Why digital PR is the best link-building strategy
Traditional link building is pretty much dead.
Before SEO was a well-known marketing tool, SEOs would perform link outreach, getting website and blog owners to add their clients’ links.
It wasn’t long before they started spamming the system. Creating websites purely for the sake of link building.
Then Google introduced the Penguin algorithm and took a stronger stance on manipulative link-building practices.
And it was then that traditional link-building methods started to die.
High-quality backlinks are part of many successful SEO strategies, but have you considered the power of digital PR in securing those links for your website?
In this article, we will explore link-building and the benefits of digital PR to help you understand what a good digital PR strategy could do for your business.
What is digital PR?
Digital PR is all about using online platforms and digital strategies, including anything from social media to blogs and online publications, to connect and engage with your audience.
Digital PR can give your brand visibility and reputation a boost while also generating high-quality backlinks, making it more adaptable and expansive compared to the methods used in traditional PR campaigns.
Since digital platforms provide data on impressions, clicks and engagement, digital PR is also more measurable.
What's the difference between traditional PR and digital PR?
Traditional PR and digital PR are two distinct approaches to public relations. Traditional PR relies on offline channels like print publications, TV, radio, and physical events to reach a mass audience through mainstream media outlets.
It aims to secure coverage in traditional media and reaches a broad spectrum of people.
In contrast, digital PR operates in the online space, leveraging digital assets such as websites, blogs, social media, online publications, and influencers to connect with targeted audiences in a more precise and data-driven manner.
With analytics and insights, digital PR professionals can measure the impact of campaigns more effectively, tracking metrics like website traffic, social media engagement, and conversions.
The agility of digital PR allows brands to respond quickly to trends and engage with their audience in real time, while traditional PR often requires more lead time and planning for media responses.
So, in the battle of digital PR vs traditional, who wins?
An integrated PR approach combining traditional and digital PR elements can most effectively maximise a brand's reputation and visibility across diverse media landscapes.
How digital PR and SEO are linked
Digital PR and SEO are like peas in a pod, working together to enhance online visibility and drive organic traffic.
Digital PR plays a vital role in SEO strategies by generating quality backlinks from authoritative sources.
When reputable websites link back to your content or mention your brand, it signals to search engines that your website is trustworthy and relevant, boosting your search engine rankings.
Additionally, digital PR aims to generate buzz and increase brand mentions, which contribute to a strong online presence.
These factors align with SEO objectives of improving visibility, increasing brand awareness and organic traffic, and establishing credibility.
On the other side, SEO practices, such as keyword optimisation and on-page optimisation, support online PR by ensuring that content is discoverable and well-structured for search engines.
The integration of digital PR and SEO strategies maximises the potential for organic search traffic, brand exposure and long-term success in the digital landscape.
What are the benefits of digital PR?
Digital PR gives your business a leg up over your competitors in more ways than one, ramping up your brand's online presence and reputation. Here are six digital PR benefits:
High-quality and authoritative backlinks
By engaging with reputable online media outlets, influential bloggers and industry experts, digital PR campaigns can generate valuable backlinks that contribute to improved search engine rankings, increased domain authority and enhanced credibility.
Digital PR campaigns can create a ripple effect, as well-crafted content and coverage can attract further backlinks from other websites and amplify the brand's online reach.
Natural and organic link acquisition
Digital PR focuses on building genuine relationships and creating compelling content that naturally attracts links. Unlike some traditional link-building techniques that may involve questionable practices, digital PR emphasises organic link acquisition.
When brands produce valuable and shareable content, it naturally attracts backlinks from other websites, providing long-term benefits and mitigating the risk of penalties from search engines.
Enhanced brand exposure and visibility
Digital PR efforts can significantly boost brand exposure and visibility. Through coverage, media releases, guest blogging, and influencer collaborations, brands can reach a wider audience and tap into new market segments. Increased visibility leads to greater brand recognition, higher website traffic, and potential new business opportunities.
Building relationships with influencers and journalists
Digital PR allows brands to build relationships with influencers, bloggers, journalists and industry experts. Collaborating with these key players enables brands to leverage their credibility and reach, gaining access to their target audience and potentially earning valuable endorsements. These relationships can lead to ongoing partnerships, further enhancing brand reputation and visibility.
Journalists receive hundreds of pitches daily, so establishing genuine relationships with them can open doors for your business online and offline.
Difficult for competitors to emulate
The strategic nature of digital PR makes it challenging for competitors to replicate or imitate. Building strong relationships with journalists, influencers, and experts takes time because you can't build trust overnight.
Equally, creating valuable content and gaining media coverage cannot be easily replicated because following these steps to creating an effective digital PR strategy requires time, resources and expertise. By investing in digital PR, brands gain a competitive advantage and establish a unique position in the market.
Builds brand credibility and trust
When a business earns coverage, positive reviews, or mentions from reputable and authoritative sources through digital PR efforts, it portrays a reliable and trustworthy brand image in the eyes of its ideal audience.
Such endorsements from respected publications or influencers act as social proof, assuring potential customers that the brand is legitimate and offers valuable products or services.
Moreover, the content created for online PR campaigns often addresses customers' needs, provides valuable insights, or solves their problems, further reinforcing the brand's expertise and commitment to its audience, making digital PR important for many brands.
The disadvantages of a digital PR explained
While online PR is a great digital marketing strategy, a digital PR campaign is not without its disadvantages.
Resource intensive
Implementing successful digital PR campaigns can be arduous, demanding significant time and resources. From conducting in-depth research to identifying target publications and influencers, meticulous planning and execution are paramount.
Unfortunately, not all businesses possess the necessary resources to undertake such efforts, leaving smaller companies or startups at a disadvantage in competing with larger, well-established brands.
Uncertain results
Despite dedicating considerable efforts to a digital PR campaign, there remains an inherent uncertainty in the outcomes. The success of link-building and media coverage is not guaranteed, leaving brands in a precarious position.
Even with compelling pitches and engaging content, there's no assurance that prominent publications or influencers will pick up the story, potentially resulting in lower-than-expected returns on the investment.
Time sensitivity
The fast-paced nature of the digital world requires many digital PR efforts to be timely and responsive. News cycles and trends can change rapidly, making it essential for brands to capitalise on opportunities swiftly if they want to get the benefits of newsjacking.
Delaying outreach or missing the optimal timing can result in diminished impact, as audience interest may wane, and other competing stories take precedence.
What are some effective digital PR campaign strategies?
Now that we know how digital PR helps brands let's look at some effective, common digital PR strategies and tips on how to execute them successfully.
Creating newsworthy and shareable content
One of the foundations of effective digital PR is creating compelling and newsworthy content that resonates with your target audience. This can include blog posts, infographics, videos, podcasts and interactive content. The key is to provide valuable information, solve problems or entertain your audience.
Shareability is crucial, so ensure your content is easily shareable on social media platforms and encourage your audience to spread the word. Incorporating visual elements, storytelling techniques and a clear call-to-action can significantly enhance the shareability of your content.
Utilising press releases and media coverage
A great digital PR example for 35mm Co.
Press releases remain a valuable tool in digital PR as they help distribute important news and updates to the media and wider audience. When creating a press release, focus on crafting a compelling headline and an engaging lead paragraph to grab attention. Include relevant and newsworthy information, quotes from key stakeholders and any supporting data or statistics.
Distribute your online press releases using online PR distribution services and directly to targeted media outlets and journalists. Be responsive and available for media inquiries to maximise media coverage opportunities. Be sure to monitor and track media coverage to measure the impact of your press release.
Influencer outreach and collaborations
Influencer marketing outreach and collaborations have become integral to digital PR strategies. Identify influential individuals or organisations in your industry or niche and reach out to them for potential partnerships. Influencers can help amplify your brand message, reach new audiences, and build credibility.
When approaching influencers, personalise your outreach and clearly communicate the mutual benefits of collaboration. Offer them unique and valuable content, exclusive access or incentives to engage with your brand. Maintain strong relationships with influencers by regularly engaging with their content and promoting their work as well.
Guest contributions and opinion editorials to reputable publications
My opinion editorial for Inside Small Business
Guest contributions and opinion editorials (op-eds) provide an opportunity to establish thought leadership and gain exposure in reputable publications. Research and identify publications that align with your industry and target audience. Study their editorial guidelines and contribute insightful and well-written articles that provide value to their readers.
Incorporate data, research and personal experiences to support your arguments. Ensure your articles are original, compelling and well-researched to increase the likelihood of publication. Promote your published articles through your website, social media channels and email newsletters to maximise their reach.
Social media engagement and brand advocacy
Social media platforms offer an excellent opportunity to engage with your audience and build brand advocacy. Develop a strong social media strategy by identifying the platforms where your target audience is most active. Regularly share valuable content, engage with your audience through comments and messages and respond quickly to inquiries.
Encourage user-generated content and seek out brand advocates to promote your products or services. Run contests, giveaways and interactive campaigns to foster engagement and virality. Monitoring and analysing social media metrics will help you refine your strategy and optimise your efforts.
How to measure the effectiveness of digital PR strategy
Tracking backlinks and referral traffic
Monitor the number and quality of backlinks generated from PR efforts using digital PR tools like SEMrush or Ahrefs. An increase in high-quality backlinks suggests successful PR outreach and amplification.
Referral traffic analysis in tools such as Google Analytics helps identify the sources driving visitors to your website. Look for spikes in website traffic from PR-related sources like news outlets, blogs or influential websites. By tracking backlinks and referral traffic, you can gauge the impact of your digital PR strategy in generating visibility, driving traffic and building credibility for your brand or content.
Monitoring brand mentions and media coverage
Utilise online monitoring digital PR tools or social media listening platforms to track social media mentions of your brand or key campaign elements across various channels. Look for increases in brand mentions, especially in influential publications, industry blogs or social media conversations related to your PR efforts. Assess the sentiment and tone of these mentions to gauge the overall perception of your brand.
Keep track of media coverage by monitoring press releases, news articles or interviews featuring your brand. Evaluate the reach and quality of media coverage to measure the impact of your PR strategy on generating visibility, credibility and positive brand associations.
Analysing keyword rankings and organic search visibility
Regularly track the rankings of target keywords related to your PR campaign using keyword research tools or rank-tracking software. An increase in keyword rankings indicates improved visibility in search results, which can be attributed to successful PR efforts.
Monitor organic search visibility metrics, such as impressions and clicks, in tools like Google Search Console. Assess any noticeable changes in these metrics to evaluate the impact of your PR strategy in enhancing organic search visibility and driving organic traffic to your website.
Assessing social media engagement and shares
Analyse metrics such as social media shares, likes, comments and click-through rates to gauge the level of engagement and interaction generated by your PR content on social media. Increased engagement signifies a positive response and indicates that your PR efforts are resonating with the audience.
Monitor the number of shares your content receives across social media channels. Higher shares indicate that your PR content is deemed valuable and share-worthy, extending its reach and potentially attracting new audiences, thereby demonstrating the effectiveness of your digital PR strategy.
Is digital PR a good SEO strategy for your business?
Digital PR enables brands to generate high-quality backlinks from reputable websites, which in turn boosts your website's authority and search engine rankings. A digital PR campaign can increase brand awareness and exposure through media coverage and influencer collaborations, leading to greater brand recognition and organic search traffic.
What businesses suit a digital PR campaign?
A digital PR strategy can be effective for a wide range of businesses, but some types of businesses are particularly well-suited to leverage its benefits. Here are some examples:
Startups and Small Businesses: Digital PR can be an excellent strategy for startups and small businesses looking to gain brand exposure and credibility. It allows them to reach a broader audience and compete with more established players in the market.
E-commerce and Online Retailers: Online retailers can use digital PR to promote their products, attract more customers, and increase online visibility. Securing media coverage or positive reviews from influential websites can boost sales and build trust with potential buyers.
Technology Companies: Tech companies often have innovative products or services that can attract media attention. Digital PR can help them showcase their advancements, gain media coverage, and position themselves as industry leaders.
Software as a Service (SaaS) Providers: SaaS companies can benefit from digital PR to demonstrate their expertise, share success stories, and attract potential clients. Securing relevant tech or business publications coverage can help drive traffic and increase sign-ups.
Healthcare and Wellness Brands: Digital PR can be effective for healthcare and wellness brands seeking to build trust and credibility with their target audience. It allows them to share valuable insights, expert opinions, and success stories, positioning themselves as reliable sources of information.
Fashion and Beauty Brands: Fashion and beauty brands can use digital PR to showcase their products, collaborate with influencers, and get featured in fashion and lifestyle publications. This exposure can boost brand awareness and attract new customers.
Travel and Hospitality Industry: Digital PR can help travel, and hospitality businesses showcase their destinations, hotels, or experiences. They can attract more tourists and travellers by securing media coverage in travel publications or influencer features.
Nonprofit Organisations: Nonprofits can use digital PR to raise awareness about their causes, showcase their impact, and attract support from donors and volunteers. Media coverage and positive mentions can help increase their reach and credibility.
Funday Sweets is a food brand that uses digital PR to get backlinks from all kinds of publications
Food and Beverage Brands: Food and beverage companies can leverage digital PR to share their unique recipes, health benefits, and sustainability efforts. Getting featured in food blogs or lifestyle publications can drive interest and boost sales.
Real Estate and Property Developers: Real estate businesses can use digital PR to showcase their projects, highlight success stories, and build trust with potential buyers or investors. Positive media coverage can enhance their reputation in the market.
It's important to remember that every business is unique, with its own set of goals and target audience. Therefore, choosing a digital PR strategy that aligns with your specific business objectives is crucial.
Whether focusing on media relations, influencer outreach or content marketing, tailoring your approach will ensure your efforts are well-suited to achieve your desired outcomes.
Choose an SEO agency that knows digital PR
Don't miss the opportunity to leverage digital PR as a powerful link-building and SEO tool. Sunday Best Digital is an SEO and digital PR agency that can help build your brand presence with strategic SEO and digital PR services.
Stay tuned to find out how to create a digital public relations strategy.
