We all hear about “connecting the dots.” It’s a trendy catch phrase that actually means “joining components.” So how does connecting components really help your business? In the world of public relations and communications we see everything as dots and our role is to join them to further your mission.
Trevor Little, VETPAW team member, with a child in an Africa orphanage. A prime example of an organization that connects all the dots to further their mission.
After reviewing current best practices with several of our technology and engineering clients we found a pattern emerging. Each client knew “connecting the dots” was vital to their success, yet somehow their marketing, public relations and communication efforts didn’t seem like important dots to include. To them the public relations efforts had to “prove themselves” before even being considered as viable. This presents a large problem for organizations who want to improve their bottom line.
Below are key benefits a company receives from connecting the public relations, communications, and marketing dots to be part of their overall company strategic plan.
1. Public Relations
At its core, public relations revolves around this universal truth: people act based upon their perception of facts. By managing, controlling, or influencing people’s perceptions, public relations professionals hope to initiate a sequence of behaviors that will lead to the achievement of an organization’s objectives. When those in public relations successfully create, change, or reinforce opinion through persuasion, their primary objective is accomplished.
Public relations professionals do more than draft press releases and build relationships with key media representatives. They must also be familiar with the attitudes and concerns of consumers, employees, public interest groups, and the community in order to establish and maintain cooperative working relationships.
All of which are valuable to your company’s image and its bottom line.
2. Communication Strategies
A communication strategy ensures that all significant information is dispersed to the correct people, both internally and externally. Having all people on the same page is essential to a highly efficient workplace. If some staff members are unaware of key information, they may be unable to complete their duties properly, or do work that they don’t actually need to perform. Without standardized communication strategies to external business contacts, you may have clients or suppliers who are unaware of policy changes, upcoming events and other relevant company information.
Your communication strategy affects your company image. If you have a standardized, professional method of communicating with the public and your external business contacts, you present yourself as a professional company with strong organization. If communication is sporadic and information comes from different people inconsistently, you present your company as a disorganized unit. You also risk having conflicting information released if you don’t have a specific communication plan in place.
All of which are valuable to your company’s image and its bottom line.
3. Marketing Strategies
For a business to succeed, the product or service it provides must be known to certain buyers in certain markets. Unless your business is known in the community and have communication with your customers readily available, you have to use marketing strategies to create product or service awareness. Without marketing your business may not be given the opportunity to progress and succeed. Using marketing to promote your product, service and company provides your business with a chance of being discovered by prospective customers.
Once your product, service or company gets on the radar screen of your prospects, it increases your chances that consumers will make a purchase. As awareness becomes a reality through your public and communication efforts, it is also the point where new customers start to spread the word, telling friends and family about this amazing new product they discovered. Your sales will steadily increase as the word spreads. Without employing public relations, communication and marketing strategies, these sales may not ever happen; without sales, a company cannot succeed.
All of these “connected dots” are valuable to your company’s image and its bottom line. If you need help connecting them reach out to us at SahlComm.com.
We look forward to hearing from you.