Internet users today are more demanding than ever. Why? Because in the digital age, there’s no shortage of engaging online content available at the click of a button.
However, while this is great for the average person, it presents a significant challenge for companies designing the perfect content Marketing strategy.
How do you continue to create content that resonates with users, grows your Brand awareness, and leaves a lasting impression in such an overcrowded digital landscape?
The answer lies in a hybrid approach, combining both your public relations (PR) and content marketing efforts.
This blog post will address how and why PR helps in content marketing and some top tips on how you can do it successfully. Let’s dive right in!
Content Marketing vs Public Relations (PR) – What’s the Difference?
Content marketing is a subset of marketing focused on consistently creating and distributing relevant and valuable information about a product or service. The goal of content marketing is two-fold:
To attract and retain a clearly defined target audience.
To encourage users to take action, for example, by clicking a link in an email, downloading an eBook or similar, or making a purchase.
By contrast, PR is focused on building mutually beneficial relationships between a company and the public. At its core, PR is about brand awareness, reputation management, and building trust and credibility with your audience.
The metrics for success also differ between content marketing and PR.
For example, success metrics typically revolve around leads, sales, and engagement in content marketing. Things like social shares, website traffic, CTR (Click-Through-Rate), post engagement (comments/likes), SEO performance, lead generation, conversions, and sales data are critical metrics for determining the success of your content marketing strategy.
In PR, success metrics are more commonly focused on brand reach (who sees your content), coverage (where your campaign performed well), and impact (what impression your brand fostered). It’s important to note that PR is often less concerned with raw numbers. For example, having your brand mentioned in a small publication with high authority and a highly engaged audience could be a huge success. Why? Because although the raw number of people exposed to your brand might be low, those people are highly influential – their opinion on your brand matters and can drive positive action.
However, despite some key differences, content marketing and PR have the same foundation: consistent and compelling storytelling aligned with your brand, and targeted at a specific audience.
Their goals are also intertwined; attracting and retaining new customers and encouraging them to have a favourable opinion of your brand.
Top Reasons PR Supports Your Content Marketing Strategy
By combining content marketing and PR, you can tell better stories, amplify your reach, grow thought leadership, and increase brand awareness. And critically, grow your revenue. But in what specific ways can PR support your content marketing strategy?
- Building relationships with influencers: PR is all about nurturing mutually beneficial relationships, and relationships with influencers hold a lot of power in the digital age. Working with the right influencers can scale your content marketing efforts
- SEO: Combining the two creates vast potential to boost SEO in terms of page optimisation, keywords, and backlinks
- Becoming a thought leader: Consumers trust brands that know what they’re talking about. Brands that are respected in the industry due to the informative and educational content they provide. Content marketing can help you get the content out there, while PR can increase your authority through interviews, media coverage, and social media presence
- Boosting online visibility: Common PR practices like press releases help create buzz around your brand. And since these press releases are usually distributed to newswire services or on social media, you can generate quality backlinks that drive more traffic to your site
- Shared insights: PR teams are usually on the ball regarding the latest trends. By harnessing PR services, you can get ahead of your competitors by creating content that resonates with new audiences.
How To Inject PR Into Your Content Marketing Strategy
So, you want to integrate PR into your content marketing strategy but are unsure where to start? Don’t worry; you’re in the right place. Here are the most effective ways you can combine the two.
Using Email to Your Advantage
Instead of using email to simply inform customers and prospective customers about new products or offers, you can instead build relationships with your audience and key industry influencers.
In addition, you can use brand awareness (PR) campaigns to grow your email list. For example, you could run a giveaway with the help of an influencer and collect email addresses people use to enter the competition.
Social Media For Content Marketing
Social media provides the perfect platform to unify PR and content marketing because it helps drive consumer action, build relationships, and expand your reach.
You need to be present in the places your audience frequents and make a concerted effort to foster positive opinions of your brand.
Video Content is a Powerful Tool
Video content is an excellent tool for communicating your message effectively.
For example, one study found that 94% of marketers surveyed said using video content has helped boost user understanding of a product or service. In other words, consumers are more likely to have a positive impression of your product when they know exactly how it will help them.
Blog Posts
You can increase your website traffic and brand awareness by creating compelling blog posts for your website, as well as related posts for other publications.
If you create several engaging and informative posts on aligned topics dotted around different online spaces, you can create links between them and amplify your reach.
What’s Next?
Tired of seeing the same old digital content solutions that don’t work? If so, we can help. At Chetaru, we provide companies with digital marketing and SEO proven to truly boost their online presence and sales opportunities. Get in touch today to see how we can help you.
This post first appeared on What Are The Advantages Of Making An App For Your Company?, please read the originial post: here
