Do you really need to think about PR, or public relations? Isn’t that just part of marketing?
Well, it’s not quite the same. While PR and marketing do overlap and support each other, there’s a difference in focus. While marketing focuses on generating leads and converting them to sales, PR focuses on building your brand’s positive reputation. Building interest and trust in your brand through PR makes all your marketing efforts more effective!
Of course we’re now in the digital age, so traditional PR isn’t enough—you need digital PR. Let’s talk about what digital PR is, what it involves, and some tips you can implement in your own digital PR strategy.
What Is Digital PR?
Digital PR uses online channels to increase your brand visibility, authority, and reputation. The goal is to connect with your ideal buyer persona by helping them understand what’s so special about your brand. To accomplish this, a digital PR approach combines tried-and-true traditional PR techniques with digital channels like online news sites, social media, videos, podcasts, and more.
What Does Digital PR Involve?
Digital PR can include writing and sending out press releases, managing customer reviews, connecting with reporters and writers for interview opportunities, doing outreach to content creators and influencers, and building connections within your industry. All of these tactics help increase brand awareness and trust—which leads to more online traffic, more leads, and ultimately more sales.
Tips for Effective Digital PR
You don’t have to go straight to a full-blown digital PR strategy; you might want to start with just one or two ideas below.
Tip 1: Connect with journalists.
If you’re an expert in your field, make yourself available for interviews. Being quoted in a relevant article can boost your authority and bring high-value links.
Tip 2: Show that you care.
Find a nonprofit that aligns with your company’s values and sponsor an event. You’ll do some good and likely be included in the event marketing—a win-win situation!
Tip 3: Build your network.
Follow others in your industry on social media. Look for ways to connect more deeply and increase your reach, like coauthoring an article or cohosting an event.
Tip 4: Manage your online reputation.
Monitor and respond quickly to comments, tags, and even untagged mentions. It’s especially important to respond to any bad reviews in a professional and helpful way.
Tip 5: Repurpose content for wider reach.
It takes effort to create good content, so make the most of it! One article could turn into a few social media posts, a video, and a podcast. Pay attention to content marketing trends.
Tip 6: Don’t be afraid to talk about yourself.
Have a promotion strategy for any awards your business might get. This can include your own promotion on your website, social media, and email, as well as promotion through media contacts.
As you may have noticed, these techniques are mainly about making connections and tweaking your existing activities to make the maximum impact. This is far from an exhaustive list, but it’s a good place to start!
Get Started Today
Ready to start building your brand’s positive reputation? When you implement the strategies above, make sure you start tracking your metrics—things like clicks, backlinks, and shares. See what works and what doesn’t, and then adjust accordingly!
If you’d like help putting these ideas into action or building a whole digital PR strategy, 2XM is here to help! Contact us for a FREE 60 minute consultation today.