How do you get all departments to value your digital PR and marketing efforts?

When you’re a marketing professional promoting your B2B business, it can feel like you’re jumping over never-ending hurdles to get all material together quickly, efficiently, and to the best standard. 

When you can do your job of promoting the company better, it benefits everyone. Unfortunately, not all departments always understand that. Marketing and PR are often considered an after-thought… and the truth is it’s hard to be successful without getting the whole team on board. So, how do you get all departments to value your work?

Why your team needs better PR and marketing education

We need to work on great communication throughout the whole team, so even if you’re all working in different time zones in separate departments, you’re unified. 

Can you relate to this? 

Your boss announces a contract win, asking you to get a press release ready by Monday, then walks away… So, you scramble around to get the information you need. You ask your team members for interviews to provide supporting quotes, but you’re batted off as they’re too busy.

You use previous press release examples to get something drafted. Then right before the deadline, you manage to get 10 minutes on a call with the begrudged industry expert. Now, you have to put it all together quickly and do your best with what you’ve got… which isn’t much.

Common objections to supporting PR or overall digital marketing efforts 

First, let’s understand why people may not want to get involved in PR or digital marketing. Common hesitations include: 

• They don’t think it’s important or understand the value 
• They are too busy and overwhelmed with their own tasks to help 
• They have a lack of knowledge about PR/digital marketing and don’t consider themselves useful 
• They think it just doing a couple of posts on social media and there’s not much more to it

Now, how do we tackle these issues?

Steps to improve internal marketing education and communication 

Imagine the next time you request an interview or response from your team member as a subject-matter expert, they are instantly happy to help… 

Here are some steps to improve communication and get your whole team on board, so you can get amazing results – which also makes your job easier!

Explain how vital team involvement is to reaching company goals

Start by letting everyone know the end goal. What are you trying to achieve with the digital PR campaign? When everyone understands the bigger picture, they’re more likely to be invested in the journey and contribute meaningfully.

Then communicate the significance of each team member’s contribution. Let them know that their insights, quotes, and perspectives make the content richer and more relevant, so everyone wins.

Communicate what PR and marketing really involves

Do your team members understand what’s involved in making your digital PR campaign effective? Often, when other internal team members hear about PR and marketing, they don’t really know what goes on behind the scenes… They think it’s ‘playing on social media’ and ‘just writing some stuff’ (which we know is far from the truth).

Highlight everything you need to do so your digital PR campaign works – show them your pre-campaign checklist and our guide to writing great press releases to give them better insight into the fact it’s not as easy as it may seem.

Plan ahead and delegate responsibilities 

Instead of scrambling at the last minute, establish a process where everyone knows that their input will be needed to support PR and marketing efforts – and tell them about the process in advance. Guide them on what’s expected and how it works. Assign specific roles to team members across different departments. 

If you have team members who prefer emails, others who prefer calls, and some who are available face-to-face, find this out and make a note. This means next time you need to get in touch, you’re using the best communication method to get swift responses. 

Doing all this makes team members less resistant when you ask them to allocate time for PR activities. 

Share your PR successes and regular updates 

Share the success stories of previous PR campaigns with the team. When they see tangible results from their contributions, they’re more likely to get involved in future campaigns. Recognise and appreciate when team members do get on board. A simple thank you or highlighting their efforts can go a long way.

You could also hold regular feedback sessions where you discuss what went well and where improvements can be made to identify bottlenecks and come up with solutions. 

Teamwork makes the PR (dream) work!

Remember, the key to a successful digital PR campaign lies in teamwork. When all departments are on the same page, you have a much better chance to produce the best press releases possible, getting more eyes on your brand. 

Do you need help managing your digital PR campaigns? Get in touch with BrandHouzz to chat about the best way forward.