Introduction to the new Public Relations

I have recently read several blog posts, on sites that I don't see worth mentioning, that speak about how Public Relations (PR) is not marketing and how everything you thought you know about marketing is now obsolete. Most of these articles being published are coming from people who call themselves "Gurus" but have no real application, and so their message about how you should forget about PR, press releases, billboards, blogs and should invest in API's and pay per clicks. THIS IS RIDICULOUS. 

Public Relations is the new Marketing and actually shifts the entire industry into a sort of Reputation Management paradigm.

If you want to have a successful business you should avoid API's, pay per clicks and even paid for leads for email generation because depending on these tactics means that you must continue to grow your budget for this purposes as you grow versus having an organic growth that allows for more profits regardless of your sales increase; here are some new rules for the new Marketing + Public Relations Era = Reputation Management. 

Marketing is not about advertising anymore.

A new generation of multibillion dollar brands like Facebook, Twitter, AirBnb, Evernote, and countless others - they have figured out how to spend very little on marketing with a higher success rate than most companies who hire public relation experts and advertising campaigns. They engage their consumers with almost free services out there available to them and available to you!  Here are some new rules that will save you money and generate more sales online and offline: 

1. Website - KISS IT (Keep It Simple Stupid) Your website should not be crowded. 

2. Blogs are your new best friends- commit to sharing your companies growth stories, customer success stories, how your brand mitigated a catastrophe, your recipes or product hack ideas, suggestions on how to save money, scavenger hunts, etc. 

ENGAGE YOUR CLIENTS. 

3. Customers are now Clients. Treat them each time like they are your neighbors and you expect to see them every single day- make the best impression you can. 

4. Look for strategic partnerships with other legitimate websites that are relevant to your clients and provide a "backlink" in your website, have them do the same. 

(backlinks help Google determine who is more relevant and legitimate than others" 

5. Take a survey with questions that will help you find out who is your typical customers and write a short story about them - where they come from, what he/she likes, if they go to school what do they study, who their friends might be- based on this one persona story develop the content for your website, ads, and even the way your store, packaging and brand looks. 

Always aim for the highest customer service you can deliver.

If you can target the specific persona of your clients, you will be able to tap into his/her interests outside of when they are not in your website or store such as hobbies, what their friends might like, what he/she might gift for a birthday, how often they might buy something, etc.. ultimately helping you target your words towards him/her to buy more often and little by little all your customers can be a off-form of the same persona you sell to. 

Happy Selling
Humberto Valle, Strategist
www.unthink.me