FEATURE | Making Headlines
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HEADLINES Building your brand through public relations
How public relations can serve as a support mechanism for your sales team. By Erin Allsman
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s an executive or marketing professional at a construction or design firm, chances are you’ve flipped through publications like Construction Today, Architectural Record, or Environmental Design & Construction and wondered why your competitor’s project was featured while your company remains anonymous. You’ve noticed stories with commentary from sources with similar expertise, yet you’ve never been approached to participate. Perhaps you’ve issued news releases to the media, but have never received a response. You are not alone. Many A/E/C firms have great stories to tell, but lack the resources or expertise to effectively publicize their achievements or communicate the thought leadership of their executives. Smaller marketing teams are generally more focused on business development than brand building, and many would justifiably feel overwhelmed when faced with the prospect of implementing public relations tactics into an already stretched budget. Typically a primary objective of a PR program is to secure ongoing editorial coverage in media outlets your target audience is reading or watching. By doing this, your company:
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s BUILDS NAME RECOGNITION s ESTABLISHES INDUSTRY CREDIBILITY s COMMUNICATES EXPERIENCE s GENERATES hBUZZv AROUND A UNIQUE project s SPARKS CURIOSITY THAT DRIVES WEBSITE traffic and inquiries In other words, public relations is a cost-effective way to communicate your message on a mass level. Think of it this way – a prospective client who recognizes your firm from a recent publication is far more likely to answer your sales call. If you want to be a leader in the field, you have to distinguish yourself from the competition. Editorial coverage is a great way to do this because it demonstrates the newsworthiness of your project and provides a third-party validation that advertising cannot. But generating that editorial coverage is not a simple task, and must be approached strategically in order to be successful. Laying the Foundation The reality is that most publicity does not happen organically. Reporters and editors do their own research, but more often than not, the projects and companies that you see featured arrived there through the