Every small business owner knows building a successful brand requires an enthusiastic audience. But where do you find that audience? And once you do, how do you keep them engaged and ensure your brand leaves a lasting, positive impression?
That’s where digital PR can help. A strong digital PR strategy can help your brand stand out in competitive markets, build a loyal following with your target audience, and maintain a reputation that keeps customers coming back—on a scale that works for any business.
Let’s dive into the world of digital PR and explore the essential tactics and tools you can use to make a name for your business in the online world.
What is digital PR?
Digital PR, or digital public relations, is the practice of building and managing your business’s image online. Essentially, it’s about influencing the way the world sees your business.
At its core, digital PR has 2 goals:
- Boosting your brand’s visibility. The more well-known your brand is online, the more opportunities you’ll have to attract new prospects.
- Building trust with your audience. Establishing a positive, credible image for your brand helps turn prospects into loyal customers.
Achieving both these goals helps your brand stay visible and competitive, with a strong reputation that drives long-term growth.
How is digital PR different from traditional PR?
Traditional PR uses established channels like television, print, and in-person events to reach your target audience. On the other hand, digital PR uses online channels such as digital publications, search engines, and social media to build your business’s visibility.
Nowadays, many businesses choose a digital-first approach over traditional PR because their target audience is easier to reach online. Even so, traditional PR is still a valuable method of growing your brand’s reputation, and the best PR strategies use a mix of both. The main reason why digital channels are more popular is because they’re often more cost-effective than traditional PR and make it easier for brands to interact with audiences and track engagement—key benefits for small businesses with limited resources.
Are link building and digital PR the same?
Not quite, but they do overlap. Link building is a tactic that involves earning backlinks to your webpages from other websites to boost your search rankings. It’s an important part of your overall search engine optimization (SEO) strategy.
While they both involve increasing your brand’s visibility, link building focuses entirely on increasing your content’s rank in search engine results, whereas digital PR is a broader strategy that uses multiple channels. However, a great digital PR campaign will often result in link building naturally—such as when a journalist publishes an article about your new product and includes a backlink to your website.
Why does your business need a digital PR strategy?
Investing in a digital PR strategy can help connect your brand with its target audience and drive tangible business results, from top-of-mind awareness to social proof. Let’s unpack the benefits you can expect from your digital PR campaigns.
Increase brand awareness
Growing a business means growing your audience. By using digital PR to increase brand awareness, you can ensure your business stays top-of-mind for customers as they consider who to buy from. Not to mention, if the decision comes down to you and a competitor, customers will often choose the brand they’re more familiar with—making visibility an important advantage for your business.
Improve SEO
Users tend to click on the first few results of any online search, so it’s important that your web pages rank as highly as possible. As you secure media coverage and earn backlinks through your digital PR strategy, you’ll improve your search engine rankings and increase your website’s online traffic.
Build social proof
Social proof is key to winning customer trust, which in turn drives sales. Whether it’s through features in popular publications or endorsements by well-known influencers, the more your brand is seen to associate with other trusted brands, the more likely customers will see your business as credible.
Earn investor backing
Visibility isn’t just for customers—it’s for stakeholders too. When potential investors are assessing your business, they’ll evaluate how well-known your business is and how the media portrays it. Having a strong digital PR presence can help you drive conversations with investors and win their financial backing.
Manage crises
At some point, most businesses face a challenge that tests their relationship with customers, whether it’s a supply chain delay, website downtime, or a pricing error. Digital PR can help you address issues quickly and mitigate the impacts of a crisis while maintaining your customers’ trust and protecting your brand’s reputation.
What are the best digital PR tactics?
Digital public relations offer a wide variety of tactics, each suited to different goals and objectives. Here are a handful of the most effective tactics for you to consider.
Press releases
A press release is a formal announcement your business shares with journalists for them to share with their readers. Sending out press releases is a classic PR tactic, best suited for announcing relevant news directly related to your business—like a new product launch, new partnership, or a major rebrand.
Research studies
Sharing valuable data insights or survey results can help you draw media attention while positioning your brand as a thought leader. It’s also a good way to generate leads.
For example, if you run a hotel booking app, you could release a report sharing seasonal booking trends and how customers can get the most out of the holiday season. Or, if you offer a music streaming platform, you could share a wrap-up of user listening habits on social media at the end of each year.
Newsjacking
Newsjacking is all about capitalizing on trends and keeping your brand relevant. The concept is simple: Choose a topic that’s trending among your target audience and offer your own take on it.
Let’s say you run a beauty salon—you could share tutorials for re-creating iconic hairstyles from a movie that’s trending on social media. Or, if you offer financial services, you could explain how a new government policy could affect the economy, and how customers can prepare.
Influencer marketing
Partnering with influencers has 2 major benefits: It helps you grow your audience by reaching their followers as well as your own, and it lends credibility to your brand. Influencer marketing can range from a straightforward product review by a popular industry figure, to deeper collaboration like co-hosting a podcast or webinar.
Thought leadership pieces
Credible authorship builds authority. Publishing insightful blog posts, contributing to editorial features, and interviewing with publications are all solid ways to establish your brand as a trusted thought leader. This tactic is most effective when you can attribute content to a relevant member of your team, like your CEO for business strategy or your CTO for tech trends.
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What are the best distribution channels for a digital PR campaign?
Once you’ve got a story to share, make sure to distribute it through the right channels. Some digital PR campaigns can work across all your channels, while others might be best suited to just 1 or 2, depending on the content. Let’s take a look at PR channel options.
Industry publications
Landing stories in industry publications is a great way to reach a relevant audience. Some publications will publish your press releases for you, while others may specialize in editorial content like interviews or guest articles. Make it a priority to cultivate ongoing relationships with journalists at industry publications—that way, they’ll be more likely to take on your press releases and reach out to you for editorial features.
Press release distributors
Press release distribution platforms can take your news straight to journalists and media outlets for you. Usually these platforms charge a fee, and you may not get to specify exactly which outlets they pitch your story to—but it’s an easily scalable option that doesn’t require you to foster and maintain direct relationships with journalists.
Social media
Social media channels like Instagram, X, and LinkedIn allow you to share your digital PR content directly with your audience. There are 2 main advantages to social media: the ability to post in real time, and the capability to measure audience engagement—making social media particularly valuable in time-sensitive situations, like crisis communication.
Your business’s website
Don’t forget to publish your digital PR content to your own website, where you have full editorial control. Whether you have a newsfeed for all your press releases or a digital library for your published research, gathering your content in one place makes it easier for your audience to access it and helps you build your image as a thought leader.
Tools to amplify your digital PR strategies
From determining the most relevant messages for your audience to pinpointing the best media contacts for your content, having the right tools at your disposal will help you secure better results from your digital public relations. Here are 4 types of tools that can help.
Social listening tools
One of the best ways to understand your audience is to simply listen. Social listening tools, or media monitoring tools, allow you to engage with your audience in real time by monitoring social media platforms and alerting you when users mention specific keywords—including trends, products, or even your business’s name. As with any digital marketing effort, digital PR campaigns rely on good timing, and social listening tools help you deliver content at just the right moment.
Media databases
If you’re not sure which journalist or publication to reach out to for coverage, media databases are a great place to start. Some contain lists of publications with their favored topics and editorial calendars, while others act as outreach platforms that pair journalists with thought leaders for specific topics.
Backlink analysis tools
Often included in SEO software suites, backlink checkers are essential tools for analyzing and improving your link-building efforts. They help you plan your outreach strategy, track backlinks, and measure how your digital PR efforts impact your SEO.
These tools can also help you understand your competitors’ SEO and link-building strategies. It’s important to research your competition not just so you can see what tactics work well, but also to spot content gaps your brand can capitalize on.
CRM platforms
Digital PR campaigns take careful planning and coordination. Customer relationship management (CRM) platforms can help you stay in control of your relationships with media outlets and influencers by segmenting audiences, tracking your outreach, and monitoring engagement—all in a single place.
How to run a successful digital PR campaign
Just like any digital marketing strategy, the better prepared you are, the more likely your digital PR campaign is to succeed. Follow these steps to plan and execute your next digital PR campaign.
Step #1: Set a goal and objectives
First, decide what you want your digital PR campaign to achieve. That will determine what kind of content you should create, what platforms to release it on, and how to measure success.
Let’s say you’re opening a new branch of your restaurant in a new region—you could focus on reaching out to regional cuisine publications and partnering with local food bloggers on social media. Or, if you run a marketing agency and need to gather leads in the tech industry, you could publish a whitepaper detailing how to increase quarterly marketing returns.
Step #2: Research your audience
To reach any audience, you first need to understand them. Learn what kind of content they enjoy, which platforms they use, and how they prefer to engage with brands—then use that knowledge to make sure your content has the right impact. If you’re collaborating with a publication or influencer, be sure to work closely with them and find out what kind of content resonates with their audience.
Step #3: Create newsworthy content
Make sure your digital PR campaign offers your audience something they value—in other words, focus on what’s in it for them. If you’re sharing a press release focused on your company, clearly explain how the news benefits readers, whether it’s better pricing, improved features, or new opportunities. If you’re publishing research, focus on surprising trends or actionable insights that will leave a lasting impression.
Step #4: Write a great pitch for journalists
A journalist’s reputation is built on quality content, so write a pitch that helps them understand why they should publish your story. Let them know if you’re offering them exclusive rights to publish your content, and if you’re available for follow-up comments.
Journalists get lots of pitches every day, so be sure to personalize your outreach while keeping it short and to the point. If you don’t hear back within a few days, a polite follow-up can ensure your story isn’t overlooked.
How to measure your digital PR campaign results
Digital PR is an ongoing process—tracking your digital PR efforts’ success will show you what tactics work and where you can refine your approach for future campaigns. Make sure to keep an eye on these key performance indicators to gauge your PR’s effectiveness.
Check for press coverage
After distributing your story, be sure to monitor press outlets for coverage. Media monitoring tools are especially useful here—they can reveal unexpected coverage and highlight the full reach of your campaign, including syndications and mentions on social media platforms.
Track your website traffic
Analyze website traffic patterns before and after your digital PR campaign’s launch for a clear picture of its impact. Pay close attention to referral links from media outlets and any spikes in website traffic on pages tied to your campaign.
Monitor your leads
Lead attribution can offer tangible proof of your digital PR campaign’s impact on your business, distinct from your other digital marketing efforts. Use your CRM platform to track form submissions and inquiries, while evaluating their quality and potential to drive business growth.
Key takeaways
- Boost visibility and drive tangible business growth through digital PR. Build brand awareness, improve SEO, and increase your business’s credibility in your industry.
- Research your audience for better digital PR campaign results. That includes your target customers, publication readership, and the journalists you pitch to.
- Take your digital PR campaigns further with the right tools. Use them to create more relevant content and share it more effectively.
- Choose your distribution channels based on your goals. Reach your audience where they’re most active and engaged.
- Measure your digital PR campaign’s performance. Double down on successful tactics and keep improving your strategy.
Ready to tell the world about your brand? Start planning your next digital PR campaign and make sure your business stays top-of-mind for your customers.