There was a time when it was standard in the world of PR waiting weeks or even months to find out if a client's news has been published. Even dailies wouldn't “stop the press” if a story wasn't shocking. Today, between print, digital and social media, literally any news or information is at your fingertips at any time. That's wonderful! But if you own and manage a business like my PR firm that relies heavily on the news cycle, it can also be a massive challenge.

Why? BECAUSE instant gratification has become the norm. I'm guilty of this too – seek and you shall find … immediately. The problem is, clients often think this translates to their PR team snapping their fingers and magically, their brand starts trending. If only it were so. The reality is that although news moves faster than ever and there are more platforms than ever, there is also a lot more competition to get those headlines. Besides, there's always something else looking to distract you once you get it.

So it's not just about getting results now; it's also about staying top of mind later. In PR, this can be achieved through short and long periods. Here's how I help my clients understand the value of both. And how the premise can be applied to any service industry.

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The importance of time in PR

As the saying goes, timing is everything, and this is especially true in PR. What is false is the belief that PR won't work for you if you can't get your name in the news now. Or if you're investing to hit those initial PR results, you should stop here.

This is where lead time comes into play. Clients always want to be featured in major national print publications. But so does everyone else. That's partly why those issues have such a long lead time, up to six months of an issue hitting newsstands. Regional print media is somewhat shorter (up to three months), but the news you deliver should be planned accordingly.

On the other hand, media channels that operate with a short broadcast time (up to a month) include online media, TV, radio, and weekly and daily newspapers. Sometimes, there are also last-minute opportunities, but this is not the norm (and thus a topic for another discussion).

While the nature of lead times may seem frustrating, they actually allow brands to create “stickiness” or memorability with their audience. Remember the old one the seventh rule of marketing class? It takes up to seven impressions for people to remember your brand. In my experience, this is true, and the right combination of short and long times can do it. Now, getting your customers on board with this principle may be a different story.

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I take a three-step approach to helping clients understand the value of short and long leads in the world of PR:

1. Educate them

Companies employ a PR firm because they need expertise in this area, so it's understandable that they don't know the inner workings of the process. Again, as consumers, we've all been conditioned to expect instant results, so there's an expectation that PR clients should be able to get news as soon as they get access.

Educating them early is vital. The first step is to ask lots of questions about the client's product or service, audience, goals, and challenges. Only when you know exactly what they are looking for can you determine the most appropriate vendors to pursue their desired results. So the next step is to match the customer profile with a particular media strategy and explain why this strategy was chosen. For example, I've had clients who think they want to focus only on national media. However, when we explain the time involved (and, in one case, why their audience was more likely to follow regional television and online media), it's easier to get the entry for a combination of the two.

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2. Tell them

Nothing speaks to a client more than seeing their competition succeed (or fail) at PR. We've been able to show other clients in their industry who clearly had a quick PR push and then fell off the radar, as well as those who consistently keep their name at the top not only through news, but even through social media posts and thought leadership (which are also great PR strategies).

Competitive analysis This shows where brands like theirs got it right and where they went wrong in their PR, helping customers put delivery times into perspective in a way that a verbal explanation can't. Furthermore, it encourages them to do even better than their competitors by having the patience and putting in the time required to combine the short and long term in a media strategy.

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3. Pursue ROI diligently

Of course, I only have clients for projects, but my goal as a business owner is to create long-term partnerships that help maintain and grow their brands and, in the process, my firm. No matter how well clients are educated and shown the results of others, the only way to prove short and long term value to them is through Successful ROI.

To begin, decide which metrics to measure and establish a baseline of where a client's brand stands initially. Then, set short-term and long-term goals, identify the media outlets to achieve those goals, and pitch, pitch, pitch to exceed the client's expectations. Yes, there is more to the process, but starting with these basic steps lays a solid foundation for producing the desired results.

Implementation of the approach outside of PR

Although we've talked explicitly about PR so far, the “now” expectations that businesses have can hold for many different industries – all service providers are in the same boat in this regard. I believe the approach described above applies universally to many service sectors because short and long delivery times also refer to any media, supply chain issues, production turnarounds and staffing.

In all these cases, by educating your customers, showing them the results of their competitors, and tracking ROI successes in a reasonable and realistic way, you can prove that some things are worth waiting for.