4 min read
Digital PR refers to the strategic use of social platforms and communication channels to increase online presence to benefit your brand. As one of the fastest growing services in the marketing space, digital PR leverages the power of the internet and social media to build and maintain brand visibility and awareness.
What Is the Difference Between Traditional PR &Digital PR?
Aside from the obvious differences in format and media channels used for PR and digital PR, there are contrasts in possible reach. Digital is superior in this way as it offers the opportunity to reach a much broader audience; users have direct access to contacts through the use of media channels and platforms.
Both have a common goal, however, of increasing their client’s visibility and reputation amongst their target audience. While both aim to increase brand awareness, digital PR also looks to improve brand value through use of digital tools. This method provides a chance to maintain visibility and ambition against consistently growing competitors.
This article will address how digital PR can benefit your brand, looking at some common examples and an overview of a general PR strategy that could be adapted to your specific digital PR needs.
How Can Digital PR Benefit Your Brand?
Firstly, digital PR can boost website traffic which increases visits to your site. This can ultimately lead to improved brand visibility and generate more leads.
When your digital PR content is published on high authority sites that link to your website, this often improves the SEO ranking for your targeted keywords. If SEO ranking increases, website traffic will further increase. Again, this could be a step towards generating more sales or enquiries into your business.
Additionally, publishing PR content on high authority sites drives your reputation as a credible source of information. This creates trust in your brand and helps to establish you as an authority in your particular niche.
Another benefit is improved brand image, as your audience sees and hears more about your business, this also builds trust in your brand.
Common Types of Digital PR
Social Media Marketing: This is amongst the most popular digital PR strategies used today and drives businesses to connect with their target audience through engaging content.
Content Marketing: Examples of this technique are blog posts, white papers and case studies, to name a few. This can engage possible customers through providing helpful information about the particular sector. Additionally, establishing the brand as industry thought leaders builds trust with the target audience.
Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising: This paid advertising model works to display ads on search engines and social platforms, that charges you when someone clicks on your ad and is redirected to your website. This is an effective tool as it allows direct targeting of your target audience.
Directory Listings: There are a multitude of online directories where you can list your business information which makes this one of the simplest digital PR methods. They offer an opportunity for potential customers to find your business and add credibility when they are kept up to date.
Newsjacking: This involves using news stories or current events to promote your own brand. This technique can also increase media coverage, as well as foster relationships with influencers – this will all contribute towards increasing traffic to your website as well.
Press Releases: These often highlight a newsworthy piece that can further push your business as an authority figure in your industry. Examples of press releases may be an award you have won or exciting company changes that will help boost brand awareness.
Reactive PR: This method is where a journalist will often post a specific query they are searching for, and then experts in that industry are able to give information or help in that matter, as an expert source. An example of this is HARO (help a reporter out), which is a popular platform.
These are just a few types of digital PR, but there are a number of techniques that can be tailored to your business goals. Integrating these into your marketing strategy will help to effectively increase brand visibility, reach your target audience and build brand identity.
How to Create a Digital PR Strategy?
The first step in building a strong digital PR strategy is to identify your campaign goals and how they fit in with your business objectives. Examples of some goals for your campaign could be boosting traffic to your website, increasing brand awareness, or even growing your social audience. From here, choose which digital PR technique you want to use for your goals.
The next part of the strategy involves creating a schedule, so you have set benchmarks to hit. As well as this, understanding who your target audience is and the tone of voice is important to strengthen your digital PR strategy.
It is also important to research your campaign ideas in case you repeat previous content ideas from competitors. The next step is creating the actual content, whatever technique you have homed in on.
Depending on your content type, outreach is the final part which involves researching journalists or publications that would be applicable for your brand and content.
Key Takeaways
Adopting digital PR is vital to businesses that want to accelerate their growth or brand awareness. With the growing use of digital platforms, it is important to keep up with trends in order to remain ambitious against competitors.
We have a wealth of experience in a variety of digital marketing methods and are equipped to deal with your marketing needs. Contact us today to speak to one of our friendly team members to see how we can help you.