One sold out event, 600+ attendees, Las Vegas. And what they heard was why a sound PR strategy can be invaluable—regardless of your budget or size of company.
The event—Navigate 2015—brought together managed services providers (MSPs) and IT resellers from all over the U.S. to discuss, learn and understand new strategies and solutions that are shaping the MSP market. Organized by Continuum Managed IT Services and featuring 37 high-octane presentations, Navigate offered an ideal opportunity to highlight why PR has become more important than ever.
Why? Because the market environment has changed. In a market that is increasingly crowded, noisy and where everyone with a blog can become a potential media, PR can help companies with any type of budget to ensure that their messages do not get drowned out.
Another key reason is the emergence of social media. It offers both an opportunity and a huge risk for companies. Ignoring it is not the answer, as you may become irrelevant or be sidelined by your nearest, social media-savvy rival. Besides, how else will you know how you are faring against others? A good PR strategy or initiative can help to shape conversations and improve visibility—especially when 75 percent of journalists use Twitter to listen to current topics.
All attendees received access to a free PR Assessment and audit worth $1,500, upon request, from BroadPR. Further questions were taken at the Grow Your Business Genius Bar immediately following the presentation and throughout the conference.
All delegates were offered 8 simple takeaways that no company should overlook when it comes to PR:
- Know Your Audience: Yes, you can come up with the most eye-catching messaging in the industry but it comes to naught if it is not seen or heard by the right audience. Understanding who they are is as important as crafting the right message.
- PR is not just media relations—that’s old world. Instead, it is time to define your needs and understand that every marketing initiative—from Annual Reports to Blogs—is a potential PR opportunity.
- Think social media, then think PR. Don’t forget.
- Time to announce your CSR efforts. Your goodwill speaks volumes in a market that is big on giving and small on profiteering.
- Be the expert because it creates great opportunities to communicate with the media and your potential audience. It is not about blowing your horn, but being seen as the person to go to when an industry viewpoint is needed.
- Have a crisis communication plan, because a crisis is always lurking at every corner. With flaming blogs, bad reviews in social media and unwanted video revelations grabbing mindshare, you would not want your company to be the fodder.
- Keep your internal team members updated through better internal communications.
- Update your website—seriously! Not just for SEO ratings, but to also connect with all your stakeholders.
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