In today’s always-online world, both consumers and professionals spend most of their day looking at a smartphone or computer screen.
Because of that, having a strong digital presence is the key to growing your business and standing out from competitors.
An increasing number of startups choose to work with a digital PR company.
These firms utilise their public relations skills and expertise to strategically position your brand and drive traffic, leads, and sales.
But before you appoint a PR executive to work on your strategy, you’ll likely want to know what a digital PR company is, and how they operate…
Understanding what a digital PR company does
Before we delve deeper into the roles and responsibilities of a digital PR company, let’s first define digital public relations.
In short, it involves gaining backlinks from websites and online publications like newspapers and magazines.
That’s on top of collecting honest customer feedback to properly position your business as an authority in your niche.
Though similar to SEO, digital PR is as much about the content/positioning of your brand as it is about links and coverage.
The idea behind digital PR is to reach your target audience, putting your brand in front of existing audiences.
A mortgage broker may work with a digital PR company who secures coverage on magazines and blogs about buying a house, interior design, and personal finance.
Huge audiences already exist.
A digital PR company is there to tap into them and secure coverage and placements that will best benefit your business and sales.
For businesses with a physical presence, your digital PR company will also work on local SEO.
They’ll target local blogs and news websites that specifically write about your area.
Good digital public relations firms will think outside of the box and look for new ways to spread the word about you.
They might rely on local bloggers, influencers, and review sites for brand mentions.
For the most part, though, your digital PR company will target national and international sites to help you build up a global presence for your brand.
Even if you’re exclusively focused on securing clients in your home country, digital PR can unlock new opportunities.
This could take your business in new growth directions.
Strategies your digital PR company may follow
A good public relations campaign should involve at least some of the following digital PR techniques:
- Infographics: Your digital PR company might create quality infographics that offer valuable insights and data to bloggers and industry sources. These infographics can be distributed on other websites, in an attempt to gain backlinks and brand mentions. Consumers who view these infographics will see you created them. Thus, they’ll associate your brand with your industry, enquiring/buying from you in the future.
- Networking: The chances are that your digital PR company will already have some journalists in their phone book, but they may need to network and hustle to get into a crowd that you want to be involved with – industry-specific publications, for example.
- Press releases: PR would be nothing without the humble press release. Your digital PR company will look for ways to make stories out of the “every day.” From new starters to product launches, there are lots of ways to spin your activity into a news article.
- Affiliate program: Some PR firms will launch an affiliate program to increase brand links and mentions, whilst others will work with influencers and offer a commission.
- Article publishing: One of the key strategies for any digital PR company is to write and publish articles on third-party websites. They’ll start by researching your niche and getting a good understanding of your industry. Then they’ll outreach to sites and bloggers to secure links and brand mentions.
- Brand monitoring: Another technique your digital PR company may employ is brand monitoring. Looking for natural mentions of your brand online. When they find one, whether that’s in a blog post or news article, they’ll reach out and ask for that mention to be linked. This will increase your search engine rankings and drive traffic to your site.
How a digital PR company could help your business
The most important thing to note is that the work of a digital PR company may go unnoticed and underappreciated.
The truth is that digital PR has direct and indirect benefits. Some of which won’t be felt for months or even years into the future.
SEO, for example, takes time.
Your PR may secure links and brand mentions, but it could take months before they reflect.
Therefore, the sooner you get started, the better.
- Boost traffic: Perhaps the most obvious benefit of digital public relations is boosting traffic to your website. Every time someone links back to you, your brand is exposed to a whole new audience. Though most won’t click, a small percentage of readers will. Some of those will convert into leads or customers with a well-optimised site.
- Builds trust: In a world where anyone can start their own business online, it is vital that established and reputable firms focus on building trust. The primary role of your digital PR company is to make sure customers see your business in the best possible light. Wherever you’re visible, whether on Google, a review website, or a blog post, your brand mentions should be positive and honest.
- Improve SEO: Quality links position your business as an authority. They also show search engines like Google and Bing that you’re a brand that should be featured high on search engine results pages. Over time, a good public relations strategy will push your business up the ranks for targeted phrases and search terms. This will result in them driving more traffic to your site and building trust amongst potential customers.
Wrapping up
The truth is that the work of a digital PR company is ongoing.
Though you’ll feel some of the benefits in the early stages, you can never invest too much time into PR.
Work with a professional firm that puts your business first, and you’ll outmaneuver the competition and find success.
The team at Biz Online Marketing specialises in online public relations, so reach out if you have any questions.
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