Public Relations Marketing: Distribution

This is the fourth article in a five-part series that details exactly what you need to market your public relations agency and make it a success. As a public relations professional, you understand that visibility is key to your clients' success, but perhaps you've been lacking in your own visibility. If you want your firm to grow, however, you'll need to treat it just as you would treat a client's business and continually market your services through strategic distribution. Here are some tips for public relations agency marketing distribution:

Direct mail is the best way to place a very specific message right in the hands of a well-targeted audience. Through a series of strategic mailings, you can establish trust and credibility, begin to build relationships and loyalty, and ultimately motivate clients to take action. Repetition is crucial to direct-mail success. Instead of a one-postcard campaign, develop a strategy that deploys multiple direct mailers during a six-month period.

Week One: Send a brochure that details what you do, how it benefits your clients, and how they can sign up.

Week Six: Send a flyer that reinforces your brochure and introduces case studies from high-profile clients to lend credibility.

Week 12: Send a compelling postcard with a very specific message to a highly targeted audience, detailing how you can take their organizations to the next level in terms of public profile and profits.

Week 18: Send a calendar that offers PR tips and puts your face in front of your clients, potential or active, 365 days a year.

Week 24: Send another postcard targeting your audience, this time depicting how public perception relates to profitability.

Week 30: Send a greeting card thanking clients for their business, or offering PR tips for non-clients, and follow up a week later with a phone call.

Advertise with flyers and posters on bulletin boards, billboards, walls, under windshield wipers, and as inserts in newspapers, magazines and other publications. Take out ads in radio, television, print and online programs. Deploy a street team to hand out flyers, stickers to spread word of mouth. Getting free media coverage is your forte, so use your expertise to elevate your own business and not just the businesses of your clients.

Test, track and tweak - these three Ts will help you develop winning public relations agency print marketing campaigns. Always test different variations of your marketing materials on small portions of your mailing list before launching the full campaign. Sometimes a single word change can make a big difference in your return on investment. Keep a database of clients, potential clients and non-clients, and evaluate recognizable trends so you can customize your pitch and allow you to make intelligent marketing decisions based on honest, proven statistics.