Reb Risty, Head REBL at REBL Marketing, and Michelle Stansbury, REBL Marketing PR Director, discuss why Public Relations (PR) is important for B2B businesses and how they can leverage PR.
Reb Risty: Hi I’m Reb Risty, Head REBL at REBL Marketing and I’m here today with our Director of PR Michelle Stansberry, and we’re going to talk about PR and why it’s important for your business. Michelle, To start what’s your approach with PR for clients?
PR ISN’T ABOUT BUZZ IT’S ABOUT A STRATEGY
Michelle Stansbury: Sure, for me PR isn’t just about buzz. It’s about a strategy. So, it’s about talking to a business and talking to a client and seeing what are your goals. What are you trying to achieve? What are you trying to do with your business? And figure out how PR can help do that. So, for some people it’s going to be more about driving leads to website in which case digital PR would be a bigger focus. For some it’s about building credibility, so we’d be looking at high-value publications like a Forbes or an Entrepreneur and others are really about targeting their audience specifically. So, looking at trade publications or industry magazines and then we work with a lot of clients too they’re based just here in San Diego.
Michelle Stansbury: We do a lot of local press and PR for them to really make them known in the San Diego community.
Reb Risty: Yeah and we’ve had some really good success I would say. So, when you talk to clients or prospective clients how do you describe, what is PR?
WHAT IS PR?
Michelle Stansbury: I get that all the time, and it’s nobody’s fault, it’s just that PR can be so many different things. A lot of people who focus just on social media and influencer marketing call that PR, political fixers is a type of PR, what I do is media relations. So, what I do is I get clients in magazines, newspapers, and TV stations, online publications, and blogs, and not as an advertisement but I get the reporters and editors to cover the clients because it’s a really good story that they also want to share with their readers.
MEDIA RELATIONS IS DIFFERENT FROM PAID ADVERTISING
That’s kind of the secret sauce is called Media Relations and it’s distinct from paid advertising and it’s distinct from maybe blogging or social media because it’s really kind of like a referral in a way. But instead of being a one-on-one referral it’s a one-on-many referral. So, instead of one person that you trust sharing with someone else that you’re doing a great job, it’s a media outlet. A reporter at a newspaper that you trust sharing that yeah, you’re an expert in the industry and that you’re doing some really cool things.
Reb Risty: Well thanks, Michelle. And if you’re A B2B business looking to integrate PR into your marketing program or just want to know more about how you can leverage PR and if it is the right fit for you and your company at this time give us a call, and you can talk to Michelle or me and REBLutionize your marketing through PR.
If you want to learn more about how your business can leverage PR, contact REBL marketing at info@reblmarketing.com or 858.848.7325.