In today’s digital landscape, content marketing and public relations pair like peanut butter and jelly
Public relations and content have developed into critical components of an integrated marketing communications strategy. Long gone are the days where earned media could sustain a brand’s communication needs—today public relations has developed into an integral component of content marketing.
The evolution of PR and content marketing gives marketers the ability to bridge traditional publicity with the changing landscape of the internet to improve how the message gets to their audience—including the media. Check out our breakdown on how content marketing and PR have evolved to meet the needs of today’s audience.
What is Content Marketing?
Content marketing involves creating useful and relevant content to help move an audience through their buying journey. By engaging with informative content, the audience builds trust in the brand and will seek them out for more information. Content marketing is a way of communicating with prospects without too obviously pushing for a sale, which can be done through infographics, podcasts, videos, books and webpages. The goal is to become the go-to authority in your industry, so customers new and old will keep coming back for more.
Let’s get real for a second: This blog is a piece of content marketing, as we wrote it to help educate our readers on the evolution of PR and content. By positioning ourselves as experts on PR and content, we hope to move you through your buying journey to contact us for our services.
What is Public Relations?
Public relations focuses on the cultivation of relationships and the ability to effectively communicate messaging to influential contacts. According to the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), “Public relations is a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics.” PR uses storytelling to share information with the public using unpaid, or “earned,” media.
How Do Content Marketing and PR Work Together?
PR and content marketing work together to nurture a company’s relationship with their audience, while also working to expand business reach and brand awareness. While traditionally this has been done through the use of press releases, with the rise of content marketing, marketers need to incorporate digitally-relevant PR tactics into their campaigns to reach their audience. Instead of relying solely on a self-serving and dryly worded press release document, marketing experts are now turning to content marketing to produce high-caliber pieces that provide value to all parties: the company, its audience, and potentially interested media outlets. Through PR, marketers are able to position themselves as thought leaders, innovators or whatever else best fits their company’s needs.
Increase Your Reach
For your content to make an impact, it needs to be seen—and high-quality content released using a public relations strategy will increase the content’s reach. Not only can PR professionals use the content to strategically pitch to news outlets, it can also be used to get featured as a guest blog on an industry site. This puts your content in front of an expanded audience and builds your credibility, while also driving folks back to your site.
Develop Consistency
Using PR and content marketing together in a strategic plan helps develop consistency for your brand. Consistent language and imagery establish your brand and set your audience’s expectations. Irregularities come off as disingenuous or disorganized, so aligning your content plan in PR and marketing will keep your message strong. Press releases, for example, can be sent out through the traditional route and rewritten into blog form and shared on social media, sharing a consistent message in multiple ways.
Boost SEO
Marketers can also use content marketing and PR to improve their search engine ranking. SEO best practices are constantly evolving as search engines change their algorithms, but there are some timeless practices that will help a company’s ranking. For example, education content should use outbound links to credit sources which will help search engines better understand what your website provides for your readers. Backlinking also helps SEO as credible sites, such as industry blogs, link back to your site. It’s also an opportunity to include relevant links to previous content you’ve published that may further entice or serve your audience.
If you have a message but aren’t sure how to get it to your audience, give us a call! Our content team is ready to share your story and give it the boost it needs. Let’s talk!
