Digital PR is a powerful, cost-effective way to build long-lasting visibility, reputation and, ultimately, profit. This guide will give you the foundational information you need to build an effective digital PR strategy on a limited budget.
The role of digital PR
Digital PR has the same goal as traditional PR, in that it is about building two core things: reputation and visibility. But in today's online world, the difference is that this is achieved in large part using two core tools: SEO and digital acquisition.
What is SEO?
Google has held the position as the most popular website worldwide for more than a decade. This means that, whatever your business, it’s likely that potential customers will start their journey with an online search. SEO is the process of optimising your website to drive organic (unpaid) traffic from search engines by making sure that it appears early in these search results. The importance of this becomes clear when you consider that 28.5% of Google users click on the first organic result [1].
SEO optimisation involves many elements, including using keywords in the content on your website, as well as publishing content on high-authority websites. If this external content also contains links back to your own website, this helps to improve your ranking for relevant keywords.
What is digital acquisition?
As with traditional PR, inclusion in a compelling story (either newsworthy or very topical) is a good way to secure third-party coverage, says digital PR consultant Natalie Richardson. But unlike traditional PR, stories on digital platforms can include valuable backlinks to your company website, meaning that readers can click straight through to your website, boosting your website traffic.
If the pages that visitors land on are optimised, for example by using tactics such as conversion rate optimisation, leads and sales can be generated from this traffic.
Digital PR examples
- Drive mentions on high-authority websites and online publications to gain backlinks
- Build brand trust through online customer reviews
- Publish SEO-friendly content that signals to search engines that you are a credible information source
- Nurture a database of digital journalists and online influencers
- Respond to journalist requests quickly to gain coverage
- Work with bloggers and influencers on product features and reviews to reach new audiences
- Be active on social media to gain exposure, boost website traffic and be part of the conversation
Digital PR as a money-saving strategy
The nature of digital PR means that it can be an effective money-saving strategy over the long term when compared with alternative marketing and communications activities.
It can be expensive to build traditional PR relationships with journalists working in broadcasting and print media, through hosting events, creating branded content and offering free products for review.
Digital PR offers a wider pool of relevant contacts and opportunities for your brand to appear (including websites, blogs, digital publications, social media). And while coverage on TV or radio can put your business in the spotlight briefly, coverage online can not only keep it there indefinitely, but allows you to use this exposure to drive customers directly to your business using backlinks.
If you're looking to spread out your PR investments more evenly, the American Express® Business Card, gives you up to 54 days to clear your Card balance, so you can keep your money in your account for longer and get more flexibility in your cash flow.¹
Digital acquisition vs. paid campaigns
Paid campaigns such as Pay Per Click (PPC), display and paid social can be effective tactical tools for driving traffic to your website, but often as soon as the campaign stops, the traffic stops. Publishing “evergreen” content (i.e. not related to a particular moment in time) on authoritative sites means that links can continue to have a positive SEO impact and drive traffic over the long term.
How much does a digital PR agency cost?
The cost of digital PR depends on a number of factors. Working with a digital PR agency offers clear benefits. Aside from allowing a business to outsource time-consuming tasks such as social media and email newsletter creation, an agency has access to a range of skills, which facilitates a multi-channel approach. Agencies will also likely have an existing database of contacts.
Monthly retainers for agencies can cost anywhere from £5,000 to £25,000, depending on the size and reach of the agency [2]. While some SMEs might hire an agency to work on digital PR full time, says Richardson, others looking to limit costs might look to hire an agency for one day a month – for example, to respond to journalists’ requests.
How to set up a digital PR strategy on a limited budget
The average salary for an in-house PR specialist is around £43,000 [3]. This approach means that your business has someone dedicated full time to your company. They are therefore not only able to respond to situations at all times, but have an intimate understanding of your company culture, as well as the brand and its strengths and weaknesses. However, their specialisation and contacts will be limited in comparison to an agency.
Another option could be to work on an ad-hoc basis with an individual PR specialist. Day rates range from £150 to £600, depending on experience [3].
“If you are tight on budget then you could focus your efforts on ‘quick win’ tactics that demand around one to two days per month, as a minimum,” says Richardson. “However, I’d say you probably want to invest at least four days per month on your digital PR activity, as this will allow you to include proactive tactics in your strategy, as well as reactive.”
Some of these approaches include:
Create useful content
Flipdish, an online food ordering business, uses SEO principles to build both reputation and visibility in a cost-effective way, says Claire Sweeney, head of brand marketing at the company. “Ensuring written content includes SEO keywords that the target audience is likely to search for is vital,” she says.
But optimising for SEO shouldn’t mean compromising on readability. “We always ensure the content is engaging, useful and informative – written in an informal, conversational style,” Sweeney adds. “Our target audience is time-poor and often needs bite-size tips and advice. Our ‘listicle’ [list-based articles] style blog posts provide useful, easy-to-digest content. We also create more in-depth, long-form content for when they have more time available.”
Link reclamation
Link reclamation involves identifying ‘broken’ links to your site (you can use Google Analytics to identify these), and contacting website owners and journalists to request that they update them. According to Richardson, this activity should only take around one day per month, but can take more time if your business gets a lot of coverage.
Invite reviews
As well as building community via its social media channels, Flipdish builds trust by asking customers to leave reviews. “We have amazing customers,” she says. “We simply ask them to leave a review when we know they’ve had a great experience with our product and team.”
Flipdish also encourages employees to engage with, and regularly share, content. “This can be anything from a blog post to a customer case study or a piece of media coverage,” she says.
You can use the American Express® Business Gold Card to invest in social media management tools to encourage and share positive customer reviews; it's accepted by the likes of Google and Hootsuite, and many other major marketing tools. So you can earn Membership Rewards® points every time you spend on your marketing.²
- The maximum payment period on purchases is 54 calendar days on Gold & Platinum Business Charge Cards and 42 calendar days on the Basic Business Charge Card, it is obtained only if you spend on the first day of the new statement period and repay the balance in full on the due date.
- If you'd prefer a Card with no annual fee, rewards or other features, an alternative option is available – the Business Basic Card.
- Membership Rewards points are earned on every full £1 spent and charged, per transaction. Terms and conditions apply.
Sources
[1] Sistrix, Why almost everything you knew about Google CTR is no longer valid