No need to have a big budgets to be visible! All it takes is
a little method, common sense, and the desire to share your clients' issues.
In this article, I give you 4 tips for effective and
low-cost communication .
Create the information yourself
The good old "Press Relations" have evolved with
the times, it is no longer just a question of inviting a few journalists with
their official press card.
Today freelancers, bloggers, influencers, youtubers and vip
also need content to bring their social networks to life and distribute information
to their community.
By creating your PR info packs (press release, photos and
videos) you are creating informative content yourself and serving them on a
silver platter. You thus respond to one of their strongest and most costly
issues in terms of time and resources: creating content on a daily basis .
By creating the information:
• you
considerably increase your visibility in the media without buying advertising
space
• you
benefit from the “journalist” deposit and the press title
• you forge
privileged links with editorial staff, journalists or other experts who can be
very useful in the event of crisis communication, for example
• you give
elements of language and credibility to your sales teams (if the local
newspaper says so, it's true)
• you increase
the trust capital of your company and / or your product
• you
generate positive word of mouth .
Develop a relationship of trust with its service providers
"I need 3 comparative quotes, we will take the
cheapest!" "
We have all heard this phrase from a superior or colleague.
While this "technique" may have made sense at one time, it is no
longer the case today. The relationship between service providers and sponsors
has changed as life in a company is changing.
Work in confidence now replaces work in defiance.
You must forge a special bond with your main service
providers and build long-term partnerships.
Agencies, printers, videographers, etc ... so that they give
the best of their talents, should not walk on eggshells.
The few cents that you think you save by always taking the
cheapest of the famous 3 quotes, you will lose them a hundredfold the day you
encounter a difficulty and no service provider will want to help you.
They are full partners who contribute to the success of your
business and to your development, take care, like your customers . Plus, it's
always easier to negotiate when you're securing sales for your partners than if
you let them navigate on sight.
Stay on the lookout for opportunities
Although new web media have now taken the lion's share of
communications budgets, a good half is still invested in traditional media.
This windfall can still be optimized.
In general, a communications manager passes these purchasing
acts at the end of the year for the following year with framework agreements
allowing prices to be negotiated with respect to volume commitments.
However, it is interesting not to invest your entire budget
in this way to keep some leeway in case of unforeseen events or opportunities.
The year 2020 is the perfect example to illustrate this
trick.
The COVID crisis that began in February / March simply blew
up all the communication plans thought up a few weeks earlier. Thus, most
advertisers and companies have stopped or canceled their campaigns, thus
freeing up advertising space that the media needed to fill as quickly as
possible… and therefore at reduced prices.
For advertisers who have decided to continue to communicate
(and who had not committed their entire budget) these opportunities have made
it possible to purchase spaces up to 70 or 80% cheaper than their prices in
normal times.
This little woolen stocking that you have not invested can
also be used to position yourself at a very reduced price, on a magazine press
loop. The famous page in the 3rd cover is empty, while the closing is expected in
48 hours for example.
Rely on internal strengths: employee advocacy and employer brand
There were expert clients, now there are convinced managers
and collaborators.
The best ambassadors for your products or your company are
your own teams . Today, everyone has developed their small community around
Facebook, Instagram and increasingly on LinkedIn. We talk about Employee
Advocacy in VO and employer brand for the “HR marketing” part .
It has become essential to encourage managers and employees
to promote their company and their jobs around them. not convinced themselves
of the benefit of their job, how do you expect customers to be convinced by
your products or services?
There is nothing worse than a Renault employee posting a
photo of himself smiling at the wheel of his new Peugeot on his Instagram.
The challenge is to create an internal community that will
promote and defend the colors of the company on social networks .
Be careful, such an approach cannot be built overnight and
your salespeople will not become social selling aces overnight. This can take a
long time to put in place and you will encounter reluctance from certain
employees or managers who will not understand the value of such a device.
Perhaps you will have to accompany some "old" to create their own
LinkedIn profile for example.
This in-depth work will ultimately make it possible to:
• Strengthen
the consistency of messages delivered by the company.
• Strengthen
the ego and pride of belonging of your teams.
• Strengthen
the brand-employer dimension of your company.
• Promote
your business and therefore by streaming the products or services it offers.
• Generate
leads
• Improve
your employer brand
• Recruit
at lower costs
Your teams are your best ambassadors. Happy ambassadors in
their respective jobs shout it loud and clear on the networks, to demonstrate
the company's values and positively touch the emotional side of consumers. The
one who makes purchasing decisions in 66% of cases, as this LSA study reminds
us
To implement this system, you can call on an inbound
marketing or social selling agency , often very closely linked, which can help
and train your teams in specific web writing and to differentiate the most
appropriate tones. for each social network.
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