Digital PR can unlock several benefits for your business, such as building brand credibility, social proof, increasing brand awareness, and improving search engine rankings.
The steps below can land you in major digital publications that business dreams about landing.
Once you land one, other big and small publications will likely publish articles amplifying your hard work.
But is the work worth it? Absolutely.
It’s essential to have a digital pr strategy in today’stoday’s world.
This article will give you everything you need to get started.
1. Identify Your Target Audience
When creating your digital PR strategy, you must first identify your target audience and their interests.
Knowing exactly who your audience is will make it easier for you to tailor your pitch and messages to the right people.
Your audience must be aligned with the message you’re trying to communicate.
The most Instagrammable Pets are potentially getting good traction. Still, if you are not in the pet business, you will get little out of it.
Be sure your target audience fits your niche.
2. Understand the current trends in digital PR
This can help you understand what journalists and media publications are looking for.
Understand which topics are trending, and create content around those topics.
Knowing the trends gives you an edge when pitching your story. It increases the chances of being accepted by a publication.
Use tools like Google Trends or visit your target publications to discover similarities between topics.
Do they publish statistics often? Do they publish interview-style content of interesting people?
You can use this research to create content tailored to the publication you want to get featured in.
3. Identify Your Goals and Objectives
You must set your goals before creating a digital PR strategy.
Do you want to increase visibility? Do you want more people engaging with your content? Do you want to acquire backlinks to increase your website’s authority?
These goals will help you decide what digital PR strategy to create and how to measure its success.
Once you have established your goals, you can begin creating a plan for reaching them.
Set S.M.A.R.T. goals that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Timely.
Digital PR works, but the trends and opportunities come and go quickly. So, urgency in your goals will help you stay focused and motivated.
4. Create content that is engaging, informative, and relevant
This will typically be in the form of a press release sent through email.
But what is considered engaging, informative, and relevant?
Engaging content catches the reader’s eye and makes them want to read more.
Informative content should provide helpful information or insight into a particular topic. In addition, it should be interesting enough to keep the reader engaged until the end.
Relevant content means it needs to relate directly to the audience or publication it’s being sent to.
If you can create content that does all three, you have a much higher chance of getting accepted by the digital publications you pitch to.
You have to think outside the box to find opportunities to create content that gets picked up.
This is not about telling them how great your product or service is but about creating engaging content that does not promote your brand but can be mentioned positively.
Think of topics relevant to the industry and the target audience you want to reach.
You can also use tools like HARO (Help A Reporter Out) or #journorequest on Twitter, which offer media opportunities.
You can also compile regional data for statistics at credible sources like US Census Data and Statistics or Office for National Statistics in the U.K.
By gathering all the data, you can create interesting visuals, infographics, and reports that can be used to complement your story.
These are just a few ideas on how to find opportunities for digital PR, but there are many more creative ways to get noticed by publications.
5. Outreach Target Publications, Journalists, and Influencers
Now that you have identified the target audience, understand what’swhat’s trending, and set your objectives, it’s time to find influencers and journalists interested in your story.
With any pitch, you want to make accepting your content a no-brainer, and the key to this is personalization.
You must ensure your outreach message is tailored to each person you pitch to.
Be as specific as possible about why you think they would be interested in reading your story.
Explain clearly how it can benefit their audience or publication. If there is something you think they will find particularly interesting, mention it.
Approach this as if the journalist is selfish and only cares about themselves. Now find a way to craft your pitch to interest this person.
When emailing a journalist or influencer, don’tdon’t just copy and paste the same message for everyone on your list.
You need to ensure that each message is tailored specifically to them as much as possible.
The Subject Line
The subject line needs to be catchy and attention-grabbing. It should be short, to the point, and intriguing enough for them to open the email.
They receive requests day in and day out, so standing out is vital. Keep it to 50 characters to avoid getting cut off in the inbox.
The Body Copy
In the body copy, you want to express why you think this story would be of interest and relevant for their audience or publication.
You should also include supporting information such as statistics, recent studies, quotes from experts, and other relevant information to help you make your case.
You should include the article link if it’s already published or a clickable media asset like an infographic or video.
It’s also essential to remember to be polite and courteous when pitching to journalists and influencers, as they are inundated with requests, so be sure to thank them for their time.
The Closing
This is where you put your information. Include your name and title and the website or company you are associated with.
You should also include a call to action, such as asking them to share the content if they like it.
By following these steps, you can create a compelling pitch that increases your chances of getting accepted by digital publications and journalists.
The Follow Up
Sometimes your message can end up in their spam folder or get lost amongst all the other emails they receive, so a follow-up email is usually required.
Try to keep it succinct and polite, but state why you think their audience would be interested in the content you are pitching.
Also, mention something new that wasn’t included in your initial emails, such as a new statistic or an update on the story.
6. Don’t Skip Out On Social Media
This is one way to warm up potential contacts and help build relationships with digital PR influencers or journalists.
Social media provides an excellent platform for engaging with people, sharing content, and staying in touch.
For example, you can share the story on your Twitter profile and retweet it if it’s gaining traction.
You can comment, like, and become a resource to the influencer or journalist.
The more you are active on social media, the easier it will be for them to remember you when you send out your pitch.
Social media is not a one-sided street, so take the time to engage and build relationships with people.
7. Building and Nurturing Relationships
You’ve put time, energy, and resources into creating your story and reaching out to publications and influencers, but your job isn’t done after the content has been published.
It’s essential to nurture these relationships with journalists and influencers so that they are more likely to accept future pitches.
This involves responding quickly to any queries they have as well as thanking them for their help in promoting the content.
You should also be sure to engage with them on their social media sites, such as Twitter or Instagram when they post links to your story.
Be sure to comment and show appreciation for how they are helping you share your story. This will help build a genuine relationship that can be beneficial in the long run.
Journalists are always looking for a story and know other journalists. So, having some connections that you can reach out to and get your story seen is ideal.
Stay in touch with them and update them on any changes, news, or updates related to the story.
By taking the time to nurture relationships, you will be able to use digital PR more effectively and increase your chances of getting content accepted and published.
8. Monitor and measure the results of your campaign
Set up Google Alerts for keywords related to your story and track the performance of your content.
Keep track of how many times it has been shared, the number of comments likes, or views it has received, and its overall reach.
You should also measure engagement metrics such as clicks, conversion rate, and audience sentiment to gain insight into your story’s success.
This will help you understand what works and what doesn’tdoesn’t and make adjustments to future campaigns accordingly.
By monitoring and measuring the results of your digital PR campaign, you can ensure that it effectively gets your content seen by the right people.
The long-term benefits of a well-executed Digital PR strategy
The credibility, social proof, and authority that comes with having your story featured in a respected publication or influencer’sinfluencer’s social media page can be invaluable for any business.
It increases your visibility and helps build an audience of potential customers who trust and value your brand.
Digital PR is an effective way to grow your online presence and increase the visibility of your business, which can lead to more sales and higher profits.
Digital PR is also a great way to build relationships with influencers and journalists, who can be valuable resources for getting content accepted and published.
These long-term benefits make digital PR an invaluable tool for any business looking to grow its online presence while making it easier to land future media opportunities.
When other outlets mention your website and business, it will increase the chances that your stories will be accepted and shared in the future.
