Unexpected marketing opportunities are akin to natural disasters like earthquakes, hurricanes, and cold weather events. You know they are coming, but they are impossible to predict when and where they will happen.
So, how do you forecast unexpected opportunities? How do you take advantage of them when they occur? And how can public relations serve as a means of seizing the moment and putting your product or service into the mind of your target audience?
Do you have the ability to see change before it happens?
Probably not. In fact, very few are blessed with that kind of intuition and those who possess that trait often are as lucky as they are intuitive.
That leaves the overwhelming majority of us relying on our inherent skills and experience to see an opportunity and then figure out a way to take advantage of it. While it may be difficult to foresee opportunities that are not immediately apparent, there are ways and means to sharpen your forward-looking skills.
Anticipate change
We’ve all heard the old adage “the only constant is change.” It’s just as true today as it was when someone first coined it.
We must remind ourselves that change is never-ending and ask ourselves “What kind of changes should we anticipate?” and “How can I take advantage of the changes?”
As we charged into the 21st century, for example, we all recognized that the onset of digital communications was changing how we do business. Those who embraced the changes that digital communications brought to how we obtain information, what we do with the information, and how we interact with one another have become business legends.
Those who didn’t anticipate change or quickly respond to change (e.g. Kodak, Sears, Nokia, Blackberry) suffered. For an insightful recap relating the stories of corporate giants rooted in the belief that “some things never change” take a glance at an interesting story that appeared in 2013 in Fortune magazine: http://fortune.com/2013/05/08/why-corporate-giants-fail-to-change
How does PR help you change?
Public relations practitioners, like those of us at Wellons Communication, are constantly on the lookout for how the marketplace is changing for their clients and asking “What trends and new directions are newsworthy? Or could be newsworthy?”
Real-time marketing incorporates brand messages into current events – events that your clients and potential customers care about. If these messages are strategically crafted and quickly distributed, public relations can serve as a powerful tool to help you enhance your product or service.
Public relations can react quickly, often involving quick turnaround and on-the-fly responses to immediate events, but they can put your organization’s name at the top of the list in those media that matter to you and your clients.
We all become somewhat numb to the day-to-day experience of business, but for PR practitioners, it is all new.
PR folks don’t see what you see every single business day. From a distance, they can see what is working for you—and see those things that could be working even harder on your behalf. They can visualize unexpected opportunities.
Look and listen. And profit.
Our team at Wellons communications works hard at remaining abreast of current events, both in the everyday consumer workplace, as well as the more limited surroundings of the market category served by of our clients.
We enjoy digging into the news to see what is of interest to media. We look for how the mundane can suddenly be interesting. And we search within the market categories served by our clients for what media could—and should—be covering and how our clients can fit in.
We look and listen for opportunities. And when we see them, we articulate them and seize them. And when we succeed, our clients succeed.
Find out how we can help you succeed. Call or e-mail me (407-339-0879 or will@wellonscommunications.com) and let me share some additional stories about how PR can help you find unexpected opportunities and help you capitalize upon them.