We all know that the internet is an overload of information. It is extremely difficult to break the internet with all the online noise to reach the potential client. To overcome the information overload crisis, you need to align public relations and content marketing strategies in a more personalized, strategic and creative way. It is highly difficult for marketing professionals to get the data-driven content.
PR will usually see data as an afterthought as it is harder to measure. A data-driven PR practice is considered a good corporate communication practice.
What are data-driven public relations?
A data-driven PR is facts and figures based PR. A data-driven PR is PR that generates awareness of the brand and detail insights about it. Data-driven PR is a challenging task to execute. If you are a large organization, it is relatively more accessible for you to gather factually based data straightforwardly. For a smaller organization, data-driven PR needs some creative minds.
How can you implement a data-driven PR strategy?
Data says companies using data-driven PR strategy are three times stronger and financially ahead of competitors. But becoming a data-driven PR isn’t a cup of tea. Here are a few tips for a data-driven PR strategy.
1. Know your goals
Before planning any business strategy, you must lay out a determined purpose. Ask yourself fundamental questions like, What is my primary business goals? If your answer is revenue, brand awareness, and product expansion, then you need a data-driven PR strategy.
Here is an example- A small company selling healthcare software has a high-quality product but is unknown in the industry. Hence, the overall business goal is to generate more awareness about the brand. The PR team should align its goals and strategies accordingly.
2. Develop a data-driven strategy to reach the goal
The type of data that will differentiate between the product or service. Data that will drive the message to the potential audience. How will access the data and the format to use the communicate the data and product.
3. Get key stakeholders on board
For initiating this kind of business, you need to align many teams and departments. Before you gather any information and analysis, you need to communicate with your stakeholder’s data keepers about your company’s future prospects and goals.
Depending on the data required initial stage meetings should include C-level executives, marketing personals, sales leader, product manager, researchers and other key stakeholders. You should always start small and expand crucial conversations.
4. Gather data and uncover insights
Gathering data can be one of the most difficult tasks for a data-driven PR. When you need to conduct large-scale research gathering, data can get very tricky.
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CRM data management
The CRM platform of any company contains valuable customer information. The Company’s relationship management platform can give you valuable insights into market attitudes.
For example- A company selling document management software requires the following fields to get a free trial- first name, last name, company job title, phone number, and email address. As the company will receive thousands of leads by just the fields mentioned above.
The analysis shows that your PR team will receive a fewer submission for the job title “Customer Service Manager.” Trends show that titles containing customer experience get number leads. Using this insight the PR team can actually develop a customer oriented business model.
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Purchase data analysis
You need to analyze the purchase records regarding the types of products, purchase frequency, seasonality of purchases contains data generating information.
For example- A major clothing retailer like Jabong.com analyzes purchase history by geographical location to determine its most popular item in India. Then their team decides to design an interactive map to display information.
Major teen magazines and websites point out on the map for the latest trending fashion., increasing the brand’s recognition sky high and sales of popular merchandise.
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Website data analysis
Website behavior data gives digital marketing professionals valuable insights that can also help PR professionals to uncover important trends. To start with, look at individual pages that receive a significant amount of traffic. Pay attention to information like traffic source, geographic location, technology use and keyword search.
For example- A compliance training vendor saw a large amount of traffic from the keywords like GDPR, data compliance and how to be GDPR compliant. Team members do understand that new regulations lead to new searches.
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Survey data analysis
If you work in large organizations or small, surveys can always be of the cost-effective way of creating newsworthy data. The study always starts with an idea or concept supporting the hypothesis.
For example- A dating app or website conducts surveys on shared dislikes builds a strong relationship. The company employees have designed a study and distributed it to the company’s user base. After compiling the results, they were surprised to see that they have more likes rather than dislikes.
After all the survey made they came to a conclusion that millennials have a negative behavior towards dating, relationships, and relationships last longer if their likes match and they break up if they have more dislikes.
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Borrowed data analysis
Acquired data can be useful to inform your public relation insights to your potential clients. This may not be a very effective strategy, but it is a very effective strategy for companies who not have a lot of time for data collection.
You have a story or a campaign that will work effectively for you all you can do is collect relevant data from other sources and companies that will help you get insights to share your story. The information should be from a reputable brand it will validate your data.
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Social media monitoring and measurement
Media monitoring will help you identify favorable media mentions that can be identifiable by your PR team. Your PR team can use this to amplify trending news in your industry. Social media monitoring and measurement can produce market research methods more quickly and affordably than traditional research.
Media monitoring provides conglomerate marketing effects. You can generate more newsworthy data and reveal competitors most effective PR strategies.
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Use data analysis professionals to interpret results
PR professionals are not pro at measuring statistical skills to interpret data correctly. Professional data analysis should be conducted to ensure that statistical data interpretation and analysis is accurately measured. You can avoid the embarrassment and misinterpretation of average and median.
Conclusion
In changing the competitive business world, data-driven PR strategy holds an upper hand. With data-driven PR strategies, you can reach a huge audience.
Tell us about your experience with using data-driven PR strategies.