Making Peaks Higher by Building Momentum

Business may be going gangbusters for you while clients seem to be taking up just about every last second of your time, and your staff’s time, and you’re not worried about keeping your website updated or promoting your work. Developing thought leadership articles? Forget about it! Who has the time to even think beyond client work? If you believe for a second that having a hectic, busy pipeline of work means that you can neglect your own promotion, then you are already losing ground to your competitors who are keeping their name and their work out there year round and reaping the rewards. Why? Because the best time to promote yourself is when you are busy. Once work slows down, it’s too late. Momentum is lost. The completed projects you were so focused on are out and no longer “newsworthy.” The end result: you’ll have no earned media to use for marketing your firm.

Here are 3 reasons why investing in PR during your busiest times will help grow your firm:

1. Fresh Press is Best — Promoting your work while it’s fresh will garner immediate media attention and provide you with a steady stream of earned media that will fuel your marketing/new business pipeline and your social media feeds for months to come. This is one of the best ways to avoid those dreaded “quiet” times. A company that looks busy is much more appealing to prospective clients and recent press coverage looks very impressive in sales presentations.
2. Be Visible to Stay on Top — Consistency is paramount to getting the most out of a PR strategy. Take a break from sending stories or publishing thought leadership and you’d quickly become a forgotten commodity. The media outlets will have moved on to the next source ready, willing and able to provide commentary and are pitching their stories and their work. Media relations is exactly that: developing long-term relationships that work both ways.
3. Marathon vs. Sprint — It takes months to build up a robust PR campaign and reap the benefits of consistently building your image and reputation and getting your name and work published across a variety of outlets, so starting when you have lots of time on your hands will only make you anxious and look desperate. You’ll be reaching just to find stories to tell and will give the impression of a company that’s anything but cutting edge and forward thinking. The most successful companies use it as a long-term strategy, not a short-term fix. They are the ones uncovering trends and looking smart.

Don’t let promoting/marketing your firm fall off the radar when you are busy or those prospect pipelines may quickly dry up. PR builds credibility and helps to advance the reputation of your team and the firm. Consistency in your PR and marketing initiatives, even at your busiest periods, will make your peaks higher and build momentum.