Robert Lingard: A PR Pioneer In An Advertising Age

Robert Lingard: A PR Pioneer in an Advertising Age

An interesting interview with Robert Lingard who is a founder of Brand Bullets and also managing director of at Power Brand Communications.


Tell us about yourself?

Coming from four years of experience in direct sales, I found the PR industry profoundly misleading in terms of principles and approach when it comes to brand building for startups and SMEs. Professionally trained with the mindset of a salesperson, to me creativity is in excess and unnecessary when it doesn’t help me fill in the pipeline and close a deal. That’s why I created Brand Bullets.

The UK’s Broadcast PR Blog in 2017 and published Brand To Sell. Ignite Your Influence and Build Your Brand with Broadcast PR. But most importantly, this is why I have created Power Brand. PR that Sells for Startups and SMEs, a broadcast PR company.

What makes your organization different than your competitors?

Power Brand. PR that Sells for Startups and SMEs is neither an intermediation agency nor a press office. Power Brand. PR that Sells for Startups and SMEs is a brand-building broadcast PR agency that sustains the brand building efforts of startups and SMEs through recurrent campaigns on broadcast media. The methodology we rely upon is based on the outcome of sales.

We consider getting a business known without any methodical sales traction a complete waste of time and resources that a startup or an SME could more efficiently allocate elsewhere. We do not measure a PR success according to the number of viewers, readers, or listeners as the most traditional broadcast PR agencies do. Power Brand. PR that Sells for Startups and SMEs celebrates a PR success only if it has been a sales success.

How much potential market share can you achieve in the next 3 years?

Considering that I do not have the gift of clairvoyance, and aware of the unpredictable variables that shape the world, it’s a bit complicated to make a prediction. The PR industry in its own niches is a competitive marketplace, and sometimes it turns out to be more reasonable to stay away from it. However, I am more than confident that following up with a consistent and structured development strategy, a bright future is waiting ahead of us.

What was the most important part of your whole business journey?

The most important part of my business journey was and has always been studying on a daily basis. In a world that constantly changes, being updated allows us to foresee opportunities before anyone else. In my strict daily routine, I dedicate two to three hours to reading and studying. At Power Brand. PR that Sells for Startups and SMEs, we do not want to repeat for the next 20 years the same experience of our first 12 months. We want to keep on being better and better in our delivery. With the advent of social media and an accelerating evolution in technology, broadcast PR today has become more complex than ever, and it requires the study of new effective ways of content distribution and re-distribution in the long-term marketing engine of a startup or SME.

What are the best and worst purchases you’ve ever made?

A couple of books on growth hacking. Given the premise that I am not against growth hacking, as it has its own logic of leverage and measurement, growth hacking has a risky dark side pretty similar to spin doctoring in PR being completely out of control. Most of the time it ends pretty badly.

What takes up too much of your time?

At the very beginning, I was absorbed in administrative duties that now I have been able to progressively delegate. The worst thing an entrepreneur can do is to be totally absorbed in the administration of his business. Now my focus is completely directed toward the implementation of the marketing long-term strategy.

What three pieces of advice would you give to college students/new startup business owners who want to become entrepreneurs?

The best advice would be to set high expectations but at the same time be grounded. If anything can go wrong, it will. Be always prepared for the worst case scenario.

In entrepreneurship, the unpredictable is always right around the corner. However, as I often say, the unpredictable must be embraced. It’s inevitable that many wish to escape to shape your solution-minded approach and present achievable alternatives to reach your goals. Even better, find a mentor. A real one. And never be satisfied.

Who has impressed you most with what they’ve accomplished?

Robert Lingard

What drives you to keep going when it’s really tough?

The worst enemy of an entrepreneur is the ego. That’s why having clarity that what you are doing is not merely for yourself but mainly for others is what keeps you going even in the toughest periods. As common as it might seem, I do believe that staying connected to your ‘why’ is what can fuel you in the deepest shadows. Why you do it is as important as how you do it.

How people should connect with you?

The best way to connect with me is by dropping me a text on LinkedIn or writing to me by using the email you find on my website.

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