The digital era’s new consumer demands a new approach to PR
Inbound PR is the handbook that can transform your agency’s business. Today’s customer is fundamentally different, and traditional PR strategies are falling by the wayside. Nobody wants to feel “marketed to;” we want to make our own choices based on our own research and experiences online. When problems arise, we demand answers on social media, directly engaging the company in front of a global audience. We are the most empowered, sophisticated customer base in the history of PR, and PR professionals must draw upon an enormous breadth of skills and techniques to serve their clients’ interests. Unfortunately, those efforts are becoming increasingly ephemeral and difficult to track using traditional metrics. This book merges content and measurement to give today’s PR agencies a new way to build brands, evaluate performance and track ROI.
The ability to reach the new consumer, build the relationship, and quantify the ROI of PR services allows you to develop an inbound business and the internal capabilities to meet and exceed the needs of the most demanding client. In this digital age of constant contact and worldwide platforms, it’s the only way to sustainably grow your business and expand your reach while bolstering your effectiveness on any platform. This book shows you what you need to know, and gives you a clear framework for putting numbers to reputation.
- Build brand awareness without “marketing to” the audience
- Generate more, higher-quality customer or media leads
- Close the deal and nurture the customer or media relationship
- Track the ROI of each stage in the process
Content is the name of the game now, and PR agencies must be able to prove their worth or risk being swept under with obsolete methods. Inbound PR provides critical guidance for PR growth in the digital era, complete with a practical framework for stimulating that growth.
Table of Contents
The New World of Inbound PR: A Foreword vii
Modernizing Public Relations and Marketing: A Foreword ix
Introduction xi
About the Author xvii
Acknowledgments xix
Chapter 1 Getting the Basics: PR and Inbound 1
What Is Public Relations? 3
What Is Inbound? 5
Content: The Glue between Inbound and PR 8
Chapter 2 PR and Measurement 13
The History of Measurement in Public Relations and Communications 15
Inbound Marketing and Measurement 22
The Future of PR Measurement 24
Chapter 3 Inbound PR 33
Why You Need Inbound PR 35
The Inbound PR Concept 39
Benefits of the New Inbound PR Model 41
Why PR Agencies Need to Adopt Inbound PR 45
Chapter 4 How to Do Inbound PR 51
The Inbound PR Methodology 53
How to Run an Inbound PR Campaign 55
Inbound Media Relations 66
The Inbound PR Newsroom 72
How to Create Fascinating Content 77
The Art of Inbound Storytelling 83
Chapter 5 Generating New Business with Inbound PR 89
Practicing What You Preach 91
The Importance of Positioning 94
How to Create Your Agency’s Positioning Strategy 102
How to Do Lead Nurturing and Fill Your Sales Funnel 109
Chapter 6 Delivering Inbound PR to Clients 115
Defining Inbound PR Services 117
Packaging Inbound PR Services 123
Developing Inbound PR Capabilities 126
Delivering Inbound PR Services 129
Conclusions and Key Success Factors 135
Appendix 141
Notes 151
References 155
Index 157