Press Releases (PR) can be a powerful public relations tool to enhance your sales efforts, as it allows you to effectively engage with your target audience, establish your social proof, boost your credibility, and generate valuable leads. With PR, you can leverage the influence of others to create a positive image for your brand and drive potential customers into your sales funnel.
In this episode of the Hands On Business podcast, we are joined by Mickie Kennedy, founder of eReleases and a renowned expert in the field of PR. Together, we delve into the art of utilizing PR to optimize your sales strategy, exploring the symbiotic relationship between public relations and sales and uncovering ways in which they can harmoniously work together to fuel business growth.
Whether you are seeking to elevate your PR tactics to a more strategic level or aiming to harness the power of data-driven PR to promote not just your business but also your book or podcast, this episode is an absolute must-listen. Mickie Kennedy shares invaluable insights and practical tips that will empower you to unlock the full potential of PR as a catalyst for closing more sales and expanding your overall reach.
What You Will Learn:
- [00:00] Intro and a bit about our guest today, Mickie Kennedy
- [04:11] How Mickie got into PR and what inspired him to start eReleases 24 years ago
- [05:07] Mickie’s client avatar and why they choose him over PR agencies
- [11:28] The relationship between PR and sales and how to make them work together
- [17:00] How much PR cost, the returns to expect, and how to measure the outcome
- [22:21] Mickie’s strategy for helping clients create intriguing PRs and get results
- [30:34] How to leverage surveys to get more exposure or close more sales
- [35:29] The metrics to track to get what is working in your PR efforts
- [41:22] How to leverage PR to build your credibility and social proof
- [42:46] How to navigate local saturation to get local media attention
- [47:34] Strategies to make your PR newsworthy and get into a national level
- [52:39] How to fit your PR campaign with the sales cycle
- [56:00] Common mistakes businesses make when using PR and how to avoid them
- [58:28] One thing Mickie recommends that you can do to drive sales with PR
- [59:50] Ending the show
Standout Quotes
- “When it comes to PR, it is a little bit different from traditional marketing; you don’t necessarily get to determine what the call of action would be in an article that is written about you, however the benefit of good PR can be substantial.”– Mickie Kennedy [11:30]
- “PR is one of those things that doesn’t get a priority when things are moving well, growing, and marketing is working, but all of a sudden when you can’t allocate $6000 to Google ads, PR is one of those things that you can do with a small budget.”– Mickie Kennedy [19:23]
- “PR can be one of those major signals that can get you that credibility and comfort level with potential customers.” – Mickie Kennedy [42:14]
- “Journalists don’t like writing article about giant well-funded companies, they love to profile small little startups and business; Journalist love to be seen as curator by bringing undiscovered businesses and sharing them with their audience .”– Mickie Kennedy [54:38]
- “You don’t have to do anything that is earth shattering to get media pick up, you can build a PR campaign of several releases, testing different types of PRs, hooks and angles, being strategic and measuring it as a campaign rather than a single PR.”– Mickie Kennedy [58:50]
Resources Mentioned
Free Master Class: https://www.ereleases.com/plan/
Stay Connected
Mickie Kennedy
Website: https://www.ereleases.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/publicity/
📺 Watch this episode on the Hands On Business Podcast: https://youtu.be/XP9DdLEPd9U
🔗Contact me on LinkedIn for the offer: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hakeemad