Many entrepreneurs seek to grow their business by first looking at pricing, product range and efficiency. PR is rarely included in that list, which is striking. Of all the ways to reach new customers, media coverage is one of the few methods that boosts your credibility, brand awareness and turnover all at once. This is even more true for knowledge-based entrepreneurs with a book on the shelf. The proof of your expertise is already there; all that’s missing is the platform. In this article, you’ll learn how you can grow your business with PR.
What is PR or Free Publicity?
PR, or free publicity, is the free attention you receive in the media when a journalist publishes your story because it’s worth telling. An independent party decides that you and your expertise are relevant enough for their readers, viewers or listeners. That is precisely what makes it so powerful. Whereas an advert always feels a bit like ‘we at WC-Eend’, an article in a trade journal or a radio interview feels like an objective endorsement from an outside source. And people are more likely to believe that endorsement than your own sales pitch.
That makes it one of the most accessible and effective ways to support your business growth, regardless of the size of your marketing budget. What you do need, however, is a story that’s worth telling. And as a knowledge entrepreneur with a book to your name, you often already have that story. Let alone once you’ve written several books and built up a solid following over the years…
What role does PR play in your company’s marketing?
Marketing and PR are often used interchangeably, but they serve different purposes. Marketing tells the world who you are and what you sell; you determine the message and pay for the reach. PR ensures that others talk about you, without you being completely in control. Both are necessary if you want to grow your business, but they only truly reinforce each other when you consciously align them.
In practical terms, PR is the fuel for the rest of your marketing. An interview in a national publication becomes a newsletter topic, a LinkedIn post with credibility, or a quote on your website that reassures potential customers before they get in touch. Without that media attention, you miss out on the independent voice that your own marketing can never match, however well written it may be.
How can you grow your business through marketing, free publicity and communication?
Business growth rarely comes from a single tool. You need a clear positioning. You need to know exactly what you’re the expert in and which problem you’re solving for whom. You’ll also need channels to spread that story – both your own channels, such as your website, newsletter and social media, and third-party channels such as the media, podcasts and trade journals. And you need consistency. A single impressive publication won’t make much of a difference, but a series of consecutive moments will.
In recent years, another factor has come into play: discoverability in AI tools. More and more people are no longer asking Google their questions, but are turning to AI tools instead. These tools base their answers partly on what has been written about you in reliable media. That is the power of free publicity. What’s more, if you regularly (and easily) feature in the news, you’ll be found more quickly by potential customers.
How can you grow your business with PR?
The first step is to find a story that goes beyond ‘I’ve written a book’. Journalists aren’t looking for an announcement; they’re looking for an angle that resonates with their readers. Link your expertise to something that’s in the news right now, such as a social debate, current statistics or a development in your sector. Once that publication is out, something very practical happens. Readers who come across your name will look you up. They’ll visit your website, check your LinkedIn profile or perhaps even buy your book straight away.
Some of them because they may already have been looking for someone with your expertise and find in that article the confirmation they needed to get in touch. Others because, after reading the publication(s), they realise they need you. You suddenly move from cold to warm acquisition, as these people come to you, rather than the other way round. You automatically spend less time explaining who you are and are immediately given the platform to talk about the content.
After that, it’s all about repetition and follow-up. A single article generates a brief spike in attention, whilst a series of publications builds a reputation. And that reputation feeds back into your turnover, in ways you may only realise later on. A familiar face in the media needs to be less persuasive during a sales conversation, as trust has already been partly established before the conversation begins. This translates into a higher conversion rate on quotes, but also into the freedom to charge higher rates without losing customers.
Every publication opens the door to the next one. For podcasts, speakers’ agencies and collaboration partners, people who have already proven themselves are extremely attractive. This is how the effect builds up: from more enquiries, to higher margins, to new sources of income that would never have existed without that first publication.
How does PR contribute to business growth in ways that other forms of marketing and communication cannot?
The biggest difference between growing your business through PR and other forms of marketing and communication lies in how long the effect lasts. An advert works for as long as you pay for it, and as soon as the budget runs out, the visibility disappears. An article remains online, stays discoverable and can still attract a new customer years later, at no extra cost.
I’ve experienced it myself on more than one occasion: a prospective client would ring me up and say , “That article in the NRC/FD featuring you in that interview – I’ve got it pinned up on my noticeboard here. And now the time has come to bounce some ideas off you. Can we arrange a meeting?” The first time this happened to me – over 14 years ago now – I thought it was absolutely brilliant.
Marketing is an ongoing expense; PR, on the other hand, is more of an asset that increases in value as more publications are added, because each story reinforces the previous one.
However, there is another difference that is often underestimated. A competitor with a larger budget can always buy more advertising space than you can. But that same competitor cannot simply take over the position you have built up as the person journalists call as soon as something happens in your field. You don’t get that position by offering more, but by demonstrating over time that you deserve it. This is how PR sets you apart in a way that is literally priceless and contributes to the long-term growth of your business.
What are the most common mistakes that prevent PR from driving business growth?
The most common mistake is thinking that PR ends with publication. Business owners share the article once on LinkedIn, are satisfied, and get on with their day. But without a plan for what happens next, that attention fizzles out within a few days. A second common mistake is spreading your story too widely by sending it to every media outlet instead of targeting the journalist for whom it’s actually relevant. That usually results in silence, not a publication. Or, at best, visibility among the wrong target audience.
A third pitfall is failing to offer a clear next step to those who discover you through that publication. People read your story, become interested, and then end up on a website with no clear offer or way to get in touch. Visibility without a plan behind it therefore remains just a nice experience, rather than contributing to the growth of your business.
How long does it take for PR to deliver visible growth?
Don’t expect results after just one press release. The first publication usually takes a few weeks to months, depending on how well your story ties in with current events and how effectively you target the right journalists. You’ll usually only see a noticeable impact on your business growth – such as more enquiries or greater brand awareness – after a series of publications spread over several months.
Each publication builds on the previous one. You don’t become a familiar face or the go-to expert in your field overnight; you work your way towards it. Anyone who continues to invest in this consistently will find, over time, that journalists seek them out of their own accord. From that moment on, your business will start to grow just that little bit faster.
How much does PR cost, and how does that compare to the growth it generates?
You’ll usually recoup your investment in PR with just one good assignment. A campaign can easily cost anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand euros, depending on how comprehensive you make it. A single new client who gets in touch following a publication usually covers those costs. Everything that follows – such as additional enquiries, a higher rate thanks to your proven expert status, or a second print run of your book – is profit that would never have been possible without that first publication.
Do the maths: if you charge five per cent more per assignment because clients already know you from an article or interview, with ten assignments a year that will quickly add up to more than the entire investment cost. Apart from that, there are the clients who would never have got in touch before, but now do so because they already knew your name before their actual search began. So the question isn’t so much what PR costs, but what it costs you to remain invisible. Growing your business without PR is less straightforward and takes considerably more time.
Growing your business with PR – can you do it yourself, or do you need help?
Of course, you can handle PR yourself. You don’t need a certificate to email a journalist. But the difference between a press release that gets ignored and a story that gets picked up (and stays in the news) lies in the details that you often only realise after years of experience. Or when a professional (I won’t name names 😉) teaches you the tricks of the trade. That’s exactly how I help knowledge-based entrepreneurs and authors. Not by giving you a list of journalists and hoping for the best, but by working together to determine what your story is, who needs to hear it, and how to go about it in a way that actually brings you customers.
And if, consciously or unconsciously, you still have thoughts or beliefs that are holding back your personal development and the growth of your business, we’ll work together to overcome them using hypnotherapy.
Would you like to know what PR can do for your business and how to approach it in a way that suits you? During a strategy session, we’ll look together at where you are now, what stories you have to tell, and which steps will help you move forward most quickly. That way, you’ll know exactly what’s needed to grow your business through PR. Book your strategy session with me here.
My name is Linda Graanoogst, founder of and PR expert, MediaTrainer and business hypnotherapist at Blooming publicity.
