Simple Proof Public Relations Raises Visibility

Have you ever wondered if your brand or organization would benefit from hiring a public relations agency? More specifically, at the beginning of the year, after you’ve recognized your goals for the next four quarters, have you ever questioned whether or not public relations would really raise visibility for your brand, educate the public or serve as a vehicle to share your messaging with the media? If you’re like any budget conscious professional, then I’m sure you’re either nodding your head or maybe even caught yourself saying “mmmhmmm” out loud.

If you’ve never experienced the benefit of public relations (or didn’t quite see the value last time you gave it a try), give me a few minutes of your time here and let me share a few real examples of news stories that not only educated journalists last month about our client’s work, but also opened the door to a whole new audience of folks (thousands to be exact) that learned what Atlas of Giving was all about. And, in turn our efforts helped increase web traffic to their site.

Just like a teenage girl waiting for that special valentine to call, we were on the edge of our seats waiting to see how the media would respond to our outreach last month. Needless to say, our plans were successful. We had over 75 media hits from across the country and a great response to their recent webinar. If you’re a nonprofit professional, feel free to check out the news section of their website for information on upcoming webinars, https://atlasofgiving.com/news.

Here’s a snippet of the media hits we captured for Atlas of Giving last month…

MSNBC.com

http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/31/10281431-the-facebook-effect-will-charities-reap-some-of-the-ipo-dough

TIME

http://moneyland.time.com/2012/01/27/the-top-1-feels-an-obligation-to-give/

USA Today

http://yourlife.usatoday.com/mind-soul/doing-good/kindness/post/2012/01/charitable-giving-predicitions-for-2012/595779/1

The Consumerist

http://consumerist.com/2012/01/americans-were-more-charitable-last-year-than-in-2010.html

MSN Money Canada

http://www.everydaymoney.ca/2012/01/charity-donations-picked-up-in-2011-report.html

BusinessWeek

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-01-12/mercedes-owners-ph-d-holders-join-crowd-straining-food-banks.html

Austin Business Journal

http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/blog/morning_call/2012/01/texas-charitable-giving-grows-in-2011.html?ana=twt

Deseret News

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700217384/Church-donations-growing-at-less-than-half-the-rate-of-overall-charitable-giving.html

The Indianapolis Business Journal

http://www.ibj.com/report-giving-up-in-indiana-last-year-but-less-than-national-average/PARAMS/article/32161

Dallas Business Journal

http://www.bizjournals.com/dallas/news/2012/01/30/charitable-giving-jumps-in-texas.html

MSNBC.com

http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/24/10228112-report-americans-more-generous-in-giving-to-charity-in-2011

Bangor Daily News

http://bangordailynews.com/2012/01/15/news/nation/mercedes-owners-ph-d-holders-join-crowd-straining-food-banks/

Houston Business Journal

http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/morning_call/2012/01/texas-charitable-giving-spikes-in-2011.html

The Huffington Post

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/03/charity-outpaced-economic-growth_n_1252361.html

The Nonprofit Times

http://nptimes.blogspot.com/2012/02/how-will-facebooks-ipo-affect-charities.html

We think the media coverage speaks for itself. To us, the media hits alone answer the question, “does public relations raise visibility?” which in turn should answer your other question, “is it worth the investment?”. We think yes and not just when a client is seeking national exposure, but also for those looking to grow locally.