How to Use Public Relations to Boost Your Sales - Without Blowing Your Budget — Source: JLNPR Inc.

When many competitors offer similar products within the same marketplace, credibility and brand recognition are crucial to make your company/solution stand out from the crowd. Using public relations (PR), you can improve your company's visibility with potential customers (hotels!), establish credibility in the industry, shorten your sales cycle and boost your revenue.

So let's get started by answering a very common question: what is PR (and how will it help me sell my product/service to hotels)?

WHAT IS PUBLIC RELATIONS (PR)?

According to the Public Relations Society of America, "Public relations is a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics." PR is, at its core, about generating awareness and visibility for a company and its product or service. It's about telling a story - a compelling story - that will generate interest and enter into the consciousness of potential customers. It's about gaining recognition and mitigating negative attention. It's about defining who and what a company is.

And the best part: PR is a highly effective tactic to educate potential customers, grow brand awareness and build credibility within the industry – all at a fraction of the cost of traditional marketing.

In practice, a B2B company can use PR to suggest stories and information to journalists about their company, product or service, in an attempt to secure editorial coverage. The more stories that you can tell about your company, the more visible your brand will be. There is always a story to tell for every company, so be creative. Think about the problem that your product or service solves and explain why your product/service is valuable to your end-user. Has your product/service changed the industry in any way (positively) or does it signal a new trend in your industry? If so, tell media about it!

HOW CAN PR BOOST YOUR COMPANY'S SALES?

When shopping for a vendor, most hoteliers will start researching the companies that they already know and trust; however, if the buyer isn't familiar with any suppliers, most will look for recommendations from trusted third parties. Articles in a well-respected industry magazine/newspaper/blog automatically establish credibility for any company, product or service mentioned in the article, as potential customers will perceive the coverage as an endorsement from a trusted third-party. This type of endorsement will ensure that your company is at the top of the list when hotels begin the search for a new supplier.

Once the initial information request is made by a potential customer, there is another important benefit from PR: it will drastically shorten the sales cycle because the potential client already knows your level of expertise and trusts your company because they have read articles written about you in the hospitality industry media outlets. Brand awareness is a key component of a successful sales strategy; if your company has good brand awareness with decision-makers at hotels, you will receive more leads and have greater success in selling to each potential customer.

By continuing to provide a high-quality product or service to every customer, publicizing your company's good news (i.e. growth, new customers who sign-up to use the product, sharing positive testimonials and current customer results, etc.) and executing a strong brand awareness campaign, your B2B company will be able to positively influence the credibility that your company has in the minds of potential customers – and, as a result, boost sales!

To learn how to implement an effective public relations campaign that will boost your sales, download our free guide: How to Use Public Relations to Boost Your Sales - Without Blowing Your Budget.

Jennifer Nagy
President, JLNPR Inc.
+1.786.420.1160
JLNPR Inc.