5 Benefits of PR in Digital Marketing

There is no shortage of sequels and remakes coming out in theaters.

That’s a strategic move on the part of film studios. Creating sequels and remakes is much less risky because there is already a strong audience and fanbase around those films. For example, there’s already a huge buzz around the new Harry Potter TV series, which won’t even come out until 2026. You won’t see the same popularity for a new film or series with no fan base.

To succeed in marketing, you must build your brand’s fanbase through brand awareness. Now, before you sign a TV show contract with Max, there’s an easier way to get your name out there. Then, once you have strong brand awareness, you will have a much easier time marketing your products than trying to sell products to a crowd who never heard your name.

Digital PR helps you stand out from an overcrowded digital society and build valuable brand authority.

What are the benefits of digital PR, and how can you use it to enhance your digital marketing efforts through strong brand awareness? We’ll unwrap those questions together.

Understanding the Importance of PR in Digital Marketing Campaigns

You can’t forget brand awareness in your efforts to gain new customers. Brand awareness is what gets your name out there in the first place, and it continues to impact the rest of the nurturing and conversion process.

For example, Google’s recent leak showed how crucial links are to building online authority and presence. That authority will help your content rank higher in search engine results pages. When you perform digital PR to create awareness, that translates to authority through links and traffic. That authority then increases your ranking in search engines, eventually driving traffic and new leads.

What Is Digital PR?

Public relations controls your image so your audience learns about your brand and sees you favorably. Most PR campaigns don’t focus on selling products, although that is often the subtle background message, but rather introduce you to the world and what you stand for.

Digital PR aims to build brand awareness, focusing specifically on digital channels. A few digital PR examples include:

  • Distributing press releases in journals and on news sites
  • Reaching out through popular media outlets
  • Participating in interviews
  • Posting answers to questions that journalists will publish
  • Sponsoring popular products or receiving an influencer promotion
  • Performing publicity stunts online to grab people’s attention
  • Communicating during a crisis
  • Publishing studies and surveys

These examples of digital PR in marketing are just the beginning.

Best Digital PR Tools for the Modern Marketer

Have you ever been to a concert for your favorite band? You are one in several thousand waving frantically for your music idol to notice you. However, unless you had the connections to get a front-row seat, there’s a very, VERY small chance of them giving you a second glance.

Trying to connect with a third party, especially big-name media companies like The New York Times, can feel like standing at the back of a large crowd. One way to gain direct access to the front row for strategic media outlets and public figures is through PR tools.

We like the tools OnePitch and JustReachOut. They streamline the process of connecting with top-tier journalists. We also use Featured to find new publishing opportunities, interviews, and questions to answer.

Let’s take a look at how these tools make digital PR networking a breeze:

  • Discovery: Don’t waste time searching through Google’s pages for a brand that might be a valuable source of promotion and a great addition to your strategic PR network. Use OnePitch to search and discover your industry’s best journalists and publishers.
  • Pitching: We know pitching is scary, especially if you are all too familiar with rejection letters. OnePitch uses smart technology and years of experience to create the perfect pitch. With templates and insights into the best pitching practices, you can make timely, powerful pitches that place.
  • Monitoring: Keep the pulse of what’s happening in your favorite media organizations and what they are publishing. This helps you pitch what they want and write your pitch around what you know resonates most with the media outlet.
  • Responding: You don’t need to publish an article to get your name out there. Become a participant in an interview or answer online questions that journalists will publish on their site. Discover these questions using Featured. Your answers position you as an expert.

5 Benefits of Digital PR for Your Marketing Campaign

What are the benefits of PR?

What happens when you spice up your marketing strategy with digital PR? While all results depend on having a strong and consistent strategy, here are a few results you may experience and insider tips for improving your chances of seeing these benefits of digital PR.

1. Strategic Networks

Third parties have the audience while you have the solutions. The third party is the bridge that helps you convey your solutions and messages to that audience. To cross that bridge, you must first build a network of influential media outlets and public figures.

When you take the time to build relationships with the leaders in your industry, you will create a strategic network that unlocks the door to your entire world.

Some types of digital PR keyholders include:

  • News sites
  • Influencers
  • Industry journals
  • Thought leaders

Rarely do relationships sprout overnight. They take time investing in a relationship through regular PR activities. It also involves finding common ground to build that relationship.

Tip: When reaching out to journalists, consider what is trending in the news, what is relevant to their readers, and what they personally relate to or feel strongly toward. Then, when you identify a common problem or relevant solution, send a personal pitch, taking time to humanize it and address the reporter by name.

These are the types of pitches that will catch a reporter’s eye and become the start of an ongoing PR relationship.

2. Expanded Reach

With a trusted media agency or influencer backing your name and sharing your pitch, you’re suddenly an authority in the field. Because your audience trusts the media outlet, they trust you because the outlet they trust recommends you.

Google also will take note. It tracks backlinks from leading media outlets and will often prioritize your content over lesser-known brands because of that support from a high-authority source.

Google search is only the tip of the iceberg for your reach. You will also have direct access to your new media friend’s network. Large audiences take years to build. However, through your new network, you can access a broad audience.

For example, Cristiano Ronaldo, the top social media influencer in the world, has over 632 million followers on Instagram. Nike has 305 million followers on Instagram, but they sponsor Ronaldo. Because of that partnership, he performs PR campaigns for them, tripling their reach.

While you can continue spending a couple thousand dollars a month reaching your current audience, you could invest some of that budget into networking with influencers and media powers that already did the legwork and enjoy direct contact with millions more than you would ordinarily connect with, discovering those media powers using those PR tools we mentioned earlier.

3. Enhanced Topic Research and Ideation

Most media outlets, such as The New York Times and Forbes, have very strict guidelines for writing. When you perform digital PR, you use a higher level of journalism and writing than you ordinarily would typically publish on your website to qualify for the publications.

When you write for a news site and work with journalists, you can benefit from their thought leadership and authority in your niche. They may also offer insights and provide new content opportunities.

Before you can benefit from journalist insights and research, you must first connect with journalists or influencers who will be interested in your brand.

Tip: Use your digital PR tools to search for journalists in your area and read through articles they wrote in the past. You can also check their journalist bio and LinkedIn profile for more insights into the causes they care about and their preferred niches. Those with a strong background in your niche will offer fresh insights and personal experience for your brand when you work closely with the journalist or influencer.

4. Greater Brand Authority and Credibility

Brand authority is how much your audience trusts you.

For instance, most people consider a person with a medical degree an authority in the medical field. Others trust them to know enough about the industry to pay hundreds for diagnosis and treatment from that person.

For brands, when you have authority, people look to you for answers and solutions. They can count on you to solve their pain points and problems. Building brand authority through trust is a slow process of repeatedly proving that you know your field.

Tip: You can build trust and authority by using a combination of case studies and word-of-mouth. However, using digital PR can speed up this process. Influencers, journalists, and media outlets already have a trusted audience. When they share your articles, promote your products, or mention your name, their audience starts to trust you as well. Additionally, you can establish trust by responding to public inquiries and participating in expert-led interviews to showcase your authority in the field.

5. Integrated PR and Digital Marketing Analytics

Performing digital PR allows you to integrate your PR metrics with your other digital marketing analytics, avoiding data siloes and helping you see the big picture of your marketing efforts.

Measuring PR Impact on Digital Marketing KPIs

The key performance indicators you will track in your digital PR are people’s reactions to your publication or campaign. These reactions can come in several forms:

  • Media Reactions: What is the media saying about your campaign? Use tools like SEMrush, Cision, or Mention to track mentions from media agencies. These mentions both increase your exposure and show you have built enough authority and awareness to attract attention from media agencies.
  • Sentiment Analysis: Monitor how people are reacting to your articles and campaigns. Use tools like Sprout Social, Qualtrics, or Brandwatch to analyze tone and mentions. Then, categorize them as positive, negative, or neutral to keep a pulse on the public’s sentiment toward your brand.
  • Share of Voice: How much awareness have you created compared to similar companies? Analyzing your share of voice using tools like Meltwater, Cision, or TrendKite helps you understand what proportion of conversation you lead within your industry niche.

Your exact KPIs will vary depending on the types of PR in digital marketing you use, so be sure to research what metrics would be most valuable in your unique situation.

Integrating PR Metrics with Digital Marketing Analytics Tools

You can combine your digital PR and marketing analytics in several ways for a more comprehensive view of how these KPIs play into your bigger marketing goals.

  • Combine PR and Web Analytics: Use tools like Google Analytics to monitor how your web traffic and engagement change after digital PR campaigns. Google Analytics can also help you identify referring links, such as when readers come from those digital PR articles.
  • Attribution Modeling: Map out a customer’s journey from the first touchpoint to purchase to understand what steps contributed to that conversion. You can attribute part of those wins to digital PR campaigns.
  • PR Impact on Conversion Rates: While attribution modeling can help attribute some of the conversion wins to a digital PR campaign, you may want to dig even deeper to fully understand just how much of an impact a campaign had. Use tools like Kissmetrics or Mixpanel to track user behavior from media touchpoints to conversions. This will provide a more detailed picture of the direct impact of PR on your business growth.

Boost Your Digital PR Campaign with JS Interactive

You have everything you need to begin a digital PR campaign today. The only thing missing is taking that first step.

You don’t need to take that step alone. After all, no one likes stepping into new spaces without a friend at their side.

Let us be that friend and guide you through your digital PR campaign to help you stand out from your competition. Tap into our expertise through personalized strategies and services to help your brand shine.

Connect with us to learn more about our digital PR services.

Justin

Justin Staples

For 15 years, Justin has guided businesses on a transformative journey through strategic marketing and design to craft their unique online identity.