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The Role of PR in Marketing
54 Plays5 years ago
What's the role of public relations in modern B2B marketing? Our guest for this episode is here to answer that question.
We're joined by seasoned PR professional Elizabeth Fairleigh. Elizabeth is the founder of thE Connection, an Atlanta-based PR firm specializing in thought leadership development for clients throughout the US.
In this episode, we talk with Elizabeth about:
- PR's role as a part of marketing
- Thought leadership; everybody wants to be a thought leader but not everyone has earned the title
- The proactive and reactive sides of PR
- and more
Want to get in touch with Elizabeth? Find her on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/elizabethfairleigh/ or visit her website at econnectionpr.com.
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About The B2B Mix Show:
The B2B Mix Show with Alanna Jackson and Stacy Jackson is brought to you by Jackson Marketing. Need help with your B2B online presence? Let's talk!
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Transcript
Introduction to B2B Mix Show
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome to the B2B Mix Show with Elena and Stacey. In each episode, we'll bring you ideas that you can implement in your sales and marketing strategy. We'll share what we know along with advice from industry experts who will join us on the show. Are you ready to mix it up? Let's get started.
00:00:19
Speaker
Hey everybody, I'm Stacey Jackson. And I'm Elena Jackson, and we are the co-founders of Jackson Marketing. And in case you still haven't heard, we are also sisters. Stacey, what's the topic of today's episode?
The Role of PR in Marketing
00:00:32
Speaker
Today, we're talking about the role of PR in marketing.
00:00:37
Speaker
I think back before the internet that there was kind of a clearer delineation between marketing task and PR task. But I think the online world has kind of blurred the lines a little bit. Who puts the article out there in the press? Who tries to get the thought leadership placements? Elena, what do you think about public relations and where it is today?
00:00:59
Speaker
I definitely think you're right that the lines have been blurred with technology and the internet because it's so easy to do a lot of the things that used to take longer because we have such so many tools on our fingertips. But also I think part of that is there are so many new companies popping up every day and a lot of people coming into owning these businesses or managing these businesses that maybe don't kind of
00:01:28
Speaker
have that background to know, oh, this is PR or this is marketing. They just kind of look at it all. They bundle it up and, okay, it's digital marketing. It all goes under marketing. And I think that's maybe where some of those lines are getting blurred as well. What do you think?
00:01:42
Speaker
I think those are good points, Elena. And probably when most people think about PR, public relations, they might think of stunts like the Red Bull, Stratos, I don't know if I said that right, Stratos, Stratos, Space Jump from 2012, or any number of crazy things that Richard Branson may have done like when he attempted to fly around the world in the 1990s in a hot air balloon. And all those are great YouTube fodder now. So definitely online marketing,
00:02:10
Speaker
benefits from when terrific fund stunts are done like that. But good PR, especially in B2B, is about more than just stunts and it's about more than just press placements or good thought leadership placements. There's a strong relationship, a symbiotic one that needs to exist between content marketers and public relation practitioners. And today's guest is here to talk about just
Meet Elizabeth Fairley
00:02:35
Speaker
that. Elena, why don't you introduce Elizabeth to our listeners?
00:02:39
Speaker
Elizabeth Fairley began her career as a journalist in Rochester, New York. Fairley earned her degree in English from Agnes Scott College where she was editor of the school's award-winning newspaper. Elizabeth is the president and chief connecting officer at The Connection. She is the results-oriented public relations professional with more than 15 years of communications experience in the high-tech industry. Prior to founding The Connection,
00:03:05
Speaker
She was PR Director of two Atlanta-based technology companies, one of which filed a successful IPO during her tenure. In addition to in-house corporate PR, Elizabeth also has several years of agency experience working for an Atlanta-based firm where she handled several high-profile clients in the retail and hospitality industries.
00:03:25
Speaker
Elizabeth is a recipient of the Phoenix Award presented by the Georgia Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America, which recognizes excellence among public relations practitioners. And she is one of the founding board members of CRMA Atlanta. Elizabeth, welcome to the B2B Make Show. Well, thank you so much. Pleasure to be here. I think I actually have more like 30 years of experience.
00:03:50
Speaker
I know I'm really dating myself now, but truth be told, so I probably need to update that bio. We welcome the experience. Yes. And Elizabeth, did we say the company name correctly? Is it E connection or the? It is. It's spelled the connection with a capital E and E, of course. I say, of course it is for Elizabeth, but it's really more for
00:04:18
Speaker
E as in electronic, but I named my company way back when before E, you know, E as in electronic was a thing. So it was more about the E Elizabeth connection. But it's worked out well. Good. Yeah.
00:04:37
Speaker
All right.
Understanding PR and Thought Leadership
00:04:39
Speaker
So I know we ultimately want to talk to Elizabeth about B2B marketing thought leadership and the role that PR plays, but maybe before we get into that need of the conversation, we could set a little foundation because I think sometimes people get confused about what the different responsibilities are for PR pros versus marketing, especially now with the internet and content marketing and influencer marketing and marketers doing a lot of things that may be in the past.
00:05:06
Speaker
PR might have done. So how would you delineate public relations roles versus marketing role? Well, I would, I have always considered PR a part of marketing and I know some people have different ideas around that. They think of them as being two separate entities, but I think the PR element is one of many, many channels that marketing is responsible for. And so,
00:05:34
Speaker
My perception of public relations is really the media relations, analyst relations,
00:05:43
Speaker
dealing with influencers outside people to create that public persona versus marketing who would be very instrumental in demand generation, lead generation, all of those things. And of course PR is part of driving demand, but it's got a different function because it's very contingent upon third parties. Right. Right. Whereas with just the marketing is your
00:06:13
Speaker
kind of in control of all of that. Exactly, exactly. So that's why they call it, you know, earn media because you can't you can't buy it. That said, there are some options that you can buy and, you know, I'm a bit of a purist, I guess, when it comes to PR, but I'm also not naive about there's a lot of pay to play types of PR out there. And to me, honestly, that's not really
00:06:43
Speaker
traditional PR is sort of morphing into that whole, well, it's a pay to play. Yeah. Cause you're not getting it for what you're doing. You're not getting that publicity because of the things that you're doing as a company, you're getting it because, Hey, I've got the money to throw at you to get the publicity. Correct. And I would venture to guess most
00:07:07
Speaker
prospects and buyers aren't savvy enough to understand that. But even when marketing is, you know, pretty aware that, you know, everybody has a business. So that's why when you advertise in a publication or on a website, you're going to get some special treatment. It's just the way it is. Right. Yeah. Especially with all the technology that's around today, that just is, there's so many different opportunities.
00:07:35
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. So when it comes to B2B marketing, I think we can probably all agree that cultivating that thought leadership is essential to the company and getting the word out there. So however, in situations and sometimes in companies can get carried away with like the sales or brand oriented focused and they can, you know, make mistakes that
00:08:01
Speaker
for a thought leadership that they're a thought leadership. So how do you define thought leadership and B2B marketing? Well, to me, thought leadership is really, it's an element of expertise in a certain area. I think it requires years of experience doing things and having knowledge, not just, you know, being in product development and launching an app. For example, you've got to have some
00:08:31
Speaker
experience with how the app is being used and what drove perhaps the creation of the app, what's the thought behind the business problem that it solves. And so really getting into the mindset of the customer and understanding what that person, that organization or individuals
00:08:55
Speaker
primary challenges are. So thought leadership is one of those kind of, you know, it's a big buzzword, everybody wants it, but I don't think everybody deserves it or has earned it. I think it's something that you, you know, you can't just like get out of college and call yourself a thought leader. I think it definitely requires some, you know, some seasonality and some experience.
00:09:22
Speaker
That's a good point because a lot of people do think, OK, I'm just going to throw my LinkedIn profile out there and some blog posts. OK, I'm a thought leader, but you do have to earn it.
00:09:32
Speaker
You definitely do. Focusing only on your company and your product doesn't make you a thought leader in my opinion. Right, right. No, I think you really have to be immersed in what's going on in the economy and almost from a global perspective and how your business fits into that context. What value is it really delivering to the business world?
00:10:01
Speaker
Definitely. So when we were planning this conversation, Elizabeth, you mentioned to me about wanting to talk about the yin-yang strategy to develop and execute on building thought leadership and how marketing and PR pros should be working together.
Building Trust in PR
00:10:17
Speaker
Can you tell us and our listeners a little bit more about how that strategy should be developed between the two different disciplines and how you can make the most of leveraging earned PR placements in the marketing mix?
00:10:31
Speaker
No, I'm happy to. So my take on PR is one of sort of a push-pull, if you will, and there are many, many opportunities to get a voice out there, and that to me is what PR does. It allows you to really articulate what your core messaging is.
00:10:52
Speaker
And the role of a good PR person is to really be a scout and scout out essentially where those watering holes are, where you can amplify your message and do it in a way that is not like overly promotional, but really communicating how the value that you, your organization brings to the table. And so while there are ways to be
00:11:23
Speaker
There are ways to be proactive in doing it. And that is sitting down at the end of the year and planning for the upcoming year and sitting with your chief marketing officer or whoever you were putting to as a PR person and really, really understanding the go to market strategy for the past year, what worked, what didn't work, and going forward and figuring out how PR
00:11:51
Speaker
the different tactics of PR can reinforce the marketing objectives for going to market. And that would be the proactive yin angle of the equation. And that's basically public relations pushing. And I don't mean that in an aggressive way, but
00:12:14
Speaker
the charges to get those messages out, however they need to be gotten out, whether it's through winning an award or whether it's speaking engagements or whether it's a byline articles, that is you proactively getting the marketing messages out. So on the flip side, you've got a lot of media people and bloggers, I include them in media,
00:12:42
Speaker
who are very hungry for really good sources. And that's where being a thought leader comes into play. And so that Yang reactive part of the strategy is being really on top of relationships with media and making sure that they understand who you're representing
00:13:04
Speaker
how you can add value who your clients clients are and being conduit if you will for creating helping these media people develop their stories because they. They are always on a deadline they're always looking for good sources but you've got to be able to be very very reactive and
00:13:25
Speaker
In my PR career, I think that's the biggest challenge is making companies, whether I work for them or I represent them, understand that you've got to be able to respond like yesterday. You just don't have time to say, well, let me run it up the flagpole. You have to almost have
00:13:48
Speaker
such good trust based with your client or your organization that you can get an answer like immediately. And it might be, hey, we can't respond to this in the next hour. That's fine. But just sitting on it is where I've seen a lot of clients and companies just miss the mark and they don't get to take advantage of all the great content and stories that are out there being produced every second.
00:14:17
Speaker
So having to be kind of reactive to certain situations, how does that affect how people can plan? That's such a great question. I think one thing that I've found with
00:14:31
Speaker
my smaller clients is that they tend to have fewer people who can squeak. And so instead of relying, for example, on the president of the company who may be really busy and not available, have your second wing man, have your third wing man and know who you can go to. So you have a real clear understanding of what the different areas of expertise are.
00:14:58
Speaker
within an organization and be able to map that particular PR opportunity with an individual and having those really good relationships, not just with the media, but within your client or your organization. So it really gets down, I think, to communications and also trust. They have to trust you that you're not giving them
00:15:23
Speaker
a piece of garbage, they have to trust people who have found something that's really worth their time. It is something that you build up over the months and the years, but once you have established that trust-based relationship, it's priceless. You can't buy it.
00:15:41
Speaker
Yeah, that makes sense because a lot of times people want to be the end all be all of the person that you come to to get your final answer. But in situations like this, it's important for companies to understand that you're going to have things you can plan out, but then there's going to be these times where you need a quick reaction to jump on it and you need to have accessibility to other people. That's a really good point.
00:16:07
Speaker
Yeah. When you think about like the rise of internet and social media and content marketing, all the different things that are
00:16:16
Speaker
out there and part of the marketing strategy. Has it all kind of blurred the line somewhat between the traditional roles of marketing and PR professionals? Like SEO people are building links, but they may not be doing it with the finesse that a PR pro might get stories placed. Seeing the lines kind of blurred, how do you view that?
00:16:42
Speaker
I don't think you can be a jack of all trades. I think PR people have to know enough about SEO to where they understand keywords and they understand how important it is to be ranked at the top of Google. And that's what builds the thought leadership. So when you have someone in B2B or even B2C, but let's just say B2B for today's conversation,
00:17:08
Speaker
seeking information on a certain category when they put that word in there and there comes your article. PR people need to understand in headlines. Let's make sure
00:17:21
Speaker
that this sidelined article is going to have the word, I don't know, sales and artificial intelligence, for example, you know, making sure that you have an understanding of SEO on a rudimentary level is important. It doesn't mean that you are the SEO expert within your organization, but you definitely need to understand the fact that you don't want this piece of content just to sit there. I mean, honestly,
00:17:49
Speaker
the only value from this PR content is going to be in how you're leveraging it. And so that obviously requires an SEO mindset and an understanding of digital marketing. Yeah, because you don't want to do it all. Exactly. Exactly. I read an interesting
00:18:14
Speaker
interesting statistic the other day, and I think it was from HubSpot, and they were saying that like 94% of the whole B2B buying process begins with that online search. And so, you know, if somebody is looking up a pain point, they're going to click on an article, there comes your PR piece that could very easily turned into a qualified lead, you know, and that's where PR starts to really prove its value.
00:18:45
Speaker
Hey folks, let's take a break to hear about today's sponsor. And we are back.
PR Strategies for Different Companies
00:18:55
Speaker
Do you find it challenging working with, well, probably not with customers who come directly to you, but sometimes I've noticed in some companies that people want to call public relations, okay, here's a press release.
00:19:11
Speaker
and it's just really terrible and that's it. Do you struggle with clients who don't necessarily understand the full gamut of what PR can do?
00:19:24
Speaker
I find that the people that I work with, I've been fortunate because I have had a lot of experience, like I came from an agency background, but I've also done corporate PR, and I've been on my own now for almost 25 years. So people that come to me know that I know what I'm doing, and so they have a particular need. My challenge, what I've found is that a lot of times,
00:19:51
Speaker
even the smaller companies, I say, especially the smaller companies don't really have a formal marketing department. And so what they will do is hire someone like me, and I become the marketing department. And that, you know, it's great in terms of being able to make decisions and move quickly.
00:20:13
Speaker
But at the end of the day, I am not reinforcing marketing objectives. I mean, PR can only go so far. I think it's imperative, even if it's a small company, to have some kind of marketing plan, even if you digress from it.
00:20:33
Speaker
Just to have sort of a core theme, everyone can get on board with and PR can get lockstep with that. Otherwise, it's a lot of pressure and PR becomes this sort of magic bullet that it just can't possibly achieve.
00:20:51
Speaker
It's not reasonable. Yeah, I agree. So as far as the different things that have come about through the Internet and digital marketing, like influencer relationships, is that something that you see as more of the purview of public relations? Is it is guerrilla marketing sense? Is that we are?
00:21:14
Speaker
I mean, you know, it's all kind of blurred, like you said in the beginning, I look at influencer marketing, and it's just amazing at how powerful it's become. I think that there have been a number of cases where you have, you know, celebrities, and it's so obvious that they're being paid to to what's what I'm looking for, reinforce, advocate your brand. And it just it is what it is, but it's not
00:21:44
Speaker
In my opinion, it's not public relations. It's more like advertising because it's something that you pay for. Yeah. I think if you have to pay someone to do it, it's probably influencer marketing. Otherwise it could be if you're engaging with people and encouraging people to give you good press or good advocacy, that might be more of a public relations example. Right. Exactly. I mean, there are a lot of
00:22:13
Speaker
you know, analyst firms and B2B, thinking particularly of technology analyst firms like Forrester and Gartner. And, you know, they will give an initial briefing initially. And of course, that's always good when you've got a new product coming out and they won't charge you for the initial briefing. But you better bet once you have that they, the sales team is going to be on you because they want you to buy their services. So,
00:22:41
Speaker
It just is what it is. It is an influencing factor, the analyst community, for sure. And if you don't play, then you don't get the benefit. And right or wrong, it just is what it is. It's been that way for many, many years.
00:22:58
Speaker
kind of look at influencer marketing in the same light as analyst relations because they have good reputation, they are thought leaders themselves, they're experts on their industry and their categories, and they carry a lot of weight. The average person probably doesn't realize that you're paying for it, so it's definitely got value, but it's definitely not pure editorial by any means.
00:23:26
Speaker
Yeah, it's definitely different. It's powerful though. It's everywhere. One thing that our listeners, they kind of range from solo entrepreneurs to people who work in a growing or larger organizations. He gave us an idea of what PR strategies and tactics, you know, just at a high level that companies should consider when basing it on where they are based in their maturity.
00:23:56
Speaker
Well, I think more established companies, you know, they have the advantage, I guess, of having clients, having big revenues being publicly traded. They're going to capture the attention of big publications like the Wall Street Journal and Barron's and those media outlets that cover publicly traded companies. So it's a bit easier to, I guess,
00:24:22
Speaker
get the mindset. A journalist who works for one of those publications, if you're a large company, I think the downside is that, like I said before, it can take forever to get an answer. It's hard to be reactive in a quick mode. PR departments can often be outsourced when you have these huge companies. And so I guess the
00:24:48
Speaker
The ability to be responsive is not nearly as high. So from that perspective, you have more people coming to you because you just want to cover Delta or you just want to cover, you know, Uber or a big, big brand like that. But it's not as stealth, if that makes any sense. So with a startup, I think they have to work.
00:25:11
Speaker
a lot harder to get attention because there's so many of them and a lot of them are new and they don't have like
00:25:19
Speaker
clients yet, and that's really a challenge. So there are only so many things that they are able to do from a PR perspective. One of them obviously would be writing, you know, byline articles that would always be a positive move to demonstrate thought leadership, but they don't have the cachet of having clients necessarily. So it's just a different approach that you have to take.
00:25:42
Speaker
Do any examples come to mind about like, oh, this is just the most excellent PR campaign I've seen in a while? And I know that one's putting you on the spot. Yeah. Well, I can tell you one that I think is really excellent. That's the new Peloton commercial. And I don't know that that's really, it started off as advertising, but I think it's really great.
00:26:10
Speaker
very controversial. Yes, that one where the husband buys his wife the peloton and you know, people are calling it sexist and all of that. And I personally think if you're physically fit in your health conscious, if your husband or your wife bought you a $2,000 bike, you'd be pretty excited about it. I don't think he I don't look at that as being you know, sexist on any level, but I do think that the timing of it was
00:26:39
Speaker
brilliant in terms of just creating brand awareness for them, especially right before the holidays. So I think it's definitely helped them. Yeah, it's definitely gotten the word out.
00:26:55
Speaker
Yeah, it has. I mean, it's almost like, you know, Sui McDonald's for spilling hot coffee on you. Just don't spill hot coffee. It's just so stupid. Yeah, the fact that you should have to tell people that is just kind of crazy.
00:27:10
Speaker
It is. It really is crazy. But I mean, there's a lot of good companies that do things and, you know, they have fallouts like the whole thing with Uber and all of the rapes and the alleged rapes and all of that. I mean, that's bad. I mean, that's definitely not one of them any favors. But what they can do is they can learn from it and they can address it and they can bring it to the fore.
00:27:36
Speaker
As a trend and they can talk about how they are dealing with it to make sure that it doesn't happen.
00:27:52
Speaker
No, definitely not. The same thing, you know, with Starbucks when they had a couple of guys who came in about six months ago, remember all of that? And, you know, what did they do? They shut the company down for an entire day and had diversity training. So they turned a negative into a positive. And they got on board with a major trend. So not that Starbucks needs a lot of PR, but
00:28:19
Speaker
certainly didn't hurt them in the long run. Yeah, exactly. Because that's what people are looking for in the companies that they work with. They're wanting to know more about the company's values and how they're going to react in certain situations.
Impact of Social Media on Millennials
00:28:34
Speaker
And that's very much opportunity for the PR department to talk about these things.
00:28:41
Speaker
Very much so. Yeah, I read another stat recently where this was from HubSpot where they said that millennials are 247% more likely to be influenced by social networking and blogs. And so I think that goes to the point of how influenced they are by other people, good or bad. So if you are targeting a millennial audience or a millennial prospect, PR really should be a
00:29:10
Speaker
big, big part of your, of your channel. Mm-hmm. Definitely. Because it's huge, especially at like millennials and Gen Z, you know, they're coming into that. What are they in there? The high end is like early twenties. Yeah. I think so. About the upcoming generations. Yes. They, yeah, they're very, very influenced by
00:29:39
Speaker
what other people think and the likes and influencers and all of that. It's crazy. I don't really fit into that category, but it's definitely, you know, they are up and coming for sure. So before we ask you our just for fun question, Elizabeth, do you have any other points that you'd like to share? Well, I think we've really covered a lot of them, I guess.
00:30:03
Speaker
From my perspective, what I've done most of my career is really focused on that thought leadership aspect. And I think we are so, and I am including myself in this, so skeptical. I am cynical of things that I read and advertisements. I'm constantly like, what are they trying to sell me? And so the credibility factor I think is so, so important when it comes to the B2B buying process.
00:30:32
Speaker
And you know, because once it's broken, it's very hard to rebuild. But when you are constantly aware of your credibility and building trust, I think that is just going to serve you well. And that's where I think PR shines the most. Yeah, definitely.
Elizabeth's Personal Aspirations
00:30:51
Speaker
So here's our just for fun question. If you weren't a public relations pro, what would your dream job be?
00:31:00
Speaker
Oh, my gosh. That's a great question. My dream job. Oh, my gosh. If it's even a job, I guess would be I don't know as successful novels. Oh, fun. Yeah. Yes. I would love that. That'd be an English major. I never, ever dreamed that I would be working for technology companies. But here I am.
00:31:29
Speaker
But I definitely love writing, so that's always been my go-to. I keep a journal, and I do have a book that I'm working on. I have written over 100 poems starting at the age of 12.
00:31:49
Speaker
And my daughter, who's 18, is an amazing artist. And so she and I are going to collaborate on, she's going to illustrate my book of poetry. Oh, that's cool. Yeah. And that'll be a fun kind of thing to kind of bond together doing. Definitely. Definitely. So that's a precursor to my big novel. You have to let us know when it comes out. Yeah. I will. Guess what I'm going to name it.
00:32:19
Speaker
What? The e-collection. I love it. Yeah, I'm excited. So what's your date for that? Is it like next year sometime or?
00:32:36
Speaker
Yeah, next year. I mean, I just literally have been digging through all these poems that I've written over the years. And it's, you know, some are not going to make the cut, like, you know, old boyfriends and stuff like that. It works out for Taylor Swift. That's true. That's true. That's true. But it's fun. I mean, it's amazing how it can transport you back at that time of your life when you read, you know, things that you've written like 40 years ago. It's pretty amazing.
00:33:04
Speaker
That's
Episode Wrap-up
00:33:05
Speaker
cool. So if people wanted to get to know you more and connect with you, where would they do that? Yeah. Well, I'm on LinkedIn. They can certainly look me up on LinkedIn, Elizabeth Fairley. And I do have a website, but it's more of a placeholder, but you can certainly fill out an information form there. And my website is www.econnexionpr.com. All right.
00:33:35
Speaker
So if you want to get in touch with me or Stacy, you can hit us up on social. On Twitter, you can find Stacy at Stacy underscore Jax. That's S-T-A-C-Y underscore J-A-X. And you can find me at Alaina underscore Jax. That's A-L-A-N-N-A underscore J-A-X.
00:33:51
Speaker
Not a Twitter fan? You can look us up on LinkedIn under Stacy Jackson or Elena Jackson. And finally, don't forget, you can also leave us a voicemail on the Anchor mobile app or on our anchor.fm show page. And all of these, the contact information will be in the show notes for Elizabeth and us as well.
00:34:11
Speaker
The B2B Mix Show is hosted by Stacy Jackson and Elena Jackson of, you guessed it, Jackson Marketing. If you need help with your B2B inbound marketing efforts, visit us at JacksonMarketingServices.com.