Three Top Tips for Digital PR Success

B2B companies seeking to understand what digital PR is and how they might use it to support their marketing and general PR efforts should feel ok about being confused by the subject.

A quick search using the term digital PR agency will dredge up a mountain of digital PR content on the subject. The vast majority of this so called guidance is dull, list-based blogging stating the obvious and sharing nothing much of use. As such it represents the bloated underbelly of digital PR.

Digital PR originated with link building - as Google's link usage rules changed about a decade ago, the idea of creating large volumes of content that passed as genuine editorial that could create more legitimate back links to a company, gained ground.

This was still essentially link building. In recent years however, digital PR became more distinct from SEO in that genuine coverage in the media and increasingly high-quality content became a focus..

If you are prepared to ignore the fact that many digital PR agencies are SEO specialists that have co-opted "PR" in their descriptors you'll find there are roughly two interlinked approaches to digital PR.

The first is a high-volume programmes of relevant, but fairly low-grade content development specifically to be placed across the internet in a plethora of bogs, forums and lower range media. All of which will be written with key search terms and link generation in mind.

The second is far more closely tied to traditional PR in that it will aim to use high quality content that achieves media exposure to maximise back links through coverage and social posts. As such it flows directly from actual PR. This is of course the approach most relevant to B2B PR.

So, if you are looking to blend an aspect of digital B2B PR performance with your general B2B PR, where do you start? How should you approach the challenge?

The first thing to recognise when thinking about B2B PR audiences is their consumption of content relevant to making a purchase decision is very different to that of a consumer. Most likely, B2B decision-makers will have selected media preferences that may influence them in a business mind-set.

They'll consumer a fairly small pool of vertical trade media (i.e. media covering their sector), a fairly small selection of discipline media (i.e. media relevant to their role or expertise) they may consume a selection of general business media and of course they'll watch and or listen to the TV and radio news and features programmes and read national or international news brands.

So a B2B digital PR agency plan has to be tightly focused.

Two - success shouldn't be measured in B2B brand google ranking. Leave that to the SEO people. Success is about engagement, influence and sales.

B2B decision-makers are informed consumers. They will already know what the range of purchase options are. For example in the media industry, most CMOs or looking a level down, heads of media investment, will have a very good idea of the potential agency partners are out there and adtech vendors. They'll continually assess what players in the market are saying and weight that against the requirements of their business and internal operational changes and objectives.

To engage them, potential new partners need to project ideas and insights that are not just relevant, but in tune with market trends and needs. They have to add value.

Good B2B PR will achieve exposure for this content. Good B2B digital PR will maximise its findability - in effect maximizing the chances of the audience seeing it.

In this sense you might think B2B digital PR is all about the top of the sales funnel. But actually, it should work right across the piece. So measurement can be based on at one end clicks through to a useful report, article views, to invitations to present or tender, to contracts signed.

The funnel may start with recognition and interest in a POV or insight, and be nudged by further B2B exposure along the way to the point of conclusion.

And three - creating B2B PR content that can amplify your digital PR.

If you think about your B2B PR programme as being made up of layers, you'd see landmark multi-channel projects at the top, followed by high quality B2B thought leadership proactively placed in the media, a pipeline of news releases, tactical media commentary based on building up a leadership team as expert commentators journalists turn to and social media content, events and perhaps awards entries.

Digital PR can tap into each layer.

But what content? I'll cover that in the next blog.

Originally Published by - https://www.simpaticopr.co.uk/