Even in the online era, the ‘press clipping’ – however sourced, physically cut-and-paste or purely electronic – remains the PR world’s principal currency.
Ask a PR consultant or manager to justify budgets or demonstrate benefits, chances are they will soon get to clippings. No surprises there. People like the ‘thud’ factor. And clippings are quantifiable and easily understood.
As a measure, though, they’re problematic. They confirm a process when what you really want to know is what happened next? Or, using my personal definition of effective PR, to know what somebody somewhere did or thought differently as a result of the coverage? Nonetheless, a pile of clippings remains a helpful signpost. So, avoiding today’s increasingly scientific PR measurement debate, what practically does – or should – a press clipping mean to the average SME?
The credibility factor
First research generally confirms that pound-for-pound, inch-for-inch, editiorial space is worth more than its advertising equivalent. Granted the quantum is notoriously difficult to pin down. Essentially for most people editorial endorsement is both independent and more credible. So simply a better value investment whether you are the new dry-cleaner, recently-refurbished pub-restaurant or newly-merged legal practice.
Unlocking deeper value
But whatever that starting value, research suggests that it’s only 5-10% of each clip’s potential value. Here’s why. At one level, clips are ephemeral. Literally they are here today and gone tomorrow – except in the case of the often under-rated local weekly newspapers which have much extended ‘shelf-lives’. Usually only minorities read the papers. Only fractions of minorities read each article. And fewer still pay full attention. This explains why even the most positive editorial often only prompts brief interest.
To unlock the hidden value of the clipping, the next steps are down to you (or your marketing team). And wise buyers of PR cherish every clip. Always taking care on copyright, they know that by ‘re-marketing’ clips in mailshots, newsletters, window-displays and online, that same independent credibility will continue to weave its magic on new prospects.
These days too they can constantly re-fresh that value by cross-referencing articles as talking points on websites and in company blogs.
Extended timeline and narrative
More surprisingly to many, you can also extract value over extended time-periods. Business-to-business companies, for example, aggregate major contract wins and case studies and add them to their proposals as a principal source of re-assurance for prospects.
Similarly restaurants and hotels often proudly display their ‘golden greats’. Here though, the clip has morphed again. It is no longer winning business. It is helping retain it. Unconsciously or not these establishments are following the well-researched path of many luxury-goods makers (notably in the car sector). The latter know that their most avid readers of advertising are their existing customers seeking confirmation of their original purchasing wisdom.
Ultimately, carefully excerpted sections of press clippings can serve to create a whole ‘narrative’ for a business – why it is, how it is, where it’s going. So, next time you’re tempted to throw last week’s clipping away, think £-signs.
Dr. Bill Nichols is a senior lecturer in marketing and deputy director of the new Centre for Health Communications and Research at Bucks New University. His entrepreneurial background includes PR consultancy (where he co-founded and chaired Whiteoaks), digital media and commercial property. He can be contacted here: bill.nichols@astrophel.co.uk