Digital PR - A New Entrant in PR Strategy

Source – searchenginejournal.com

Though you may be focusing on utilizing SEO or Search Engine Optimization in your organic traffic generation and digital marketing efforts, have you tried your hands at press coverage to drive organic traffic?

Press Coverage is one of the most under-utilized techniques for organic traffic generation. Statistics indicate that less than 1 in 10 marketers are focusing on PR coverage.

However, with everything going digital today, the world of digital PR coverage can generate instantaneous benefits to gain more organic reach.

Even though PR is largely seen as a function of the corporate communications team, it’s high time for marketers to integrate PR in their digital marketing initiatives to get the attention you seek.

The Digital Face of PR

Press coverage has been around for decades now and has given brands the opportunities to connect with journalists and expose their offerings to thousands of readers. Since then the PR industry has come a long way and evolved into the Digital PR industry with millions of followers online.

Before the era of the Internet, traditional advertising involved getting your ad covered in local newspapers and magazines. Fast forward to today, with so much content being created online, it only makes sense to make your content stand out through Digital PR and gain more visibility.

The latest data shows that digital readership accounts are at an all-time high with 40% of global Internet users reading news media content online.

The end goal of this tactic is to earn media exposure across a range of digital PR platforms that include:

1. List textNews sites
2. List textBlogs
3. List textPodcasts
4. List textSocial media
5. List textBusiness networks

This puts your brand in front of millions of people without you having to do anything specific and readers can then eventually reach your portal with just a click through the seeded links in the article published in digital PR. And, when this happens, you can drive more visitors to come to your website and facilitate eventual conversion into customers at zero cost.

Effective Ways to Unlock the Power of Digital PR and Generate Media Buzz

You cannot expect digital PR coverage to happen on its own. You need to create the right opportunities for your brand to be covered by the press.

Listed below are some ways to try your hand at it:

1. List textEngage a PR agency – Get instant access to good PR coverage by partnering with agencies to create content and deliver it across the audience you wish to target.
2. List textPublish a Study – If you want to do it on your own, you can undertake some research among your existing customers and publish a study. As journalists and readers are hungry for such data, they will automatically feature your brand in their news articles which would drive traffic to your website.
3. List textReach Out to Journalists – Look out for requests for assistance from reporters and journalists on articles related to your segment in platforms like HARO (Help a Reporter Out) and extend support. Democratize connections with journalists to reach out to relevant digital publications and get your brand covered.
4. List textStart Building Relationships with Top Bloggers and Influencers –You can also use social media to research and discover key influencers or newsmakers in your industry and interact with them. Study the content they share and create content that they can quote or link to and offer them help to build story suggestions. Once you have built a relationship with them, you can seek their help to get PR coverage.

Whether you chose to do your own PR or partner with a digital PR agency, ensure to get started to take advantage of an alternate pathway to generating organic traffic and amplify your SEO efforts. Digital PR though under-utilized is a powerful digital marketing tactic you cannot ignore if you want to supercharge your website’s organic growth.

Share your valuable comments below and let us know if you think that digital PR can add more value to your current digital marketing initiatives?

Another alternate pathway to generate organic traffic to your website is through social media. Stay tuned for our next article to know how you can use social media to direct traffic to your site...