Tag Archive for: digital pr

We’re living in a post-ChatGPT world. One place where we’re seeing a lot of discussion is around content. So what does AI mean for content marketing and content creators? The discussions I’m having with colleagues and clients are two-fold. First, what will AI mean for owned content like blogs? And second, how do search engines using AI affect SEO? In short, AI won’t drive out innovative ideas, or interesting content, and it’s certainly not currently an SEO threat to quality content.

3.5.2024 Update

Once again, Google’s Core update isn’t explicitly banning AI content, in fact, Google seems to be going out of their way to NOT ban AI content. But it is clarifying the signals that they consider spammy in the latest update. Specifically: “Scaled Content Abuse.” Google saying that websites posting hundreds of articles a day aren’t contributing anything to the conversation. Google doesn’t care HOW you create valuable content, it cares that there IS valuable content. It isn’t “just” AI content their flagging, either. Here’s their update:

  • Using generative AI tools or other similar tools to generate many pages without adding value for users
  • Scraping feeds, search results, or other content to generate many pages (including through automated transformations like synonymizing, translating, or other obfuscation techniques), where little value is provided to users
  • Stitching or combining content from different web pages without adding value
  • Creating multiple sites with the intent of hiding the scaled nature of the content
  • Creating many pages where the content makes little or no sense to a reader but contains search keywords

Stay Focused on Quality Content

From an SEO and digital PR perspective, it’s not as straightforward as “Google is penalizing AI content” because there’s no signal that they are explicitly targeting AI content. But a lot of ChatGPT content is iterative or not very insightful and, sometimes, flat-out false.

I’ve been testing searches out on Bing, Google, and other AI search engines, and my observations are consistent with Google’s long-touted philosophy for content that drives dividends. Google has long said that it will prioritize content that is “helpful, reliable, and people-first.

Google knows the internet needs no more “stuff,” and it wants people searching to find genuinely helpful content. If you’re a reader and you’ve tested out ChatGPT content, you’ve probably noticed it’s not all that insightful. That’s because, for all the talk of a sentient AI, it is not actually sentient. My Dad, who worked at IBM, used to say “junk in, junk out” about computers, which is so true about AI. And since there is a lot of junk content, there will always be a lot of junk AI content. The world’s greatest thinkers aren’t teaching AI, because there aren’t enough of them to teach AI at the scale currently necessary. Most AI-generated content would not (now) be categorized as quality. Could that change? Sure.

“I use it, but I edit it,” 

Well, that will undoubtedly help. Be sure to fact-check. Until about a year ago, I was testing long-form writing with a well-known AI content engine. I once had a blog post with a completely made-up source, including an author, a book, and a quote. It was fascinating but fake. Plus, my human content team generates better content that performs way better in search, so using AI didn’t pay off in my case, even for SEO content.

I know lots of people using ChatGPT for their blog posts. I can only imagine the rate at which this stuff is going up on the internet. But great content, like the world’s greatest thinkers, is rare, and there’s only room in every search for a #1 position – and it’s extremely unlikely that AI-generated content will surpass everything else out there anytime soon. In short, you CAN use ChatGPT to write a blog post, but I won’t recommend it.

3.7.2024 Update: 

Google’s Core Update on March 5, 2024 makes it abundantly clear that Google wants person-first “helpful” content. And it’s evaluating content for quality:

  • Does the content present information in a way that makes you want to trust it, such as clear sourcing, evidence of the expertise involved, background about the author or the site that publishes it, such as through links to an author page or a site’s About page?
  • If someone researched the site producing the content, would they come away with an impression that it is well-trusted or widely-recognized as an authority on its topic?
  • Is this content written or reviewed by an expert or enthusiast who demonstrably knows the topic well?
  • Does the content have any easily-verified factual errors?

AI-Generated Content for Thought Leadership

The more technical or expert content, the less likely these generative engines can create value.

Plus, the entire point of creating thought leadership content is to provide your insights – and that’s something ChatGPT can’t do. Only you can provide your ideas and perspectives. As a leader, you’ve spent so much time becoming an expert; why would you threaten that reputation to save 30 minutes?

Repeatedly, automation has let me down. That’s why the content on this site with my name is written by me. The only person who writes my content is me. Now, do I think executive ghostwriters are valuable? You bet I do, but ghostwriters take the time to learn an executive’s voice, and adhere to the point of view, so that’s very different from using AI to create a “thought leadership” piece. But regarding my reputation, there is a clear delineation on this blog of my content and content written by my (human) content team, and that’s because, as an entrepreneur, my reputation is valuable, and I bet yours is too.

Is creating quality content difficult? Yes. Does quality content pay off? Yes. I believe actual thought leadership content, like this article, will increase in value, while ChatGPT content will decrease in value. So since creating content is an investment, why not invest in improving returns?

Where Generative AI is Useful for Content

Is AI-generated content useless? No. But it’s essential to consider the context.

ChatGPT and content platforms like Jasper can be most helpful in triggering ideas. ChatGPT is a pretty good communicator and excellent for creating outlines. I recently used ChatGPT to create a book outline, which triggered some ideas. Ultimately, I’ll probably view those suggestions much like my first drafts – part of the process but distanced from the result.

I also think ChatGPT can be useful in creating questions that create many results. Testing your questions on ChatGPT will give you a sense of the content that’s out there on the web and the depth of that content and help you decide if you want to add to that body of thought or not.

In conclusion

Like a calculator, or Excel, using AI will make creating content smoother and faster, but it won’t be a substitute for creativity or critical thinking for content. If you’re writing to improve your reputation, increase awareness, or improve SEO, there isn’t much reason to use ChatGPT to create content right now.

Public relations is the art of influencing what others say about you without benefit to themselves to increase trust and reputation among stakeholders, such as customers, clients, investors, potential employees, or anyone else affecting a company’s success. Like marketing and advertising, public relations use a variety of media channels, including magazines, websites, and social media. They may include earned media, owned media, and occasionally paid content to communicate critical messages.  Ambitious companies employ PR tactics on an ongoing basis, but especially during pre-IPO and hyper-growth phases.

 

What Is the Main Role of Public Relations?

PR manages how the information and news about a company or business are advertised to maintain a brand image, especially in the case of a bad event or crisis.

PR occurs through press releases, journalist interviews, news conferences, posts on social media, and other events. It shapes the perception of your business in front of the general public, brings credibility and visibility, and tells your story through trustworthy media outlets in front of your targeted audience.

Importance of Public Relations

Public relations manage how customers, partners, and associates see a company or brand. It focuses on maintaining a positive reputation and corporate image a company while handling customer inquiries, shareholder requirements, and media requests.

Public relations is also essential to settle and clear any negative news regarding a company or brand and reduce the effect of public outcry to preserve a company’s image and reputation.

The ultimate goal of PR is to present a company or brand in the best light. It is different from marketing or advertisement in that it promotes a company’s image in an organic way that attracts public support.

PR has become a fast-growing industry in the United States. According to the (BLS) Bureau of Labor Statistics, the job outlook of public relations specialists is looking better than ever, with employment projected to grow approximately 8% from 2021 to 2031.

What Is the Meaning of a Public Relations Agency?

A successful PR agency can help businesses grow their brand awareness. A public relations agency uses owned and earned media relations to garner visibility and publicity for a business.

PR services include media relations, crisis and social media management, and public affairs. PR agencies help clients build positive relationships with their customers, the public, and stakeholders to achieve their business and sales goals.

Every company needs the right public relations agency to carry out these tasks. If the public relations department is creative, strategic, and persuasive enough, it can impact every aspect of a business.

With some research, you, too, can select a public relations firm to shape your company’s reputation and public perception.

What Are the Types of PR Agencies?

Different departments and agencies handling distinct company or business aspects compose a PR.

Media Relations in PR

Media relations, also known as media coverage, is the quintessential PR tool. Earned media builds a company’s credibility, brand awareness, and authenticity by forming solid relationships with media organizations. The media relations team works with press members and delivers company news and good content sources. This PR agency is also accessible to the media for public comments and news stories.

Investor Relations or IR

IR is a PR sub-discipline that oversees a company’s relationship with its shareholders, government authorities, and investors. This type of PR agency deals with investor events and financial report releases and handles the complaints received by investors. The core difference between PR and IR is that investor relations deal with the internal links of the company, whereas PR deals with the company’s communication with the public.

B2B PR

B2B PR requires precision and strategy. A B2B PR agency must be in touch with the crucial trends within a given industry. Whether that industry is drones, cleantech, or cannabis, emerging industries require nimble PR, while established value industries require a long-term perspective, reputation management, and solid corporate communication.

Production Relations

This division of public relations deals with the direct operations and marketing plans of a company. This type of agency is related to specific endeavors like new product launches or a particular campaign or managing a significant change in a product.

Content production is another key element of production relations. From YouTube videos to podcasts to contributed content for executives, content is today’s most relevant PR tactic.

Internal Public Relations

Internal PR is associated with the promotional communication of an organization to ensure that all employees are satisfied and engaged. This PR branch ensures that the employees are happy with their working conditions. It counsels employees and solves their issues and conflicts internally, so there is no chance of public disclosure of employee dissatisfaction.

Community Relations

Community Relations is also a subdivision of public relations. It concerns any work a company or business does to collect friendly and cooperative feelings from the community. This branch of PR focuses on building a brand image and reputation and tries to align itself with community members. It targets a physical community such as sporting clubs, work, and colleagues or a non-physical community like linguistic, religious, or mutual interest-based communities.

Consumer Public Relations

From CPG to consumer tech, customer PR services cover all interactions between an organization and its employees. It is a powerful domain of public relations as it’s dedicated solely to increasing the brand’s awareness and building its reputation as a reliable and trustworthy company. Consumer relations connect the company to its employees and handle critical aspects to enhance their relationship, such as conducting market research, understanding the concerns and priorities of its customers, and addressing their positive and negative feedback.

Government Relations and Public Affairs

Government relations is a branch of PR that helps a company or brand communicate effectively with governing bodies. Public affairs, on the other hand, tackles an organization’s interactions with the government, interest groups, legislators, and media. This type of PR agency targets building a solid relationship with politicians and key decision-makers to ensure their consumers receive fair treatment.

What Is the Difference Between a PR Agency and Other Departments of a Company?

The role of PR may overlap and sometimes intertwine with other company departments. Still, in the end, a PR firm helps enhance its strategies and align its goals accordingly to improve its client’s business or organization.

Marketing

Public relations and marketing work similarly, but their end goals are different.

The marketing department of a company is more focused on driving sales, ensuring that the company is heading toward financial success, and promoting its products and services. PR focuses on managing and building the brand image and reputation.

PR rarely makes a direct impact on sales. It is not concerned with driving sales but indirectly promotes the company through a reputation-building activities, which could vary from press release distribution to thought leadership, to industry events or word-of-mouth campaigns. On the other hand, marketing campaigns solely focus on driving sales and generating maximum profits from them.

Marketing will persuade people to buy a product, but a PR agency will convince them to trust and invest in the brand. Marketing and PR sometimes go hand in hand as PR will attract people and help them connect with a brand, and then marketing will convert these people into customers and drive sales.

Paid media is an essential tool that can assist businesses in generating more visibility and engagement for their brand through paid placements like PPC ads, social media posts, pop-ups, etc. The marketing department can interact with customers to understand a company’s sales trends, what products are in demand, and how to generate more revenue and profits. PR will interact with customers to know if they are happy with the products and services of a brand and ensure that any dissatisfaction is promptly addressed and managed.

Why Do Companies Need PR Agencies?

Companies and businesses are constantly juggling between setting up their email workflow, writing blogs, and handling other sales aspects of their businesses. Between these tasks, a PR agency can help a company schedule, organize, optimize, and successfully run events, marketing initiatives, and press releases.

A public relations agency can keep the press informed about a brand and its products and services and generate other opportunities for a company that increases its authority and visibility and enhances its relationship with its targeted audience.

PR can take a business to the next level by using earned media and publicity to shape the public’s perception of a company.

What Are the Main Duties of a PR Agency?

A PR agency will fulfill the following duties to enhance a brand’s reputation and garner goodwill for its business.

Do a Lot of Research on the Target Market

PR agencies know the value of customer interactions and feedback and how important it is to evaluate a company’s brand image. They also know that a good PR plan includes identifying reliable media outlets that will help them reach their target audience.

A public relations firm will ask its clients about their business goals and then research the journalists, media outlets, and podcast hosts that have helped similar companies reach their audiences in the past. They will look for particular journalists that will pitch your company’s ideas and help a company make a suitable investment in targeted campaigns.

Create a Plan That Aligns With the Company’s Goals

A PR agency will create a plan for strategic and creative practices to present a brand and its story to media outlets. These plans include pitch angles, internal PR goals like product launches, and external PR goals like special events. A PR agency might also discuss with the client how they plan on executing these strategic goals and what benefits they will bring to the company.

Put the Plans Into Motion

Once the client is satisfied with the PR plans, the agency will start working on them according to the business goals and scope. This step includes assembling press kits that include brochures, press releases, photographs, details and coverage of past press releases, fact lists, and other critical information regarding a company.

Create a PR Pitch

A PR pitch outlines the story and values behind a company or business and explains, in an engaging manner, why it should be published. A public relations firm will create a short and unique pitch that will catch the attention of media outlets so that a brand can reach its target market. The PR services intend to make the pitch as intriguing as possible so that journalists or podcasters are interested in publishing and featuring the story.

PR Outreach

PR outreach is a process in which the PR agency will pitch information about the products and services of a company to journalists, influences, and bloggers to get exposure and press coverage for a business.

Engage Influencers to Influence People

Public relations agency will advise their clients about their message to their consumers and how they should communicate it. They will also engage suitable influences to generate more visibility for the brand, negotiate contracts with them, and manage other aspects of their PR services.

What Are the Services of a Public Relations Firm?

The PR industry has dramatically changed over the past ten years. It is now a full-service business, thanks to the evolutions in technology and how cheaper, faster, and easier it has become to spread the news.

Even though technology has made sharing content more accessible and manageable, the competition among brands is more challenging than ever. That is where they bring a good PR agency into play.

Following are some PR services that you can expect from any good agency;

1. Enhancing Brand Image

A public relations agency will strive to protect and enhance a client’s image in the public’s eye. They constantly monitor the media outlets for negative news or stories regarding their client’s business and control any damage during a crisis.

PR agencies work actively to promote a client’s image among the general public so that its reputation is not damaged. A PR agency will message blog content, respond on social media, reply to people having positive or negative reviews about a brand, and engage with its followers. A bad reputation will damage a brand’s equity in the long run.

All these tactics ensure that a brand comes across as relatable and reliable.

2. PR Crisis Management

Sometimes, special interest groups can significantly damage the reputation of a company or brand by doing inaccurate reporting to media outlets or happen when negative reviews and events threaten a brand’s reputation. It is known as the PR crisis.

A public relations firm is knowledgeable in dealing with such negative publicity. The PR specialists know how to minimize the damage caused by a PR crisis and successfully restore their client’s brand image.

A good PR agency will try to avoid any crisis from happening in the first place. But if such a crisis does occur, it knows how to use all its strategies and resources to protect the company’s image and develop communication plans to clear any negative news and events.

3. Media Relations and PR

A good PR agency knows how important it is to maintain a strong presence on social media. Social media presence is an essential digital marketing strategy as it provides insights into the conversations regarding a brand or company among its customers and their positive and negative responses.

A public relations agency can increase the reach and visibility of a brand by responding to general feedback and queries and building long-term relationships with customers. A PR firm will also handle social media relations by writing short and engaging pitches to influences and journalists to help get more client coverage. They will pitch their client’s company to a suitable blog targeting the right audience for the brand.

 

5. Content Planning and Development

PR agencies are involved with generating media coverage that will garner a positive response from the public for their clients. Press releases are one to achieve this purpose. These written statements are distributed to media outlets to generate news about events, product launches, or other developments within the company.

For example, if a skincare brand wants to start a social media movement to embrace #beautyofmyownskin, a public relations agency will help them write a press release announcing a campaign to care for an individual’s skin and hopefully garner a positive response from the media coverage.

There are other ways PR contributes content.

Writing an Internal Copy

PR agencies help their clients communicate with employees through internal copywriting. The employees of a company are important stakeholders, and a public relations agency can help a company manage its relationship with this group of people.

A company must set a healthy communication channel with its employees to build their morale, celebrate its success and profit generation, and discuss effective strategies and changes.

Craft Compelling Copy for a Business

Copywriters are experts in telling a brand’s values and story most intriguingly and compellingly. PR agencies have great copywriters that know different strategies to write in a way that resonates with the target audience’s ideas and beliefs.

Good writers in a PR agency’s team can capture the core message of a client’s brand and then present it under a compelling headline and persuasive body that will communicate it efficiently to the public. Copywriters can also develop great ideas for other media channels and marketing strategies, such as social media posts and whitepapers.

 

Developing Internal Communications

PR agencies will help their clients develop better internal communications by writing tactful speeches on behalf of a company. Speed writing is handy during press conferences or events where company employees speak publicly.

Anyone giving a speech to represent a brand or company must take help from a PR agency as they will handle the strategic messaging to develop a vocabulary about the brand messaging and new products or services launch.

6. PR Agencies Can Also Be Event Planners

PR agencies know the value of events of a company and how important they are for marketing its products and services. A public relations firm will ensure that an event hosted by their clients in which media members participate runs smoothly and positively. To achieve this purpose, PR agencies will take it up to them to handle all aspects of the event plan, from communicating with stakeholders, attaining media coverage, arranging travel and lodgings of attendees, and creating valuable content and announcements for the event.

PR agencies will also develop word-of-mouth or viral campaigns which can generate press and awareness.

 

How Can a PR Agency Help My Company?

A public relations agency can impact your company in more than one way. Not only will it lift the burden of a company to deal with media management and brand awareness, but it will also help drive more sales and enhance the company’s reputation. Here are five ways a PR agency can help you and your company;

  1. PR agencies try to build authentic relationships between a company and its customers. They do so by understanding their client’s business plans and core principles and presenting them in such a way that it resonates with their target audience.
  2. A PR agency knows how to develop effective press releases and media news and how to present them to the world.
  3. PR agencies help businesses who need to learn how to communicate their message to the world build strategic plans to increase brand awareness and visibility through different media channels.
  4. PR agencies organize successful events and conferences that efficiently showcase new product releases and thus help companies generate more sales.
  5. They personalize their tactics and plans according to the needs of individual businesses. PR agencies have PR specialists on their teams that understand their client’s business goals and create new opportunities for them to increase their website traffic, social media presence, and media coverage.

Conclusion

A PR agency helps a company grow even when other marketing strategies fail to bring more visibility to the brand. Public relations agencies understand the needs of their clients and have multiple approaches to enhance the reputation and visibility of newly established businesses to a large group of companies.

 

Picture this: you’re a talented baker, and you’ve opened up a little bakery in your neighborhood.

You know your pastries are divine, but somehow, customers aren’t lining up at your door.

The culprit?

It’s not the quality of your baked goods but the lack of a specific secret ingredient: content marketing.

In this post, we’ll unravel the mysteries behind this powerful business tool, discover its many forms, and show you how to make it work for you.

By the end, you’ll have the recipe for successful content marketing to keep your customers returning for more.

What is Content Marketing?

Content marketing is the calling card of modern companies. Content marketing involves crafting and disseminating valuable, pertinent, and steady material to engage your audience and own your reputation. The goal is to drive profitable customer action and tell your story. However, instead of selling your products or services outright, you provide information that educates, entertains, or inspires your audience, making them more likely to trust your brand and become loyal customers. Content marketing for PR means creating highly trustworthy, premium content that builds your brand and company’s authority. Owned media is today’s calling card for fast-growing companies and ambitious brands.

The Tantalizing Types of Content Marketing

You may be surprised to learn that content marketing comes in many flavors, each with its unique appeal. Here’s an array of the most popular types of content marketing:

Blogs: The quintessential form of content marketing, blogs are excellent for showcasing your expertise, offering helpful advice, and building trust with your audience. They’re also highly shareable, increasing your brand’s visibility on social media.

  • Listicles: These viral blog posts feature lists of tips, tools, or resources, making them easy to digest and highly shareable.
  • How-to Guides: These in-depth articles provide step-by-step instructions for solving specific problems, making them highly valuable to readers looking for solutions.
  • Thought Leadership: By sharing your unique insights and expertise on industry trends and challenges, you can position yourself as a thought leader and build credibility with your audience.

Infographics: Infographics are the perfect way to convey complex data or ideas in an easy-to-understand and visually appealing format. They’re also highly shareable and can drive significant traffic to your website when promoted on social media.

Videos: From how-to tutorials to behind-the-scenes glimpses, videos offer a dynamic and engaging way to connect with your audience. They’re also an excellent format for storytelling, allowing you to convey your brand’s personality and values effectively.

  • Webinars: These live or recorded presentations enable you to dive deep into specific topics and provide value to your audience through expert advice and Q&A sessions.
  • Video Series: By creating episodic video content, you can keep your audience engaged and returning for more.

Podcasts: Audio content is on the rise, and podcasts offer a convenient way to consume information on the go. They’re ideal for sharing interviews, stories, and expert insights and can help you reach a wider audience.

eBooks: If you’ve got a lot to say on a topic, consider creating a comprehensive eBook that provides in-depth insights and establishes you as an authority in your field. eBooks can also serve as lead magnets, enticing visitors to provide their contact information in exchange for valuable content.

Social Media: Platforms like Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn are excellent ways to share your content, build a community around your brand, and engage with your audience. You can optimize your social media content marketing efforts by tailoring your content to each platform’s unique strengths and audience preferences.

  • LinkedIn: This professional networking platform is ideal for sharing industry news, articles about thought leadership, and company updates.
  • Instagram: This visually driven platform is perfect for sharing eye-catching images, behind-the-scenes looks, and short-form video content.
  • Twitter: With its short-form format, Twitter is ideal for sharing quick updates and news and engaging with your audience in real-time.

 

Case Studies: By showcasing the success stories of your customers, case studies provide social proof and demonstrate the effectiveness of your products or services, which are beneficial for B2B companies looking to build credibility and trust with potential clients.

Email newsletters: A well-crafted email newsletter can help you maintain regular contact with your subscribers, informing them about your latest content, promotions, and company news. Personalization and segmentation can further enhance the effectiveness of your email marketing efforts.

The Irresistible Importance of Content Marketing

“Great,” you might say, “but why should I bother with content marketing?” Here’s a taste of the benefits that successful content marketing campaigns can offer:

  • Builds trust and credibility: By providing valuable information, you demonstrate your expertise and show your audience that you understand their needs and challenges. It helps establish your brand as a trustworthy source of information and advice.
  • Boosts brand awareness: High-quality content gets shared and discussed, increasing your brand’s visibility and attracting more potential customers. Content marketing also enables you to reach new audiences by targeting specific keywords and topics that resonate with them.
  • Improves SEO: Search engines love fresh, relevant content. Regularly updating your website with new content will enhance your search rankings and make it easier for people to find you online. Well-structured content with proper headings, meta tags, and internal linking can improve your SEO efforts.
  • Generates leads: Content marketing enables you to capture leads through forms, gated content, and email subscriptions to give you a direct line of communication with potential customers. By offering valuable content in exchange for their contact information, you can build a robust email list that you can nurture into paying customers.
  • Nurtures relationships: By consistently offering valuable content, you can nurture relationships with your audience, turning casual readers into loyal customers who will spread the word about your brand. Personalized content and targeted email campaigns can further deepen these relationships and increase customer loyalty.

What is Content Marketing of the Future

The world of content marketing is ever-evolving. The future promises even more innovative and exciting ways to connect with your audience. Some content marketing trends to keep an eye on include:

  • Voice Search: As voice-activated devices like Alexa and Google Home continue to gain popularity, optimizing your content for voice search is becoming increasingly crucial. It includes focusing on long-tail keywords, natural language, and conversational tone.
  • Virtual and Augmented Reality: As technology advances, immersive experiences like virtual and augmented reality will offer new ways for brands to engage with their audience and create unique content. It could range from virtual product demos to interactive brand experiences.
  • AI-Generated Content: Artificial intelligence is already making waves in content marketing, with tools that can generate written content, design visuals, and even create personalized content for each user. While AI-generated content might not fully replace human-created content, it can enhance productivity and efficiency in content creation.
  • Interactive Content: From quizzes and polls to interactive infographics, audiences increasingly seek content they can actively engage with, offering brands a chance to stand out. Interactive content can also provide valuable insights into your audience’s preferences and behavior.
  • Web3: Some call this the next evolution of social media: a digital world in which we purchase products and interact with one another and brands.

 

The Art of Content Marketing Activities and Media

Now that you have some basic understanding of content marketing, it’s time to dive into the nitty-gritty. Here’s a rundown of the most shared content marketing activities and media you’ll want to explore:

  • Content Creation: This is where the magic happens. Develop a content strategy that outlines your goals, target audience, and the types of content you’ll create. Ensure your content is well-researched, engaging, and aligned with your brand voice. Allocate resources for content creation, such as hiring writers, designers, or videographers, and invest in tools that can streamline your content production process.
  • Content Curation: You don’t always have to create original content. Curating content from other sources can provide added value to your audience and establish your brand as a thought leader. Share relevant articles, infographics, or videos from industry experts, offering your unique perspective or insights, acknowledging the sources of curated content, and ensuring that the selected material aligns seamlessly with your brand message.
  • Content Distribution: Creating great content is only half the battle. It’s imperative to have a distribution plan that utilizes a variety of channels to guarantee that your content effectively reaches your intended audience. It might include email marketing, social media, guest posting on industry blogs, and syndication platforms. Tailor your distribution strategy to your audience’s preferences and habits, and continuously refine your approach based on performance data.
  • Content Promotion: Boost your content through paid advertising, influencer partnerships, or co-marketing campaigns with complementary brands. Experiment with promotion tactics, such as sponsored social media posts, native advertising, or content discovery platforms, to find your business’s most cost-effective and impactful methods.
  • Content Analytics: Keep track of your content marketing performance by monitoring key metrics like website traffic, social shares, engagement, and conversion rates. Use this data to identify patterns and trends, pinpoint areas for improvement, and make data-driven resolutions about your content strategy. Invest in analytics tools and platforms that can help you collect, analyze, and visualize your performance data.

PR: What is Content Marketing’s Role?

A content marketing campaign is only as good as the strategy behind it.  It takes time and energy to craft delectable content, whether that’s for social media, a blog post, or a compelling video; doing it right in a way that enhances your reputation with all stakeholders is worth the extra effort.  Follow these steps to create a breathtaking plan that will leave your audience craving more:

  • Define your objective: What do you like to achieve with your content marketing efforts? Whether it’s increasing brand awareness, launching a product, generating leads, boosting sales, or improving customer retention, having clear objectives will guide your game plan and help you measure success.
  • Know your audience: Develop detailed buyer personas that outline your target audience’s demographics, preferences, and pain points. By conducting market research and analyzing your customer data to refine your personas, you can create content that resonates with your audience to meet their needs. This approach can help you fine-tune your content creation strategy and ensure your messaging hits the mark.
  • Choose the proper content formats: Based on your audience’s preferences and your brand’s strengths, determine which content formats will be most effective for your campaign. Experiment with various designs and monitor their performance to find the perfect mix for your audience.
  • Audit your existing content: Look at your current content and evaluate what’s working and what’s not. Identify gaps in your content library and brainstorm ideas to fill them. Repurpose high-performing content into new formats to maximize its reach and impact.
  • Create a content calendar: Plan out your content in advance by creating a calendar outlining your content’s topics, formats, and publishing dates. It will help you stay organized, maintain a consistent publishing schedule, and produce fresh content that aligns with your marketing goals.
  • Establish your brand voice and style: To ensure consistency across your content, develop a clear brand voice and style guide. It should include guidelines on tone, language, visuals, and any industry-specific terminology or jargon.
  • Optimize for SEO: Perform keyword research to identify the terms your audience is searching for and incorporate them into your content. In addition, it’s essential to optimize your website for search engines by implementing appropriate meta tags, headings, and URL structures. It can improve your website’s visibility on search engine results pages and drive more traffic.Remember to optimize for voice search and local SEO, as these are becoming increasingly important.
  • Promote your content: A substantial content promotion strategy is essential for reaching your target audience. Leverage owned, earned, and paid channels to amplify your content’s reach. Feel free to repurpose or repackage content for different platforms.
  • Engage with your audience: Encourage them to interact with your content by asking questions, inviting comments, and responding to their feedback. Monitor your audience’s engagement and use the insights to tailor your content strategy and improve your content’s effectiveness. It will help build a community around your brand and foster loyalty.
  • Measure and analyze: Track your content marketing performance using key performance indicators (KPIs) such as website traffic, social shares, and conversion rates. Use the data you gather to make data-driven decisions and refine your content strategy for maximum impact.
  • Iterate and improve: Embrace an agile approach to content marketing by constantly testing, learning, and iterating on your strategy. Be prepared to pivot your plan as your audience’s preferences and the content landscape evolve. Always look for new trends and techniques to keep your content fresh and relevant.

Content Marketing Success Awaits

By understanding the importance of content marketing, exploring various types and formats, and crafting a well-thought-out plan, you’ll be well on your way to achieving content marketing success.

As you embark on this journey, always remember that the fundamental element of a prosperous content marketing campaign is generating valuable, engaging, and distinctive material that genuinely connects with your audience. Dare to be bold and innovative, and be proactive in experimenting with new ideas and formats. With creativity, hard work, and persistence, you’ll soon see your content marketing efforts translate into tangible results for your business.

Now conquer the content marketing world, one captivating piece at a time!

Does PR generate revenue? PR, like SEO, reaches people in two customer journey phases. The first is the “Oh! I didn’t know I needed that!” also known as awareness, and it also reaches people in the research phase, also known as consideration. So, PR for revenue is most effective in three phases: initial awareness phase, where you need people to be aware of your product; when you have a great product, and you know that if more people knew about it, they would buy it, or you need to edge out a competitor. PR, unlike advertising, doesn’t provide a straight line of trackbacks, on the other hand, unlike advertising PR has a longer shelf life – it’s very unusual for an article to be taken down. And unlike digital advertising, you don’t need to worry about click inflation. While we would never position PR vs. advertising as an either-or scenario, because both are important, PR positively impacts the entire business across silos; here are ways to track revenue increases from PR.

 

Time to Purchase Decreases

PR lands high on the trust scale for B2B and B2C buyers, so a well-thought-out PR campaign shortens the sales cycle. What does this look like, exactly?

For consumer brands, this can take many forms. The first is reducing the length of the customer journey. Well, let’s say people generally visit your website 2-3 times before purchasing, but you notice they’re visiting 1-2 times before purchasing, this is a positive signal that the brand is more trusted, and people don’t feel the need to do as much research before they buy. Another way PR increases revenue is by actually saving money because you may also see your purchase rates on advertisements increase because people are more familiar with your brand, and your retargeting is even more dialed in. Consumer brands who use earned media in their PR report those ads over perform.

Reducing the sales cycle is an especially valuable metric for B2B PR, where decreasing sales cycles by even a month can add millions to an annual bottom line. A visible leader is especially effective in B2B PR, but visible leaders can be very effective with consumer products as well. Sales people appreciate using positive media during various phases in their sales cycle. A library of earned media, be it CEO contributions or product coverage, can impress buyers and give them additional confidence in purchasing your product.

Organic Traffic

Everyone knows organic search is powerful, and there’s nothing more impressive than pulling up a brand and seeing a series of positive mentions. Ask any SEO expert, and they will tell you many signals create an effective SEO campaign, but one of them is still links back to your website from a highly trusted and/or relevant website. Does traffic always equate to PR revenue increases? No, but if you’re website is up to the task, the correlation is usually very noticeable.

So, when undertaking a PR campaign, watch your organic visits closely. You’re likely to see an increase in organic visits to your website simply because your brand is visible in more places and your search results are more independent and trusted. And the cool news about this organic uptick? It builds and builds as you earn more media coverage. You are receiving more inbound links while at the same time increasing awareness and search results. Sometimes companies get frustrated by the fact that this is a correlation, and they can’t directly track the most effective pieces of earned media. Believe me, PR agencies wish this was more obvious too, but the goal is to increase revenue, and when you see results that are undeniable, you know you’re on the right track.

As a digitally savvy PR firm, we do our own keyword research alongside your Google Console while researching media coverage to look for ways your SEO and PR can work together. We also support our clients with content strategies that boost organic traffic. A solid understanding of the PR ecosystem is essential for today’s media environment and for tracking revenue to PR campaigns.

 

PR: Increasing Customer Loyalty

There is nothing more costly than customer churn. But why do customers leave? While there can be many reasons unassociated with PR, the way PR impacts churn is by deepening the relationship with your customers. Customers like to see brands they support covered positively. It also allows them to share the content with their friends with the “this is the ____ I told you about.”

There’s another way to reinforce loyalty, and that’s through purpose-driven PR or social impact PR programs. Customers expect businesses to be more socially engaged than ever, but it’s a tricky proposition for brands, so solid PR and messaging are more vital than ever. And done well, this kind of messaging creates extraordinary customer loyalty because customers know you understand them.

PR is an important tool for emerging industries and ambitious brands, and while it is transformative, but it isn’t a magic bullet. Plan on working closely with your PR agency to get the best results. Before hiring a PR firm, establish the KPIs important to your company. The more open you are with your PR firm about your goals, including your long-term goals, the more your firm can build a custom PR program that helps you through all phases of your company’s growth. Remember, there are very few household name that ignore the revenue increases from PR.

Can growth marketing and public relations work together. Growth marketing is about customer acquisition and retention, often through paid media, with relentless iterations and deeply engaged knowledge of the consumer. Public relations is reputation management of a company’s image, often through earned media and deep understanding of broader cultural and media trends. So what do they have in common? On the surface, not much, but when you dig deeper into the tactics and the metrics, we can see where together growth marketing and public relations can work together successfully.

Suppose the business objective for a consumer product launch is to increase sales through decreasing competitors’ market share. In that case, a digitally savvy PR agency knows how to do competitive research of the entire digital landscape and media landscape and use that data to determine the opportunities to overtake a competitor, while a growth marketer is reviewing how the company attracts customers and retains customers. But where do growth marketing and public relations work together?

Data Driven KPIs

Today’s modern PR firms and PR campaigns should be tied to business goals and identified public relations metrics that support and funnel up into that goal.  While growth marketers are developing ads, PR agencies are developing ways to capture the target audience’s imagination. PR agencies may present a word-of-mouth activation or a targeted quality over-quantity earned media campaign that overlaps targeted audiences. A PR agency might also recommend content which can boost SEO and support brand values that interest and retain customers.  Just like a growth marketer, a modern PR agency is tracking metrics. What metrics might a PR agency track in the above scenario?

  • Mention Quality
  • Article Reach
  • Brand Placement in Article
  • Share of Voice
  • Domain Authority

All of the above PR metrics are measures of awareness and credibility. These metrics support top-of-funnel AND bottom-of-funnel customer journeys and can support growth marketing efforts with a keen eye on target audiences and messaging which supports growth marketing.

The Digital PR Toolkit

For growth marketers, the digital tool kit is primarily paid (but not exclusively); for growth marketing PR, the digital tool kit is primarily owned (but not solely). But there are a few areas where growth marketing and growth PR connect. One of those is SEO. For the growth marketer, SEO provides opportunities for retargeting and organic acquisition, growth marketing PR adds value to both. With a savvy eye on keywords and quality inbound links, PR supports growth marketing objectives to funnel into business objectives.

That’s not all; PR agencies working with media outlets to build revenue opportunities can help growth marketing with a high domain authority on inbound links as well as excellent reviews from credible media outlets, which send potential new customers searching for the product. These reviews could be in gift guides or hero reviews where the consumer product receives an in-depth study that meets Google’s product review update recommendations. Meanwhile, growth marketers will typically focus on reviews from influencers or existing customers. And a brand with positive customer reviews gives a journalist further confidence in a brand and a product.

Today, PR and growth marketing can use some of the same tools, they use them slightly differently:

  • Inbound Links
  • Owned Media
  • Credible Review Acquisition

Credibility: Where PR Fills The Gap

I often tell our clients PR creates the awareness and solidifies reputation; ads are the conversion driver – that’s how they work together, and they both work better. Why? It’s simple: earned media from credible media outlets is more trusted than paid ads. But few journalists look at it as their job to write conversion-focused marketing copy. The journalist’s job is traditionally to create the content that keeps you on the pages. From a longer tail and more strategic point of view – PR also builds brand credibility on the corporate level, trusted brands have faster aquisition and they have longer customer retention, meaning growth marketing is even more influential.

So when someone sees a great review of a product, and THEN they see the ad, they get the trigger to purchase the product, or maybe they sign up for a newsletter, or maybe the look for more reviews and do a Google search that lands them on another referral site. The pathways are endless, but they all come back to one thing: supporting the brand’s business goal.

I’m a fan of understanding and maximizing the media environment for our clients. The Avaans Media client is ambitious and goal driven, so understanding how our jobs support overall marketing strategies and business goals is essential. When we evaluate the landscape for our clients, we find a distinct point of view, and because our tools are different than growth marketers, we can glean insights and data that drive new insights. To be honest, I’m not concerned with being a purist about owned, earned, and paid. It’s the job of a digitally savvy PR agency to know what levers to pull when and how to shape campaigns that create success. That’s our job – and that’s why growth marketers and public relations can be best buddies.

We live in a world where ideas, products, and signals are happening so fast that it’s hard for the consumer to process everything. Yet, direct-to-consumer brands can continue to grow with a strategic eye on awareness and trust.  If we weren’t bombarded with over 5,000 advertisements per day, we could be more subtle.

The fact is, worldwide, the average person spends 473 minutes per day engaging with media. We also live in a post-ChatGPT world, and one still ruled by search engines and algorithms. Plus, newsrooms are shrinking (in 2021, they had fallen by 25% since 2008) as competition for ad dollars becomes less and less centralized. For this reason, DTC PR strategies need to keep up with the changing media environment and rethink earned media.

There are two ways to approach CPG PR; one is a holistic approach of communications, digital visibility, thought leadership, and product PR where metrics match key business objectives; the other is a laser-focused approach, which could be consumer product PR or thought leadership, depending on the brand strategy with more PR-focused KPIs. In an ideal world, all brands embrace a holistic point of view with a complete bespoke PR program. But, by choosing a strategic consumer PR lever, challenger consumer brands can be precise and thoughtful about their earned media. This is about the laser-focused approach, and consumer brand PR firms must expand their definition of PR to stay useful to DTC, CPG, and consumer product brands.

The Argument for Laser-Focused Media Relations

It’s a harsh world for direct-to-consumer brands to continue growing. For challenger consumer product, DTC and CPG brands – those past startup mode but not a household name – there are an overwhelming number of media options. From Instagram influencers to a dizzying array of advertising choices, the challenger brand has more choices than money. Therefore, it needs to act strategically to do two things at once to scale: build awareness and trust.

That’s one reason PR is the signature choice for consumer product PR: Trust and Awareness.

Trust is the longest game but the most crucial communication goal of any brand. Yet, trust takes a long time to build. Unlike Instagram Influencers (whose influence is waning) and paid advertisements, and the 68% of consumers who think cookie-based advertising is creepy (Marigold 2023), earned media addresses the #1 PR challenge for upstart brands: trusted reach. Whether your target audience is GenZ or a target broader, consumers must trust your brand before you edge in on the market share of competitors or create a new product category altogether, trusted reach is where the smart money goes.

So how do you build trust and awareness when your branding budget is limited? The fact is that branding is expensive, and brands with hyper-growth ambitions need a more direct form of branding.  Indeed, product reviews play a vital role in both trust and awareness, and there’s one way to super charge product trust: product reviews in trusted media outlets. Media coverage has several advantages over other brand awareness options, including stickiness. Unlike a fleeting social media post or a questionably targeted ad, product coverage, especially reviews on online media sites, is extremely sticky, lasting in search results for years.

Owning Content and Messaging with Thought Leadership

Executive visibility has never been so vital. A well-developed owned content program isn’t a blog program; it’s a program that embraces all the thought leadership opportunities available to hypergrowth brands today. From blog posts and contributions to emerging topics to the multitude of contributor opportunities to executives willing to share insights with the broader public, thought leadership is ripe with opportunities for challenger brands. This is especially true for younger audiences who distrust established and entrenched brands more than they do startup consumer brands.

Even if your audience isn’t reading those contribution sites, they add a credible and authoritative SEO link to the website and present executives as willing and open to engaging with their customers. According to the Edelman Trust Report, businesses were more trusted than the government and NGOs. But that trust is tenuous because CEO trust isn’t on solid ground, yet business leaders are seen as unifiers next to NGO leaders and teachers; that’s some pretty good company business leaders are keeping. Plus, the best way to earn trust is to be more visible.  Harvard Business Review says one of the most important ways for consumer brands to succeed includes deepening customer relationship, not just making comparisons with competitors.

Now is truly the time to embrace thought leadership because of the trusted status of businesses. From 2022 to 2023, businesses earned a 20-point bump in ethics on the Edelman Trust Report, so this is an area of opportunity for consumer brands – especially if they embrace purpose-driven PR. But even if a true purpose-driven message isn’t right for a consumer brand, there are likely aspects of ethics to which the leaders of the consumer brands can speak. And that’s important because 63% of consumers buy or advocate for brands based on their beliefs and values.

 

Embrace Digital PR Completely with Product Reviews

Digitally savvy PR keeps their eye on the future instead of “of the moment.” Let’s be clear: for trust and authority, there are no short cuts Google sees those work around tactics and actively adjusts against them. This is not a recommendation to game the system; it’s a recommendation to embrace the system. Getting a bunch of low-grade links is actually more damaging than helpful. And the idea of an influencer is changing. A few years ago, brands rushed to implement Instagram influencer campaigns, 90% of which fell flat because they weren’t well executed influencer campaigns. And as the influencer’s trust continues to wane, brands need to understand where their target markets are and who they trust. GenZ audiences don’t trust social media but look to social media to find the news. And 49% of GenZ trust cable news and network news, while 52% trust online only news sites. These online-only news sites are a boon to consumer brand PR because they constantly work to churn out content; they always need new ideas and angles. Plus, product reviews drive eyeballs and, as an added benefit, can also be sources of revenue through affiliate programs. Creating digitally savvy content that supports hero reviews alongside gift guide inclusions is an excellent way to focus consumer product PR budgets.

How Digital PR and Earned Media Work Together

Working alongside journalists to support their objectives is and always will be the objective of media relations. Today’s savvy media relations teams understand how to help digitally savvy online news outlets so that their content surfaces on Google (and AI-driven search like Chat GPT). It goes beyond keywords into the deep algorithm that is Google’s search engine. Direct-to-consumer brands can continue to grow by leveraging Google’s search and trust algorithm for themselves. And that search engine is leaning heavily into authority and trust. There are millions of ways to signal that your brand is trustworthy, but one of the most attainable is aligning with Google’s most trusted sources, and that’s where consumer product PR can make the biggest impact.

Upstart consumer brands can become hypergrowth consumer brands by investing in very defined strategic PR initiatives. Connect with us today to learn more about our laser-focused PR programs for ambitious brands.