How to Jumpstart Your PR Firm’s Lead Generation

The world of PR is hyper-competitive—that’s nothing new to anyone with experience in the field. In today’s digital-first landscape, effective lead generation is essential for building a healthy pipeline of high-fit prospects. But PR firm lead generation requires unique approaches and especially high levels of creativity.

PR firms face the dual requirement of showcasing their ability to generate media coverage while also demonstrating a deep understanding of their clients’ industries and nuances. It makes lead generation complex and often challenging.

In this article, we’ll explore best practices and strategies for jumpstarting your PR firm lead generation strategy, and use a real-world RevBoss customer success story to showcase how these approaches actually work.

Quick Takeaways:

• Effective PR firm lead generation requires unique approaches, focusing on storytelling, reputation, and strong media relationships.
• Tailoring lead generation strategies to showcase a firm’s industry expertise and media connections significantly enhances lead quality.
• Learning from feedback and refining targeting and messaging are crucial steps to improving lead generation outcomes.
• Successful PR firm lead generation requires communicating a unique value proposition and directly addressing the needs of ideal clients.

The Unique Aspects of PR Firm Lead Generation

At its core, PR firm lead generation is about storytelling, reputation building, and fostering relationships—not just with clients, but also with media outlets and influencers. This unique landscape necessitates a lead generation approach that goes beyond conventional tactics. It includes:

1. Reputation as Currency

In PR, a firm’s reputation can be its most valuable asset. Potential clients often seek out firms based on their track record of securing meaningful media coverage and managing communications crises. Thus, lead generation strategies must showcase a firm’s successes and industry authority.

2. The Power of Relationships

Unlike other sectors where cold outreach alone may suffice, PR firm lead generation thrives on established relationships. Connections with journalists, bloggers, and influencers can significantly impact a firm’s ability to generate leads. Networking and maintaining these relationships are crucial.

3. Media Connections

The ability to navigate the media landscape and secure coverage in relevant outlets is a key differentiator for PR firms. Lead generation efforts should highlight the firm’s media connections and how they can be leveraged to benefit potential clients.

With these requirements in mind, PR firms must adopt a tailored approach to lead generation. This involves:

• Utilizing industry-specific insights to craft compelling narratives that resonate with target audiences
• Leveraging case studies, customer success stories, and firsthand testimonials to demonstrate success in relevant sectors
• Building and showcasing a network of media connections that can offer clients unparalleled access to publicity opportunities

By embracing these strategies, PR firms can navigate their lead-gen complexities and set themselves apart in competitive markets.

Real-world Case Study: Hogwarts Media

We’ve helped Hogwarts Media—a leading PR agency that isn’t actually called Hogwarts Media—generate 377 leads and 9 new clients (representing 7 figures of revenue) over the past 4+ years. Pretty good, right?

Here’s a summary of our strategy:

• Target Company: Start-ups, SaaS, B2B tech companies
• Target Prospect:  Marketing, Comms, PR titles
• Messaging Strategy: Highlighting experience (14+ years working with B2B SaaS brands), and emphasizing that the firm is specifically designed to help early-stage SaaS companies earn press attention to generate revenue pr raise funds.

Flow #1 — Decades of Experience

Subject: Lead the conversation…

At Hogwarts Media, we have more than a decade of experience helping B2B brands transition from conversation participants to conversation leaders in their industry. Our relentless hustle helps B2B technology, SaaS and marketing/sales enablement companies yield a consistent, focused share of voice — and I think we could be of help to [prospect’s company].

Do you have 15 minutes in the next few days to get acquainted?

What We Learned

The numbers tell a sad story: Opens: 597 (12% open rate), Replies: 72 (5% reply rate), Leads: 9 (0.6% lead rate). And though we built this flow a few years back, the lessons remain painful and obvious:

• SaaS founders get a ton of prospecting emails every day—you gotta do better than “more than a decade of experience.” I mean, my washing machine has a decade of experience.
• I can’t believe we OK’d the phrase “relentless hustle.” Never again.
• Geez—how many industries were we targeting here? B2B tech, SaaS, and marketing/sales enablement, all in a single email.
• What is the share of voice? I’m not sure—guessing it’s a PR vanity metric that might matter to PR people, but it certainly didn’t resonate with SaaS founders.
• Transition from participants to leaders was nice…

…otherwise this was like reading a love letter to your middle school crush: cringey, embarrassing, and not at all a reflection of your ability as an email prospecting service provider.

What We Did

We tried again, obviously.

Our goal was to highlight more specific differentiators and tone down the “relentless hustle”-iness of the messaging. Conversational, friendly, and authoritative wins every time. As does focusing on the things that matter most to the recipient—in this case, using PR as a strategy to help with raising money, generating revenue, and/or recruiting great employees.

We also got smarter about targeting, using tighter industry segments and small job title bites. Most importantly, we learned more as we sent more. Hogwarts Media routed feedback to us so that we could change our targeting and change our copy.  

Flow #2 — Dedicated to B2B SaaS

Subject: PR at [prospect’s company]

As the only PR agency in the country dedicated to B2B SaaS, Hogwarts Media understands the unique challenges associated with scaling a SaaS business and uses PR to impact four primary pillars: investors, employees, partners and customers.

With an understanding of the SaaS customer journey, we secure media coverage that will impact our clients when they need it most — and I think we could be of help to [prospect’s company].

Do you have 15 minutes in the next few days to get acquainted?

The numbers:

By aiming small, staying friendly, and focusing on delivering real, targeted value to the recipient, we took this PR firm lead generation campaign to the next level—Flow #2 earned more than double the leads of Flow #1 just by focusing on the customer.

Putting It All Together

The journey of enhancing lead generation for PR firms is both an art and a science, requiring a blend of creativity, strategic thinking, and a deep understanding of the unique PR landscape. The case of Hogwarts Media illustrates the power of targeted, thoughtful strategies over broad, generic approaches.

By getting industry-specific, refining our messaging, and leveraging the firm’s unique strengths, we achieved major improvements in lead-gen outcomes for the client.

The success story of Hogwarts Media serves as a compelling example of how targeted PR firm lead generation resonates better with high-fit prospects and drives meaningful business growth.

For PR firms looking to jumpstart their lead-gen efforts, the key lies in understanding their unique value proposition, identifying their ideal clients, and crafting messages that speak directly to their needs and challenges. Remember, the goal is to not only generate leads, but to build lasting relationships that convert into loyal clients.

If you’re looking for an expert PR firm lead generation partner, RevBoss can help. Our outbound lead-gen services are custom-built for agencies and other high-growth B2B companies.

Schedule a quick call with us to learn more and get started.