Public relations has evolved drastically over the last few years, to the point where some marketing agencies now use the term ‘Digital PR’ as a way of framing their SEO and link building services. Brands beware! PR expertise takes years to build up, as do relationships with media outlets. SEO specialists are not necessarily PR professionals. There is a marked difference in the skillset and it’s far more than just getting backlinks to your website.
What is Digital PR?
It’s simply a modern spin on traditional PR that recognises the value of building online awareness. There’s nothing fundamentally different between traditional PR and digital PR. They are one and the same discipline. The only distinction is the communication channel. Traditional PR relied on print and broadcast media for raising client awareness, whereas the term ‘Digital PR’ simply reflects the movement of publishers online with websites and magazines.
Evolving into Digital PR, however, has enabled public relations to align more closely with overall marketing objectives such as SEO, PPC and other techniques. A combination of these helps brands to increase reach and improve reputation in their markets by harnessing both free editorial and paid search.
Authority is crucial
The buzzword amongst SEO specialists is ‘authority’ and this is something that Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire based PR agency Blackbird is very hot on. All of our client campaigns have relevance and authority as cornerstones for success, which take into account search algorithms.
Google values authoritative content and rewards websites which have backlinks from highly rated channels, as these are viewed as sources of credibility. Although links aren’t the only ranking factor, they reflect how respected a website is. Our digital PR campaigns are designed with a mix of authority and relevancy, in order to optimise search and conform to Google’s guidelines about E-A-T: expertise, authority and trustworthiness.
How Digital PR can impact business
PR is all about reputation management, building and maintaining a brand’s positive profile and influencing engagement with it, whether as a customer, supplier or advocate. Our objective at Blackbird is to position our clients as ‘go to’ experts in their field. By leveraging their innovation in particular markets, we develop a PR strategy and tactics that gets our clients noticed and respected.
Ultimately, driving traffic to client websites as a result of organic search or referrals is hugely satisfying and also has commercial value. The more authoritative the brand ranks and backlinks secured, the greater the potential for inbound leads traffic.
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