Iliyana Stareva on Why Inbound PR is the Future of PR

November 13, 2016 by Shrishti Jhamnani

If you think the first and the second days of INBOUND16 were mind-blowing, then the third day was mind-(wait for it)-boggling. Not only was there a keynote from Anna Kendrick to look forward to, there was also a session by Iliyana Stareva, the Channel Consultant at Hubspot, on ‘Why Inbound PR is the Future of PR’.

Are you ready to step up your game? Here are the highlights:

This was a session that a lot of people were waiting for eagerly 😉

What is PR?

Public relations involves creating a relationship of trust with your audience using comprehensive communication skills. Unlike advertising, where you are saying your product/service is good, PR is about getting someone else to say it about you.

Inbound+PR: Loveology Formula <3

Wondering what inbound PR is? PR people excel in content but suck at measurement—says Stareva. To fix this, let’s get PR (content) and inbound (measurement skills) married. In short, with inbound PR, we get strong content, as well as strong measurement skills.

Combo deal!


See, told you so. Not our words 😛

Why Inbound PR? (Measurement + Content)

To answer this, Stareva gave these reasons:

  1. Brands have too many stakeholders. The digital world is evolving much faster than any brand can handle. So, the need for inbound PR is greater than we can imagine.

  2. We are all influencers in one or the other. So, we need to buck up and get good at content as well as measurement.

  3. Outbound PR cannot reach all and is interruptive, whereas, inbound PR attracts people using content.


The stakes are high, and our standards should be too.

How to Do It

To start with inbound PR, you need to nail your personas, define their journey, create content keeping them in mind, promote it on the channels they visit, build inbound media relations, nurture your media leads, and finally, measure the result.

You know the inbound process. Here’s the inbound PR process.


7 Steps to Start the Inbound PR Fire


Be prepared with your personas.


Ending her session, Iliyana advised planning with outcomes in mind instead of output. Her session was so enlightening that people couldn’t help making extensive notes.


Do I even have to say that her Loveology formula for Inbound + PR earned her a lot of love from inbound lovers all over the world?


Stareva left an everlasting impression on the audience and made them re-think their PR strategy. In fact, this quote might summarize the whole session pretty well.


Check out Stareva’s slide deck below.


Future of PR at #INBOUND16 from Iliyana Stareva

What do you think about inbound PR? Share your thoughts in our comments section. You can also catch up with other INBOUND16 sessions right here.