People will often ask what the tangible benefits of Broadcast PR are. Very often, every penny being spent on marketing needs to be justified. People always want to be able to answer what their return on investment is. However, the return on investment is multi-faceted. It’s a different answer for every business. It could be measured in audience reach, items of coverage, increased sales or greater website traffic. It’s a subjective thing for every organisation.
1 Awareness
The number 1 benefit of Broadcast PR is awareness. For example, when you think about the radio industry, it has access to 90% of its audience for an average of 21 hours per day; that’s a lot of people listening. It is still the most popular medium before 7pm. Having content delivered through a radio station presenter or a newsroom can access a vast audience in a very trusted way.
2 Brand Positioning
The concept of ‘positioning’ was created by Jack Trout and Al Ries in the 80s and has since become a common phrase within marketing. What it means is differentiation; What separates and makes a brand different in the marketplace. For example, if you have a brand spokesperson being interviewed on the radio about selling ethically sourced clothing, people are going to perceive that brand as an ethical clothing brand. Positioning relates to how a company or organisation stands in the mind of the consumer.
3 Credibility
This is very important, and it comes down to trust. In advertising, anyone can communicate anything if they pay for that space and time. In contrast, genuine editorial on television and radio has restrictions on what can be stated. Radio and television in the UK are regulated by Ofcom, and a single complaint to Ofcom could lead to an investigation. Now, because of this, TV and radio have a culture of compliance. Broadcasters follow guidelines and editorial rules. Because of this, levels of trust in tv and radio are high. If you were to ask people whether they believe everything they read in tabloid newspapers, you would find that there would be some doubt. This is even more so for social media posts. But because broadcast editorial is trusted, if a brand appears regularly on TV and radio, this will give it credibility by association. The audience will also assume that this reputable media outlet has sourced this brand to speak about a subject because they have credibility in that area. Credibility can’t be bought by doing more advertising.
4 Dispelling Misconceptions
An audience sometimes has ideas that are not accurate, and whilst they are carrying these beliefs, their behaviour will follow a particular direction. For example, if people believe that it’s not worth investing in a pension because they won’t earn enough money to live on after they retire, they will think and act accordingly. So sometimes, a broadcast news hook can be an effective way to dispel such a myth. Broadcast PR can really influence this. The other side of this is educating an audience. Sometimes it might not be that people have the wrong opinion, but rather they don’t have enough knowledge about a subject. This is useful for emerging sectors as people haven’t formed an opinion yet.
5 Thought Leadership
Suppose a brand or an ambassador of a brand consistently appears as an authority about the specialism of that brand; they will take the form of the leading authority around a subject and will be intrinsically linked as a thought leader. The public will begin to trust that brand around anything to do with that topic, and as such, news agencies will compete to provide air time to their opinions due to their credibility in the public eye.
These are some of the benefits and returns achievable when running an Broadcast PR campaign. Every organisation will measure the success of its Broadcast PR campaign based on its criteria; as has been demonstrated, the benefits are varied and depending on a company’s priority, broadcast PR consultants can tailor a campaign to meet specific objectives.
