There are currently 359 million businesses in the world. That number will get even higher, as approximately 100 million new businesses start yearly. A person is also exposed to a staggering amount of 4,000 to 10,000 ads a day.
If you’re a business owner, how do you cut through the noise and make yourself known to your target audience?
Marketers typically rely on digital marketing techniques such as social media, email marketing, and paid advertising. However, there is one underrated strategy that can help boost your brand visibility while building a positive reputation for your business. And that is Digital PR.
In this article, we’ll dive into digital PR – what it is, what digital PR strategies you can do, and how you can master it to secure online media coverage and give your brand a strong online presence.
What Is Digital PR?
Digital PR is a strategy where you utilize various online channels to build, manage, and enhance your brand’s reputation.
Digital PR is important since the reputation and image of a business have a huge impact on its overall success. A positive reputation will lead to higher trust and loyalty with their audience, which leads to sales down the line.
Digital PR is also great for increasing awareness and visibility of your business. The more that you appear on blogs and online publications, the higher the chances of reaching people who can potentially be your customers. It also gives extra credibility – if you are consistently covered on reputable sites, it means your business is reputable as well.
What Is the Difference Between Digital PR and Traditional PR?
Traditional PR relies on channels such as TV, radio, print, newspaper, and events.
Digital PR, as the name suggests, relies on digital channels such as blogs, online news sites, digital magazines, social media, and video platforms.
While their channels might be different, their core is the same. It’s all about strategically amplifying your brand’s message to build a positive image and reach more people.
However, one extra thing about digital PR is that it also adds a huge boost to your other digital marketing strategiesl. It can drive traffic to your website, build your social media following, get more sign-ups on your email newsletters, and improve your search rankings.
Additionally, social media reporting helps track the effectiveness of your PR efforts, providing valuable insights into audience engagement and content performance.
6 Digital PR Strategies To Boost Your Business
Here are some digital PR strategies that you can incorporate into your business strategies and give yourself a strong online presence:
1. Have a Great Story
As with any type of PR, the key is to have a great story to tell.
Why should you be in the news in the first place? Have you launched a unique product? Are you doing a fresh, innovative social media campaign? Is there compelling info, data, or statistics that you found? Is there a personal experience you want to share? Are you taking a stand on a social issue?
Run through this checklist to see if you have a noteworthy story:
- Is it relevant? Make sure your story is relevant to your audience’s interests, your industry, current events, or recent trends.
- Is it unique? Do you have a new take or angle on a popular topic? Or are you launching a new and innovative product?
- Is it valuable? Does your story provide useful insights, study, or research into a topic?
Some businesses also do some calculated controversy – such as writing pieces on a controversial topic or writing an opposite take that goes against a popular opinion.
These “hot takes” tend to provoke discussion and reactions in the public, which is why journalists pick up these stories more. So if you aim to get more media coverage, this can be a good route for you.
Just make sure your takes are well-researched and presented respectfully to avoid backlash and not put a hit on your reputation.
2. Create Great, Shareable Content
Engaging and useful content accomplishes three things. First, it attracts attention. This makes it easier to request media coverage.
Second, it makes your content shareable. This encourages your audience to share your content with their family and friends, thus increasing your reach and exposure.
Third, it is great for SEO. Sites will be more willing to provide you backlinks if your content is informative and well-written, as it also provides value to them and their audience.
So what kind of content can you do? You can try:
- Surveys, data, or statistics – Great for getting backlinks and media coverage as sites and journalists usually refer to these to back up their content
- Case studies – Success stories like these show the tangible impact your business can do, while also having that emotional touch or storytelling narrative
- Infographics – Research and data expressed in a more digestible style like an infographic make it more shareable and visually attention-grabbing. You can use free tools like Venngage to create infographics with pre-made templates, making the process faster and easier.
- Opinion pieces – Insights from experts (or even non-experts) gain more buzz as people are interested in knowing a person’s unique perspective on a topic instead of just seeing the same opinion all the time
3. Leverage SEO
Your digital PR campaign should work hand-in-hand with your SEO strategies.
For example, the backlinks that you get from your PR campaigns can help boost your website’s search ranking. This gives your site a higher domain authority, which signals credibility and trustworthiness. At the same time, being more visible on Google can also help new audiences find your business easier online.
And it works vice versa. If you consistently get mentioned by reputable sites through your SEO outreach, you’ll build an image as an industry leader. More journalists will then be encouraged to reach out to you for any PR opportunities as well.
Some SEO strategies you can do are:
- Target high-quality sites – Reputable and high-ranking sites have a higher impact on your strategies. Reach out to them to link back to your content, do guest posts, or collaborations.
- Secure digital press coverage – Contact online news sites, publications, or journalists to do interviews, features, or online events. You can also send press releases or articles if you have new product launches or a compelling story.
- Make sure your website is SEO friendly – Your website plays a huge role in your SEO and digital PR strategies. Ensure that your website content targets relevant keywords, you have great internal linking, and your website’s UX is accessible to both real people and search engine crawlers. If you don’t have a website yet, consider using website builders to create a web design that is both beautiful and seamless to use.
4. Have a Media Outreach Strategy
A successful digital PR strategy lies in reaching out to the right people.
You can build your media outreach strategy by:
- Create a contact list – Identify relevant journalists, publications, media outlets, and bloggers who cover topics aligned with your industry and audience. Get an idea of their writing style as well, and see if it resonates with your brand identity.
- Write personalized pitches – Don’t send generic messages. Show your contact that you’ve done your research on their content, audience, and style. Make sure to also clearly convey the value of your content to them.
- Build rapport with them – You can also follow journalists on their social media or be up to date with their articles. You can share their work or write relevant comments to be on their radar. If you engage enough, they might even contact you first.
- Focus on long-term relationships – Digital PR is not just about pitching one story and then moving on with your life. Having strong and lasting connections with journalists is better since it increases the likelihood of getting media coverage in the future.
5. Collaborate With Influencers and Thought Leaders
Journalists and media are not the only way you can get digital coverage.
You can also partner with influencers and other thought leaders in your industry. For influencers, this can be through them mentioning you on their blog, social media, or even doing guesting on their podcast or YouTube channel.
For thought leaders, you can do interviews, collaborative articles, expert opinion roundups, Ask Me Anythings (AMA), or even a webinar.
6. Make Sure You Have Solid Branding
Brand identity is important, branding provides a specific “personality” and story that people can attach to a business.
For example, Glossier is known for its real, clean girl beauty. Fenty is championing inclusivity, specifically for skin color. On the other hand, Estee Lauder is associated with luxury and sophistication.
By having this branding in place, it’s easier to do digital PR campaigns since they have a specific message and identity to convey. It’s also easier to find potential contacts to work with since they’ll have a common ground to start with.
Branding can be built with your visuals – logo design, color scheme, typography, and image style. It will then be reinforced with your brand voice (how you write your website text, blog articles, social media posts, product descriptions, etc.) and your subsequent marketing strategies (ex. will you do fun TikTok videos vs doing informative webinars on YouTube)
Conclusion
Whether you’re a new business wanting to be known to the world or a large corporation aiming to maintain your positive reputation, digital PR can be a powerful tool to use.
Digital PR can not only increase your media coverage, but also drive more traffic to your content, reach a larger untapped audience, and rise above your competitors. By following the tips above, you too can make your business stand out in the crowded online space.
