When it comes to growing a business online there are multiple things that you can do to bring success, but the most important thing you can have is good visibility, hence digital PR. Ask yourself if you are operating in the right market and if you are appealing to the correct audience. Are you making the right noises to those who are highly likely to interact with you and are you able to evolve and adapt with your audience? The key to answering all of these will be in your marketing strategy and in the digital PR that you push out. It will also be dependent on your ability to use a variety of platforms and numerous techniques.
Here are the importance of digital PR.
1. SEO benefits
Historically marketing and PR departments would have sat on opposite sides of the office, each trying to outdo one another but more than ever these teams are now either working together or are, in fact, the same department. This is because the end goal will be the same. It is to garner as much engagement as possible and promote the businesses at every opportunity. Part of this is done to generate improved search visibility and the SEO benefits of putting out informative, engaging, shareable content which is keyword rich and resonates with your audience are increasingly noticeable.
With search engines placing an increased focus on the number of high quality, relevant backlinks to your website and weighing an increased value to those that echo both the searchers intent and the on-page content, digital PR is a vital tool. By engaging with the audience and encouraging collaboration it is possible to generate links from third parties which, it can be argued, act as an endorsement for your company.
2. Click, click, click
The main benefit, and one which many forget about, is the fact that with a digital strategy you actually have a link. In the past newspaper, TV and radio advertising have been the primary channels for marketers but now you can actually lead the reader to a conversion whether that be a service or a product and you can add them to your engaged audience lists. You can track their activity and remarket to them like never before and buy offering a tailored, personalised campaign to them you can improve interaction and sales.
3. Brand reputation and identity
This is an important benefit as boosting your brand reputation and identity enables you to engage with market influencers who have the ability to encourage conversions and boost sales. You will also be able to respond to customers in real time through your digital PR, which increases consumer confidence or can limit any damage to your reputation.
By creating a dialogue between you and your customers you can really reinforce the sense of relationship and promote brand loyalty, giving your organisation a human touch which consumers will respond to. Not only this, but interactions will likely be seen by others and can create further interest in the company. With digital PR it’s also possible to push out integrated campaigns to influence consumers’ purchasing decisions, all for far lower costs than other mediums.
4. Analytical benefits
With other forms of marketing, advertising and communications you often get very top level audience figures and it can be very hard to prove who has had eyes on your products or news. With digital methods that lead to a conversion or which require a form to be filled you can track engagement. You can also monitor audience growth especially in terms of social media.
Final thoughts
The overwhelming benefits of having a multi-faceted approach to both you digital marketing and your PR are vast. If you are able to engage as wide an audience as possible, build loyalty, protect your reputation and increase your search visibility then growth is inevitable. You can deal with problems and communicate successes to your readership in a way that shows the business off in the best possible light.
