Between the seminars on search engine optimization and the knowledge that advertising is a necessary part of doing business, most home service business owners know about marketing. Many owners are surprisingly good at ensuring their marketing budget includes items that get their names in front of the public. However, how many place a focus on what people think of that name or if their company is known as the thought leader in its field?

Unfortunately, too many home service company owners don’t understand the power of public relations or even how it differentiates from marketing. As a result, they don’t understand the very proactive PR strategies that would help them position themselves as the choice for HVAC, plumbing or electrical services in their area.

This is why they need a PR professional to help them develop these strategies to scale their business growth and push it to the next level.

Marketing or PR?

While public relations is generally a line item in an overall marketing budget, the two disciplines are not quite the same.

Marketing is the overall message you’ve developed and want your target audience to hear. PR uses that messaging and builds a positive image, increased visibility and an earned media strategy to help you rise above even your largest competitor.

Research has repeatedly shown that most people trust what third parties say about a company far more than any advertisement it puts out on its own dime. And, it stands to reason: advertising is paid for by the company, while earned media is content created by a third party not vested in your company’s success.

An active and professional PR strategy can not only enrich your name and brand with the public, it can also mitigate any negative messaging your company may receive as a course of doing business. PR has a long-term payoff.

Good PR

A professional PR strategy isn’t something most people can develop off the top of their heads. And, even if they have developed their own message and know how to talk intelligently about their brand, it takes talent, time and training to develop and implement the right PR strategy.

If you wouldn’t trust your car to be fixed by a shadetree mechanic, you shouldn’t want to entrust your business’s brand message to an amateur, either.

This means you need to consider the following before you decide whether you should attempt to do your PR yourself:

• Your time. As a business owner, your time is critical to your company’s success. Between budget meetings, training sessions and simply running your business, the time you spend on learning what stories interest reporters or how to write a proper press release might be limited.

• Your ability to manage content. In addition to the time you’d need to contact reporters and write press releases, you must also ensure that your website blog and social media channels stay updated and contain fresh content. This can be an almost daily event if done correctly.

• Your current employee base. If you’re like most home service companies, most of your staff are trained in HVAC repair, plumbing or electrical troubleshooting, or have knowledge in customer service. It’s simply not their job to be conversant properly promoting your brand or improving your visibility. 

That is a job better left to PR professionals who have been trained in how to manage a brand, pitch reporters on story ideas or write content daily.

• A public relations crisis. If you plan to be in business for any length of time, you are bound to face a crisis at least once in your career. One of the best ways to overcome a crisis is to have the forethought to build a positive reputation before the crisis. PR professionals work to build that positive reputation on a consistent basis.

It takes a well-thought-out PR strategy to take your business to the growth level you want, and it shouldn’t be left up to people who treat PR as an afterthought.

A Pitch for the Pros

While you probably have an in-house marketing team, you should consider supplementing their position with a PR agency. Your marketing team may understand your SEO, pay-per-clicks and Google rankings, but unless they’ve been trained, they may not know how to properly write a press release so it doesn’t sound like an advertisement.

You could also add a PR professional to your marketing team, but this may cost you more in the long run. PR agencies are often more cost-effective than hiring an in-house PR expert to write your content and another professional who can pitch that content. PR agencies already have experts on staff with years of experience in writing for the media and pitching the story ideas reporters are interested in covering.

With a PR agency, you get a team.

Finding the right PR team isn’t always easy. You want a partner who can seamlessly work with your in-house marketing personnel. The right partner should have a knowledge of your industry, clients who get their names in the news, the ability to tailor a PR program that fits your needs and provide contracts to fit your budget and style.

However, whether you hire in-house or contract with an agency, the important lesson is that you need a professional who understands public relations to create your PR strategy.

A good PR strategy can mean the difference between struggling to increase your revenue and attracting the right technicians to work for your company, enabling you to take your hands off the wheel and work on the business rather than in the business.

Don’t leave your PR to chance. Find a professional who understands your business and can help you develop a strategy to boost your brand and increase your visibility.