Digital PR is a strategy used by many businesses to increase their online presence and reputation. Digital PR can range from anything between improving SEO performance to organising press releases and influencer marketing. Having said that, one businesses digital PR strategy can look quite different from another as it is largely determined by the type of business, their goals, and their target market.
In today’s climate, brands who’re not using digital PR in their marketing strategy often find themselves lost amongst their competitors and disconnected from their target market. Digital PR is a great tool for getting your products and services in front of the right people and is an essential component to creating a successful business!
Read on to find out how!
Digital PR compared to traditional PR and Digital Marketing
Digital PR is often confused with digital marketing and traditional PR… and for good reason! All three terms have overlapping methods and processes that aim to either increase brand awareness or produce leads and sales. A good way to think of digital PR, traditional PR, and digital marketing is as sub-categories that come under the umbrella term, marketing.
Traditional PR uses traditional channels of communication such as newspapers, magazines, television, radio, and events to build a positive brand image and increase awareness. Publicists tirelessly network with journalists to create good connections in the hopes that their client will be able to work with the journalist in the future. Traditional PR is often seen as the ‘old age’ of PR but it is still very relevant, especially when used in conjunction with digital PR. Although Digital PR doesn’t use tradition channels of communication, both digital and traditional PR sought to increase brand awareness through positive messaging.
Digital marketing on the other hand is to do with using online channels of communication such as social media, email, and web-based marketing to increase revenue, leads, or sales. Digital PR is similar to digital marketing because they both use digital channels of communication to market to consumers. However, their marketing goals are dissimilar as digital PR aims to improve brand reputation whereas digital marketing strives to increase revenue.
So how exactly can Digital PR help your business?
Improving your SEO
Digital PR can help to improve your websites SEO by increasing your backlinks and references from higher authority domains. Search engines such as Google rank websites that have lots of backlinks from other prestigious websites highly as it tells Google that your website offers valuable information. High ranking websites are more likely to be displayed higher up on search engine results which gets your business in front of more people. If done well, your business will be the top-ranking website when your target market searches terms relating to your niche.
Choosing the right communication channels
Choosing the correct communication channel for your business is all about having a deep understanding of who your target market is, their habits, likes and dislikes. Different demographics are likely to use different social media channels. For example, Twitter and LinkedIn have an older demographic whereas Instagram and TikTok have a younger demographic.
But it’s not just about your target markets demographic, it’s also about the type of business you have. E-commerce businesses tend to do well on Pinterest and Instagram because they are image-based platforms whereas service industry or B2B business structures may be more successful on Twitter or LinkedIn. Digital PR can help to refine your target market so you can get your product or service in front of the right people and therefore increase your brand awareness.
Building brand reputation
One of the main ways that Digital PR can help a business is through building your brands reputation. One of the ways it does this is through getting your content featured on reputable online publications. Not only will this benefit your SEO, but it also strengthens brand loyalty. Both search engines and humans view mentions of a business from a reputable brand as trustworthy so having your brand name on as many authority websites as possible will increase both your brand awareness and brand loyalty.
Another way Digital PR can improve your brand reputation is through building relationships with online bloggers and journalists. Much like the above, having good connections with bloggers and journalists can do wonders for increasing awareness of your business. Bloggers and journalists have large audiences of which your business can tap into. Even better, Digital PR can help you build relationships with journalists and bloggers that are in your niche giving you access to an audience who are likely to already be interested in your product or service.
Lastly, Digital PR can help you to organise reviews and testimonials. Reviews and testimonials are important for building trust between you and potential customers. The website Daily Blogging reports that ‘88% of customers trust online testimonials as much as recommendations from family or friends’ so it’s clear to see the potential influence testimonials and reviews can have on spending habits.
Generating leads
So, your target market are starting to see your brand being mentioned more often. They begin to take more notice of you and start to trust your brand more. They might decide to follow your social media channels, visit your website, or even subscribe to your newsletter… and just like that you have a lead! Now all you have to do as a brand is nurture that lead and turn them into a paying customer.
Conclusion
With the world becoming increasingly digitalised, incorporating Digital PR into your marketing strategy is a must. There is no denying the benefits digital PR can have on your business. So, whether you choose to go with a digital PR agency or choose to do it yourself, the important thing is that you start investing into your digital PR strategy as soon as possible!
If you do choose to go it alone, be sure to have a clear idea of your target market and business goals and always keep on top of the ever-changing trends and algorithms that may disrupt your efforts, good luck!
