Name: Carmel Harrison PR
Based: Leeds
Website: www.carmelharrisonpr.com
There are thousands of PR companies in Yorkshire - you have to be different to stand out. Social and digital media are the way forward, yet my target sector is B2B, specifically engineering, IT, telecoms and manufacturing.
Many of the clients are very cynical about social and new media. We have devised a simple package of asking them for their target client list, then using Twitter to link to their target accounts to deliver specific marketing goals such as appointments or sales leads. We have also set up simple editorial calendars that dovetail with their marketing activity and link into their sales team giving them tasks such as blog writing.
There was resistance at first, but we have shown incremental improvements in website hits that have translated into sales enquiries and leads.
Using this simple yet strategic method we have helped traditional manufacturers to harness technology to grow their business. Our success includes sales leads for a business continuity company where the managing director didn’t believe it had any value, media coverage in trade press, a meeting between a senior civil servant and a care provider, and a ministerial visit to the same care provider.
Success is different things to different companies but ultimately it has to be about achieving business goals. PR is a luxury and in the recession many could not afford it. We know what we have to do and we focus on that.
Carmel Harrison is a PR Consultant at Carmel Harrison PR
