Part 3: Digital PR - The tools of the trade

Part 3 of a 3-part series

Once a business has its content plan of attack in place, the next step is driving those details out to the target audience, in hopes that audience members will then drive it out further through their own channels.

But how does a brand know where its consumers are looking?

In his article, referenced in Part one of this series, Odden explains, “In the same way marketers segment customer data to create profiles that reflect key data about information discovery, consumption and what motivates action, so too can PR professionals approach content creation.

“Time on social media and search engines means being where the target audience is looking, whether it’s a buyer looking for a solution or a journalist looking for statistics or a story source.”

The key, he says, is creating and optimizing content that’s useful on “in demand” and relevant topics. “A big part of optimizing performance is to be useful and make it easier for your target audience to do what you want them to do.”

Odden believes any or all of the following steps will help a brand’s cause:

• Social listening 
• Social content creation 
• Social engagement 
• Social ads 
• Grow networks on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, YouTube, Pinterest and forums as necessary.

In the article PR is the engine of content marketing (2014), Aspectus PR points out, the growth and technical development of social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn has made it ever easier for people to connect with businesses and develop ongoing relationships. “There is no point in simply throwing up an article on a site and hoping for the best. Driving that article through social media channels is what makes the difference between it being seen by a handful of people and being picked up and passed on by tens of thousands.

 “If you’ve got a great idea then you need to get it out there through every channel and in every form available to you.”

Siân Gaskell, a writer with U.K. online news publication, The Guardian, agrees that PR teams should embrace new technological tools to ensure their content marketing succeeds across multi-platforms.

“In today's multi-platform, socially-dominated world, content marketing is here to stay,” Gaskell writes in an article entitled, What content marketing means for the PR industry (2014). “The PR industry needs to ensure that they are not sidelined and retain that custodian of content status by taking advantage of the tools and resources available. Content is our bread and butter, but embracing new technology will only stand us in good stead. Using the earned media from a PR campaign can help support the attainment of a client's or brand's business objectives – whether that is raising awareness, driving traffic to a site, generating sales of a product or service or simply building brand loyalty via deeper engagement.

“The savviest of PR teams are doing just this - using content marketing tools to ensure that this output is made to work harder across multi-platforms.”

Building community

Martin Waxman, a Toronto-based digital/social media/communications expert and executive vice of Thornley Fallis, sums this up in an article entitled, OLD PR VERSUS NEW PR (2013), by saying, “…community management is the new PR.”

“If you think about traditional PR, it’s been all about building and engaging a community (media) …Creating and alerting them to stories that (hopefully) matter to them,” said Waxman, author of the blog my PALETTE. “Community management is a natural evolution of PR with a few key changes.”

According to Waxman, community management is built on the following principles: 

• Instead of focusing on one fairly homogenous community, PR experts now focus on many diverse ones. 
• Instead of guarding relationships, they’ve become relationship builders and managers, able to recognize behavior, and what people want and need. 
• Instead of pitching stories, they create stories that can be told across many platforms. 

So know your audience, and give them what they need to help your succeed.

Digital PR do’s and don’ts

In his article, referenced earlier in this report, Brendan Carter offers four guiding principles.

1. Don't underestimate owned media (content)

Or, as Carter puts it, “PR's importance to a brand's owned content is growing thanks to content marketing.” In other words, the more content is produced, the more opportunities there are to find the right audience and share it – the very essence of PR.

“(PR) understands the brand's position in the marketplace, where more thought-leadership is needed, and where the brand's audience congregates to consume content,” he said.

2. Think like a publisher

When creating content that’s intended to be shared with consumers, businesses need to put themselves inside the minds of their clients. They need to ask themselves questions like, “Is this something I would click on? Is this content I would share?” Similarly, PR departments and agencies should think like their media counterparts in publishing – “What would it take for me to run this story?”

“Just as consumers know a sales-pitch when they see one, so do journalists and editors,” Carter said. “Switching gears from self-serving press releases to pitching more compelling stories with real insight and value for audiences can increase the success rate of your placements, as well as building meaningful and lasting media relationships that can be leveraged for future occasions.”

3. Push versus pull

The math is easy: owned media = push marketing = intrusive; earned media = pull marketing = welcome.

“Pull marketing creates influence through trusted content sources without the intrusion of the brand on the audience,” Carter points out. “For this reason, amplifying earned media is effort well-spent. Thanks to a number of content marketing tools and tactics, one media story intended for a particular publisher can reach even more engaged audiences, increasing the opportunity for organic amplification like sharing or an even better media placement.”

4. Engagement matters

The following elements of a social media release exemplify content marketing and set it apart from its distant cousin, the traditional press release: 

• They're often textual with a mix of multimedia assets that include hyperlinks to relevant content - not product pages or home pages 
• Incorporate elements of design to help guide the reader's eye and make for a more pleasant reading experience
• They're primed for sharing, with embedded social sharing cues and buttons

Kenalty has added a few tips of his own for good measure.

“We live in a visual world – so give the world what it wants,” he said. “The more video, imagery, clever captions and infographics you use to tell your story, the better your chances of seeing your message spread like wild fire.”

Seeing is believing – so don’t forget to keep an eye on your efforts, and compare them to the efforts of others.

“Monitor the conversations that are taking place with you, about you and around you,” Kenalty said. “And be ready to jump in opportunistically. That goes back to strategically planning your content. If you do it well, chances are you will have a suitable pre-approved message for any conversation, no matter what turn it takes. That in itself is great PR.”

This three-part series is accompanied by a slide deck, available on Slideshare.

Part 2: What is content marketing?

Part 2 of a 3-part series

Content marketing is one of latest web-related buzz terms that is making its way into digital PR strategies everywhere. So what is it?

Aspectus PR sums it up well in an article entitled, PR is the engine of content marketing (2014), “…content marketing is the process of publishing original material in the form of articles, videos or images on the web, driving this through selected social media channels in a way that encourages your target audience to engage with you directly online. The goal is to build a connection, a consensual relationship with your audience allowing you to develop your brand awareness and ultimately generate painless sales, all at a fraction of the cost of doing it any other way.”

All of this requires a well-timed, strategic approach by the brand. Too many businesses fall into the trap of thinking that just because they’ve launched a new website, they’re a major player in the online game. What they fail to understand is that digital PR extends far beyond a brand’s domain name, and the old adage, “Build it and they will come,” doesn’t apply to the PR of today.

To build brand loyalty and awareness, you have to engage consumers -- intrigue them, surprise them and then inspire them to be your advocate. This can be achieved by producing unique, relevant content – material that will get people talking and motivate them to share what they’ve learned from you with their own online networks, extending your PR reach even farther.

“Using your audience to tell their friends about you is key to broadening your reach,” says B. Kenalty, who oversees digital strategy for one of Canada’s largest financial services companies. “That’s why you always have to be on the lookout for the content people react to – the ‘Aha’ content, as I put it; and when you’re developing your content, you always have to be constantly asking yourself, ‘What’s the value proposition for my audience? Why would they share this?’ Great content may seem like it’s off the cuff, but in fact it’s very strategically planned out.”

Some of the online content PR experts now create include:

• Newsroom articles 
• Blog posts
• Press releases
• Case studies
• Social content
• Newsletters
• Contributed articles
• Events
• Video, image, audio

When creating any piece of content, engagement and ‘shareability’ must a top priority. If the audience has no way to engage in or share the content, the effort that went into creating the piece is futile.

Kenalty named a number of companies that have “nailed it” in terms of content marketing or, as he puts it, “social activity marketing.” Red Bull and Coca-Cola lead the pack with active profiles and cutting-edge, engaging content on almost every social-media site that comes to mind.

“They clearly recognize that their audiences want to be amazed – and they deliver,” he said, adding that all of their online efforts have led to digital PR other companies can only dream of enjoying someday. 

Brandon Carter, marketing manager at Outbrain, an online content discovery platform, has written an article for the U.K. online news publication, The Guardian, entitled, How to use content marketing for media relations (2014).

The content marketing boom, which has seen the demand for content increase dramatically within a few short years, has made the role of PR even more vital to brands.

“If content marketing is about elevating brand perception and awareness through value-driven content and the subsequent positive engagement, then it sounds an awful lot like a natural extension of PR.”  

This three-part series is accompanied by a slide deck, available on Slideshare.

Part 1: Want a killer digital PR strategy? Start with the content!

Part 1 of a 3-part series

Veteran public relations (PR) enthusiasts will remember the days when shining the spotlight on a brand for the world to see was an orderly, almost ‘set it and forget it’ type of approach, which often included one or more of the following tactics:

•  Plan a public event 
• Hire a spokesperson 
• Support a charity 
• Buy a cake 
• Issue a media release
•    …and Bob’s your uncle.

Businesses – and the PR agencies they hired – believed pushing their name and messages out in this manner, and throwing in a contest or two periodically for good measure, was the key becoming top of mind for their target consumers. These companies were convinced that whenever they spoke, the public – and the media - would listen.

And consumers did…for a while. News stories would run in the daily papers; live coverage of the event made the 6 p.m. TV newscasts; radio announcers would make mention of the event after the late-day traffic report. The world paid attention, and often spread the word at dinner parties, kids’ soccer games and around the photocopier at work.

But these days, consumers are looking for more – more than ‘spin’ dressed in PR clothing. They don’t want to be told a brand’s story; they want to help write it. And they’re a lot pickier when it comes to the news they share with others. Those photocopier chats have gone the way of the do-do, so to speak. 

Today, if you want to get a consumer’s attention, inspire them to sing your praises to others and essentially execute your PR strategy for you, you must go directly to them, speak to them, fascinate them – and encourage them to engage with you.

Where does all of this magic happen? Just look on the desktops, tablets and smartphones of almost every contemporary consumer in the world today. In other words, if you want to stand out, you have to take your efforts online – and embrace every opportunity to connect with your customer base in cyberspace.

Welcome to Digital PR.

The state of PR

Those who enjoy the act of picking the morning newspaper up off their front step and paging through the front few sections as they sip their morning coffee have likely noticed a decrease in the number of news stories and opinion columns the last few years.

The fact is, multiple thousands of newspapers have either closed over the past decade, or laid off most of their journalists – and that has had a direct effect on the PR industry, specifically how brands are seeking media coverage and public exposure.

According to an article written by Lee Odden for Top Rank Online Marketing entitled, Integrating Public Relations & Content Marketing – It Doesn’t Have to be Scary (2013), “The PR industry has been in a state of flux over the past few years as major changes have occurred in the news and media. One striking example is this: Over 17,000 newsroom jobs have been lost since 2007. If you’re a journalist, it doesn’t need to be Halloween for a stat like that to be scary. If you’re in media relations, it’s scary too, because with fewer journalists, competition for stories skyrockets.”

Odden attributes much of this change to the way most people consume their news and information now – via the web.

“Declining readership of traditional media, exploding use of social and mobile technologies, shortened news cycles and an explosion in brand publishing make today’s media environment very different,” he said.

Brand publishing refers to the companies that have evolved as publishers, hired brand journalists and invested heavily in content, in an effort to keep up with modern PR and stay relevant with consumers.

“Since so many consumers are empowered to publish, companies have to look at the competition a little differently,” Odden says. “Whether it’s the ‘shelf space’ of search results or share of conversation on the social web, brands are not only competing against other companies, but their own customers and peers for topical attention of common interests.”

What’s the lesson here?

“To ensure your place as a trusted source for stories in the media, create content that demonstrates that expertise. Creating a themed, rich resource that is easily findable and shareable, will attract customers directly as well as journalists and bloggers doing research on a topic relevant to your business,” says Odden.

In other words, content marketing.

This three-part series is accompanied by a slide deck, available on Slideshare.

Want to boost your web-search ranking? Go au naturel!

As a society, our brains have been trained to gravitate to the start of any list, with the belief in mind that, “The cream of the crop rises to the top.” Well, in the world of search engines, the opposite can be true. In fact, appearing at the very top of a web search can be the kiss of death when it comes to a company’s online credibility with clients.

Astute surfers know that if a business’s name appears at the top of a web search, it’s likely not because the company’s won a popularity contest with its customers, or voted ‘Most likely to succeed’ by its peers. Chances are the employer has built pay-per-click online advertising into the company’s digital media strategy and spent a pretty penny to make it happen – a choice that can ultimately help or hurt its bottom line.

When it comes to using the Internet to choose a particular product, or compare a product against another, users don’t want to be “bought” by businesses that have used their corporate spending accounts to guarantee themselves a spot at the top of the shopping list.

In short, if a business wants to build brand loyalty and client trust through its web assets, letting nature take its course, so to speak, should be its modus operandi – not paid advertising.

When a business opts for paid advertising, the powers that be bid on ad placement with the search engine. Those who bid high often obtain prime real estate at the top of a search page.

Sounds like a sweet deal for the brand, right? Not always.

Savvy customers are much quicker to look for organic search results – the list a search engine “naturally” generates when a user looks for an item, rather than a list that’s influenced by financial payment. These factors are determined by a search engine’s algorithm – a set of rules that determines website rankings. Ranking hinges on, amongst other things:

• Relevance of content in relation to user queries,
• Inclusion and placement of keywords and phrases that are indexed by the search engine,
• User experience, and
• The amount of traffic a website attracts on a regular basis - essentially, factors that are heavily shaped by customer reaction and feedback.

Blogger Christopher Lee, a self-proclaimed “organic search strategist, data junkie & rubyist,” offers an example of the success he helped foster for an ecommerce firm by developing a solid organic SEO strategy. His strategy more than tripled the firm’s web traffic and quickly boosted its search ranking to far greater heights.

Relying on SEO can offer a business high long-term return on investment (ROI), as well as brand awareness and increased customer loyalty. These benefits may take some time to ensue, but patience can produce pay-off.

That’s not to say paid advertising doesn’t have a time and a place. Take, for example, a small business that may not have the ability, the know-how or the resources to develop and execute a digital strategy, or a clear understanding of what goes into achieving optimal organic search results. In this case, paid advertising may be the best approach, as it offers businesses the opportunity to be front and centre in a user’s search – a clear advantage when, in all probability, the company has no hope of appearing in the organic search results for potentially hundreds of pages or more.

But when afforded a choice between the two methods of achieving high search visibility, organic SEO is the way to go. Most shoppers want objectivity – not the bias that comes with search results that are bought and displayed, no less conspicuous than the billboard you drive by on your way to work each morning.

Online shoppers want more than deals – they want a say

The genesis of online shopping a few decades back enabled consumers to replicate the excitement of Christmas morning year-round, opening the flood gates for shoppers to purchase the items they need – and the ones they don’t – from anywhere in the world, with the promise of doorstep delivery within days.

What influences their behavior?

Is it convenience? Of course. Selection? Sure. How about not having to deal with pushy retail staff? That’s a given.

But for many, the root of the decision to shop online and, more specifically, choose an item over a slew of similar options from other companies, is based on how well a business does at creating the opportunity for consumers to learn about and connect with its brand online. In other words, how well a business markets itself digitally.

To businesses of any size that, even after all these years, still use excuses like fear, and lack of time and resources to steer clear of what former U.S. vice-president Al Gore coined the “information super-highway” – it’s time to wake up.

Thanks to the Internet, shoppers have a venue to communicate with product wholesalers, marketers, even the upper echelon of a business – as well as other consumers like themselves, who have experience – both good and bad - with the products they’re interested in.

And the fact is, those conversations are happening – with or without your participation, or your blessing.

Today, knowledge is power – and consumers want to be educated. In fact, they demand to be educated. And if a company refuses to educate them, they will take their business elsewhere with a few quick clicks of the mouse. Online shoppers know they wield a great deal of power – and they’re not afraid to use it.

But not only that, today’s consumers want the businesses they support to listen to them. They want to be part of a brand’s story. They want to get behind a company they believe in.

You see, by interacting with their customer base and helping to foster shopper-to-shopper engagement, businesses build credibility with consumers – as well as brand awareness and loyalty.

So for a company to make the cut with shoppers - and potentially generate more sales, it has to make the online experience an easy and inviting one, full of opportunities for a customer to learn, participate, inform and, with any luck, advocate for the brand.

And, you also have to be nimble.

Much like the technology that supports real-time engagement, a digital marketing strategy needs to be flexible and dynamic enough to go with the flow of the buyer.

It’s not difficult to recognize if you’re meeting the mark where your online sales objectives are concerned. With a variety of measurement tools at your disposal, you can quickly see where your web-based efforts are successful, and where you need to close the gaps. You can track peak periods, engagement levels, topics, audience classes, not to mention sales that are directly related to ad campaigns, or even a string of text on a social-media site.

The opportunities are truly endless.

Not sure where to start? Look to other companies who seem to be successfully solving the new millennium’s version of the Caramilk secret. Some of those highly rated online today include Sephora and Microsoft. Both have a dynamic web presence and are extremely active in the social-media scene.

Or if your hesitation stems from fear…to paraphrase the old adage, “There’s nothing to fear but fear itself…and… the effects a poor online shopping experience can have on your bottom line.”

Let's resolve to evolve!

Thanks for checking out my blog! 

Whether you're dipping your toe in vast ocean of digital marketing and social media, or you're a seasoned "tweeter" with your own YouTube channel, you’re guaranteed to take a tidbit or two away from my posts that you can apply in cyberspace. 

The details you read here will be based on my own online experiences - my successes as well as my failures, with some follow-up advice. 

Given how fast this ever-changing era of technology, my goal is to stay ahead of the curve and on top of the trends, so we can all make the most of the digital space and online tools that are at our disposal and waiting to be explored. 

Happy reading!