Traditional PR and marketing has blended with digital PR to create increased visibility and awareness of brands in the online environment. Without it, companies would be unable to reach millions of existing and potential customers in a targeted and measurable way.
Digital Language
For a traditional company which has never done digital PR before, the terms can be confusing. While many will have heard of Search Engine Optimisation, they probably don’t really understand how it works and may need the help of a dedicated PR agency to ensure their digital PR works seamlessly. This means considering what social media presence the brand has, using influencer marketing and content marketing. If you are a company which needs a Cheltenham PR agency, specialists like headonpr.co.uk/ can tailor a digital PR package to boost your brand.
Bigger Reach
More marketers now believe that digital PR is more effective at building a brand’s reputation than offline or traditional media. While it used to be seen only as a short-term thing, most brands now use it as part of their long-term marketing strategy. In the past, PR specialists would have to schmooze journalists in order to get featured in print, but nowadays they can bypass them and get their message out online. The best PR strategies work by combining different types of media, including paid media such as online ads, boosted content and email marketing; earned media, such as press coverage and word of mouth; shared media, such as brand ambassadors and co-branding; and owned media, which includes your own website and content.
Digital PR is a cost-effective tool for increasing a brand’s online presence, using the vast reach of social media to improve recognition, drive growth and get featured in online publications.
Benefits of Digital PR
The main goal is to improve a brand’s awareness, and digital PR helps with this by increasing website traffic, improving the SEO ranking so that your content is seen before others and therefore improving trust in your brand. It’s also great for measuring engagement through tracking parameters, unlike traditional forms of PR.
Related: How to get better at social media PR
Branding, search and social media
Digital PR works best when the brand behind it is clear. Good branding is more than a logo. It is how a business tells customers what it is about, why it can be trusted, what makes it different and why people should choose it over competitors. Without that, extra visibility has little to hold on to.
Online presence is the next piece. Search engine optimisation helps a brand appear when people look for what it offers, so understanding what search can do is an important part of any online plan.
Social media is another powerful tool. It lets a business show who it is and what it does, and, unlike many traditional channels, it allows direct conversations with customers about the brand and what it offers. Used together, strong branding, search and social media help a business stand out in a competitive market and get far more from its digital PR.
Tools that support a digital campaign
Digital PR works best alongside a well equipped marketing effort. Search performance tools help you understand what it takes to rank well, showing key measures such as how keywords are performing and where search engines are hitting crawl errors. That shows whether coverage and links are turning into visibility.
Animated HTML5 banner ads catch the eye and encourage click-throughs, so they can drive traffic or sales when designed with bold graphics and movement. Email newsletters keep subscribers engaged, and splitting a list into different groups lets you tailor the content to each one and see how well the email strategy is working.
Finally, keep your data organised. A shared database for tracking customer feedback and leads shows how effective the marketing really is, and makes it easy to share findings so the whole team can get involved.