Public Relations may seem as outdated as eighties shoulder pads – which, ironically, are also having something of a comeback. But, thanks to the elusive Google algorithm, PR is now big news and commands big budgets.
The reason for the renaissance is to drive brands’ SEO. It’s all about online PR, now viewed by many marketers as an essential part of their digital toolkit.
Why? Because when it’s done right, it can supercharge SEO – by creating backlinks that will help a business rise in search engine rankings.
But it’s no easy solution. It’s a balance of creating content that sells the brand and what the media is interested in covering.
It’s a delicate balance, and as media outlets become increasingly squeezed, it’s a task that’s hard to achieve.
Navigating Digital PR
How can a business navigate the minefield of journalists’ and internal business needs in the tricky art of Digital PR? And why is the world seeing its resurgence?
Digital PR differs from earlier concepts of public relations because the POV (point of view) is all about SEO and helping sites to rise in the rankings.
Whereas, in the past, the job of public relations was to create brand awareness and to shape consumer thinking about a company, business, or product.
Digital PR aligns the discipline with your broader online strategy, including SEO, lead generation, and inbound marketing. When thinking about some of the UK’s biggest media powerhouses, it’s easy to get an idea of how much traffic and many visitors these publications get – this can form an idea of the benefits of digital PR.
Manchester-based Dark Horse is the next generation of SEO agencies that is redefining digital PR. By gaining coverage and links from high-domain referring websites, a business earns opportunities to get its brand seen by many new people and potential customers using search engines for very specific search queries.
Best Digital PR Practice
Whatever the POV or end objective, many of the public relations techniques used are the same – whether a business is looking for a traditional PR campaign or an SEO-driven public relations strategy.
But, whereas in the past, a PR campaign’s success would be measured by the weight of its cuttings book, it is now all about the SEO value of links and whether it has pushed the business up the rankings.
Five Ways Forward With Digital PR
A marketer looking to reframe their PR efforts to make it work in the SEO landscape could make use of these top tips:
The first pointer is not to make content that’s too commercial. The idea, after all, is to get a link back – and the media will shy away from a heavy sell.
The second is to choose the targets with care. For SEO purposes, putting all the eggs into one basket (or, in this case, one high domain authority referring website) might be better. This approach means creating unique and even ‘native’ content for each online media platform. It is about picking out those publications which will give the business the most bang for its buck – or in this case, the biggest push up the ranking list. Quality over quantity!
Thirdly, create assets that the media targets can use. It doesn’t always have to be word-led – it could be interactive maps, calculators (everyone has seen those scary ones about how much needs to be saved to get a decent pension), league tables, videos, and of course, the classic ‘survey.’
Perhaps most importantly, building relationships with the media outlets a business wishes to appear to get that follow-back link is crucial. Ask the simple question, “What would make the journalist cover this story?” There will be formal partnerships to pursue, like sponsoring a title’s event or an award category. Many publications have a feature list that can be used to send content to or run regular columns that the business can be featured in (think case studies). There are also more creative approaches, such as a joint white paper.
The fifth and final piece of advice is: if it’s the volume of links, rather than a targeted strategy, that ticks more boxes for the business, then it’s all about the pitch. This could be anything from a simple press release to a ‘one-to-one’ via sell-ins with media (basically, flogging the story). But again: it must be relevant, newsy, and not sales led.
It’s worth looking at the business’s overall PR activity and seeing how it can adapt its approach to suit Digital PR if the overarching goal is to bag a better spot with SEO.
This article was produced and syndicated by Wealth of Geeks.
Sam Allcock is the founder of PR Fire. His team help small to medium-sized businesses achieve coverage in publications like Yahoo Finance, Daily Mail, Metro, USA Today, MSN News, The Huffington Post, and The Telegraph through smart press release distribution.
https://wealthofgeeks.com/seo-digital-public-relations/
