. There's a growing body of research, too, on the recovery trajectory of those brands which communicate well during a crisis vs those which adopt the ostrich position (see this seminal paper by Oxford Metrica).

Paid and earned tactics

PR is about reputation, and that of course has broader connotations, and value, beyond sales. Reputation influences what stakeholders think and feel about a business; whether customers can trust that it is delivering on its brand promise; whether people want to work for it as a reputable employer; the esteem (or otherwise) that a business, and its leaders, are held by influential third parties – such as the media, politicians, regulators, suppliers and potential referrers of work (brand advocates). Take the example of earned media exposure for a brand – a frequent goal of many PR campaigns. The clue here is in the name. Brands and thought leaders earn media coverage by virtue of their credibility, trustworthiness, relevance, accessibility, and being ‘newsworthy’. Or, put another way, being interesting. Paid media, such as advertising, paid social and, yes, advertorial, are different. Audiences consume and respond to them differently. They know they are being sold to. Sometimes they’ll want that, sometimes they won’t. Paid media of course has an important role in the wider marcomms mix. It also offers much simpler routes to evaluating ROI – there is a fixed cost attached to their delivery, and fixed outcomes to be measured (views, clicks etc.). Sophisticated campaigns will be able to track such outcomes right through to eventual sales attribution. All that said, PR tactics can be deployed effectively to support lead generation and, ultimately, sales.

PR’s role in the sales funnel

Most established sales funnel models are based, to a greater or lesser extent, on the AIDA model coined by advertising pioneer Elias St. Elmo Lewis in the late 19^th century. The model suggests that potential buyers move through the funnel through four stages: Awareness, Interest, Desire, Action. Put simply, lots of prospective buyers at any one time need to be ‘aware’ and at the top of the funnel in order that some flow down and take eventual ‘action’ (i.e. they make a purchase decision). How long it takes for any one buyer to move through all four stages is variable, and contingent on a range of different factors and stimuli. In the world of B2B, for example, buying cycles tend to be much longer and usually procurement led. Whereas, in B2C, buying can be more instinctive, emotional and immediate. In B2B, this ‘lag’ between the ‘awareness’ stage and the ‘action’ stage adds more complexity to the challenge of evaluating the impact of any one tactic deployed to move prospective buyers through the sales funnel – including PR. Proactive PR tactics are generally seen as ‘top of funnel’ activities – building brand awareness amongst target audiences and creating reputation value and resilience which, taken together, makes prospective buyers more likely to become actual buyers. But smart PR can also support at the middle, and bottom, of the funnel – particularly where there is overlap with content marketing. Thought leadership content, white papers and webinars can be leveraged through (and in some cases instigated by) PR to increase reach and prominence. Sales tactics, promotions, client wins and customer success stories can be used to generate journalistic interest, demonstrate momentum and reinforce reputation.

Four ways PR can help boost sales

Reach and engagement

PR expands the reach of a brand, helping it reach new audiences beyond its owned channels. Importantly, it helps brands meet audiences in the places they choose to be – such as publications of record. Earned media leverages the third party validation provided by editorial independence to build brand interest, trust and relevance.

 Competitive advantage

A smart earned media strategy provides an opportunity to compete for, and increase, brand visibility against rivals with larger marketing and advertising budgets. Equally, the absence of an earned media strategy will likely result in influencers and agenda shapers (which might include journalists) turning to and featuring competitors – providing them added prominence. The old saying ‘all publicity is good publicity’ may be debated, but it’s certainly true that a brand’s absence from airwaves, column inches and social forums just means more opportunity for its competitors.

Boosting digital discovery and lead generation

Timely, high-quality PR content enhances SEO and AI discoverability, driving traffic to a company’s website and into the sales funnel. Search engines place high levels of authority on journalistic media outlets, and brands with positive mentions (with or without backlinks) can benefit as a result (find out more here). At the same time, media sources, independent rankings and awards, and reputable thought leadership content, all rank highly as potential sources of information for AI discovery.

Building resilience and long term value protection

Research has shown that companies that communicate effectively and take a strategic approach to reputation are more resilient during crises and downturns, and recover more quickly. Strategic PR helps to build the trust and goodwill necessary to weather downturns and sustain commercial momentum. Similarly, companies that choose not to cut marketing budgets more generally during a downturn have been shown to be more likely bounce back more strongly than those that do (McKinsey).

How to maximise the potential commercial impact of PR

To unlock the full potential of PR in driving sales, collaboration between PR, marketing, and sales teams is essential. Here are six steps to take:  

1. Set goals: Define and agree aspirations and target outcomes, and the required inputs. Goals should be linked as closely as possible to overall commercial objectives.
2. Break down silos: Align PR programme with wider marketing and sales initiatives. Everyone should be pulling in the same direction and focusing energies (and resources) on the highest value activities
3. Equip and empower: Ensure leaders, spokespeople and brand advocated are suitable prepared to engage with confidence in PR in service of the brand (media training may be required). Equip them with the tools to make the most of opportunities and success, and to navigate potential reputation risks with dexterity.
4. Sweat the assets: Make sure that any PR ‘win’ is leveraged and activated across other channels (such as social, email marketing, award submissions and sales assets). At the same time, engage PR to identify opportunity to ‘spin’ marketing and sales assets into newsworthy stories. This might include anything from turning a webinar into a by-line article, to extracting an emerging industry trend from a customer conversation that might prick up the ears of a journalist.
5. Track and measure impact: Deploy tools like UTM codes and CRM integrations to monitor web traffic and conversions from PR results – for example, correlating spikes in media coverage with spikes in website visits. Track instances where new customers have cited seeing a brand’s PR before getting in touch, and when sales teams or business developers have instigated a commercial conversation deploying a PR asset.
6. Benchmark: If client listening or customer satisfaction surveys are undertaken, consider incorporating a question that provides insight into brand reputation, market perception and other relevant PR metrics.

  Reputation value should be cultivated, and protected, as a strategic business asset. Having a positive reputation, the primary goal of PR, is one potential factor that can influence a purchasing decision – alongside other factors such as price, availability etc. Reputation may be more or less important to a buyer depending on the kind of business in question. The value proposition of a professional services brand, for example, is quite likely to largely, if not wholly, be based on reputation. Equally, there are many instances where businesses can have a questionable reputation in some respects overall, but still sell plenty of product and achieve (at least near term) commercial success (for more on this phenomenon, see The Reputation Game, Younger and Waller). In all cases, though, PR tactics can be effectively deployed to support, even put the rocket boosters on, marketing and sales. Can PR help drive sales? You bet.