Once upon a time, public relations and marketing teams operated in different worlds and didn’t often connect or collaborate. While that approach used to make some sense, the evolution of the internet has had a drastic impact on traditional public relations and marketing efforts.
In a world where journalists can find their own stories through internet searches (hello, SEO), and a time when content and thought leadership is king, marketers and PR professionals need to be, more than ever before, in perfect sync with one another.
As an integrated communications agency, we know the true importance of leveraging and combining different marketing tactics in order to kick ass and reach measurable goals because it’s what we do every day.
Here are a few of the most important ways that public relations and digital marketing tie together and support one another:
PR & SEO
Securing high-quality links is one of the best ways to drive SEO value and domain authority, and this can be done through online public relations efforts. “Link juice”, or relevant and trusted outlets directly linking to a company or brand’s website, is key for gaining higher rankings in the Google search engine.
Public relations professionals can help out SEO teams by hyperlinking press releases, adding in specific search terms to media materials or pitches, and working with journalists or reporters to ensure a direct link is included in the final earned media piece.
Credible Content
The word “content” is thrown around a lot in marketing these days, and for good reason. Without good, relevant, and trustworthy content, your brand will fall by the wayside. Whether it is blogs, email newsletters, social media posts, podcasts, digital ads, or anything else under the content sun, earned media can really come in handy.
Earned media has the ability to impact the emotional appeal that people associate with a brand, which ultimately influences behaviors and buying decisions. Because of this, earned media makes for great content across a variety of channels.
Sharing a link to a recent TV segment on social media or including a PDF downloadable of your latest magazine feature in a monthly company newsletter will gain credibility amongst your audiences, as earned media carries more weight with consumers than traditional paid advertising.
Measurables
Important digital marketing metrics now play a large part in public relations efforts. By reviewing Google Analytics, digital teams are able to look at referral traffic, purchases or conversions, and behavioral metrics that stemmed from specific earned media placements. This type of tracking is a great way to show the value of PR, as it gives a glimpse into the direct correlation between earned media and the coveted final conversion.
Website metrics like unique visitors per month, which give a good idea of how many eyes are seeing your earned media, also provide publicists with a tool to show how powerful certain placements are.
Encourage collaboration
The bottom line is, public relations and digital marketing are now more intimately linked than ever before. In order to be successful in today’s world, it is important that you encourage collaboration within your company and leverage opportunities where different departments can work together. These tactics may work on their own, but when you put them together… that’s when the best results happen.
If any of this sounds overwhelming, feel free to reach out to us – we’re always ready to grab coffee (or a glass of wine) to talk through how we can help you maximize your communications tactics.
