Getting your product out there to be a talk among the consumers is one strenuous task. Every business works in a pattern that the people running it need to take a few steps ahead of the consumers to infuse within them the satisfaction and the idea of instigating conversations about the product. Of all the ways adopted by companies to get their product upfront, the marketing strategies matter the most at every stage of establishing their reputation. Having PR has its benefits, and you would only come to experience that as time progresses. To coax the buyers into reviewing positively about your product is one thing and to get genuine responses is one form of payment for your hard work. Brand advocacy is, therefore, imperative in molding your company into the form that you dreamt of.
You might be unaware of the fact that word of mouth brings almost double the sales of paid advertising (as researched by Sirlinksalot SEO Products), making brand advocacy an integral part. The retention rate of customers referred by previous customers would be as high as 37%, and they would also spend more time than the average customers on the brand. Influencing a purchase is a key thing in business, and brand advocates are undoubtedly 50% more likely to do it. Let us have a closer look at how PR impacts brand advocacy.
Form of Impact
A purchase would be the end to a typical sales funnel, but advocacy can take the journey of ideal customers for a longer time. Brand advocacy surely has a role in the business; all that is uncertain is the role of PR in the customer funnel. PR does, indeed, comes into play at almost every stage of it.
Awareness is the first step that helps in the branding of the company, where the customer moves into the purchase funnel. PR drives this factor of awareness and educates your potential customers about the product to impact their initial perception of the product. Corporate image is another factor that is key to ensuring customer satisfaction, and PR plays its role as the customer moves from the stage of consideration to loyalty. All this would lead to the end of the funnel with customers transforming into advocates. Only the holistic brand experience of customers, which includes brand image, customer service, and quality of the product, can build a loyal customer and lead to much-needed advocacy.
PR Benefiting from Brand Advocacy
Not all companies have the privilege of being at the top of the game and having a decent number of brand advocates. But that is surely one of the targets of every brand since a third part acknowledgement and praise impacts well on your product. The public relations team will have the burden of marketing relaxed when such third parties give their reviews online. Blogs and other social media posts allow potential customers to read about the products that your company sells, and a good image is formed. All those advocates need to be thanked and rewarded in some way for the free endorsement they conducted through their genuine and humble act of jotting down their experience. It, in all senses, benefits your company and the PR to place your brand at even greater heights.